UNITED STATES — On this day each year, the U.S. honors Martin Luther King Jr. Public schools, government offices, and many businesses are closed in order to recognize his work and sacrifice, as well as the staggering influence that his message has had on American society. Many Pagans, Heathens and polytheists across the country participate in local activities, both small and large, and privately in ritual to recognize Dr. King and his influence.
After a contentious presidential election cycle, this year’s day of honor has found itself at the helm of what promises to be an interesting and tense political week, culminating in inauguration day. While there have been celebrations and parades throughout the country focused specifically on King and his legacy, much of this year’s political energy and focus is on the coming week, as the U.S. is poised for a political shift with unknown consequences.
Some Pagans, Heathens, and polytheists, hailing from all walks of life, are preparing to participate in the week’s schedule of marches, actions, and other activities specific to their political and social concerns. These events include the past weekend’s rallies to save ACA, the Women’s March on Washington, and the reported large number of inauguration protests.
While none of these actions are directly related to Martin Luther King’s own powerful work in social justice, they all originate from the same spirit – one of speaking up or out against perceived injustices, and working toward radical social change. Since his death, King’s message has been distilled down and come to permeate American culture in an iconic way. Its meaning now exceeds the focused goals of his particular decade and inspires a new generation of Americans to action bringing renewed vitality and forward momentum to his work. In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
I am cognizant of the interrelatedness of all communities and states. I cannot sit idly by in Atlanta and not be concerned about what happens in Birmingham. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial “outside agitator” idea. Anyone who lives inside the United States can never be considered an outsider anywhere within its bounds. – Dr. Martin Luther King, a Letter from Birmingham Jail
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MONTREAL — On Jan. 11, T. Scarlet Jory, co-founder of Crescent Moon School of Magic and Paganism, announced that The Rectory would be closing down as of February 2017. “This past Friday, January 6, 2017, we were given notice that we will need to leave our stay at the Rectory, due to some very awful miscommunications that led to a lot of anger on the part of the Anglican Diocese of Montreal.”
On Jan 5., TWH reported on a story about the birth of The Rectory, a new facility serving the Montreal Pagan community. According to the founders, Robyn and T. Scarlet Jory, the space was imagined as a place of inclusivity for a very diverse Pagan world, as a well as a proponent of interfaith community support. They had a successful soft opening in the fall, and were preparing for the full launch in January. What happened?
The trouble began after the TWH article was published and members of the greater Anglican community alerted the Diocese to the activities going on in the church. The Diocese and the church were under the impression that the space was being rented for a tutoring program, and neither organization knew of The Rectory founders’ full plans. After the Diocese learned about the scope of programming through internet reports, it immediately contacted the Reverend, who then called Robyn and Jory. In response, the two women asked us to temporarily remove our article in order to allow them to ascertain what exactly was happening. We agreed to do so based on the information we had, but the story was already public. Within hours, the founders had to remove all references to The Rectory in social media, as well as take down the new Rectory website.
In her Jan. 11 announcement Jory states that, after consideration, the Diocese asked them to leave, but it was not the church’s decision. Jory added, “We would like to be clear that the matter of our leaving is not a case of Christians vs Pagans. It is a matter of human error. […]. Rather than fight to stay where we are not welcome, we would like to move forward peacefully, with dignity, and respect for our present hosts who have been perfectly lovely with us to this point.” Robyn agreed, saying that they are not blaming anyone for what has happened and that they are trying to just move forward.
Our article is available again, and we are currently in touch with the founders to learn more specifically where and how the communication broke down, as well as where the two women are going from here. Tomorrow, we’ll bring you their candid responses and what they have learned from this incident.
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UNITED KINGDOM — The BBC and the Guardian are reporting that King Arthur Pendragon has gotten a court date for his Stonehenge cause. As we reported in June 2016, King Arthur, an English Druid and activist, has been fighting “against English Heritage’s introduction of a car park charge of £15 (roughly 21 USD) at the summer solstice.” The solstice ritual is one of the most popular for Pagans, and he calls this new levy a “pay to pray” tax.
“English Heritage make money off Stonehenge for 360 days a year. They receive 1.3 million visitors per year and charge them approximately £20 each per entry,” he told TWH in that June interview. King Arthur believes that they shouldn’t need to ask for more money on worship days such as the solstice, “when only Pagan communities are given access.”
According to The Guardian, King Arthur “has petitioned the court to revoke all fees, citing articles nine, 10, 11 and 14 of the European convention on human rights.” He will reportedly now receive a hearing in small claims court.
King Arthur was unavailable for comment in time for publication, but we are in touch with him and will have more on the story as the court case unfolds.
