Male Spirituality The following is from an open letter to my local community when I resided in Rhode Island. "The Cauldron" refers to the open-path Pagan group I founded, which has now become a part of the Rhode Island Open Circle (which is basically an online group of RI Pagans...some specific details addressed are no longer current, but I am leaving this piece in it's entirity for the sake of its spirit)   What I see right now that seems to be the biggest UNADDRESSED problem in the Pagan community is gender role. Paganism has been recognized in the last 30 years as a religion that has helped women find power and spirituality, to get away from the Judeo-Christian religions. Women spirituality groups abound. We have Dianic groups, and more support for women. It is a wonderful thing. But we have two sexes in our culture (for simplicity's sake, I won't right now go into alternative sexualities.). Few people look to recognize the effect on men, and how Judeo-Christian religion has hurt them as well. Christianity pretty much removed the penis by having Mary become pregnant while still being virginal. Society has deemed that men should be without emotion, and express themselves instead physically. They aren't supposed to be spiritual, unless they're priests, celebate men of god. This is not healthy either. We are sexual human beings. In the last 5 years, I've noticed an increase in men trying to find spirituality, trying to defy society's and organized religion's roles, only to be beaten upon. This is unacceptable. We can point fingers all we want at the past, but it's not going to help us right now in the present and the future. Backlash is not the best response for past aggressions. Many people are upset when African Americans still blame Caucasians for slavery. We have heads of states and religious leaders apologizing for wrongs done decades to hundreds of decades ago. Does this make sense? Does it make it any better? No. It's nice, but it doesn't help us now. There are four keys in the Modern Tradition of Witchcraft: Know thyself, be careful what you do, be careful who you trust, and most of all, MAINTAIN BALANCE. There must be an equilibrium achieved, because if we wish to use history as a reference, then it tells us again and again that to become one-sided has failed both sides again and again. Last time I checked, every branch of Paganism have dual-deities, as in, there both genders in every pantheon. There is a Goddess AND a God in the Divine Spirit. They exist both separately, but forever intertwined. I have talked to both. They don't have a favored sex or side. And I am so happy to say that I do know women who truly recognize the God, and I do know men who truly recognize the Goddess. It is beautiful. It's natural. There was a time where I wasn't sure how the Horned God fit into my life, but He made Himself known, just as clearly as She did, in His own time. I am thankful, because I took another step closer to understanding Balance. And as a Witch, that is the purpose of my Path. In the last few months, a wonderful conversation has been occuring on the sidelines of Cauldron ritual: a men's spirituality group. This will not be a talking group, as time and time again, we have come to realize that talking does not come easily, at least not at first. It will be a group that comes together to drum (which is great, because our drumming needs serious help), and to use their talents in a way to help contribute to the larger Cauldron group. Now, I'm sure there are some of you saying, "well, what about a women's spirituality group? You're talking about balance." The Modern Tradition currently does have all women members, but that is simply the way it has worked out...and every single one of us is very independent and very focused on Balance. And those of us who are married or have partners, enjoy sharing our Paths with them. It is not a goddess-only group. I think the same is true for the women who *regularly* attend the Cauldron meetings and ritual. They draw strength from the combination that occurs. None of them have come to me and said that they feel the need for a women's only group, or if they have, they do belong to one to suppliment their spiritual lives. We must learn to exist in the model of the God and Goddess. We can exist separately, but we are forever interwined, and we must respect that truth, as well as ourselves and each other.