Pagans In Recovery
Encyclopedia
Pagans in Recovery is the phrase which is frequently used to describe the collective efforts of Neopagans to achieve abstinence or the remission of compulsive/addictive behaviors through twelve-step program
s such as Alcoholics Anonymous
, Nicotine Anonymous
, Narcotics Anonymous
, Overeaters Anonymous
, Al-Anon/Alateen
, etc. These efforts generally focus on modifying or adapting the twelve steps to accommodate the Pagan world-view as well as creating Pagan-friendly twelve step meetings either as part of a pre-existing twelve-step program, or as independent entities.
prior to 1989 which was titled "Pagans in Recovery" http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos158.htm. Isaac Bonewits also used the term in an essay he wrote in 1996 http://www.neopagan.net/PIR.html.
are uncomfortable with traditional twelve-step meetings because of the use of Christian prayers, the difficulty in finding supportive sponsors, the assumption that a person's Higher Power is male, etc. http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usxx&c=words&id=4583. Some Pagans find the 12 steps themselves too reminiscent of Christian theology to be applicable to their belief systems http://www.angelfire.com/wi/theosis/aaspirit.html. Pagans have been "ousted from A.A. meetings or shunned" when members of that A.A. group discovered that they were Pagans. However this type of conduct would not be approved by A.A. itself as any person who "has a desire to stop drinking" may declare themselves a member of A.A. http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/diskus/foltz.html
In 1992, Dr Charlotte Kasl
, an addiction counselor and author, and past member of Alcoholics Anonymous
published a book titled Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the 12 Steps, a work which has greatly influenced the Pagan Recovery Movement. http://www.charlottekasl.com/ In her book, Dr. Kasl notes that Bill W., Dr. Bob and the other men who helped them put together the A.A. program and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous all came from similar backgrounds, they were all privileged, "white" (European-American) males who wrote the bulk of these influential works in the middle of the 20th century. Kasl argues, the focus of the traditional recovery movement is rooted in a European-American, middle class, heterosexual mindset, steeped in the teachings of Abrahamic religions http://www.recovery.org/aa/misc/oxford.html and greatly influenced by the conservative U.S. culture of the 1950's. She claims that the well-meaning but patriarchal attitudes inherent within the program, coupled with Judeo/Christian teachings which focus strongly (some say exclusively) on guilt and shame are deeply problematic for many who attempt to find a place at 12 Step meetings. She also points out that while the program is held to be perfect, Kasl's own viewpoint is that the A.A. program is simply a guideline.
Kasl further states, the view of alcoholics and others as those with "egos run rampant" can be foreign to the experience of many women, gays, and lesbians, survivors of sexual and/or physical abuse, people of color, those from non-western cultures, and those who practice alternative forms of spirituality. Such groups, she notes, often have self-esteem issues brought on by a culture that sees them as “less than” and she argues that that their core issues are often centered around feeling power-less, not power-ful.
She believes, the challenge comes in people finding their voices, telling their truth, and speaking up for their rights. They need to own and use their strength, not deny it, and she offers her own 16 Steps as an alternative to the problems and prejudices which she believes are inherent in the original 12 Steps. She states A search of approved addiction literature of A.A. and Al-Anon provided me with no definition of a healthy, mature "recovered" person. One is always an addict, dependent on groups, and always at the brink of relapse if he or she doesn't follow certain directives and trust external authority. It is heresy to say I am recovered - I don't need a group. Personal power, competence, self-reliance, intellect, and happiness are also suspect. Most of all there is no room for questioning - the bedrock of expanding one's mind and developing a set of internalized values that provide an inner sanctuary of personal strength. http://www.counselormagazine.com/content/view/152/63/
Her work has influenced the creation of other alternative programs, among them Spiral Steps. http://www.spiralsteps.org
Anodea Judith (a Pagan counselor) http://www.sacredcenters.com/ and Dj (the founder of Spiral Steps), among others, have argued for a recovery format that is more in tune with earthwise practice and ethics. Starkhawk and other Pagan writers have noted that the challenge for our culture as a whole is not seeking “power over” but finding ways of using “power with”, while Dr. Kasl and others have begun offering programs and groups that incorporate a holistic view of healing that involves mind, body and spirit. As a result, many alternative groups now focus on empowerment, balance, and connection to the sacred as opposed to the 12 Step requirement in Step 3 "to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God". Alternative groups also support their members who may choose to use non-traditional healing techniques, such as alternative medicine, meditation and visualization techniques, inner child work, ritual, yoga, and other forms of healing which they feel can compliment treatments offered by western medicine.
