Paganism

Column: Within the Lines

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I have been thinking about land and sacredness, about the idea that we can choose a spot on a survey map and declare it sacred ground. My thoughts are grounded in the Gaea Retreat, the Pagan nature center in Kansas where I most often make my pilgrimages, but thinking about that particular place leads me to think about places like it more generally. What does it mean to call a place “sacred?” What does that mean for our relationship to it? And how do our religious, spiritual, and magickal conceptions of a place sit alongside the legal and social borders of the location?

Paganism

Column: Pagans Prepare for a New Women’s March

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As a minority community, many American Pagans met the beginning of 2017 with trepidation, with the inauguration of a new president who seemed hostile to values that many Pagans hold dear. Between the new president’s recorded admissions of sexual assault and misogyny, and the evangelical Christian movement had propelled him to power, there was fear that the new administration would roll back gains made in social issues such as women’s and LGBTQ+ rights, and freedom from religious persecution. In this environment, one day after the inauguration of President Trump, the Women’s March on Washington burst onto the international scene. In a well-coordinated protest effort, millions of women and men in iconic pink “pussy” hats flooded cities all over the world to stand up for what they saw is inalienable human rights that were under threat. The Washington, D.C. march famously attracted more attendees than the inauguration itself, and that pattern repeated itself in cities across the U.S. and, indeed, all over the world.

Paganism

Column: A New Hope

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This year has been a strange one. Next year promises to be even stranger. Although it sometimes seems that the dark is rising and will overwhelm us all, there are steps we all can take to fight for the light. A Dark Time
We now find ourselves living in a time when fundamental rules and relationships in the social order have begun to break down, sometimes in spectacular fashion. The general public is finally being forced to face the fact that men in power are emboldened by that power to sexually harass, abuse, and assault women and young girls.

Paganism

Column: We, the Magi

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Today is Christmas and many people in the Christianized world will celebrate either the birth of Jesus, the arrival of Santa Clause or a combination of the two. In both cases, there is likely gifting. For the secular, Christmas is presents, trees, and jingle bells which I believe all people, can find joy. For the religious, Christmas is the birth of a savior, a messianic prophecy come true. It’s complicated, and maybe even smothering for us over here in the Solstice/Yule club who are not, ‘in that trad’ to use popular Pagan colloquialism.

Living

Column: Celebrating Kwanzaa

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[The following column was originally published in 2015. Kwanzaa begins on Dec. 26]

The holidays in December are plentiful, and there are many different intersections of practice among Pagans today. Winter Solstice, Yule, and Saturnalia are three of the more commonly referenced in the modern Pagan community at this time. Yet there are other holidays that continue to find their way into the practices of Pagan homes.