gender, Wicca, Bush, and old priests– a little reminiscence
I’ve been around pagans for years and years, one of my best friends is a genuine ordained Gardnerian Wiccan priestess. Even knowing that I am an atheist- She’s roped me into many a ceremony, and made me take her classes on tarot and Astrology (neither of which i believe in, although the cards can be a very handy tool for straightening out your mind on something) and herbs and correspondences and all kinds of things.
I’ve ended up making most of her ceremonial tools, altars, robes, — I used to be a pagan one-stop shopping emporium– and I have done a lot of conventions and meetups with my wares. I usually join in whatever opening and closing ceremonies are going, in a way that I could never bring myself to do with Christianity.
I do appreciate the emphasis on balance, and the way most pagan groups place the female first– mostly there is a goddess and her male consort, which is so obviously a reaction from the heavy heavy hand of patriarchal monotheisms. And paying attention to the seasons, and eight holidays a year, and yanno, those black pointy hats… 
We were at a gathering, the day Bush declared war on Afghanistan. needless to say, the end of the meetup was pretty subdues, and almost everyone there wanted to be part of the closing circle. Among us were a couple of MTF trans, one transvestite– who was a bit nervous at being out in drag– myself. Pagans are generally speaking, very accepting of people’s self-identification– especially since they all self-identify as pagans!– but the couple handling ceremonies that weekend were elderly and early, and G, and as they were arranging the circle– man-woman-man-woman– they placed the trans among us in place in their cis gender, setting me between two men, and the two transwomen each between cis women. When i said "I have a male spirit" (in approved paganspeak,) the guy looked confused and said "Well, that doesn’t matter for the purpose because you are still a woman," or something like that.
We were all of us so saddened that no one cared to make a fuss. We all wanted the comfort that the circle provided. What I remember mostly, was the winks and rolled eyes and expressions of understanding that we each got from our fellow celebrants. And one of the men I was sandwiched between leaned over and whispered "I’ve always wanted to try being gay."
Fffff. How can someone so spiritual be so uncreative and unsympathetic? Wait, don’t answer that question.
I was part of a circle for Beltane one year. There were four of us, all women, one of whom was trans. She took the goddess role and one of the cis women got to be the god. It was rather neat.