Book Review: Starhawk’s City of Refuge

[Editor’s Note: This review contains a few spoilers.]

Review: City of Refuge by Starhawk. Published by Califia Press (pp. 711) 

City of Refuge is the sequel to Starhawk’s novel The Fifth Sacred Thing. Both books are works of post-apocalyptic fiction.The series differs from most books in this genre. Instead of being survivalist porn centered around bullets and beans, the two books are written from an eco-feminist point of view.

What will Paganism look like in 100 years?

TWH – The Pagan, Heathen, and Polytheist communities are in a very dynamic time and who knows what the future for these religions may be. The Wild Hunt asked community members to guess the future by having them answer this question:

“What do you think Paganism in the USA will look like 100 years from now?”

Phaedra Bonewits, 60’s, Occult Generalist

“I think about where we were a hundred years ago, still in the throes of German Romantic Neopaganism, folklore obsessions in Britain, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn fallen apart, and America still fascinated with 19th-century Spiritualism and Theosophy, plus the Eastern religions to which they’d been exposed a scant 23 years earlier at the first World’s Parliament of Religions. Wicca wasn’t yet a gleam in Gerald Gardner’s eye, and Heinlein was still in rompers. Magical lodges were still popular, but a vast amount of occultism and magical practice was firmly rooted in a Christian paradigm. “Now, we’ve got hard polytheists, public rituals to the old Gods, major conventions, scholarly works, Internet research, and more solitaries than at which you could shake a stang.

Exploring Pagan Ethical Codes: Druids

This article is part two of a new series, in which we examine Pagan and Heathen ethical codes. While the Wiccan Rede is arguably the best known Pagan ethical code, it is not the only one followed. We’ll look at a particular code and then explore a specific example of striving to live by that code. Part one, the Ten Precepts of Solon, can be found here. Modern Druids may not have a specific written ethical code, such as the Rede or the 10 Commandments, but they do have a ethics that guide their lives and their actions.

Proposed shrine to Cernunnos breaks ground in spring

TROUT LAKE, Wash — This coming spring the Cascadia Grove of Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship (ADF) is planning to break ground on a fourth shrine. This one will be dedicated to Cernunnos. Cascadia Grove is located in the Seattle, Washington area and plans to build the shrine next to the others that it has built at Trout Lake Abbey. According to ADF, an international modern Druid group, Cernunnos is a horned God of liminality, commerce, and the forest. The Grove hosted an online fundraiser in December for the proposed shrine and raised just under $3500 toward their projected costs of $25,000.

Pagans Join in Global Ceremony to End Massacres

Healing Hearts at Wounded Knee (HHAWK), an organization comprised of First Nation leaders, has put out a call for religious groups and individuals to join them in a Global Ceremony to end massacre. And, Pagans are answering that call. The event is being held on the 125th anniversary of the Massacre at Wounded Knee on Dec. 29. Organizers explain that they are using the power of religious ceremony to break the cycle of hatred and conflict, and to heal multi-generational wounds.