WASHINGTON D.C. – While Pagans and scholars often grapple with what Pagans, Witches, and Heathens believe, Dr. Gwendolyn Reece, an Associate University Librarian and Director of Research, Teaching, and Learning for American University, is looking into what we do. Are we far more alike, under this fractious umbrella, than previously thought? The answer turns about to be a resounding yes.
![Dr. Gwendolyn Reece [courtesy photo]](https://wildhunt.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Gwen.jpg)
Dr. Gwendolyn Reece [courtesy photo]
The survey for the study was posted online from January 2012 to May of that same year. All respondents had to certify that they were at least 18 years of age, and were able to choose one or more than one category to self-identify. For example, a person may identify as a witch, a Wiccan, and a Buddhist. It also asked other questions, such as the year they began their current religious path and if they consider themselves a beginner or more advanced. In the end, 3318 people completed the survey
As for what the respondents do, most every person taking the survey had these practices in common: we engage in individual rituals (96%); we celebrate the seasonal rituals (95%); and we meditate (94%).
The Wild Hunt talked with Reece about the survey, the published article, and the follow-up article that she’s currently working on.
The Wild Hunt: Why did you undertake this study? What were you looking to find out?
Gwendolyn Reece: Most mainstream religious thinking in the United States focuses its conception of religion on belief and doctrine. However, this emphasis seems to me to be an approach that is more suited to Abrahamic traditions than other religions, and I am concerned that if belief is the primary standard for determining religious rights, then adherents of those religions for which doctrine does not hold the central place are at risk of having their freedom to exercise their religion curtailed.
There is no clear doctrine in contemporary Paganism, just as there wasn’t in classical Paganism in ancient Greece, for example, but the practice of religion is crucial. I wanted to know, on a large scale, what it is that people are doing as part of their religious practice as Pagans and I wanted to know what kinds of obstacles they encounter in pursuing their practice.
I have multiple reasons for wanting to understand these two topics. First, I don’t think we really know what activities people are engaged in to make up their overall practice and how these activities relate to each other. Secondly, I don’t think we know how important the various practices are to those who perform them. The answers to both of these questions are essential if we are going to defend our rights to practice. And finally, as a Witch and a Pagan myself, I want us all to be strategic in how we spend our scarce and valued resources, including both money and time. I want us to focus our efforts on addressing obstacles that are significantly inhibiting our collective ability to practice. We have not had adequate data to inform strategy and I am hopeful that this survey will be useful as people consider projects and initiatives. Certainly, there is much more data that needs to be collected to enrich the picture, but I hope to make a worthy contribution.
TWH: What was the most surprising or intriguing bit of information to come out of the study?
GR: There are categories of practice that are so prevalent that almost everyone is engaged in them, although the forms and the meanings constructed may be highly variable. There are also categories of practice appearing to be specialties that are not as common but those who practice them rank them as highly important, and those specialties are independent of tradition. This gives a different potential way of viewing Paganism as communities of practice and, frankly, of organizing support structures. So, for example, structures for sharing expertise and support amongst those who do curse-breaking might be beneficial but would not be tied to a particular tradition. Communities of practice, such as those in medicine and education, for example, focus on the work, the common enterprise, and come together to further the work. It might give us an additional and complementary way of interrelating and organizing.
TWH: In “Prevalence and Importance of Contemporary Pagan Practices” you take look at the practices in which modern Pagans, witches, and Heathens engage. You note that there are some practices so common that it is difficult to find Pagans who don’t perform them. Does this mean Pagans could be more easily defined by what they do rather than what they believe?
GR: Given the lack of doctrine, it would be easier to define them that way, however it would still be incomplete without some additional information, for example, that they take inspiration from pre-Christian traditions. However, I certainly think that ways of defining Pagans, Witches and Heathens without addressing practices are also grossly incorrect. Definitions are inherently challenging, especially when there are no institutional structures that can determine membership. This is why my sample is made up of anyone who self-identifies with the title “Pagan/Witch/Heathen.” If they think of themselves in that way then as far as I am concerned, they qualify.
TWH: It seems Pagans have much in common with other religions, when it comes to religion. In what significant ways are Pagans different in their practices than the Big Three of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism?
GR: That is not something that can be answered from the data in my survey, but there are excellent qualitative studies that can address those issues. I will point out that the two most ubiquitous practices are both ritually oriented, including individual ritual. I think the ritual element may be more heavily emphasized than in some other religions.
TWH: Performing magic was high on the list of practices, although it didn’t break the top 5 in practices. Was there a difference between different types of Pagans regarding magic? In other words, is magic more important to Witches and less important to Heathens? And, because there are more witches taking the survey, did that raise the percent of those who practice magic?
