What does it mean, being an Elder in a Tribe of Modern Pagans ?

It's not all Glory, and Valhalla that's for certain. Instead, it's been a bit more like "MTV's Catfish," mixed with "Black Mirror."

Let me start by saying, we have 100 + totally genuine Tribe members. Plus the Elders who have been a family since 2019. This article is not about any of them.

Let Me Explain.

The Tribe of the Greyhorn Pagans is a family, not some radical left, or right wing political group. We come from many different countries, and even religious backgrounds. What we all have in common, is a search for our Ancestral Traditions. The beliefs of our members range from Germanic, and Norse Pagans, to Baltic, Celtic, Vedic, and Wiccan. In our lives outside the Tribe, we have Mechanics, Cooks, Guards, Pharmacists, Soldiers, Crafters, Construction Workers, Maintenance Staff, Farmers, etc. etc. Where am I going with all of this you are probably asking? Honestly it's probably not where you think. In fact, I think we can nearly guarantee it.

You see, most people probably imagine a group of Larpers, acting like Vikings and Witches when they hear “Pagan Tribe.” We are much more like a Tribe of Native Americans, or Inuits even in our Tribal dynamic. We encourage our members to live a more self sustaining life, but they have the freedom to do as they wish. The thing we see the most with new members though, especially over the last 3 - 4 years, is a flood of obvious Federal and Intelligence community infiltrators. It almost always starts the same way with them, they are quiet at first, then almost instantly they are trying to rally other members to do stupid, and illegal things. Luckily most of the members have seen it happen a hundred times, and immediately flag them. Then they are observed.

This is when I sometimes choose to have a bit of a jab at them, comically speaking, before they either leave, or get removed. That was mildly entertaining at least for the first few years, but now we see a new trend. This one is a bit more direct, as it is targeting individual members, but again, any Pagans true nature is to be suspicious. So most of the new breed of infiltrators are quickly, and easily spotted. Who are the new breed, well the “Catfish” of course. There have been at least 150 attempts in the last year, made by someone using well known Models photographs, as their profile pictures, while attempting to lure one of our members. It's mind bending to me the lengths some of them go to, in order to just start a conversation. Yet, at the same time have the lazy ethic of using easily searched, and quite popular images.

This for instance, is an image that has been used on at least 8 different occasions in attempts to Catfish one of our members, including myself, and the other Tribal Elders. Hello… have you not heard of Google Lense ? Yes, it's an image of a real person and not an AI generated image. That makes it even more dangerous, think about it. What has the poor young woman in these images had to endure because of the actions of a few lazy infiltrators.

First, you may not be a Federal agent, or an Intelligence asset just because of Catfishing, and using a profile picture that is not you. This much is true, but they are also not being in any way authentic. Don't want to use your Face as a profile picture, fine. There are millions of other options not involving a strangers picture. This is a huge part of the reason, that I want to raise my kids outside of the cities, and suburbs. They will get to experience the reality that so many kids grow up without nowadays. Anyhow, back to the people posing as others. The threats that they could cause the real person in doing so, are nearly unpredictable. Just think about the poor person who has their picture taken, and used. It could cause stalking, all manners of ill intended behavior. Hopefully these people do not cause such harm. But, that has yet to be seen.

Is it because of some of my own politically charged writing, that “they” are launching an attempted series of political attacks on me. Sure, it's totally possible. Could it also be a stalker, that is just watching from the shadows, yes. Now the real question is this, Is it aggravating? The answer is obviously yes. But, occasionally I do get an okay article out of it. Along with a good laugh when I open my DMs and see three different people using the same profile pictures..

First and foremost, I'm married. That is known. Second, anyone who has looked at my content, or read any of my articles in full would know that.

This is the insanity that many of our members are dealing with, but the American Pagans are being bombarded with it.

Thank you for reading.

I hope you found this entertaining.