My fellow Pagans.. come, share your thoughts..

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ah, the benefits of being the contact person for our church. So many interesting people to meet, to talk to, to label as bloody raving lunatics.

Mr. Kitty and I had a visit the other night from a guy I’d apparently talked to two years ago. He was that impressed, that he remembered the conversation two years later. Me, I can’t remember what I had for breakfast. Remember that Mr. Kitty is a therapist, and I’m an almost-therapist, so we’re pretty good at pinpointing the loonies. This guy was a loonie with bells on. But something quite interesting came out of a snippet of conversation he had with Mr. Kitty.

The guy shows up on our doorstep with a freakin’ HUGE celtic cross hanging around his neck. Mind you, this is the bible belt, and at least in this area a cross is a cross is a cross. So Mr. Kitty freaked just a little when some guy he doesn’t know shows up with a cross on asking for our church. When Mr. Kitty realised that the guy had spoken with me previously, he relaxed a bit and joked about how he’d been a little nervous that perhaps we were about to get witnessed to. The loonie got really defensive and said ‘it’s a celtic cross!’ Mr. Kitty pointed out that it was still a cross, and wasn’t even really the typical Celtic cross (the four equal arms in a circle). Turns out the guy attends a Baptist church, and wears the cross as a symbol of Christianity, not Celtic Paganism, which is why he was all defensive.

Now, I know that Mr. Kitty tends to be a little bit on the hysterical side when it comes to any kind of Christian symbol, so he may be a bit out in left field on this one. But I started thinking about it, and in all the interactions I’ve had with Pagans from all walks of the path, I’ve never seen anyone wearing a Celtic Cross and insisting that it was okay just because it was Celtic. Anyone I’ve seen wearing the quartered circle has always shied away from referring to it as a cross so as to avoid any confusion. The Gnostics I’ve met do wear the Celtic Cross, but it’s clearly (for them) a Christian symbol.

In case you’re wondering, I practice Dragon magic, and as such wear symbols of the dragon. Mr. Kitty is Druidic, and has a lovely little tree pendant he wears. It’s never even dawned on either of us to wear a Celtic cross (him based on the Celtic Druidism he practices, me based on my ethnicity).

Let me try to outline the question a little more clearly. Do any of the pagans you know wear crosses? How do they incorporate it into their belief system? Does the fact that it’s a Celtic, or Nordic, or Teutonic, or whatever-other-culture cross, something other than the ‘typical’ plain cross, make it ‘more pagan’ and therefore ‘acceptable’?

Thoughts? TIA.

-BK

2

Here in Austin, which is rather Pagan-friendly for being this far south, I don’t think any of my Pagan friends wear crosses.

Of course… now that I think about it, hardly any of them wear much jewelry in general.

I may not be noticing, though, as I’m personally an atheist. And I also just realized that I’m currently wearing a small celtic cross. :rolleyes:

3

FWIW, I am a (pretty moderate) evangelical Christian and I wear a small, silver, four-equal-arms-in-a-circle cross.

Two reasons, I like Irish art & I like the infinity references within the circle and knotwork.

4

I guess I should add that I (obviously) do not think of it as a pagan symbol but I am aware that others may see it that way.

5

I don’t personally know any pagans that wear crosses. However, I wouldn’t be suprised seeing as the cross “symbol” doesn’t nessecarily denote Christianity. ((i.e. - the crossing of arms in a certain Wiccan ritual.*))

I do however know a few Agnostic and Atheistic people who wear crosses just because they like the way they look.

*[sub]Searching the web for anything even remotely relating to a name of a Wiccan ritual is fruitless because of the countless poseurs out there. Since I’m not a Wiccan, I don’t know the name of this particular ritual, only that it exists. My apologies.[/sub]

6

People wearing symbols of religion X, even though they profess religion Y, ‘because I like this SYMBOL better’

Let’s hope swastica’s don’t become chic…

it’s SO much easier to be a heathen (except for the occasional crusade)

7

I’m a Witch…have been over 20 years…

I often wear Celtic equal armed crosses. Pagan as the day is long.
The Christian looking ones are for, well, Christians. I don’t wear them out of malice, it’s just that it’s about as meaningful to me as a Star of David. Beautiful symbolism, but not my bag, baby.

8

It means what you want it to mean.

9

So I could get away with wearing a swastika and say it symbolizes puppies and kittiens and people should accept that and believe me?

10

If that’s actually what it’s meaning is in your heart, yes. Is it?

11

Red, octagonal signs now mean ‘accelerate’…

symbols ARE symbol BECAUSE we agree what they mean.

For instance, what do these little squiggles on your screen mean?

12

That I need to get a life? :smiley:

But agreed, symbols are only symbols because we make them so.Swastikas used to have a positive meaning…sadly they never will again in the foreseeable future. So symbolism isn’t stagnant, but IMHO it takes alot (like the Third Reich) to change it.

13

I had a English professor who was some sort of Pagan. He told us which type, but, sadly, I don’t remember. Anyway, he would quite often wear a Celtic Cross, and it was definitely not a Christian symbol with him.

14

I’m pagan, but I don’t wear much jewelry…

bobkitty- what is dragon magic exactly? I had friend that was into it, but he was a little loopy… he also said he was a shaman and a psychic and one time we watched interview with a vampire and he told me how his brother was being attacked by psychic vampires and he saved him. (he was always the hero) and various other stories I had to try not to giggle while hearing… as him being only 19…

15

Celtic crosses are a symbol of a Celtic heritage. That’s why Celtic Christians and Celtic Pagans like to wear’em.

16

Thanks for your thoughts, everyone. I suppose my confusion stemmed at least partially from the fact that it was, to this guy, clearly a Christian symbol, but he was insistent that we shouldn’t take any offense, or be concerned that he was going to witness to us, because it was a Celtic cross. I’m sorry, but if I see someone in this area wearing any kind of cross, I’m going to err on the side of caution until I know for a fact that they’re not going to try to spread the love of Jesus. Anyway, he had far more serious problems than this simple mix-up, but it raised some questions for me that I thought best put forth to the TM.

SecretKeeper- feel free to email me and we can chat about Dragon magic all you want. :slight_smile:

-BK