The Wild Hunt

On June 12th, I reported on an upcoming documentary focusing on the Temple of Nine Wells in Salem, Massachusetts, and the lives of Richard and Gypsy Ravish, entitled “With Love From Salem.” Directed by Karagan Cratty Griffith, and produced by Logios Projects/Red Bird Productions, the first trailer for the film has been released.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFDyebNQ3N8

Richard Ravish was one of the original “Witches of Salem,” and passed away in 2012 at the age of 59. Priestess Amy “Gypsy” Ravish is a popular Pagan singer-songwriter known for her albums “Enchantress” and “Spirit Nation.” Together they led Sabbats with the Temple of Nine Wells in Salem, Massachusetts for over 20 years. They helped shape the unique spirit that is modern religious Witchcraft in Salem, a spirit that is deeply entwined with those accused and executed for the crime of witchcraft in 1692.

“Salem is, on it’s own merit and historically so, a mark in American history. The year of 1692 was a time of suffering and injustice – 20 innocent people died at the hands of their accusers. Witchcraft was used as a definition and excuse for these trials. But what about now? How do witches today in Salem Massachusetts pay homage to these victims? The Temple of Nine Wells has been walking to Gallows Hill on Samhain night for more than 20 years to honor the dead and the victims of the witch hysteria of 1692. This documentary will walk you through this event, from preparation to ritual, as well as through the differences between Samhain and Halloween, the sacred and the profane. An inside perspective of Samhain night in Salem, and of the men and women who through dedication and personal commitment continue to make a difference. With love, from Salem.”

I was able to conduct a short interview with Director Karagan Griffith, an Alexandrian High Priest with a background in acting and directing, about the film, why it was made, and when the public will get to see the completed project.

Karagan Cratty Griffith

What motivated you to tell the story of Richard and Gypsy Ravish and the Temple of Nine Wells? What does their story tell us about them, about the Temple, and about Salem?

I have been a personal friend of Gypsy and Richard for quite some time. Since I met them I became fascinated by what they were doing, their commitment and passion for the Craft and those who practice it. I remember going to the first Temple of Nine Wells Ritual. It was in the Old Town Hall in Salem, and I thought that if public ritual was something to be done, then that was the way to do it. The documentary is precisely about that passion and commitment not only in an internal perspective of the Temple of Nine Wells but also in a more broad community sense. The idea of making the documentary came from the first time I attended to a Samhain ritual at Gallows Hill with the Temple of Nine Wells. The adherence of the people, the walk chanting up to Gallows Hill and the ritual itself, told me that this could not remain untold. I had to keep it and record it. I didn’t want to do just a recording of the ritual, so I thought that it would be a good idea to expand the recording to a documentary that would include their history/story but also the history/story of Salem and of the victims of the Witch-Hunters hysteria of 1692.

I think those of us outside of Salem often have a distorted picture of Witchcraft there. There’s so much media, especially around Samhain, that I think the lives and practices of the Salem Witches can get buried. As clergy who officiated a Samhain ritual for 20 years, what do you think the Ravishes teach us about the reality of Witchcraft in Salem?

Love is the word. I think that this is why I did this and they let me do it. Twenty years of Samhain rituals (and not only Samhain but all the Wheel of the Year was celebrated by the Temple, although the documentary focuses more on the Samhain ritual) have to be done with love. There wouldn’t be any other way. Again, the commitment , passion and love for the Craft was and still is what moved Gypsy and Richard all these years. I would also add generosity to list of words, since it was out of generosity that Gypsy and Richard gave all of this to Salem. Every year, on Samhain night, they took us up to the Hill to remember all of those who passed the Veil, including those who died in 1692. As Richard say in the documentary, we claimed the unclaimed, we took and remember those who in 1692 no one took, those who are buried without markers. Gypsy and Richard teach us about love. That is truly what they teach us about.

Finally, could you share a little bit about the making of this film? What’s gone into it? How long has it taken you? What were the challenges of doing this documentary?

The documentary was completely filmed with a Sony Bloggie, hand-held, without a camera stand. It is a very real documentary. I follow the making and all the preparations for the ritual in Gallows Hill, including meetings and decision making. I covered the walk up to Gallows Hill and the silent candle light walk back to the Salem witch memorial, escorted by the wonderful policemen who every year are there to make sure we are safe. We can see the ritual in Gallows Hill, the beautiful music and dance up in the Hill, and intimate conversations with Gypsy and Richard about how did it all begin. It is a journey through the history/story of Salem, the Temple of Nine Wells and Gypsy and Richard’s life and contributions for more than 20 years for the Salem community.

I started to collect footage for the documentary in 2011, so it took me almost two years to complete this project. I do have a good excuse since I am the director, cinematographer, producer with Jimahl di Fiosa and RedBird Productions. It is a very modest project but one that took great pleasure to make. The challenges were of course many, but when you are doing a documentary where the love, commitment and dedication is contagious, you will thrive on that to overcome any of the challenges.

Oh, and now that we have the trailer, when can we expect to see the whole film, and how will it be released?

The documentary will be released soon in Salem to the public and we are looking at some of the venues here to do that. We do not have a date yet but will be between June and July. We will have of course a private viewing of the documentary at Nu Aeon here in Salem for the members of the Temple of Nine Wells. Right after the release in Salem to the public, we will host a world premiere through a Hangout on Google+ with the presence of Gypsy and a selected number of guests and representatives of the various communities all over the world.

***

For updates on “With Love From Salem,” see the film’s official Facebook page. I’d like to thank Karagan Griffith for taking the time to answer some of my questions, and I look forward to the film’s premiere. The Wild Hunt will keep you posted once further details are announced.

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

Photo: Earl Wilson/The New York Times

• It’s always worth a mention when the New York Times takes an interest in modern Paganism. Their New York-focused City Room blog highlights the Wiccan Family Temple Academy of Pagan Studies in Manhattan, interviewing two of the program’s students. Quote: “People go to school to study the things that interest them most; some people go to law school, others to medical school,” [Shantel Collins] said. “I want to be a religious leader in my community, so the path I chose is to become a high priestess. I am learning how to counsel people in my community. No one is born a pastor or a reverend or a rabbi — you have to work at it, and that’s what I’m doing. So for me, these classes are worth every minute and every penny.” I suspect this piece came about because the New York City Wiccan Family Temple is not afraid to promote themselves to the media. I know I’ve received a fair share of press releases from them, and it’s a tactic that does succeed in breaking through to the mainstream media from time to time. 
• Virginia Lt. Governor candidate E.W. Jackson, who I profiled recently here at The Wild Hunt, was (unsurprisingly) a big hit at the recent Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference. Quote: “Audience members clapped most intensely when Jackson focused on the rights of parents to lay down rules for their children and on the need to preserve belief in Christianity as the foundation of the United States. “Freedom is the ability to worship God as we see fit and not be persecuted for it,” he said.” Jackson, while revving up the conservative Christian base, has also been walking back past statements he made that implied yoga can lead to Satanism. In his 2008 book “Ten Commandments To An Extraordinary Life” Jackson called tarot reading and Witchcraft “wrong and dangerous.”
• At Sojourners Magazine, Rabbi Seth Goren discusses Christian privilege and “how the dominance of Christianity affects interfaith relations.” Quote: “Even in interreligious settings intended to be neutral, Christianity retains primacy. Exchanges emphasize concepts in Christianity, such as belief and faith, and downplay the Jewish stress on action, behavior, and ritual [...] In clergy gatherings, I feel the expectation that I should know Augustine and Aquinas without a corresponding expectation that Christian counterparts have heard of Rabbis Akiva or Eliezer [...] Even on a relatively level playing field, I start from a defensive posture and find myself envious of what Christians take for granted that I can’t and don’t.” Go read this, and share it. I’m hoping the relatively high-profile nature of the venue will prompt some reflection. 
• Chas Clifton reports that the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has cleared the way for a suit against Oklahoma’s license plate design to move forward. Why is the license plate being challenged? Because it allegedly endorses “Indian religion.” Quote: “Cressman, who says he “adheres to historic Christian beliefs,” objects to the image of a Native American shooting an arrow toward the sky. He claims the image unconstitutionally contradicts his Christian beliefs by depicting Indian religious beliefs, and that he shouldn’t have to display the image.” The plate is based off of a famous statue depicting a sacred act, but does it really endorse a religion? It seems rather tenuous, considering the arguments we hear consistently about “secular” Christian crosses. You can’t have church-state separation absolutism without it cutting both ways. A “win” for this Christian could create ripples he may not enjoy.
• Advocacy organization Amnesty International has condemned the rise of blasphemy cases in Egypt, saying it uses defamation of religion as a way to silence critics. Here’s more on the issue from Daily News Egypt: “Slapping criminal charges with steep fines and, in most cases, prison sentences against people for simply speaking their mind or holding different religious beliefs is simply outrageous,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director, in the report. Luther added that defamation of religion charges should not be used to “trample over people’s right to freedom of expression and conscience” 

The “Other Religions” section of the Urbana Free Library (post-culling).

• The picture you see above is the “Other Religions” section at the Urbana Free Library in Illinois after a hugely controversial culling that has gained national attention from library observers. In essence, any book acquired more than ten years ago was culled from several non-fiction sections before local outcry halted the process. This has left books on Pagan religions decimated, with only 3 or 4 left visible on the shelf. Libraries are in important first step for many people exploring our faiths, and for those looking to understand us, and decimating collections like this does more harm than I think people realize. Not everyone has consistent and reliable access to the Internet, and even if they do, it doesn’t replace reading seminal books like “Drawing Down the Moon” or “The Spiral Dance.” I’m hoping to have more on this story soon, as Urbana is my old home-town, and I know several library workers there. Stay tuned. 
• The United Nations World Conference of Indigenous Peoples is taking place in New York, September 2014. A recent gathering in Alta, Norway, home of the Sami People, resulted in an adopted outcome document for the conference. Quote: “Our purpose was to exchange views and proposals and develop collective recommendations on the UN High Level Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly to be known as the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples (hereinafter referred to as HLPM/WCIP), which will convene in New York, 22 – 23 September 2014. This document sets forth our recommendations along with the historical and current context of Indigenous Peoples.” I think the document is important and thought-provoking reading for anyone interested in indigenous and Native American issues. 
• Sufi mystic Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee writes about the holiness of the Earth for the Washington Post’s On Faith section. Quote: “I deeply feel that we need to reclaim our spiritual relationship with this beautiful and suffering planet, feel it within our hearts and souls. We need to develop an awareness that the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the energy we use, are not just commodities to be consumed, but part of the living fabric of a sacred Earth. Then we are making a real relationship with our environment, respecting the land on which we live, the air we breathe. We still carry the seed of this primal relationship to the Earth within our consciousness, even if we have long forgotten it. It is a recognition of the wonder, beauty, and divine nature of the Earth.”
• Move over Beltane, because Summer Solstice is all about sex! Quote: “In the Northern Hemisphere, the summer solstice has a history of stirring libidos, and it’s no wonder. The longest day of the year tends to kick off the start of the summer season and with it, the harvest. So it should come as no surprise that the solstice is linked to fertility — both of the vegetal and human variety. ‘A lot of children are born nine months after Midsummer in Sweden,’ says Jan-Öjvind Swahn, a Swedish ethnologist and the author of several books on the subject.” 
• There are some places in Scotland where being transgendered will get you accused of being a witch. Quote: “Walking down the street I’d get a lot of abuse sometimes. They’d shout at me a lot, call me gay and even accuse me of witchcraft. I feel like I’ve lost a lot of my friends because I had to leave Johnstone. My past was almost completely wiped away.” The ugly strain within humanity that persecutes “the witch,” the “other,” is still very much a part of us I’m sad to say. 
• The commemorative blue plaque for Doreen Valiente at her home in Brighton has gained the notice of the BBC. Quote: “Doreen Valiente, who was known as the “mother of modern witchcraft”, lived in Tyson Place until her death in 1999 and is to be honoured with a blue plaque on the side of the block of flats where she lived. Ralph Harvey who read the eulogy at her funeral, described her as ‘a very gentle lady’. ‘Witchcraft was always shrouded in mystery and medieval superstition,’ he said. ‘Doreen and Gerald Gardner brought it into the 20th century, they blew away the cobwebs and this was the renaissance of witchcraft as it truly is.’” You can read all of my previous coverage of the plaque, here. 

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.

Pagan voices is a spotlight on recent quotations from figures within the Pagan community. These voices may appear in the burgeoning Pagan media, or from a mainstream outlet, but all showcase our wisdom, thought processes, and evolution in the public eye. Is there a Pagan voice you’d like to see highlighted? Drop me a line with a link to the story, post, or audio.

I’m going to start off this week’s edition of Pagan Voices with the short documentary “Britain’s Wicca Man,” where you can hear the very Pagan voices of Gerald Gardner, Philip Heselton, Christina Oakley Harrington, and others. Sadly, this version has been heavily edited from it’s original hour-long running time, leaving a scant 27 minutes to cover over 50 years of history.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkrgX6yeEk0

Here’s hoping the full version is released on DVD, or on a streaming service. You can read more about this documentary, here. Now on to the rest of this week’s Pagan Voices…

Janet Farrar & Gavin Bone

“Something interesting is going on, as Pagans we have been waking the gods since the 1950′s. Voudon and the Caribbean traditions has a few hundred years on us! When you go to a Voudon Bembe, with its ecstatic drumming and dancing,  they come through really strong, riding (possessing) the participants. We are now reaching the point where this beginning to happen now in modern neo-paganism, even though it has only been fifty years.  This is because we have been waking the gods up. We have noticed something interesting as we have done the work. We are forming a Neo-Pagan pantheon. We only have a finite amount of energy to give the gods as spirits as they wake up.  You see the same gods and goddess coming up all the time in our community. Hecate, Brid, Isis, Morrigan, Freja, Odin, Diana etc.  Because there is only this finite amount of energy for them, they are congregating and forming a  new pantheon.  All awakened gods from different cultures forming a pantheon, and redefining roles.” – Gavin Bone, exploring the “waking” of ancient gods within a modern Pagan context, from a joint interview with Janet Farrar at PNC-Minnesota.

Teo Bishop

“The thing is, this is my life. This is me, right here, trying to be human. And I think my biggest challenge in being a part of ADF was that I didn’t feel like there was anyone really speaking to the challenges of being human. In a devotional religion, the emphasis is placed over there, not in here. The things that cut deeply for me, that are real and sometimes really difficult for me — things like compassion, despair, forgiveness, hope, kindness, patience, honesty — I don’t feel like we spend any time talking about these things. I think we experience these things, but they always feel secondary to “right relationship.” Frankly, I don’t care about right relationship. Or right action, for that matter. I think those concepts are distraction from the messy, mucky, complicated, beautiful acts of being human that have nothing to do with how virtuous or pious we are. I didn’t think I could earn my way into Heaven when I was a Christian, and I don’t think I can, through my own actions, earn my way into good standing with the Gods.” – Teo Bishop, explaining why he is leaving Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF) and the Solitary Druid Fellowship he started, at his Bishop in the Grove site.

Beth Owl’s Daughter

“Our many ways of worshiping the Old Ones, or the Earth, or the Goddess, have truly begun to gel into traditions and teachings that are being handed down to new generations.  Although we are still facing massive, well-organized bigotry and misunderstanding, a slow dawning of credibility has begun. That’s why it is vital that we begin taking ourselves, and each other, as seriously as we would ask the wider culture to. Frankly, I am mighty tired of hearing my fellow Pagans squabble over their fears of becoming too “churchy,” or our leaders actually being trained and disciplined (the horror!), or whether this or that school has received state accreditation (because, while this would be ideal andwill happen someday, what is the CV of Lady TwinkleWolf, who iscurrently managing your local coven?). Meantime, the needs of our people are real, complex, and urgent. Our ill, our dying, our soldiers, our incarcerated members, our folks in legal turmoil, our groups in the media crosshairs — can usually only receive second-rate assistance, if any at all, from (usually, but not always!) well-meaning, make-it-up-as-you-go-along priestesses and priests.” – Beth Owl’s Daughter, on the journey from “faking it to making it” for modern Pagan clergy, at her Owl’s Wings blog.

Beth Lynch spinning.

“I think physical offerings are important, since we live in a material realm and we are incarnated at least partially to learn from both the freedoms and restrictions of the material world. Offering something tangible to the gods—whether a drink, some of one’s own blood, or a painting—gifts Them with something that we, as humans, are in a unique position to offer Them, since most of Them cannot directly access physical things without the aid of a horse (a human who willingly serves as a vehicle for Them to interact with and manipulate the material world). Some gifts—such as a poem or a dance—bridge the gap between physical and energetic offerings. The Havamal (the section of the Poetic Edda attributed to Odin) is often quoted as stating that it is better to not give at all than to give too much; I myself take issue with this. In my own practice, I share everything I do and everything I have with Odin, but for beginners to heathen practice, or new Odin devotees, I would say give what you are able to give; and by this I mean, what you are honestly able to give, not what you think you can get away with giving. I have faith in the ability of the gods to let us know when/if this is too much, or more than They want to receive from us, but in general I think it is not possible to give Them too much, when weighed against all the gifts They lavish upon us.” – Beth Lynch, explaining some basics for those just starting out on the Heathen path, at the Witches & Pagans’ PaganSquare.

