So, I hear from people every once in a while…they tend to try and connect me up with people.  Connect….as in “you know this person, don’t you?” When I read stuff like this, I hang my head, drop my arms to my side….stare at my portable keyboard…and sigh.

The rumors are true. I am a podcaster. I do handle interviews with various Pagan folk out there. I do get some Pagan authors who have read excerpts from their books that I have featured on the podcast. I do have music on my show that I have gotten from a handful of Pagan musicians. And yes, I have conversed with some of them via Skype, or Email or even instant messenger. A few of them, I have had the honest privilege of meeting face to face. But I don’t know all of them THAT well.

In fact, I would say that I probably know four of them well enough to call them a “friend” (not sure how they may qualify that relationship) and two of them I really wish I did know a lot better. But just because I run a podcast, just because I blog…doesn’t mean that every single person I run across is a massive friend. I am honored and privileged to get a slice of these folks’ time, and have the chance to present their own words, music, what have you to the small listenership I have at Upon a Pagan Path. I hope that the seeds of a friendship may cultivate from such moments — but I am also realistic. When they live hundreds of miles away…its a tough thing to maintain. They have lives, I have a life too. In the case of a few folks, we share a professional relationship through where we work – but even that community is enormous.

::big breath:: I’ll be honest. I’m glad that my podcast does not place me in a position of being like Stanley Tucci’s character Caesar Flickerman from the Hunger Games’ movies. I don’t need to schmooze the people I have on the podcast. I don’t see a benefit from it. Besides it flies against the point of the podcast — to showcase the Pagans that are out there and willing to step in front of the microphone, and thus show the world that Pagans are just like anyone else. And to show the Pagan community that many people have the same thoughts that you do. The idea is to present the PERSON, and WHAT THEY SHARE with the community.

I truly do wish I was a part of the lives of some of the people I have brought to you on the podcast. And in a way, I have been…even if it was just for thirty to forty-five minutes of shared time between us. And I am thankful that I get a chance to meet and talk with these folks. They inspire me to move forward in my own studies within Druidry, Zen, Paganism, and the world around me. I get a chance to glimpse into their lives, even for just a moment. And in a manner of speaking, I’m peeking through the windows of their lives or at least the ones where they have opened the drapes and blinds. I’m certainly not deeply ingrained into any of their lives…but whether they believe it or not, they have had their own impact on me. Even with a ten to fifteen minute reading from one of their books – or a song that describes an experience that we both shared – or just talking about Paganism in general – or even discussing how they approach their own Paths of Druidry and Paganism.

Yeah, I might not know them as well as some people seem to think. But when our Paths cross in the forests of Paganism, its always a joy to sit at that crossroads and have a short picnic and discussion.