River CrowThinking about how transactional some "community" stuff is, particularly in the #pagan sphere where it seems everyone has a book or a course or something to sell. Where are the spaces without an expectation of financial exchange? And what is being truly valued?
Starry Auspices@therivercrow Yes, 100% agree with your point. Supporting community is critical, but the commercialization/commodification/consumerism of paganism and witchcraft is exhausting and feels opportunistic. There is a need for resources, a need for people to make a living (and who deserve to be paid for their work), but as life continues to get more difficult and expensive, also a need for no or low cost community support and opportunity.
@therivercrow The problem with spaces, whether physical or online, is the cost required to rent or maintain them. The only idea I’ve had is for localized, offline groups that focus on bartering rather than currency when needed, and even this can be extractive, and also can exclude people with differing mobility, transit, or location needs, health concerns, etc. So basically a loosely-defined coven of some type.
@StarryAuspices I agree entirely about the need for people to make a living and the costs around space, but as you point out, when all there is is paid for or selling something it's not an accessible community, or even a genuine community at all. Your loosely defined coven sounds nice.