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Fwd: Interview Questions on Paganism
Raven's friend tchipakkan is working on a book about how ordinary Pagans live their faith. She has a set of questions, and would appreciate answers to any number of them from folks. (You don't have to answer them all! There are a lot.) Send replies to her directly (not to me), at tchipakkan@tds.net.

Thanks,

-- Joshua

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These are the questions I've been sending out. One thing that has become clear is that words like “religion” “path” “pagan” “heathen” etc. are incredibly emotionally charged. Please feel free to rephrase questions in any way that would allow you to give an answer that you’d want to give.

The point of the book is to show what pagans are like and what it’s like to be a pagan. Besides showing what we are like, I will be able to mention some of our hopes and fears, which will underscore how we are like our mainstream neighbors, as well as differences. Whenever there is a problem, such as how our faith can effect custody decisions, or employment, I am trying to share ways to deal with the problems. So if you have examples of “this worked for me” (or even “never try this!”) those would be wonderful. I do plan to be very careful not to “out” anyone- and I hope I can include the perspective of those who stay quiet because of their concern about repercussions, as well as stories of co-workers and neighbors who accept our diversity.

I don’t think it’s necessary for anyone to answer all these questions. Answer just the ones that appeal to you, that you’d like the world to understand. I see the audience of this book as being both the “festival” pagans who seem to forget we others exist (heathen especially seem to be kind of tucked away in the woods), as well as the Judeo-Christian mainstream- who I think would be much reassured by finding out how normal and non-threatening we are, as well as shocked at how widespread we are. With that in mind, take your time and send me back whatever answers you like when you are ready.

I’d hoped to actually call or meet most of the people who volunteer at some point- to dig a bit deeper into this topic, but discovered that my note-taking skills weren’t up to it, so I now ask questions that occur to me while reading your answers in a follow up e-mail. Having just done a mass request, I fear I’m getting backed up, but I do plan to get back to you if I want to have specifics for when an answer seems to lead to a deeper understanding. I’d like to say I am especially looking for anecdotes to illustrate my point (how great we are). Still, this probably won’t be your “15 minutes of fame”. If I get the 500+ responses I’m looking for and keep the book thin enough so people will want to read it, I will probably only actually quote a fraction of those who are helping me. Still, every single response informs my understanding of what pagans are like, and what it's like to be a pagan.

The questions:

Please give me exactly what you’d like me to use as attribution when I quote you in the book. If you want to use your legal name, your magical name, a nickname, a pseudonym, whatever let me know. (Want me to disguise where you live- that’s also fine, let me know. I think how one practices has a lot to do with where they live- whether Urban/ rural, or California, Arkansas, or New Hampshire.)

I suppose I should ask the usual demographic info- age, race, gender, rough income level, general field of work, married, kids, etc. Let me know whatever you consider important.

What do you generally term/call yourself? Pagan, heathen, pantheist, agnostic, druid, witch, something else? (I've tried to make the terms I use in the questions generic, but I know that any real religion is not generic, so please rephrase the questions so they make sense within the context of your living practice.)

How do you define pagan, heathen or what you call yourself?

Would you say that your faith is specific to you- not precisely as anything you’ve found anywhere else, or if you’ve chosen a specific religion or path that can be named or described, can you explain what are the most important reasons it resonates with you?

Do you relate more to the term Spirituality or Religion?

Has your faith ever come up on hospital or other forms, or socially or professionally? If so, how did/do you deal with it?

Are you concerned about social/financial/legal repercussions of being open about your faith? Have you suffered from discrimination? Do you know anyone who has? Do you have advice or stories about dealing with discrimination?

How important is ritual to your worship?

Are altered states of mind/ecstacy a part of your practice? How would you describe that state? What do you feel/see/hear? How does this state affect your relationship with others? with deity?

What do you see as the relationship of magick and religion?

How important is community to you? Please comment both on your religious community- those with whom you worship, as well as any academic, social, physical or any other communities of which you are a part.

Do you have pagan “stuff”? (ritual tools, clothing, decorations)

Do you have a special place set aside in your home or yard? (altar, meditation area, shrine?)

Do you set certain days or times aside for faith-based activities?

Are you psychic? Do you differentiate between magick and psychic phenomenon? Do you do any form of magick or psychic activity, such as healing, divination, or spells? Do you have any feelings about the ethics of using these skills/talents?

How much do you know about the recent and historical background of paganism/your branch of it? Do you care what the origins of the religion are or only what it does for you and your life?

What do you use ritual to accomplish?

How do you pray?

How do you celebrate holidays? Which ones do you celebrate?

Does your family (or other people) participate in your prayers and celebrations? (to what extent?)

Do you get inspiration/training from books not technically pagan? (such as history- Eddas, Homer, or fiction- LOTR or Mists of Avalon)? How about movies, TV, comics? What books (any type of non-human influence) of any sort were important in your spiritual development?

