News

Pagan scholarship winner aims high

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — As we previously reported, this year’s recipient of the Michigan Pagan Scholarship Fun is 18-year old Pete Ryland Shoda III of Grand Rapids, Michigan. This is the third scholarship awarded by the fund since it was created as the Tempest Smith Foundation closed its doors. Eligible scholarship applicants must be a high school senior or equivalent, and must be able to demonstrate that they have been a practicing Pagan for at least a year. They must submit two essays, one that is on a scholarly topic of the applicant’s choice, while the other discusses how Paganism has impacted the applicant’s life.

Living

Paganism in Poland

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POLAND — This European Union member state is a bastion of Roman Catholicism, with as many as 37 million adherents (87.5% of the total population) today. Yet, even in Poland, one of the most Christianized European countries, Pagan religions are growing within the shadow of the Church. Today, that population is still dwarfed by its Catholic counterpart, but its loyal practitioners continue to cultivate a Pagan thriving subculture. With the help of several Polish Pagans, we examine the diversity of Pagan practice found within the country. According to Wiccan priestess Agni Keeling, Wicca is a growing, but still quite a small, Pagan path in Poland.

News

Tarot reader pushes for repeal of anti-divination law

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PARKERSBURG, W. Va. — A single mother who wanted to bring in some extra income by opening up a tarot-reading shop has found her plans thwarted by a decades-old law that most city council members weren’t even aware was on the books. However, it was definitely on the radar for the zoning administrator who explained that she’d need a zoning variance to practice her craft legally. Instead, Heather Cooper opted to try to get the law repealed. Cooper, who has been reading tarot at home, was offered space in a friend’s building to open up a new metaphysical shop called Hawthorn, which would focus on card readings.

News

Paganism now an option on Irish hospital admittance forms

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IRELAND — Pagans will no longer get listed as “other” or “no religion” when they are admitted to Irish hospitals. The change came thanks to an agreement worked out by officials of Health Services Executive (HSE), who administers 50 national acute care facilities. Leaders of the advocacy group Pagan Life Rites announced June 9 that it had successfully lobbied for the change, which is expected to be completely rolled out in the coming weeks. Pagan Life Rites co-founder Rev. Kristian Märkus told The Wild Hunt that the group started receiving reports from some of their nearly 500 members, noting an inability to record their religion as Pagan during the hospital admittance process. Märkus provided this quote, which recounts one individual’s experience.

Culture

From conjure to coloring Books: 45 years of the Witches’ Almanac

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NEWPORT, R.I. — When Elizabeth Pepper first started publishing the Witches’ Almanac in 1971, information on Wicca and Paganism was not easy to find. Most of it came in the form of newsletters and word of mouth, or through copies of the magazine Green Egg, where were read over and over again. Pagans had not yet begun to network in any meaningful way. The Witches’ Almanac was one of the earliest publications to cater to practitioners of these emerging religions, modeled to some extent upon the Farmer’s Almanac in that it provided useful information in an annual format. With the exception of a ten year personal hiatus from 1981-1990, Pepper published The Witches’ Almanac consistently year after year.