Canada

Pagan hero awards at Canada’s PaganFest

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BARRIE, Ont. – Organizers of PaganFest, an annual event established in 2008, announced the winners of the Canadian Pagan Hero Awards last weekend. PaganFest, along with S.E.E.D Fest and Muse Fest, are organized by the registered non-profit organization Canadian Pagan Spiritualists.  The three festivals are hosted on seven acres of land owned by festival host and sponsor Earth and Sky Connection, a metaphysical medicine retail store. For this years event, organizer Tamare White-Wolf decided to hold the awards as a way to fight back against the negativity that she has been witnessing. In an email exchange with The Wild Hunt, White-Wolf described her inspiration.

Canada

Ontario Heathens rebuild Vé

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EGANVILLE, Ont.  – Canada’s only public place of worship dedicated to honouring the pre-Christian Scandinavian and Germanic gods, has just been rebuilt and enlarged to accommodate growing numbers of visitors. Known as a Vé, this open-air holy site is located in a grove-like clearing amid a mixed forest of deciduous and coniferous trees. It consists of nine posts in a squared formation with a portico at its lowest point. The entrance faces high ground where god-poles, dedicated to Freyja, Frigg, Odin, Freyr and most recently, Thor are located. A low, natural stone altar is set in front of the god-poles.

Canada

Fire destroys Pagan metaphysical store in Ontario

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WINDSOR, Ont. – Mystical Mae Moon, a Pagan owned metaphysical store, was destroyed in a fire on Sunday along with several other businesses and apartments. The commercial building housed five businesses with five occupied residential units above. While no humans died, eight cats belonging to one of the apartment residents were killed and the two birds, who lived in the Mystical Mae Moon store, also perished. “It has been a horrible nightmare for us.

Canada

Preparing for Ontario’s Witches’ Sabbat Festival 2016

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EGANVILLE, Ont. – For the fourth year in a row, Witches’ Sabbat (WS), a three-day intensive weekend dedicated to the learning and practice of Witchcraft, will be held at Raven’s Knoll campground near Eganville, Ontario, during the last weekend in May. WS is a unique event in Canada, because it fills a void in the usual Pagan festival and conference circuit. It has a mandate to serve seekers and practitioners of non-Wiccan Witchcraft and associated practices such as hearthwitchery, traditional, folkloric and shamanic Witchcraft. Event organizer Juniper Jeni Birch, was moved to create this event for very personal reasons “When it comes to my service to the Pagan and Witchcraft community, I follow a personal goal: Be the person I needed when I was young.”

Raven’s Knoll, the campground that provides the location for the Sabbat, is also unique.

Canada

Ontario Pagans rally to help elders as well dries up

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MOUNT FOREST, Ont. – In November 2015, when Jean Swanson’s well ran dry, it did not seem too unusual. The hand-dug well on her older, rural property near Mount Forest, in Wellington County Ontario, was shallow, and it was not the first time in 17 years that she and her husband Barry had experienced decreased water levels. However, their concern came when, despite a very wet and rainy autumn, the well failed to replenish itself. Swanson and her family immigrated to Canada from North Yorkshire, England in the 1950s. From a very early age she was fascinated with all things related to Witchcraft.