Gus diZerega

“Over these past few weeks I have been moving. On Earth Day I built an outdoor altar in my new place and made my first offerings to the spirits of the place. I know from experience it will take some time to revive the energy of a place towards its human inhabitants. But with attention and good will, the revival will happen. The place will speak to me. Earth Day 2013 is symbolically a good day to start, but any day is better than none at all. I suggest those who are interested do likewise. For this to work well at enlivening your connection with the earth, make offerings at least weekly. You are building a relationship. And be patient. Ideally build your altar next to a part of the yard you do not do much with to bring under your control. At the very least do not spray poisons there. It is a place for other powers to prevail with as little interference as possible. This area does not have to be large. [...]  As you make your offerings, ask for better connections between yourself and the spirits of your place. Thank them for the good things about where you live. Show sincere gratitude. Ask for their blessings. And again, be patient. Our culture has spent over 2000 years separating itself from awareness with the spirits of place and we can begin taking some important steps to reconnect.” – Gus diZerega, explaining how to reconnect yourself with the spirits of a place, in the June issue of The Interfaith Observer.

Chas Clifton

“The real St. Francis of Assisi was anything but serene. He was more like “Occupy Rome”  AD 1204 — an upper middle class young man angry at the establishment, demanding radical change in the Roman Catholic Church. But history has turned him into a bird bath — and perhaps that metamorphosis was inevitable. Growing up as a Forest Service brat, with an agnostic father and a devoutly Christian mother, I noticed that Christianity seemed to end at the edge of town. Relations with the other-than-human world were not discussed in church. The Episcopal Church’s Book of Common Prayer contained a prayer for rain, as I recall, and that was about all. For the rest, I was offered the secular gospel of conservation: scientific forestry, soil and water conservation, state-regulated hunting. At least that was better than what had gone before: cut-and-run timber cutting, market-hunting that wiped out species, the Dust Bowl… [...] We could see Bird Bath Francis as an attempt to bridge these traditions, to consecrate a safe, protected, and  cultivated nature — if not the self-organizing wolf-ridden wilderness. Followers of what Bron Taylor calls “dark green religion,” which may not be at all theistic, might not be so easily persuaded by the monk of Assisi, were they to meet him on the path.” – Pagan scholar Chas Clifton, on St. Francis as an eco-saint, his current popular role as a birdbath ornament, and the development of eco-conscious religion in the modern era.

Lady Yeshe Rabbit

“Many of us have had the experience of walking into a tea house, cafe, or festival, locking eyes with a reader, and knowing it was time for a spontaneous divination. These in-the-moment adventures in mantic arts can be some of the best one-reading stands of one’s life. I’ll never forget the time I was 13 years old, on vacation with my family in Rockport, ME, when I had my first reading in a neon-palm store. The reader was spectacularly eccentric, dressed the part, and drew in a lively crowd of tourists. But she was also very accurate, mentioning pieces of information about my immediate social life and future experiences that have all come true: that I would not marry young, but would travel instead (I’d say moving cross-country and now engaged at 39 qualifies), that I would be a “healer but not a doctor or nurse” (in fact, I am both an herbalist and have served as a Public Health Educator), and – most importantly- that “You could do what I am doing if you wanted to” (and here I am!)  In no way am I discounting these awesome, perfect, synergistic moments when life throws you a diviner’s bone and says, “Now!” But for most of us, we find ourselves needing guidance at other times, when we might be raw or sensitive, or when Fate does not seem to be serving us up the perfect spontaneous moment out of the blue. Then we have to take matters into our own hands. The little guide I have written below is based on my experiences observing my clients, and will help you get the most out of a reading you might schedule with a professional.” – Yeshe Rabbit, founding High Priestess of CAYA Coven, from an essay on making the most of getting a reading.

Philip Carr-Gomm

“I have always been fascinated by Thoreau’s approach to living simply. His little hut in the woods at Walden Pond was an exercise in bringing life back to the basics as a way of understanding what is truly important. This act feels very Druidic in spirit. [...]  There is something deeply liberating about shedding the trappings of consumerist living. Not everyone could function in this tiny hut but the beauty and simplicity of the design and the quest to become more aware of the excess and unnecessary accumulation that our society encourages, is something that could be embraced by any of us, regardless of where we live. The pertinent question to ask is what do we need to have a happy, comfortable life? The answer might be different for each of us but I suspect that we might agree that many of the things we gather about us serve only to weigh us down. The burden of so much stuff can be like wearing a heavy coat on a hot day; ah, the relief when we slip it off and feel the cooling air on our skin, the freedom to move without hinderance.” - Philip Carr-Gomm, founder of the Order of Bards Ovates & Druids, writing about living simply, prompted by a video about tiny homes.

Murtagh A. anDoile

“Every year, we are seeing the deaths of more Pagan Elders and Tradition Founders, community activists and spokespeople. As the Pagan community ages, we are getting further way from our origins. We find a greater need for a mythic history to fills in the blanks. [...] We are calling for a historical narrative for the 50 plus years of American Paganism before it’s to late. [C]alled “The Pagan History Project”, we would create detailed histories of every area of the United States using historical verifiable data taken from a multitude of sources, as interviews and print media. It would include information from all historical perspectives, the actual and the mythic, even though controversial and contradictory, to create a cohesive narrative. The giving of credence to “Craft” myths is a valid means to show how such histories give validity to groups in a given area, and helps to define the community identity in said area. Myth gives communities a template for life and living, it introduces both spiritual and poetic truth. “The Pagan History Project” would be an interdisciplinary study to answer the need for more education and information for the growing pagan populace, scholars, the press, law enforcement, prison and military chaplains and anyone truly interested in the history of religion. [...] Only by looking at our roots and antecedents in all forms will we be able to continue to craft community and identity as we go into the future.” - Murtagh A. anDoile, from a paper presented at the 8th Conference on Current Pagan Studies, which lead to the recently launched Pagan History Project (more on that here).

Valerie Herron

“Stepping back, this appears to be a very bleak series. I think is very important to point out is that the potential for redemption is in every one of this pieces. The key to the redemption in these pieces is choice. The characters in this series have the choice to act differently. Even in areas where no choice is for individual characters is present, the choice for societal intervention is always present. I don’t want this series to appear as a portrayal of a dire reality or an inescapable cycle of victimization, but more of a mirror for examination, why these things needs to change, and where the potential for change lies. Before the onslaught of hate mail arrives, I would like to point out that I acknowledge that am neither a sociologist nor a political scientist. I certainly do not claim to have any answers to these monumental problems. These pieces reflect my experiences as a working class US citizen, a female, and one who falls into many categories of being “other.” I claim no real authority or expertise in the massive social issues that I bring up in this series. My goal for this artwork is to contribute a different perspective to the dialogue already in place around these subjects.” – Valerie Herron, discussing her senior thesis project The Allegories of Subjugation. Valerie also happens to be the artist who did the current masthead for The Wild Hunt.

T. Thorn Coyle

“Seek out that which kindles desire in you. Is it this song? That painting? People on the street? This nightclub? That forest? Is it the way you dance in the evening, when no one is around? Is it the photos of people rising up around the world? What is it? Cultivate desire. Follow beauty. Find that which touches you. Let it move you, let yourself act. We have a world to re-align toward love. We can’t do this if we do not desire. What is it? What does your heart want? What does your soul need? What makes you burst with compassion? What makes you feel angry, or fills you with sorrow? What helps you fall in love? What do you desire?” – T. Thorn Coyle, praising desire at her Know Thyself blog.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Before I begin this week’s topic, I would like to acknowledge that today is Father’s Day.  As with Motherhood, becoming a father is transformative and the beginning of a life-long journey.  A very happy Father’s Day to all that walk that path offering a piece of themselves to the next generation.

Courtesy of Flickr’s fruity monkey

Now back to our regularly scheduled program….

Tomorrow is the 50th Anniversary of the SCOTUS ruling on the Abington School District, Pennsylvania vs.Schempp case.  What’s that?  This 1963 Supreme Court case is considered to be a major historical marker in the on-going struggle to affirm religious equality within American public schools. The Schempp ruling was an indicator of a coming cultural revolution and an acknowledgement of America’s diverse religious tapestry.

In 1956 Ellery Schempp, a 16-year-old student at Abington High School, became increasingly frustrated with the school and state policy that required students to read daily Bible passages in home room.  Ellery and his family were Unitarian Universalists and minorities in their Pennsylvania community.  The Bible readings conflicted with their personal religious beliefs.

Ellery Schempp

One day in protest Ellery stood up and read from the Qur’an.  He was immediately sent to the Principal’s office and disciplined. But the story doesn’t end there.  With the help of his father and the ACLU of Pennsylvania (then Philadelphia), Ellery sued the Abington school district. The case worked its way up through the courts.  It was eventually merged with another similar and more famous case involving the controversial Madalyn Murray O’Hair, an Atheist activist and founder of American Atheists.

Finally, the Schempp case reached the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS).  On June 17, 1963 the Court declared it unconstitutional for public schools to require mandatory Bible recitation and other similar religious activities:

Because of the prohibition of the First Amendment against the enactment by Congress of any law “respecting an establishment of religion,” which is made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth Amendment, no state law or school board may require that passages from the Bible be read or that the Lord’s Prayer be recited in the public schools of a State at the beginning of each school day — even if individual students may be excused from attending or participating in such exercises upon written request of their parents. (from Cornell Law School)

Pennsylvania and several other states had to immediately “scrap” the laws that mandated student participation in religious recitation activities.

The Schempp case set a legal and cultural precedent that upended the widely-accepted place of religion in public education. But it was not the first case of its kind. In an interview with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, First Amendment Scholar Steven K. Green said:

…as we mark the anniversary of these seminal decisions, we should acknowledge that they were not cases of first instance; rather, they built on a long-developing body of jurisprudence that was affirming the centrality of religious equality and church-state separation to our nation’s democratic system. 

In the brief interview, Green discusses America’s historical battle for religious equality within public education. The earliest cases were brought to trial by Catholics who didn’t want their children reading Protestant-based Bible passages or prayers.  In 1869, Ohio became the very first state to officially declare unconstitutional the practice of forced Bible recitation in public schools.

As the American population became more religiously diverse, the issue evolved beyond a Catholic- Protestant polarity. The Schempp case exposed the reality of religious diversity in the United States and opened up a new dialog concerning the separation of church and state.  And it did so as the country began to experience a dramatic social change.

Since the 1963 ruling there have been countless protests, backlash and legal maneuvers on all levels to bring school-sponsored prayer back into the classroom.  In the early 1980s former President Ronald Reagan proposed a new constitutional amendment that would officially allow voluntary public school prayer.  It failed to pass. Green says:

So long as lawmakers believe they can gain mileage by manipulating the school prayer issue, then there will be no end to prayer and Bible reading proposals. These efforts are cynical as they play on fears and misperceptions among religious conservatives about the Supreme Court’s holdings. Students enjoy many freedoms of religious expression in schools, but enforced religiosity is not a cure for society’s ills.

Here at The Wild Hunt we have and will continue to report on any such school cases that directly involve Pagans and Heathens (e.g. the Buncombe County situation in 2012).  However, all such cases are pertinent to all parents with school-age kids.  Legislative policies affect every child – not just the one whose parents spoke up.  What is going on in my school district?  What are my state’s policies on religion in public school?  Rev. Selena Fox, co-founder of Lady Liberty League, once said, “Having liberty and justice for all in this country may be in the Pledge of Allegiance, but it is not an automatic reality.”

Here are three very recent related cases:

1. On June 1st in Liberty, South Carolina, Roy Costner IV paused his prepared and approved high school valedictorian speech to recite The Lord’s Prayer.  He told the media that “This is what God wanted me to do.” The event was not school-sponsored. Therefore no disciplinary action is being taken against Roy or the school.
2. On June 13th Texas Governor Rick Perry signed into law the so-called “Merry Christmas” Bill (H.B. 308).  It protects the free expression of religion, through symbols or holiday greetings, regardless of faith within public school settings. To date the new law has provoked little opposition.  The ACLU of Texas has declined to comment.
3. On June 13th Americans United attorneys sent a letter to an Ohio school district warning them to keep creationism out of the school system. The Springboro district has planned to introduce controversial subjects such as global warming, gun rights, pro-life vs. abortion, and creationism vs. evolution.  Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United said, “Any public school contemplating teaching creationism might as well just hang up a giant banner that reads “Sue Us Now.”

There are many challenges out there and many that have yet to be addressed. Is it constitutional for religious organizations to hold services in school buildings on the weekends?  What about school vouchers and the wording of the “Pledge of Allegiance”?  Can religious clubs advertise and hold functions during school operating hours?  Is it possible to teach religion historically in a secular format without crossing the constitutional line? These are some of the questions that pop up time after time.

As a way of honoring the 1963 SCOTUS decision, Pennsylvania’s legislature has declared June “Public School Religious Freedom Month.”  While you go about your day tomorrow, take a moment to reflect on religious freedom in public education and the importance of the Establishment Clause in your own life.

Photo Courtesy of Flickr’s mksfly

The Schempp ruling paved the way for Pagans and Heathens to be able speak out and protect the rights of their growing children. It allowed for the birth and growth of groups like the Lady Liberty League who use their resources to protect the religious freedoms of Pagan children within the public school systems.  Today our children are not forced to read The Lord’s Prayer.  But perhaps more importantly, we can more easily recognize the problem when and if it occurs and we have the language and backing of SCOTUS when we say “That’s wrong.”

With all apologies to Charles de Lint for borrowing his column’s title, here are some recently released and upcoming books that I think readers of The Wild Hunt will be interested in checking out.

“Out For Blood” by Margot Adler: In a Kindle Single released on June 10th,  Margot Adler, author of “Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America,” takes a look at the vampire, and how the monster has changed over the years to  suit our needs. Quote: “Starting as a meditation on mortality after the illness and death of her husband, Margot Adler read more than 260 vampire novels, from teen to adult, from gothic to modern, from detective to comic. She began wonder why vampires have such appeal in our society now? Why is Hollywood spending billions on vampire films and television series every year? It led her to explore issues of power, politics, morality, identity, and even the fate of the planet.“Every society creates the vampire it needs,” wrote the scholar Nina Auerbach. Dracula was written in 19th century England when there was fear of outsiders and of disease coming in through England’s large ports. Dracula – An Eastern European monster bringing direct from a foreign land – was the perfect vehicle for those fears. But who are the vampires we need now?” At only $1.99 this essay is certainly more than worth the price, and catches you up with what one of our most celebrated journalists has been working on.

“The Lives of the Apostates” by Eric Scott: Hey, look! It’s The Wild Hunt’s very own columnist Eric Scott with his debut novella (out June 28th), a story about friendship, religion, tragedy and coming-of-age. Quote: “In a Midwest college town, a Wiccan student named Lou finds himself forced into taking a History of Christian Thought class from a religion professor who spends his weekends preaching at the local Baptist church. Between shifts as a caretaker for mentally handicapped men Lou calls “the boys,” he confronts his professor’s story of Christian triumph with increasing anger. As tensions escalate, he turns to his roommate, a fellow Pagan with the unfortunate nickname of Grimey, and his coven-mate and crush, Lucy, for support. But Grimey is dealing with his own problems hiding his faith from his mother. In the course of a single night, the world collapses for Grimey and one of Lou’s boys, and Lou finds himself standing up for himself and his beliefs.” When asked to provide an endorsement, I said it was “a tone poem of rage and grief at growing up in a world where your very beliefs place you in opposition to the way most of the world is run, to the blunt instruments of religious power and privilege [...] a barbaric yawp from the Pagan soul.” However, I may be biased. So instead, listen to celebrated novelist and essayist Peter Manseau: “Finally, something new under the sun: a midwestern pagan coming of age story that is at once a poignant evocation of young love and a searing meditation on the ancient conflict between faiths. As sharp as a ritual blade, as full as a chalice, The Lives of the Apostates is a great surprise, and Eric Scott a writer to watch.” Eric has only started his career as a writer, and I’m proud that we’ve had a hand in nurturing it. 

