The Pendulum Swings

pen·du·lum

a body so suspended from a fixed point as to move to and fro by the action of gravity and acquired momentum.

I was lucky enough to meet a Pagan while I was at work. We had a wonderful chat. While chatting with him, he hit upon a topic that has really been on my mind as of late, the way it seems that the pendulum swings figuratively .

I understand that there are people who have come to Paganism from other faiths, and for the most part they are open minded, caring, wonderful people. These people are fun to be around. They are eager to share their knowledge and experiences with everyone in a positive, and life affirming way. These are the types of people you want to associate with on a regular basis.

Then there are those who come to Paganism from what they feel is an oppressive faith, one that condemns anything different, and is intolerant of other belief systems. These people are confrontational at all times. They have anger, and in some cases outright hate, for the mainstream religions. These latter people tend to suck the positive energy from ever group activity be it a ritual or just a gathering for fellowship.

For instance, a dear friend's father passed away. I, along with two Pagan friends went to the funeral out of respect of our friend. The family is Christian, as is our friend. Through out the service the Christian God was mentioned, as He should have been, Christian service, Christian theme no big deal, right? Ever time the minister called for prayer I bowed my head, and asked the Goddess and God to help this soul on his way to his Heaven. One of the people with me would sigh, and roll her eyes at every mention of God, she refused to bow her head in silence for a moment in honor of our friend's father. By the end of the service, I was physically exhausted form having to shield myself from my Pagan associate.

Please understand, Dear Reader, that the above is not the norm, these types of situations happen with regularity. The only thing I know to do is to avoid these types of people. It can be hard, some people are quite adept at hiding their anger, until there is mention of a mainstream religious group, then the anger comes out.

In closing, we all must keep a positive attitude and surround yourself with positive people, and then you will be fine.