Pagan scouting group takes root

[fgoodwin]

Pagan scouting group takes root

 

http://www.registerguard.com/news/2005/12/28/b1.cr.spiralscouts.1228.p1.php

http://tinyurl.com/9r2zr

 

By Jeff Wright

The Register-Guard

Published: Wednesday, December 28, 2005

 

Five-year-old Jade Rainsong jumps out of his mother's car, looking sharp in his green pressed shirt, tan pants and brown hiking boots. "I've got on my SpiralScout uniform and mud-whompers!" he boasts.

 

Jade, new to the whole scouting experience, races to the door of his 4-year-old buddy, Joey. Inside, the two boys and five other youngsters - three of them girls - prepare for a Saturday afternoon of crafts, snacks and fun.

 

But this is not their parents' Girl Scouts or Boy Scouts - immediately evident when these kids gather around a coffee table and light candles in solemn tribute to earth, water, fire and air.

 

No, this is the SpiralScouts - the pagan version of learning outdoor skills and earning badges.

 

Begun in 2001 in Washington state, SpiralScouts has grown into a movement serving families of various minority faiths in 20 states, Canada and Europe. The newly created Emerald Earth Seekers in Eugene is the organization's third "circle" in Oregon, following the lead of similar groups in Salem and Portland.

 

Karen Glickman is co-leader for the Turtlemoon Hearth, whose members include her son, Jade. Raised near Los Angeles, Glickman was herself a Camp Fire Girl for five years, and remembers loving the camping trips and arts and crafts.

 

"My mom was a co-leader, so I'm kind of following in her footsteps, but in sort of a pagan way," she says.

 

But why enroll her son in SpiralScouts instead of, say, the Boy Scouts? Glickman says the Boy Scouts often have a Christian flavor and, as their name suggests, is for boys only. "I like the alternative religion and the fact that it's co-gender," she says of the SpiralScouts.

 

(The Boy Scouts of America is not strictly a Christian group - there are Scouting opportunities for Jews, Buddhists, Muslims and other faith adherents - but does profess a belief in God. The private organization permits women, but not "avowed homosexuals," to serve in leadership roles.)

 

Glickman, an artist whose work focuses on goddess imagery, says she stumbled across SpiralScouts as she researched pagan parenting resources. She was thrilled to learn that the group originated with the Aquarian Tabernacle Church - a pagan community based in Index, Wash., northeast of Seattle - that she had visited while staying with friends several years ago.

 

The church is known for such pioneering accomplishments as getting the pagan faith known as Wicca recognized as an official religion in Washington state prisons, and establishing a Wiccan theological seminary.

 

Designed as a nature lore and woodcraft program, SpiralScouts is intended for families of any minority faith, or no faith at all. Like more traditional scouting groups, the organization offers pins and badges that youth can earn in such areas as music, nutrition, community service, academics, birding, drumming, cooking, gardening, geology and global ecology.

 

There are three program levels: Fireflies for children ages 3 through 8, SpiralScouts for ages 9 through 13, and PathFinders for ages 14 through 18. Just getting off the ground in Eugene, the organization has three "hearths" ("dens" in Cub Scouts lingo) for Fireflies and a waiting list of older youth hoping to join the first SpiralScouts hearth once they find an adult leader.

 

At the recent Turtlemoon Hearth gathering, 7-year-old Aubrey Gomes-Pereira is asked to lead the other children in the Fireflies Promise: "I promise to serve the wise ones, to honor and respect Mother Earth, to be helpful and understanding toward all people, and always keep love in my heart."

 

After a game in which they pretend they are frogs - hopping, ribbeting and eating flies - the children move to a larger table for the day's craft project: making neck cords out of green, tan and brown strands that will become part of their official SpiralScouts uniforms.

 

"The three colors represent diversity, and we're going to braid them into unity," co-leader Val Gomes-Pereira, mother to Aubrey and Joey, tells the children.

