Here is the first step of the pagan 12 steps, or at least the Empowerment 12
steps:

Step 1 -- We recognize that we have given away personnal power by addiction
to substances or behaviors, that this has resulted in dysfunctional living
and that it is time to begin reclaiming our power and restoring balance to
ourselves and our lives.

32 responses total.

This is the first step of the empowerment steps created by Salina Fox of
Circle Sanctuary in Wisconson. She developed these to aide those pagans that
seek recovery from stuff.

This step is in contrast to the original first step of AA which reads:

"We admitted we were powerless and that our lives had become unmanageable."

I would be interested in what others feel are the differances in perspectives
between these two statements.

Johnny

Well, wordy and very "California" somehow, but pretty apt.  I especially
like "it is time..." because it's all very well to say "I oughta change,
I gotta change, I'm gonna change", but to make it *now* is a different
step.

        It reads like a legal translation of a Reservation credo ...

        It's not just the word;  it's that the words are chosen for emotional
impact ("giving away power", "dysfunctional living", "restoring balance")
whereas the original twelve-ste had a spare poetry to them.

I like it.

Where can I get a look at all 12 steps?

I agree with John. Wordy and PC.

The complete empowerment twelve steps can be found at http:/circle.org.

Bamboozle, but you must agree that it isn't christian, nor does it require
that you admit to yourself that you aren't the most powerful being in the
universe, right?

It isn't Christian (nor are the 12-steps that AA offers).

Who claimed that I (or anyone) am the most powerful being in the universe?
No human is. 

circle.org is a Jewish site.
how about: www.circlesanctuary.org/healing/Empowerment12.html
  
I'll also cut and paste below, for people without handy Web access (in
general, I resent it when people say, "If you want this, just go to this site
and look for 10 minutes" because they don't want to do at least the courtesy
of providing a direct address, and even then infer that everyone who might
be interested has Web access just because they have Grex access...)
  
Empowerment Twelve Steps
created by Selena Fox in June, 1995 
for use by Pagans in recovery from addictions who are in Twelve Step based
treatment programs 
Step 1 We recognize that we have given away personal power by addiction to
substances or behaviors, that this has resulted in dysfunctional living, and
that it is time to begin reclaiming our power and restoring balance to
ourselves and our lives. 

Step 2 Came to acknowledge that the Divine Power within can bring about
healing change and harmony. 

Step 3 Chose to allow the Divine within of our own spiritual path to be the
central guiding force in ourselves and our lives. 

Step 4 Examined ourselves deeply and honestly on all dimensions -- physical,
mental, behavioral, emotional, and spiritual. 

Step 5 Acknowledged to the Divine, to our egos, and to at least one ally what
is healthy and what is unhealthy in our bodies, thoughts, emotions, behaviors,
and souls. 

Step 6 Were ready for the Divine within to work transformation to restore
balance to ourselves and our lives. 

Step 7 Sincerely invited the Divine within to dispel barriers to change and
to facilitate transformation. 

Step 8 Made a list of all beings we have harmed, and became willing to make
amends to them all. 

Step 9 Made direct amends to such beings as much as possible, except when to
do so would cause harm to them or others or make a difficult situation worse.


Step 10 Continued our process of self-examination, acknowledging our strengths
as well as our problems, and promptly acknowledging our mistakes and our
successes when they occurred. 

Step 11 Sought through spiritual activities to strengthen our relationship
with the Divine within and to allow this transpersonal dimension of ourselves
to be the guiding force in our lives. 

Step 12 Having had a spiritual rebirth as a result of this process of healing
transformation, we continue our work with these principles and are willing
to share our story with those who come to us in need. 

 
) 1995, Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary, PO Box 219, Mt. Horeb, WI 53572 USA.
Copies of Selena's Empowerment Twelve Steps may be downloaded and photocopied
for personal and group use -- include credit and copyright info line as noted
above. Advance written permission must be obtained for reprinting in
publications. 

        All of which only proves Selena F. isn't as good of a writer as 
Bill W. and his cohorts were.   There are many things about AA and it's
traditions that I deeply respect - and the Bowlderization of the original
Twelve Steps leaves something lacking - perhaps it's the copyright notice?

There's a copyright notice, John. Selena's.

        That's what I was alluding to.

        The AA would never have copyrighted versions of the 12 steps.

AA is more interested in helping people than in lining their pockets, though.
(That was not a laud of AA, it was a flame of Selena, for the sarcasm
impaired.)

        You have to look out for your own financial interests, though, when
you're operating outside of the mainstream.  I don't like it either, but I
can understand it.

Like you don't have to look out for your own financial interests when you
operae inside the mainstream? Pshaw. there are people in the mainstream ou
to rip us off. There are people ou of the mainstream out to rip us off. Greed
is greed is greed, and frankly, that's one of the few intuitions I've gotten
consistently coming from Selena Fox (or Llewellyn publications, or...)

