Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner
Introduction
Course 7, Module 0
By: John Beckett
Transcript by K.D. Echols
Hi, I’m John Beckett, Druid, priest and writer.
Regular spiritual practice is the core of any good religion or spirituality – prayer, meditation, offerings, all those things we do to build and maintain good relationships with our Gods, our ancestors, the other spirits with whom we share this world, and with our sacred traditions.
Done well, this need not take an inordinate amount of time. My own practice is centered around a few minutes early in the morning, a few minutes at noon, a few minutes before dinner, and a few more minutes right before bed.
But what if you’re called to more? What if your Gods asked you for more? What if you just want more? You may be feeling a call to monasticism.
Now, when we start talking about monks and nuns, monasteries and convents, most of us either think about Catholics or Buddhists. Both of those religions have a long tradition of monasticism and there’s much we can learn from them.
But monasticism is not limited to any one or two religions. It can be practiced in the context of most any religion, including our modern Pagan and polytheistic religions. We don’t have to take vows of silence or vows of poverty. We don’t have to move into a monastery somewhere, which is a good thing because there aren’t very many of them.
I started working on what would become this class almost a year ago, because I was called to deepen my practice and to build something that would be a refuge against all the turmoil in our contemporary world. Along the way, I’ve encountered several other people doing similar things, some of them in similar ways, some of them in very different ways. Earlier this year, a book came out, Polytheistic Monasticism, which is an excellent collection of stories of different people practicing monasticism within a Pagan, polytheistic context. (Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters, edited by Janet Munin)
I don’t have all the answers. I don’t have all the answers for me, much less for everybody else. Along the way, I’ve learned what questions to ask and how to go about exploring some of the answers, trying them on, seeing what works for me and what might work for you. So now I am honored to invite you to the seventh online course from Under the Ancient Oaks, Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner.
Goals For The Course
What are our goals for this course? First, we want to do an introduction to monastic practices. What do the Buddhists do? What do the Catholics do? What did some of our ancient Pagan ancestors do that might be relevant to this? There’s a lot of stuff out there. Let’s see what other people are doing.
I want to present enough material that you can get an idea of what works for you and what doesn’t work for you.
We’re hoping to support others on their journeys. You probably have some friends who are doing something like this or who are trying to do something like this. Whether this ends up being something you devote yourself to or not, you will have people in your life who are trying to do this. This will help you better understand what they’re doing and how you can support them.
The big thing I hope it will be is an entry point for those who are called to Pagan monasticism. We’re at the very early stages of building a monastic movement within Paganism and polytheism, and we don’t know where to start. This is one place to start.
If you go on and decide, “Yes, I need to pursue this path. I need to become a Pagan monk. I need to incorporate all these things into my daily life.” Great. If you don’t, well then, you’ve learned some helpful practices that will be of benefit as you move forward in your life.
What This Course Isn’t
What this course isn’t. It’s not a physical monastery. I don’t have a physical monastery. I wish I did. I don’t.
It’s not about vows of silence or poverty or anything of the sort.
It’s not a means of escaping the world. I’ve done this before, saying that I’m just going to go off and live in a monastery because I’m tired of dealing with the ordinary world. Some people need to do that. It’s very difficult, particularly in this time, in this culture, that expects everybody to work 40 hours a week or more to try to earn their keep. Perhaps someday we will build some monasteries that will allow people who really don’t fit in well in the ordinary world to find some place where they do fit in. But for now, we don’t have that. This course isn’t that.
It certainly isn’t The One True Way. One of the things you will learn in this course is that there are many different ways to be a Pagan monk. Find the one that works for you.
Again, we’re not trying to turn everybody into Pagan monks. Just because you sign up for this class, just because you work through this class, doesn’t mean you’re going to become a Pagan monk. Maybe you will. But maybe you won’t.
Modules
As always, the class is divided into modules. This time there are six – seven, actually, if you include this Module 0 which is the Introduction. Module 1 is An Introduction to Monasticism. We’re going to review what the Catholics do and what the Buddhists do and what other people or other Pagans are doing.
We’re going to talk about A Foundation of Spiritual Practice. We can’t talk about everything we covered in all of the eleven modules in Course 5. But we can talk about enough to give those of you who didn’t take Course 5 a good foundation, and to bring to the forefront for all the rest of us those practices that are especially helpful in a monastic setting.
We don’t have physical monasteries, or at least very few of them. What are some Makeshift Monasteries? What are some ways we can build a refuge for ourselves without going off on a mountain somewhere and living in a cave?
Devotion, Discipline and Contemplation – at the core of monasticism are these three things: Devotional practices; The discipline to do them regularly, no matter what; And contemplation, sitting quietly and listening and letting the Gods speak to us, letting Nature speak to us, contemplating these practices and what they might mean. This is the core of monastic practice.
Very few monks, both in ancient times, medieval times, and today, very few monks spend their entire day in prayer and contemplation. Most of them have jobs. Some monasteries are famous for making wine or making beer. In medieval times, they were the scriptoriums where the monks were copying scripts by hand because the printing press hadn’t been invented yet. Most monks have some type of monastery job beyond just prayer and meditation. What might Your Monastery Job be?
