If I was an Abrahamist I could pick on of the hundreds of Churchs, Mosque, or Temples in the tristate area.
If I just went by what I knew about the culture, I would hope the pagan spaces are Game Stores and Comic Book Shops.
Locally, there is one Wicca Meetup Group and one Thelma meetup group, but the scheduling was wreaked by the COVID lockdowns and they haven’t recovered. The Wicca group wasn’t friendly to me in general when I was a member years ago.
Do not join anyone else’s group! I had a bad experience and started my own. You’re more than capable of starting your own little group, or coven, or whatever! Go out there and start something amazing!
I agree with you! Like the OP I thought it would be great to meet like minded people in these lodges. Turns out all I met were some really scummy ppl. This is not to say that you may have a similar experience but for me never again. I much prefer to interact with people here on BALG.
I’m Pagan, and the people I see in gamestores and comic shops are mostly Atheists or Agnostics, then Christians, and then Pagans. I’ve learned that you could find more Pagans on Fetlife when going to munches, but in my experience, Fetlife has become very political. Certain groups will even restrict you from returning if you do anything they consider to be problematic. I remember getting hit with the ban hammer when I wouldn’t let a trans woman kiss me. Granted, that’s not every group, but it’s typically older people anyway at munches.
Before the move, I went to a night club where a Pagan group would meet once a month. Again, it was mostly older people, but the club attracted people of different occult practices and ages. After the move, I’ve been looking for a similar environment. I do meet pagans, but they’re few and far between. I have become acquainted with one group that meets regularly, but it’s mostly older people or young parents who bring kids. Unfortunately, there’s still a mix of spirituality and politics in some groups.
On the bright side, I have found that a lot of the girls who work at strip clubs are practitioners of something, and the ones that I’ve met have been very conversational about it. Unfortunately, these are stripclubs.
Have you read The Black Magic Manifesto by Timothy Donaghue? We are considered atheists half of the time. People don’t know what to do with us. We have deities but we consider them fictional, but we say fiction has an effect on our universe. It breaks the assumptions of modern parlance. I think it is a good idea now to distinguish ourselves from the atheists (deity deniers). I am kind of anti-occult too. I care more about the blatantly in front of me, that I haven’t been paying attention to, than the hidden.
I have had more success at strip clubs than Fetlife. Fetlife is like an online grave yard. Strip clubs are like a giant money pit though. If I had a way of at least breaking even on strip clubs, it would be worth it for me.
Part of the problem is that the occult/pagan community is so diverse. The word Pagan originally meant “Country Dweller”, then it meant “Not Christian”, and now it’s an umbrella term for a variety of systems.
Yes, there’s many different forms of Christianity, but no matter what they are, they all believe in a singular God, a devil, a savior, and a basic set of rules to follow. Originally, I thought Pagan meant that one follows one or more of the Pre-Christian pantheons. But as Oflameo said, not all of us even believe. Hell, not all of us practice magick, or to the least views in the same way.
What I’m getting at is that WE are a loose collective with little to no homogeny, save for living in a Judeo- Christian world to which we are not a part of. We are among the Judeo-Christian world, but for one reason or another, we all do and believe in something different.
I have recently went to my family reunion today. It was held at a local church that has been a staple in my family for generations. I was around so many people, I even had a hard time finding my own family. Everyone kinda looked alike, sounded alike, and most likely had plenty of common interests and similar beliefs. And in my experience, it’s hard to find that in the occult community. At least to the same extent.
We can try and make Pagan and occult environments like temples or schools, but in doing so we put our selves and others at risk of attack from fanatics.
If the customers could break even they wouldn’t stay in business very long would they?
That’s a big part but there’s also the fact that everyone has family, friends, bosses and coworkers to consider even if just considering coming out about their
Not just if they want to start a open coven or something. Many don’t want the hassle of being out. Maybe their boss finds an excuse to fire the satanist or the landlord looks for an excuse to break the lease and kick them out or their spouse wants a divorce. Safety is a big issue but so is whether you are up to or willing to face the disruptions to your life and lifestyle that might or would occur if you came out opened a witch store published a grimoire in your own name with your picture in it (even without) or wanted to start an online coven or practical magical course.
Too many factors safety is a big one but there are others too. And as to safety well look what happened when Michael W Ford tried to openly have a church of Lucifer in a town. Protests, vandalism, threats and more. All because he wasn’t a “God fearing Christian” and chose to be himself and open a temple in town (later it closed. You may want to read up on it if you haven’t already or didn’t know about it. It is old hat bee though not at all current but still one of the reasons the reasons that most “pagans” and especially occultists of all flavors tend to stick to themselves & not go public and not try and found temples or ‘churches’ because they see what happens when others have.
Add; With situations like that happening to those that cobe out, most make their own ‘spaces’ in their own homes because it’s less hassle, safer, easier and has fewer repercussions (like a boss firing you)because only they know what they’re doing.
No, because business to business interactions exist.
That is a good point, but safety is a bigger factor when you are stuck by yourself, and you can’t even come out to your spouse and your land lord.
Then we are stuck socially atomized. We are stuck communicating with people thousands of kilometers away even though there are people just like us in our towns we can’t meet because we don’t have a method to find each other.
Currently yes.
Future? Who knows.
Don’t forget the rainbow stuff started out in the same boat fearing dangers of coming out publicly and now well now some 70 + years later, things changed they still have reasons to fear the odd extremists who hate them but they are now a lot more open out front about who and what they are instead of hiding for fear of being beaten and you know just for being themselves.
There’s hope for the future but… In the meantime keep safe and only let those you trust know the whole of who you are or come out like the few and face the risks and deal as things happen. Those are the choices. It’s each occultist or pagans own decision and not everyone is comfortable dealing with the risk of being ostracized feared hated distrusted and not everyone wants the threats and graffiti and people trying to save you and potential personal flack and fallout in personal life.
At least we have the internet and can sort of connect via it. The rainbow didn’t have that.
And… That’s all I’m saying on it in order to avoid it going political, or off topic other then to sum up what I just said …
Currently you have to be careful unless you are one of the few who want all that comes with being out about being pagan, but at least we have internet to find others like us. If it’s hard now, think how hard it was for our kind earlier on, like in the 60s or in the days of that Gardener guy. They didn’t even have internet to use to find others of their kiind.I know I’m glad for the internet because I’m not one of those willing to risk coming out currently.
Add: change will come. Eventually. Pity it takes so long sometimes.
How do you know I am capable of starting my own group? Have you read “Oflameo’s Doom Bunker”?