News

Pagan Community Notes: solidarity statement, Mother Grove, Sandy Artisfair Kucyk and more

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CALIFORNIA — On March 17, several organizations located in the Bay Area published a solidarity statement that addressed the allegations reported against Yeshe Matthews by her former coven, CAYA. “We have watched with concern as word of this misconduct has spread,” the statement reads. They go on to call the handling of the situation and the reported lack of public clarity or of accountability by “spiritual leaders” and Matthews as “dismissive” and “unacceptable.” The entire statement is available on Facebook. The organizations represented are Solar Cross Temple, Strong Roots and Wide Branches, Coru Cathubodua, and Black Rose Witchcraft.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: W.I.T.C.H, Iowa Pagan Pride, Circle Sanctuary and more

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MEXICO CITY – An organization named W.I.T.C.H. CDMX is hosting a public action in Mexico City, March 17. The event’s reported purpose is to bring women together to toss off the strains of oppression, abuse, and harassment. As written on the Facebook event page, “WITCH summons all our sisters to a night of spells, to the contemplation of fire,” and “to free ourselves, strengthen us and altar, in a symbolic act, reality.”  The scheduled action has been named Icendario and is being a labeled a “revolution.” W.I.T.C.H. reports that it is a nonprofit organization that is interested in art, magic, feminism, disruption. It appears to be taking its cue from the 1969 organization of the same name, and the more recent incarnation in Chicago.

News

Circle Sanctuary gains equality in chaplaincy

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BARNEVELD, Wis. — In January 2018, Paganism reached another milestone in equality for Pagan religious bodies. A Pagan institution has gained equal status in endorsing chaplains with that of the institutions of other more dominant religions. The Association of Professional Chaplains accepted Circle Sanctuary as an endorser Jan. 4,  and the COMISS Network on Ministry in Specialized Settings accepted Circle Sanctuary on Jan.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Circle Sanctuary, solstice and appropriation, April Cotte and more

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BARNEVELD, Wis. — Circle Sanctuary has officially “been accepted as a religious endorsing organization member of two important national chaplaincy groups: the Association of Professional Chaplains (APC) and the Coalition on Ministry in Specialized Settings (COMISS) network. At a Jan. 7 annual meeting, COMISS officials announced that Circle Sanctuary had been accepted into its network, joining another Pagan organization: the Sacred Congregation. One day later, Circle got word that it had been also been accepted by APC, as the first Pagan organization in that roster.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Lady Cybele, American Academy of Religion, PantheaCon and more

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HOLMEN, Wis. — The Wisconsin Pagan community lost one of its elders last month. Carol Lee Wiggins Olson Gainer, known as Lady Cybele of Rowangrove, died Nov. 26 at her home. Lady Cybele followed the Family Tradition Craft, was a longtime member of Circle Sanctuary and the Society for Creative Anachronism.  She regularly attended Pagan Spirit Gathering until her health made it difficult.

Lady Cybele was born in 1942 in Winona, Minnesota to Leland Edward Wiggins and Mabel Cecilia Johnson. After high school, she earned a bachelor’s degree from LaCrosse State University and a law degree from the University of Wisconsin Law School in Madison.