“America Bewitched: Witchcraft After Salem” by Owen Davies: I knew about this book, released in March of 2013, but I haven’t had a chance to pay much attention to it (sometimes you lose track of things in my line of work). In any case, Owen Davies, author of such fine books as “Grimoires: A History of Magic Books” and “Paganism: A Very Short Introduction” (see my interview with Owen Davies regarding that book) digs through the archives of America to debunk the popular notion that we stopped killing and persecuting “witches” after 1692, and shows that belief in witchcraft persisted throughout this country into the 20th century (and beyond). Quote: “Witchcraft after Salem was not just a story of fire-side tales, legends, and superstitions: it continued to be a matter of life and death, souring the American dream for many. We know of more people killed as witches between 1692 and the 1950s than were executed before it. Witches were part of the story of the decimation of the Native Americans, the experience of slavery and emancipation, and the immigrant experience; they were embedded in the religious and social history of the country. Yet the history of American witchcraft between the eighteenth and the twentieth century also tells a less traumatic story, one that shows how different cultures interacted and shaped each other’s languages and beliefs. This is therefore much more than the tale of one persecuted community: it opens a fascinating window on the fears, prejudices, hopes, and dreams of the American people as their country rose from colony to superpower.” I think this book will be powerful and necessary reading for anyone interested in how our attitudes about witchcraft have been shaped. Here’s a video of Owen Davies discussing the book.

“Pagan Family Values: Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism” by S. Zohreh Kermani: How are Pagan families passing their beliefs on to their children? This is a central question explored by S. Zohreh Kermani, a Harvard PhD who teaches religious studies part time at Youngstown State University. Quote: “The first ethnographic study of the everyday lives of contemporary Pagan families, this volume brings their experiences into conversation with contemporary issues in American religion. Through formal interviews with Pagan families, participant observation at various pagan events, and data collected via online surveys, Kermani traces the ways in which Pagan parents transmit their religious values to their children. Rather than seeking to pass along specific religious beliefs, Pagan parents tend to seek to instill values, such as religious tolerance and spiritual independence, that will remain with their children throughout their lives, regardless of these children’s ultimate religious identifications.” Sarah Pike, author of author of “Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves: Contemporary Pagans and the Search for Community,” says the book is “one of the best and most nuanced ethnographic studies of contemporary Paganism to come along. Kermani takes us into the deeply conflicted religious lives of Pagan families, yet as she so deftly reveals, Pagans are not unique in their ambivalent desires for their children.” This sounds like a must-read for anyone interested in how we raise our children, and understanding how children experience growing up Pagan. Out July 29th, 2013.

“Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music” edited by Donna Weston and Andy Bennett: I briefly mentioned this title earlier, but I thought it deserved a more robust mention here, not because of my involvement, but because I think there’s some very important scholarship regarding the intersections of Paganism and popular music that I think many will find enlightening and useful.  Boasting contributions from Andy Letcher, author of “Shroom: A Cultural History of the Magic Mushroom,” and Douglas Ezzy, co-author of “Teenage Witches: Magical Youth and the Search for the Self,” among several others talented individuals, this book covers a lot of ground. Quote: “Paganism is rapidly becoming a religious, creative, and political force internationally. It has found one of its most public expressions in popular music, where it is voiced by singers and musicians across rock, folk, techno, goth, metal, Celtic, world, and pop music. With essays ranging across the US, UK, continental Europe, Australia and Asia, Pop Pagans assesses the histories, genres, performances, and communities of pagan popular music.” This book has been long overdue, and one that I hope will finally open the door for a proper history of self-consciously Pagan contemporary music.

Do you know of some recently released or upcoming books that should be spotlighted here? Leave a comment or drop us a line and it may be featured in a future edition of this series. Happy reading!

Virituous Pagans in Limbo, from Dante’s Inferno.
Gustave Doré, 1890.

“I’ve got a question. You know Eric, right?” asked Tim.

He and three more of my friends, Dylan and Lydia and Calvin, had just sat down to lunch. They were at a buffet off Highway 63 in Kirksville, Missouri, the town where we all went to college. I wasn’t there to see it; Tim didn’t tell me this story for months. I don’t know why he decided to ask these questions. Hoping to prove a point, I guess.

They nodded and wondered why he asked.

“Would you say he’s a good person?” asked Tim.

The three of them nodded. Sure, more or less. They were my friends, and they wouldn’t have been my friends if they thought ill of me.

“Okay then,” he said, eager to spring his trap. “Do you think he’s going to Hell?”

Calvin, who didn’t know me as well as the others, and who was in any case a committed and conservative Christian, said yes, absolutely, with no hesitation at all. Dylan and I were closer – close enough that I was his Best Man several years later. He said that he didn’t know for sure, but questions like that kept him up at night.

Lydia looked down into her lunch, didn’t answer. Tim pressed her, until she finally, quietly, replied. “Yes.”

I don’t blame her. Sometimes I think so too.

*          *          *

What happens to you when you die?

It’s the most common question I’m asked after people find out that I’m Pagan, after “Wait, really?” and “Can you fly?” I guess it’s a reasonable one. Christianity – or at least American Protestant Christianity – defines itself by the afterlife: it’s the point of the exercise. Heaven and Hell, and a life on Earth spent bumbling towards one or the other.

So, in the US, a nation of mostly Protestant Christians, it’s the question that shapes everything we think about a religion, whether or not we, ourselves, are Christians. Nobody in the public sphere ever discusses Islam’s Five Pillars, but everybody knows about the supposed 72 virgins. I doubt most could rattle off the Four Noble Truths, but we all know Nirvana means something more than the guys who recorded Nevermind. Because the afterlife is the foundation of Christianity, we expect it to be the foundation of everything else; a religion without an afterlife, that doesn’t worry about the afterlife, doesn’t seem like a religion at all.

What happens when you die?

There’s the trouble. I don’t know. I don’t even suspect.

The beauty of eclectic religion lies in its vastness of possibility – that anything could be true. Why choose? We speak of the immaterial and the transcendent, things that can’t be quantified or proven. Why can’t they all be true?

Well. That’s easy to say, so long as we’re only talking about generalities. Particulars are harder. When it comes to one’s own soul – to my own soul – well – I mean – something has to happen. Right?

If I were a better Heathen, I could confidently say I would go to Hel. (Being a portly coward, I doubt Valhalla is in the cards.) It sounds like an okay place. The landlady could be nicer. The Greeks give us the various suburbs of Hades: Tartarus, the Asphodel Fields, the blessed isles of Elysium. (Elysium, another home to valiant warriors, also seems like a stretch.)

Perhaps the Summerland? I heard about that one sometimes, growing up, though it seemed altogether more vague than the others: endless August afternoons, rolling hills and blue skies and warm breezes. Since the Summerland is a Wiccan idea (albeit one we stole from the Theosophists, like so much else), there is some variation: the Summerland might be an eternal summer vacation, or it might be a pleasant layover between trips. It may be the place where you survey your past life and plan out a new one, a tourist at the Triple-A station of the soul.

Yes, reincarnation: a popular option. Wicca conceives of time in a circle, after all: day gives way to night gives way to day, the Wheel of Year turning again and again. So perhaps we live, we die, we’re born again; no afterlife required. Hoof and horn, hoof and horn, all that dies shall be reborn.

But as much as I like the idea, I worry that it’s too appealing. It opens the door to vain recollections of past lives among the powerful and infamous. Whatever you do in this life doesn’t really matter, because you used to be Arthur Conan Doyle, or Hatshepsut, or whoever you read a book about this year. Reincarnation is a perfect answer: the circles all come around. I am suspicious of perfect things.

There are others. The Guf, mystic birdcage of souls. T’ien and Tír na nÓg and Takama-ga-hara. The one my parents made up for me when I was a boy, the Grandmother Country, where my Grandma Mae sits in a farmhouse and watches over all our departed dogs and cats and hamsters. And that’s before all the spookier options: spirits, poltergeists, zombies…

Hundreds, thousands of afterlives, all potential destinations, all acceptable, all real – except for two, the two that can’t be, the two can’t be allowed. The two that, in my heart, I will always fear are the truth.

*          *          *

My dad once had a friend who called himself Image. He died when I was 18. Image was the tallest, thinnest man I ever met. He kept a shaved head and worked hard at being Goth. I don’t think he ever kept a job for long: at one point he mucked the elephant pit for a one-ring circus, and that was the steadiest work he ever found. Mostly he made art. My favorite was an ambient record called “Surfacing,” which sounded like the soundtrack to a drowning. He was into the occult, too – he and my father were in a magickal group together for most of a decade.

There was more to Image that I never knew about: drugs and fetishes and other things I never looked into. But he was a soft-spoken person, and he was always nice to me, and as far as I know, he never hurt anybody.

A year or two after he died, when I was home from college for a few days, my dad asked me to come with him on a trip. We got into the truck and drove for a little over an hour. We came to a part of Missouri I had never seen before, somewhere out in the country. We pulled into a graveyard and drove around, taking pictures of interesting headstones, drinking sodas. Finally, my dad parked the truck.

We came to a headstone near a tree, and my dad stared at it for a long time. It belonged to someone named Paul F. I’d never heard the name before. I realized, when I looked up from the headstone, that my dad was crying.

“If you’re going to walk around in my dreams,” he whispered, “you could have the decency to stop and say hello.”

We didn’t talk at first after we got back in the truck. Garrison Keillor’s voice filled the silence. We passed a little river, far from the highway, and then dad said, bitterly, “Paul F. ‘Freddy.’ Image hadn’t called himself that in a decade.”

He turned down the radio. “His father was a preacher. Ugly man, self-centered. Everything in the world was always about him. When his son ended up as a cross-dressing magician instead of a Bible-thumper, he took that as something horrible happening to him. And when Image got sick, that was something happening to him, too. Just another shame Image made him endure.

“I heard about what he said at the funeral,” my dad continued. He had been in California when Image died and missed it. “He didn’t say anything about Image’s art, or the things he cared about. He just said it was a wicked life cut short.”

My dad wasn’t quite talking to me; he needed me there, needed me to listen. He needed to purge the words from his mind. Rip away the bitterness. He needed a witness. I didn’t say anything. I let him talk. It was what he needed.

But I thought about Image, and Image’s father, and what his father must have thought while preparing that sermon – what it must have been like, for a man so sure of the afterlife to have been faced with a son beyond saving. He had outlived a child – awful enough – but had outlived a child he knew to be damned.

Knew. Knew for certain.

That kind of certainty looms large against one person’s doubt.

*          *          *

During my last summer in Kirksville, I spent a lot of time with my friends Harry and Jenn. We were at their apartment one night, had just finished watching one of Harry’s beloved B-movies, when the subject of religion came up. You know my opinions on the subject. Harry and Jenn are both atheists, though the amicable sort.

Jenn got more emotional about it than I expected, aided, perhaps, by the three glasses of wine she had put away. “There’s something about it I don’t think you guys understand. You’ve both always been the way you are now,” she said. She was right: Harry’s parents were atheists. Mine were Pagan. We had taken after them. “But me, you know, I used to be Catholic. That’s how I was raised. And let me tell you something: you never get over that. I know what I want to believe, how I want to act. But in the back of my head there’s always this fear: I’m going to Hell. And it doesn’t go away, ever, no matter how much I try to convince myself that I’m beyond all that now.” She paused, shook her head. “I’m sorry. It’s something you can’t understand.”

She’s right. I don’t know what it’s like to have been a part of that system, or to reject it. But I know what it’s like to be haunted by the bad dreams of a religion I’ve never followed, to lay awake wondering whether it would be smarter, or safer, or saner, to try and square myself with the God of Abraham.

Because sometimes I think about that lake of fire, and Lord, I can feel the sweat start to creep across my skin.

(By the way, if you like my essays here on the Wild Hunt, good news: my first book, The Lives of the Apostates, comes out on June 28th! It’s available in ebook and paperback. It’s a novella about a Pagan kid in the Midwest. It’s got Sabbat rituals, awkward kissing, theological debates, Julian the Apostate, and a hearse. Order it from your local bookseller through IndieBound, or buy it from Amazon or Barnes and Noble. For more news on the book, might I humbly recommend my Facebook page? Alright, end of shilling. Thanks! -Eric) 

There are a lot of people out there who have misguided, distorted, or willfully wrong attitudes about modern Pagan religions, and this can become a problem when those individuals start running for elected offices that will affect the lives of Pagans living in the state or district under their potential influence. Such is the case with E.W. Jackson, a Christian minister and Republican nominee for Lt. Governor of Virginia. As Mother Jones reports, Jackson opined about Witches, Buddhists, and other non-Christian “spiritual” people in his 2008 book “Ten Commandments To An Extraordinary Life.”

E.W. Jackson

“There are those who engage in witchcraft, fortune telling, Tarot Card, tea leaf and palm reading and other “spiritual” practices. These practices are wrong and dangerous. They are spoken of as an “abomination”—a particularly detestable sin—in the sight of God. They bring a terrible curse on the person who engages in such things, and you do so at your own peril. [...] Non-Christian religions have their own values which are often highly questionable. Yet there is a remarkable deference paid to any religious system that does not include Christ as the Son of God. Affinity for anything but what is truly of God is the nature of spiritual death?”

That’s just a taste, Jackson is full-blown adherent of Christian spiritual warfare principles, though he’s been trying to soft-peddle his ardent Christian beliefs as more and more scrutiny has been paid to the many, frankly outrageous, statements he has made over the years.

“He was soft-spoken and earnest as I questioned him about how his religious beliefs interact with his political views. Christian values make us free, Jackson told me, and people should live as they see fit as long as they don’t hurt others. While he opposes same-sex marriage, he said he wouldn’t support any sort of ban on gay sex. He also said there shouldn’t be any legal sanction of a religion, and that he would oppose a constitutional amendment naming Christianity as America’s official religion. But that doesn’t mean that our culture isn’t historically Judeo-Christian, he added, and influenced by the Bible. Acknowledging that isn’t an imposition of religion.”

This creates a quandary of sorts for voters in Virginia concerned about the treatment of minority religions: which E.W. Jackson do we believe? Do we believe the “soft-spoken and earnest” Jackson who tells us he opposes legan sanctions on any religion, and that he opposes naming Christianity as America’s official religion, or do we believe the man whose rhetoric implies that there’s disaster on the horizon if Christians don’t “rise up?”

“This is an emergency, a critical point in American history. Continuing down the path we are on will result in escalating persecution of Christianity, but even worse, risk losing the favor of God on our country, which would be an unimaginable horror. I am asking Christians to unite on the biblical principles which founded our country and help me take those principles to the United States Senate. Those who understand the history of our country know the vital role the church played not only in the establishment of hospitals, colleges, and a host of other charitable organizations, but in the revolution which established this great nation. If Christians do not rise up, the future of our country is bleak. I ask you to go to the polls on June 12 and cast a vote for the glory of God. I’m not a perfect man, but I love the Lord, and I love this country, and I will always be grateful that He has saved me and gave me citizenship to the most free and prosperous nation in history. I will fight to see to it that it stays that way. As a brother in Christ, I ask for your prayers, your support, and for your vote…”

It may surprise some to note that Virginia is home to many Pagans. A Pagan (and Unitarian-Universalist) holds an elected conservation post in that state, and there was a high-profile case involving a Wiccan getting clergy status so she could perform legal weddings in 2012. Virginia has been a place where debate over the regulation of divination services has raged, and where a local candidate for a Board of Supervisors seat had her Pagan identity outed and smeared by local media. So it matters quite a bit what Jackson thinks about Witches and Pagans, because legislation affecting the lives of Pagans in that state isn’t a hypothetical. Jackson has tried to draw a line between “candidate” Jackson and “minister” Jackson, saying they are different jobs that hold different standards, and that his religious rhetoric “must be taken in context.” However, I fail to see how any non-Christian candidate would be allowed such a dispensation within the political realm.

Simply put, we all have to own our words and deeds, no matter what sphere in which they occur (just ask any candidate for president ever). As the National Review points out, the elected Lt. Governor in Virginia will hold increased power as a tie-breaker in the currently equally-balanced state senate, so stakes are quite high. Candidate Jackson, if elected, may very well get to vote on a number of initiatives that minister Jackson might have some strong opinions on. Any candidate, no matter what their party, or their personal faith, has to be able to serve all of their constituents. A Lt. Governor Jackson would be lieutenant governor for Buddhists, Witches, tarot-card readers, practitioners of Yoga, and Christians alike. Whether he governs and votes from a conservative or liberal philosophy is his prerogative, but he’s running in a secular nation, one that’s becoming increasingly post-Christian. Voters have a right to ask question whether he’ll be able to fully serve Virginians who follow a religion he thinks is “wrong and dangerous.” 

Pagan Community Notes is a series focused on news originating from within the Pagan community. Reinforcing the idea that what happens to and within our organizations, groups, and events is news, and news-worthy. My hope is that more individuals, especially those working within Pagan organizations, get into the habit of sharing their news with the world. So let’s get started!

