American
Pagan
Or
How
we Define Ourselves to the World
Just
recently, I had to "Defend" myself,
for
want of a better way to say it, on an issue, that to be honest
I
had not given much thought to how others might look at it
To
Wit:
I
am a Pagan .. I am Also an American :)
Now
it's easy enough to say .. I am an American
when
it comes to day to day life ...
and
I am proud of that heritage
But
with regard to being Pagan and my practice of the faith,
many
people expect me to Identify more
with
my bloodline .. not with my Nationality of birth
A
woman I was talking to recently ...
is
full blooded Irish .. and she asked me why
I
didn't identify more , than I already do ,
with
the Celtic way ?
She
said I should do this and that,
according
to the old ways.
Why
? Because, according to my lineage,
which
is mainly Irish/German
......
this was the proper way ......
To
which I told her ... " that's not how
things
are done .. here in the states "
She
said
"
Is that how you define yourself ?
An
American Witch ? "
To
which I replied .
"
of course .. I AM an American " :)
She
felt that this was a denial of my Irish blood
I
told her no.... in fact it was a celebration of it
...
all of it ...
and
not just the Irish part !
But
that got me to thinking, again, about how we Americans tend
to
practice the faith ... and how we look at ourselves
Most
Pagans in America
follow
one of the Elder paths of the faith
and
a great many of these, were
practiced in Europe, true enough
As
many European Witch's still .. practice them
We
Americans do often have our roots there ..
in
Geo. type, as well as the faith and how we tend
to
practice it .. also correct
However,
we are a very mixed bag now
of
peoples not only in groups .. but ..
and
here's one of my points,
in
ourselves ... My current family bloodline,
with
the Addition of my latest Grandchild,
now
boasts of Every major blood line going :)
Heinz
57 .. grade A Mutts .. the lot of us
And
pleased to no end to be so ... Asian was the only
bloodline
we didn't have .. now with Kassandra ..
..
we do ..just a touch .. but .. it's in there :)
Now
the bulk of my lineage is
Irish/German,
all ya gotta do
is
look at me to see that :) and I do lean
towards
that aspect with regard to the faith
Being
a dedicate
of
Freya
and My Lord Thor but I also
have
called on Isis, and Amaterasu,
Asase Yaa
and
a whole host of others ...............
I
am as eclectic in my faith, as my bloodline is
And
so are most American Pagans that I know
It's
almost as if .. we are eclectic because
we have to be :)
I
used to envy friends, as a child .. who had a clearly defined bloodline
..
they
had celebration days and special cultural things that were ethnic based
We
didn't have those in my family ..
I
mean, which one would we choose ?
And
it didn't make sense
to
try and do all of them .. !
I
finally came to terms with that,
one
day, when I realized that my " lack "
of
a definite bloodline, was not a lack at all,
it
was something of which to be proud
I
mean pick a race .. pick a nation ..
you
will find them all looking at you ..
when
you look at me ..
I
am not one nation ... I am all Nations ...
All
the colors ... all the Major Creeds ...
are
all here
I
am an American ... and Proud of it !
So
yes .. I am an American Witch too .. who can and does
pull
from every esoteric practice going, and by blood,
if
you want to get picky, have a right to do so.
Someone,
in
the line of my forebears ..
practiced
it also .. by that definition
But
Not only that .. there is the American way to consider
The
Melting Caldron of the world, that has its own way
of
doing things that doesn't copy anyone
I
am not limited by this identification
just
the opposite .. It opens all doors for me .. any path is mine to take ..
as
my ancestors walked there before me ...
And
I am Proud of each and every one of the multitude
of
peoples .... that make up .. Me :)
We
need to stop denying the fact we are
Americans
... weather we have
European
roots or not ...
We
are born here ... Our
faith was born here ...
we
need to stop trying to "justify" ourselves
by
harkening to our line of way back
before
it mingled with so many others ...
there
is nothing Wrong with our mixed heritage's
..
on the street .. Or in the Circle
So
.. I am Not only Pagan and Proud of it
I
am also an American Witch - and Proud of it
Blessings
on all the Walkers of the Way
of
ANY lineage :) But with a special smile
for
my fellow American Mutts :)
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