Current mood:	contemplative
Entry tags:	guild

Alliance
Just returned from The Gathering of The Clans(G.O.T.C.) yesterday. An interesting event, one I'll be repeating. GOTC is an attempt to engender more community solidarity. The entire weekend was aimed at that goal.

'Community' was used a lot at GOTC, which may have actually gotten in the way of communication since the word is generally misused by most people. 'Community' actually refers to a mutually supportive group of LIKE-MINDED people. Pagans, generally, tend to form many communities of this kind. I think what was really on the Guild's mind was less of a community, and more of a society. Societies are collections of communities that are mutually supportive. However, because the communities are NOT like-minded, societies require a structure to define this mutual support.

Why all this definition B.S.? Because at GOTC, I deciphered 3 ideas of what the 'community' being built was all about. The first was "community as surrogate family", this seemed to come mostly from the solitaires and actually is closest to the correct definition of community. The second, "community as institutions/social services", was championed mainly by the folks in Recovery - and reflects their understanding of what good institutions can do for people. The third was "community as an alliance within diversity", backed by people who have seen the power of networking.

Of these 3, the last is the most robust model of what the Guild is trying to do, IMO. Pagans and Heathens have the potential to ally together under a common code of ethics that encourages working together, mutual support for our craftspeople, stores, and professions; and active discouragement of Pagan Pissfits. Within this structure there is no need for communities OR individuals to lose their autonomy to express their spirituality or submit to some imposed way of doing things. Personally, I'd LOVE to discourage that discourtesy called Pagan Standard Time, but if I could impose that, others could impose things I find objectionable, and we'd soon be back where we are now. So I am firmly behind the idea of Alliance.

The Family model suffers from the problem of families everywhere: what defines one family, distorts or destroys another. The Institution model, while seductive, has two major weaknesses. The first is the imposition of forms that is mandated by the greater society around us, and the second is the credibility issue. Who are the Clans to make judgements or certifications on groups or individuals? This second problem can be alleviated, over time, by a functional Alliance which lives up to its ethical code. Then, with a track record, the Alliance MIGHT be able to at least look at certification.

Anyway, GOTC was a good event, and amazingly enough, actually proposed some short-term goals that sound doable. In my own small way, I hope this blog entry will help clarify some of the issues we see before us. Long Life to the Guild Alliance!

BB Valire'brand