If you spend any amount of time in the Pagan Blogosphere or Podiverse, that is reading pagan blogs or listening to pagan podcasts, you have likely run across some folks in the past month talking about “pagan values”.
It appears that this collaborative project began in 2009, spurred on at paganvalues.wordpress.com as an attempt to de-mystify paganism. Much of the world is familiar with the Wiccan Rede “An it harm none, do what thou wilt.” Many who try to discredit modern paganism and who have done just a modicum of research will trace this back to Aleister Crowley's “Do what thou will shall be the whole of the law” and try to portray modern paganism as licentious or hedonistic.
While there are many books on the shelves of our bookstores, not many are dedicated to values, ethics or morals. It's true that most Wicca-101 style books will have some information about the Rede, but few go into any depth. Fewer still are the texts that discuss values and ethics from a truly pagan perspective.
Pagan Values Month is an attempt to fill that void. It encourages pagan podcasters and bloggers to open up this discussion, to bring the subject, at least for one month each year, into the forefront … to shine a light on the subject when the Sun is highest.
The Seven Deadly Sins, the Golden Rule … most of our morals, our ideas of what is right and wrong are not determined by religion … rather our religious teachings are often determined by what has helped us to survive and thrive as a civilization.
Pagans don't differ all that much from any mainstream religion when it comes to values on any of the essentials that make civilization possible … stealing, lying, laziness, greed, those things which hinder civilization are wrong. On the other hand, pagans DO tend a bit more toward a libertarian view when it comes to personal or lifestyle choices.
This year a number of notable pagan authors, bloggers and podcasters have taken up the challenge to discuss Pagan Values. Starhawk and T. Thorn Coyle, The Wild Hunt Blog, the Pagan Centered Podcast, and others all have articles or episodes dedicated to looking at values and ethics from a pagan perspective.
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