Pagans In The Workplace:
A Guide For Managers and Human Resource Directors
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An employee at your company practices a religion with which you may not be
familiar. This leaflet is simply to give you information you may need to
understand the different experiences this employee may share with you, and
answer any questions you might have.
What is a Pagan employee likely to practice and believe?
Because Pagans generally follow a non-credal, non-dogmatic spirituality, there
may be even more variants between Pagan religious beliefs than there are between
denominations of Christianity. The most commonly practiced types of Paganism are
Wicca, Asatru, Druidry, or simply Paganism or Neo-Paganism, just as a Christian
can be Catholic, Presbyterian, or simply Christian. All of these are somewhat
different from each other. Because of this, the following statements may not be
true for every Pagan you encounter. However, there are some practices that are
generally common among Pagans; the employee can tell you if his practices differ
significantly from the following:
A Pagan employee will celebrate a nature-based, polytheistic religion
A Pagan employee will honor Divinity as both God and Goddess, sometimes with a
feminist emphasis on the Goddess. One effect of this is that the employee is
likely to treat gender equality as an assumption.
A Pagan employee will celebrate religious ceremonies with small groups on an
astronomical schedule, rather than with large congregations or on a set weekly
schedule. Most observe the beginning and midpoint of each season as major
holidays (sometimes called Sabbats); some also celebrate on Full Moons
(sometimes called Esbats). These celebrations are called rituals, circles, or
blots, and the congregations called covens, groves, hearths, or circles. Some
sects believe that holding the ceremony at the exact astrological moment is
important. Others will schedule their gatherings at the closest convenient time.
Your employee may want time off during some or all of these times. Requests
should be treated the same as any other religious time off request; that some
Pagans do not ask for time off
should not invalidate the needs of the others whose tradition follows a more
structured calendar.
A Pagan employee may wear a symbol of his or her religion as an item of jewelry.
The most common symbol is the pentacle, a five-pointed star in a circle. The
misconception of the pentagram as a satanic symbol is based upon its inverted
use by those groups, in the same manner in which devil-worshippers may use the
Christian cross inverted. The meaning of the pentacle as worn by Pagans is
rooted in the beliefs of the Greek Pythagoreans, for whom the pentagram embodied
perfect balance and wisdom; inserting the star in the circle adds the symbol of
eternity and unity. Other jewelry that may be worn includes Celtic knot work,
crosses, and triskelions; Thor's hammer; the labrys, a double-headed ax used as
a symbol by Greco-Roman worship of Cybele; Goddess figurines; crescent and/or
full Moon symbols; the Yin-Yang symbol; or an ankh, eye of Horus or horns of
Isis from Egyptian mythology.
A Pagan employee will honor Divinity as immanent in Nature and humanity, and
view all things as interconnected. This often leads to a concern with recycling,
ecology and the environment, and a fascination with the natural life cycle and
seasonal patterns.
A Pagan employee may believe in magic, and may spell it "magick" to
differentiate it from stage illusions. This may include belief in personal
energy fields like the Chinese concept of chi. Quite often it also includes the
use of rituals and tools to dramatize and focus positive thinking and
visualization techniques, many of which are virtually identical to the
techniques taught by motivational leaders and found in books such as The One
Minute Manager and Unlimited Power. Just as in motivational training, the object
is to focus on positive issues. Therefore, a Pagan will not attempt to "hex" or
curse; in their ethical structure such actions are believed to rebound on the
sender, and therefore are proscribed.
A Pagan employee may call herself a Witch, a Wiccan, a Pagan or Neo-Pagan, a
Goddess-worshipper, an Asatruar, an Odinist, a Druid, or a Heathen. He is
unlikely to call himself a "Warlock", as that is believed to come from the
Scottish word for "oathbreaker". And while a Pagan employee may or may not be
offended by the stereotype, she is likely to quickly inform you that the
green-skinned, warty-nosed caricature displayed at Halloween bears no relation
to her religion.
A Pagan employee will hold ethics emphasizing both personal freedom and personal
responsibility
Pagan ethics allow personal freedom within a framework of personal
responsibility. The primary basis for Pagan ethics is the understanding that
everything is interconnected, that nothing exists alone, and that every action
has a consequence. There is no concept of forgiveness for sin in the Pagan
ethical system; the consequences of one's actions must be faced and reparations
made as necessary against anyone whom one has harmed. There are no arbitrary
rules about moral issues; instead, every action must be weighed against the
awareness of what harm it could cause. Thus, for example, a Pagan employee could
consider consensual homosexuality a null issue morally because it is an
individual decision involving sharing love with another person. Yet stealing
would be wrong because it harms one's integrity and the business environment,
and causes the costs of the theft to be absorbed by innocent consumers. The most
common forms in which
these ethics are stated are the Wiccan Rede, "An it harm none, do as thou wilt,"
and in the Threefold Law, "Whatsoever you do returns to you threefold."
A Pagan employee will hold a paradigm that embraces plurality
Because Pagan religious systems hold that theirs is a way among many, not the
only road to truth, and because Pagans revere a variety of Deities among their
pantheons, both male and female, a Pagan employee will believe that each person
is free to choose his or her own destiny, and will not believe in evangelizing
or proselytizing. One advantage of this is that a Pagan employee will thrive in
a pluralistic environment, eager to support an atmosphere that discourages
discrimination based on differences such as race or gender and encourages
individuality, self-discovery and independent thought. A Pagan employee is also
likely to have knowledge of other religions; most Pagans have explored other
spirituality before deciding on
their own. Because Neo-Paganism's mainstream popularity is less than 50 years
old, few Pagans were born in the faith, but those who are were likely taught
about many religions as well; Pagan parents are adamant about not forcing their
beliefs on the child but rather teaching them and letting the child decide when
he is of age. While a Pagan employee will focus more on individual experience of
the numinous than written dogma, she will respect the sacred texts of other
religions, but be unlikely to believe them literally where they conflict with
scientific theory or purport to be the only truth.
A Pagan employee is likely to enjoy reading, science, and helping professions
Margot Adler, National Public Radio journalist, reported the results of a survey
of Pagans in the 1989 edition of her book, Drawing Down the Moon. The results
showed that the one thing Pagans hold in common despite their differences is a
voracious appetite for reading and learning. Pagans also seem to be represented
strongly in the computer and health-care fields, so the Pagan employee is likely
to be computer-literate and highly effective in any helping profession.
Despite its sometimes-misunderstood beliefs, Paganism is believed to be
currently the fastest-growing religion, and provides a satisfying spirituality
to its practitioners. With the present appreciation of diversity and tolerance
in the business environment, more people now understand that different cultural
backgrounds bring perspectives that can be valued instead of feared. It is our
hope that as a manager or human resources executive this will provide you with
the information you need to be able to facilitate understanding.
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© 1999 Cecylyna Dewr
Distribution is welcome; please include this notice
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For more information, contact the Pagan Pride Project Executive Director,
Cecylyna Dewr, at PO Box 11166, Indianapolis, IN 46201,
http://www.paganpride.org, paganpride@paganpride.org, or 317.357.94