GR: The differences were not statistically significant. I, actually, did not necessarily expect that performing magick would be as high as it is, but expectations are often colored by the experiences of the perceiver. When I became a Pagan in the 1980s, the Witches I knew were all hardcore occultists. It seemed to me as though after the increasing in popularity that occurred in the 1990’s that magick was declining in importance within Paganism. However, in this sample, it is evident that magick continues to be an important aspect to most Pagans in their practice.
TWH: Over 65% said they attend festivals. Does this surprise you? Do you think the number is high? Why?
GR: Because Pagans are a hidden population and Paganism is not institutionally based, there is no way to generate a sample frame from which you can draw a probability sample. This survey was conducted using a type of snowball sampling, in which people forwarded it to people they knew, shared it on Facebook, and it was covered in a number of blogs, so the sample is drawn from people who are, in some way, plugged into the greater community, so this may be an instance of sample bias. There are no strong relationships with any of the other characteristics in the sample that would lead to the conclusion that this is inflated. However, realistically, if the American Religious Identification Survey estimate for Pagans and Wiccans is accurate, it is clear that the ticket-take doesn’t add up. I have no way of knowing for certain if the problem is my data or the methodology used to generate the estimate for the number of Pagans in the country.
TWH: The numbers for volunteering, social justice or activism were also very high. And yet there aren’t many Pagan organizations where people can volunteer or get involved in such activism. Does this look like a need that is going unmet for modern Pagans, a place for volunteering and activism within Paganism?
GR: It is pretty clear that if people are self-reporting accurately, most of them who are doing volunteer work, activism, and social justice work as a part of their practice are conducting these activities outside of Paganism, but understanding their work as an expression of their religion. I know I, for example, support a number of environmental organizations as a part of my religious practice. Given our small numbers, it is not clear whether Pagans could agree upon a limited enough range of topics and approaches to build viable Pagan charities and activist organizations. As I will discuss in my next article, lack of opportunities for meaningful volunteer work was identified as a barrier for a substantial number of Pagans. Again, whether or not specifically Pagan charities would meet this need would require further study.
TWH: In one section of the second article “Impediments to Practice in Contemporary Paganism,” you cover the obstacles experienced by Pagans as a result of the dominant culture in the US. What was one result that was out of the ordinary or something people may not consider?
GR: I was surprised by both the relative importance and number of people who identified that the dominant culture’s educational system was in conflict with their beliefs and practices.
TWH: What about obstacles for Pagans within Paganism?
GR: At least among my sample, there are clearly not enough appropriate and accessible groups to meet the needs of the current Pagan population. This is indicated by how many people identified the lack of a group to join as a barrier, the importance that they gave to this as an obstacle and, especially, the percentage of solitaries who indicate that this is a significant hindrance to their practice. Most Pagan groups operate on a home church model, which means they are never going to get particularly large and someone looking for a group often requires an invitation. There are many challenges with this model, and it’s clear that in terms of sheer numbers, there are Pagans who want to belong to groups that cannot find an appropriate and accessible one.
TWH: What else will you be covering in the next article?
GR: The other thing I’m currently analyzing and am concerned about is the long-term viability of the volunteer leader/clergy model that is currently the norm within Paganism. There are a host of serious challenges related to the fact that leaders and clergy, with only a small handful of exceptions, must rely on income from another source.
* * *
Reece’s new article is titled “Impediments to Practice in Contemporary Paganism” and it is uses the same data set. She plans to submit it to The Pomegranate by the end of March, where it will be reviewed for publication.
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Thank you for reporting on this. An important survey, indeed
Thank you! I’m glad it is useful.
is the long-term viability of the volunteer leader/clergy model that is currently the norm within Paganism.
It’s worked fine for the Wica for 5+ decades.
I’m not so sure. Many Wiccan covens are lively and successful for decades, but others dissolve in flames fairly rapidly, and still others seem to slowly dissolve into the air as long-time members lose interest in participating in group activities. I know many Craft elders who become solitary, either burned out or no longer satisfied by traditional leadership roles, even as there newcomers are searching for a group to join.
I think that even in Wicca, there’s a strong argument to be made that our leadership models aren’t proving out well over time, and could use rethinking.
Never mind the point that there are plenty of Pagans who are not looking for anything on the Wiccan model to begin with, and yet could use some well-run community organizations to join.
I know that some covens die out from lack of new members, and relocation of active members. Based in San Jose, we have coven members in San Rafael.
This is a challenge with the kind of “house church” model most groups have. They are very susceptible to being affected by personal life changes of the leader or host.