In Other News
- The Washington D.C.-based Firefly House continues its planning for the Witches contingent at the Women’s March on Washington Saturday, Jan. 21. The group is reportedly meeting at the “great waterfall in front of the Museum of the American Indian” at 10am. Through its Facebook event page, it is sharing data on what to bring and not bring to the march, as well as planning for other side activities.
- As we reported last May, blogger John Halstead was arrested with 40 other people at at “Break Free” protest in Indiana. After eight months, his court hearing was finally held Friday, and the judge agreed to dismiss the case if the protesters “commit no criminal offenses” over the next 6 months. We will have more on this story in the coming week.
- A new survey has been launched to “explore women’s experiences at the crossroads of Pagan or Goddess Spirituality and American homeschooling motherhood.” Survey creator Kate Brunner explains “This research will be used for a published essay in a forthcoming Demeter Press project.” The survey can be taken either anonymously or not.
- The Conference for Current Pagan Studies is less than two weeks away. In its 14th year, the academic-based indoor Pagan conference takes place in Claremont, California, and its 2017 theme is “Visions of our Future.” Author Ivo Dominguez Jr. and anthropologist Amy Hale are this year’s featured speakers. The conference is held over two days, Jan 28-29, at Claremont Graduate University.
- For our readers in the U.K, the Children of Artemis (CoA) will be hosting the first ever moot for Pagans living in the mid-Sussex. In Canada, the U.K. and other parts of the world, moots are popular ways of bringing Pagans and Heathens together socially. They are not quite as regular in the U.S., outside of some American Heathen communities. The new CoA Mid Sussex moot will be held at the Beechwood Hall Hotel on Feb. 2.
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Finally something forthcoming about the Rectory story. Simply yanking it down with no explanation was really not a solid or professional editorial decision. It’s not the job of a news organization to run interference for the subjects of their stories. It’s your job to explain what’s actually going on. When stories are simply “disappeared” like that, it makes readers wonder what else you’re not reporting and why. What does it say about Pagan media when I had to get the real story from Christian sources (a Montreal Diocese blogger)? Pulling down a story not only doesn’t do the issue and reader justice, it’s completely futile in today’s world. Everything is cached or archived somewhere, and it’s guaranteed that somewhere online, people will be talking about the story. The conversation continued, just without the benefit of any credible Pagan voices.
The Rectory’s problems are neither the responsibility nor the fault of the Wild Hunt. They were the result of decisions by organizer who were to put it charitably, extremely naive about their situation. They were either not forthcoming with church officials about their plans or, (I think more likely), the local church leadership was not in touch with their own community and hierarchy and perhaps hoped to blow it by them. Recall that the gist of the arrangement was that the local church official’s posture was basically “we’re totally cool with you guys, just don’t do ritual outside where someone might see you.”
What is most disconcerting to me is that the Rectory folks still believe, or at least want us to believe, that this has nothing to do with religion and was just some sort of glitch in diplomatic protocol.
“We would like to be clear that the matter of our leaving is not a case of Christians vs Pagans…”
Of course it is. The backlash from the Diocese, the wider Anglican community, and I’m sure some number of local church members came BECAUSE YOU ARE PAGAN and proposed to host actual Pagan activities in their space. This next criticism is by no means aimed solely or even primarily at the Rectory.
There seems to be an almost pathological need in the Pagan community to believe in interfaith relations at all costs. The core piece of this doctrine holds that Pagans and liberal Christian denominations are theologically compatible twins separated at birth who long to reunite. This has never been true, it’s not true today, and it’s not going to come true next week or next year because we wish it to be so. The fact that we might share the same views on socially progressive politics or that we might meet some Christians who seem awfully nice in person does not make Christianity our “ally’.
I agree with kenofken.
When one news story goes “poof” while every other story stays up, the first reaction is “What are they hiding? And WHY?”
I can understand deleting abusive comments (although not disruptive ones), but the stories should stay. If circumstances change, by all means put in an addendum explaining what changed and why. Even a replacement page saying something like “story pulled” would be better, although certainly not ideal.
There’s less than a handful of actual pagan news sites. Even fewer publish regularly. There is value here, but only if TWH doesn’t abuse the trust it’s been gven.
I feel that kenofken has addressed the politics of this particular story so I am not going to comment on that.
In response to the decision to pull the story temporarily, I appreciate the criticism offered, and agree with many of the points. We *do not* pull stories as a matter of policy. And, as editor, I apologize to the readership for the confusion in this particular matter.
However, with that said, there is precedent in today’s mainstream media for stories to be removed under extenuating circumstances. At the same time, TWH is not msm. We do not have their level of operating resources and staffing, and we also have to take into account special considerations with regard to the communities that we serve. We do the best we can with what we have, and take all parts of our job very seriously, including working as transparently as possible.
The decision to remove the story was not made lightly, and was made based on limited and critical information that we had at the time with the absolute intent of bringing you the full story once we could adequately clear up the reported misinformation.