 

Eight-year-old Trinity Meyer braids her cord diligently, then proudly wraps it around her neck. But she looks disappointed a few minutes later when she learns that the next task she was awaiting - sewing a first badge onto her uniform - must wait for a future meeting.

 

Trinity and her younger sister, Clover, have responded positively to the SpiralScouts concept, says their mom, Nancy Silvers. "They really like it, they're always very willing to come - and they let me know when they don't like something," she says.

 

Silvers says she grew up as a marginal Presbyterian who spent a lot of her childhood exploring nature or hanging in the family barn with her horse. When she discovered Earth-centered pagan traditions in her late teens, "it just spoke to my heart," she says.

 

The chance to share that with her daughters, and likeminded parents, is a blessing.

 

"This is definitely a good fit for us," she says. "It's a good reinforcement of our family values."

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------

 

SPIRALSCOUTS

More information Nationally: Visit www.spiralscouts.org

 

[Backpacker]

All I can say is good for them. They are not trying to force their beliefs or membership on the BSA. There are many copycat groups in this country, that is why we have freedom of choice in this country, its just one of the reasons America is as great as it is. This pagan group has met the needs of their children, we should not be so quick to condemn them. This is a scout like group, like the Royal Rangers, not a scouting group, there is a big difference.

[fgoodwin]

Who said anything about condemning them?

[John-in-KC]

Fred,

 

Something we DIDN'T cover when we took "Scouting and the Church's Ministry" at PTC: Americans, by and large, use monotheism as our construct of God. Other nations in the World Movement have polythesim bases for substantial population elements: Hindu on the Indian subcontinent, and Shinto in Japan.

 

How does BSA relate for those youth whose families profess these two faiths in particular? Looking at PRAY's website (and crosslinks with the National Relationships Committee), I see US Hindu youth can earn one of two awards, maybe three. Are there other polytheistic bodies which have award programs?

 

Your classmate

John

Now a good old Owl too

[fgoodwin]

John, I don't know much about religions other than Christianity, so I couldn't really say which are polytheistic or not.

 

Regarding Shinto, I guess if they want to come up with a religious award, BSA would probably consider it for wear on the uniform. I am not aware of any such award -- but BSA shouldn't be blamed for that.

 

But I can say that religious emblems are available for Buddhists and Hindus, among many others.

[John-in-KC]

Fred,

 

I'm not blaming BSA here. I just haven't thought this particular challenge through.

 

Thanks

[Kaji]

Not challenging the right of the organization to form if they so choose, but don't the BSA and GSUSA have exclusive use of the term "scout" as per their charters? Just wondering.

[Adrianvs]

I can't speak to Shintoism (and I don't know if there is really any "pure" animistic Shintoism which has not been assumed into a form of Buddhism), but regarding Hindus, it would be inappropriate to think of the religion as polytheistic. Modern Hinduism is almost exclusively monotheistic, seeing the gods as merely aspects of the One, Absolute, and Eternal God. The four major divisions of modern Hinduism (Vaishnavism, Shaivism, Shaktism, and Smartism) differ in which god(s) they are devoted to as the form(s) of God, but all agree in the unity of the singular God (often called Brahman or Ishvari). It is true that many Hindus (expecially children or uneducated) may have a polytheistic understanding of the gods, but this is not the "official" understanding of the religion. An analogy that might help to understand this is the Christian understanding of the Trinity. According to historic Christian teaching, God consists of three divine Persons. An outsider might think that Christianity is polytheistic after hearing prayers addressed to the Father, the Logos, and the Paraclete, but this would be a mistake. Likewise, a child or uneducated Christian may not realize that the religion teaches that Jesus is God.

 

Just to be clear, there are substantial difference between the Christian Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit and the Hindu "Trinity" of Vishnu, Siva, and Brahma. Christians do not see the Persons of the Trinty as aspects or forms and always worship the Three Persons in unity. Hindus usually worship only one of the aspects (dependent upon their sect), and almost never worship all three (Western pop-Hindus aside).

