WASHINGTON – The first major event casualty of the Omicron variant and 2022 is the rescheduling for the third time of Sacred Space and Between the Worlds conference. The joint conference originally scheduled for April 2020 was first shifted to April of 2021, and then late January of 2022. Now due to the increasing numbers of the latest covid wave, the conference has once again been shifted to April 6 – 9, 2023.
CONFERENCE RESCHEDULE / SACRED SPACE BETWEEN THE WORLDS
It is with a heavy heart that we are postponing the Sacred Space / Between the Worlds Conference in light of Omicron.
Our boards have consistently held that the well-being of our attendees and our teachers is of paramount importance. While the vaccines and boosters are giving good protection against the worst outcomes, not everyone can be vaccinated and we are in the midst of a significant surge that is overwhelming our hospitals.
As Pagans, we recognize that we have sacred responsibilities of care for all those with whom we live and cannot risk hosting a potential super-spreader event.
Our NEW CONFERENCE DATE WILL BE 4/6/2023-4/9/2023 at the Delta Hunt Valley Hotel. This is the same hotel, we are not changing venues.
We will automatically roll registrations over. For our refund policies and to keep up with our rescheduled conference, please follow us on social media and visit our websites:
As of today, daily new infections of covid are numbering over 404,000, and daily deaths at 1,350 according to Johns Hopkins University data that uses a 7-day moving average, any large event has the potential to greatly further the spread.
TWH will report on the plans of other events as we learn of them.
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UK police officers – Image credit: Pixabay
LONDON, England – Government law enforcement officials in the United Kingdom have tapped Pagan police officers to help address the growing number of right-wing extremists who have co-opted Pagan religious iconography. According to a report by U.K. paper, The Times, the Police Pagan Association (PPA) has collaborated with the U.K.’s Home Office, law enforcement, and counter-terrorism forces to use its expertise in identifying threats and train officers.
The PPA has been instrumental in training officers to identify and differentiate between law-abiding Pagans and those extremists who have co-opted symbols like the Mjolnir, a variety of elder Futhark runes, and the sacred tree, Yggdrasil in ways that have nothing to do with modern Paganism or Heathenry.
The founding member of the PPA, Sergeant Andy Pardy said, “Right-wing extremist groups promote the ideology, symbolism and skewed interpretation of the historic writings to support their agendas, often attracting those seeking genuine paganism who recognise the familiar signs and symbols, as well as those looking for a platform to espouse their hatred and intolerance.”
Pardy went on to say, “Part of my job is to assist the agencies in assisting the former and prosecuting the latter by helping them contextualise them by providing information on clothing brands, bands, venues, books and events that, when found alongside these symbols, may then be indicative of right-wing affiliation.”
According to MI5 director-general, Ken McCallum far-right terrorism is growing in Britain and about a third of the terrorism plots they have prevented were linked to such groups and ideology.
Identifying and disrupting right-wing extremist groups is difficult and slow work. Pardy said, “whenever you shut down a forum, another pops up. If you disrupt an organisation, they rebrand and regroup.”
Pardy stated, “My intention is to make it an uncomfortable territory for them so pagans are not afraid to express their faith or wear symbols of the faith for fear of persecution or misdirected reprisals.”
The PPA was formed in 2009 and has around 200 members enrolled. The most recent census taken in the U.K. reflected over 50,000 citizens identifying as Pagan. Paganism is considered to be one of the fastest-growing religions within the country.
Rev. Paul V. Beyerl – September 2, 1945 – December 30, 2021
The Rev. Paul Beyerl, a Wiccan Priest, founded The Tradition of Lothloriën and established The Rowan Tree Church in the 1970s in Minnesota, which incorporated as a nonprofit and became a Wiccan church in 1980.
Beyerl was a Master Herbalist and is perhaps best known for the books he penned on herbalism, The Master Book of Herbalism (1984), and A Compendium of Herbal Magick (1998). Beyerl wrote at least nine other books that ranged in topic from the Wiccan religion to astrology and tarot and gemstones to his most recent On Death and Dying (2014). His book A Wiccan Bardo, Revisited (1999) provided an overview the Lothloriën tradition he created and in his own words, “…reflects my love of the religious life I live daily.”
He was also the creator of The Unicorn which is one of the longest-running Wiccan newsletters. Beyerl first began publishing The Unicorn in 1977 and in 2019 contemplated ending its publication but instead chose to combine it with The Rowan Tree News and The Hermit’s Lantern and make it available for a digital subscription for no cost.
Beyerl and his life partner, Rev. Gerry Beyerl, established The Hermit’s Grove in 1994 as a separate nonprofit organization that encompassed a publishing house, the Master Herbalist Program, and other educational offerings not directly connected to mystery teachings of The Rowan Tree Church. In 2011 Hermit’s Grove was merged with The Rowan Tree Church and became its educational division.
In 1999, Beyerl established the “Prisoner Outreach Program” which provides educational materials for those incarcerated who want to learn about and embrace the teachings of The Rowan Tree Church and upon release become active and supportive members.
Beyerl was much loved as is evidenced by the number of posts memorializing his passing across social media.
The Rowan Tree & Hermit’s Grove Community Facebook page noted that there would be a private memorial service for Beyerl but a public service had not yet been scheduled but details would be forthcoming via their Facebook page.
