Pagan Coffee Talk
Pagan Coffee Talk is hosted and brought to you by Life Temple & Seminary, a traditional witchcraft coven in Charlotte North Carolina, with a long-standing initiatory tradition. We discuss a wide range of pagan, witch, occult, Crafte, magic, and Wiccan topics from a traditionalist point of view. We also explore running and operating a coven or group, plus the challenges, conduct, and responsibilities of the pagan clergy. New episodes come out weekly. Our show is entirely unscripted, and prone to occasional foul language, and moments of SPM (spontaneous pagan mayhem!) We hope you join us. If you would like to be a guest, we are always seeking authors, traditional heads, and group leaders to join us. If you have a topic suggestion, please let us know in the comments. Check the about section for links to our social media and website. A special thanks to Darkest Era for the use of their songs: The Morrigan, & Poem to the Gael. Check them out at http://darkestera.net/.
Pagan Coffee Talk
Rethinking The Male Mysteries
A simple question lights the fuse: what are the “male mysteries,” and why do they feel both obvious and elusive? We dive into the lived side of masculinity—competition that bonds rather than breaks, quiet duty that protects without applause, and practical skills that pass values from hand to hand. Along the way, we wrestle with how media turned fathers into punchlines and how that drip of mockery nudges men into silence just when trust should deepen.
We talk about rivals who make us better, the joy of pickup games that used to fill parks, and the emptiness left when screens replace sweat. Instead of pining for the past, we map a path forward: set a time, bring a ball, start a game; host a poker night; run a skills swap. Hunting, fishing, gardening, fixing the sink—these are more than hobbies. They’re training grounds for patience, consequence, and respect for life. And yes, we go there on self-defense: why confidence and de-escalation together can shrink bullying and change a kid’s posture toward fear.
The heart of it is duty and discernment. Men often compartmentalize to carry hard loads, but strength also means opening the box later and doing the inner work and recognizing when to reach for help. If you’ve been missing brotherhood, if your park is empty and your toolbox dusty, this conversation is your nudge to rebuild the small, sturdy rituals that make men reliable to themselves and others.
If this resonates, share it with a friend, start a game, or plan a night around a new skill. Subscribe for more conversations like this, and leave a review to help others find the show.
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SPEAKER_03:So Mail Mysteries.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Do they do they or do they not exist?
SPEAKER_01:Um I think they do, but I don't think it's what a lot of people think they are. I don't know if that's probably pretty vague.
SPEAKER_03:So are the male mysteries. They're pretty vague too.
SPEAKER_01:Right?
SPEAKER_03:I think that's part of the point, you know, of the male mysteries. I think they're they're mysteries of actions of less of a degree than they are of being told.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Little boys figure out how to be men by being little boys and doing little boy things. You know, uh the fighting, climbing trees, stuff like that. The climbing trees, the competition.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_03:Oh God, the competition. The competition. And more competition. Even on even when you're on a team, there's competition on the team.
SPEAKER_01:Sure there is.
SPEAKER_03:There's a video I saw on YouTube, and it was the funniest joke because the guy's like, okay, so I was walking up to the water fountain, and my hate bro starts to walk up. I hate this guy. He's my nemesis in the gym. All right. Every time I see him, it's motivation for me to work harder to get bigger muscles than him.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And he's talking about because the guy walks up to him and says, Well, you know, hey, it's been nice hating you and all this other stuff, but I'm leaving. I'm out of town. So again, it goes into this whole broke thing, you know, this whole breakup, but you know, but it's over hating each other for enough to be for competition in the gym.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:This is a male mystery. All right. The fact is, is do they actually hate each other? No, it's more of a competition jealous thing. I I don't know how to explain it without actually being jealous.
SPEAKER_01:Right. It's um it's a motivational thing. But you know, to some extent, it's all right, I can't, you know, I can't let this guy get bigger than me.
