Archives For The Wild Hunt

Meeting the Pagans

Stacey Lawless —  February 14, 2013 — 8 Comments

Yesterday I had lunch with a friend whom I hadn’t seen in four years. She moved up north for a while and we fell out of touch, so when she moved back we had some catching up to do. The last time we’d seen each other, I was calling myself Heathen and thought that I might become a Freyrswoman. Needless to say, I had to explain that my spiritual journey had covered some ground since then. The strange thing was, as we talked, I realized that it felt like far longer than four years since I last lifted a horn in blót – even though I never lost contact with my local Heathens, and attended a blót as a guest only a few months ago. I also told my friend about getting ready for PantheaCon, and the contrast between how I felt about PCON and how I felt about my own Pagan past gave me some food for thought.

The road to PantheaCon opened for me in December, just a few weeks after my rayamiento. My Tata (Palo godfather) announced that he was going to be on a panel about minority religions and the media (“Setting the Record Straight: Pagans and the Press”), and checking the schedule, I saw that Jason Pitzl-Waters was also on that panel. I wound up getting into an online conversation with Jason about PCON that left me thinking I just had to try to go. Crowds aren’t my favorite, but I was thrilled about the Giant Pagan Event, plus I had the sense that here was a door that I had to try to get through. When my boyfriend agreed that yes, we should go, I was stunned (he’s so much more of a hermit than I am). We bought the various necessary tickets and made the plans and I’ve been thoroughly excited since . . .

But the funny thing is, I can’t quite figure out why I’m excited. I mean, it’s great to be stepping out, finally, into the wider world of Pagandom, meeting people, experiencing different traditions, and delighting in the gathering of the tribes. I find it very ironic, though, that I’m entering this world not as a Pagan, but as a Palera. For whatever reasons of destiny or personal quirks, I never found an expression of Paganism that resonated well with me, or provided a good vessel for my hopes, fears, personal growth or spiritual yearnings. I confess I got rather frustrated with the search, too, and there were more than a few times when I was tempted to write the whole thing off. And apparently the process left a few scars, because I realized the other day that although my identity is still oriented towards Paganism, in a general way, I think of you guys as “you guys” and not “us.”

This is an uncomfortable thing to write, not least because I’m writing it here on The Wild Hunt. The flip side, though, is that I am writing about it on The Wild Hunt, at the same time I’m talking about heading out to PantheaCon. Clearly, those scars don’t run all that deep. And I suppose this could mean that I’m going to PCON to find out why I’m going to PCON – that this is the part of my journey where I get to discover what Pagan things are like outside of my little corner of the Southeast.

There are definitely worse quests to undertake. And I do have some concrete goals and desires for PantheaCon which will keep me busy. There’s the glorious opportunity for networking, for example. I think Pagans and the African Traditional Religions are, or at least should be, natural allies in the contentious religious environment of the U.S., and I hope I can accomplish a little work to that end, even if it’s just swapping a few email addresses. Given that I’m going to meet the redoubtable Wild Hunt-ers in person, I anticipate this will be pretty fun and effective.

I want to see how the other ATR practitioners on the schedule present our religions. And, speaking of events on the schedule, I’m hoping to learn more about how different Pagan groups are doing Ancestor veneration and spirit-work. (Healing the dead, and healing with the aid of the dead, are old interests of mine that I now have the tools to pursue in earnest – and I may be on the verge of becoming something of an evangelist for Ancestor veneration. But that is definitely a topic for another post.) The Circle of Bones ritual, in particular, looks intriguing.

I’m completely stoked about the fact that I’m finally going to be able to meet friends in person who I’ve only ever known online. Also, this is the big opportunity to introduce my boyfriend to my Tata and some of the other folks in my Palo community, which is a small triumph considering we can’t afford to travel to the West Coast very often. And, of course, there’s that  one panel I simply must attend . . .

