Research paper
This is my research paper for m y ethics class. I really tried to be objective as much as possible, but somethings may have slipped through the cracks.
Research Paper: Pagan Ethics
Arlen Duncan III
BC306
Amy Thiele
June 12, 2005
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to analyze and identify the ethical beliefs of four pagan religions that are in common practice today. Those four pagan religions are British Traditional Wicca, Eclectic Wicca, Santeria, and Asatru. There is some overlap between the British and Eclectic Wicca, how that is will be explained in the section on Wicca. A general overview of what each of these religions is and how they operate will be given, and then the beliefs and ethical standards will be reviewed, analyzed, and explained. Paganism as a whole is a very intricate web of overlapping beliefs and disparate actions. This paper will try to explain the views of some of the more prominent religions noted.
Overview
Wicca
Wicca is a religion of the celebration of the seasonal cycle of the earth, based upon the British Isles lore. There two sets of flavors, the traditional Wicca, of which there several traditions, the first two well known traditions are Gardernerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca. They are religions of orthopraxy, not orthodoxy, meaning that the right practice, not belief is the key to this religion. Some of the practices that are required are The Great Rite in person or mimed, ritual scourging, working skyclad, and working within the context of the Gods of Britain. British Traditional Wicca also has an adage “always add, never subtract” what this adage refers to is the book of knowledge for the coven, that each priest and priestess has to write down and copy. Each one is slightly different from the coven one, and it changes over the years as new coveners are added. In traditional Wicca everyone is a priest of some degree usually one of three, the high priests and high priestesses are the ones of the third degree, and the other priests are those of first and second degree.
In the other flavor, it gets convoluted as to whether or not there sub-religions that should be classified as Wicca or not, as the main material is taken out or ignored, such as the ritual nudity, the Great Rite, and addition of other gods into the mix. The priesthood has for the majority of the time been removed, as it tends to make some people uncomfortable.
Briefly, a coven is the traditional group into which one is initiated. Skyclad is the practice of ritual nudity in a context where there are no sexual overtones or undertones. The Great Rite, is the reenactment of the mating of the God of the Forests and the Earth Mother, it is either done with the High Priest and High Priestess, or with them using an athame and a chalice. The athame is the ritual knife of Wicca used to cut the area of working known as sacred space, and it is outside of space and time, metaphorically. The seasonal cycle consists of eight major holidays, which are Imbolc, the Spring Equinox, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnassadh, the Vernal equinox, Samhain, and Yule. Basically, they tend to coincide with Groundhog Day, May Day, Lammas, Halloween, and Christmas, respectively. Ritual scourging is the taking of a small whip, or scourge, and using it to attain a state of altered consciousness. The ethical views of these practices will be viewed and explained.
Santeria
This is a religion that had it is beginnings in the slave trade of the West African Yoruba people, and their mixing it with the Catholicism in the island of Cuba. It means “The Way of the Saints” It consists of Ancestral spirits, and agents of the divine emanation of the universe called Orishas. There are beliefs and practices that a lot of people find odd and creepy. Orishas are kind of like deities in that they have the ability to influence people, even take over their mind for awhile in ritual possession, which in this religion is a wanted thing. This religion in a lot of ways is similar to Vodoun, Voodoo as everyone knows it. There is the offering of sacrifices, whether they are food, drink, or an animal. There is a book; on one guy’s struggle to get his church of Santeria recognized the book is Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah by David O’Brien goes into some detail of the beliefs and practices. There will be a reference or two in the paper. There are places in the US where you can buy supplies, and they are known as botanicas.
Asatru
This religion is one that varies widely from the previous ones in that it relies heavily on the history, lore, and archeological findings for the Germanic and Nordic religions. It means true to the Aseir, the main group of gods in the Germanic and Nordic tribes. This religion falls under the classification of reconstructionist because the goal is to take the source material, analyze it, adapt the material to the modern world view, and apply the new beliefs in a way the is the same as the Germanic and Nordic tribes followed.
So ends the overview, I tried to explain as much of the general ideas and words used in the religions used to make sense. As the Principia Discordia says “I am filled with fear and tormented with terrible visions of pain. Everywhere people are hurting one another, the planet is rampant with injustices, whole societies plunder groups of their own people, mothers imprison sons, children perish while brothers war. O, woe (38, MALACLYPSE THE YOUNGER). “The response later is basically for everyone to just stop with all of that.
