Cat Chapin-Bishop at Quaker Pagan Reflections has posted a very brave personal essay exploring the need for, and hierarchy created by, fame in the Pagan community. In the process she outs her own cravings for Pagan-world fame, and how this fame-centered economy sometimes brings out the worst in those who would be our leaders and teachers.

“…there’s also something that’s a little off in my craving for fame through writing. I can joke about it, but I know it’s there. When my friend K. is talking about his latest writing project, or the interaction with the organizers at a festival where he’s presenting, I think, “I want that!” I don’t just want to write for the sake of the writing, or publish for the sake of communicating with an audience. I’m attracted to the shallow, superficial aspects of it, too. I want the sense of being Important, and having people act like they agree with me. It’s very adolescent, really. And it’s also very, very Pagan … it’s a way of life in the Pagan world. In the Pagan world, all too often, you can tell exactly who the Big Name Pagans are by how they walk into a room. And those of us with friends who are Big Name Pagans–or even passing acquaintances who are Big Name Pagans–are under a constant temptation to puff ourselves, at least a little, by name dropping.”

While I’m certainly no Starhawk, Margot Adler, or Thorn Coyle, I have spent quite a bit of time processing my own small piece of Pagan notoriety. I too have felt the pressure to publish that book, the book that would cement my name and place in Pagan history, and I was more than a little pleased when I started getting offers to speak at festivals and public events. But at the same time I, like Cat, have felt deeply ambivalent concerning the way our communities measure what she (and the Quakers) call “weight” (which I gather is akin to spiritual authority). I have also realized that I may never write that book, or if I do, it won’t be anytime soon, or in a form that will garner me the kind of Pagan-fame that gets people to name-drop you in occult stores. I realized that what I am is a new-media journalist and commentator, and that for me to be truly effective at what I do I can never aspire to be part of the unspoken Pagan hierarchy Cat describes, a pecking order that can value sales and volume over truth or accuracy.

I urge all my readers to read her post, and tell me what you see when you look at our “leaders” and “teachers”. Are our brightest lights there on merit? Or are they simply the ones with the best representation and publishing contracts? Have you felt the urge to “publish that book”? Have you ever found yourself name-dropping some BNP (big-name Pagan) at an event or shop? What do you think about Pagan fame?

Modern Reformation magazine profiles the growing movement of Quaker Pagans, and interviews Cat Chapin-Bishop of the Quaker Pagan Reflections blog.

“In the last decade, this dual faith has sprung up around the country, including Quaker-pagan gatherings, seminars, an extensive presence on the Internet, and even explicitly Quaker-pagan congregations. There may be only several hundred Quaker pagans, but among American Quakers, their presence can be distinctly felt.”

The article also speaks to Pagan-turned-Christian Carl McColman, and Stasa Morgan-Appel of the Musings of a Quaker Witch blog. The tone of religion journalist Matthew Streib seems to be intrigued but cautious, noting that the dwindling number of Quakers could receive an infusion of new blood from curious Pagans, but that the tradition (specifically the Friends General Conference) risks losing its focus on Christ (and thus its Christian identity).

“[Cat Chapin-Bishop] says many pagans find Quakerism attractive because it allows them to appear more mainstream. Still, she worries that if their commitment doesn’t deepen, that could weaken Quaker beliefs. “I see the pagan world waking up and saying, `Wow, there’s Quakers, and maybe we could be Quakers and pagans — cool!’” she said. ‘If it stays on that superficial level, that’s not good news, and threatens Quakerism with real dilution. But if there are some leadings and people … take in the wisdom that people have to teach us, then it’s a wonderful thing for both pagans and the Society of Friends.’”

Could the more liberal strains of Quakerism slowly evolve into a post-Christian faith? It isn’t an unheard-of event. Unitarian-Universalism, once two distinct liberal Christian traditions, has embraced a post-Christian identity and now happily includes a number of theological points of view (including Paganism) within its ranks. Whether these theological shifts are ultimately healthy is a topic that is still being debated, though even conservative Quakers are hesitant to take an action that would make Pagans feel unwelcome.

“Christ is not the sort of person who would drive people away — I don’t know that it’s our job to stop it … Our job is to seek to know the will of the living Christ and to obey it the best we can. When we humans try to fix one another, we just make things much, much worse.”

Whether its fate is to remains essentially Christian, or evolve into something else, the Religious Society of Friends will most likely avoid hostile cries of heresy and fights over blasphemy that would be greeted if this trend manifested in a more mainstream Christian church. Instead, the Quakers will most likely do what they have always done, listen in silence, and wait for the “leading of the spirit”.