Roads opening, doors to walk through, quests to undertake. That does sound kind of Pagan, doesn’t it? I’ll be making notes on the journey, and will no doubt write about the adventures when I return. If you’re going to be at PantheaCon too, look for me – my hair’s not blue anymore but is still spiky, and you can’t miss the spiral tattoo on my neck. Come on over and tell me your story. I’m here for the gathering of tribes, after all, and I do want to meet you.

 

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Fall Fund Drive Update: 25%!

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  October 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

I wanted to give a quick update, and say thank you to everyone who has already donated to The Wild Hunt’s inaugural Fall Fund Drive. Thanks to all of you, we’ve raised 25% of our $6000 goal in one day! This makes me very optimistic about not only reaching our goal before the deadline, but surpassing it. Thanks to everyone who has unleashed a link, become a Fall Funder, or decided to become an underwriter of The Wild Hunt, your commitment to Pagan news is what make this possible. If you’ve already donated, please spread the word on to your social networks, and lets end this drive early!

Fall fund large

http://www.indiegogo.com/the-wild-hunt-fall-funding

If you haven’t donated yet, don’t worry, we’ll be here tomorrow! Thanks again, you keep my faith in the idea of Pagan community alive.

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Unleashing an New, Independent, Wild Hunt!

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  October 16, 2012 — 39 Comments

Though I’ve written thousands of posts for The Wild Hunt, I couldn’t help but feel a certain sense of excitement writing today’s. Not just because I’ve been away for over a week, but because this is the first post of a newly independent Wild Hunt. A Wild Hunt that, while maintaining many of the things you’ve grown to love about our site, will also see a number of changes. The first will be that The Wild Hunt is no longer a solo venture. I am proud to welcome two new writer/reporters who will be making regular contributions each month here at this site: Rynn Fox and Heather Greene (Miraselena). Both have excellent resumes and backgrounds, and I’m excited about not only for what they’ll bring to you as readers, but also what they’ll allow me to do: spend more time writing and researching original journalism for the Pagan community.

In addition, The Wild Hunt is standing on principle, and will not only be paying our two new reporters, but will also be paying all contributors to the site from this point forward. I’ve seen a troubling trend within our culture to expect content and excellent reporting to happen without support from the community the writers are serving. While there is amazing free content out there, and many, many, talented writers who are doing this for the love of it, I feel there needs to be a space where this work is nurtured, supported, and paid for. From guest posts by top-notch writers like Eric Scott, a contributing editor at Killing The Buddha, to the contemplative writings of Teo Bishop, or the latest breaking story from a Pagan Newswire Collective bureau. So with my first post of the newly independent Wild Hunt, let me announce our annual Fall Funding Drive.

Fall fund large

http://www.indiegogo.com/the-wild-hunt-fall-funding

Over the next month I’m hoping to raise $6000 to not only cover costs here, but to use that money to turn The Wild Hunt into an enterprise that pushes this site to a different level, one that sustains, trains, and propagates excellence in Pagan journalism, analysis, and commentary. Head over to the official IndieGoGo site for a full explanation of what the money will be used for, the various perks of becoming a Wild Hunt funder, and why your donation is so important. So spread the word, and if can, please contribute!

Now, having said all that, it’s been a while since we’ve unleashed those hounds, hasn’t it? Let’s take a look at some stories that have been percolating while I’ve been away.

That’s all I have for now, but expect much more in the days and weeks (and hopefully years) to come! Thanks to all of you for your support, and I hope you’ll spread the word about our Fall Funding Drive and consider donating to help us achieve our goals!

Thanks to Valerie Herron for allowing me the use of her lovely “Cernunnos” illustration for The Wild Hunt.

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The Wild Hunt is Leaving Patheos

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  October 6, 2012 — 153 Comments

Last night I gave my contractually obligated 60 days notice to Patheos, informing them that I would be leaving their site. This decision has come after a lot of soul-searching about the future of The Wild Hunt, and what it should be to our community. While Patheos has certainly grown into a powerful hub for religious expressions and news, I also think their goals and my goals differ in some important ways. I have come to the conclusion that becoming independent again is the best course of action.