True, but think how much money ADF could make if we charged $10
a minute to talk to Archdruid on the phone...  >8)

think how much SLG could make... =} -  =}

The twelve steps of AA can not be reprinted without the permission of AA for
exactly the same reason as the Empowerment Twelve Steps. Most don't connect
the copywrite at the beginning of the Big Book with the included 12 steps.
Have any of you meet Salina and Dennis? Seen where and how they live? Why be
judgemental and say bad things about others? What is it that causes us to so
quickly curse those that we haven't meet? Or even to curse those we have? I
wonder if it is true that what we say and think puts forth energy into the
universe. I wonder if the pagan precept that all things are connected is real
and if it is, whether or not most pagans have concidered what this really
means.

We have gone from dicussing whether or not the Empowerment 12 steps are more
reflective of the Pagan Values to slopping mud....

Have fun.

Shockingly, Johnny, YES, some of us have met Selena.  Horror of
horrors, in a small community like ours we do all tend to know
each other.  Why do you jump to conclusions by assuming that
we don't?  Why do you assume that all things being interconnected
means that we can't have individual opinions?  If being a pagan
means giving up my personal beliefs just so other people won't
feel bad, then fuck 'em.

(Ooh, look, we got back to surrendering the sense of self, which
was my opinion of the 12 step program!  It all comes around, doesn't it?)

Well, Johnny seems determined to stick with the 12-step program,
and to defend it against these criticisms.  That can only be
because he has yet to see an alternative program, pagan or
otherwise, that works.  That's not his fault.  I see a serious
challenge to paganism here: can pagans develop a new program
which will not only work but which will also arise from paganism,
and which will involve only pagan values?  Not 12 steps, not
any "steps."  No bullshit words like "empowerment" (gag me with 
a swizzle stick).  Not necessarily even "meetings," in the
sense that 12-steppers mean it.  If such a thing existed and
was shown to be able to consistently turn problem drinkers
into free men and women, that would be something for Johnny
to think about.  Until then, I'm not sure he has a choice.

If one of you pagans don't come up with something, I might do
it myself.

        Although this is probably due to working with computers for too many
hours in a day, I've always seen ideologies as a stack, like networking
protocols (if anyone here's familliar with that analogy).  Now to my 
understanding, AA's steps tend to reside "under" (or are more fundamental
than) religious beliefs, but are "above" (or less fundamental, an 
elaboration of) spirituality.

        Not that it's impossible to have religion without spirituality,
but people who tend to be both spiritual and religious tend to seem to 
respond natively as spiritual, and then as religious.

        Guess what I'm getting at is, even though the expression of AA's
core philosophies is somewhat skewed by the overlay of religion, in this
case JudaeoChristian religion, I'm not sure that it is based on Christian
values;  more to the point, I believe AA is a Christianized expression of
AA values.

Frankly, I'm sensing an undercurrent of distinct cultism in Johnny's
defensiveness, so that even if another method were presented, he wouldn't take
it. Someone dig up the Cult Warning Signs (or I will, next time I have a
chance) and check them against the way Johnny's acting: hero worship, no other
feasible viewpoint, no other valid interpretation of the ideology, etc. Then
again, if Johnny were overly preoccupied with hero worship, he'd at LEAST
spell Selena's name right, considering we've been using it throughout.
  
Beyond that, I'm a recovering net addict, and I never stepped through one of
those 12 steps (at least, not formally). I'm trying to remember what *did*
break the cycle, but that's a big part of it: breaking the cycle. My presence
on the net belies another one of those AA myths, that an addict can never ever
return to the addiction because falling back off the wagon is inevitable.
  
But behavior addictions don'thave the same physiological basis that substance
addictions have (except for the reward hormones that go with the psychological
issues).

My steps, thinking about it, for breakng any behavior of mine are:
-- Realizing I have a choice. This is the precise opposite of AA#1, IMHO. When
I'm on-line, I can either stay on or log off. Either behavior has good and
bad ramifications.
-- Realizing I'm not alone. This is what group therapy is supposed to be for
-- sitting around with other people with the same problems. Unfortuantely,
I find such setting to turn into bitch sessions for me, and exacerbate rather
than heal. But seeing that there *are* other people who are going through the
same thing, and realizing this informally, is a big step for me.
-- Seeing how I perceive others who behave as I do, and realizing that others
perceive me the same way when I'm in that state. This is a reality checker:
It changes how I perceive the ramifications of my actions.
-- Finding a valid alternative behavior. This is lacking in the 12 Steps,
IMHO. At least, it isn't stressed. I've met AA washouts who complained that
AA meetings consisted of a bunch of detoxed alkies smoking and drinking coffee
as fervently as they used to drink booze. The issue of AA Meeting Addicts has
been mentioned here, I think. Not valid alternatives. WHY do I do the things
that I don't want to do? WHAT holes in my life is it filling? HOW do I FILL
THOSE HOLES so I don't need to do the 'bad" behavior? 
  
What I hear the 12 steps saying is: Don't Drink.
What I don't hear the 12 Steps saying is: Do something else.
(Whether they're *saying* that or not is moot; perception is everything.)