[Trevorum]

Thanks for this insight! I am also told however that many people in rural India also revere a pantheon of local deities. Hinduism is clearly much more complex than most westerners think.

[Adrianvs]

That is true, Trevorum. Hinduism is very complicated and has been undergoing substantial changes for centuries. Some of the old gods (who were once the deities of a polytheistic Hinduism) such as Indra and Agni are still worshipped by many. When tribes or villages fight each other, their gods also fight and kill each other. Local gods become national gods and vice versa. Gods of conquered peoples join the new nation or empire along with their people. Most polytheisms seem to develop this way. We can see this in Egyptian cult as well as that of the Greek and Roman empires.

 

In the case of Hinduism, local gods (some of whom were beaten and/or killed by the big names) are still worshipped. The same is true of many "Buddhists" of the far east who continue the animistic practices of their ancestors, simply substituting Buddha and/or the Bodisattvas for the ancestors or gods. They may not even recognize the dharma (teachings) of the monastic communities, let alone the philosophical teachings of the historic Buddha, Siddhartha Gautama.

 

Incidently, Indian philosophy is quite similar to western philosophy, beginning with the Greek tradition. The Four Noble Truths of Buddhism are almost completely expressed in the school of Greek Stoicism and Pythagoreas could have easily been an Indian swami and mystic like Adi Shankara, had he been located in the right continent. This is likely outside the interest of most persons, but the point is that Judeo-Christian understanding of God (assisted by Greek philosophy) is quite comparable with Indian understanding. They are comparable enough, in my opinion, to share a declaration of religious principle.

[Kudu]

This is likely outside the interest of most persons, but the point is that Judeo-Christian understanding of God (assisted by Greek philosophy) is quite comparable with Indian understanding. They are comparable enough, in my opinion, to share a declaration of religious principle.

 

Really? The BSA's Judeo-Christian Declaration of Religious Principle, asserting that "The recognition of God as the ruling and leading power in the universe and the grateful acknowledgment of His favors and blessings are necessary for the best type of citizenship" does not sound very Buddhist to me.

 

Kudu

 

 

[Kudu]

Kaji writes:

 

Not challenging the right of the organization to form if they so choose, but don't the BSA and GSUSA have exclusive use of the term "scout" as per their charters? Just wondering.

 

Actually, in the 1920s the BSA tried to claim exclusive use of the term "Scout" and force the GSUSA to use the term "Guide," claiming that that the Girl Scouts' use of the term caused psychological damage to Boy Scouts :-/

 

I believe that the Spiralscouts hoped that combining the words "spiral" and "scout" into a new word would not infringe on the BSA's rights, but they received the same form letter as everyone else.

 

As noted in the other thread that Fred started, the case which will set the precedent for Spiralscouts, and for more traditional alternative Scouting associations such as the BPSA-USA, is the "YouthScouts" challenge to the BSA's trademark on the "generic" terms "scouts" and "scouting:"

 

http://youthscouts.org/news.html

 

This case will be heard in San Francisco! If they are successful then the BSA will have to appeal to the 9th Circuit :-/

 

It will be interesting to see how long it takes libertarian news commentators to understand the implications.

 

The BPSA-USA's "home Troop" Website is:

 

http://www.1sttarrantbpscouts.org/

 

Kudu

 

[captainron14]

PAGAN? wasn't that a crime group in the movie Dragnet? ;o)

[Adrianvs]

"Really? The BSA's Judeo-Christian Declaration of Religious Principle...does not sound very Buddhist to me."

 

I never said that the Declaration of Religious Principle was compatible with Buddhism (the modern religious form). I stated that it was compatible with "Indian understanding." Within that paragraph, I was referring to Indian philosophy and you will note that the subject of the post as a whole was Hinduism. I only brought up Buddhism as an illustrative example. While philosophical Buddhism originated in India, it never took hold there, and modern forms of Buddhism are not considered Indian in any real sense.(This message has been edited by Adrianvs)