The Sceptical Pagan

Few things are rarer than a book on a specific subject which, nevertheless, goes on to inform all aspects of your life. For me, such a book was Janet Radcliffe Richards' The Sceptical Feminist. Now, if you will allow me a minute to tie approximately 70% of my readers back down as they swoop en masse towards the doors, yes, this is a book about feminism. Not, I would hasten to add, bitchy man-baiting feminism, scary Planet of the Apes style women-rule feminism where you go out to the seaside and find a not-quite-buried phallic symbol sticking out of the sand, or god-awful fluffy why-can't-we-all-get-along feminism. This is the real stuff, people. It deals with the need for women to polish up their ideas if they want to be understood and respected. It deals with the need for a healthy balance of logic and intuition and a solid knowledge of the history of the arguments involved. It deals with making a deliberate priority (*gasp*) of knowing what men have said about women and why. It pulls no punches and makes you first ashamed and then ten times stronger.

Which is why I would recommend it to anyone who calls themselves a Pagan. But what's the link between this book and our chosen paths? The link is that, whatever our Pagan path, we are in the minority. We are outside the 'normal' mindset of the world in which we live. Feminists have patriarchy to work with. We have secularity, science and (both nominal and fundamentalist) Christianity. It is not my business in this particular article to discuss to what extent we can or cannot embrace these as Pagans. That's a WHOLE magazine's worth in itself! No, my point is that, as people who are often, inevitably, drawn into arguments and sometimes even openly mocked, we can do no better than to arm ourselves to the teeth with clarity and knowledge.

This is the key. As Kerr Cuhulain says in his Full Contact Magick (an interesting take on Wicca and certainly well worth reading), and I paraphrase, to earn respect we need to MAKE ourselves respectable. This does not only include actually following our own rules (not as set in stone as most religions, but caring for the Earth and using magick with the greater good of all in mind is a start) and fighting off the urge to burn those Christian virgins in huge wicker men. It also covers being sure of what we believe in. 'Because I do' is not a valid answer to anything. 'Because that's what works for me' will (one hopes) make some sense to your Pagan friends, but will elicit condemnation from the conventionally religious and scorn from the resolutely secular. And whatever you do, don't let yourselves be beaten into submission by their arguments. This isn't really a whole article. It's more of an urgent call to constantly update and broaden your knowledge of both Paganism and the prevailing mindsets of secularity and Christianity. It won't happen overnight but without it we're shooting ourselves in the foot. So please, read, both widely and discriminately. Order your thoughts and never be afraid to articulate them. And keep the Christian-burnings down to holidays and other special occasions.