This. Also, just because they’re skilled at the religious part of their position doesn’t mean they’re skilled at leadership and understanding group dynamics. Unfortunately being part of a “house church” means you take the one with the other. I don’t think the Christian model is necessarily better, but I appreciate churches that have lay governance and procedures in place to hire and fire pastors, I think there’s a better chance of getting someone with both kinds of skills (and a way out if you’ve picked someone who for whatever reason isn’t working well with the group).
Thank you, for your comment, Cat. As I just mentioned, I think that burn-out is a very serious problem. Hopefully I will have more to say in the not to distant future.
Cat, l look at the same facts and see them differently, as institutional epiphenomena of individual changes of path. In the background I see the fact that the Craft keeps growing even if its most common institutional incarnation has the life expectancy of a freshly hatched fingerling.People find it’s not for them. People have bad personal chemistry. People who are in Circle because that had an irresistible new idea have had another and need some time alone with it. People grow, or don’t grow, and become a mismatch with others.Which is not to say that leadership could not be enhanced. A leader should be able to spot all the things in the preceding paragraph as they happen and deal with it in the best interests of the covener. Training would help that.Even a small UU congregation has someone who actually likes to keep the books. Most covens are too small for that. Some institutional fix for that would also be helpful.
Is “institutional epiphenomena of individual changes of path” actually different from what I said, though? The model of how Wiccan clergy and groups will relate to one another over time assumes long-term, stable groups, with leadership that is relatively stable also: first degree initiates becoming second degree leadership, “hiving off” to form their own groups at or near third degree… Tidy. Pat. Stable.
And, yes, even among Wiccans, this is not the only model, of course. But more to the point, the model does not seem to perform as advertised. I well remember controversies within CoG, when I was last a member, about “ghost covens”: “groups” whose HP and HPs were still around and still counted as clergy, but whose theoretical groups were comprised of members no one had seen in months or years.
On another note, I am one of a host of Craft Elders in my local area who are completely unaffiliated with any coven–we don’t find it works for us to lead covens anymore, and we don’t seem to be particularly valued as leaders in large, open organizations (which most of us have put in our share of years to feeding, as well). In spite of the dearth of groups for newcomers and the large numbers of newcomers, there aren’t so many interested in the commitment either of study or of steady membership in a coven. So the elders often wind up hanging around with each other–great friends for many years, but not exactly leadership, either.
I do know Wiccan clergy who have kept up the work of running successful training covens for decades, and I definitely admire them. But they seem to be the exception, not the rule, at least in and around my zip code. Perhaps others have other experiences, but mine lead me to question whether the Wiccan model is actually working as it is theoretically supposed to do.
Most of what you say is drawn from places outside my experience, so I will respond only to one paragraph. Does not the COG ghost-coven problem arise, first and foremost, because COG is a more recent institution than the coven and is still adapting? COG needs rules that a coven does not, and it’s the fate of institutions of any size that their necessary rules can still suck up time from the basic mission.
I used to worry about the life cycle issue, but after a decade or so as a dedicated Wiccan, I’ve come to question the premise that covens and situations should last forever or even that their longevity is something to always strive toward. I’ve done the whole bit – the training coven that ended on a bad note, solitary, seeker, then a good stretch of years in a very productive self-made coven, or at least a solid working relationship. I may again soon be a solitary. I used to mourn the loss of coven membership or stability as a failure. I was at fault, they were at fault, Wicca’s aversion to structure was at fault. Someone or something was to blame for this failure, this mini-tragedy.
As I look back though, I see that all of these situations or phases lasted as long as they were supposed to. The training coven was invaluable for learning those cores skills. It was not a place to continue to grow, and the leaders really were not good people. The couple years of solitary work and seeking taught me to stand on my own two feet and create what I could not find. The next phase gave me years of solid support and growth in my role as a priest.
I don’t know yet what the next step will entail, but I feel that stirring of transition even now. None of these changes were comfortable, but the path of a witch isn’t about getting comfortable. It’s about taking the road that needs to be taken at a given time, or heading off the road into wilderness. It’s about facing the ordeals and gaining from them. Solitude can indeed be part of those ordeals. Would it all be easier if I could spend a lifetime within a big happy hiving stable lineage or even a temple of some sort? It would, but I would probably not be doing the work I am supposed to be doing, on myself and out in the world. I have also found that being a solitary or semi-solitary does not preclude one from having excellent long-term fellowship and collaboration with others in the Craft.
As I said in the interview, I am still doing the analysis on the obstacles section and hope to be completing that article before too long. However, I can tell you that within my sample of 3,318, 989 are clergy and leaders, which is a significant sample. The rate and severity among this subgroup that report burn-out as an challenge is alarmingly high. There are other issues as well that are probably compounding the stress. Although it is clearly working well in many instances for the people immediately involved, the numbers I am looking at suggest a very serious problem when you look at the bigger picture…which is what large-scale quantitative research allows you to do.
