America land of the confusing

Its been a while since I last posted and a lot has happened

I got married
My wife was diagnosed with cancer
I've left the UK to be in America with her (dropped everything rather than the planned move)

Now I am starting to look round at the local pagan scene.

I was in for a shock!

It is VERY different.

Firstly there are many, many different traditions out there. Most are Wiccan based (at least that is the same), although some claim not to be despite casting circles, calling quarters, etc.

The biggest thing that surprises me is the level of sexism out there! For a Wiccan dominated society it is worringly heavily polarised by gender. There are many women only groups and groups where men are not equal. There are a few male counter parts but a drop in the ocean compared to the female ones. Perhaps feminism is still strong here and let's not forget that it was America that made paganism the religion of choice for feminists in the 70's and 80's. I'm not saying they should do it but I'm surprised at how prevalent it is.

Then there is the closedness of a lot of the groups here. They have application forms to fill out (that can be quite personal) before they will even meet you! Kinda makes it hard to discuss if they are right for you. I thought it might be for protection reasons as America is quite radically Christian, especially in the Bible belt, but I'm told it is more to do with they are vetting the applicant for prior experience. That's not so bad until you learn that experienced people are often turned away as they are seen as a threat to how the coven does things - they'd rather you forget everything and only do things there way. That's stagnation.

Finally there is the whole nudity/sex thing. It seems to be a big part of the festival scene - which seems heavy on the revelry and light on the ritual. Is it just part of American culture? Following on from frat houses and all that's associated with that? I don't know.

All I do know is that I feel v disconnected from the pagan scene here. I'm trying to reach out but a lot of what I see is quite alien or closed. I know that I'm not the only one who feels this way here as there are far more solitarys here than the UK and that's a shame.