Fluffy Bunnies - Good or Bad?

   By Axiom

Lately I have been noticing a lot of discussion occuring about the merits of "fluffy bunny" Pagans. People slamming them on one site, lauding them on another, even ripping into each other in defense or attack over the value or lack thereof of the Fluffies.

I don't think any other caste within Paganism garners so much attention and opinion internally. So what is a Fluffy Bunny, and why would such a thing be good or bad? Why do these Pagans generate so much passion?

I keep coming across two types of Pagans who seem to be lumped in under the blanket term - two very different types I might add. There is the generic apparently soft-core Pagan - let's call these people the "Bunnies". You know the ones - loves the whole world and believes the whole world loves them back. The ones who get caught up on the "An it harm none" aspect of the Wiccan Rede and apply it beyond the scope it seems applicable to. Sometimes these Bunnies are old-time Pagans - been practicing for ten, twenty years. Others are very much newbies. But they all seem the same - willfully blind, innocent, newbies with no concrete grasp of reality or "real" Paganism, let alone life. Their rose-coloured glasses obscure the harsh world, patchouli covers any scent of decay or unpleasantness, and somehow (regardless of whether life gives them roses or manure) they are always so...well...happy!

Alongside these are the "Fluffy" Pagans - so much fluff between the ears there seems to be no room for brains...or at the least any energy. These Pagans want to leach off those around them. They follow the latest fads - always chasing the newest cool, "hippy-styled", esoteric mishmash version of Paganism meets Eastern religion. They can quote from various popular Pagan authors, but seem to have no real grasp of ritual or magic. They know the names of exotic herbs but never seem able to create a spell - or identify the flaws in one. They lurk on online bulletin boards apparently seeking a mentor but every query seems more a demand for hand feeding than a genuine search for a path of challenges.

Now, I find Bunnies can be really annoying but I also think we need them - to offset the dour pessimists. It can grate, and there are times I want to grab the few I know by their collective shoulders and shake them hard. When things go really wrong, hearing that it will "all work out in the end" is not always what I want to hear. Yes, I know that things will get better - but I also know that "better" is a universal concept and may not mean individual improvement for me and mine. Not without effort from me and mine anyway. I want to vent about the people who helped create the mess. Brainstorm on ways to fix it. Mourn for what I've lost. Not bake muffins and wait for the gods to smile again.

But it is times like this - in the midst of my anger, confronted by the rosy stare of one of my bunny friends - that I remember why they are my friends. No matter how angry I get, they stay by me. My rage washes over them while they make their muffins, offer up their prayers, bring me some flowers. They love unconditionally - if at times in ways I consider a little unwise. They accept all, warts and all. They add to the good that is in this world. And they make it easier for me to come back from my anger and find balance again. In this they combat the pessimists of the world - the people who look for ways it could get worse, and expect it to do so. It is hard to regain a good mood when the people around you see nothing to be happy about.

And during years like this, where death and destruction is seemingly constant, it is the Bunnies who help me regain my emotional strength. I think Bunnies may be like chocolate - too much is a bit sickening, but some amounts regularly help keep me happy!

The Fluffies, however, I find both dangerous and infuriating. It's not the asking for help that upsets me. We all start new. We all seek help. We all need mentors. But with the Fluffy Pagan it never progresses past that. They move from mentor to mentor leaching information and ideas but never really seeming to make any effort to apply themselves to the learning process.

Aside from being very draining for those who offer help, this process is dangerous. Without the trial and error process of learning, the effort of study and practice, the knowledge gathered isn't really absorbed - or at least in my experience this is the case. Nor is there much logic or pattern to what is collected - a bit from here, a piece from there, something from somewhere else. It's disconnected. And it is the connections that provide the comprehension of purpose and use.

You end up with a vast collection of information and no real knowledge of how to piece it all together or use it. It gets worse when these Fluffies begin teaching other people - whether they set themselves up as actual teachers, or simply pass along the bits they've collected higgledy-piggledy to other seekers. Again, without the framework, they have no real comprehension of what they are doing - what works, what doesn't, what is safe, what's not, what's real, what's fake, and so on.

The worst example of this I came across was a man wanting to create some herbal lotions for sale at his craft stall. He wanted to create a magical and relaxing blend...primary ingredient being Hemlock. Not only did he have no herbal training - the full extent being that he bought oils in the supermarket he liked, mixed them together and added them to baby lotion - he wasn't interested in getting any. He just wanted a list of ingredients that would help create a "relaxing" blend and they needed to go well with Hemlock because he wanted to use it. He'd read somewhere it was a powerful magical herb.

I told him I wasn't interested, and why. The last I heard he'd approached three other Pagans from the same board with the same question.

Give me a Bunny any day. They don't try and sell Hemlock lotion as a relaxation aid....

Milford Sounds Fern

   

The Spiral Path By Rebecca SerVoss Celtic Pagan. I keep hearing those words thrown about the various forums I haunt. And, having just gotten back from vacationing in Ireland, it seems to be a theme. I try to pay attention to those kinds of things. So, I'm mulling all this over and checking one of those forums I mentioned, when what do I see? But a really great article on Celtic reconstructionism, with a great link. Finally, a site that isn't just fluff. And in reading around I found a few more choice articles to read. It's like everything I've come to as a personal set of ideas and beliefs is echoed in these electronic paragraphs. Another light switch flips. Of course I'm not ready to just run off and say, "I'm Aurrad!" but having a name, and a place to start researching helps. More over, I feel more grounded. It's difficult to know you believe in...something but not have to words to adequately describe it. So now it seems I have my work, or rather research, cut out for me. What I know so far: the believe in justice, animism, pantheism, family, and poetics I like. I find my belief in local spirits honored; a hard thing to find in many neo pagan ideologies when you think cities are alive. And I have a few books to locate. Since Samhaine is coming, and it figures in with this whole Celtic bend (being one of four major religious holidays), that's where I'm headed. I'm thinking maybe some poetry or some labyrinth work. Or maybe both. It's good to feel like I'm not treading water anymore. Let's hope I don't drown. Beca         Too often we give our children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. ~ Roger Lewin.

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