Were there any hints of latent paganism in your childhood? What were they? Were there any older relatives or mentors who you feel were latent heathens that contributed to your development?

Are you first generation pagan or second? What was your religious background before? Have you studied/explored other religions? What, if any, actual religious/spiritual training have you had? (pagan or mainstream)

When did you decide/discover that you were pagan or heathen- both your age, and when (about what year- I’m trying to place it in the spread of self determined-religions in the last half century) Did you stay with the first pagan path you found, or has there been a progression/exploration to bring you where you are now. Do you feel you may continue to worship differently as you age?

You’ve probably been aware of the growth of the “Neo-Pagan Movement”, what about it has appealed to you, and what has turned you off?

If you worship pretty much alone or with only a few others, what is/ are the reason(s) you haven’t been more involved in the “movement”? (busy with other things, like kids or work, not able to find others locally, turned off by certain local individuals or public spokesmen, not interested in what local groups do or not able to relate to the locals you did find)

Have you been more involved with a pagan community during some parts of your life and not others? If so, what accounts for the differences?

Do you have “cyber” contacts, although you don’t see people face to face? How real do these relationships feel to you?

Is there anything in the way the public sees pagans that you feel is wrong and should be corrected?

Do you have favorite pagan music, and/or do you find other music inspiring, and use it or adapt it (add new words perhaps) for pagan use? (examples would be great)

How does your religion or spirituality effect your ethical decisions? Would you say that the gods/goddesses are a motivation for you to act in a more positive way? Does your path have written or codified expressions of the right way to live?

Can you tell if there are any differences you see between how you believe you would live if you weren't pagan - for example if you were a Christian (or other mainstream religion)?

How many other pagans do you know (rough numbers- how many friends do you have who are pagan/heathen)? How many pagans do you know although you don’t know them well? How do you know them? (Did you seek them out because of common faith or meet them other ways and discover that they were pagan?) Do you intentionally spend time with people who share your faith or other interests, or are you more interested in personality and shared interests?

Have you had any interactions with the media either as a pagan? If so, what was your experience (good or bad)? Do you feel the media (or something else) is responsible for the way most people perceive pagans? Do you feel those interviewed share responsibility for a negative image of paganism- and if so, what advice would you like to give them when faced with a microphone?

If you have children- what kind of religious/spiritual training or grounding are you giving them? If they are being brought up pagan, have there been special challenges in school or socially that you've had to deal with? If they are teens, I'd love to hear from them directly if it's OK with both them and you- I can't ask minors without parental permission, but the deal is, whatever they tell me, I don't tell you, as I wouldn't share your responses with anyone else. If someone wants access to the information people have shared, I'll forward their request to you, but I'm not giving others access to my files. The amount of specific detail that is going into the book is small, and anything potentially disturbing will be cleared before I put it in. But on teens, I am sure that being a pagan teen in the 60s was far different from being a teen in the last decade, which is why I'm asking for their help.

What is the most important thing in your life right now- what do you invest your time, energy and other resources in? (What have you got to live for? What do you really want? What’s the underlying goal/ measure that you check individual decisions against?)

What are the life questions you are trying to find answers to? (not deep religious questions, but whatever is the focus of your attention- things like dealing with an illness, a legal problem, a relationship)

Does your faith effect how you vote or view social/political issues?

Does your faith effect how you spend money or how you make money?

Does your faith effect how you deal with the other members of your family? Friends? Co-workers?

Does your faith effect how you view death (What if any plans have you made for when you die?) Illness? Bad luck?

If you have been pagan for more than a decade, has how it affects your life changed over time?

Is there anything else you’d like to add- other questions you think I should be asking? (If you were going to read a book on pagans, what information would you be hoping to find?)

Are you handicapped or do you know any handicapped pagans? If so, do you have any perspective on how the community supports them? How about supporting our aging population (or other subgroups that need extra help)?

Do you support any charities? Give blood? What do you do to give back to the community? The Earth? Paganism is said to be a "world affirming" rather than a "world denying" faith; how do you feel about that?

One (of many) of the patterns that seems to be emerging is some individuals personally contact a “pagan” divinity and have a “I’ve come home” experience when they find a pagan group (or books) that seemed to be just what they’d decided on their own. Another pattern is of those whose spiritual worldview didn't quite match, but joined because it was better than being alone, but moved from group to group each time getting closer to their internal spiritual views. Others go on “solitarily” without group connections, dealing with the Deity they contact on their own. If any of these patterns apply to you, would you like to explain why that was the way you went?

If you saw my request on line, which list was it on?

Again, I want to thank you extensively for all the work and thought you put into answering these questions. I’ll try to be worthy of your trust and effort.

--Tchipakkan