{"id":11133,"date":"2018-12-01T18:27:49","date_gmt":"2018-12-02T02:27:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atheopaganism.wordpress.com\/?p=11133"},"modified":"2018-12-01T18:27:49","modified_gmt":"2018-12-02T02:27:49","slug":"effective-atheopagan-leadership-a-curriculum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mgreen.atheopaganism.org\/?p=11133","title":{"rendered":"Effective Atheopagan Leadership: a Curriculum"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

As I’ve written before, my conceptualization of Atheopaganism as a path and a tradition does not incorporate concepts of degrees of advancement, or “clergy”<\/a><\/strong> as an elevated status within the religion. I just find such hierarchies to be fraught with too many pitfalls, ranging from “higher-level” persons gatekeeping access to knowledge and training from lower-level ones, to those with “status” potentially being able to leverage that status in unhealthy ways ranging from minor pomposity all the way to harassment and abuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The whole idea of “initiations into secrets” is a holdover from secretive organizations like the Masons, with their roots in the Romantic movement of the 18th and 19th centuries. There is no longer any legitimate reason why secrecy should apply to anything<\/em> that has to do with religious practice…and in the era of the Internet, frankly, in practical terms it does not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Atheopaganism doesn’t have “secret lore”. There is no mystical origin story, nor secret handshake, nor Super-Secret Sigil<\/a><\/strong>. Everything we are about is in the open and available to anyone interested in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Accordingly, I invite each<\/em> of us to be a “cleric”: to practice and learn the skills and knowledge, to confront their own spiritual and personal work. Any of us can step into that role at any time–if you need a credential, ordain yourself at the Atheopagan Society website<\/a>. <\/strong>I suggest an Atheopagan symbol lapel pin<\/a><\/strong> for hospital and hospice visits or to conduct weddings, namings, funerals and other rites of passage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that said, I was talking with a friend who is in the process of helping to retool the “advancement levels” process and criteria for a different Pagan tradition, and I can see how it would be useful to have, at least, a broadly identified “curriculum” describing the skill sets that an Atheopagan ritual and community leader will need and rely on in order to be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So here is an overview of what I think is a minimal knowledge and skill grounding to be a consistently effective Atheopagan community and ritual leader. They are not in any priority order; all are essential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n