Stasis of Spirit

I've given up on Pagan blogs almost entirely. There was a time that I read two dozen or more each week but now I restrict my reading to only two or three that tend to deal with political issues or news stories of interest to the community like Wren's Nest and Pagan Prattle. Most of the rest of what I've read is pretty useless.

This is symptomatic of a greater anti-curiousness that I've noticed growing in the community over the last few years. At festivals the theological discussion circles, lectures by authors and talks by political awareness organizations have been largely replaced by discussions of the importance of candle color, classes on dowsing, feng shui, and pointer sessions on how to have a good Pagan marriage, usually conducted by three-time divorcees who don't seem to like each other.

How did the vibrant spiritual, intellectual and political community that I so love devolve into a glorified sewing circle?

Can I even get someone to discuss the greater moral questions behind the Wiccan Rede? Is anyone willing to talk about how we should order our community as more and more sects proliferate and establish independent identities? Does anyone even care that our population, by some estimates as much as five million people nation wide, is probably enough to influence the national conversation, perhaps even sway elections?

No, everyone, both on blogs and at real world events seems much more concerned with decorating their ritual robes, making altar pieces and agreeing with each other about nothing of importance. No one argues theology. No one talks politics, or if they do they certainly don't talk about action or self-determination. No one seems particularly interested in the community, itself.

I want someone to tell me that I'm wrong, that there are better festivals to attend or better blogs to read that have somehow passed me by. If that's the case, please, please tell me what I'm missing and where it is. I want the community to be smart, daring, engaged and vibrant but that's just not what I'm seeing.

Maybe this is just a cultural winter in the ever turning wheel of our people. Maybe we wore ourselves out and we're collectively taking a rest before a yet greater push. Presently, I pray this is the case.