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Rose May Dance aka Gweneth Dietrich – 1948 – 2021
Born in Ohio, Rose May Dance aka Gweneth Dietrich relocated to the Bay area in the 1970s. She held a B.A. in Humanities, worked as a Counseling Coordinator at Urban Health Study in San Francisco, and was one of the early proponents of the Harm Reduction Movement that worked with both active and recovering injection drug users.
Dietrich helped to found the Prevention Point Needle Exchange, as well as working to train and counsel those who worked in street outreach and counseling. She used her skills and experience to help develop methods for countering and addressing burnout among counselors and healers.
She went on to become a Clinical Hypnotherapist, certified by the American Council Of Hypnotist Examiners, operating both her own private practice and practicing clinical hypnotherapy at Harborside Health Center.
In 1980 she became part of the Reclaiming Collective and is considered one of the founding Mothers of the Reclaiming movement. She helped to develop and teach the Witch Camps, as well as creating hundreds of rituals, many songs, chants, and liturgies.
She also had a long history of social and political activism. Many of the remembrances to her spoke of personal experiences that came from being involved in non-violent protests at nuclear power plants, against the Iraq war and many other causes. As one commenter noted, “She protested as an act of faith.”
The outpouring of love and appreciation for her considerable dedication, skill in her professions, and the guidance she offered reflects the breadth of the impact of her life’s work.
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The last week of December we lost some legendary giants in the world, both within the Pagan Community and outside of it. Among those outside of our community were Desmond Tutu, John Madden, and, Betty White. All were powerful icons reflecting different facets of the world we live in–religion, sports, and entertainment.
May they all rest in power and peace.
What is remembered, lives!
In other news:
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- On December 29 in Denver, Alicia Cardenas, Alyssa Gunn Maldonado, and her husband, James Maldonado were shot at Sol Tribe Tattoo & Body Piercing. Cardenas and Alyssa Gunn Maldonado were both pronounced dead at the scene, and James Maldonado was hospitalized. Cardenas who owned Sol Tribe was Indigenous and promoted and encouraged other Indigenous artists in the area. Cardenas was remembered by her community as being an activist and powerful anchor for the neighborhood her tattoo shop was in and was much loved. Her father Alfredo Cardenas told The Denver Post that his daughter,”… was greatly involved in the Mezo (Mesoamerican) traditions and dances. She was part of the community — drummers, dancers, ceremonies. She was well-loved. She was a real go-getter, a real dynamo, a leader. She kind of set the pace for upscale tattoo shops. She was respected by the tattoo community and other communities.” The shooter, Lyndon James McLeod murdered three other people and left two others injured. McLeod writing under a penname expressed a variety of extremist ideologies and had published a book that used the names of several of the victims and even some of the locations where he committed the murders. McLeod was shot and killed by Lakewood police agent, Ashley Ferris after McLeod refused her command to put down his gun and shot her in the abdomen. According to reports, he had been on law enforcement’s radar since 2020.
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- The new director of the National Park Service (NPS), Charles F. “Chuck” Sams III who was sworn in last month has a lot of plans for how he intends to improve federal lands. Sams is an enrolled member of the Cayuse and Walla Walla with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and will serve as the first Native American to lead the NPS. Using the funds made available by the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law, Sams intends to address the backlog of infrastructure projects like the repairs of bridges and roads in America’s parks and recreational areas. He also plans to increase staffing to meet the increase in demand as visitors to national parks has increased by at least 20% during the pandemic. Additionally, he wants to make sure that people who may not have access or even be aware of what the park system offers in the way of education and recreation consider visiting and engender a sense of good stewardship in visitors. Part of Sams’ plan is also to look at various parks from a local perspective and tailor plans to accommodate those local needs with the needs of visitors in a way that works for everyone to protect the parks and communities near them without unduly restricting access.
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- The Danum Museum in Doncaster, England has a new exhibit titled, “Changing the Record.” The new exhibit, which is not confined to one area but instead found throughout the museum is focused on highlighting the history that too often has fallen through the cracks. A new generation of volunteer historians has set upon a mission to make sure that museum historical records include the stories of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people who until only recently have either been marginalized or completely missing in their contributions. Some of the discoveries that the “Changing the Record” team have uncovered are the contributions of the Black community which stretches much farther back than most are aware, a better and clearer picture of the history of “witchcraft,” and even the love relationship between Alfred Wainwright and artist Otto Jübermann and how each additional story adds more texture to South Yorkshire history.
Dictionary.com offered up a fun predictive gif as a way to personalize and define the incoming year.
Screenshot to find out which word will describe your 2022. pic.twitter.com/Z20ciCCzJW
— Dictionary.com (@Dictionarycom) January 1, 2022
Tarot of the week by Star Bustamonte
Deck: Ask The Witch Tarot, edited by Francesca Matteoni, illustrations by Simone Pace, published by Weiser Books (advance copy of this deck was generously provided by Weiser Books.)Card: Ace of Wands
The week ahead may offer opportunities that engage the imagination in ways that may be helpful for navigating a way forward. Creative energies are likely to be bountiful and provide fuel for nurturing the fire ignited by a vital spark.
Conversely, a lack of focus and goals can result in feeling adrift, and low energy. The potential of giving one’s power away by default could be problematic.
Most decks are generously provided by Asheville Pagan Supply.
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