CHICAGO — Despite torrential rain, (GCPP) convened in a new location this year, just after the Autumn Equinox. A Midwestern institution for well over a decade, GCPP has grown from an initial 100 attendees to a flourishing festival with dozens of vendors, teachers, and nearly 1,000 members of the public coming together to share in community and learn about Paganism and magic.
Photo Credit: S. Ciotti
While attendance has taken a hit since COVID-19 and the loss of its long-time venue due to a local ordinance banning religious gatherings in public parks, GCPP made a triumphant return this year under the theme “Sonus Magicae: Let Your Voice Be Heard.”
Williams, a long-time member of GCPP’s organizing board, served as lead organizer for the third year. He shared his deep admiration for the principles of Pagan Pride as the motivation behind his leadership.
“I have long admired the principles of educating the greater community and providing a time and place for local Pagans to network and gather. Every year, I meet new people—both inside and outside the Pagan community—who are intrigued and inspired by the workshops, entertainers, and artisans we bring together.”
Williams described the current board’s persistence in overcoming challenges posed by the pandemic and the loss of their venue. Finding an affordable and spacious replacement within Chicago city limits took time and effort.
“My short-term goal,” Williams explained, “is to rebuild the event’s attendance back to pre-pandemic levels—over a thousand people and more than 80 vendors. I’m also hoping to foster stronger relationships with the city of Chicago and its various entities.
“I feel like I should say something about creating a deeper sense of community within the Greater Chicagoland area,” he continued, “but the truth is I can’t control that. What I can control is the execution of the event and creating a safe enough space for people to connect and establish meaningful bonds.”
Judging by my interview with Rev. Laura González, Williams and the GCPP board are succeeding in their mission.
González, who led the opening procession for the Parliament of World Religions 2023—a global event also held in the Chicago area—is an Indigenous Mexican woman dedicated to teaching the traditions of the Mexica people (pronounced ‘Meh-shee-kuh’ in Nahua languages) and Pagan arts, such as tarot reading.
González has been attending Greater Chicagoland Pagan Pride since 2011 and began teaching and offering tarot readings upon discovering the event.
“I’ve been teaching about the Day of the Dead for 39 years,” she said. “Since I was 12 years old. That’s one of the topics I’ve taught at Pagan Pride in the past. Now I’m teaching a series of online classes about Decolonizing the Goddess, educating people on authentic Mexica beliefs and practices.”
“This year,” she continued, “I taught about finding your voice magically and as an activist. I see magic as activism. Activism is part of my practice. Magic originated as a tool for resistance against oppression. I think it’s important that we find our own voice.”
Despite the rain, González described the event as a success. “I want to give a shout-out to Matt and the organizers because their main goal was to take care of us. They gave us the option to withdraw if we felt unsafe. That actually helped my anxiety, knowing our safety was a priority.”
“I went out to teach, even though I was anxious because this event is about taking care of each other. And it was wonderful. Despite the torrential rain, we had a full house sitting under my tent. Some attendees told me they come every year for my classes. I also connected with great new friends, and those relationships are continuing. That’s what Pagan Pride is all about—making connections and holding space for each other.
“And seeing the board members running around, soaked from head to toe, just making sure everyone had what they needed—that’s dedication,” González concluded.
For Euphoria Rising, who taught Protest Witchery: A Beginner’s Primer, the rain was overshadowed by the camaraderie.
“I was doing research for my doctoral dissertation when I learned about the event,” she explained. Her research on organizing and discourse in higher education aligns closely with her activism and Pagan spirituality. Through her business, The Esoterick Liberation, she offers coaching for individuals across industries aiming to make a difference in their organizations.
“Given my involvement in activism and Pagan spaces—and Chicago’s deep history of urban activism—I wanted to engage participants in a discussion about the relevance of modern street protests. Hopefully, I inspired attendees to reconnect with the street activism that has galvanized both the modern Pagan movement and broader civil rights efforts.”
Euphoria shared that her workshop stemmed from an April 2023 protest in St. Paul, Minnesota, for Trans Day of Visibility.
“It was a surreal, reality-shifting experience, occupying University Avenue for other than its intended purpose. It was a magickal ritual. So, through the lens of my magickal experience, I wanted to show that street protesting is a time-honored magickal experience that many Pagans can connect with, at least on account of ritual. My magick is never isolated from the socio-political context we live in, and is in fact, directly part and parcel to the kinds of social change I want to see in society”
Cathy McMahon, a long-time festival participant, joined González and Euphoria in helping attendees find their voices. This year marked McMahon’s first workshop, where she shared her creative process for writing and recording music.
“I wanted to share my creative process for writing and recording a double music album project, including some tricks and techniques for songwriting that also apply to other creative arts.” McMahon told me she’d offered similar workshops at other venues before, but this year it felt like time to bring the skill of songwriting and raising one’s voice to the GCPP community.
McMahon’s workshop attendees concluded by singing a 4-line round inspired by the rune Othila:
“Home”
Home is in the heart
Home is by the hearth
Home is where the soul can rest
Land and clan and kin.
The diversity of backgrounds and decades of experience among this year’s teachers highlights their shared belief in the power of voice and the importance of home as a community.
At the start of the interview, González reminded TWH that at the Parliament of World Religions’ pan-Pagan Fighting for Freedom Ritual, she invoked the Spirit of Progress—whom she considers the spirit of Chicago and Lake Michigan, or Michi Gami in the Odawa language.
“For me, thanking the spirit of Chicago is very personal. Chicago and those skyscrapers that are forged with all that metal – just like everyone who lives here – forges themselves into the beautiful and resilient spirit of the City. We all are our very own creation.”
Guest Correspondent Catherine Carr earned her B.S. in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan in 2011 and worked in clinical research for five years before leaving the field to become a full-time writer. Her book World Soul: Healing Ourselves and the Earth Through Pagan Theology was published in 2023.
She became a student of Cherry Hill Seminary and the Village Mystery Temple and Dream School in 2020. She now offers life coaching from a spiritually oriented perspective, ritual facilitation, and quarterly classes for those seeking to deepen their spiritual community work and their personal practices.
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