Pagan Community Notes: Many Gods West, Rev. Patrick McCollum, Tents for Ferguson, and much more!

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. Our 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!

Many Gods West FB Photo

Last week it was announced, via Facebook, that a new Polytheist conference was being planned for the summer of 2015. Today, organizers launched the official website for Many Gods Westwhich will include “three days of presentations, workshops, panels and rituals.” The keynote speaker is Morpheus Ravenna of Coru Cathubodua.

The website details the conference’s goal and purpose. In a statement of inclusion, organizers say, in part, “Many Gods West is intended as a safe, welcoming, and convivial forum for polytheists to share knowledge, practices, rituals, and other learning experiences with each other.”  The event will be held from Jul. 31 to Aug. 2, 2015 at the Governor Hotel in downtown Olympia, Washington.

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[Courtesy Photo]

Last week, Rev. Patrick McCollum co-facilitated a meeting with U.S. state and federal officials to discuss “discrimination against minorities and minority faiths by government.” Held in conjunction with the American Academy of Religions, the meeting was the 11th annual event of its kind, and Rev. McCollum said, “It is unanimously agreed that the meetings and associated training have directly changed governmental policy across the country and have greatly widened the opportunity for the practice of minority faiths in prisons, veterans institutions, and mental health facilities to name a few.”

At this year’s meeting, the U.S. Military approached meeting facilitators about setting up a new chaplain program, to be launched in 2015, based on Rev. McCollum’s work in prison ministry. In response, Rev. McCollum said, “When I first conceived of this idea, it seemed like an impossible task. One which could never come to be. But with a clear objective, committed partners, and a refusal to give up, we have pulled it off.” The Wild Hunt will continue to track this story as the program is put into place.

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T. Thorn Coyle and Gae Sidhe of Brennos of the Coru Cathubodua. Picture courtesy of Gae Sidhe

T. Thorn Coyle and Brennos of the Coru Cathubodua Priesthood [Credit: G. Sidhe]

Since last Monday’s Ferguson Grand Jury decision, protests have stretched out across the country, reaching communities of all kinds, including Pagan and Heathen. These protests have manifested in many forms both in real life and in the digital world, and continue on today and, most likely, well beyond.

However, prior to last week’s announcement, there were Pagans and Heathens already involved in supporting the Ferguson community. Several weeks ago, a local organizer sent out a tweet asking if anyone would be willing to donate tents “to be used to keep peaceful protesters warm.” Led by T. Thorn Coyle, a group of Bay Area Pagans took up the call and raised enough funds to purchase and ship two 10 X 20 tents with sidewalls. Coyle said, “Glenn Turner of Ancient Ways and Pantheacon, Ryan Smith of Heathens United Against Racism, Yeshe Rabbit of CAYA Coven, Crystal Blanton, Jonathan Korman of Solar Cross Temple, and Rhett Aultmun all donated to make this happen … I pray that love, equity, and justice will prevail.”

In Other News:

  • Many individual Pagans and Pagan organizations have already indicated that they will be attending next year’s Parliament of World Religions in Salt Lake City. For those that haven’t purchased tickets, the Council just announced an extension of the “super saver” pricing. The discount is extended through Dec. 10.
  • Photographer Richard Mann has posted photos of Reclaiming’s 35th annual Spiral Dance held on Nov. 1, 2014 at the Kezar Pavilion in San Francisco. The organization’s own site has more information about the event, the organization its history, and feedback on this year’s festivities. Please note that all photos published on Mann’s site are under copyright (C) 2014 Richard Man.
  • Israeli Ph.D. candidate Shai Feraro published an article on his blog called “Wicca and the Israel Connection.” In this short essay, he draws connections between Wicca’s beginnings to the sacred lands in the middle east. He says, “…while modern-day Israel occupies virtually no place (or at least none of importance) in the mind of most Contemporary Pagans worldwide, some early British Wiccans and other figures which influenced the Wiccan movement spent considerable periods of time in the region.”
  • Popular band Tuatha Dea announced this week that member Tesea Dawson would be leaving. Lead singer Danny Mullikin wrote, “Since our inception, [Tesea] has been a constant driving and create force but she has admirably decided that it is time to put all her energies into raising her two incredible children.” Dawson will be making her final public appearance with the band Dec. 20, during a Tuatha Dea “musical party at the place it all started -The Fox and Parrot in Gatlinburg Tennessee.”  The band invites its fans to come out and celebrate with them.
  • Over the past week, a number of Pagan and Heathen sites published gift guides, including The Wild Hunt. In response to ours, Of Thespiae posted one specifically geared at Polytheists. Raise the Horns posted one called “Pagan Things Made for Pagans by Pagans,” and here is another one from The Serpent’s Labyrinth. As the season goes on, more of these gift lists will popup to awe and inspire.

That’s it for now. Have a nice day.


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10 thoughts on “Pagan Community Notes: Many Gods West, Rev. Patrick McCollum, Tents for Ferguson, and much more!

  1. Hi – quick note, you have an error in the photo caption for the protest photo. The person pictured who is marching with Thorn Coyle in that photo is Brennos, of the Coru Cathubodua Priesthood. Not “Gae Sidhe”.

  2. Someone gotta make a meme out of that Mc Collum pic (had to wear a suit – left solcae hom or something like that). He looks soooo pissed to have to wear a suit !

      • What is that shield again? I’m not that knowledgeable about certain aspects of pop cultures. Is that a Marvel thing?

        • Yes. There’s a character called Agent Coulson who is usually seen in a suit. He’s a major character in the first Avengers movie and in a current TV series.

          • Okay, I thought it was something like that. I’m really far from all of this Super-Hero craze…the last movie of this kind I saw was Spider man 2 (the spider man 2 before the current spider man 2. The one that was released before the current spider man 1…..okay I will stop now…)

  3. I am not affiliated in any way with the “Many Gods West” gathering, but I am seriously considering having this (from their website) tatooed on my forehead:

    “Although Polytheist and Animist beliefs have been the primary mode of
    relating to the world and its inhabitants for thousands of years, the
    Western world is only now seeing a resurgence of these ancient and
    indigenous forms. Destruction of ancestral traditions, displacements of
    peoples, Monotheism and Imperialism have all contributed to this, as
    well as what many have called the ‘Disenchantment’ of the world.

    “But not all traditions were lost, nor were these beliefs every truly
    subjugated. Indigenous peoples in Africa and the Americas never fully
    succumbed, and in other lands, the belief and reverence of gods,
    spirits, and ancestors have continued unabated. Hinduism remains the
    dominant religion in India–the second most populous country in the
    world, while Shinto continues to be the dominant practice in Japan.

    “In ‘the West,’ revived interest in ancestral practices and the
    influence of the Occult and ‘Pagan’ movements in Europe during the
    1700’s and further have led many of us to reconnect to those ancient
    ways and discover, to our delight, the gods never went away.

    “While academics and theologians are finally beginning to take notice
    of polytheistic practice, we haven’t waited for their attention.
    Reconstructionist- Druid-, Heathen-, and many Witch-traditions–among
    others–have been worshiping the gods-thought-lost, and sometimes
    discovering new ones.

    “Meanwhile, African Diasporic Traditions and Indigenous Animist groups
    have helped the ‘Disenchanted West’ reconnect to their own lost
    threads, moving beyond the consumeristic approach of appropriating
    others’ beliefs in order to fill a modern void.

    “Many Gods West is meant to be a celebration of all these traditions,
    those newly-reconstructed and those continuously-practiced. There are
    many gods in the world, and many peoples worshiping them.”