I could give you a laundry list of the little things that contributed to my decision to leave, but it would simply re-litigate the matter publicly, something that I don’t want to do. Suffice to say that I believe Patheos places the growth and survival of Patheos first, and while I can’t blame them for having that view, it has often made me feel as if I were simply a page-view generating cog in their drive to become a profitable venture. This drive to constantly increase page views has, in my opinion, led Patheos to make some partnerships and decisions that I find questionable. So rather than become a silent endorser of their system I’ve decided it’s better to go before my name is associated forever with them.

I would like to apologize to the bloggers and writers who I helped Patheos recruit, and who may now feel mixed emotions at my leaving. I can only say that I expressed my opinion of Patheos to them as I experienced it at the time, and that this experience has changed for me. No doubt many will still feel quite happy and comfortable at Patheos, and I am glad for it. I have no desire to poison the well here, as I think religion journalism and religion writing needs powerful advocates. Whatever my personal moral qualms, I have no expectation that everyone else should share them.

So having said all that, please bookmark my old address:

www.wildhunt.org

For the moment it will simply redirect to The Wild Hunt at Patheos, but it will eventually house a re-launched Wild Hunt with new features, additional contributors, and zero ads endorsing Mormonism or Liberty University. When this transition happens will very much depend on negotiations happening behind the scenes with Patheos now. They could make me wait a full 60 days before I’m allowed to be independent again, but I hope they’ll release me earlier and allow me to start working.

There’s a lot for me to do, including finding alternate modes of funding The Wild Hunt, but for now let me thank each and every one of you for sticking with me, reading my work, engaging in intelligent and thought-provoking commentary, and helping to tackle serious issues that affect our interconnected communities. It is my hope that you’ll follow me once again back to being an independent media outlet, and that you’ll be as supportive and generous as you’ve all been in the past.

My blessings to you on this day, you’ll hear from me soon!

Jason Pitzl-Waters, The Wild Hunt

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What Do I Believe Anyway?

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  September 8, 2012 — 144 Comments

“I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn’t even know that I’m alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck.” – Neil Gaiman, “American Gods”

From time to time, due to the popularity of my blog, folks have been given to speculating on what my stance or agenda is given a certain political, social, or theological topic. For various reasons, I have tried, or more accurately, learned, to keep the personal stuff as close to the vest as possible. Partially because I write about people I disagree with all the time (though I personally like many of those I disagree with), and partially because I want the focus to be on “us,” rather than on me. I don’t always succeed in this, because I’m human and fallible, and sometimes because my hesitancy to get involved will do more to convince someone of my partisan nature than any action.

Lately there’s been a debate over, well, I guess you could call it a debate between those who believe praxis (practice) is primary in Paganism, above even belief in the deities invoked, and those who believe that practice is meaningless without that belief. I inadvertently became enmeshed in this debate when I featured a guest post by Brendan Myers on Humanistic Paganism. Many took this post to be an insult towards the intelligence of Pagans who believe in the reality of gods and powers, and a wide-ranging debate took place across the Pagan blogosphere on the topic of the “atheist question.” For a number of reasons, mostly due to me wrestling with burnout and being busy with my other job, I didn’t document or follow this discussion at The Wild Hunt. This led some, perhaps understandably, to think I was a partisan in this matter. That I favored an agnostic/atheistic view of Paganism over a more devotional model.

So let me set the record as straight I can, without engaging in troublesome over-sharing.

This debate has been bringing to my mind  Neil Gaiman’s novel “American Gods,” because the entire work is a treatise on belief disguised as an action-adventure story featuring various gods and powers. At different points several key characters give their view on what is important regarding belief, from the “let’s give everything a shot” monologue of the character Sam, quoted above, to the following quote from Wednesday, which no doubt warms the cockles of reconstructionist and devotional-minded Pagans everywhere.

