TWH – Recently, The Wild Hunt interviewed two speakers, Murtagh AnDoile and Melissa Harrington from the “Conference on Current Pagan Studies.” The interviews focused on the impact of COVID-19 and its restrictions on Pagans.
AnDoile interviewed about 25 people from a variety of Pagan groups. He wanted to learn how Pagans understood the pandemic.
During the pandemic, Pagans largely shifted from face-to-face (F2F) rituals to online rituals. Paganism is an embodied tradition, but online rituals are bodiless.
Harrington spoke about this move to an online Pagan practice. She suggested it might change the Pagan understanding of disembodied techniques. Those techniques include trance, guided meditation, and astral projection.
photo sent by AnDoile
Murtagh AnDoile
AnDoile’s Findings
AnDoile interviewed Pagans from different traditions. Each person interviewed reported on the activities of their group. Groups ranged in size from four to 150 members.
He interviewed people from the US: the Northeast, the Upper Midwest, and the Pacific Coast. Note these interviews are not representative of all Pagan communities. They do, however, report how some Pagan groups have responded and understood the pandemic.
Those interviewed came from racially mixed groups but were predominantly white. They occupied all points along the sexual orientation and gender identity spectrums. Their ages ranged from 21 to 78.
Almost all groups continued to meet in classes, meetings, or rituals. AnDoile reported that everyone missed F2F contact in sacred space. When groups provided food and drink, they pre-packaged it.
That a “number of groups [were] still conducting face-to-face rituals, especially with COVID-19 restrictions” surprised AnDoile the most. Other groups adapted to the pandemic in different ways.
Some small groups became “quarantine pods.” That term refers to people who agree to only go without masks with each other.
AnDoile found that older groups made the shift to online work more easily than newer groups. Some groups have moved to Zoom rituals. Others have ceased doing group rituals.
Groups adapted their activities to those that work better online. AnDoile found that the use of techniques like vision quests or guided meditation had increased.
Harrington – Online ritual as disembodied practice
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced most Pagans to abandon embodied F2F practice. Instead, many Pagans have moved to a bodiless online practice. Harrington thought this might influence how Pagans understand disembodied practices and concepts. Those practices and concepts include meditation, group mind, and astral travel.
According to Harrington, the pandemic has forced Pagans “to explore the non-embodied aspects of Pagan spiritual practice.” It also provided an “opportunity to discuss and develop them.” She believes “we will get back to our embodied practices but continue to use what we have learnt alongside them.”
“The use of online rituals has begun to open discussion of egregore and group mind,” Harrington said.
She felt that these topics had “gone out of fashion.” Maybe they had just receded from interest.
She said that, despite social distancing, “People doing ritual online are reporting feelings of connection, achieving spiritual states, and building group minds with online rites.”
According to Harrington, people are reporting “magical success stories.”
Harrington discussed differences between older and newer groups. Pre-existing groups would have already formed a group mind. Some more recent eclectic groups have reported “experiencing group mind effects such as emotional closeness, similar visions, correlating dreams and effective group meditations, as well as perceptions of effective results magic.”
“Established groups are also using astral magic as core practice,” Harrington continued.
They meet via zoom for chat, preparation, and debriefing. The core magic, however, occurs “as a sacred experience performed purely on the astral. It’s great to see this revival of techniques more associated with earlier magical societies being explored and revitalized.”
Harrington – Nature spirits and online rituals
People in F2F rituals interact consciously or unconsciously with the local nature spirits. In an online ritual, each person will interact with their own unique local nature spirits. The online group, however, will not share common nature spirits.
In an online ritual, no one knows how the local nature spirits of every person interact. It is even less clear how the group mind will interact with the many unique nature spirits. Harrington has no definite answer either.
Image credit: Pixabay
Harrington said, “Perhaps someone might lead a rite in their native area that connects to their native nature spirits and others could join in, like ritual/astral visiting, or a diversely located group might focus on a particular area or deity.”
Harrington noted that reconstructionist and Khematic traditions evolved with a particular set of nature spirits. She contrasted those regional traditions with Wiccan practice.
She said “We simply work with four directions/elements and spirit, often using the same visualizations and invocations across the globe. I suppose that’s one of the advantages of collective praxis.”
Harrington – Online initiations
Mystery traditions face a unique problem with online initiations.
Harrington reported that many people hold a common belief that “one has to be fully immersed in the [initiation] rite, not distanced by a screen, nor separated from other participants. There is a complex system of authenticity of tradition and transmission of lineage in initiations, in a kind of charismatic transfer of magical energy from initiate to initiate going back” to the founding of the tradition.
The second-degree initiation involves “an actual laying on of hands and transfer of charismatic energy within a ceremonial circle.” For that transfer to occur, that charismatic energy would have to travel through the Internet. She thinks it is possible for online initiations to become acceptable.
Some Pagans may use the COVID-19 protective restrictions “to explore ideas about astral travel and magic, Hermetics, and ritual inner form. It’s a good opportunity to strengthen these at this time.”
Both AnDoile and Harrington noted that disembodied techniques work better online than more embodied techniques such as chanting, singing, or drumming.
In addition, COVID-19 and its restrictions have been a stressor for all Pagan communities. A year into the pandemic, Pagans should think about possible long-term changes to the communities resulting from that stressor.
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