Pagan Community Notes: Dallas’ Diversity Day, Witch’s Athame, Academy of Arcana and more

Texas Local Council’s (TXLC) Diversity Day was a success for the organization and people involved. In mid-November, the Dallas TX-based local council for Covenant of the Goddess sponsored a Diversity Day to confront and discuss social privilege and to bring greater awareness to “the challenges and struggles of others.”

The event, called “We Can Make a Difference,” was held at the Arlington Unitarian Universalist Church on Nov 14. Doctor Beth Fawcett, PhD, MPH led “participants through a powerful exercise known as a Privilege Walk,” followed by an extended community discussion. TXLC organizers explained, “[Dr. Fawcett specializes in race and ethnicity courses and walked the attendees through a series of questions designed to show, in a very physical way, how we go through our lives with or without ‘Privilege’ even when we are unaware of it.”

The event was also a fundraiser for the nonprofit organization Black Trans Men. TXLC reports that they raised over $525.00. Representatives of this organization also toured the UU church and participated in some of the activities.

Faelind, an attendee and member of TXLC, said, “It was nice to be out of the chilly weather, and our hearts were warmed and overflowed with compassion for our fellow humans’ struggles and injustices. There were tears and laughter and much, much healing. I felt honored to witness and hear the stories, feelings, and questions posed by all.”

TXLC reports that Dr. Fawcett has volunteered to continue sharing the privilege walk concept with Covenant of the Goddess at a local and national level.

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On Jan 8, Jason Mankey’s book, The Witch’s Athame, will be released and available for purchase. Mankey is the current Patheos Pagan Channel Manager and runs the popular blog Raise the Horns. The Witch’s Athame is Mankey’s first venture into book writing, and it is part of larger series of books, each written by a different author, exploring the tools of the Witch.

As described by publisher Llewellyn, “[The Witch’s Athame] takes a deeper look into the significance of what Gerald Gardner described as the ‘true Witch’s weapon.’ For the new Witch this book goes through all the steps in finding just the right athame, consecrating it, and then using it in ritual. For the experienced practitioner the book serves as a thorough history of the athame; tracing the use of ceremonial knives from ancient times to the grimoire tradition of the Renaissance and finally to the modern day.”

To celebrate the release, Mankey will be hosting a book signing at 1 p.m. Leigh’s Favorite Books in Sunnyvale, California. In the Facebook event announcement, he writes, “This is just a big day in my life and I want to celebrate it with as many people as possible.”

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The MGZ Memorial Foundation’s Academy of Arcana continues to make progress in its growth development. On Nov 27, its gift store, called Curiosities, opened to guests at its new address 428A Front Street in Santa Cruz, California. Several days later, Oberon Zell and Anne Duther were both interviewed by the Santa Cruz Sentinel about the store’s opening. The article begins, “The term “magical” may most often be heard in reference to the county’s redwood forests and ocean views, but it also applies to downtown’s newest storefront, the Academy of Arcana.”

Duther and Zell have also said that the library will be open by the end of this month, and that they will begin programming in 2016. As noted on the GoFundMe site, “In January we’ll begin offering ‘Sunday Sessions’ with classes, presentations and salons, ‘Crafts & Arts’ on Friday afternoons, and Wednesday night magickal movies from our extensive DVD collection.”

The Academy of Arcana is a nonprofit organization under the Grey School of Wizardry. For more information on the specific location, hours and updated programming, visit the organization’s website.

In Other News:

• If you missed the news in our 2015 Retrospective, the United Religions Initiative (URI) was asked to be part of a special CBS Christmas Eve interfaith event. Several Pagans, including Don Frew and Rachel Watcher, are active participants and organizers within this global, grassroots organization. They were both involved with production, providing footage, interviews and information. Although there were only small mentions of “Earth Spirituality” in the final cut, URI reportedly received a boost in visibility, which will only make their work easier going forward. Footage not used by CBS, including that provided by various Pagans, will be saved for future URI films and videos.

• According to Iceland Magazine, Ásatrú High Priest Hilmar Örn Hilmarsson led his organization’s traditional Winter Solstice ceremony, or blot, “in the Öskjuhlíð hill recreational area, the small forested hill just south-east of downtown Reykjavík.” This is the planned spot for the organization’s future temple. The article goes on to say that, over the past year, the Ásatrú organization has had to ban visitors to their blots due to the media attention generated by the temple plans. Hilmar told the magazine, “Foreign visitors, who had in previous years been like ‘flies on the wall’ had begun to turn into somewhat of a nuisance this year, turning into ‘flies swarming in the food’.” The temple is scheduled to be erected in 2016.
• For a bit of holiday fun, look who’s on Buzz Feed. Arthur Lipp-Bonewits, the son of Isaac Bonewits and Deborah Lipp, was invited to the media outlet’s offices to predict what a few people would get for Christmas. After a very typical Buzz Feed presentation of several readings, the articles says, “Although Arthur may not have been able to predict what the gifts will literally be, we think his predictions of how they’ll have an emotional impact on us were much more interesting.”
• As is typical at this time of year, public discussions emerge on the Pagan origins and symbolism found in the Christmas holiday. On Dec 21, the BBC took on this topic with the help of “Ronald Hutton, professor of History at Bristol University; JJ Middleway, a celebrant and ritualist based in the Druid tradition; and the reverend Steve Hollinghurst, a Church of England vicar and author of New Age Paganism and Christian Mission“
• And, lastly here is another mainstream media outlet exploring Paganism. Sky News published the following video, with explanatory titles, to demonstrate what a Pagan Ceremony might look like.

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