The elder awakens in us an appreciation of our own internal wisdom, and, when we are alert, and know that we are seen, we recognize the elder standing before us.

The elder looks through all your pain and confusion, catches your eye, smiles.

Look again at the elder. . . . do you see the mirror? The elder is you, in disguise.

I think thoughtful listening and speaking are indeed one sign of an Elder.

One of my favorite bloggers wrote recently about a flood in his basement that “smelled like old people,” as he described it. This post was picked up by our local blog newspaper, DCBlogs, as well as the Washington Post. Everyone thought it was hilarious. I couldn’t help but think that no one would dare to write a post that said their basement smelled like black people or gay people or Jews. But it’s ok to belittle old people, in fact he was celebrated for doing so.

And we wonder why the term “elder” is so awkward, why people of many different spiritual paths have either abandoned the concept, or self-apply the label (even weirder), or weirdest of all, try to force the label to stick to individuals for whatever reasons, personal or political.

This is the Age of Aquarius. I say forget the labels - just do good deeds, take care of yourself and those around you, try to be a good person. Striving for eldership is a ridiculous concept. At least I think so.

Thanks as always for making me think!

In large part, I think it takes a lot of space to talk about the idea of “elders” because we lack more precise terminology for what it is we’re talking about. All our language for respect and weight, age and authority, carries the baggage of other associations which obscure our intentions. But that seems to be the case with the English language in many instances, does it not? In any case, thanks for posting.

And yes Hecate, I too wish Margot had her talks posted somewhere. Maybe they are at Witchvox by now?

It’s not so much, I think, that we need to name precisely who offers “the most” to a community… more that communities need to recognize that some people have earned a closer, more careful consideration when they speak. Some people work at getting enough things right enough of the time that, yeah, they are doing a particularly fine job carrying spiritual values in a community. All of us have the potential–some of us are reaching it.

What I get out of the idea of “weight” is that it is possible to accept and honor the reality that some voices are clearer than others, without neccesarily having to grant any specific title or ritualized definitions around that. No 1-2-3–or any other form–to take the place of just being aware of who is offering what to a community right now.

I’m wordy as hell tonight–sorry about that. But it’s a new wrinkle for me in an old line of thought, on how Pagan egalitarianism is sometimes used as an excuse for disrespectful relations among us, and what might help us resolve that problem. I’m still reaching for a vocabulary to use to explain these ideas, even to myself.