Living

Welsh Druidry on tour: Kristoffer Hughes in America

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NEW PALTZ, N.Y. — Anglesey is the largest island in both Wales and the Irish Sea, and a bastion of the Welsh language. It is also home of the Urdd Derwyddon Môn the Anglesey Druid Order (ADO), founded by author Kristoffer Hughes in 1999. Hughes is currently in the United States promoting The Celtic Tarot he helped create, and he took time to speak to us about that deck and the form of Druidry he teaches. Angelsey was the seat of British Druidry in antiquity, until it was sacked at Julius Caesar’s command in 62. The ADO is not an attempt to reconstruct those ancient practices, about which little is known, but rather to build on a tradition of seeking to honor and emulate the first Druids.

News

Pagans support Black Flag Search and Rescue efforts in Puerto Rico

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PUERTO RICO –In the wake of Hurricane Maria laying waste to this and other U.S.-controlled Atlantic islands, the response from both the Red Cross and the federal government have been sharply criticized. Media coverage has also been blasted. In the wake of what has happened, several Pagan activists have set their sights on helping the people most in need. Among that number, a few have opted to support Black Flag Search and Rescue, a team of rescue workers who are “doing the work because no one else will,” in the words of Druid Casey McCarthy, who has been providing logistical support for those efforts. Originally called Black Flag Camp, McCarthy says that this is a group of indigenous people and allies who are intent on providing aid to those who tend to get it last.

Paganism

Addressing issues of sexual abuse in Pagan communities

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TWH –In recent years, allegations of sexual misconduct within Pagan and polytheist communities have become increasingly visible. The arrest and conviction of Kenny Klein led to a number of public allegations of abuse levied against the musician, and the ensuing wider conversation around these issues tended first toward recrimination before focusing on the challenges of consent culture in a sex-positive community. Yesterday’s Wild Hunt article on abuse allegations in one Wiccan church is evidence that working through these issues can be difficult, particularly for leaders who lack professional training around abusive relationships. To that end, several experts were asked to provide guidance as to what mistakes amateurs are likely to make, and what resources should be tapped into for support and guidance. While this advice was solicited in the context of the decision reached by board members of the Wiccan Church of Minnesota, the challenges faced in that organization are not uncommon in Pagan groups, which tend to be small and tightly knit.

Living

Fake news, astrology edition

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TWH –It’s a given in some Pagan circles that at least a basic understanding of astrology is common knowledge. Given the incredible diversity represented within the intersecting Pagan and polytheist communities, it stands to reason that there are also community members who are almost completely unaware if not outright skeptical, of its tenets. It is perhaps because of that wide variation that fake astrology news circulates under the so-called “Pagan umbrella” as easily as elsewhere. Is there now a new astrological sign in the heavens? Did that downgrade of Pluto cast doubt on the legitimacy of astrology?

News

Texas student struggles to explain Wicca to school administrators

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ALVARADO, Texas –Rebecca Konnight has a problem, but it’s not the one that many of the people who know or have read about her think it is. To administrators in her high school, it seems her problem is a reluctance to comply with the dress code. For the readers of an article about Konnight’s blue hair and lip piercings, it might appear that she has a very weak grasp on Wicca, or is just using it as an excuse to avoid the aforementioned dress code. After an interview with her and her mother, Linda Mundt, the problem comes into focus. It is adults trying to do their jobs without allowing their assumptions about the world to be challenged.