The focus in alternative groups tends to be on tolerance, balance, building better boundaries, healing old wounds, making amends, taking our power back and right action. As a result, these groups tend to be more in tune with Pagan, New Age
, Native American
, humanistic, feminist, and Buddhist teachings, as well as with the more progressive versions of the mainstream faiths.
Another issue among Pagans in recovery is the one-sided image of addicts, alcoholics, codependents, and survivors of dysfunctional families portrayed in official 12 Step literature and in the many books published on recovery and dysfunctional family systems since the 1980's. For example, Kasl and others in the field of addiction have long noted that the classic "Characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics" http://www.drjan.com/13char.html and the list known as “The Problem” in ACA http://www.adultchildren.org/lit/Problem.s (which are read at every ACA meeting) focus strongly on "character defects" and do not adequately support the creation or celebration of character strengths, strengths which are often the result of surviving these very systems. In a 2005 article written for The Witches' Voice http://www.witchvox.com titled Making a Sea Change http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usca&c=words&id=9959, Dj writes that "Much of what we learned as survivors has made us stronger, better, deeper and often as not, uniquely gifted. This is something to be valued, even if it did come at a very high price." (Quoted with full knowledge of and with permission from the author. SV) This methodology appears similar to the 12 Step practice of sharing "experience, strength and hope"; A.A. literature suggests that our experiences with alcohol, both good and bad, are the greatest tool to help others achieve sobriety.
It should also be noted that many twelve-step programs, such as Narcotics Anonymous
, have special interest groups, typically meetings specifically geared towards young people, men, women, gays and lesbians, etc. http://www.na.org/naway/en/naway4-e-4.htm Alcoholics Anonymous has also started meetings specifically for Native American
s which accommodate the Native American view of spirituality http://www.naigso-aa.org/. However, it is not uncommon for Pagans who are recovering alcoholics to start A.A. meetings specifically for Pagans http://news.earthhousemn.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1 though these meetings may not be included in local meeting directories.
, where one is expected to keep his or her spiritual beliefs separate from recovery http://www.cfiwest.org/sos/find.htm, or Rational Recovery
, which is not spiritually based and does not encourage members to seek support from others in recovery http://www.bookrags.com/other/drugs/rational-recovery-rr-edaa-03.html.
Generally speaking, Pagan twelve step meetings follow the same format as other twelve step meetings except that they use Pagan friendly readings (which have not been approved by the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous or other twelve step organizations), and substitute Pagan friendly prayers for the Lord's Prayer
and the Serenity Prayer
http://www.jelder.com/Pagan/11SSC_protocol.PDF. For example, the Recovery Spiral: A Pagan Path to Healing by Cynthia Jane Collins is sometimes used instead of or along with the Big Book
of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the Native American Great Spirit prayer may be substituted for the Lord's Prayer http://www.rewritables.net/cybriety/recovery_prayers.htm
Some Pagan twelve step groups have reworked or reworded the twelve steps so as to make them more applicable to Pagans, especially in allowing for a Polytheistic and non-gendered view of divinity http://www.recovery.org/pagan.htm. The members of Pagan twelve step groups are still expected to work the twelve steps as a means of spiritual growth, obtain a sponsor, make amends for harm they have caused, and to help others. http://www.sacredcenters.com/articles/recovery.html http://www.widdershins.org/vol1iss2/11.htm
Some twelve step meetings for Pagans are eclectic, meaning that anyone from a twelve step recovery program, regardless of the nature of their addiction, may participate in the meeting. This is in sharp contrast to Alcoholics Anonymous' concept of "Singleness of Purpose" which holds that alcoholics should only work with other alcoholics. http://www.aaprimarypurpose.org/SinglePurpose.htm
." In "working" the Twelve Steps, participants become actively involved in seeking God through prayer, confessing wrongs and asking for "removal of shortcomings." The Ninth Court of Appeals pointed to cases decided before 2001 by the federal courts of appeal for the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin) and the Second Circuit (New York, Connecticut, Vermont), in addition to a number of cases in lower federal courts and in state courts, all with the same result. The "unanimous conclusion" of these courts was that coercing a person into AA/NA or into AA/NA based treatment programs was unconstitutional because of their religious nature.http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/08/BA99S1AKQ.DTL&hw=alcoholics+anonymous&sn=001&sc=1000
Twelve-step program
A Twelve-Step Program is a set of guiding principles outlining a course of action for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems...