“And tell me, as a pagan, who do you worship?’ ’Worship?’ ’That’s right. I imagine you must have a pretty wide open field. So to whom do you set up your household altar? To whom do you bow down? To whom do you pray to at dawn and at dusk?’ ’The female principle. It’s an empowerment thing. You know.’ ’Indeed. And this female principle of yours. Does she have a name?’ ’She’s the goddess within us all. She doesn’t need a name.’ ’Ah,’ said Wednesday, with a wide monkey grin, ‘so do you hold mighty bacchanals in her honour? Do you drink blood wine under the full moon, while scarlet candles burn in silver candle holders? Do you step naked into the seafoam, chanting ecstatically to your nameless goddess while the waves lick at your legs, lapping your thighs like the tongues of a thousand leopards?’”

Wednesday is making the point that her “belief,” being nameless and formless, is meaningless to the old gods who cling to existence in the novel. That she isn’t worshiping anything at all, aside from herself. It’s a quote I’ve seen trotted out many times over the years, usually to critique eclectic practitioners, fence-sitting agnostics, and “fluffy-bunnies” of various stripes. It says, practice is meaningless without a devotional focus, without a god or goddess to benefit from your sacrifice. Of course, Gaiman gives plenty of time to the humanistic side, if you want to call it that. Often pointing out just how dangerous belief can be when not corralled and given limits. In fact, you could argue that the underlying message of “American Gods” is that America is “a poor place for gods.”

In any case, what I believe.

I guess I inhabit the mushy middle of this debate. There are days where I believe in the existence of discrete spiritual entities that many of us call “gods” or “powers” or “mysterious ones,” and there are days where I think Jung had the right idea about archetypes and the collective unconscious. I believe that artists, musicians, poets, and storytellers are far more vital than priests and clergy, and that religion is a by-product of art, not the other way around.

“It is the artist’s responsibility to be the oracle, to abstract where you are – that is our responsibility – we’re not there to look glamorous, you know? We’re there to tune into the frequency of the Earth and the connective tissues of those things that we are responding to – language, colour, costume, literature, poetry, cuisine, perfume – these are the things that make up the desire to throw paint on a canvas, these are the things that create the excitement for building a new language!” - Lisa Gerrard, Dead Can Dance

I believe the construct we call “modern Paganism,” that colossal egregore with which we hope to change the course of the world, is far more reliant on art than on either devotion or practice. I also think I’m incredibly biased on that score since my identity was wrapped up in being an artist for the bulk of my adult life (but I still think I’m correct, despite being aware of this bias). I believe people like Morpheus Ravenna or Thorn Coyle, who express far more intimate dealings with the divine that I could ever  claim, are awesome, powerful, and needful no matter what the ultimate reality of the powers they interact with. I believe that our community, if you want to call it that, is at a turning point in where we go next and that’s why these debates seem so intense right now. I believe that when I chant to two very different powers at the same time, I get travel luck, and I believe that I am thanking them for that service when I leave offerings at the crossroads.

“We are more than we think, and that is not the puffed up shell of an out of balance ego. We are more than we think because we are limited by what our very imaginations will allow. Can we stretch the realm of possibility today? Can we risk becoming more?” – T. Thorn Coyle

I believe that my highest service to these powers is being done by writing The Wild Hunt every day. I also believe that this is true even if all the gods are a lie, and we are simply co-creating a new paradigm of reality with nothing but our mortal selves. That the enterprise, and what we Pagans collectively do, is important no matter how we choose to be a part of it. That’s what I believe at this moment. This is who I am right now.

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Labor Day Weekend + Links

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  September 1, 2012 — 4 Comments

In honor of Labor Day Weekend, The Wild Hunt is taking off until Tuesday. Expect some “best of The Wild Hunt” reprints on Sunday and Monday. For today, here are some posts from across the Pagan blogosphere that you should check out.