SPEAKER_03:Right. It is sort of like you've said, like, you know, um, a couple of the more uh favorite uh animes out there, Black Clover and My Hero Academy. Again, it's that same theme. All the boys and everybody are are competing against each other to be the best.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And it's a healthy competition. We need to get back to this as men. Are you with me?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:Because I because I see it where a lot of these male mysteries have sort of been made fun of over the years on TV and stuff like that, uh, and sort of told. Like the the biggest one is is that, you know, why the biggest Butch's masculine man out there does have a soft side, but he reserves it for to be only shown to his woman, he who he loves, and it's not supposed to be shared outside of that.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:But yet on PV and we find out later and stuff like that, especially with the internet. Women are talking about this to their girlfriends and stuff like that. And does that not make us guys sort of go, okay, I don't this is not what I was expecting, or yeah, I mean it it kind of makes sense. How dare you use that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it kind of makes I I have a feeling that it kind of makes you want to just go back inside yourself, you know? Right. You you don't want to share that part anymore because now it's no longer reserved.
SPEAKER_03:Right. It's it's now become a joke or something.
SPEAKER_01:It's become a joke or it's become a topic of conversation that you didn't you didn't believe it should have been.
SPEAKER_03:Right. So again, is this what we're having a problem with? I mean, that's kind of like you know, it's kind of like, you know, the TV shows over the years. I remember we grew up and we had what, Leave It the Beaver. Then suddenly we went from Leave It the Beaver to like Malcolm in the Middle, where the dads are always seem like buffoons. And right, you know, guys like to solve problems.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, problem solvers and um creating things, destroying things.
SPEAKER_03:So it's kind of what we do. Well, I mean, as a guy, when I can't fix something, it's frustrating on multiple levels. Why in the world I can't fix it to begin with? I I see this as a failure on my part. Again, we like fixing things, we like solving problems.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:I mean, I I have to admit, yes, we're we're pretty good at it, but we can be a little, don't get me wrong, we can be a little bit narrow-minded to where we'll only see the problem and not necessarily anything else too. So Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. I mean, you you kind of get focused on it, and sometimes it's a little too much focus.
SPEAKER_03:Or, you know, we get a little bit too competitive, but is it we're losing that competitive? We have nowhere else to explore that anymore?
SPEAKER_01:I think so.
SPEAKER_03:Um I mean, I know I was just gonna say, because I've gotten to the point where I hate any types of sports events because they just it's people getting paid to do something I think should be do done more on a local level.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Instead of everybody rushing into, you know, why aren't we out there playing why aren't men out there playing football? Why aren't they out there playing the baseball games every weekend?
SPEAKER_01:Right. I mean, what happened, you know, what happened to playing baseball in the street, you know, or football or hockey or whatever. I mean, I remember playing those things in the streets.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, growing up. It's it's what we did, or somebody had, you know, somebody had a large backyard and we were able to play stuff in the backyard.
SPEAKER_03:So again, I I don't see us doing that anymore. I mean, is there just not enough of us anymore, or is it just that everybody's staying inside playing video games?
SPEAKER_01:Well, you know, it it's the digital, the onslaught of the digital age, if you will. Um, I mean, even as we get older, you know, we we spend a lot of time on on our computers, in front of our TVs, on our phones, instead of outdoing things. And I'm just as guilty as anybody else.
SPEAKER_03:So or is it is it the fact is is that all the younger generations after ours is a whole lot smaller than our generation is. Is it just there's not enough of them anymore?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I mean, I think there's enough enough of them to do some stuff, sure.
SPEAKER_03:You know, I mean, I because on occasion, you know, I as I'm driving around here, you know, there's a couple of uh places where churches have basketball, and I see guys out there playing basketball every so often, but yet I go to the park on the weekends, I don't ever see anybody just out there playing baseball.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Playing baseball or just you know, throwing a football or just you know, I again that ad hoc games like we used to do. You just random people shoot. If you showed up with your baseball equipment at the park, you more than likely would find a game somewhere.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:But you don't see that anymore.