        Breaking a purely psychological addiction is somewhat different than
breaking an addiction which is both physical and psychological, especially
when it's been a learned habit for many years - the first impulse one might
have upon quitting drinking might well be to have a drink to relieve the
stress of quitting!

Agreed, John... I think I keep reiterating that point. =}

Had an interesting chat with a friend today.  She quit smoking a couple
of months ago.  She didn't use any system or tool or support group or
anything.  She's been so addicted for so many years that, she says, she
would go to bed looking forward to the first cigarette of the morning. She
scheduled her day and activities around smoking.  What broke the cycle?
Someone called her *Will*, her will power, her self-ness into question
and she realized the truth of what they said, that she had sold her control
and her ability to choose to a little tube of weed-filled paper.  So she
stopped.  Period.  And is not bothered by people smoking around her,
has no desire to smoke, although she remembers enjoying it.  Her need to
own her life and her being was greater, as a Witch, than her need to 
smoke.  
In addition, she was blown away that I, never a smoker, could understand
the process of addiction and change.  I've had some trouble with sugar
and an addictive pattern, and was pretty fat in high school, and until
my need to not be sick and lame and depressed became greater than my
need to be fat, nothing changed.--Same process.  But what seems to work
for smokers (etc.) who succeed in changing their behavior, besides that
change of balance, is a really, really deep soul search to find out *all*
the needs being met by the addiction and replace them with healthier
patterns, so that, when they actually stop the behavior, outside of the
physical withdrawal- perhaps a week or two- there is not sense of emptiness
or of something missing.  Of course, changing the patterns which trigger
the habitual behavior goes a long way... Now, none of this is inherently
spiritual in any way,  but in finding out the reasons for addiction, one
may well discover a need to *not* be in control in some way ("I can't
help it, I tried to quit"= it's ok to fail, in at least this one area, to
be helpless and childlike) which might well be replaced by a sense of
divine guidance and support.

Perception is ... well, I couldn't be helped as long as I thought I had all
the answers either. What Paul seems to be saying is that "It doesn't matter
what the steps are really about, what's important is what I think there
about."

RE#20 why invent something new when a great solution is in front of you?

re #25-
I found that to be very interesting.  I've always had a bit of a problem
understanding the exact idea and meaning behind the term "addiction".
I had, for years, been a heavy smoker.  Some might say I was addicted.
I, however, have never bought into the idea of "addiction".  People told
me several times over that if I could just up and stop smoking then I
must not be addicted, which led me to believe addiction=inability to stop.
I, apparently find that concept hard to identify with.  ANYONE can stop
ANYTHING.  The problem, of course, is do they WANT to stop?
This concept of what one *wants* seems to make more sense to me.
For that long time when I smoked I did it for the simple reason that
I *wanted* to.  Finally, when for whatever reason, I did *NOT* want to
smoke anymore I (gasp) stopped.  And, yes, I did it just like that.
Since then I have gone for years without smoking, started smoking again
briefly, stopped for a long period, and recently started smoking again.
Each change however was quite conscious and I simply did what I *wanted*
to do.
Suffice it to say I'm not sure I understand this "addiction" idea.

And what moonowl seems to be saying is, "It doesn't matter what the steps
really are, it matters what I think they are."
Objective reality is irrelevant. Subjective reality is everything. And what
I'm saying is, "This is how I perceive this set of steps. I can see how
someone might perceive them differently. Given my perception, I'm opposed to
them." Where have I not said that?

Gerund, I'm araid your experience is limited- and a bit unusual.  It may be
true at some level.  Certainly, it's true for you.  And yet, are you
discounting differences in brain chemistry?  Or are you using yourself as the
measure for others'?  That's a bit arrogant.  An addiction is a physical
and/or psychological dependence on a substance, the withdrawal of which will
cause unpleasant reactions.  How unpleasant is going to vary with the
individual, their degree of addiction, the substance, and various other
factors.  And what one person can shrug off handily, is more suffering than
another can tolerate; emotional or physical.

        I can see where he's coming from, though.  People don't do things
that are (in the light of reason) bad for them for no particular reason, or
because some vile geas grabs hold of their spirit, but because there *is* a
benefit.  Cigarettes, for one, allow you to control your mood (notice how
smokers tend to react to stress), relax, and to feel that something is at 
peace with the world no matter how long into the addiction you get.  That's
a powerful argument against the abstract realities of cancer ten years down
the track.

Re #29- Point taken.  As I pointed out I really don't understand the concept
very well to begin with.  I guess maybe the point is *I* just don't seem
to get addicted (as you define it) to things.  I seem to pick and chose
what I will do and have never had a problem dropping something when I
WANTED to.  I guess the point is that an addiction controls your will,
making you want something so much you can't break free?
I guess it's still hard for me to understand it.  Lack of experience, as
you said.

        That's about how I feel about coffee.  It's definitely habit-
forming, but I can go weeks without coffee (and I've done so) without really
suffering any ill effects other than a vague desire to have coffee and a 
little drowsiness at first.

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