Ethics
Wicca
The ethical beliefs of British Traditional Wicca in terms of actions, is that what one does will eventually come back to him or her, but that is the for every action there is an reaction, sometimes equal, less than equal to, or greater than the action. They tend to be mindful the surroundings they are in, and will when pushed use every mean at their disposal to get back at the person who pushed them. Reason is used if they decide to retaliate against the person; because there is general knowledge that acts done out of blind rage do more damage than actually help resolve the points of conflict.
In the majority of the beliefs of Eclectic Wicca they tend to hold eight words that are advice as a hard rule. “An ye harm none, do as ye will,” also known as the Wiccan Rede, which they tend to interpret as if you harm nothing do as you will, this tends to be the main interpretation. Some even reduce it to two words, “Harm None” which compared to the eight words means something completely different. The belief here also is the Law of Return, and/or the threefold law. Which can be described as for every action good or bad, there is consequences and you can receive them at any given time. “Many witchcraft traditions express this as the Threefold Law of Return, meaning that an individual will experience three times what s/he sends out”(11, Rabinovitch and MacDonald). As has been previously mentioned before there is the removing of some or the more sexual and also some of the more violent, in their eyes, acts. The Great Rite, even done symbolically for some odd reason, there those who get offended by this simple act, and therefore have removed the significance of the rite and also have diminished the rite. Ritual scourging is balked at because it is seen as a violent act against someone, that it hurts their will, and that act is just plain gross and violent to the majority of Eclectic Wicca, again the hyper-focus on the Wiccan Rede. There is a lot that general gets glossed over because of this need to want to do something as natural as stand around naked and do a ritual, or while doing that ritual someone is getting scourged, because that is what is what is required to for the ritual.
Santeria
The way Santeria sees things like divine possession as a way of someone learning what they need to learn, helping them get through a tough time in their life, and also to let them know if they have been chosen or not by the Orishas. There certain Orishas who will pick someone to be part of their family and to be their priests and priestesses. Sometimes the Orishas are venerated because of their remarkable deaths or having very special powers or knowledge. One well known Orisha is:”Among the hundreds of Orishas worshipped is Oggun, the patron of smiths who can unlock earthly secrets and turn them into tools (4, O’Brien). Then there are the rites and rituals that use animal sacrifice. In one of our discussions about killing animals for food, furs, and other items, we did not really cover the idea of killing an animal for an offering to a deity, or being like a deity. It is a very powerful way of offering something to those beings because they in a way are alive, and so they need to eat. Some of the animals sacrificed are chickens, goats, lambs, pigs, cows, and a couple of other animals. What is sacrificed is determined by the rite and ritual, and the Orisha or Orishas being called upon. Some other sacrifices are usually some sort of alcohol, cigar, and something sweet, again depending on the Orisha.
There has been talk about the divine possession, and how that happens is when there is a lot of drumming going on, and then the fact that the Orishas are drawn to those they have chosen, whether or not the chosen ones are aware of the fact that they have been chosen. The way they are possessed it is described as being mounted or ridden like a horse, and while possessed, the person talks and acts like the Orisha who is currently riding him at the moment. Another thing that is done is the Regla de Ocha, “Within Regla de Ocha, practitioners identify two interrelated series of principles upon which they structure their actions. Just as these principles come into play in the social field through action, they are also discussed and debated within the discursive practices of the tradition” (94, Mason). What this says is that there sets of principles by which a group lives by that dictate about the Orishas and humanity, and they coexist.
