Paganism

Column: Follow Your Arrow

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North American Paganism is being slowly choked by exceptionalism.  There, I said it. If you’d like to skip ahead and scream at me now, just scroll down to “comments” and say what you need to say. First, let’s talk about the Lord of the Rings. Of all the characters who inhabited Middle Earth, there were but a handful who could potentially subjugate the ring. As a reminder, the ring was enjoined with the spirit of Sauron, the most powerful servant of evil. He is both the master of the ring and the spirit to which the ring wants to return.

Paganism

Column: Ancestors of Hope and Purpose in Black History

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Many people might wonder why I write so much about the cultural experiences of blackness on The Wild Hunt. Besides this helping to provide a clear understanding of my own blackness, it is also a subject that is so underrepresented within the overculture within modern Paganism and polytheist communities. Even though our circles are becoming more and more reflective of differences than years ago, there is still a huge disconnect in how people of different cultures experience our religious circles, groups, practices, and ancestral connections. It is especially significant this month when I am attending the yearly pan-Pagan convention of PantheaCon, which happens to be on opening weekend of the groundbreaking movie Black Panther during Black History Month. In the community celebrations that are so significant to Pagan conventions like PantheaCon, I have come to recognize the importance of speaking power to truth concerning the significant role that my ancestors hold in my connection to spiritual practice and community.

Living

Column: Conjuring the Magic of Pagan Study Groups

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A few words from Steven Posch have stood out in my mind since the summer that I heard him utter them at a large Pagan festival many years ago: “Pagans are the people of the library.”

Those words resonated with me because our communities hunger for knowledge and the wisdom to use that knowledge well. Many Pagans descend upon their local bookstore or favorite online purveyor of word-wares enthusiastically and often. Most are striving to better understand the philosophies, cultures, histories, signs, symbols, religious practices, and magical procedures, past and present, that constitute our chosen path. Some of us pursue our studies solo, while others join groups; a significant number of us have a mixture of individual and collective pursuits. Our groups have a variety of foci that we explore within various organizational structures guided by a range of principles.

Paganism

Column: Voices from Ice and Snow

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There is no denying that the north has always played an important role in the worldview of Europe and the Western world in general. From the Romantics that sung the praise of the wild, Nordic nature at the turn of the 19th century to the current popular entertainment craze spawned by media franchises such as Frozen, Vikings and the like, the north is as relevant as it has ever been. This influence is even more noticeable in regards to the world of contemporary Paganism. Not only has Heathenism experienced a noticeable revival and growth in the past couple decades, but Nordic deities, practices and iconography are routinely found within more eclectic movements as well. However, all things considered, the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and the Faroe Islands) are all relatively small and somewhat isolated.

Paganism

Column: Retreats and Advances

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I find the Pagan nature sanctuary to be an odd entity, when I stop to think about it. In the past few months I have considered how these physical places that we have given names like Gaea Retreat and Oak Spirit Sanctuary interact with the metaphysical and political beliefs in which we clothe them. We have shaped these places, built structures atop them, sculpted their landscapes — to what end? What draws us to the idea of having “Pagan land” in the first place? Margot Adler wrote of the early days of these Pagan nature sanctuaries in Drawing Down the Moon.