I can’t wait for the next section to come out! When you said “obstacles” I thought you meant chaplaincy bureaucracies and zoning boards. This is closer to home.
Excellent interview. I believe that I participated in the survey–as I have with other Pagan-oriented surveys–and learning the outcome is always interesting, and frequently illuminating, if not downright useful.
Thank you so much for your comments and for participating! I am really grateful to everyone who took the time to fill out the survey and really hope it sparks useful discussions. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!
Interesting interview. I’m so glad you’re doing this work Gwendolyn!
Thank you so much, Hecate_Demetersdatter!
Thanks for your work, Gwendolyn! Proud to count you among my community of DC pagans!
Thank you, David! Proud to be one of our awesome community of DC Pagans! Definitely keep me in the loop when you organize lobby day.
I’d love to see the actual article so I can see the details of the survey (I used to do election polling work, so surveys are close to my heart), because it really sounds interesting, but US$27 for a single article is a little steep.
Alas…this is the way these academic publishers work. However, if you are close to any academic libraries, most of them would let you in if you wanted to go. You could call their reference desk and see if they have Pomegranate in any of their online databases. In some it is embargoed for a period of time, so be sure to have them check for the actual article. As an academic library faculty member, I so wish we could make all of this open access, but I understand the struggle the publishers are having. It is a new world and a new viable business model for them has not yet emerged.
That may be, and I’m obviously not aware of what the details of your publishing agreement with The Pomegranate are, but have you considered possibly publishing in a non-academic outlet as well? There are plenty of respectable places that would do so, I’m sure, and it would make the work available to a much larger audience by an order of magnitude.
Very good point. I know I can certainly present at conferences and gatherings…I will have to see if I am permitted to repackage for a broader audience.
Here is the list of those activities that over 80% of the respondents indicated is a part of their overall practice – which means it is far more likely that people are doing them than notl: Individual ritual, seasonal ritual, meditation, making offerings, worship deity/ies, environmental or green practices as part of religious practice, performing magick/spells on behalf of the self, healing work, divination, prayer, herbalism, performing magick/spells on behalf of the greater good.
“I was surprised by both the relative importance and number of people who identified that the dominant culture’s educational system was in conflict with their beliefs and practices.”
Not really that surprising given the number of Christians who say that.
While I do see what you’re saying here, I would disagree that the problem can be made to seem more significant because a number of Christians say the same thing as Pagans/Witches/Heathens do. Nor is the problem even one unique to the United States. Australia is currently going through a number of ‘hiccoups’ with its education system and the problems there are throughout the entire system – from training new teachers to curricula to actual efforts in the classroom and testing methodologies, back around to university entrance processes. Although Australia could be gauged as equivalent to the United States in a number of ways, even countries like Japan are having quite severe educational problems as well. Japanese teachign methodologies are almost fifty or even sixty years behind the rest of the world and the needs of their students simply aren’t being met by attempts to reform the education system.
Something of a detraction from the real subject, but my point is that while the fact that the dominant culture’s education system is in conflict with the people who participated in the study, it is a problem aruond the world and for everyone.
You are conflating two different things Seeker. Poor education systems and education not teaching religious beliefs as facts. While our (I’m an Aussie) education system needs a major overhaul it is always going to be based on teaching about ‘reality’ (well one hopes it will). Teaching religious beliefs as if they are facts is not the job of any State education system. Educating kids about religions should be part of any curriculum though.
As a Shamanic Practitioner there are things I do that any hypnotherapist would recognise, albeit with a different name, but other things I do and ‘believe’ don’t have the luxury of having hard facts to support them (yet). I’d be horrified to have them taught as being real in a secular school
One you might want to look into what they consider “Festivals” as I know for a fact that a lot hold “festivals within already ongoing events”(Hint….SCA and other gatherings) Two I don’t believe that the already in place “groups” fit in everybody’s choices,I know the one in my area doesn’t,I don’t follow their doctrine and dogma.Three please define religion as I don’t consider most forms of paganism religion,a path of belief and faith yes,but not a religion.One last thought My charity and “good works” are personal and hands on whereas donating to a group that you don’t know what they are doing with it is just not something I want to do and I know a lot of others feel the same way,Charities have received a really bad reputation with us due to their practices,I would much rather help support my neighborhood and personal circle than take undue backlash from helping support something that is probably not doing what it says it is doing..sorry went on my soapbox but I don’t wish for paganism to become a “Religion” as what we do sets us apart not a part of the conforming masses.And yes our current educational system does suck