Cultural Backlash: An Open Post
Sep. 23rd, 2025 11:38 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
causticusThere were some interesting discussions on yesterday's Magic Monday post and on the past month's or so posts on the Ecosophia blog regarding the collapse of alternative spirituality in the West and a likely impending cultural backlash against decades of general rot and grubbiness that is decaying our civilization from within.
Some of us here in the US are afraid that a sudden cultural jolt in the other direction, away from leftism/progressivism, will result in any type of spirituality that doesn't fit a narrow, literalist Christian/Abrahamic format as being seen by the reaction mob as "part of the problem." Anything the people leading and directing this backlash deem to be adjacent to the aforementioned cultural rot will be lazily lumped together into one big, bad conspiracy against what they believe they are trying to save and preserve. This likely means anything occult/esoteric, overtly pagan, or too foreign will be included, with very little nuance. As we know, the moral collapse of both Neopaganism and the postmodern occult scene hasn't helped matters at all in this respect, especially in light of recent tragic events.
Anyway, I want to know what anyone else here thinks of this and anything in your own area (US or somewhere else) you have seen indicative of a new cultural direction that may or or may not involve the condemnation of the things I listed above (or anything else that comes to mind). Also, we could use this space to think up ideas on how to preserve and carry on various spiritual teachings and practices if/when an intolerant religious climate becomes reality.
This is an open post that will stay open for quite a long time.
Some of us here in the US are afraid that a sudden cultural jolt in the other direction, away from leftism/progressivism, will result in any type of spirituality that doesn't fit a narrow, literalist Christian/Abrahamic format as being seen by the reaction mob as "part of the problem." Anything the people leading and directing this backlash deem to be adjacent to the aforementioned cultural rot will be lazily lumped together into one big, bad conspiracy against what they believe they are trying to save and preserve. This likely means anything occult/esoteric, overtly pagan, or too foreign will be included, with very little nuance. As we know, the moral collapse of both Neopaganism and the postmodern occult scene hasn't helped matters at all in this respect, especially in light of recent tragic events.
Anyway, I want to know what anyone else here thinks of this and anything in your own area (US or somewhere else) you have seen indicative of a new cultural direction that may or or may not involve the condemnation of the things I listed above (or anything else that comes to mind). Also, we could use this space to think up ideas on how to preserve and carry on various spiritual teachings and practices if/when an intolerant religious climate becomes reality.
This is an open post that will stay open for quite a long time.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-09-30 09:09 pm (UTC)Thank you for replying to my post on John Greer’s Magic Monday.
I have an extensive background with Christianity and a bad case of preacher’s kid syndrome, so that’s why I ended up studying Druidry with the AODA. I hung around with a different order some years back, but I left because they were turning to the same post-hippie leftism that killed quite a few Protestant congregations (including the one that was foisted on me as a child). As a result of being in exactly the bracket harmed most by Obama’s and Biden’s policies, I (despite my education) work at a big-box DIY in a Red corner of the Rust Belt. As a result, I’m in constant contact with the people the Left™ and lefty neopagans fear the most. Also, I’m well out as a Druid, which gets me a few funny looks, but generally gets me put in most people’s good guy column. The qualifier, “Yeah, I’m a Green Wizard. The lefties really hate us!” is a handy conversation starter. And true. So – the short version is… there’s no mob coming for the neopagans. Most of them will head for mainstream Protestant sects as the economy dictates and as the fads that created the tacky, plastic neopagans hit history’s recycling center.
Thank you very much for allowing my 2d worth in your forum. I’d be happy to expand or explain if you like, and I’m looking forward to reading what evolves here.
Rhydlyd
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-01 02:32 pm (UTC)First off, thanks for the data points on your experiences. I live in the Rust Belt to, but more in a major urban area, where prog lefties and old-style machine Democrats rule the roost. I can only imagine that people like me, i.e. right-of-center with weird/eclectic spiritual beliefs, are quite rare in these parts.
I like the term Green Wizard a lot. I'm quite found of the Druid Revival tradition myself, and it's influenced my own eclectic views quite a bit. I actually call this synthesis "Green Hermeticism", which may or may not be a helpful label moving forward. The way I see it, once the Neopagan and pop-occult paradigms fully fade out, calling oneself a Druid might just get you pegged as a weirdo or oddball. Personally, "Druid" as a self-identifier is a bit too LARPy for my own tastes, so Green Wizard or Green Hermeticist it is ;) I've commented before on how I'd really like to see the DR tradition survive, though I think its survival will be under the auspices of some other movement or organization, perhaps as one among several spiritual path options.
I actually think it's likely the majority of people who were involved with Neopaganism at its peak, c. late 1980s - late 2000s, have already likely moved onto other things. Perhaps some of the remainders will revert back to some sort of Protestantism, as you suggest.
(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-01 07:01 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2025-10-01 08:48 pm (UTC)I suppose it's only logical to combine the two concepts. Really, the disciplines of natural magic and herbal alchemy make that very clear.