Finally, Building a Monastic Life. How do we take all these things and put it together at whatever level is right for us, and build a monastic practice that draws us deeper to our Gods and ancestors, and our sacred traditions?
Patron of This Class
As I was putting this class together, I had given almost no thought to a patron. I was thinking this class probably wouldn’t have a patron. Then as I was trying to come up with something for the title slide for the class, I looked around and I saw this photo from some time ago, and it became very clear. It’s obvious who’s the patron of this class. It’s Brigid. Are the Goddess and the saint the same person? I tend to think not, but I think they’re playing on the same team.
I visited two Brigidine convents, one in Kildare in Ireland, Solas Bhríde. The nuns there are just wonderful people, just the height of hospitality. They’re nominally Catholic. Not nominally, they are officially Catholic. But they make it clear that what they do is open to people all religion and people of no religion. They knew we were Pagans when we visited, and they could not have been nicer and more welcoming to us.
The other Brigidine convent I’ve visited is in San Antonio in Texas, Brigid’s Place. These nuns are a little more traditionally Catholic but still very open minded and very welcoming.
So, it’s obvious that Brigid, Brighid, Brides, has a connection to monastic practices, certainly in the Christian era, and I think also in our modern Pagan era. In any case, Brigid is our patron for this class, and we will open all the modules with prayers to Her.
Who Should Participate?
Who should participate in this class? It’s intended for Pagans, polytheists, and witches – the usual people who take these classes. But it’s open to, and I think suitable for, anyone interested in deepening their spiritual practice. No matter what path you follow, if you feel called to monasticism, I think you will get something out of this class.
There are no prerequisites. Again, you don’t have to have taken Course Five on spiritual practice. You don’t have to have been called to become a monk. If you’re interested in the class, sign up for the class.
Who Should NOT Participate?
Who should not participate? As usual, anybody wanting to proselytize for anything.
Anybody expecting “universal” religion. It’s not all the same. Catholic monasticism and Buddhist monasticism and Pagan monasticism share a lot of technologies, but we work from very different foundations. It’s not all the same and that’s okay. The solution to religious strife is not to pretend that deep down, it’s all the same. It’s for all of us to understand that it’s all different, and that’s okay, and we respect and support each other along our way even if your path is not by path.
This is a Pagan class, presented from a polytheist perspective. If you’ve taken my classes before, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If not, this is what it means. We will be working from a polytheist perspective.
Course Format
The course format is the same as the other classes. There will be weekly videos. They look exactly like this one. There will be an opening section of live video and then we will go into the presentation, exactly like you’re seeing here.
It is on demand. Each module will be released early on Thursday morning. You watch it when you’re ready, when you have time. Hopefully you’ll do the homework before the next module is released the following Thursday. But it’s intended to be on demand for you to do it when it’s convenient for you.
That also means this class is going to still be here in 2023, 2024, 2025. So if you’re watching this video right now, and the initial run this class is long past, yes, you can still take it. You can still sign up for it. You won’t be able to participate in the Video Q&As obviously, but everything else is the same as it would be if you were taking it when it went out for the first time.
There will be required reading this time. Polytheistic Monasticism is required reading. We’re not using it as a textbook, but we are going to use it as a reference.
There will be homework. I stopped doing homework reviews a couple of classes ago. Most of you weren’t doing it, and even if you were, weren’t turning it in. You’re a grown up. If you find the homework useful, do it. If you don’t, then don’t. That’s entirely up to you.
In place of the homework, I’ve added Video Q&As. You send me questions and I will answer them on video. There will be two Q&As in this course, one after Module 2 and another one after Module 5.
Required Reading
The required reading is Polytheistic Monasticism edited by Janet Munin, published by Moon Books. It came out in April. It’s not part of the Pagan Portal series, but it’s about the same size. It only runs 120 pages. It costs like $12 from Amazon, about half that on Kindle. I read it in a couple hours.
Again, we’re not using it as a textbook. I’m not going to be lecturing from it. We are going to use it as a resource. Some of the stories that people are telling are very useful, and I think many of you will relate to one or more of the stories.
Guest Speakers
I don’t know everything about Pagan monasticism, so I’m bringing in some guest speakers this time. The first guest speaker will be Janet Munin who edited Polytheistic Monasticism. Janet has a long history of spiritual practice. She edited this book. That gives her probably the best high-level view of what Pagan monasticism is and the many ways that it can be practiced.
Syren Nagakyrie – of all the people who have chapters in Polytheistic Monasticism, Syren is most devoted to extreme simplicity. She says in her chapter that this was out of necessity, but it’s become part of her practice. I’m very eager to hear her story of how she does this with not a lot of financial resources.
Then Kimberly Kirner – that’s Kim in the picture below. Kim and I have been friends since we met at a Druid gathering in in 2009. We don’t see each other very often, but when we do we tend to get into very long and deep conversations. I knew I wanted her perspective in this. Kim’s day job is as an anthropology professor, so she comes into she comes into monasticism as a Druid and a polytheist, and also as an academic who studies these sorts of things. As you can see, I’ve already done the interview with her and I found it fascinating. Fascinating.