SPEAKER_01:No, you don't.
SPEAKER_03:And I because I again I don't really know why, but I don't either, but I I think as a male mishib, we need to bring back. It's something we should be doing anyway. You know, for our health, anything, you know.
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think nowadays if you're gonna if you're gonna do something like that, it's um you're gonna have to do some advertising, unfortunately. If you're at that age and you know, you want to go to the park and play a game, throw it out there on your social media. Hey, I'm gonna be here and dah dah dah, I'm bringing my baseball gear.
SPEAKER_03:You know, come show up and figure out something when you get here.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Come show up, let's play.
SPEAKER_03:Well, I was gonna say, so what should we do to encourage more interplay for guys to start being guys again, to explore to start exploring some of the male mysteries again in their more natural habitat. What it's like to go, what it's like to go hunting. Cause I mean, a lot of people, a lot of people I know don't go hunting anymore. They don't know what it's like to catch your own fish and actually cook it.
SPEAKER_01:Right. Well, I I think as far as that aspect goes, I think we need some more we need more um adults to be more active. You know, we need more fathers to be more active in their in their sons' lives. Um I think fathers tend it seems like anyway, that fathers are not they're not encouraging that kind of activity because they don't do it. Does that make sense? So I think in order in order for us to encourage that type of activity, we need to step up, we need to take our you know, our nephews, our sons, we need to take them fishing. We need to teach them those things. Um teach them how to play baseball, teach them how to hunt. You know, I know your dad used to take you hunting with him, and he did the same thing with your nephews.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:I I think that's that's great. And unfortunately, we just don't have enough of that nowadays.
SPEAKER_03:No, you know, I I again it's it's one thing. Yes, it's a whole lot different when you're out there deer hunting and you get a deer and you're having to feel dress it and all that, and it gives you a whole lot different appreciation for what in the world all this is about. I don't want to say it's coldless or callous to you know kill something just to kill it, but I I I like the whole idea of eating what you kill.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:So again, sports hunting, I'm not too happy about. So but there is something about that, about eating your own kill, about something you even something you grew in the in your own garden. There's something a little bit different about it.
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, I had For me it was fishing. You know, Daddy wasn't a big believer in guns, so we we went fishing. You know, daddy taught me, he taught me how to, you know, string the line and put your hook on and put your bait on. All that stuff. Taught me how to skin a fish.
SPEAKER_03:All that's I mean, I mean that's just like I think everybody should be trained in guns. I mean, I also think everybody should be some form of hand-to-hand combat training growing up, but I think it's a little bit more important for guys, you know, for confidence and at least being able to handle bullies and people that might want to beat you up. How how in the world to make sure that you get less hurt?
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:And what to do in those situations.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and that is definitely another aspect of that. I mean, that goes back to fighting as kids.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. You know, um well, I mean, there's one thing about fighting as kids, and one thing another thing about fighting as an adult. I mean, there is some training that's probably best done and should be done.
SPEAKER_01:So well, there is, but my point there is that it's it's kind of it's pretty much innate, especially more so in guys, I think.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:To fight.
SPEAKER_03:Right. Well that well again, you you have that whole thing of the little boys, they'll they'll best friends suddenly get mad at each other, go outside in the backyard, duke it out, come back in, and they're like the best friends again.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_03:You know, this argument settled.
SPEAKER_01:Right. And I think I I think if we if we do teach teach our sons and nephews self-defense and things like that, I think that helps boost confidence, and I think that's more of what we need is more, you know, confident men.
SPEAKER_03:I I'm not gonna say it makes you not afraid, but it makes you a little bit less afraid.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:Because you sort of know what's going on and what to do in case, you know, because there there's a lot of things you can do to avoid fights versus right.
