Hating the biggest Pagan Platform just like me?
This Morning my friend asked me for a list of blogs to follow to find more information related to paganism. I proudly gave her this very short list I have saved in my notes on Google Keep, with around 11 different websites for consulting different sources. Immediately she looked at me with some disbelief and said out loud questioning me... Patheos Pagan? I think you hated Patheos... Kinda?.
My answer was in all honesty “Yes I did, and vaguely I still doing it”, but is like Botanicas and Witchy Bookstores, we would love to support them all, The problem is the same; the fact a botanica or a bookstore is witchy-owned does not make it automatically ethical, an esoteric store can contain absolutely everything you are looking for, but if the owner is abusive and offensive to customers, you simply stop recommending it or stop buying there, that does not mean that the store will cease to exist, you, like me, can take your business elsewhere, many others will continue buying there.
If you've been around for a while, you'll have seen that my comments to this blog have never been exactly kind, in fact, it's the poison that draws out my more arrogant side, and the truth is that I've learned to live with it.
Let me rephrase it for you
According to a census published by Wordsrated.com in the year 2020, there were around 10,800 bookstores in the United States of America, and according to Ibisworld.com; There would be around 14,161 bookstores in the United States of America in the middle of 2023. If you can't find the book you're looking for in one of these stores, or if you simply don't like the owner, the alternative options are not infinite, but they are literally thousands.
In June of 2021, a friend of mine (Ariana) told me that while visiting a certain store in Brooklyn, NY they not only did not have my books, I also did not appear on their list of teachers offering classes, to which I simply responded; "Well... I have visited the store about 60 times to mention that I have a book and that I would like to offer a workshop with them, I have sent them six times emails, but they simply do not respond, so I stop insisting and focus on promoting other stores where my books are and where I offer workshops". It is a certain type of white people who loves to pretend that the money made with people of color and immigrants is worth less than theirs, their ignorance and how they stop making money is not really my problem, I can always take my business for another store and make $350 a night in a workshop at any other store.
When we translate this same information to blogs and websites; While there are probably thousands of sorcery and pagan blogs out there, let's be honest, each of us has two or three at the top of our heads, and one of these is probably Patheos Pagan.
I arrived in the United States of America in September 2015 as a political asylum seeker fleeing the Government of Venezuela. If you come here from scratch and are looking to make connections with the esoteric community; immediately everyone will recommend Patheos Pagan as the main source of information, news, and entertainment for the whole community.
The issue is, when you are an immigrant, also gay, also Hispanic, and the website that everyone uses is mostly written by white Americans, with a Western perspective, and you find a predominance of themes focused on druidism and festivals, pagan celebrations of European origin, and the occasional problematic blogger making use of the platform to appropriate cultures foreign to their own, or a white "celtic" woman telling POC practitioners how to work and who speak, and which words they should use, this feels deeply problematic, you feel like a vegan looking for food in the middle of a meat festival where the cows are being cut piece by piece in front of you, and if you say you don't want to eat, everyone looks at you funny, cause suddenly you are "The problematic one", you are the drama character who is just being "too sensitive".
For a long period of time, Patheos Pagan felt this way, then there was a gap between 2019~2021 when certain signs of change were perceived, there was a greater diversity of bloggers and the topics seemed wildly interesting, later I think this just returned to the roots and it still feels like a predominantly white website, written by white authors, for white readers, but mostly all "promoting diversity" at the same time.
To be honest, I only read this website because of three of its writers, one of them is Thumper Forge. He is really funny and a delight to read, I don't even read the reviews of my books when they are included here. I just share the posts if I am tagged on socials. But in the end, let's be honest, it's not like we have many alternatives out there, it's not perhaps the most complete web portal, but it's one of the few reliable options that we have to learn about topics that cover the pagan community; pagan news, festivals, community, and if you are bored you can always read the 11th post about whatever pagan festival is happening. It is not perfect, but it is what we have and while there is a space highly promoted where our colleagues; witches, sorcerers, pagans, and others, feel free to write and, we will be winning in at least one of those spaces.
My answer was in all honesty “Yes I did, and vaguely I still doing it”, but is like Botanicas and Witchy Bookstores, we would love to support them all, The problem is the same; the fact a botanica or a bookstore is witchy-owned does not make it automatically ethical, an esoteric store can contain absolutely everything you are looking for, but if the owner is abusive and offensive to customers, you simply stop recommending it or stop buying there, that does not mean that the store will cease to exist, you, like me, can take your business elsewhere, many others will continue buying there.
If you've been around for a while, you'll have seen that my comments to this blog have never been exactly kind, in fact, it's the poison that draws out my more arrogant side, and the truth is that I've learned to live with it.
Let me rephrase it for you
According to a census published by Wordsrated.com in the year 2020, there were around 10,800 bookstores in the United States of America, and according to Ibisworld.com; There would be around 14,161 bookstores in the United States of America in the middle of 2023. If you can't find the book you're looking for in one of these stores, or if you simply don't like the owner, the alternative options are not infinite, but they are literally thousands.
When we translate this same information to blogs and websites; While there are probably thousands of sorcery and pagan blogs out there, let's be honest, each of us has two or three at the top of our heads, and one of these is probably Patheos Pagan.
I arrived in the United States of America in September 2015 as a political asylum seeker fleeing the Government of Venezuela. If you come here from scratch and are looking to make connections with the esoteric community; immediately everyone will recommend Patheos Pagan as the main source of information, news, and entertainment for the whole community.
The issue is, when you are an immigrant, also gay, also Hispanic, and the website that everyone uses is mostly written by white Americans, with a Western perspective, and you find a predominance of themes focused on druidism and festivals, pagan celebrations of European origin, and the occasional problematic blogger making use of the platform to appropriate cultures foreign to their own, or a white "celtic" woman telling POC practitioners how to work and who speak, and which words they should use, this feels deeply problematic, you feel like a vegan looking for food in the middle of a meat festival where the cows are being cut piece by piece in front of you, and if you say you don't want to eat, everyone looks at you funny, cause suddenly you are "The problematic one", you are the drama character who is just being "too sensitive".
For a long period of time, Patheos Pagan felt this way, then there was a gap between 2019~2021 when certain signs of change were perceived, there was a greater diversity of bloggers and the topics seemed wildly interesting, later I think this just returned to the roots and it still feels like a predominantly white website, written by white authors, for white readers, but mostly all "promoting diversity" at the same time.
To be honest, I only read this website because of three of its writers, one of them is Thumper Forge. He is really funny and a delight to read, I don't even read the reviews of my books when they are included here. I just share the posts if I am tagged on socials. But in the end, let's be honest, it's not like we have many alternatives out there, it's not perhaps the most complete web portal, but it's one of the few reliable options that we have to learn about topics that cover the pagan community; pagan news, festivals, community, and if you are bored you can always read the 11th post about whatever pagan festival is happening. It is not perfect, but it is what we have and while there is a space highly promoted where our colleagues; witches, sorcerers, pagans, and others, feel free to write and, we will be winning in at least one of those spaces.
And one of us is winning, our whole community is winning, even if sadly said winners all look the same and none of them represent all of us.
~ Elhoim Leafar. Author of Dream Witchery.
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