Bleh.

[badstar]

I've spent a lot of brain-hours over the last few months hung up on the question of whether or not I still belong in ADF. I've been feeling very teenage-angsty-no-one-understands-me about it (this may very well not be true, but it is how I feel.). I might or might not write more later today or something. I've started a dozen posts on this in the past and never finished any of them.

The only thing I've really decide on is that I'm going to renew my grove membership, and since ADF is part of that, I'll renew my membership while I'm deciding what to do. But really, I don't know and it's bothering me.

I read somewhere that if you can't decide what you want, it's probably sleep. Those sound like very wise words right about now.

Comments

[purplelover13.livejournal.com]

This is the exact reason I dropped out of the Pagan Fellowship I was a member of a few years ago...I just felt left out. It didn't help that they preached openness and tolerance but gods forbid you were not Wiccan or on a Celtic path...geeze. I got sick of doing all their rituals without them once letting my friend and I on our path do one of our rituals...

[raistlynn.livejournal.com]

Well get some rest:) That's a great saying about sleep, I'm going to have to remember that:)

[drubear.livejournal.com]

Do what you think best, but there have been many many people (even here in Chicago) who "love the Grove but hate ADF..." (Meaning the National organization.) It's certainly not as uncommon as you might think.

We have a saying here: "Keep the ArchDruid healthy and very far away..."

But, OTOH, we're >>not<< a Pagan Fellowship - the Rules of the ADF "game" are rather specific and many might say limiting. But them's the rules. If you do not feel attracted to NeoPagan, Scholarly (and respectful of scholarship), Polytheist, IndoEuropean, semi-hierarchical, congrgational (with some allowance for solitary) style religion, then yup, ADF isn't for you. No fault to you and the local Grove should allow you to join in on rituals as you desire.

That said, you only need to worry about that stuff for public worship - you can be Wiccan, Setian, Hopi or Egyptian in your private worship and no one in ADF would comment. (Well, they might wonder why you're bothering with ADF if your Setian - but you'd never be denied access to things.)

Good luck on your journey!

[fuego.livejournal.com]

But, OTOH, we're >>not<< a Pagan Fellowship - the Rules of the ADF "game" are rather specific and many might say limiting. But them's the rules. If you do not feel attracted to NeoPagan, Scholarly (and respectful of scholarship), Polytheist, IndoEuropean, semi-hierarchical, congrgational (with some allowance for solitary) style religion, then yup, ADF isn't for you. No fault to you and the local Grove should allow you to join in on rituals as you desire.

I don't hate ADF, and while there have been things I've had issues with in the past, I've always been able to get through them. There are some things that I can point at and say "yeah, it would be easier if it weren't for this, this and this." But I've worked with them for four years now and at the end of the day, it's an occasional frustration but not the end of the world. As far as what specifically is wrong...I honestly don't know. It's me I know that much...a lot of stuff happened early in the year that one minute I was starting the clergy training program, and then suddenly...I realized I was all wrong.

As for the local grove...well, I'm kinda on the Witan so I would hope they would allow me to join in rituals :-P

[dubhlainn.livejournal.com]

I went through this exact same thing when I left Unitarian Universalism. It was an incredible part of my life for many years and then... it wasn't anymore. Things happened sure, but none of them so serious as for me to leave. It was just that I no longer felt like it was my religious home.

I personally feel very drawn to the way ADF exists in a sacred tension between the mystical and scholarly, and I think a lot of the issues people have with ADF is either misunderstandings or projection of their past religious baggage. (no I don't mean you, just people I have spoken to)

[verginiamus.livejournal.com]

It doesn't seem strange to me. ADF is the middle ground between several streams of Paganism. Sometimes it is too strong for some, and too weak for others. I sort of see it as a place I can have contact with any of the Roman Religio.