A documentary focusing on the Temple of Nine Wells, and the lives of Richard and Gypsy Ravish, entitled “With Love From Salem,” has announced that they’ve nearly completed the project. Quote: “I had the privilege of seeing some footage of this documentary, currently nearing completion, and to say it is phenomenal is an understatement. A beautiful, evocative and magical film – not to mention visually and emotionally stunning. Get ready to see something amazing.” Richard Ravish was one of the original “Witches of Salem,” and passed away in 2012 at the age of 59. Amy “Gypsy” Ravish is a popular Pagan singer-songwriter known for her albums “Enchantress” and “Spirit Nation.” I’m very much looking forward to a new Pagan-centered documentary, and will update you here once there’s screening/release information.

Erynn Rowan Laurie

As mentioned previously here, Erynn Rowan Laurie, author of “A Circle of Stones,” recently won for best poetry collection at the Bisexual Book Awards (photos of the ceremony here). On her return, she announced at her official Facebook page that she’s considering a move to Italy, motivated in part by recent health issues. Quote: “As with so many other things in my life, I realized I could either let circumstance defeat me, or I could try to work it so that I could turn it into something interesting. If I’m going to be robbed of my ability to drive, why not have an adventure in a place where walking is normal? It won’t mean that nobody will ever see me again. The internet still exists, after all. I’m very likely to try to fly back to the US for PantheaCon every year, and try to visit Seattle once a year as well.” We here at The Wild Hunt wish Erynn all the best no matter where she goes, and any nation she moves to will be all the richer for her presence. Good luck! Oh, and speaking of the Bisexual Book Awards, they can apparently get you stopped at the Canadian border and held for several hours.

Christina Oakley Harrington

Acclaimed London esoteric book store Treadwells has announced the launch of a brand-new, more robust, website. Included is an extensive resources section headed by Treadwells founder, Christina Oakley Harrington. For example, individuals new to Paganism can find several introductory essays about Paganism in general, and about Paganism in the UK in particular. Quote: “The pages below are designed to be clear, direct and authoritative. The pages on  groups and events direct you to the more established resources, though there are many more that can be found in local communities.” Harrington notes that “if you feel like lookng round the site, it’s got lots of other sections, too. We’ve been working hard on it for ages and hope you all find it useful.” Treadwell’s recently held a number of talks and events in conjunction with the I:MAGE esoteric arts exhibition reported on recently at The Wild Hunt.

Sabina Magliocco

Chas Clifton reports that Dr. Sabina Magliocco, Professor of Anthropology at California State University, Northridge, and author of “Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America” is launching a new research project on individual’s spiritual relationship with animals. Quote: “The purpose of this study is to understand how we imagine our relationship to animals, how we incorporate animals into our spiritual or religious beliefs, and how this may motivate our actions in the everyday world.” You can take the survey, here. At the survey page Magliocco elaborates on benefits of the study: “This research could shed light on how people come to imagine themselves as part of an interconnected community that includes domestic and wild animals, and develop feelings that lead them to want to protect, defend and care for both domestic and wild animals. It may also reveal areas in which individuals diverge from the theological teachings of their religion as a result of their personal experiences with animals. Findings could be useful in developing educational programs for children and young people that foster sustainability.” Again, the survey link.

The Pagan History Project (PHP) initiated with a soft launch this week on Facebook, with a full website to follow soon. An oral history project created to “collect, store, share and preserve the history of the American Pagan Movement,” co-founder Murtagh AnDoile said the scope of the project would be broad. Quote: “We are using “Pagan” in its broadest sense, encompassing: Witchcraft , Traditional and other, Wicca, Heathenry, Druidry, various Reconstructionisms, Magical Lodges, etc. All the groups and traditions and paths that make up the American Occult/Magical/Pagan movement from the early days ( the 1930s, 40′s 50′s…) to present. We are focusing on everything and everyone pre-1995 at this time, due to our aging population.” Initial interviews have already been conducted, and an informational packet instructing those interested on how to participate in their local communities and festivals will be released soon. Wild Hunt staffer Rynn Fox has been following the development of this project, and will be filing a report soon.

In Other Community News: 

• It’s Pagan festival season! Getting underway this week is Michigan Pagan Fest (June 14th-16th) with special featured guest Margot Adler, author of “Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America.” Then, from June 16th-23rd is Pagan Spirit Gathering in Illinois (featuring lots of cool people, including “glamping” star Cara Schulz). Following in July is Starwood at Wisteria in Ohio. As things progress, one hopes we’ll see some reporting and narratives from these (and other) events.
• PNC-Minnesota has posted the first part of a lengthy interview with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, authors of “Progressive Witchcraft,” and longtime elders within the Pagan community. Quote: “We used the term Progressive Witchcraft at one point to describe the evolutionary process at work. But we found people started saying, “Oh, Progressive Witchcraft, that’s a tradition. ” No, it’s not. No, it’s not. It’s a description of your philosophy and how you work in Witchcraft. So now what we teach with everybody who comes to us is, we teach them… We feel training is very important. The training is important because the training helps to teach our students how to make the connection.”
• Raven Radio, a Heathen talk-radio program, has an interesting show up that looks inside the world of Asatru within prison, and the hurdles involved in following that faith while incarcerated. Quote: “This week we have a lengthy conversation with “Jimmy Dean”, a man who found heathenry while doing time. He enlightens us a great deal about what it means to be incarcerated, how one can practice heathenry, avoiding certain undesirable groups like the neo-nazis, etc.” 

Temple of Witchcraft at Boston Pride.

• I love seeing pictures of Pagan organizations marching in LGBTQ Pride parades, so be sure to check out the Temple of Witchcraft’s Facebook page, where they’ve posted several photos of their involvement with the Boston Pride Parade. Quote from ToW co-founder Steve Kenson: “Thank you to all who came out to march and represent for the pagans in Saturday’s Boston GLBT Pride parade and to those who cheered us on! The gods rewarded us with a clear and warm day after a grey and wet morning. Many thanks and blessings!”
• As was indirectly mentioned in my installment of Pagan Voices earlier this week, the Patheos Pagan Channel has launched a new group interfaith blog entitled “Wild Garden: Pagans in the Growing Interfaith Landscape.” Quote: “Interfaith involvement looks much like a wild garden. A tangle of contradictions, surprises, delights and sometimes disappointments, one must walk carefully. But the risk is rewarded richly, often in ways one could never have seen coming.” Good luck on the new blog! 
• Also at Patheos, the Pagan Families blog interviews Tara “Masery” Miller about the process of “adopting while Pagan.” Quote: “The Missouri Family and Children’s Services, a government agency, intention to adopt form illegally asked what our religion was. Just as I suspected. I was aware it was illegal because my atheist friend had sent me plenty of references on religion and adoption. Well, instead of blatantly saying I’m Pagan and my husband’s a mage, I said we are spiritual and I belong to the Unitarian Universalist Church! And sometimes we attend a Methodist Church. Which is true. My mother is a lay minister!” That quote is from part two of the interview, here.
• The Summer Solstice is coming up, and Llewellyn is holding a Twitter party to celebrate! Quote: “The beginning of June marks shorts days, grill days, and summer hours for our luckly Llewellyn employees–but it’s not very fair that you don’t get to participate, is it? So we want you to join us in a summer celebration! We are hosting our second annual Solstice Twitter party! [...] Use the hashtag #moonchat in your party tweets. We’ll tweet the questions, you’ll tweet the answers, and we’ll chat!” There are going to be prize giveaways for participants, so if you’re stuck in an office that day, why not? 
• In a final note for all our Trad-Wiccan friends out there (and you know who you are), June 13th is Geraldmas! The celebration of Gerald Gardner, the father of modern religious Witchcraft (born June 13th, 1884). The New Wiccan Church in Walnut Creek, California is having a Geraldmas gathering on Sunday the 12th, to celebrate. Quote: “Yes we’ve set the date for the NWC’s annual meeting and greeting event for British Traditional Wicca initiates and seekers! Mark your calendar and join us in celebrating Uncle Gerald’s birthday with fun activities, socializing, and presentations about BTW. Refer to us your friends and colleagues who are curious about British Traditional Wicca.” I think it’s a great idea to have a day where BTW groups do a day of outreach and socializing. Are you having a Geraldmas celebration in your area? 

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

Richard Ramirez

• The infamous serial killer Richard Ramirez, dubbed the “Night Stalker” by the media, died this past Friday of natural causes at the age of 53. On death row for a series of gruesome home invasion murders during the 1980s, Ramirez fed into the larger “Satanic Panic” thanks to an obsession with Satan and pentagrams which manifested during his violent spree of destruction, rape, and death. More on Ramirez and his death can be found, here. Reactions from some of Ramirez’s victims. 
• The FBI has announced that it will start tracking hate crimes involving religion, including Pagans. Quote: “The hate crime tracking will include ‘all self-identified religions in the United States as listed in the Pew Research Center’s Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2008) and the Statistical Abstract (2012) approved by the U.S. Census Bureau,’ Fischer wrote in an email. ‘The recommended list includes Catholic, Protestant, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, Orthodox, Other Christian, Jewish, Islamic (Muslim), Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Other Religions, Multiple Religions-Group, and Atheism/Agnosticism.’ Upon approval by FBI Director Robert Mueller of the new groups, ‘the FBI will make the necessary Uniform Crime Reporting Program technical enhancements, procedural changes, and manual revision to begin collecting this data,’ Fischer said.” Pagans, Native American Religions, New Age religions, and Unitarians are all covered under the Pew Forum’s “Other Religions” category.
• Will Brighton become a pilgrimage site now that there’s a memorial plaque honoring Doreen Valiente, the modern of modern religious Witchcraft? That’s the assertion of the Doreen Valiente Foundation. Quote:  “Doreen is celebrated across the world and is regarded as the mother of modern witchcraft. It is one of the fastest-growing religions in the US with millions of members worldwide. It could be hugely beneficial for the city. I know that a few witches are travelling across the pond for the blue plaque ceremony.” You can read more about the Doreen Valiente Foundation, here. The commemoration ceremony will take place on June 21st. You can read all of my coverage on this story, here.
• On the final day of the conference entitled “Sorcery and Witchcraft-Related Killings in Melanesia: Culture, Law and Human Rights Perspectives” that took place last week in Australia, a representative for the UN Human Rights Commission said that immediate action is needed to protect women accused of sorcery, and that the government of Papua New Guinea needs to do more. Quote: “However implementation is the big obstacle because you may have a law, but then if you don’t have the police capacity to enforce it, or if the police themselves view the situation of sorcery related killings with indifference, then we still have a big issue of how to address impunity, because as been said, it’s not how stiff or how high the penalty is or how harsh, it’s if you know the consequences will lead to your imprisonment and if you will face justice.” More on this here.
• Cindy Jacobs, a leader within the New Apostolic Reformation, whose rabid anti-Pagan, anti-indigenous antics I’ve reported on before, surprised almost nobody when she recently called for Native American and indigenous people to repent their heritage. Quote: “If you have in your bloodline any animus [animism?], any Native American blood, for instance — not all Native Americans worshiped the serpent or crocodile, many did — but you might want to renounce that and repent for the generational iniquity [...] If you are — perhaps you’re Mexican and you might have indigenous blood in you or Mayan blood — those who have Aztec blood in any way, you need to repent for the sin of animism before you begin to deal with this spirit.” Charming, as always. Her extremism does more to drive people away from Christianity than the most vocal Pagan critic.

The Great Serpent Mound

• Indian Country Today reports on how New Age woo demeans and threatens The Great Serpent Mound in Ohio. Quote: “Kenny Frost a Southern Ute citizen, has worked to protect sacred places for more than 20 years. He is a well-respected authority on Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act issues and law and frequently consults with state, federal and tribal governments. ‘The protection put down by Native people at sacred sites is still there. Non-Native people dig around and see what they can find; they may end up opening a Pandora’s box without knowing how to put spirits back,’ he notes.” 
• “Sorry Pagans,” that’s what Baylor history professor Philip Jenkins says as he engages in the hoary exercise of telling Pagans about how stuff they thought was pagan was actually, totally, not. Quote: “In reality, it is very hard indeed to excavate through those medieval Christian layers to find Europe’s pagan roots. Never underestimate just how thoroughly and totally the Christian church penetrated the European mind.” So why even bother, am I right? I know this is a popular topic for columnists looking for material, but we aren’t ignorant of the scholarship, and cherry-picking two (popular) examples isn’t going to embarrass us back to church. You’d be surprised at how well-versed some of us are in history. 
• Religion Clause reports that a judge has allowed a gangster’s  Santa Muerte necklace to remain as evidence during the penalty phase of the trial (for which the defendant was found guilty of murder). Quote: “The court held that appellant had failed to object on any 1st Amendment religious ground to introduction of the evidence.” Further, the judge says they may have allowed it even if the defendant has objected earlier in the case noting the faith’s ties to narco-trafficking. Could this ruling lead to a problematic precedent? I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.
• Christians opposed to same-sex marriage know that the battle is lost. Quote: “Just 22% of white evangelical Protestants favor same-sex marriage, but about three times that percentage (70%) thinks legal recognition for gay marriage is inevitable. Among other religious groups, there are smaller differences in underlying opinions about gay marriage and views of whether it is inevitable.” I think that means marriage equality has won, don’t you? Now to undo 50 years of legislative hysteria.
• Speaking of marriage equality, it’s very, very “pagan.” Quote: “As to the future of America – and the collapse of this once-Christian nation – Christians must not only be allowed to have opinions, but politically, Christians must be retrained to war for the Soul of America and quit believing the fabricated whopper of the “Separation of Church and State,” the lie repeated ad nauseum by the left and liberals to keep Christian America – the moral majority – from imposing moral government on pagan public schools, pagan higher learning and pagan media. Bill Bennett’s insight, “… the two essential questions Plato posed as: Who teaches the children, and what do we teach them?” requires deep thought, soul-searching and a response from Christian America to the secular, politically correct and multicultural false gods imposing their religion on America’s children.” That’s David Lane, one of Rand Paul’s point men in improving his relations with evangelical Christians. I’ll spare you the Dragnet P.A.G.A.N. reference.
• “Occult,” a new television series in development for A&E, follows the exploits of an “occult crime task force.” Quote: “‘Occult’ revolves around Dolan, an FBI agent who has returned from administrative leave after going off the deep end while investigating his wife’s disappearance. Eager to be back on the job, he is paired with an agent with her own complicated back story who specializes in the occult. Together, they will solve cases for the newly formed occult crimes task force.” Whether the show actually gets on the air is still an open question. If it does, we can start a betting pool for when Wiccans, Druids, and Asatru are mentioned in the series.
• Frank Lautenberg, the Democratic Senator from New Jersey who passed away recently, took an active role in combatting the revisionist Christian history of David Barton. Quote: “I want those who hear me across America to pay attention: ‘Christian heritage is at risk.’ That means that all the outsiders, all of those who approach God differently but are people who believe in a supreme being; people who behave and live peacefully with their neighbors and their friends. No, this is being put forward as an attempt — a not too subtle attempt — to make sure people understand that America is a Christian country. Therefore, we ought to take the time the majority leader offers us, as Members of the Senate, for a chance to learn more about how invalid the principle of separation between church and state is. I hope the American public sees this plan as the spurious attempt it is.” For why David Barton is infamous among Pagans, check out my previous reporting on his antics. 
• Finally, here’s some pictures from the Pagan Picnic in St. Louis!

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.

Pagan voices is a spotlight on recent quotations from figures within the Pagan community. These voices may appear in the burgeoning Pagan media, or from a mainstream outlet, but all showcase our wisdom, thought processes, and evolution in the public eye. Is there a Pagan voice you’d like to see highlighted? Drop me a line with a link to the story, post, or audio.

Wendy Griffin

“To me, whether or not to have professional ministry is the wrong question. We have one even if we don’t call it that. The real question is do we want an educated ministry? Do we want Pagans who will serve in these ministerial situations who have been trained in things like ethics and boundaries, family dynamics, substance abuse, social justice issues, interfaith dealings, counseling techniques – all from a Pagan perspective? As Paganism continues to grow and more Pagans feel safe to practice their religion openly, I don’t think we can afford not to have a professional priesthood, and by that, I mean men and women who have been systematically educated to minister to Pagans in need. I believe we owe that to ourselves and to our gods.” – Wendy Griffin, Academic Dean at Cherry Hill Seminary, on the subject of a professional priesthood within modern Paganism.

T. Thorn Coyle

“When I say I am not a believer, it doesn’t mean I believe nothing. It is that belief is not central to my religious and spiritual life. As a matter of fact, belief holds little importance to me at all. Belief doesn’t structure my experience; my experience structures what few beliefs I might have. My spiritual life consists of praxis first, theoria second. Any theories I hold are simply there to explain — or give context to — experience. Sometimes gnosis enters on a flash of synaptic lighting, but the pathway is usually opened by practice first. The times when this process is reversed, it is still practice that shows me whether or not the flash of insight was an aberration. Like the scientific jolt that happens in the bathtub or while stepping on a city bus: after the big event, we return to the processes that test and compare.” – T. Thorn Coyle, at the Huffington Post, explaining why she isn’t a believer.

