Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: University of Indiana, Asatru Folk Assembly, chaplain wanted and more

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INDIANAPOLIS — A panel about Paganism was organized at the university here, and appears to be have a success in terms of raising awareness about these minority religions. According to Rev. Dave Sassman of Circle Sanctuary, one of the participants, it included the only known Pagan affiliated with the school — associate profession Caron MacPherson — and had 40 to 50 people in attendance. Basic information such as the extremely wide variety of traditions that might be lumped together as “Pagan,” as well as dispelling stereotypes along the lines of human sacrifice were covered; panelists also shared something from their personal religious journeys. According to Sassman, “Only one Pagan was known on campus at the beginning of the panel, but by the end there were two,” as one student in attendance came forward.  In his eyes, that’s a success in itself. *   *   *

TWH – The Asatru Folk Assembly (AFA), a national Heathen group based in California, was placed on the Southern Poverty Law Center’s 2017 list of hate groups.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Damh the Bard, Nature’s Path, Mountain Magic and more

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GLASTONBURY, England — Popular musician Damh the Bard made mainstream headlines last week after delivering a talk at the Occult Conference in Glastonbury. During that talk, Damh discussed a ritual that he once co-led during a weekend camp back in 2005. The Daily Express published the story synopsis with the headline, “Top druid ‘slit people’s throats’ in bizarre Pagan sacrificial death ritual held in U.K.” Writer John Austin writes that Damh said in his talk that the attendees “were left convinced they had died after his mock execution,” which was done when Damh ran his fingernail across their throats. The Wild Hunt contacted with Damh to find out what exactly happened at the conference and what he said in his talk. In an email interview, he told us that the reporter sat quietly, observing the entire conference without asking questions.

Pagan Community Notes

Pagan Community Notes: Mountain Magic, Raleigh Pagan Pride Day, Vanessa Goldman, and more

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RICHLANDS, Vir. —  Mountain Magic and Tarot Shop will not be offering tarot readings within the store any time soon. The shop owners, Jerome VanDyke and Mark Mullins, challenged a local zoning regulation that prohibits “fortune telling” in the store. They asked the city council to consider changing the code so that divination would be permitted. At a standing-room-only meeting Feb.

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Pagan shop owners fight for right to read tarot

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RICHLANDS, Va. –There are places when practicing openly as Pagan is not at all difficult, but there remain communities in which engaging in anything with a whiff of the esoteric or the unusual is met with stiff resistance. Richlands, Virginia appears to be one of the latter. 

Richlands is a town of less than 5,000 people in the southwestern part of the state and, at a glance, it seems to be the sort of place where Christian values are held in high regard at least when anything perceived as threatening their supremacy is proposed. What’s causing the recent ripples through this small community is the presence of Mountain Magic and Tarot Shop. which has become a gathering place for Pagans who previously practiced in solitude and in hiding. Proprietors Jerome VanDyke and Mark Mullins are open about being Witches as well as being happily married to each other.