  • “Mantras, Malas and the Witch’s Ladder” by Christopher Penczak. Quote: “If you keep any kind of regular spiritual practice over a long period of time, you’ll find that you can hit a wall. The tried and true technique just doesn’t do it for you like it once did. In my experience its not so much that the technique is at fault, or that you are at fault, as you’ve been sincerely using it as a part of your practice with regular frequency, but that you’ve hit a plateau or even made a permanent shift.”
  • “Where are the Missing Gods?” by Drew Jacob. Quote: “Even if you believe all the gods are totally individual beings – not faces of a single force – it still makes sense that, for example, the soul of the sun is going to appear quite different to people in the Sahara than to people in the Yukon. Much of divine personage is human trappings, or trappings used to communicate with humans. If a tribe never once has to worry about lack of rainfall, it makes sense that they won’t make a big deal out of the rain spirit. But I usually think of the plurality of gods (and their cultural adornment) as different perspectives on an essentially equivalent set of beings.”
  • “Pagans Among Wild Geese” by Teo Bishop. Quote: “Progressive Christian and Pagan communities have very different identities, and very different positions in relationship to mainstream culture. That said, I think it is useful for us to make note that these conversations are taking place at Wild Goose.”
  • “Rites of Community” by Ivo Dominguez Jr. Quote: “To return to my statement that rites of passage are an important part of the maintenance of lasting organizations and communities, well conducted rites of passage create weighty collective emotional memory. By definition, rites of passage are held to celebrate and to anchor pivotal times in the lives of individuals. And though Pagans are prone to emphasizing the individual at all costs, rites of passage are as much about the community as they are about the individual.”
  • “Stirring the Cauldron” by M. Macha NightMare. Quote: “I think the stirrer of the cauldron performs an important, even vital, role.  Someone, preferably more than one, in every community should step up to the cauldron and stir it now and then, especially when the fire beneath the cauldron gets too hot.”
  • “Book review: Lord of Mountains” by Cara Schulz. Quote: “Every time I introduce a Pagan to the Emberverse series by SM Stirling, they curse my name. This is not an unusual reaction and it’s one shared by non-Pagans, too.  I’ve lost seven copies of the first book in the series, Dies the Fire, because the persons who borrowed them from me lent them out to others.  And so on.  Then they all curse my name for turning them on to such an addictive series.  The series is addictive to Pagans because it spells out one of our fantasies – what would it be like if our religions were dominate in the community we live in?  Or at least one of the dominate religions? If our rituals, our ethics, our Gods were unabashedly the norm and seen as positive and vibrant and diverse.”

That’s it for now, have a great weekend everyone!

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The Power and Responsibility of Movement Journalism

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  August 12, 2012 — 45 Comments

For the past few days I’ve been considering how best to cover a controversy within a local Pagan community. This situation, I felt, did and does have repercussions for our movement as a whole, and has drawn opinions from national figures on what the best response would be. However, every time I’ve started to write the piece, I have hesitated. There is news here, but I also know that by holding up my magnifying glass to it I could inflame and re-litigate a situation that seems to have come to some sort of uneasy resolution. There is the very real possibility that my reporting, instead of adding more light, would just add more heat.

A journalism word cloud.

If I’m being honest, concerns of this nature have not stopped me in the past, though I have always held on to certain personal thresholds that must be met before I gave a local or internal matter a national/international platform.  Generally that threshold was when the parties involved in a local story, or an internal matter, made it public of their own accord, or involved figures within the Pagan movement who are known as teachers or leaders beyond their local stomping grounds. Today, however, almost everything is in the public eye, almost every local group has a Facebook page or official blog that can be read by anyone who cares to pay attention. Our movement, which once so valued its secrecy, has become transparent to an amazing degree in the last ten years. This has caused a number of smaller controversies to erupt on a larger scale, but it has also gained us better communication, more accountability, and more ecumenicism within the Pagan world.

While The Wild Hunt is today just one Pagan blog among thousands, it is still one of the very few that focuses almost exclusively on reporting community-driven news, and as such has been given a weight, and a responsibility, that makes me question the value and role of every post I write. I constantly ask myself what the effects of my media megaphone will have on a situation, and tried to error on the side of caution, but I know that not everyone has been happy with the way I’ve written or reported on every situation. An internal balance is struck on a regular basis between the needs of our movement, the needs of local communities, and what I believe the role of a movement journalist is.