s such as Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
, Nicotine Anonymous
Nicotine Anonymous
Nicotine Anonymous is a twelve-step program for people desiring to quit smoking and live nicotine free. As of May, 2008 there are 600 meetings in thirty-eight countries worldwide with the overwhelming majority of these meetings occurring in the United States, followed by Canada, Brazil, Australia...
, Narcotics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous is a twelve-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous describing itself as a "fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem," and it is the second-largest 12-step organization...
, Overeaters Anonymous
Overeaters Anonymous
Overeaters Anonymous is a twelve-step program for people with problems related to food including, but not limited to, compulsive overeaters, those with binge eating disorder, bulimics and anorexics...
, Al-Anon/Alateen
Al-Anon/Alateen
Al-Anon/Alateen, known as Al-Anon Family Groups, is an international "fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholicswho share their experience, strength, and hope in order to solve their common problems." They "help families of alcoholics by practicing the Twelve Steps, by welcoming and giving...
, etc. These efforts generally focus on modifying or adapting the twelve steps to accommodate the Pagan world-view as well as creating Pagan-friendly twelve step meetings either as part of a pre-existing twelve-step program, or as independent entities.
History and development
The term 'Pagans in Recovery' appears to have first been used in a Neopagan newsletter from OhioOhio
Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...
prior to 1989 which was titled "Pagans in Recovery" http://www.sacred-texts.com/bos/bos158.htm. Isaac Bonewits also used the term in an essay he wrote in 1996 http://www.neopagan.net/PIR.html.
Why separate from regular twelve-step meetings?
Many PagansPaganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
are uncomfortable with traditional twelve-step meetings because of the use of Christian prayers, the difficulty in finding supportive sponsors, the assumption that a person's Higher Power is male, etc. http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usxx&c=words&id=4583. Some Pagans find the 12 steps themselves too reminiscent of Christian theology to be applicable to their belief systems http://www.angelfire.com/wi/theosis/aaspirit.html. Pagans have been "ousted from A.A. meetings or shunned" when members of that A.A. group discovered that they were Pagans. However this type of conduct would not be approved by A.A. itself as any person who "has a desire to stop drinking" may declare themselves a member of A.A. http://web.uni-marburg.de/religionswissenschaft/journal/diskus/foltz.html
In 1992, Dr Charlotte Kasl
Charlotte Kasl
Charlotte Sophia Kasl, PhD, is a U.S. psychologist and author.She pioneered the 16-Steps for Discovery and Empowerment as an alternative to the Twelve-step program for recovery from addiction, compulsion, or other behavioral problems.She wrote several books based on some aspects of Sufi, Quaker,...
, an addiction counselor and author, and past member of Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous
Alcoholics Anonymous is an international mutual aid movement which says its "primary purpose is to stay sober and help other alcoholics achieve sobriety." Now claiming more than 2 million members, AA was founded in 1935 by Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith in Akron, Ohio...
published a book titled Many Roads, One Journey: Moving Beyond the 12 Steps, a work which has greatly influenced the Pagan Recovery Movement. http://www.charlottekasl.com/ In her book, Dr. Kasl notes that Bill W., Dr. Bob and the other men who helped them put together the A.A. program and the Big Book of Alcoholics Anonymous all came from similar backgrounds, they were all privileged, "white" (European-American) males who wrote the bulk of these influential works in the middle of the 20th century. Kasl argues, the focus of the traditional recovery movement is rooted in a European-American, middle class, heterosexual mindset, steeped in the teachings of Abrahamic religions http://www.recovery.org/aa/misc/oxford.html and greatly influenced by the conservative U.S. culture of the 1950's. She claims that the well-meaning but patriarchal attitudes inherent within the program, coupled with Judeo/Christian teachings which focus strongly (some say exclusively) on guilt and shame are deeply problematic for many who attempt to find a place at 12 Step meetings. She also points out that while the program is held to be perfect, Kasl's own viewpoint is that the A.A. program is simply a guideline.
