Persecution Of The Pagan

For so long now I have wanted to write this blog but put it off, ironically not wanting to offend anyone in its making.

But that very fact that I don’t want to offend anyone speaks volumes.  As it seems, I can offend a sector of society quite easily without even writing words.

This is a small group of people that are mostly attached to the Christian faith.  I want to make it clear with a huge disclaimer in this blog, I am not talking about the majority of wonderful Christians I know, some of which are so open and accepting of my own religion that some of my experiences have shocked and saddened them also.

I am talking about the extremist ones who spend most of their days living in rigid rules of their organised religion, where fear is the overriding force and pretty much dominates their daily activities.

Anything to do with paganism, wicca, healing, spirituality, divination, energy work….they believe comes from the Devil himself.  They believe this with such ferocity that they cannot gain any perspective from the madness of their allegations. 

One of the worst things to happen to the spiritual community was when Doreen Virtue did a 360 on her belief system and systematically confused and divided thousands of her followers.

Doreen was a mainstream “New Ager” (as she calls it – I won’t lie, those words make me cringe).  She made herself rich by producing and selling oracle cards, writing books on angels, and creating an impressive online following.

Overnight, she declared what she was doing was wrong and work from the Devil, she decided from now on she would be working with Jesus and that anything outside of His rules would be sinful.

As you can imagine, all her devoted fans did not know which way to turn.

The worst hit was the mentally vulnerable.  The ones who suffer extreme anxiety, low confidence, and self-esteem issues.  They had found a place with healing, crystals, and angels.  Now, they were told it was wrong, shameful, and evil to enjoy such things.  These mentally vulnerable people were desperate to seek help and assurance.  So, they did what they felt was the right thing and followed Doreen.

Now, I don’t have a problem that many of her supporters followed her.  I have no problem with any other religion, I never have, I never will.  But the issue I have was the extremism that followed her departure from the spiritualist world.

Some of her supporters now find themselves being attracted to some formal religious followings.  The ones that teach fear over freedom.  They suddenly felt it necessary to warn other people that perhaps practicing Reiki healing or enjoying collecting crystals for energy work was in fact that person being tricked by the devil and that there are no such things as spirit guides, these are demons working on behalf of Satan.

The church gripped its hands around these people and firmly began to hold them within lower vibrational frequencies so that fear became the language they recognised.  Rules and regulations followed, perhaps some big life changes like removing children from mainstream school to ensure they didn’t read Harry Potter or mix with other children of “influence”.  Once open and intriguing minds now gradually closed off, declaring that anyone that does not follow the rules, is on a one-way ticket to hell.  That includes all members of the LGBTQ community and Pagans (especially Pagans!!).

This isn’t just my thought process by the way – I have experienced so much of this.

Like in the film “Practical Magic” my daughter gets called a witch at school.  She got called this from the same child that told her that all gay people will burn in hell and so will she.  This child also expelled extreme racism from his mouth, regurgitating what he had heard the night before from his dad.  I told her to ignore this child’s ignorance.  Yet when my little girl had a glasses case that had a picture of a black cat on with a small gold pentagon in the corner, she was cast aside by her teacher.

“Do you see this symbol at home?” she asked, pointing to the picture on the case.  Confused, my daughter said yes, she has seen that symbol.  “You are going to have to keep the case in your bag, as it offends his religion” said teacher, pointing to the homophobic racist child standing to her left.

In this small yet powerful exchange, has pretty much summed up my experience of these people.  Double standards, judgement, and fear. 

The irony is that I was told that I live in the darkness because of my faith and practice.  Yet, I have light in my life daily.  I have a beautiful circle of friends who lift me up and support my gifts, as I support theirs.  We go to each other with ailments, and one may recommend a herbal remedy for that. 

We follow the moon and set intentions of love and healing as we sit beneath her.  We visit the Goddess Temple in Glastonbury to support the sacred feminine, (She who has been oppressed for many years). 

We work within our community, providing workshops for kids with anxiety and a safe place to go for mentally vulnerable adults. 

We heal each other using energy work and connection back to the Universe.  We celebrate the Sun, Seasons and change in weather.

We connect as one yet identify freely with who we are.  We have no fixed rules, we live by our intuition and own moral compass.

We are open to every faith, creed, colour, religion, and race.

We do not cast spells, hex or curse. 

We grow, love, accept, nurture and trust in Mother Nature.  We are humanists, scientists and spiritualists all rolled into one.

We are everything opposite from what they say we are.

We live in the light, whilst their fear keeps them in the dark. 

Until next time,

Tanya

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I am a Professional Tarot Reader, Reiki Practitioner and Psychic Medium, living my best life in the Essex, UK. I love to give energy readings and I also teach Tarot. If you want to learn more, please visit me here!