The Satanic Temple continues its fight for religious liberty on multiple fronts

The Satanic Temple (TST), based in Salem, is well known for its ongoing actions to enforce religious freedom laws and regulations. As is explained on its site, TST is “a religious organization with deeply held beliefs that engages in political activism in the realm of separation of church and state.” That mission has earned them multiple headlines since September, with several coming to a head only in past last two weeks. Baphomet tree topper stolen
SAN JOSE, Calif. — The Baphomet-head tree topper found on the the Satantic Temple’s (TST) holiday display at San Jose’s Christmas in the park was stolen in late November.

Unleash the Hounds (link roundup)

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

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Just one day after PantheaCon closed its doors the 2017 conference, the city in which its hosted was devastated by unexpected and historic flooding. The L.A. Times called it “the worst flooding to hit Silicon Valley in a century.” In the weeks prior to PantheaCon, the area was hit with heavy rains, eventually causing the local reservoir to overflow and sending excess water into a creek that runs through the city.

Culture and Community: Countdown to PantheaCon

For many people January symbolizes the start of one of the busiest times of the year. It is the start of the New Year, post holiday detox time, and a time for goal setting and planning. It is also during this month that PantheaCon preparation kicks into high gear for many people, and the count down to the mid-February convention begins. PantheaCon, a Pan-Pagan convention, consistently draws between 2,000 and 3,000 participants a year to San Jose, California for four days of non-stop magic, music, shopping and fun. It is at this time we see fundraising requests for hospitality suites, Facebook invites for workshops, and an increasing number of updates from the PantheaCon staff as the date gets closer.

Honor for the unhoused in San Jose

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Last month saw the second annual memorial to people who had died homeless in this city, located 42mi southeast of San Francisco. Among the participants in this interfaith event was Rowan Fairgrove from Covenant of the Goddess. She agreed to share more about the event and her work in this area with The Wild Hunt. According to the 2015 Point-in-Time Count for Santa Clara County, there were 6,556 people without homes there in January of that year, which is the month that these counts are performed throughout the Unites States.

What is PantheaCon?

SAN JOSE – This past weekend, close to 3000 Pagans, Heathens, Polytheists and others of diverse religious beliefs descended on Double Tree Hotel in San Jose, California to attend the annual PantheaCon event. This is the largest indoor conference of its kind in the United States. Held over President’s weekend in mid-February, PantheaCon boasts “more than 200 presentations that range from rituals to workshops and from classes to concerts.” While PantheaCon is very popular and attracts an international following, there are far more people who do not know what it is, don’t care to attend, or do not have the time and means to attend. As observed by Jason Mankey in his post “Pagan Festivals and the .25%,” the number of people who actually attend PantheaCon and other community-based large events is relatively small compared to the number of Pagans and Heathens in world.