Living

Column: Peregrinautika, or Learning to Love Legislators

By |

Pagan Perspectives

For any pet owner, having a beloved companion get lost or simply disappear is a worst-case scenario for that relationship. To many Pagans and polytheists, those relationships can take on spiritual or magical significance, making the pain of such a loss cut even deeper. In those cases where the animal’s fate is never discovered, questions and guilt can linger for years. This is the tale of an heroic cat, one whose fate would have been untold but for the gods. I: The Mists of Myrlyn
Myrlyn was a scrappy and strong cat, the sort of cat who thoroughly enjoyed human care and comfort but could easily slip into the wild, never to return.

News

Anatomy of a failure: the Piedmont Pagan Pride collapse

By |

CHARLOTTE, N.C. –There was a bustling Pagan Pride Day event in the Piedmont region of the Tar Heel state since early this century. It eventually came to be called Piedmont Pagan Pride Day in reference to the name given to the central region of the state. Now, the organizational structure has been dissolved, a lot of money is missing, and there are many people seeking to understand what went wrong and find a way to heal and move forward. To that end several involved  have agreed to mediation, but it’s unclear when that might occur, or how the service will be paid for when it does. The disrupting impact of child porn
While no one has suggested that Druid Scott Holbrook is directly tied to the eventual bankruptcy and dissolution of Piedmont Pagan Pride, his fate is inextricably tied to the events that unfolded later.

Editorial

Editorial: a Pagan Perspective on the American Flag

By |

UNITED STATES –Today is July 4, which is celebrated as Independence Day in the U.S. It’s characterized by parades, fireworks displays, family cookouts, and widespread displays of regalia in red, white, and blue, evocative of or centered on the American flag. There may be no other flag which is as widely revered and reviled as the one representing the United States of America. It’s a flag with unparalleled ritual significance; the complex rules for its display are enumerated in a flag code, within which are also laid out strategies for its desecration. The flag is the country, and for many that means that its display is indicative of support for the country’s present leadership. “I won’t hang the flag, because I’m not proud of what’s happening in this country,” one Witch recently remarked in conversation.

News

Pagan community center planned for “Paganistan”

By |

MINNEAPOLIS –The Twin Cities — sometimes called “Paganistan” by Pagan residents — host a large enough number of Pagans that one local group is hoping to create a community center to serve their diverse needs. The Leanaí Na Déithe community center would be a space for classes and rituals, as well as services for the broader community such as a food bank. Center president Arcadian Barrett spoke about the plans, as well as how others might support it. While the center is still in the formative stages, Barrett said, with board members working on legal and tax paperwork, there is a space they have their eye on: a suite at 1200 Nicolette Mall, on the corner of 12th Street. It’s on a corner with high pedestrian traffic which they feel would suit a community center well.

Paganism

Facebook promotion of WitchsFest USA blocked

By |

NEW YORK –WitchsFest USA has been held each summer for the better part of a decade on Astor Place, but this is the first time the event has been deemed “spam” on Facebook, or at least the first time that a flag has impacted promotional efforts for the day-long street fair. According to co-founder Starr RavenHawk, posts touting the event have been widely removed as spam, and she herself has been subject to filtering that prevents her from even using the word “witch” on the social media site. All seemed well the morning of June 18, RavenHawk recalled, but when she got home at the end of the day she discovered a number of automated messages in her Facebook account. “All the posts, videos, and event pages had been removed as spam,” she said. Moreover, the same thing happened when those posts were shared by presenters, vendors, and others seeking to encourage attendance.