Movement journalism, or advocacy journalism, is not unbiased. I’ve said time and time again that this outlet has a “pro-Pagan” slant and is unembarrassed about that fact. I know that this choice often eliminates me from the milieu of ”mainstream” journalism, but I also feel that mainstream journalism has its own shortcomings, especially when it comes to reporting on minority religions. A movement journalist gives its community what he or she feels we need to collectively know, and does so from an internal position, one that helps shape narratives that may later be picked up by mainstream reporters. We often act as filters, giving outsiders a curated glimpse into the achievements, and yes, controversies, of our communities. We don’t ignore bad news, or embarrassing situations, as longtime readers of this blog will attest, but we are mindful of how we present that information.

I have seen members of our community act differently when they knew The Wild Hunt was paying attention, giving more attention to producing official statements and press releases, preparing themselves for closer scrutiny. Often I try to reach out to, and work with, leaders and activists to prepare them for the sudden influx of attention. Indeed, I am regularly contacted by small groups who want me to profile their situation, hoping that I will drive support towards their initiatives or problems. Sadly, some have also seen my blog as a way to score points against, or promote gossip about, one figure or another. My relative centrality in the world of Pagan news means that many have tried to manipulate my coverage for their own ends. These, I believe, are all normal challenges to any movement journalist. Since we are a part of the thing we report on, we will always be pushed and pulled by those who interpret our responsibilities differently.

Over the years I have refused to write about a situation, even though I knew it would garner “hits” and page-views for my blog. Situations where I felt that drawing more attention would not improve our community in any way, or call some sector of our movement into account. I feel that all Pagan journalists need to remain ever mindful of the power they possess, and how each story they write about will reverberate beyond the story. We will each have to decide what our ethical pole-star is, as there is no Pagan journalism “pope” (thank goodness), but I hope each of us will wrestle with what is the most responsible way forward in every story we write. As someone who is trying to grow journalism within modern Paganism, I hope that we each see this role as a sacred trust that is used to strengthen and hold each other accountable, and that when we falter we are willing to own that failure and move forward in integrity.

As for the story I’m currently not writing about, I still don’t know if I’ll write about it, or how I’ll write about it if I choose to. I think it needs more time out of my spotlight so I can see how best to use my voice in a way that is helpful to all involved. I hope that all of us remain mindful of our power, and know that sometimes what we don’t write about can sometimes be as important as what we do write about. I hope all of us make decisions every day that are mindful of how we can grow and improve.

My blessings to all of you.

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A Day to Reflect

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  July 7, 2012 — 24 Comments

I won’t be actively blogging today, as I’m taking a personal day for my birthday. I’ve often thought that birthdays, at least once you bypass the “piles of toys” stage of life, are a perfect time to take stock, reflect on the year past, look toward the year to come, and spend time with dear friends. So that’s what I’ll be doing.

Living in Eugene, Oregon, one of my favorite spots to reflect is from the top of Spencer Butte, a place I often hike to (weather permitting). Here’s a photo I took a couple months ago, of the view from the summit.

I’d like to take this moment to thank all of you, for reading, supporting my efforts here, and participating in making today’s Pagan media the dynamic, enriching, experience it often is. Doing The Wild Hunt has been a true privilege, one I hope to continue for many years to come. I bow to all of you.

If you are looking for news, or a good Sunday read, let me recommend a few stopping points:

You may also want to check the excellent Pagan blogs and podcasts linked in my sidebar.

Again, thanks for reading, I’ll be back on Monday.

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The Blog Post About How There’s No Blog Post Today

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  April 14, 2012 — 11 Comments

Patheos (the official host of this blog) is making a grand shift in its design, and The Wild Hunt is scheduled to undergo “conversion” today (I’m sure it’s nowhere near as sinister as that sounds). As such, I’ve been advised to not make any sudden moves or write posts that I would like to see preserved for the long term. So, there’s no formal blog post today.