Michael York

“At the Pagan Federation Conference in London yesterday, we got to see *The Spirit of Albion* and loved it. The dialogue may present a bit to be desired for, and Richard considered the film to be an English pagan *Umbrellas of Cherbourg*, but the viewer is drawn in all the same. The film is an astounding collaboration of volunteers and a low-budget enterprise, but it presents ‘what is always there’ beneath and behind the ‘illusion of modernity’. A wonderful work for explaining paganism to the wider community. Patrick and Barbara, it has already been used most helpfully in prison work and with prison authorities. All the music has been composed by Damh the Bard, and the movement between the worlds is fascinating. I strongly recommend Gary Andrews production.” – Michael York, author of “Pagan Theology: Paganism As A World Religion,” on the Pagan film “The Spirit of Albion.”

Hope M.

“It is only when I fully accept what I am powerless over that I can take my rightful place of power in the center of the pentacle and access the powers of spirit, earth, air, fire and water. At that moment, I finally understand myself in right perspective to the things that are around me. A witch cannot shape reality until she understands it. Admitting that there are things in the world, in nature, that she is powerless over is acknowledging that she is part of the tremendous web of life in which all things are connected. Humans, no matter how impressive our cognition, cannot set ourselves above or apart from the forces of nature. We are all bound by the laws of physics. We are all touched by death. To admit we are powerless over things is to claim our birthright as people of this Earth. It is to lay our heart out open and say “Yes, I am vulnerable. See how strong my heart beats” And yet, In their efforts to rewrite the Twelve steps for a more Pagan-friendly model, many authors have written the concept of powerless out of the first step.” – Hope M. of the 12 Step Witch blog writing about the importance of understanding powerlessness at PaganSquare.

John Beckett

“The liberal religions (which include virtually all forms of Paganism) are not proselytizing religions – we have no desire to convert the whole world to our ways. But there are plenty of folks who need what we have. They feel the call of the old gods and goddesses. They feel the call of Nature and the spirits of Nature. They feel the call of magic, of the alchemy that refines not base metals but human souls. Do we welcome them? Do we have a place for them? Do we help them find their way to Druidry or Heathenry or Humanistic Paganism or whatever flavor they’re best suited for? Or do we close ourselves off in our box pews and let them fend for themselves?” - John Beckett, discussing box pews, both physical and metaphorical, at the Patheos Pagan Portal.

Thom Swanson

“Our original (pieces are) heavily Pagan oriented.  Because a lot of them – at least, mine – have come from either when I’m invoked, or through trances, or at drum circles . . . they just pop in.  To help bridge that gap, we throw in some traditional Irish songs, as well as traditional English ones.  And that sort of helps at our concerts  . . . it makes sort of welcome listening for everyone.  That’s the way I see it should be.  Whether it’s Pagan music or mainstream music, it should be able to appeal to the masses.  Because that’s what music is: a voice, and an entity that wants to be heard, that needs to be heard, and especially with today’s society, the music needs to be heard by as many people as possible.” -Thom Swanson, of the Celtic folk-rock band Raven’s Call, in an interview with Diane Morrison at PaganSquare.

Fire Lyte

“I believe modern Pagan thinking, Wiccan-influenced Paganism especially, could take a tip from the evolution of the Muses in Classical Greek mythology. There are nine classical muses that represent all sorts of areas of interest, ranging from science to literature to music and theatre. We could, and should, recognize that people walk all sorts of different paths, and that our instinct is to relate to gods that resemble those paths. As was said before, we like gods that look like us, but the flip-side is that we find it hard to relate to – at least when it comes to worship and having a personal relationship with – gods and goddesses that look nothing like us, whose domain of influence is alien to our personal worldview. Anthropotheism says that we made the gods look and act like us, but the confusion here is that we think that’s where it stopped. That we created archetypes and deities and gave them names and faces and associations and carved it in stone somewhere and said THIS IS HOW THINGS ARE AND HAVE TO BE. Good news! You can continue to evolve your concept of the divine just as much as the divine continues to help you grow and change. We work together, us and the divine, because we are part of it, of them. As above, so below, right? If you need the Goddess to wear different mantels, then so be it.” – Fire Lyte, of Inciting A Riot fame, discusses the triple goddess at The Witches’ Voice.

Holli Emore
Executive Director, Cherry Hill Seminary

“Wild Garden will explore and report on Pagans in the growing – yes, like a garden – interfaith landscape. I’ll be posting, as well as hosting a number of other Pagan bloggers who are out there somewhere in the blackberry patch. Wild Garden will place a particular emphasis on the local and regional grassroots movements happening around the country. By sharing our experiences, we hope to inspire readers to put on a sunhat, grab some gloves and come on out into the sunshine. Some of you have read my past accounts on Palimpsest, about months of my religion being listed as “Other,” about the minister who made an apology to me and all Pagans the subject of his Sunday sermon, about my role on the board of directors of Interfaith Partners of South Carolina. I’ll continue to share those stories here at Wild Garden, along with my observations and the personal lessons I learn. Maybe you have a story to tell? We at Wild Garden will be all ears to your comments here at the blog. We want to hear what you are doing, what has worked for you, scared you off, intrigued you and inspired you.” – Holli Emore, introducing the new group Pagan interfaith blog “Wild Garden,” at the Patheos Pagan Portal.

Alan Moore

“I think that the current interest in occult and magical activities among musicians and artists is kind of to be welcomed, and in some ways perhaps predictable and inevitable. I think that our culture has gone about as far as it can in having no content or meaning to its art, and I think that an attempt to invest meaning in our culture and in our art by imbuing it with a sensibility of magic is probably necessary, and, like I said, probably inevitable, and certainly long overdue. I salute it considerably.” – Alan Moore, writer and magician, in an interview with The Believer magazine.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

In 2006 Roberta Stewart made headline news when she found herself at the epicenter of the Veteran Pentacle Quest. During that time she publicly stepped forward as the widow of a fallen soldier to speak out for religious equality under the law. In 2013 Roberta finds herself, once again, speaking out to the public and the media. However, now she has a different opponent – Gastroparesis.

Many remember Roberta Stewart as the wife of Sgt. Patrick Stewart, who was killed in combat on September 25, 2005 when his Chinook helicopter was shot down over Afghanistan. As a Wiccan, she wanted a pentacle inscribed on her Wiccan husband’s grave marker. However, the pentacle was not one of the thirty-six symbols on the National Cemetery Administration’s (NCA) emblems of belief list. In February of 2006 she joined the Veteran Pentacle Quest – a nine year old, on-going campaign to have the pentacle added to that very list.

With the help of Rev. Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary, Roberta added her own formal request to a collection of similar requests being sent directly to the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. With that decision she had joined forces with many other concerned Pagan organizations, Churches and individuals across the country.

Shortly after Selena asked Roberta if she would consider making her story public. Roberta consented. As a result, the campaign began to gain greater momentum. Over the next few months, Roberta and Selena spoke to both Federal and State officials, attended religious freedom events and told their story to the local and national media.

2006 Pagan religious freedom rally at the September 11 memorial in Reno, Nevada.

But publicity took its toll.  She and her family experienced violent backlash.  Her property was vandalized and her daughter was beaten and called a witch.

Additionally, Roberta was not permitted to speak at a local Nevada Memorial Day Service due to her involvement with the Quest. That didn’t stop her. With the press watching, she, Rev. Selena Fox and Army Chaplain William Crystal performed an alternate service at a public park near the Nevada Veterans Cemetery in Fernley. The service was attended by more than 300 people and many members of the press. They called it the “All Faiths Memorial Service.”

Over the next six months the Quest’s momentum continued to grow. Roberta and Selena visited Washington D.C. multiple times, continued talking to the media, and encouraged Pagan letter-writing campaigns.  Roberta remained in the public eye for much of this time. As a result, She garnered support from many people far and wide. Recently, she told a Reno Nevada TV station:

Through all of this…there were surprises among those who stood with [me] and those who did not. I couldn’t have done it without the support of people here in this state.

Former Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn was one of these supporters. He allowed the pentacle to be placed on Sgt Stewart’s plaque on the memorial wall at the Nevada Veteran’s cemetery.

Marker for Sgt. Patrick Stewart.

However that wasn’t the end of Roberta’s story.  For her, the Quest was about religious equality for all service men and women – not just for her husband.  In the fall of 2006 American United for the Separation of Church and State filed two lawsuits against the VA on behalf of Roberta and Circle Sanctuary. Finally, after ten years of struggle, the VA conceded. On April 23, 2007, the pentacle was added to the list of emblems. On Memorial Day of that year, Sgt. Stewart’s marker was dedicated proudly displaying the symbol of his faith – the pentacle.

Beyond all the publicity and visible struggles, Roberta was also quietly fighting another adversary.  Prior to her husband’s death she began to experience the early warning signs of the serious stomach disorder Gastroparesis – a near paralysis or weakness of the Gastrointestinal system. The symptoms of which include nausea, vomiting, dehydration, malnutrition, bloating, abdominal pain, weight loss, lack of energy and more.

But it wasn’t until 2008, a year after the Quest had ended, that she was officially diagnosed with this incurable disease. Rev. Selena Fox remembers all those bouts of stomach problems that Roberta had during the Quest years. One occurred while they were preparing to speak at the Pagan Religious Freedom Rally near the VA offices on July 4, 2006.  At the time Selena and Roberta agreed to keep her personal health problems quiet in order to stay focused on the cause.

Doctors do not have a clear understanding of what causes the condition and have no direct way of treating it.  As a result, patients must try various methods in order to find one that will maintain a comfortable quality of life. Since being diagnosed five years ago, Roberta has visited the hospital monthly. In some cases she has had to stay as long as two or three weeks.To date she has tried surgery, various medications, TPN feeding, Gastro-Jejunal feeding tube, and other intravenous feeding methods.  Unfortunately none of these treatments have brought her any measurable comfort. She said:

I died two times when they attempted to put a GJ feeding tube….With the stomach bag, I was in the hospital for 4 weeks and every time they released me I had kidney failure.

Despite all of that she remains positive.  She added, “I am hopeful that acupuncture, colon therapy, colon hydration, detoxification, kinesiology and natural herbs will help as all other methods have failed.”

In addition, Roberta has chosen once again, to share her struggle with the public in the hopes of helping others.  As with the Quest she has turned a very personal battle into an opportunity to raise public awareness. Long-time friend, Rev. Selena Fox said:

I am thankful for her courage, strength, and willingness to turn her life challenges into opportunities to increase public awareness, understanding, and support on important issues. Roberta and I hope that by her speaking out about Gastroparesis … [she will help] build public support for [more] research towards a cure.

Circle Sanctuary has set up a Life Appreciation Page. When news of her condition began to spread the many people whose lives she has touched tried to reach out to her directly.  However, she is unable to field the sheer number of emails and calls. If you would like to reach out to her with love, well-wishes, or words of support, you can do so through Circle Sanctuary’s Life Appreciation page.

Additionally, if you would like to help Roberta in her newest Quest, learn more about Gastroparesis. Help Roberta raise awareness about the debilitating disease that has now consumed so much her time and her energy.

The late 1980s through the mid-1990s was a commercial high-point for the genre of music known as Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Bands like DC Talk, Jars of Clay, and Amy Grant were garnering breakthrough success outside of traditional genre boundaries, often selling millions of albums. It was during this era that the singer known as Carman was a Christian superstar. Between 1985 and 1997 six of his albums were certified Gold, and one, 1993′s “The Standard,” went Platinum. He was nominated for two Grammys, and won several Dove Awards (essentially the Christian Grammys). I think it’s important to give you this information, because when we talk about things that happened twenty, thirty, or forty years ago, it’s easy to lose context. So knowing that Carman was reaching hundreds of thousands (perhaps millions) of listeners during this period, is how you should view the single “A Witch’s Invitation” from the 1989 album “Revival In The Land.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJiheZ3aEug

By today’s lights it’s pure cheese, a G-rated version of Goodfellas meets Rosemary’s Baby. But at the time it was no laughing matter. America was still deep in the “Satanic Panic” that was destroying lives, and implying that Witches and Druids worshipped Satan and cursed people with AIDS could (and did) have damaging ramifications on people’s lives. Certainly Druid leader Isaac Bonewits, who was obviously the inspiration for “Isaac Horowitz” in the song, and by all accounts felt personally slandered, was not amused. Perhaps that’s why he wrote an epic Jeremiad concerning Christian fundamentalism in 1990.

Isaac Bonewits

“It’s the Christian Fundamentalists, however, in whom we inspire the greatest anger, hatred, and fear. They routinely denounce Buddhism, Taoism, the New Age, and all other competing belief systems, just as they have always done, but seem to save their greatest vituperation for occultists in general and Neopagans (especially Witches) in particular. As most Neopagans know, Christian Fundamentalists are constantly publishing and broadcasting blasphemies against our deities, slanders against our members, and half-truths and outright lies about our beliefs and practices. Over and over, they strive to convince the general public, the media, and the civil governments that we are devil worshiping murderers, rapists, child abusers, and even cannibals. Their kids beat up our kids in school, their adults vandalize our stores and temples, shoot bullets through our windows, and manipulate the courts to remove our children from us. Why? What is it about Neopaganism that makes some Christian Fundamentalists so desperate that they will repeatedly violate most of their own Ten Commandments to try and stop us?”

I dig up this history for two reasons, first, Carman, who was recently diagnosed with terminal cancer, is making news for his recent comeback via a Kickstarter campaign that has raised over $300,000 dollars for a new album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lp0cRIJOT_I

“Carman said he knows that after a dozen years away from the big stage, his new material “has to be current; it has to sound like it belongs in 2013.” At the same time, he said, his fans expect to hear timeless biblical stories and a gospel message in his music. From 1982 to 1992, Carman’s albums regularly sold more than a million copies each, and he topped the Christian singles charts with songs such as “Satan, Bite the Dust,” “Revival in the Land,” “The Champion,” and “Witches Invitation.” He was one of the first contemporary Christian artists to incorporate the kind of elaborate — and expensive—lighting, staging and entertainment that fans expected from top-level secular artists. Legions of screaming teenage fans would call him the “Italian Stallion” as Carman developed a niche for high-drama emotional ballads that featured demons, witches, spiritual warfare and always, a victorious Christ.”

Notice that his brand is still identified with “A Witch’s Invitation” and spiritual warfare against Witches. A brand that the “Carman” generation, Christian music fans now in their 40s and 50s, are willing to pay to see return. Which brings me to the second reason I’m writing about a Christian pop-star’s comeback album: the next generation of Christians and how they will see modern Pagans. In October of last year I was invited to speak at Multnomah University, a Bible college and Biblical seminary in Portland, Oregon, to talk about modern Paganism with several Christian seminary students. While everyone was very gracious and nice, there were moments where I could tell that some student’s information about Pagan religions had come through a distorted Christian media lens.

Now, I’ve been invited back to Multnomah this June to talk to a new batch of students in Paul Louis Metzger‘s class on world religions. I wonder how many of them, or their parents, were influenced by someone like Carman when they think of modern Paganism? Do some of them secretly think I’m diabolical? That I’m working malefic spells for money in league with demons? It’s easy to laugh at the notion sometimes, until you read about Christian clergy opposition to a Pagan festival in Pahokee, Florida, where some very basic interfaith outreach had to be done to avoid a protest. I think Carman and his “funny” little song about a Witch are quite indicative of how many Christians still see us. Which is why, despite the (often justifiable) distrust many Pagans feel about interactions with Christians, I appreciate Professor Metzger’s earnest efforts to more accurately understand us.

“We Christians need to be on guard in our understanding of such movements as contemporary Paganism. We tend to lump all of modern Paganism into one general and distorted category. We often fail to account for the vast complexity within the movement and articulate Paganism accurately. For all our concern about pagan idolatry, we may be guilty at times of making their idols for them. We need to develop the practice of respect for understanding their practices, rituals, and beliefs.”

Christian churches and denominations centered on evangelizing, on missions of conversion, will never stop their efforts. But I think our goals shouldn’t be to make them stop trying, it is to make them acknowledge our humanity, and to accurately understand who they are speaking to. If they start to understand us, if they see us as practicing valid religious traditions (as opposed to demonic underground cults) alongside all the other world’s religions, then the chances of a new moral panic decreases, and the ability to have real discourse grows. That discourse will be vitally important as our faiths continue to grow, and as tensions created by an increasingly post-Christian West become more pronounced.

