It should go without saying that the modern pagan movement is in one hell of a boom period.  Not a day goes by that I don’t see a “let’s welcome our new members post” on social media with a list of names below it.  Out in the real world, casual conversation has led to more than a few instances with someone revealing they’re a Wiccan, Witch, Druid, Norse or Celtic Pagan.  Not to say that there isn’t still a pretty big stigma among the more religiously conservative masses, but acceptance is at an all-time high.

With the mass of new faces, so to comes the gatekeepers.  Folks who’ve been on the path for a while and feel their toes are getting stepped on.  Though, I don’t doubt that most of these folks are well versed in their respective theology, they tend to forget they were once new bloods.  Instead of imparting their wisdom, they hoard it and use it to mock and belittle those who are just starting out.  Being an old school nerd, as well as, an old school pagan, I can tell you this mentality is not relegated to just one community.  It’s all too often that folks feel threatened when a resurgence of interest hits the passion they feel belongs to them.  It’s no longer a niche and that bothers some folks.  To be honest, sometimes it even bother’s this old fart, but I deal.

One of the many ways I’ve seen the gatekeeping types try to “own the newbies” is through pop culture.  If they find out that you’re pagan path has been influenced by television shows, fantasy novels, video games or gods forbid comics, it’s like blood in the water.  “Oh, Vikings got you into Norse Paganism?  Ha!  That show is so inaccurate, you’re obviously not a real Norse Pagan!  You’re just a larper.” 

*Grabs soap box*

Okay, on a side note, can we stop using larper as a fucking insult here?  Anyone who thinks that’s an own has never talked with those dudes before.  Spending a decade running a shop that sold knives and swords, I can tell you that they’re incredibly knowledgeable with regards to the origins behind what they roleplay with.

*Puts soap box back under desk*

Ahem.  Anyway, my point is that they see pop culture as some sort of affront to their path and those that adopted a faith though it as somehow lesser.  While there’s certainly valid criticism to be had with regards to someone saying they’re a Norse Pagan, having only binged watched all the seasons of Vikings, I’ve found that these people are very much a minority.  These aren’t the folks we should concern ourselves with as they tend to lose interest and fade away.  Whereas the ones who don’t are the ones that find these types of media as a sort of gateway drug.  The ones who watch Vikings or Merlin and then want more.  They use it as a springboard and careening down the rabbit hole by absorbing all the information they can find.  These are people like me.

Yep, my own path started in much the same way.  I didn’t have shows like Vikings or Merlin, but I did have Books like The Lord of The Rings and movies like Excalibur and even Star Wars to a certain extent.  It was characters like Merlin, Gandalf and even Obi-Wan Kenobi who sparked my interest.  The wise men, the wizards, the druids.  Those who held sacred knowledge and imparted it to others.  Those were the people I idolized, which is why it’s so disappointing when people choose to gatekeep imparting what they’ve learned. 

Let’s be perfectly honest here.  Do we really want to bet that, more than a few of, said gatekeepers didn’t get started in a similar way.  Especially the old folks like me.  When we started, the internet wasn’t really a viable source of information.  Most of us probably grew up reading books and watching movies like Conan and Lord of the Rings.  We probably got together and played D&D and that sparked our imagination and made us realize that we wanted more.

That right there is the beauty of pop culture.  It sparks the imagination, it makes us want more, it drives us to learn.  So I say be proud of your influences.  If someone has and issue with the fact that your foray into paganism started because you watched Merlin or read Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, that’s their problem, not yours.  Don’t let them get you down and DO NOT let them stop you.        

Photo by Douglas Bagg on Unsplash