SAFETY IN THE PAGAN COMMUNITY

 Have you ever gone to an event and felt a sense of “ick” from an individual, but you couldn’t quite put your finger on why?  This is something that happens more often than we care to say, because as a Pagan, I know I want to be able to give everyone the benefit of the doubt, but I have also learned to trust my intuition.

It is an unfortunate truth that our spirituality can attract less-than-savory characters due to our acceptance of people overall.  I personally try to meet people where they are and accept what they say about themselves without forcing anyone to fit into my own narrative.  It works well, unless they show me otherwise.  Actions do indeed speak louder than words, and no amount of explanation or song and dance routine will make me think a bad person is anything more than a bad person.

About thirty years ago, there was an individual in our town who presented themselves as a grand and wise wizard who was willing to teach, but in order to “transfer power” to his students (who all just happened to be young ladies), he had to have sex with them.  My understanding was that he would use the act of the Great Rite to manipulate these young women into having sex with him.

On the one hand, you could say that if these women were old enough to understand what they were doing, it was their prerogative to sleep with them if they wanted to.  On the other hand, you could also say the person in question was manipulating them for his own gain, which goes against the Rede, “Harm none, do as you will.”  In most cases, you will also find that the person in question was considerably older than their “students.”

Sexual predation is certainly nothing new within religious and spiritual realms.  What I find the most unfortunate is that we still have people willing to cover up and ignore the facts for those abusers within the Pagan community.  As a spiritual group, I like to think we can do better - better for the ones who come to us as survivors in the first place, and better at keeping abuse at bay.  And yet….I still see it every day.  

Can we do better?  Am I expecting too much?  I realize we are human and have all our faults and foibles, but that doesn’t mean we should stoop to that level or be even the slightest bit “okay” with abusive behavior at all.  So what can we do to make a positive impact overall?

To begin with, we need to believe people when they tell us there’s a problem.  Unless we know for a fact it isn’t true, we need to take people at their word when they say they’ve been in an abusive situation.  I would rather err on the side of caution than expose more people to potential abuse and predation, even if that finger gets pointed at me.  I have recently seen an instance in which a person was known to be problematic, and they were still allowed to be part of a gathering.  That’s unacceptable.  

And yes, I know I need to do better myself.  But I’m not the only one.