The format is interview. These will not be guest lectures. I ask questions and they answer. It’s mostly them talking. You’re going to hear me talk enough, so I asked the questions and then shut up and let them talk. You’re mainly going to be hearing them, but it is in an interview format, not as a guest lecturer
Recommended Pre-Work
Recommended pre-work: If you took Course 5, I suggest that you review it. It will go into more depth than we’ve got time to go into in this class. Again, that’s not required. If you didn’t take Course 5 and you want to take this one now, sign up for it now. If you’re trying to decide one or the other, I would suggest you take the Spiritual Practice course first. But you know, that’s up to you. It will work either way. We will cover the basics of spiritual practice in this class, but not in the depth that we did over 11 weeks in Course 5.
Private Facebook Group
There is a private Facebook group, the same private Facebook group we’ve had since the beginning. It’s a secret group, so only members can find the group and see who’s in it and what they post. So you can’t find it. I have to send you an invitation.
It’s a good place to ask questions. I’ll be happy to answer your questions, but maybe you want another opinion. Maybe you want another perspective. It’s a great place to say, “Hey, this is what I’m experiencing. What do you think about that?” You got some really good, experienced practitioners in in that Facebook group – lots of resources. I’ll be happy to answer but I’m not the only one who can give you a good answer.
It’s a good place for conversation among classmates. It is for all Under The Ancient Oaks class participants, so there are people who took other classes who aren’t taking this class. There is really not anything in this class I think that I would consider inappropriate for those who aren’t taking it.
There’s also a Discord server. I don’t participate on the discord server. I check in on it occasionally. But it’s there for those of you who want it.
Participation is completely voluntary. If you don’t like Facebook, if you don’t like Discord, you don’t have to do it lightly. Lately we haven’t had a lot of activity in the Facebook group, but I think this class may bring a bring a little more out there. We will see.
Cost
The cost – $60 for the entire course. The first five courses were $50. Course 6 was $75. This one is $60.
I prefer PayPal. The vast majority of you pay by PayPal. It’s just convenient.
As always, a limited number of scholarships are available for those who are experiencing financial difficulties. The more paid registrations and sponsorships I get, the more scholarships I can offer. The last several times, some of you have been very generous about, “Here’s my registration. I want to sponsor somebody else.” Or, “I can’t sponsor a whole person but I’d like to sponsor a half of a person.” So the more sponsorships I can get, and I do fund some scholarships myself – the more paid registrations and more sponsorships I get, the more scholarships I can offer.
The deadline to apply for a scholarship is Saturday, June 30, 2022.
Schedule
Our schedule: July 19 is when this module, Module Zero, is released. Registration opens. You ready to ready to sign up? Now’s the time.
Scholarship applications are accepted now. July 30 is the deadline for scholarship applications.
August 1: all the scholarship applicants will be notified.
Thursday, August 4, is when Module 1 is
released.
The class runs six weeks and the last module is released on September 8.
Questions
If you have questions about the course, if this introductory module hasn’t answered all of them, by all means send me an email, use the contact form on the website. I’ll do my best to answer. If you have questions during the course, contact me. I will do my best to answer.
The response will vary. If you ask a question during the course, I’m probably going to put it in the Video Q&A, unless you ask me not to. If it needs a private answer, I’ll send you an answer by email. You can ask the Facebook group. Again, I’m not the only one doing this. I’m not the only expert. There are lots of people in that group who can be helpful. Occasionally somebody asks a question that’s so deep I turn it into a blog post. I like those.
Again, I am always available to answer class-related questions, no matter when you’re taking this class.
I don’t do casual conversation. Don’t send me something and say, “Hey, read this and tell me what you think.” Don’t send me a Facebook message and say, “Hey, I want to pick your brain about something.” I don’t like doing that. I don’t do with my friends. You catch me at a Pagan gathering somewhere and buy me a beer and we’ll talk. If you have specific questions I will do my best to answer, but I don’t do casual conversation.
To sign up, send me an email: john@undertheancientoaks.com and let me know you want to sign up for the Pagan Monasticism class, or use the contact form. It’s easy for me if you just send me an email, but if you need to use contact form, use the contact form.
I will send you a PayPal invoice. As soon as that’s done, I will register you for the course. Expect a 24-hour turnaround. If you send me a registration email and I’m sitting at my computer and not in the middle of something. I may take care of it in a couple of minutes. If you send it to me late at night, I’m probably going to pick it up in the morning. If you happen to catch me while I’m traveling, it may be more than 24 hours, but in general, expect a 24-hour turnaround.
That’s it. I’m really excited about this course. I’m trying to figure out how I’m supposed to do this. I’m learning as I go and I’ve learned some things that I want to share with you. I’ve got some other people who have some experience that I don’t have that I want to share with you. I’m looking forward to working through this with you.
Sign up for the class, order the book, and we will begin our journey into Pagan Monasticism.
From www.UnderTheAncientOaks.com:
Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters
https://www.patheos.com/blogs/johnbeckett/2022/04/polytheistic-monasticism-voices-from-pagan-cloisters.html