Pagan Community Notes: Great Pagan Roast, CalderaFest, Pagan Pride Day, and more

ONTARIO — The Great Pagan Roast Series was once again celebrated at this year’s HearthFire Festival  Aug. 17–20. The 2017 honouree was Brian Walsh, a storyteller, teacher, Pagan chaplain for the University of Toronto and member of Céilí Sídhe. Walsh has worked as a hospital spiritual care provider for 11 years and counting. He is mainly known for his impressive list of accomplishments and contributions to the Pagan community, and is also loved for his winning smile and rather large collection of vests. The Great Pagan Roast Series is hosted each year by Crystal Allard and Khaman Mythwood.

Network established to mentor Pagan professionals

TWH –A Young Professionals Network has just been launched under the auspices of Circle Sanctuary, but that name might be misleading because the services offered could benefit any Pagan with professional training or credentials. The new group manifests the desire of Circle member Mandie Zopp to create opportunities for mentoring. “My passion is mentoring college-aged people and recent graduates,” she explained. In the years that she has been a Circle member, “A lot of millennials have come through, looking for professional guidance and mentorship,” but there has never been anything in place to facilitate those relationships until now. Zopp believes that providing this service may give young adults reason to be part of Circle Sanctuary.

International Woman’s Day brings celebration and protest

TWH — On Tuesday morning, visitors to lower Manhattan were greeted with a new sculpture facing the famous Wall Street bull. With hands on her hips and her hair in a pony tale, a little girl stairs defiantly at the charging creature. Titled “The Fearless Girl” and created by Kristen Visbal, this new art installment was placed overnight by advertising agency McCann New York and its client State Street Global Advisors (SSGA). For what purpose? To celebrate International Women’s Day and to send the message that women play a vital role in the workforce.

Pagan Community Notes: Matt Schofield, Johnson Amendment, Prayer in Delaware, and more

MILFORD, Utah — The ADF community woke up to shocking news as word spread that member Matt Schofield (1989 – 2017) had committed suicide Mar. 4. Schofield was veteran of the Marine Corps, and reportedly suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder. Recently his beloved therapy dog, Bear, had gone gone missing, which was reportedly a devastating loss for Schofield. Friends have said that the grief must have been too much to handle. Born Nov.

Pagan Community Notes: Patheos, PantheaCon, the awen and more.

TWH – The tensions between bloggers and the Patheos company continued this week as former Patheos writer John Halstead announced that he and others would be demanding that their material be taken off the site. Their joint letter begins: “We the undersigned former and current Patheos Pagan contributors hereby request that you remove our names, likenesses, and our intellectual property, including our writing, art, and images, from your site. We previously gave Patheos license to publish our writing, but Patheos is no longer the company that we contracted with.” The letter continues on to list the writers’ grievances and detail why the group feels that Patheos is no longer the company that it once was. In its conclusion, the letter says, “We should not be forced to affiliate with or be seen to support, through our work, organizations which are inimical to our values and which, in many cases, are hostile to our existence…” 

Currently eighteen bloggers have signed the document.