We need to put the old slurs to rest if we are to evolve our understandings of one another, and this requires Christians to properly contextualize the books and records that have profited by slander against us. I have no wish to heap abuse on Carman as he mounts his comeback, but “A Witch’s Invitation” should be seen as the embarrassment to Christianity that it is, and our community is long overdue for an apology for the slander it perpetuated. Moving forward, all of us engaged in interfaith work need to constantly ask: where are my perceptions of this person, this religion, this tradition, coming from? Do they come from a place of knowledge and discernment, from first-hand experience, or from propaganda and distortion? I am hoping, by my presence at Multnomah, to replace fear and distortion with knowledge and experience. To ensure that we are speaking to each other instead of about each other.

My phone buzzed around 1:15 in the morning, a text message from an unfamiliar number. “The cops just woke us up and they are arresting us for sleeping,” the message said.

“Where are you?” I texted back.

Alley Valkyrie. Photo by Rob Sydor.

I wasn’t sure who it was on the other end of the line, but it didn’t really matter. People are arrested on a regular basis for sleeping in Eugene, and my determination to fight these laws and policies has resulted in many late-night texts such as this one. Countless folks on the streets have my phone number, and they know I will always respond to an emergency, no matter the day or time. Given the struggles of their daily existence, making myself available in this regard is the very least I can do.

I sat up in bed and started to look around the room for my shoes. I glanced out the window momentarily. It was rainy, windy, and bitterly cold. Sleeping outside in this weather was punishment enough; to be arrested for it was unconscionable. I fumbled around for my keys but then hesitated, waiting for a reply. There was no point in getting into the car until I knew where I was going. A few minutes went by before the phone buzzed again.

“We’re under the bridge at Sixth Street. They’re leaving a few of us here with the dogs and taking the rest of us to jail. I have to put the phone away now.”

Although my instinct was to rush right over, I knew that I couldn’t change the current course of events at that point. The bridge was a few miles away, and they would already be en route to jail by the time I arrived. I still didn’t know who was texting me, but everyone who was currently being arrested would appear in the jail inmate database within the hour. I would be able to figure it out in the morning, and nothing could really be done until then. In the meantime, given the fact that the next day would be yet another inevitably stressful chapter in the fight for the right to sleep, I needed to try to get some sleep myself.

Campers under the bridge where they were arrested.

I got back into bed, closed my eyes, and reflected on the fact that to be able to simply put one’s head down and drift off without having to fear being woken up and dragged off to jail is a privilege that most of us take for granted, and a privilege that thousands of people in my community do not have. In Eugene, Oregon, if you don’t have a home, its literally illegal to sleep.

For two years now, I have been on the front lines of a battle concerning homelessness that has raged for a generation in this town, a debate that has pitted businessmen against activists, police against lawyers, and neighbors against neighbors.

And from the front lines, I refuse to yield in my steadfast belief that socioeconomic status should not affect fundamental human rights. From where I stand, there is no debate. Everyone has the right to exist, and everyone has the right to sleep. Nobody is “less than” anyone else. Everyone is inherently a reflection of divinity, and everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, regardless of whether you sleep in a mansion or in the bushes.

The issues and debates around homelessness in Eugene have literally torn this community apart, a community whose reputation for contentiousness is as old as the trees that serve as shelter for those who have no other option. There are many in this town from all walks of life who question Eugene’s laws and policies towards the homeless from both a human rights perspective as well in terms of fundamental constitutional rights. However, despite widespread public awareness, consistent news coverage, a federal court decision that declared such arrests unconstitutional, and involvement from national organizations such as the ACLU and the NLCHP, the arrests still continue. And despite their sympathetic overtures when asked to comment on the issue, for thirty years now local officials have been unwilling to overturn or modify the laws that literally criminalize the existence of anyone and everyone who can’t afford a place to live.

Over the years, homeless advocates had tried numerous times to change the laws with no success, and most of those who had fought the city in the past had given up long ago. The current crop of advocates, however, many who were first brought together through the Occupy movement, were not so easily discouraged. We publicly vowed not to quit fighting until everyone had the right to sleep, and our presence has been felt and noticed at every City Council meeting since October of 2011. After a year-and-a-half of relentless lobbying, our dedication and determination had finally resulted in the Eugene City Council reluctantly agreeing to revisit the issue at a work session in the near future, but given the failed attempts of the past, few had hope that anything substantive would come of it.

I woke up at dawn the next morning to learn that eight people were arrested under the Ferry Street Bridge the night before, ranging in age from 18 to 37 years old. They were held in jail for nearly 12 hours, pled no contest to illegal camping the following afternoon, and were fined $100 each with no consideration given to the fact that they spent the night in jail.

Upon their release, I met up with them, got their side of the story, and then hit the ground running. I contacted both elected officials and media outlets, rattling off facts, figures, and circumstances. Even in Eugene, arresting eight people in one place for sleeping and holding them overnight was unprecedented, and I wasn’t about to let the story go untold.

In the midst of my frenzied afternoon, I ran into a close friend and fellow activist downtown. Upon telling her what happened the night before, she looked at me and smiled calmly.

“This is a gift”, she said. “This is a gift.”

I paused for a moment, and let her words sink in. I understood immediately what she meant. As appalling as the circumstances of the incident were, the timing could not be better. The Council’s scheduled work session on the camping ban was only two weeks away. Perhaps these arrests would shock the conscience of the Council enough to finally take action. Perhaps enough public outrage over this incident would finally pressure the powers that be into doing the right thing.

Under the bridge where the arrests were made.

The Ferry Street arrests, as they came to be known, became the talk of the activist community for the next two weeks. A few days after the incident, I wrote an open letter to the Mayor and City Council, outlining in detail exactly what happened under the bridge and pointing out the numerous violations of law and policy that occurred the night of the arrests. The following Monday, four of the arrestees spoke in front of a packed City Council meeting at my urging, testifying as to their experience being arrested and the fact that they had absolutely nowhere to sleep. It was evident from watching the expressions of several of the Councilors that they were genuinely affected by what they heard, and afterwards the Mayor stated that the arrests were unacceptable in her opinion and that an investigation was warranted. Media coverage, including letters to the editor from several angry citizens and a write-up of the incident in the Eugene Weekly, added to the pressure that had been building for the past eighteen months.

By the time the Council met for their work session two weeks later, nearly everyone in town had been made aware of the incident. The room was packed with homeless advocates, concerned citizens, and numerous homeless members of our community whose daily lives were severely affected by a law that kept them from sleeping soundly at night. News cameras lined the back of the room, and reporters from various media outlets hovered over their notebooks in anticipation.

Eugene City Council work session.

And after thirty years of criminalizing homelessness, it took the Eugene City Council only ninety minutes to unanimously agree to draft a temporary ordinance that would allow legal camping on designated public parcels of land.

The audience was in shock. None of us could quite believe what had just happened. The work session was adjourned, and as the room cleared I was immediately bombarded by friends, acquaintances, fellow advocates and news reporters.  “I’m not sure what to say right now,” I told them, walking away towards the door. “What just happened speaks for itself. You don’t need a quote from me.”

I needed to process. I needed to breathe. Most importantly, I needed a moment to myself. I stepped outside, away from the crowd. I was shaking, on the verge of tears. I had poured my heart and soul into this, fighting with ever fiber of my being for nearly two years, and yet the enormity of what just happened was simply too much for me at that moment.

While struggling to regain composure, a homeless friend of mine came up next to me and offered me a cigarette. I wasn’t a smoker but at that moment I took her up on it. As I lit up, she looked me straight in the eye. “What drives you?” she asked me. “What drives you to fight so hard? Why do you care so much?”

“Because we’re no different, you and me,” I replied. “The only thing that separates us is luck and circumstance. We are equals, we are equally sacred. And yet I enjoy privileges that I never earned, while you are stigmatized and treated as less than human through no fault of your own. And I can’t sleep at night knowing that you’re not allowed to do the same. It haunts me to the core.”

She hugged me, long and hard. “I guess you can fight City Hall after all,” she said to me, smiling.

I looked back towards the crowd. The reporters were still inside waiting for me to come back. I paused a moment, looked at my friend, and realized that I had a few quotes for them after all. I finished my cigarette, wiped my eyes, and walked back into the building.

Here are some updates on previously reported stories here at The Wild Hunt.

Florida Freemasons Reverse Anti-Pagan Edict: On November 28th, 2012, Jorge L. Aladro, Grand Master of Florida’s Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons, issued a ruling stating that Paganism, Wicca, Odinism, and Gnosticism were not compatible with Freemasonry. Further, any Freemason who “professes to be a member of one of the groups mentioned above shall tender his resignation or suffer himself to a Trial Commission whose final outcome will be expulsion since there is no provision to allow anything contrary to the Ancient Landmarks.” This ruling caused quite a bit of consternation among both Pagans and Freemasons, two communities that have long and interlocking histories. Now, Christopher L. Hodapp at the Freemasons For Dummies blog reports that the edict has been overturned.

“The passed resolution reverses the Ruling in its entirety, and concludes by affirming ‘that Florida Masonry hereby declares its eternal devotion to the religious toleration that is one of the immovable and Ancient Landmarks of Freemasonry, never to be changed by any man or group of men.’ The Jurisprudence Committee had recommended rejection.”

As one commenter aptly put it: “I am very proud of my brethren in Florida for defending religious tolerance and having the courage to undo a mistake that did damage to our fraternity.” This is very good news for Freemasons, Pagans, and Pagan Freemasons, and I hope it will signal a new beginning for all involved (more from PNC-Florida). For more information on how this whole mess got started in the first place, check out this editorial from PNC-Florida.

Progress, Study, and Introspection in the Matter of Papua New Guinea Witch-Killings: The world was shocked to attention earlier this year at the torture and burning of a woman in Papua New Guinea over charges of sorcery and witchcraft. While the case of Kepari Leniata was sadly not unique, that fact that it was so well documented via cell phone pictures gave it a visceral immediacy that is often absent in these cases. Now, the country’s Sorcery Act has been repealed, and capital punishment re-instated in an effort to quell these murders.

Papua New Guinea Prime Minster Peter O’Neill

“The Parliament of Papua New Guinea has voted to repeal the country’s Sorcery Act and to reinstate the death penalty in certain cases to help stem an increase in violence against people accused of practicing black magic. Such violence is endemic in the South Pacific island nation, and a rise in the number of public killings in the past year has prompted international condemnation and embarrassed the government of Prime Minister Peter O’Neill. [...] Amnesty International, which has campaigned loudly against sorcery-related violence in Papua New Guinea, praised the repeal of the Sorcery Act but assailed the reintroduction of the death penalty. Isabelle Arradon, a spokeswoman, said that represented ‘several giant steps back.’”

Meanwhile, a conference entitled “Sorcery and Witchcraft-Related Killings in Melanesia: Culture, Law and Human Rights Perspectives” is taking place this week in Australia that focuses on possible solutions to this horror, including whether legislative solutions can have any effect on witch-killings in the Melanesia subregion. Quote: “Belief in sorcery and witchcraft is so deeply embedded in Papua New Guinea that the problem will not be solved so easily as repealing a piece of legislation.” Still, at least there are signs that forces both within and without Papua New Guinea are struggling to find solutions. Let us hope that this terror can be abated for the sake of the victims, and the humanity of the perpetrators.

Famous Bengali Film Director a Member of India’s Wiccan Brigade: The world mourned this week on hearing that internationally known and celebrated film director Rituparno Ghosh died at the age of 49 after suffering a massive heart attack. As tributes and remembrances have emerged, Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, India’s most famous Wiccan adherent, claims that Ghosh was a student of her teachings, and a part of her “Wiccan Brigade.”

Rituparno Ghosh

“For master storyteller Rituparno Ghosh, who died on May 30, the craft of Wicca — a modern pagan and witchcraft religion was a “great draw” as it appealed to his intellectual side. The filmmaker also exhibited a pronounced curiosity about “life after death”, says renowned Wiccan exponent Ipsita Roy Chakraverti. Ghosh was Chakraverti’s first student from the film fraternity [...] “He was always a part of our programmes… As a speaker, as a participant. (He was) always very interested in learning the craft. In fact, he was my first student from the film fraternity,” said Chakraverti.”

As I’ve reported here previously, Chakraverti’s Wiccan Brigade has worked to combat violence against women in the form of witch killings and persecutions, and believes that the religion could empower women in the face of a “national problem” of rape. Knowing that Ghosh was a part of Chakraverti’s group adds an extra dimension to his character, part of a life dedicated towards equal treatment for all individuals in his home country. What is remembered, lives.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Two years ago a North Carolina newspaper published a Letter to the Editor that read:

My problem with the Pagan or Wiccan groups is in whether they qualify as a religion.  Most religions in the world espouse doing good.  We see food pantries, homeless shelters, free clinics and hospitals started and manned by religious entities….I’ve never seen a Pagan hospital or food pantry or homeless shelter.  I would call Pagans evil, but maybe I could more easily support that they have no socially redeeming value. – J. Bromley

At that time I created a solid list of “good works” that served to demonstrate Pagan involvement in tremendous acts of service. Some of these projects were Pagan community specific (i.e. Operation Circle Care) and some served the larger population (i.e. Doctors Without Borders).

I’d like to resurrect this topic and share the stories of two Pagans who engage in dynamic acts of service that benefit far more than just themselves. Here are two different men on two different continents who have both made a passionate commitment to protecting the Earth and its vital resources.

Adam Burling

Paganism, Deep Ecology and Environmental Activism

For over twenty years, Adam Burling, a Pantheist Pagan, has been an advocate for the environment in his home country of Australia. He began his career working in one of Sydney’s merchant banks. But he quickly became disillusioned with the financial industry. Looking around he felt “empty” seeing no “real community or passion.”

Finally Adam quit and fell in with a crowd of surfers, skaters and musicians. Some of them were also environmental activists who volunteered for The Australian Wildnerness Society, a group that works to protect native forests. He signed up.

Adam remembers his first mass protest:

[There was] a real sense of community…music, songs, laughter even in the face of so much horror and destruction of nature. Not long after that I decided to dedicate my life to working for the Earth and its creatures (including us humans).

Adam continued to volunteer for The Wildnerness Society living mostly off his inner desire to act. He recalls, “In the face of the destruction of what [was] occurring I felt compelled to do nothing else.” Then after years on the front-lines, he finally got an office job in the campaign headquarters of the Tasmanian Green Party working for Bob Brown.  His passion “to act” turned into a career. Now Adam is the media coordinator for Sea Shepherd, an international organization that “takes a stand against poachers, whalers and [ocean] polluters.”

While the fight to save Earth’s eco-systems may seem insurmountable at times, Adam remains undaunted. He wrote:

Starhawk on her visit to Tasmania said to me that all wild places are facing some threat.  They call to us for help…I feel honoured that I have heard that call and have chosen to act accordingly.

Adam Burling

In his own home town, Adam with a group of 17 others were successful in stopping the clear cutting of 1000 acres of native forest and fending off a corporate lawsuit. This is a small local victory but one that Adam holds close.

Since the beginning Adam has grounded his work within his strongly held Pagan beliefs and the philosophy of Deep Ecology. He has studied both the Reclaiming Tradition and the works of T. Thorn Coyle.  He adds:

Paganism has provided me with a specific world view that supports my work. It puts everything more into perspective. Like John Seed says we are the rain forest defending itself. When you start to view activism as such it shifts something inside of you, it is no longer just reactionary. It is pro-active and it a movement for all life including humanity.

Air, Water, Earth: Stopping Injection Drilling

On the other side of the world, a retired engineer has been aggressively working to curb air and water pollution in the small towns of East Texas near the Sabine National Forest. Lord Sez, a long-time Wiccan practitioner, explains,

I do not like anyone who sends poison into the air.  With good technology the emissions can be eliminated and the air kept clean.  But that would cost more money. Most of the [emission] permits are granted with no public hearing. It is permit by rule. The plant owners do not live close to [the plants] and, [as for] the families that do live close….too bad.

Several years ago, Lord Sez identified a growing problem caused by a local chemical plant built only 900 feet from his home. Over time, he and his neighbors noticed an increasing incidence of illness, strange “smells, loss of taste … and floating gas clouds around the plant.”  They also observed an increasing amount of dead grass and fewer and fewer birds.

With his engineering background Lord Sez was able to take his own air and water quality test samples to validate his suspicions. He also dug up documents proving that the company falsified several sworn records. After rallying local landowners, he presented his case to the Texas Commission on Environmental Equality.  As a result, the chemical plant is being fined with further investigations to come.

Lord Sez remarks, “I am not a good neighbor for a plant or well that produces pollution”  Over the same period of time, the Texas Railroad commission approved the drilling of a Injection well in the Sabine National Forest, near Pendleton Harbor and Toledo Bend lake. The injection well was to be used to store oil and gas waste and was to be dug only 400 feet from a fresh water drinking source.

Injection Well
Courtesy of Flickr’s kqedquest

The project wasn’t made public until after ETX solutions LLC, the drilling company, began clearing the forest for construction. Upon learning of the project, Lord Sez immediately began an extensive investigation. With the help of others, he was able to halt construction by creating enough noise to scare away investors. The drill project has since been abandoned.

