Pagan Voices: Reflections of Yule

Pagan Voices is a spotlight on recent quotations from figures within the Pagan community. These voices may appear in the burgeoning Pagan media or a mainstream outlet, but all showcase our wisdom, thought processes, and evolution in the public eye. Is there a Pagan voice or artist you’d like to see highlighted? Contact us with a link to the story, post, audio, or image.  

“Perhaps most of all, however, it is our expectations of ourselves that are the most difficult to deal with. There is much to be done and it all must fit into the time we have, regardless of the fact that life does not come to a halt at Christmas time.

Bang a gong: rock music rocks rituals

TWH — Terry Riley, high priest of the Southern Delta Church of Wicca (part of the Aquarian Tabernacle Church), is preparing a Grease ritual for an upcoming new moon. It will be a “special circle” that will have “a double high priest and a double high priestess so we can get both movies in,” Riley says with a chuckle. “We’re planning on using ‘Greased Lightnin’ ’ to raise the cone of power.”

Movies? “Greased Lightnin’,” that John Travolta song? Grease the movie musical and not Greece the birthplace of Aphrodite, Persephone, Hekate and all those classical goddesses and gods?

Eyeing an independent California

CALIFORNIA — A new proposal to cut California loose from the other 49 United States has been getting more traction than most similar past suggestions, prompting the question of what consequences of an independent California might be for Pagans. Under the banner of “Yes California,” proponents of the so-called “Calexit” have secured the right to collect petition signatures. If they succeed in obtaining 365,880 by October, there will be a vote in 2020 on whether or not to open a secession discussion. A second vote a year later would be to declare California an independent country. The Pagan residents of the state reached for comment have no expectation that the measure would ever pass, but some of them were willing to imagine what it might be like.

Column: Pagans and Polytheists Get Ready for PantheaCon

PantheaCon will be held Feb. 16-18 in San Jose, California. Attracting the nearly 3,000 people every year, PantheaCon is the largest indoor conference for Pagans, Heathens, Polytheists, and related religious and magickal groups in the United States. Located at the San Jose Doubletree Hotel, the conference is a gigantic, rich, and varied event that includes over 200 classes, workshops, and rituals. It also features a vending area that expands over two large ballrooms, and spills out into the hallway outside.

2017 Wild Hunt retrospective

TWH – Now that the season has turned and we are nearing the end of the 2017, we look back, one last time, to review this historic year. What happened? What didn’t happen? What events shaped our thoughts and guided our actions? In our collective worlds, both big and small, what were the major discussions?