That said, here’s a few quick links you might want to check out today.

That’s it for now, have a great day, and see you tomorrow with a new-ish look!

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Funding Pagan Journalism One Event at a Time (Let’s Start With Chicago)

Jason Pitzl-Waters —  March 21, 2012 — 17 Comments

We live in an unparalleled and historic time for the evolution and growth of Pagan-oriented media, and the development of journalism within our interconnected communities. In the span of a decade we’ve gone from counting notable self-identified Pagan journalists on one hand, to watching the evolution of a grass-roots Pagan newswire project, and the emergence of a vibrant and unprecedented interview culture thanks to podcasts and Internet radio. I’ve been truly blessed, through The Wild Hunt, to be a participant, booster, and  direct beneficiary of this phenomenon. I’ve been an ardent evangelizer for the power of new media within our community, and I’m always looking for new ways Pagan journalists and media professionals can do their work in a sustainable manner.

Over the years, I’ve often been asked if I can cover a certain event, or if I’ll be attending a festival or conference. While I wish the answer could always be “yes,” I’ve often been limited in what I could afford to do. While Patheos does pay me something for writing here, it amounts to hundreds of dollars per month, and (sadly) not the high end of “hundreds.” Simply put, I don’t even make minimum wage writing and reporting for the Pagan community on a daily basis.  I don’t say this to garner sympathy, but to just plainly state what the fiscal realities are of the current job I perform. Most of the events I cover in person have been possible because the organizers have covered my expenses, or else I sprung for the costs myself. Because of this, whenever an event is too far away, I usually can’t go, and instead hope that others will do first-hand accounts that I can build from.

http://www.indiegogo.com/thewildhunt-AAR

http://www.indiegogo.com/thewildhunt-AAR

So, starting today, I’m beginning a new experiment in “crowdfunding” Pagan journalism. I’m going to start launching small campaigns through Indiegogo to raise travel and living expenses for events that I feel are important for me to cover in person. If the event gets funded, then I go. If it doesn’t, I won’t. My first campaign is to raise funds for the American Academy of Religion’s 2012 Annual Meeting in Chicago. The AAR is the world’s largest association of academics who research or teach topics related to religion, and their annual meeting has become a vital place to hear about the latest scholarship in the field of Pagan Studies (and just about every other religious and philosophical tradition as well). In 2011, my trip to the AAR’s Annual Meeting in San Francisco allowed me to share a talk by Starhawk on elemental theology, and explore Paganism’s solitary, eclectic, future. Not to mention the many connections and sources I was able to meet firsthand.

All of these campaigns will be relatively small-dollar in scope, usually 1-2 thousand dollars for each trip. The amount raised will only cover travel, food, and lodging. Any savings I make due to alternate living/eating/travel arrangements will be forwarded to the next campaign.  I will also take suggestions on events that I should cover and open the idea up to comment here at The Wild Hunt. Should I go to the Esoteric Book Conference in Seattle? Paganicon in Minnesota? What about an event in England? Make your voices heard, and if there’s enough demand, we’ll try to fund them one at a time. Ultimately, I would like to build this up and work towards funding a trip to the 2014 Parliament of the World’s Religions in Belgium.

See the campaign, and donate, here.

All trips that are successfully crowdfunded will come with expectations on what I will deliver. Daily reports, yes, but also exclusive audio interviews that I will make freely available for any Pagan media outlet to use, and groundwork for larger, more in depth, stories. Ideally, this project will not only give you more on-the-ground journalism at events that are important to us, but create a model for other Pagans to try as well. If I succeed, it means it can succeed for others like me. In the end, it will mean a richer, more robust, Pagan journalism. I hope you’ll join me in this quest, spread the word, donate what you can, and help me in continuing to push the barriers of Pagan media.

In Paganism, Religion, The Wild Hunt , , , , ,
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