Asatru
The main source of ethics for Asatru is the Nine Noble Virtues, and they are “Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self- Reliance, and Perseverance (http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos653.htm, 06/12). Each of those virtues has a lot to do with personal and interpersonal communications. Courage in the aspect of personal courage, is the small obstacles taken that life gives you and how you go about to overcome it, the interpersonal aspect of courage, is when you have a group of people, and you can get them working together if they are group of people who normally can’t work together to save their lives. Truth in its personal aspect is self-truth and what you are honest about in your life do not do something if you do not want someone to not find out about it. Truth in the interpersonal aspect is the truth told to others about something that is important such as where they stand with you in terms of friendship, loyalty, and general purpose in life. Honor in its personal aspect is the ability to be a good person, and it is the core of the faith as without it, there is nothing else for the faith to hold on to. The interpersonal honor holds the self-honor out to everyone so that they know you are a good person with a generous heart. Fidelity in the personal aspect is just being honest about your oaths and keeping them because of the emphasis placed on oaths because sometimes they are given to the Gods, or the Gods give them to them to you for you to say. The interpersonal aspect of fidelity is to be respectful of one’s oath to other people, especially friends, coworkers, family, and significant other. Discipline in its personal aspect is the overall personal discipline you have to make sure you can do what is needed everyday to make sure you are living how the gods need you to live. The interpersonal aspect of discipline comes with group discipline, if the group you are with is not doing what it should, then it is the purpose of the group to get together and figure out how to make the things they should be doing work. Hospitality in the personal aspect is the ability to be nice to you, when the time is needed for you to relax, and enjoy yourself away from the worries of the world. The interpersonal aspect of hospitality is when you have guests over, it is your job to make sure you offer food, drink, depending on circumstances a place to sleep, and even gifts. Industriousness in the personal aspect is the ability to keep yourself busy and working hard to achieve your goals. The interpersonal aspect is the same with the exception that the goals are more group oriented, not self-oriented. Self-reliance is the ability in terms of the personal aspect to administer and judge your actions in terms of how you would do something and are you expected to do something. Interpersonal aspect is the same except, with a group-mind. The last virtue is perseverance and this is the virtue of just hanging there, and not accepting defeat or never quitting, just making sure you get what is needed to be done that it is done.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is possible to say that all these religions have in common the belief in the self as part of a higher state of consciousness, and they strive to achieve that goal. Also that it is a myriad of lifestyles and choices, and that this paper is just a very small and compact version for a lot of papers and such. There are a lot of differences; the most notable is that of the two flavors of Wicca. It was an interesting study and I hope to get through it again soon.
Bibliography
Macdonald, M. and Rabinonvitch (2004) An Ye Harm None: Magical Morality and Modern Ethics. New York: Citadel Press
Mason, M.A. (2002) Living Santeria: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books
O’Brien, D.M (2004) Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah Lawrence: University Of Kansas
Malaclypse the Younger (1979) Principia Discordia retrieved on 06/12/2005 http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/45.php
Stead, L. (2000) Nine Noble Virtues retrieved on 06/12/2005 http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos653.htm
Research Paper: Pagan Ethics
Arlen Duncan III
BC306
Amy Thiele
June 12, 2005
Introduction
The purpose of this paper is to analyze and identify the ethical beliefs of four pagan religions that are in common practice today. Those four pagan religions are British Traditional Wicca, Eclectic Wicca, Santeria, and Asatru. There is some overlap between the British and Eclectic Wicca, how that is will be explained in the section on Wicca. A general overview of what each of these religions is and how they operate will be given, and then the beliefs and ethical standards will be reviewed, analyzed, and explained. Paganism as a whole is a very intricate web of overlapping beliefs and disparate actions. This paper will try to explain the views of some of the more prominent religions noted.
Overview
Wicca
Wicca is a religion of the celebration of the seasonal cycle of the earth, based upon the British Isles lore. There two sets of flavors, the traditional Wicca, of which there several traditions, the first two well known traditions are Gardernerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca. They are religions of orthopraxy, not orthodoxy, meaning that the right practice, not belief is the key to this religion. Some of the practices that are required are The Great Rite in person or mimed, ritual scourging, working skyclad, and working within the context of the Gods of Britain. British Traditional Wicca also has an adage “always add, never subtract” what this adage refers to is the book of knowledge for the coven, that each priest and priestess has to write down and copy. Each one is slightly different from the coven one, and it changes over the years as new coveners are added. In traditional Wicca everyone is a priest of some degree usually one of three, the high priests and high priestesses are the ones of the third degree, and the other priests are those of first and second degree.
In the other flavor, it gets convoluted as to whether or not there sub-religions that should be classified as Wicca or not, as the main material is taken out or ignored, such as the ritual nudity, the Great Rite, and addition of other gods into the mix. The priesthood has for the majority of the time been removed, as it tends to make some people uncomfortable.
Briefly, a coven is the traditional group into which one is initiated. Skyclad is the practice of ritual nudity in a context where there are no sexual overtones or undertones. The Great Rite, is the reenactment of the mating of the God of the Forests and the Earth Mother, it is either done with the High Priest and High Priestess, or with them using an athame and a chalice. The athame is the ritual knife of Wicca used to cut the area of working known as sacred space, and it is outside of space and time, metaphorically. The seasonal cycle consists of eight major holidays, which are Imbolc, the Spring Equinox, Beltane, Midsummer, Lughnassadh, the Vernal equinox, Samhain, and Yule. Basically, they tend to coincide with Groundhog Day, May Day, Lammas, Halloween, and Christmas, respectively. Ritual scourging is the taking of a small whip, or scourge, and using it to attain a state of altered consciousness. The ethical views of these practices will be viewed and explained.