Kasl further states, the view of alcoholics and others as those with "egos run rampant" can be foreign to the experience of many women, gays, and lesbians, survivors of sexual and/or physical abuse, people of color, those from non-western cultures, and those who practice alternative forms of spirituality. Such groups, she notes, often have self-esteem issues brought on by a culture that sees them as “less than” and she argues that that their core issues are often centered around feeling power-less, not power-ful.
She believes, the challenge comes in people finding their voices, telling their truth, and speaking up for their rights. They need to own and use their strength, not deny it, and she offers her own 16 Steps as an alternative to the problems and prejudices which she believes are inherent in the original 12 Steps. She states A search of approved addiction literature of A.A. and Al-Anon provided me with no definition of a healthy, mature "recovered" person. One is always an addict, dependent on groups, and always at the brink of relapse if he or she doesn't follow certain directives and trust external authority. It is heresy to say I am recovered - I don't need a group. Personal power, competence, self-reliance, intellect, and happiness are also suspect. Most of all there is no room for questioning - the bedrock of expanding one's mind and developing a set of internalized values that provide an inner sanctuary of personal strength. http://www.counselormagazine.com/content/view/152/63/
Her work has influenced the creation of other alternative programs, among them Spiral Steps. http://www.spiralsteps.org
Anodea Judith (a Pagan counselor) http://www.sacredcenters.com/ and Dj (the founder of Spiral Steps), among others, have argued for a recovery format that is more in tune with earthwise practice and ethics. Starkhawk and other Pagan writers have noted that the challenge for our culture as a whole is not seeking “power over” but finding ways of using “power with”, while Dr. Kasl and others have begun offering programs and groups that incorporate a holistic view of healing that involves mind, body and spirit. As a result, many alternative groups now focus on empowerment, balance, and connection to the sacred as opposed to the 12 Step requirement in Step 3 "to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God". Alternative groups also support their members who may choose to use non-traditional healing techniques, such as alternative medicine, meditation and visualization techniques, inner child work, ritual, yoga, and other forms of healing which they feel can compliment treatments offered by western medicine.
The focus in alternative groups tends to be on tolerance, balance, building better boundaries, healing old wounds, making amends, taking our power back and right action. As a result, these groups tend to be more in tune with Pagan, New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
, Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
, humanistic, feminist, and Buddhist teachings, as well as with the more progressive versions of the mainstream faiths.
Another issue among Pagans in recovery is the one-sided image of addicts, alcoholics, codependents, and survivors of dysfunctional families portrayed in official 12 Step literature and in the many books published on recovery and dysfunctional family systems since the 1980's. For example, Kasl and others in the field of addiction have long noted that the classic "Characteristics of Adult Children of Alcoholics" http://www.drjan.com/13char.html and the list known as “The Problem” in ACA http://www.adultchildren.org/lit/Problem.s (which are read at every ACA meeting) focus strongly on "character defects" and do not adequately support the creation or celebration of character strengths, strengths which are often the result of surviving these very systems. In a 2005 article written for The Witches' Voice http://www.witchvox.com titled Making a Sea Change http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usca&c=words&id=9959, Dj writes that "Much of what we learned as survivors has made us stronger, better, deeper and often as not, uniquely gifted. This is something to be valued, even if it did come at a very high price." (Quoted with full knowledge of and with permission from the author. SV) This methodology appears similar to the 12 Step practice of sharing "experience, strength and hope"; A.A. literature suggests that our experiences with alcohol, both good and bad, are the greatest tool to help others achieve sobriety.
It should also be noted that many twelve-step programs, such as Narcotics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous
Narcotics Anonymous is a twelve-step program modeled after Alcoholics Anonymous describing itself as a "fellowship or society of men and women for whom drugs had become a major problem," and it is the second-largest 12-step organization...
, have special interest groups, typically meetings specifically geared towards young people, men, women, gays and lesbians, etc. http://www.na.org/naway/en/naway4-e-4.htm Alcoholics Anonymous has also started meetings specifically for Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
s which accommodate the Native American view of spirituality http://www.naigso-aa.org/. However, it is not uncommon for Pagans who are recovering alcoholics to start A.A. meetings specifically for Pagans http://news.earthhousemn.org/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1 though these meetings may not be included in local meeting directories.
