Column: Welcome to Straightbook

Pagan Perspectives

Today’s column comes to us from Storm Faerywolf, whose column covers the intersection of Paganism and queer identities. Storm is a professional author, experienced teacher, visionary poet, and practicing warlock, and is author of “Betwixt & Between” and “Forbidden Mysteries of Faery Witchcraft.” He lives with his two loving partners in the San Francisco Bay area and travels internationally teaching the magical arts. For more, visit faerywolf.com. The Wild Hunt always welcomes submissions for the weekend section. Please send queries or completed pieces to eric@wildhunt.org.

Pagan Community Notes: Parliament of World Religions, Satanic Temple threatens Netflix with lawsuit, Statement from CoG, and more

TORONTO — The Parliament of World Religions kicked off its 2018 conference in Toronto last week. The theme for this year is “The Promise of Inclusion & the Power of Love: Pursuing Global Understanding, Reconciliation, and Change.” In a statement on its website, the Parliament states that theme was partly inspired by this year’s host city and its focus on inclusiveness and how the programs it endorses reflect the values of the Parliament’s practices and ideology. Among the notable keynote presenters are Alisa Starkweather, founder of the Red Tent Temple Movement, and Priestess Path Apprenticeship, and Phylis Currott author, Wiccan Priestess, and founder of The Temple of Ara. This year marks the 125th anniversary of the conference. TWH will have a full story on the conference next week.

Public Pagan attempts to affect history predate Trump

TWH — Some Pagans have responded to the Trump presidency with calls for public magical interventions, similar to other Pagan attempts to change history. Memories of many prior attempts, however, have been lost to secrecy and death. The most famous Pagan attempts to change history are magical battle of Britain and the levitation of the Pentagon. The magical battle of Britain (1940)
The so-called magical battle of Britain involved Dion Fortune and Gerald Gardner. While Gardner worked with one coven, Fortune worked with many people throughout Britain, and later wrote the book of the same name.