Santeria
This is a religion that had it is beginnings in the slave trade of the West African Yoruba people, and their mixing it with the Catholicism in the island of Cuba. It means “The Way of the Saints” It consists of Ancestral spirits, and agents of the divine emanation of the universe called Orishas. There are beliefs and practices that a lot of people find odd and creepy. Orishas are kind of like deities in that they have the ability to influence people, even take over their mind for awhile in ritual possession, which in this religion is a wanted thing. This religion in a lot of ways is similar to Vodoun, Voodoo as everyone knows it. There is the offering of sacrifices, whether they are food, drink, or an animal. There is a book; on one guy’s struggle to get his church of Santeria recognized the book is Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah by David O’Brien goes into some detail of the beliefs and practices. There will be a reference or two in the paper. There are places in the US where you can buy supplies, and they are known as botanicas.
Asatru
This religion is one that varies widely from the previous ones in that it relies heavily on the history, lore, and archeological findings for the Germanic and Nordic religions. It means true to the Aseir, the main group of gods in the Germanic and Nordic tribes. This religion falls under the classification of reconstructionist because the goal is to take the source material, analyze it, adapt the material to the modern world view, and apply the new beliefs in a way the is the same as the Germanic and Nordic tribes followed.
So ends the overview, I tried to explain as much of the general ideas and words used in the religions used to make sense. As the Principia Discordia says “I am filled with fear and tormented with terrible visions of pain. Everywhere people are hurting one another, the planet is rampant with injustices, whole societies plunder groups of their own people, mothers imprison sons, children perish while brothers war. O, woe (38, MALACLYPSE THE YOUNGER). “The response later is basically for everyone to just stop with all of that.
Ethics
Wicca
The ethical beliefs of British Traditional Wicca in terms of actions, is that what one does will eventually come back to him or her, but that is the for every action there is an reaction, sometimes equal, less than equal to, or greater than the action. They tend to be mindful the surroundings they are in, and will when pushed use every mean at their disposal to get back at the person who pushed them. Reason is used if they decide to retaliate against the person; because there is general knowledge that acts done out of blind rage do more damage than actually help resolve the points of conflict.
In the majority of the beliefs of Eclectic Wicca they tend to hold eight words that are advice as a hard rule. “An ye harm none, do as ye will,” also known as the Wiccan Rede, which they tend to interpret as if you harm nothing do as you will, this tends to be the main interpretation. Some even reduce it to two words, “Harm None” which compared to the eight words means something completely different. The belief here also is the Law of Return, and/or the threefold law. Which can be described as for every action good or bad, there is consequences and you can receive them at any given time. “Many witchcraft traditions express this as the Threefold Law of Return, meaning that an individual will experience three times what s/he sends out”(11, Rabinovitch and MacDonald). As has been previously mentioned before there is the removing of some or the more sexual and also some of the more violent, in their eyes, acts. The Great Rite, even done symbolically for some odd reason, there those who get offended by this simple act, and therefore have removed the significance of the rite and also have diminished the rite. Ritual scourging is balked at because it is seen as a violent act against someone, that it hurts their will, and that act is just plain gross and violent to the majority of Eclectic Wicca, again the hyper-focus on the Wiccan Rede. There is a lot that general gets glossed over because of this need to want to do something as natural as stand around naked and do a ritual, or while doing that ritual someone is getting scourged, because that is what is what is required to for the ritual.
Santeria
The way Santeria sees things like divine possession as a way of someone learning what they need to learn, helping them get through a tough time in their life, and also to let them know if they have been chosen or not by the Orishas. There certain Orishas who will pick someone to be part of their family and to be their priests and priestesses. Sometimes the Orishas are venerated because of their remarkable deaths or having very special powers or knowledge. One well known Orisha is:”Among the hundreds of Orishas worshipped is Oggun, the patron of smiths who can unlock earthly secrets and turn them into tools (4, O’Brien). Then there are the rites and rituals that use animal sacrifice. In one of our discussions about killing animals for food, furs, and other items, we did not really cover the idea of killing an animal for an offering to a deity, or being like a deity. It is a very powerful way of offering something to those beings because they in a way are alive, and so they need to eat. Some of the animals sacrificed are chickens, goats, lambs, pigs, cows, and a couple of other animals. What is sacrificed is determined by the rite and ritual, and the Orisha or Orishas being called upon. Some other sacrifices are usually some sort of alcohol, cigar, and something sweet, again depending on the Orisha.