Lord Sez will continue his work and already has another project lined up. He gave me permission to share the details of his story in the hopes that it will inspire others to act. But he emphatically states that, although he is Wiccan, his environmental work is not at all about religion.  For him, it is about the safety, health and the quality of life within in his community for all living things. He says:

I get angry [knowing] that a family [could] gather for a holiday meal with the windows open and everyone [could] sick from the stink in the air. 

He doesn’t care what holiday that might be. Some acts of service transcend theology.

These stories are certainly not the only ones. Many Pagans are dedicating their time, money, and careers to protecting the Earth and its eco-systems. In addition, there are Pagans performing many, many other “good works” that contribute positively to our greater societies. I look forward to hearing more of these stories. Maybe one day I’ll even be able to report on the opening of a Pagan-run hospital.

An Aside:  Remember little Duncan Lawrence, the North Georgia March of Dimes ambassador.  He and 50 other team members managed to raise over $18,000 dollars to date and the pledging is still open. Tom, his father and Druid Elder, estimate that they will raise another 2-3,000 before the donation period ends. Now that is socially relevant.

Druid Elder, Tom Lawrence and son Duncan at March of Dimes Walk 2013.

Pagan Community Notes is a series focused on news originating from within the Pagan community. Reinforcing the idea that what happens to and within our organizations, groups, and events is news, and news-worthy. My hope is that more individuals, especially those working within Pagan organizations, get into the habit of sharing their news with the world. So let’s get started!

Lady Liberty League Forms Task Force, Prevents Protest in Florida: Last week many Pagans were outraged after a story about Christian clergy opposition to a Pagan festival in Pahokee, Florida emerged. In response the Lady Liberty League, a religious freedom support organization for Wiccans, Pagans, and other Nature religion practitioners worldwide, formed a task force to address the concerns raised by this situation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moN7Nz5W5gc

“‘This is an opportunity not only to bring about better public understanding about Paganism, but for Pagans of many paths to work together,’ said Rev. Selena Fox, Executive Director of Circle Sanctuary and the Lady Liberty League (LLL). 

On Saturday, the Lady Liberty League sent an update that task-force member Peter Dybing attended a meeting of local Christian clergy, explained modern Pagan faiths to those assembled, and received a pledge that they would not protest the Summer Solstice festival.

Peter Dybing and Selena Fox of the Lady Liberty League.

“‘What I am here asking is not for your support, or your approval, but your tolerance for our right to engage in religious activity. If anyone were to protest the activities of your church, our community, would, if asked, come to your defense. We ask only the same, please don’t protest our event’. After Rev. Dybing’s statements, the pastor who organized the meeting declared to all present that there would be ‘No Protest.’ He and Peter Dybing shook hands; a significant gesture in heated times. Rev. Dybing stated that if members of their community wanted to pray for our community, we would welcome such prayers as we see all prayer as a good thing. It was clear that LLL’s approach of outreach at this meeting had had a profound effect on the proceedings.”

Further, a representative of the local Chamber of Commerce said the organization “fully supports the festival and local business owners will be open for business and looking forward to the festival.” More on these developments, including contact information for the Christian pastor who reached out to Peter Dybing to make this possible, can be found here. This is very good news for the Pagans of Florida, and I think it’s important to reiterate what the LLL said in their previous press release: that people “avoid independent actions that have the potential to complicate efforts,” and to contact them first by emailing liberty@circlesanctuary.org if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas regarding this issue. The Wild Hunt will keep you updated on further developments.

Cherry Hill Seminary Receives Generous Challenge Gift: Online Pagan learning institution Cherry Hill Seminary announced on Monday that a donor was willing to match up to $10,000 dollars in donations for a new scholarship endowment that would help students nearing completion of their Master of Divinity, to assist them with the expense of attending their required second intensive. This is another significant step forward for Cherry Hill Seminary, which recently presented its first academic symposium in partnership with the University of South Carolina.

Sacred Lands and Spiritual Landscapes symposium. L to R, Carl Evans, Emeritus Chair of Dept. of Religious Studies, University of South Carolina; Holli Emore, Executive Director, Cherry Hill Seminary; Ronald Hutton, Professor of History, Bristol University; Chas Clifton, Editor The Pomegranate; Candace Kant, Dean of Students, Cherry Hill Seminary; Wendy Griffin, Academic Dean, Cherry Hill Seminary.

Executive Director Holli Emore noted that the donor was inspired to give by the recent Sacred Lands and Spiritual Landscapes held in collaboration with the University of South Carolina. “We have worked so hard for the past several years to shape our program into one with strong academic integrity as well as meaningful impact for the community of Pagan and nature-based spiritualities,” said Emore. This endowment is both an affirmation of that hard work, and a signal to others who might be ready to join the effort.”

Nearly $5,000 in gifts to the endowment have already been received; Cherry Hill Seminary has until July 1, 2013 to raise the full $10,000 match. You can find out more about the gift, including reactions from students and staff, here.  Those who wish to make a gift may do so online, or you can make a pledge of support. For further options, you can send a message to CHS@cherryhillseminary.org. All donors will be acknowledged online unless they request otherwise. Congratulations to Cherry Hill Seminary on this step forward!

 Solar Cross Temple “Love In Action” Update: On May 25th I reported on how the pan-Pagan/Magickal organization Solar Cross Temple, in partnership with a local Pagan and a consortium of activist organizations, were working to raise money for those affected by the massive and deadly tornado that struck Oklahoma recently. On May 30th, T. Thorn Coyle posted a new update on that effort. 

Debris covers the ground in Moore, Oklahoma. Photograph by Brett Deering/Getty.

“6 wheel barrows and 4 heavy duty transfer shovels were sent to Oklahoma on May 29th! Thanks to everyone who has donated so far! Including donations from Solar Cross, people have contributed $1061 toward the two shipments of much needed goods. These are all going to the harder hit rural areas of Oklahoma that aren’t getting as much help. In addition to that total, another $150 was collected from our Solar Cross Devotional on Sunday and will take up collections at Troth Moot this weekend. This will enable us to send another shipment!”

For those wanting to join this initiative  please donate via PayPal to solarcrosstemple@gmail.com. Please note that it is for Tornado Relief so they can assign the money properly. As T. Thorn Coyle says in her initial post: “I want to create a world of mutual aid, where we help one another in times of need, and celebrate together in times of joy.” May all those affected find safety, shelter, and the means to rebuild.

Congratulations to Erynn Rowan Laurie: Erynn Rowan Laurie, author of “A Circle of Stones,” and a finalist in the poetry category of the Bi Writers Association Bi Book Awards, won in the poetry category this past Sunday for her collection “Fireflies at Absolute Zero.”

“Guess who is now an award-winning poet?” – Erynn Rowan Laurie

“Erynn Rowan Laurie’s  Fireflies at Absolute Zero is a call to poetic arms, written with the ferocity and pas­sion of the Earth war­rior — “my poems burn like stars/​ they fall like spears from the oil-​​black sky.” It is a hymn of praise to the old gods, written in the long tra­di­tion of poets as dreamers of new worlds, and re-​​memberers of old ones. Indeed, Laurie’s poetry reminds us all that humanity cannot face its strug­gles with either mushy plat­i­tudes or mil­i­tarist cliché; we require the nuance of the poet who dances coura­geously on the edges, between the struggle and the embrace.” –Theodore Richards, author of Cosmosophia and The Crucifixion

I think this is a wonderful achievement, not only for Erynn, but for creative writings by modern Pagans.  Congratulations! In the meantime, for those who are curious, you can read a preview of the poetry collection, here.

In Other Pagan Community News:

• Chas Clifton notes that two new important books have been published in the field of Pagan Studies. They are “Pop Pagans: Paganism and Popular Music” and “Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe.” The former happens to feature a chapter written by yours truly, and I’m very excited to see the final product in my hands. 
• Volume 4 of Modern Witch Magazine is now available in hardcover and download editions. Quote: “Modern Witch is back for a fourth volume and we aren’t taking any prisoners! Join creator Devin Hunter and members of the progressive metaphysical community like David Salisbur, Crystal Blanton, Yeshe Rabbit and Storm Faerywolf as they explore the power behind The Wyld Witch! Volume 4 features 100 pages of magic, witchcraft, spells, recipes, class material and even an 18th century grimoire!”
• In addition to the news concerning the challenge gift, Cherry Hill Seminary has also added two new board members, and a new library specialist. Quote: “We are delighted to announce a new member of the CHS staff team, Christine Grewcock of Easley, SC.  [...] Adding to the treasurehouse of capable and diverse individuals found on the Board of Directors, CHS welcomes two new directors, Byron Ballard and Marla Roberson.” Congratulations!
• Nels Linde returns from Heartland Spirit Gathering and has some insights to share at PNC-Minnesota. Quote: “The interviews next week will include a lot of Pagan history, assessment of the present, and a view of the future. Janet and Gavin have strong views of what it means to be a priest or priestess, to speak with the gods, and where the leaders of the Craft of the future will come from.” I can’t wait. 
• Chicago-based Pagan/magical performance troupe Terra Mysterium has unveiled a new music video for the song “In the Observarium,” check it out!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG6ED84hOm0

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

[On May 13th I ran a guest editorial from Joseph Merlin Nichter on a proposed Religious Property Matrix (RPM) for California prisons. Knowing that Joseph's views only represented one perspective within the Pagan community, I reached out to the Rev. Patrick McCollum for his own thoughts on the issue. Patrick has been working as a Pagan chaplain and activist for well over twenty years. He was one of the founding members of the Lady Liberty League, and has been involved in numerous legal struggles involving modern Pagans. In 2008, he testified before the US Commission on Civil Rights on prisoner’s religious rights, saying he “found discrimination against minority faiths everywhere”and that the problem was “endemic.”]

Patrick McCollum with California State Senator Mark DeSaulnier and aide (08/25/12)

As a longtime activist for both Pagan and minority faith religious rights, a recent post by volunteer chaplain Joseph Nichter about the so called “Religious Property Matrix” created by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has raised serious concerns for me and prompts me to respond in detail to his thoughts and comments.

I’d like to begin first by laying a framework for the discussion by sharing a little history regarding the fight for equal religious accommodation for Pagans in the California prison system and also express why I feel I am qualified to speak to this issue.

First let me provide a little background on my own qualifications and experiences with both the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and religious accommodation in corrections in general nationwide.

In 1981, after several years working in the California prison system, I became the Statewide Wiccan Chaplain for the California Department of Corrections for all 33 California correctional facilities. This was a position that was designated by the Director of the California Department of Corrections, Cal Terhune. At that time, there were no other Pagan chaplains at any correctional institution in the United States, and so I was breaking new ground. In California alone, I facilitated multiple religious prison programs, created dozens of Pagan prison libraries, traveled from institution to institution, and interacted with as many as 1,800 Pagan inmates. I also interacted with Wardens and senior administrators at the highest level at the CDCR headquarters. Later, I was drafted by the Colorado Department of Corrections to establish a Pagan religion program for that state. Over the years, I gradually became the Pagan religious advisor or helped establish Pagan religion programs for over twenty different correctional systems nationwide, and also became a volunteer Pagan Chaplain and Pagan religious advisor for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Over the last 15 years, I have served in multiple capacities in national correctional activities, including holding prominent positions

Patrick McCollum on the cover of Witches & Pagans.

in several of the foremost national correctional organizations. I currently serve as the Director of the National Correctional Chaplaincy Directors Association, one of the foremost training agencies on religious accommodation in US Prisons. The NCCDA is comprised of the highest level directors and administrators who oversee all correctional religious activities for their respective states. We currently have over 22 state’s systems represented. I am also a member of the Executive Council for the American Correctional Chaplains Association, the oldest and largest chaplain’s organization in the world with roughly 2,000 chaplain members. In addition to being on the Executive Council, I am also the Chair of the Minority Faiths Issues Committee for the ACCA. On another front, I serve as the Chaplaincy Liaison for the American Academy of Religion, the world’s largest academic body for religious studies, with over 10,000 members. I have also advised correctional administrators or been involved in correctional programs in three other countries. In 2009 I was selected by the United States Commission on Civil Rights as both an advisor and a panelist, to prepare a report for Congress and the President of the United States on religious discrimination in US prisons. Lastly, I was selected last year to author a special edition for the American Jails Magazine on religious accommodation in US jails, and am currently contracted to write the chapter on accommodating minority faiths in prisons for the American Correctional Association which represents all correctional facilities in 50 states. With all of that said, here are my thoughts and comments on the Religious Property Matrix for the California Department of Corrections.

Mr. Nichter addresses the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation’s (the CDCR’s) actions as though they are acting in good faith and making reasonable attempts to “standardize” religious practices to improve access to religious items for inmates. Nothing could be farther from the truth! In order to see what is really going on, one must step back and take a look at the history of the CDCR’s accommodation of minority faiths over the years, and the strategy that they have consistently used to thwart Pagan religious practices and minority faith practices in general.

In roughly 1979, over thirty years ago, Pagan inmates in the California Department of Corrections began asking to be treated equally and to have equal religious accommodation in California prisons as required by law. You see, while people who are incarcerated in the United States loose many of their constitutional rights when they go into prison, the law is very clear regarding their religious rights. All incarcerated persons no matter what their faiths, retain their religious rights in prison! That is … they retain the right to both practice their religion without coercion or discrimination from prison custody staff, prison administrators, prison chaplains, and the California government in general. Included in these constitutional protections, is the right for religious practices of all faiths to be treated and accommodated equally. Then on top of that, the federal court long ago added an additional twist to religious accommodation in prisons. The courts ruled that while in all other instances the government is constitutionally required to stay out of the business of religion, in prisons, they have a special duty to actually help facilitate religious practices for inmates, because inmates are institutionalized wards of the state and as such do not have free access to be able to facilitate their own practices or to obtain their own religious items or access to clergy. This gives the CDCR a special mandate to actually advocate for inmate’s religious needs.

Central California Women’s Facility (CCWF)

Instead of doing so when Pagans came forward and asked the CDCR for equal accommodations in California prisons, the CDCR took the official position that Wicca, Witchcraft, Druidry, Heathenism, and related beliefs, were evil and “against God and the Bible” and would not only not be accommodated in California prisons, but would be actively quashed. All Pagan books were officially labeled as pornographic or as security threats and our religious items were openly referred to as instruments of satanic practice or devil worship.

Around this time, a Wiccan inmate named William Rouser challenged the state’s position and took them to court in the Ninth Circuit federal court case Rouser vs White. Rouser asked the court to order the CDCR to comply with the Constitution and to make them provide him with at least basic services including a Wiccan Chaplain, scheduled Wiccan religious services, and access to his religious items. The CDCR fought Rouser tenaciously for years using the full power of the State to both intimidate and discourage him. They put him in solitary confinement and took many other actions to try to stop the practice of Paganism in California prisons. After around twelve years of litigation with the state denying Pagan religious services at every turn, the Martin Luther King Civil Rights Clinic at the University of California at Davis took Rouser’s case. When it became obvious that Rouser was going to win, the CDCR utilized a tactic that they have now become famous for … they offered to settle the case.

In the settlement, the CDCR agreed to allow Rouser several very basic religious artifacts, and to provide him with both access to a Wiccan Chaplain and at a minimum, access to participate in the eight Wiccan Sabbats. The court added to the settlement agreement that other inmates could also attend the Wiccan services, and that the services must be posted as a part of the regular chapel schedule.

I was recommended to serve as Rouser’s chaplain, and thus began my career in Pagan chaplaincy and as an advocate for Pagan prisoner’s rights.

Immediately and from the very beginning after the settlement, the CDCR proceeded to break every aspect of the settlement agreement. On one occasion where I reminded administrators from the California Department of Corrections that they were under a court order to provide these services, they responded, “You don’t see any federal judges here now, do you!” It was then that I first learned that the CDCR uses the tactic of settling minority religion cases in order to get them out of the direct overview of the courts, and then proceeds to violate the settlements knowing that it takes years for the inmate to get back into court. In Rouser’s case after he won the settlement, it took 15 years for him to actually get back into court to get the judge to make the CDCR comply, and they are already violating that second order! Rouser’s is not the only Pagan prisoner’s religion case with a similar story, there are many!

During the years that Rouser battled, many other inmates also litigated their rights with exactly the same results. During that time, in addition to helping CDCR administrators develop policies more in line with Federal mandates, I also went to work to fight for equal religious accommodation for all of our Pagan traditions, both in California and in many other states. I successfully won the rights for inmates to both practice and for them to possess many religious items. Each item in California was a battle with total opposition by the CDCR. In every case, there was no legal justification for the state’s position. There was no security threat or penalogical interests involved, just arbitrary denial with lots of conversations about how allowing Pagan religious items and practices in prisons was evil or immoral. Even so, we made progress, and over time we gained a number of rights already guaranteed by our Constitution.

