response 1 of 23:

Apr 17 22:23 UTC 1994

Should We?  Of course we should.
I have no answeres for the other questions at this time.

response 3 of 23:

Apr 20 02:39 UTC 1994

Yeah, I have a real objection to the "Chinese restaraunt tradition"- pick one
godform from pantheon A and one from pantheon B, pick a Roman holiday, give
it a Celtic name and celebrate it in Wiccan/neo-pagan style.  I think far too
many people not only practice that way, they don't know there is any other way
and haven't thought it through carefully enough to see a problem.  I'd much
rather do enough study to know how the Greeks related to their gods, how the
Celts did, etc. and choose the appropriate approach/pantheon for me, or for the
purpose at hand.  That might mean that even within one coven/group we might
need to stretch ourselves a bit to participate in a ritual run by another
member in a style other than we might choose.  Even moreso when visiting other
groups, but I think it's useful discipline to learn to understand how other
people see things and to work in other styles.  Perhaps this attitude will 
help us learn to respect groups who work in different ways, rather than falling
prey to "one true way-ism".  One reason we resort to pablum when designing
large public rituals may be (I hate to say it) a lack of respect for any
tradition with which we are not intimately familiar, and/or a lack of trust.
That gets into the issue of "credentials" and standardization: what does YOUR
first degree mean?, etc. (and what of those who self-initiate or don't deal
with that system at all?).  I don't have any easy solution to these problems,
other than time and communication.  Wonder who might.

response 5 of 23:

Apr 21 18:25 UTC 1994

of course it's true.  Here's part of the conflict: we come from a hierarchical
so(am I on tty2? well.) society, so when we go to create a non-hierarchical
religion, we end up trying to lump everyone at the "top".  We have perhaps
failed to see that each function is equally important- teacher, priest/ess,
healer, warrior, seer, "engineer" and even "congrigant".  Perhaps as we learn
to recognize those functions more people will take pride in the roles that
suit them best.

response 7 of 23:

May 18 00:34 UTC 1994

It seems many religions use archetypal images for evoking transcendent
experience.  That is, that the experience trancends the symbolic
image, not that the experience is an any way "super-normal."  I 
believe that people's combined power is always communicating and working
together.  It's important to me to have deep religious experience, but I so
often end up not feeling comfortable with the specifics of one sect or another.
 So what's to do?  How do you bring groups together without watering the whole
thing down?  Then again, are we a whole bunch of fetishists or what?  Yup.

response 9 of 23:

May 18 13:18 UTC 1994

This is what we've done here, i think.  taken many people from different
religious areas, with different experiences/beliefs, and we have a
community where they can interact, share ideas, etc.

response 11 of 23:

May 25 21:18 UTC 1994

I still like getting together in a the Non-Cyber world. Though to be 
honest, it's so much easier getting here! I can do it any time, and
at least many places.
My fear is that people will try to replace physical gatherings with this
sort of gathering. I think *that* would be a mistake.

response 13 of 23:

May 26 19:52 UTC 1994

Here's an example- we can plan and organize face-to-face gatherings fairly
efficiently through mail, without trying to play telephone tag.  We could,
for example, design a group ritual.  But we couldn't easily perform such a
ritual to any good effect (although the image of a bunch of people chanting
in front of their terminals, entering call and response, etc. is rather
amusing).  Also, while we might develop a degree of familiarity and trust
here, a group of people all need to be together to really develop a high
level of comfort and a "group mind".  Phaedrus, does this reassure you a bit?

response 15 of 23:

Jun 6 18:29 UTC 1994

Great.  How about an outing, say- to Rennaisance Acres?  Or meet for tea at
Sweetwaters and then go book-shop hopping?  Just an idea, I know this is the
wrong item for it.

response 17 of 23:

Jun 7 20:08 UTC 1994

Well, I'd put in a vote for a Friday evening or Sunday morning/noon.

response 19 of 23:

Jun 8 12:56 UTC 1994

heh

response 21 of 23:

Jun 9 05:07 UTC 1994

Yes, this isn't the "herbs thread", but I'd like to put in my vote
for next Sunday.  I'd like to make it, but I have company this weekend.

response 23 of 23:

Jun 9 18:06 UTC 1994

So we're planning for Fathers' day?  I'll talk to Peter if I get to the
Farmers' mkt on Sat. AM, or call him.  I'll go find that other thread now.