I agree that there are no hard and fast ways to live a 'pagan' life so to speak.
Whilst I am a meat eater, I did go to a Vegan Expo on the weekend and their 'party line' is a big focus on being 'green' and 'managing climate change' - buzz words of the century. As if my personal daily diet is going to make a difference to the friggin climate of the planet. It's a bit of a self indulgent view! Collective consumer choice might overall make a difference, but not wheather I personally choose to not to eat meat or honey or use wool or leather products.
With regard to diet, I think a more 'pagan' approach could be to raise more personal awareness of where your food is coming from, where it was grown, slaughtered or produced and to make conscious, considered choices about what you put into your body.
There is also some brilliant work being done in boutique farming to preserve sow breeds that would otherwise have become extinct - they're also being bred for slaughter. Is that a bad thing if it also maintains species diversity?
I also think from a pagan perspective that if we have a respect for the earth in general terms and wish to work towards looking after the earth, then we should also look to the macro level and respect our bodies more with a healthy diet and decent exercise. Sorry to say, but how many seriously obese pagans do we know? In neo-pagan circles, do we use the 'goddess incarnate' view as an excuse to get fat - because we're all 'beautiful' in the eyes of the gods? I'm certainly living in a glass house on this issue and I'm happily throwing this out there. Truth is, in society in general, we're growing fatter, lazier and more complacent by the minute and we generally don't hold ourselves accountable. It's always someone else's fault.
I have a pagan friend who is primarily vegetarian, but will eat whatever animal she actually kills herself. Hence she eats fish when she goes fishing and I'm sure would happily eat a cow if she slaughtered it herself. I really respect her practical outlook.
A rambling response....
Whilst I am a meat eater, I did go to a Vegan Expo on the weekend and their 'party line' is a big focus on being 'green' and 'managing climate change' - buzz words of the century. As if my personal daily diet is going to make a difference to the friggin climate of the planet. It's a bit of a self indulgent view! Collective consumer choice might overall make a difference, but not wheather I personally choose to not to eat meat or honey or use wool or leather products.
With regard to diet, I think a more 'pagan' approach could be to raise more personal awareness of where your food is coming from, where it was grown, slaughtered or produced and to make conscious, considered choices about what you put into your body.
There is also some brilliant work being done in boutique farming to preserve sow breeds that would otherwise have become extinct - they're also being bred for slaughter. Is that a bad thing if it also maintains species diversity?
I also think from a pagan perspective that if we have a respect for the earth in general terms and wish to work towards looking after the earth, then we should also look to the macro level and respect our bodies more with a healthy diet and decent exercise. Sorry to say, but how many seriously obese pagans do we know? In neo-pagan circles, do we use the 'goddess incarnate' view as an excuse to get fat - because we're all 'beautiful' in the eyes of the gods? I'm certainly living in a glass house on this issue and I'm happily throwing this out there. Truth is, in society in general, we're growing fatter, lazier and more complacent by the minute and we generally don't hold ourselves accountable. It's always someone else's fault.
I have a pagan friend who is primarily vegetarian, but will eat whatever animal she actually kills herself. Hence she eats fish when she goes fishing and I'm sure would happily eat a cow if she slaughtered it herself. I really respect her practical outlook.
Great post.