What is different about recovery programs for Pagans?
Many Pagans seem to prefer a mutually supportive, spiritually based twelve step approach to recovery http://health.ivillage.com/mentalhealth/mhaddiction/0,,760v,00.html over non-spiritually based programs such as Secular Organizations for SobrietySecular Organizations for Sobriety
Secular Organizations For Sobriety , also known as Save Our Selves, is a non-profit network of autonomous addiction recovery groups. The program stresses the need to place the highest priority on sobriety and uses mutual support to assist members in achieving this goal...
, where one is expected to keep his or her spiritual beliefs separate from recovery http://www.cfiwest.org/sos/find.htm, or Rational Recovery
Rational Recovery
Rational Recovery and Rational Recovery Systems, Inc. is a commercial vendor of material related to counseling, guidance, and direct instruction for addiction designed as a direct counterpoint to Alcoholics Anonymous and twelve-step programs. Rational Recovery Systems, Inc. was founded in 1986 by...
, which is not spiritually based and does not encourage members to seek support from others in recovery http://www.bookrags.com/other/drugs/rational-recovery-rr-edaa-03.html.
Generally speaking, Pagan twelve step meetings follow the same format as other twelve step meetings except that they use Pagan friendly readings (which have not been approved by the General Service Office of Alcoholics Anonymous or other twelve step organizations), and substitute Pagan friendly prayers for the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
and the Serenity Prayer
Serenity Prayer
The Serenity Prayer is the common name for an originally untitled prayer by the theologian Reinhold Niebuhr. The prayer has been adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous and other twelve-step programs.The best-known form is:...
http://www.jelder.com/Pagan/11SSC_protocol.PDF. For example, the Recovery Spiral: A Pagan Path to Healing by Cynthia Jane Collins is sometimes used instead of or along with the Big Book
The Big Book (Alcoholics Anonymous)
Alcoholics Anonymous: The Story of How Many Thousands of Men and Women Have Recovered from Alcoholism is a 1939 self-help text on alcoholism, written by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous, Bill W. & Dr. Bob...
of Alcoholics Anonymous, and the Native American Great Spirit prayer may be substituted for the Lord's Prayer http://www.rewritables.net/cybriety/recovery_prayers.htm
Some Pagan twelve step groups have reworked or reworded the twelve steps so as to make them more applicable to Pagans, especially in allowing for a Polytheistic and non-gendered view of divinity http://www.recovery.org/pagan.htm. The members of Pagan twelve step groups are still expected to work the twelve steps as a means of spiritual growth, obtain a sponsor, make amends for harm they have caused, and to help others. http://www.sacredcenters.com/articles/recovery.html http://www.widdershins.org/vol1iss2/11.htm
Some twelve step meetings for Pagans are eclectic, meaning that anyone from a twelve step recovery program, regardless of the nature of their addiction, may participate in the meeting. This is in sharp contrast to Alcoholics Anonymous' concept of "Singleness of Purpose" which holds that alcoholics should only work with other alcoholics. http://www.aaprimarypurpose.org/SinglePurpose.htm
First Amendment Violations, the Courts and 12 Step Recovery
Judges and parole officers have mandated individuals to attend 12 step meetings and as a result there have been a number of court cases since 1996 and most recently, Sept. 7, 2007 Inouye vs. Kemna -- The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco: the constitutional dividing line between church and state in such cases is so clear that a parole officer can be sued for damages for ordering a parolee to go through rehabilitation at Alcoholics Anonymous or an affiliated program for drug addicts. In that ruling it was also noted "adherence to the AA fellowship entails engagement in religious activity and religious proselytismProselytism
Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...
." In "working" the Twelve Steps, participants become actively involved in seeking God through prayer, confessing wrongs and asking for "removal of shortcomings." The Ninth Court of Appeals pointed to cases decided before 2001 by the federal courts of appeal for the Seventh Circuit (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin) and the Second Circuit (New York, Connecticut, Vermont), in addition to a number of cases in lower federal courts and in state courts, all with the same result. The "unanimous conclusion" of these courts was that coercing a person into AA/NA or into AA/NA based treatment programs was unconstitutional because of their religious nature.http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/08/BA99S1AKQ.DTL&hw=alcoholics+anonymous&sn=001&sc=1000