There has been talk about the divine possession, and how that happens is when there is a lot of drumming going on, and then the fact that the Orishas are drawn to those they have chosen, whether or not the chosen ones are aware of the fact that they have been chosen. The way they are possessed it is described as being mounted or ridden like a horse, and while possessed, the person talks and acts like the Orisha who is currently riding him at the moment. Another thing that is done is the Regla de Ocha, “Within Regla de Ocha, practitioners identify two interrelated series of principles upon which they structure their actions. Just as these principles come into play in the social field through action, they are also discussed and debated within the discursive practices of the tradition” (94, Mason). What this says is that there sets of principles by which a group lives by that dictate about the Orishas and humanity, and they coexist.
Asatru
The main source of ethics for Asatru is the Nine Noble Virtues, and they are “Courage, Truth, Honor, Fidelity, Discipline, Hospitality, Industriousness, Self- Reliance, and Perseverance (http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos653.htm, 06/12). Each of those virtues has a lot to do with personal and interpersonal communications. Courage in the aspect of personal courage, is the small obstacles taken that life gives you and how you go about to overcome it, the interpersonal aspect of courage, is when you have a group of people, and you can get them working together if they are group of people who normally can’t work together to save their lives. Truth in its personal aspect is self-truth and what you are honest about in your life do not do something if you do not want someone to not find out about it. Truth in the interpersonal aspect is the truth told to others about something that is important such as where they stand with you in terms of friendship, loyalty, and general purpose in life. Honor in its personal aspect is the ability to be a good person, and it is the core of the faith as without it, there is nothing else for the faith to hold on to. The interpersonal honor holds the self-honor out to everyone so that they know you are a good person with a generous heart. Fidelity in the personal aspect is just being honest about your oaths and keeping them because of the emphasis placed on oaths because sometimes they are given to the Gods, or the Gods give them to them to you for you to say. The interpersonal aspect of fidelity is to be respectful of one’s oath to other people, especially friends, coworkers, family, and significant other. Discipline in its personal aspect is the overall personal discipline you have to make sure you can do what is needed everyday to make sure you are living how the gods need you to live. The interpersonal aspect of discipline comes with group discipline, if the group you are with is not doing what it should, then it is the purpose of the group to get together and figure out how to make the things they should be doing work. Hospitality in the personal aspect is the ability to be nice to you, when the time is needed for you to relax, and enjoy yourself away from the worries of the world. The interpersonal aspect of hospitality is when you have guests over, it is your job to make sure you offer food, drink, depending on circumstances a place to sleep, and even gifts. Industriousness in the personal aspect is the ability to keep yourself busy and working hard to achieve your goals. The interpersonal aspect is the same with the exception that the goals are more group oriented, not self-oriented. Self-reliance is the ability in terms of the personal aspect to administer and judge your actions in terms of how you would do something and are you expected to do something. Interpersonal aspect is the same except, with a group-mind. The last virtue is perseverance and this is the virtue of just hanging there, and not accepting defeat or never quitting, just making sure you get what is needed to be done that it is done.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is possible to say that all these religions have in common the belief in the self as part of a higher state of consciousness, and they strive to achieve that goal. Also that it is a myriad of lifestyles and choices, and that this paper is just a very small and compact version for a lot of papers and such. There are a lot of differences; the most notable is that of the two flavors of Wicca. It was an interesting study and I hope to get through it again soon.
Bibliography
Macdonald, M. and Rabinonvitch (2004) An Ye Harm None: Magical Morality and Modern Ethics. New York: Citadel Press
Mason, M.A. (2002) Living Santeria: Rituals and Experiences in an Afro-Cuban Religion Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Books
O’Brien, D.M (2004) Animal Sacrifice and Religious Freedom: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah Lawrence: University Of Kansas
Malaclypse the Younger (1979) Principia Discordia retrieved on 06/12/2005 http://www.principiadiscordia.com/book/45.php
Stead, L. (2000) Nine Noble Virtues retrieved on 06/12/2005 http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos653.htm