I want to be a part of a thriving pagan community in Nashville. And honestly, I think we are not thriving. Of my peers, we are drifting away. In the larger community, there seems to be condemnation instead of compassion. At community events, there are cold shoulders more than warm hearts.
Why? Why are we not thriving? Part of it is economic. We are poor, tend to be too independent minded to really thrive in hierarchical work environments, and are hamstrung by the fact that so many of the networking and opportunity contacts run through the Christian churches. We have our choice of 1. pretend to be Christian for the benefits, 2. stay in the broom closet and just don't talk about religion, or 3. be open and risk being punished and discriminated against (and it is a significant risk with a likely bad outcome).We therefore often choose to be invisible and therefore have trouble finding each other, and when we do find each other, we are not as able to support each other as much as we might like.
Part of it may have to do with the burnout of clergy. Many of our older clergy have stepped aside, burned out, chosen not to actively lead anymore. In my personal circles, some left without having fully trained their initiates to a level where they could step in as leaders.
Part of it is politics, I think. A little too much of an insular mindset, combined with the distrust of outsiders who might out you, and added to an opinionated conviction in the superiority of your own personal practice, can combine into a very fractured community.
Whatever the contributing factors, though, I want to begin generating new energy, meet fresh faces, and enrich the pagan community. To that end, I have an iron or two in the fire for beginning a pagan discussion group at the UU. Something to generate energy, and to draw in interested folks. Something to get the wheels going. It would feed a growing need within me, to see this community strengthened and thriving.
Showing posts with label UU. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UU. Show all posts
Monday, July 26, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Lion Dance
On Sunday I went to the Unitarian Universalist church because they had a local Chinese Arts group performing a traditional Lion Dance as a way to help us celebrated Chinese New Year. I have attended the UU off and on for 6 or more years now, and it is always a good space. I had run into the minister the weekend before, and she had told me about the dancers, so I passed the word on to a couple friends and we all went.
We were sitting in the last pew, which really isn't all that far back given that it's a small church. Even so, when the performers began playing the drums, my whole body and the pew under me vibrated. The drums were large kettle-type drums, played with solid wooden sticks in a highly stylized way, complete with poses struck by the drummers at the end of each sequence. Then the dancers came out, with two people (presumably men) in each costume, one working the head with its eyes and mouth that opened and shut, and the other making the rear, somehow keeping the short tail wagging, and supporting the front man in lifts to make the lions rear up.
It was a great time. Just the drums alone and the way they vibrated my whole body lifted my mood and filled my cup, so to speak. I need to be around more drumming, more live, feel the sound waves bounce off and through my body drumming. The lions, one silver and one gold, were fabulous and funny, working through the crowd, posing for pictures and video, doing tricks, and being humorous, tricksterish, and full of good energy.
It was a bit of a letdown when the service moved on into more churchy things, though the homily was about how people develop how to do something and then study the science of why it works, and that Chinese New Year involves the color red, drums, fireworks, loud noises, dancing, feasting, and lots of lights to lift the spirits and drive old bad energy away. It works, and now scientists are finding reasons why it works. But really, we can just experience it and get the benefits without knowing all the science behind them.
I think that is a great message: just do what feels right, and let the reasons why it works come out later. I think it definitely applies to drumming. I need to go be around drumming, to drum, to dance, or just sit and soak up the sound if that is all I am up for.
We were sitting in the last pew, which really isn't all that far back given that it's a small church. Even so, when the performers began playing the drums, my whole body and the pew under me vibrated. The drums were large kettle-type drums, played with solid wooden sticks in a highly stylized way, complete with poses struck by the drummers at the end of each sequence. Then the dancers came out, with two people (presumably men) in each costume, one working the head with its eyes and mouth that opened and shut, and the other making the rear, somehow keeping the short tail wagging, and supporting the front man in lifts to make the lions rear up.
It was a great time. Just the drums alone and the way they vibrated my whole body lifted my mood and filled my cup, so to speak. I need to be around more drumming, more live, feel the sound waves bounce off and through my body drumming. The lions, one silver and one gold, were fabulous and funny, working through the crowd, posing for pictures and video, doing tricks, and being humorous, tricksterish, and full of good energy.
It was a bit of a letdown when the service moved on into more churchy things, though the homily was about how people develop how to do something and then study the science of why it works, and that Chinese New Year involves the color red, drums, fireworks, loud noises, dancing, feasting, and lots of lights to lift the spirits and drive old bad energy away. It works, and now scientists are finding reasons why it works. But really, we can just experience it and get the benefits without knowing all the science behind them.
I think that is a great message: just do what feels right, and let the reasons why it works come out later. I think it definitely applies to drumming. I need to go be around drumming, to drum, to dance, or just sit and soak up the sound if that is all I am up for.
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