The Wild Hunt (https://wildhunt.org/tag/kyrja-withers)
For ten years, Kyrja and Randy Withers have worked for the homeless community in New Port Richey, Florida, through their Pagan charity, Hands of the Goddess. Although COVID-19 has thrown some bumps in their path, their work continues.
During last year’s holiday season, “Jorge L. Aladro, Grand Master of Florida’s Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons issued a ruling stating that Paganism, Wicca, Odinism and Gnosticism were not compatible with Freemasonry,” as Jason Pitzl-Waters reported here at the Wild Hunt. Several months later, word spread of the violence directed at Pagan childrens’ author Kyrja Withers in Port Richey, Florida. Just as that issue was resolved, Florida was back in the news again when a group of conservative Christian ministers from Pahokee Florida spoke out against a new Pagan Summer Solstice Festival at Lake Okeechobee. What was going on in Florida this year? Fortunately all three of these news-making stories ended positively in support of religious diversity and freedom. The Florida Masons overturned their ruling.
Just last week I was on the phone with Rev. Selena Fox, executive director of Lady Liberty League, discussing media strategies to help Kyrja Withers. During this discussion, we were noting the excellent reporting done by Tampa’s ABC Action News. In that discussion, Selena mentioned the need to share the news report with the Pagan Media. At that point I had to pause. She knew what she meant and I knew what she meant. Regardless, I blurted out the question:
“What is the Pagan Media?”
As an off-shoot of my publicity work for Covenant of the Goddess, I have been considering this question for quite some time. Public relations professionals usually maintain a solid database of journalists who could be targeted for press releases and media statements. I’ve started such a database for the Pagan Media but the more that I work on it, the more that I scratch my head.