A DAY IN THE LIFE : Life as a gypsy : A Bentonville pagan sorts through stereotypes.
Posted on Monday, December 3, 2007
BENTONVILLE - When you go by the name Gypsy SilentRain in a town like Bentonville, you're going to turn some heads. Couple that with a sign in front of her home business that reads "Gypsy's Tavern "and you're going to get all kinds of reactions - not always favorable.
"We've had a brick thrown through our front window," said Gypsy SilentRain, who opened what she describes as a metaphysical shop at 1602 S. E. J St. in 2006. "We've been discriminated against, vandalized and threatened with bodily harm more times than you could imagine. We're close to Bentonville High School, and J Street is well traveled, so we've had a lot of parents concerned, thinking we do animal sacrifices or something like that. It's just not like that."
In a lot of ways, Gypsy SilentRain, 26, is like many other residents in northwest Arkansas. She's married and has eight children who attend local schools. But she's pagan. And while she's friends with doctors, lawyers, nurses, mail carriers, firefighters and others in northwest Arkansas who are pagans, the term is normally enough - even if just for a brief moment - to send shivers down many people's spines.
Having grown up with a pagan grandmother, delving into the metaphysical is nothing new for Gypsy SilentRain. But she says the number of misconceptions about gypsies, witches and any other term associated with paganism are so great that they're often difficult to overcome. That, however, is why she started Gypsy's Tavern.
"So many people today just have no tolerance," said Gypsy SilentRain, who graduated from BHS in 1997. "People don't blink an eye if you talk about Catholics, Baptists or a lot of other religions. But there's a fear of the unknown. People just won't spend enough time with anything they're unfamiliar with to even know what it is they hate.
"I'm a big advocate for freedom of religion. My grandmother was pagan, but my mother is a Christian, and my grandfather is a preacher. You're not going to find me putting down anyone else's beliefs. (Paganism ) is very nature-based. We believe in the properties of the Earth. Yet, when people drive by and see my sign, many of them get scared and think there's something satanic going on. Paganism has nothing to do with Satanism."
Paganism comes from the Latin term "paganus, " meaning country dweller, according to Merriam-Webster online dictionary. Paganism can be traced to the Romani people, an ethnic group living in many communities all over the world, according to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia. Wikipedia states that the Roma are among the best known ethnic groups that appear in literature and folklore and are often referred to as gypsies. The Roma originally traveled the globe, spreading their beliefs and conducting what are today known as tarot and palm readings.
Gypsy SilentRain said paganism is based on such principals as tolerance, respect, knowledge, balance, acceptance and growth. Rather than believing in a single God, the pagan deity has many faces. There's a balance between men and women, and Satan does not exist. The part that normally causes people to become skittish is that gypsies claim to work with various energy sources.
"This place is about providing spiritual guidance," she said. "There's fortune telling, but I'm not a psychic. I just have a gift. Yes, there's a crystal ball, but my main gift is with tarot and palm readings."
Rather than hearts, spades and numbers, Gypsy SilentRain's deck of tarot cards features elaborate drawings of naves, gargoyles, swords and other characters and scenes. There are major cards, which are said to tell an individual's story or situation, while a set of minor cards provides the finer details. Candles and incense are used as energy sources to help relieve stress and ailments, as are a long line of herbs she grows and sells on her property.
"A lot of people come here looking for answers," she said. "It's a complete energy transfer. I don't know how else to explain it. In 10 years of doing this, I have not had anyone come back and tell me I was wrong.
"Ghosts don't speak to me, but I get messages through the cards. A lot of people go to church on Sunday to get that divinity. This is just a different approach. It's providing spiritual guidance and coming closer to family. There's a lot of what's labeled today as New Age philosophies. We aren't here to debate what's true because we discover truth through knowledge, and that changes with each person."
For more information on Gypsy SilentRain and Gypsy's Tavern, go to www. gypsystavern. com.
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