Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Druid ritual, Gods & Radicals, Stan Newcombe, Memorial for Las Vegas victims and more

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ATHENS, Tenn. – The Wayist Druid public Samhain ritual was successful despite threats of mass protest and violence. Due to threats the week before, the city posted warning notices to citizens that stated that it was illegal to disturb or interfere with any person or event that had been giving a permit. According to ritual host Archdruid Angela Wilson, Saturday’s event attracted more than 250 people. She said, “I want to personally thank everyone for coming yesterday it was a beautiful thing.”

Paganism

Pagan Community Notes: Italian Druid speaks out, special edition of the Pomegranate, Solar Cross and more

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BIELLA, Italy – A well-known Druid in Italy is speaking up for Pagans after several cemeteries were desecrated. Luigi D’Ambrosio, also known as Ossian, has told the local media that the damage was most likely done by vandals and not by Satanists or Pagans. He said, “It was [done by] disturbed young people looking for attention.” The damage occurred at the Catholic cemeteries in Oropa and Cosilla. According to the report, skulls and other bones had been extracted from grave sites, but left close by. This is not the first time it has happened there, nor in other parts of the country.

Living

Column: Ásatrú Ritual and Climate Change Ethics, Part One

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The Ásatrú religion can offer new perspectives on climate change ethics via examination of the modern practice of historically grounded ritual known as blót – a rite that foregrounds reciprocity with the earth, inherent value in the natural world, transtemporal human relationships, global connectedness, and the consequences of human action. In addition to discussing Ásatrú textual sources and examples of ritual, this column offers a new ethical model for responding to issues of climate change. Ásatrú is a religion with a life that already relates to reality in a way that addresses major issues raised by climate change ethicists. Practitioners are both certain and competent in a life-practice that directly engages relationships within the transtemporal human community and with the wider world. Through study of lore and celebration of ritual, the practice of Ásatrú reinforces understanding of reciprocal relationships with the natural world, inherent value of living things, connections to past and future peoples, interrelatedness of all human actors, and consequences of human actions.

Pagan Community Notes

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

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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.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: March in Portland, DRUID app, Parliament of the World’s Religions and more

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PORTLAND, Ore. — With protests continuing over the weekend, members of Solar Cross Temple participated in Saturday’s march for justice. As noted by author, activist, and Solar Cross member T. Thorn Coyle, “The march theme was ‘Advancing Justice and Equality for All Through the Strength to Love, and it was sponsored by the Albina Ministerial Alliance Coalition for Justice and Police Reform” and co-sponsored by other groups such as the Portland NAACP, the Muslim Educational Trust, and Portland Copwatch. Solar Cross was joined by other Pagan individuals and organizations including Reclaiming, Feri Tradition, and the Brothers of the Unnamed Path. Coyle said, “This was only one of five events happening in Portland that day.