Humans have a powerful need to belong to community, a need which is frequently stymied in a society as highly mobile and individualistic as America. Rebeckah Shepherd gave voice to this longing when describing her sense of loss after moving to a new region
The intense perception that they are stigmatized by mainstream American culture causes intense feelings of alienation in pagans, and often requires specialized counseling to enable them to cope (Moe, J. L., Cates, K., & Sepulveda, V., 2013). One of the ways individuals handle this anxiety and develop a sense of community, that they are a part of something bigger than themselves which helps them bring meaning to their lives, is to create and embrace a type of symbolic ethnicity (Charbonneau,
The intense perception that they are stigmatized by mainstream American culture causes intense feelings of alienation in pagans, and often requires specialized counseling to enable them to cope (Moe, J. L., Cates, K., & Sepulveda, V., 2013). One of the ways individuals handle this anxiety and develop a sense of community, that they are a part of something bigger than themselves which helps them bring meaning to their lives, is to create and embrace a type of symbolic ethnicity (Charbonneau,