I am aware that we as brujos and my own group, Feria, could technically be considered part of the greater Pagan community. Now, we've never been embraced with any fervor, so I was quite curious as to why a person calling himself Andrew Thornton contacted me (actually he thought he was contacting Los Brujos del Cuervo, which is what we were before we became Feria) about joining a new group of his, Diversified Pagans United, or DPU. I should point out that over the years I've become more and more convinced that not only will Pagans never unite, but that they probably shouldn't unite. Nevertheless, I joined anyway under my Yahoo moniker of Cihuacoyotl (Coyote Woman in Nahuatl).

I must have been feeling foolishly optimistic in even bothering. On Tuesday, June 5, I wrote my first post.

Arguably, Brujeria is the oldest religion in the Americas (with ruins and relics dating back 12,000 years, it's a strong claim). However, I almost never run into anyone else in the Pagan community who has heard of us--and if they have heard of us, it's been misinformation from a wild imagination. Folks on the Vodoun path find themselves in a similar situation--fellow Pagans refuse to believe that this beautiful spiritual system has anything to offer other than sticking pins into dolls.

Is it any wonder that we of Brujeria and Vodoun keep to ourselves, then? I cite these two because these are the two in which I am involved and which I know the best. The Pagan community cries to be accepted and tolerated, but on the flipside is hesitant to tolerate and accept us. And let's not forget, folks, that a lot of this is indigenous American Pagan spirituality here--the living energy of the land itself.

For anyone interested, I would like to invite you to my site, What Is Brujeria? at http://www.electricapocalypse.com/brujeria and come read for yourself about this path. I also include an essay on Vodoun by the priestess who initiated me. Together, she and I are working for the cause of unity in the community, but we also realize that begins with letting the community know who we are and what we do.

Just to offer some idea of the number of people involved in Brujeria. The population of Mexico is, roughly, 90 million people. Now, it's no exagerration to say that most of those people practice some form of Brujeria to one degree or another (bearing in mind that Mexico has had a synthesis of Roman Catholicism and indigenous Paganism virtually unique in world cultures). This does not even take into consideration "brujos" in the States (like myself) or in the rest of Central and South America. What this boils down to is that a whole lot of people are getting left out of the Pagan community, and that Paganism of the Americas has always been a living, thriving thing.

Nice people, these DPU folk, really. It didn't take long for the blood/animal sacrifice issue to pop up like a pimple. That's when I knew that no, this little group was NOT for us.

Andrew Thornton wrote...

The DPU will not discriminate against any branch of paganism. If animal sacrifices are apart of your practices, I think that they should be left out of DPU events. Reason being - it's a liability and it doesn't respect everyone's path. BUT I must say that RESPECT for diversity is the key here. You may not agree with someone, but it doesn't mean that they aren't entitled to believe it. If we can all respect one another, then we can all coexist. But, once more, respect is the key. You don't have to agree, but respect and sensitivity to others' traditions is requested.

I replied...

Aha...so if, say, I followed a tradition in which these "animal sacrifices" (please get your head out of the horror flicks) are absolutely essential, I'd somehow be denied the right to include such a rite in a DPU event? Supposing I was, by virtue of my own tradition, mortally offended by the presence of knives (athames) or swords in ritual? And to an extent, this would be true--to me these are weapons, not tools of the spirit. Or hell, suppose someone took a vehement dislike to the color yellow because it was offensive to their gods? Are you going to take EVERYBODY'S aversions into consideration, or just the bloody ones because they seem to tow the societal line?

I am sorry, but as for me and my kindred, we don't buy into this kind of thinking--not because we perform blood sacrifices (in spite of what some people MUST be thinking about Brujeria), but because we recognize that what is profane to one person may be sacred to another. Until you all realize this central idea, unity will never be possible.

Best of luck to you, but I've seen way too many "unity in the community" efforts over the past decade float blindly down this same tributary and flowing into a Sea of Obscurity.

And as for the Einstein asking about methods of sacrifice...

Thank you for taking the time to read the links I posted regarding Brujeria and Vodoun. Also thank you for being discerning enough to realize that Santeria is a religion apart from Brujeria and Vodoun.

In Brujeria, no, "blood sacrifice" is not an established part of rite and ritual. The use of animals in Vodoun is complex to explain, and you have to begin by understanding that the animal is feeding the gods, called the Loa. Please go do a little research, right here on the Web even, to try and understand this for yourself. I can't tell you to accept it, but I can suggest you educate yourself.

The Wiccan paradigm is not the best paradigm with which to approach some of these traditions. In many cases, you're dealing with spirits and paths in the Americas that far predate any "Religions of the Book". My own theory is that Wicca has tried to placate Christianity by its emphasis on no blood or animal sacrifices (which is a great irony, since the Catholic Church itself has a similar sacrifice in the Eucharist). When you go stepping into paths that have not been significantly altered to satisfy some dominant religion, you may find things which will appear barbaric--the way Wicca looks to some mainstream religionists, I'm sure.

To be tolerated, tolerate. If you don't understand, teach yourself.

As I don't enjoy self-mutilation as part of my spirituality (that would be banging my head against the wall in this instance), I left the group. But I was quite serious about approaching different traditions of the Americas (or anywhere) from a strictly Wiccan paradigm. It's a bad move.