SPEAKER_01:And it's well, it's enough, it's enough for you to know the situation and know that yeah, I'm probably gonna get hurt.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:But I'll still be alive.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. Well again, I mean again, I still think I still think this ends bullying too. So I mean, if you if kids know how to fight, I think it automatically ends bullying because again, that normally starts at a very young age, like first grade, second grade. Where in the world they don't know, and if they did, that's one they use that intimidation that I'm gonna beat you up because you got that one kid that's you know held back a year. Okay. And he he gets to bully everybody else because it's just slightly bigger. He doesn't know how to actually fight.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:But if he did, and some of the other kids, the whole situation's gonna change because again, the kid's not as scary now because I know how to block your moves, I know how to do this stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:So again, with that gone, what thread is the kid, you know, besides just picking on you and really do words really hurt?
SPEAKER_01:Right. You know, is it sticks and stones?
SPEAKER_03:Right, sticks and stones can break my bones. But whips and chains exciting.
SPEAKER_01:That's not the saying. Well, it's one of them. But I think it goes beyond the you know, the male mysteries goes beyond fighting, it goes beyond um hunting, you know, learning to shoot, learning to fish, and all that other stuff. It's also about how to take care of your family. How you know how to be a man.
SPEAKER_03:Right. And how to deal with that drive to want to take care of your family, to provide for your family.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:You know, and I I think it also teaches us that wonderful thing to where we can do that whole women and children first. Knowing that that means we might be giving up our lives to protect them and the next generation. Right. Uh to be able to compartment par help me out here.
SPEAKER_01:Compartmentalize.
SPEAKER_03:Compartmentalize that is a good thing sometimes.
SPEAKER_01:Uh right. Well, and you know, as guys, we tend to do that anyway. That lovely word compartmentalize. We tend to do that. Yes. But I think if we have if we have some instruction, and I don't know if I don't know if you can really teach what that means or how to how to manage those compartments.
SPEAKER_03:Just because you separated away from you while you're doing the task does not mean at some point you don't have to revisit this and actually deal with those emotions and those thoughts.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:I I'm sure every soldier out there could tell you the same thing, and that's why a lot of them have the issues that they have.
SPEAKER_01:Oh, sure, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You know, I mean they've been stressed beyond their normal means, and it's it's something hard to deal with.
SPEAKER_01:Right. It takes a toll on the body and the mind, you know.
SPEAKER_03:It really does. And unfortunately for some of these people, it no, they don't know when it what's gonna set them off or what's not. But part of that mystery is sitting there learning how to deal with it, to at least learn how to try to start working through it.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_03:I'm not gonna sit there and say fix it, but at least the strength to okay, I gotta do something about this, I gotta make a change.
SPEAKER_01:Well, and the and that's another mystery for men is knowing when to reach out for help.
SPEAKER_03:Because there's a lot of times because these mysteries and stuff are so vague, it it's hard to tell people when to do that, when not to.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely. Yeah, I mean, sometimes those are just lessons learned.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:You know, where it's something you had to you gotta do it on your own sometimes.
SPEAKER_03:I'd I I would sit there and suggest, hey guys, get together, talk about these things, experience them.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm. Go back to poker nights. Go back to poker nights and sit around and have these conversations. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03:Have them nights where you go out fishing and bring back a mess of fish for dinner. Yeah, you might be cleaning fish for the next two days, but hey. Right.
SPEAKER_01:And if you don't, you know, if you don't bring back any fish, that's fine. Just, you know, go and have your beers and have those conversations. See what happens. Right.
SPEAKER_03:Speaking of beer, you want some coffee?
SPEAKER_01:Thanks for listening. Join us next week for another episode. Pegan Coffee Talk is brought to you by Life Temple and Seminary. Please visit us at life templeseminary.org for more information, as well as links to our social media Facebook, Discord, Twitter, YouTube, and Reddit.
SPEAKER_00:We travel down this trodden path, the maze of stone and mire. Just hold my hand as we pass by a steel blazing fires. And so it is the end of our days, to walk with me till morning breaks. And so it is the end of our days to walk with me till morning breaks,
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