Throughout this long process, the CDCR also utilized another tactic to minimize minority faith rights. This tact involved two fronts. First, they formed Religious Review Committees, both at the institutional and at the state level to review and approve or disapprove religious items. This was to give them legal cover in court so that they could say that they had not arbitrarily made the decision to deny religious items, but instead, that a qualified body of diverse religious experts had made the decision. The only problem was that the CDCR wouldn’t allow any representatives from the minority faiths to participate on the committees. In other words, they stacked the committees with members of the very faiths who had been fighting the advance of Pagan practice in prison to begin with. They had Rabbis and Protestant ministers, and Catholic Priests deciding what was appropriate and allowable for Pagans to have access to. The other and considerably more ominous tactic the CDCR used was to search for Pagans who would be willing to support the CDCR’s position, in exchange for money, recognition, or position. This has happened several times over the years, and when stepping back, was quite obvious to any informed onlooker. The CDCR has always had access to members of our community who are well known to be experts on Pagan practices to consult, but instead, the CDCR always searches out individuals who they can manipulate instead. They have also drafted so called experts on Paganism who are Christian ministers, to both testify against us and to determine what appropriate practices are for our community.

The CDCR has not stepped up in good conscience as Mr. Nichter has indicated; instead, they have actively and intentionally blocked all minority faith advances as much as possible for many years. They have neither conducted themselves with integrity or moral fortitude in the past, and they have done little to give us reason to believe that they can be trusted now!

In recent public documents and court testimony it has come to light that the CDCR has actively destroyed thousands of court ordered documents relating to discrimination toward Pagans, used coercion, committed perjury, and spent millions of taxpayer dollars fighting a religious war to quash Pagan faith practices.

In examining the Religious Property Matrix and its development, it is clear that no credible experts on Pagan practices were consulted, and the end result is the removal of many already established and approved religious items from Pagan inmates. Under the Religious Land Use and Institutional Persons Act, inmates are allowed any religious items that are not a safety and security risk to the institution. Since most of the items being taken away in the new Religious Matrix have been allowed for years without any safety or security issues, there is no credible argument that they have now all of the sudden become a problem. The Matrix also changed the term “Religious Artifacts” to “Religious Items”, a seemingly small and inconsequential distinction. But again, being educated as to the facts reveals that the devil is in the details. Religious Artifacts are protected items under law, requiring that staff handle them with respect and that a specific procedure must be followed to insure their safety. For example, they can only be inspected in the presence of the inmate, and a supervisor must be informed and sign off before they can be removed or destroyed. Religious Items on the other hand, can be summarily handled, removed or destroyed at any time by any staff member without consequence and with no recourse on the part of the inmate. This is a huge change in policy and definitely not designed to forward religious tolerance or accommodation.

Druids and Druid chaplains in prison.

There is a long history of California correctional staff disrespecting Pagan religious items. For years they have regularly destroyed them without reason, made jokes about them, or called them devil worship. The designation of Religious Artifact was instigated to protect against such actions. Now it is being taken away. No small act!

We as a community must take great care in publically supporting CDCR policy that takes away our rights as it makes it appear as though there is a justification for their actions. Also, if we do choose to speak up on behalf of our community, we must first have in hand documents authorizing us to do so. When I fought for the items that already have been approved in the CDCR, I received official letters of authorization and support from many Pagan traditions, leaders, and individual solitary practitioners nationwide. As a result, I have been able to speak on their behalf.

I closing I’d like to say that I respect Mr. Nichter’s work to help serve our prison community and I fully support his efforts to continue in that direction. I was his mentor in that regard. His efforts at Pantheacon this February to establish the new National Pagan Chaplains Association is commendable, and as soon as we get some members and time under our belt I believe we can become a credible organization. I also believe that Mr. Nichter’s family ties to the CDCR administration may help open doorways in the future that may have been more difficult in the past. We need more people like Joseph to step forward and learn the ropes in the prisons and we need more people to educate themselves more widely both about inmate’s religious rights and also the history of religion in corrections so we can make good decisions as a community going forward.

While it’s true that the Religious Property Matrix provides inmates with a list of items that they are supposed to be allowed access to, they already had legal access to those items before the Matrix came out and so it hasn’t changed anything in that regard. But in publishing the Matrix, the CDCR has cleverly taken away access to many other items that were also already approved, and that is the change that the Matrix is truly designed to make!

Just a few quick news items for you on this Sunday.

It looks like a very nice hotel.

You Really Don’t Want to Mess With Drunk Wiccans: At least, according to the police blotter in Kirkland, Washington you don’t. Quote: “Disturbance: 2:40 a.m., 200 block of Kirkland Ave. A 26-year-old woman was arrested after she walked into the Heathman Hotel intoxicated and out of control. The hotel manager reported the woman was speaking in a made-up language before  she grabbed the manager’s lapel and head-butted her. The woman broke vases, goblets and coffee cups before exiting from the  emergency exit, screaming profanities and that she was Wiccan in front of the hotel.” Was it really a “made-up” language, or was she speaking Enochian?!? Maybe this is an object lesson in careful drawing down technique.

This cake purchased from Gresham’s Sweet Cakes by Melissa bears an important message. – IMAGE: ronitphoto.com PHOTO VIA: Willamette Week

Let The Wiccans Eat Christian Cake: You know that bakery in Oregon that won’t make cakes for same-sex weddings because it violates their religious principles? It seems making cakes for Pagan ceremonies don’t violate their religious principles. Quote: “I was calling to get a quote on a cake for a midsummer solstice party. My coven is celebrating on Friday, June 21. The decoration would be very simple: just a green pentagram. We’d like to pick it up sometime that afternoon, before the bonfire. It’ll be for about 30 people. Sweet Cake says – ‘For 30 poeople we have a couple options… We have two kind of cakes you could have. About the diagram you want on the cake, I’m not sure how much extra that would be.’” So, I guess on the flowchart of sin being a Wiccan is less bad than getting gay married? At least in the world of cake. What if you’re a Pagan same-sex couple, could you get some cupcakes or something? Ah, homophobia masquerading as selectively enforced religious morality, you’re hilarious (not really).

Rev. Sarah Halverson

A Christian Says Some Nice Stuff: I’m a little over-dosed on Christian disapproval regarding my religious choices, aren’t you? So here’s the Rev. Sarah Halverson, a pastor at Fairview Community Church, responding to someone outraged that they were hosting an interfaith meeting with Wiccans in their church. Quote: “We believe that our faith cannot be destroyed by learning about the faith of another. And ultimately, we believe that God and Jesus call us to be open, loving and tolerant (if not affirming!). We also don’t believe we’ll go to hell because we have a Wiccan in our sanctuary and have a conversation about her faith.” Can I get an amen?

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Pagan voices is a spotlight on recent quotations from figures within the Pagan community. These voices may appear in the burgeoning Pagan media, or from a mainstream outlet, but all showcase our wisdom, thought processes, and evolution in the public eye. Is there a Pagan voice you’d like to see highlighted? Drop me a line with a link to the story, post, or audio.

Eli Effinger-Weintraub

“Even something as seemingly simple as asserting that we are a Goddess tradition is rife with pitfalls. Do we mean that we acknowledge Earth Itself as a divine living being, sexualized for convenience’s sake as feminine? Do we mean we draw our inspiration from a largely apocryphal but still-cherished dream of pre-Christian, matriarchal, goddess-worshipping cultures? Do we mean that we profess belief in The Goddess, or at least a goddess? Though many of us could answer “yes” to any or all of those questions in our personal beliefs and practices, others cannot. And as the PoU also states that we “balance individual autonomy with social responsibility,” each community Reclaiming community attempting to define its shared values and beliefs must ultimately decide whether the beliefs of the many outweigh the beliefs of the few–whether we should confine ourselves, in a statement of identity or list of shared values, to identities and values claimed by allmembers, or whether we are justified in listing attributes shared by most of our members.” - Eli Effinger-Weintraub, on trying to define her local Reclaiming community, at PaganSquare

Crystal Blanton

“While I am not a slave, my family members were. The intergenerational trauma created by Americanized slavery has crossed into behaviors and understandings that I am just now tapping in to. The way we are raised is very influenced by our history. Our customs and understanding of the world is often passed down effects of slavery and oppression that us modern day people don’t even know to connect to our history. We don’t know our history or our ancestry. I am learning it. I refuse to raise my children in a society that erases their historical and intergenerational trauma in order to “get along”. Knowing our history allows us to heal from the ways that slavery is still present in our lives. I don’t hate white people. I married one. Accepting my history does not turn me against anyone else. It is our truth. I shall embrace it.” – Crystal Blanton, on learning her history as an inclusive part of her spirituality, at Patheos.com

Damh the Bard

“Over the years I have also had a few magical names that I have only ever used within the privacy of my Druid Grove. These names changed as my life-flow changed. For instance, when I needed to feel freedom the Seagull came to me, and for a very difficult period of my life I took one of the names of the Gull as my magical name, as the bird taught me to fly free, to survive. When I had learnt that lesson the animal left me, and I gave up the name. Similar things have happened at other times, when I needed the energy of a particular animal/God to walk very closely with me. Taking a magical name has a deep and real effect on our lives. Some people scoff at some of the names people take within the Pagan community. I try not to. If somehow the Path has led a person to take the name Raven Morrighan (if a Raven Morrighan is reading this, I’m not referring to you by the way), so be it. Having lived with the subtle, and sometimes not so subtle, consequences of taking a magical name I just always hope that they have done their homework and deeply considered the name, before taking it as a mantle. Words and names are powerful things.” – Damh the Bard, on the importance of magical names, at the Bardic Blog.

Andras Corban-Arthen (left) in Guadalajara, Mexico.

“The measure of freedom lies in the ability to make choices; and whom we decide to love and share the rest of our lives with, is one of the most important choices we can ever make. In a truly free society, everyone should be able to make that choice equally, with equal rights and responsibilities – whether we choose someone of a different race or religion, or of the same sex; or whether we choose to share our lives with one other person, or with several. I am proud to live in Massachusetts, where same-sex marriages have been legal for almost a decade, the first state in the Union to take such a step. As I think of Ginny and Betsy, I can’t help but wonder if they stayed together living here throughout all these years. I’d like to imagine that they did, and that they stood in line at the courthouse in 2004 to be among the first to take advantage of the changed law, to finally legalize their marriage. And I’d like to imagine them now, two older women sitting close to each other on the couch at their home, tightly clasping their ring-bedecked hands while gazing fondly at the thin, multicolored cord hanging over their front door, the cord that we bound together forty years ago.” – Andras Corban-Arthen, on the freedom to make choices, and the freedom to love and marry who we choose, at EarthSpirit Voices.

Bress Nicnevin

“The Mjolnir speaks to a broader spectrum of Heathen and Norse faiths including Odinism.  Thor is the “working mans” god, and over the centuries has become the “free mans”  god.  The plight of Heathenism today is probably more on Thor’s shoulders than Odin’s in the modern age. Since the approval of the pentacle as a symbol of belief area Pagans have gathered at Ft. Snelling National Cemetery to honor Sgt. Jason Schumann and Specialist Daniel Schrankler as part of a Memorial Day observance.  Sgt. Schumann was the first soldier whose marker included a pentacle after the approval. With the approval of the Thor’s hammer we know how future Pagan symbols will be approved, at least under the current administration and Dept. of  Veterans Affairs leadership. The upcoming holiday is a reminder to honor our fallen soldiers for their sacrifices, and for relatives to know the desires for the marker image  for our aging and active duty veterans.” - Bress G. Nicneven, founder of Lodge Yggdrasill, on the Thor’s Hammer being added to the list of approved symbols for veteran’s graves and markers (PNC-Minnesota).

T. Thorn Coyle

“When I look to today’s thinkers, activists, creators to reflect the world back to me, so I can better understand it, I miss him. He is such a teacher for me, one whose lessons I will likely still be struggling to learn until I die. I watch him speaking. I read his words. His insight, his fierceness, his incredible grasp of context, and his deep intelligence are coupled with such a searing compassion that tears spring to my eyes. This combination of gifts is something I have to cobble together from a wide variety of sources otherwise. Baldwin had it all. Even in the midst of fiery anger, Baldwin sought to teach, to open, to connect. A greater spiritual teaching, a greater human teaching, I do not know. I miss Baldwin when world events turn tragic, when the country I reside in seems on a collision course with disastrous greed and alienation. I miss his voice. I miss his intellect. Most of all, I miss that deep compassion.” – T. Thorn Coyle, on missing American novelist and social critic James Baldwin.

Sam Webster (with Herm), photo by Tony Mierzwicki.

“Continuing up the scale, as we are, what of the planet? What does earth-centered mean? Don’t get me wrong: I live here and have a profound love for this Earth, and encourage the worship of this Divine Being who some name Gaia. But however important the Earth is to us, we must remember to look up and know how much bigger the Universe is, and how the Earth is dependent on the rest of that universe being out there for its existence. Just as every cell in our bodies is part of our organs, and those organs aggregate into our bodies, and we consciously experience ourselves as the unity thereof, so are we but ‘cells’ of the larger organism of our bio-region and that aggregates to the whole of our planet. It is well and worthy for us to render due worship to the living world in which we are embedded. But there is more. We can look up to our Star, giving us the energy on which our life depends, and that Sun is but one of billions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy, and itself one of billions of galaxies arrayed in vast structures, only now known but little understood by humans. Knowing this, do we not need to remember to look up and worship? And this vast collection of galaxies, and of who knows what else Out There, what of the All? The Whole? The Unity the arises from and gives rise to all This? Do we not also need to remember in our worship the All?” – Sam Webster, on nature worship, and if it’s enough, at PaganSquare.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

It was announced this week that Laura Janesdaughter, a Priestess of Isis in the Fellowship of Isis, Temple of Isis Los Angeles, and Long Beach WomanSpirit, died on May 27th due to complications related to cancer. In addition to her role as a Priestess within the Fellowship of Isis, Janesdaughter was a Flame Keeper of Brighid through Ord Brighideach, a Brighidine order engaging in devotional work to Brighid, and facilitated the Nephthys Work: Say My Name That I May Live in 2001 after 9/11. She is widely credited with bringing Isis worship to Los Angeles.

Laura Janesdaughter

“We have lost one of our great Priestesses, The Rt. Rev. Laura Janesdaughter. She had the gift of total integrity. She brought the goddess into her life and her work, and the lives of others. She brought Isis to Los Angeles. The rituals she led on the beach with Isis Pelagia were well known as were the meetings she led for the community. Laura Janesdaughter was no snob, she could mix with everybody. She stood up to injustice whenever she saw it with moral courage. She was a great friend. The Priestesses she taught are brilliant, and they could rely on her for truth and moral courage.” – Olivia Robertson, co-founder, Fellowship of Isis

Laura Janesdaughter was also a poet and editor, producing the ”Isis Papers,” an official publication of the Fellowship of Isis. When asked what one of her roles in the community was, she responded “it is to support women,” and Janesdaughter spent much of her time building infrastructure within the Fellowship of Isis and the broader Pagan community to realize her appointed mission; Co-founding the Star of Elen, the Circle of Pelagia, and creating resources like the Knot of Isis site.

“Laura Janesdaughter was a true priestesses. She was enormously generous and supportive of others. She genuinely served the Goddess community; locally, nationally and globally, and in putting on public events to bring knowledge of the goddesses to the wider LA area. Everything she did was from the heart and for the goddess. Laura Janesdaughter was refreshingly un-showy. Laura was an Anglophile, and she came to Britain often, to support our Fellowship of Isis goddesses events.She was at home in London, she would usually be the one giving me directions to places in my home town!” – Caroline Wise, co-founder Star of Elen, Fellowship of Isis

“Years ago when Laura and I were discussing our future retirements from paid work, she told me she wanted to make sure she had created something that would last before she retired and moved away. She never did move away and she worked long past retirement age in order to reach that goal. But Laura brought Isis to Los Angeles, and the community that she inspired is strong and healthy and, I believe, will last.” – Wendy Griffin, Cherry Hill Seminary

“In my experience, Laura demonstrated responsibility and reliability, exuded good cheer and dedication to Isis, and took care of business with care and no drama. Her loss leaves a tear in the multicolored tapestry of the Los Angeles goddess community. Knowing Laura has enriched my life and I, too, will mourn her now and will remember her at every Samhaintide. ‘In love may she return again.’” – M. Macha Nightmare

A memorial service is being planned for October, the month that Laura Janesdaughter was ordained as a Priestess of Isis in the Fellowship of Isis (October 27, 1993) and the Temple of Isis (October 12, 1996). Currently, the plans for the service are to take place at the UU Church in Long Beach, CA. May she rest in the arms of her goddess. What is remembered, lives.