Project Pagan Enough

              The first blog I ever read was a pagan blog by my friend Minty (and thanks for following my own blog, Minty!). Her blog called "Minty's Mumblings"  was quite wonderful to me and so I sat down and started reading it from beginning to that point in time. A logo on her blog caught my eye which said "Project Pagan Enough." Well, I clicked on the logo and was taken to another blog.

         The blog was created by someone calling himself “Fire Lyte.” Under his brief introduction to himself was a summary so compelling that it made me truly curious about his blog called “Inciting A Riot”.  Well, his brief biography made me utterly curious (even more so than I was before)  and I began to read the page. 

               The page on the blog was called “Project Pagan Enough.” I read the page and was utterly entranced by what I read- it spoke to my heart, my soul, my brain, and every sense of logic and reason and even emotion that I possessed. In its simplicity “Project Pagan Enough” seeks to bring a live-and-let-live mentality to the pagan community, as well as other religious belief systems.

               This is an attempt to stop all the in-fighting and the name calling such as ‘playgan’ and the like. It is a project that hopes to bring pagans together instead of tearing us all apart because of differences, elitists and fundamentalists. It is a way of saying “Just stop, listen, understand, and tolerate.” This not only applies to other pagans who another pagan may not see as ‘pagan enough’ but also applies to being tolerate to all other religions as well.

               Some might wonder why such a project is needed- believe me it is. Paganism has its fundamentalists just like any other belief system. Now, in the pagan community, there is a lot of in-fighting, name calling, bullying, and otherwise vile behavior that should never be exhibited from a pagan. 

               This stems a lot from having different ideas of belief. There are no set laws in paganism (thank the gods) and even 'harm none' can be relative to the person practicing. Pagans can vary from being extremists to barely functioning spiritual individuals. Hell, there are even atheistic pagans out there (like myself- and that is to say pagans to do not necessarily believe in a creator or the actual existence and living, breathing gods who actually give a damn about humanity). We come in all forms of beliefs, ideas, rituals, practices, appearances, personalities, and walks of life.

                No other pagan should harshly judge another pagan’s path. It is simply too diverse. Likewise, all other religions are diverse and deserve respect. According to “Project Pagan Enough” when a pagan decides to embrace this movement, they are making, essentially, five promises- which are as follows:

1.      You are Pagan Enough, because you try fervently to explore what it means to be pagan and apply it to your life, despite your physical appearance, personal tastes, level of experience, or other factor that others might use to say you are not pagan.

2.        You recognize others are Pagan Enough despite how they may look, act, or believe, as long as that person feels they are fervently seeking the divine on a pagan path.

3.       You attempt to debate those that have opposing viewpoints, learning from one another despite how passionate the debate becomes, instead of simply writing others off for not being up to your standard of ‘pagan’.

4.        You welcome, befriend, and encourage others in the pagan community despite their physical appearance, level of experience, age, or other physical or superficial characteristic.

5.       You promise to treat members of other religions and spiritual paths with equality, fairness, and grace, setting a good example for the Pagan community both in and out of the community, not judging the individuals based on fringe members of their same faith.

             I love how the page later states that the five promises are like the five points of pentacle. If you are pagan you know that the pentacle/pentagram is the five pointed star. These points represent balance, protection and harmony (among other things, depending on who you are and your personal beliefs on the subject). These points symbolize the elements that are fire, air, earth, water, and spirit. So, let us harmonize now in the name of peace and tolerance and declare that all who walk the pagan path are, indeed, pagan enough and all other religions are worth their salt as well! 

I am Midi, and I AM Pagan Enough!