Pagan Community Notes: Asha Deliverance’s letter, Heathens respond, Gloucestor Witches and more

PORTLAND, Ore. — In an update to our story, Asha Deliverance, mother of stabbing victim Taliesin Myrddin Nakai Meche, wrote an open letter to President Donald Trump regarding terror violence and hate speech. It read, in part:

“Two precious lives were lost this Memorial Day weekend in Portland and one more, nearly so. All three were strangers to each other, and to those they were defending. They fearlessly risked their lives for two young women who were threatened by an act of bigotry & terror.

Robin Hood rises to oppose fracking in Sherwood Forest

And if Robin should be cast
Sudden from his turfed grave,
And if Marian should have
Once again her forest days,
She would weep, and he would craze:
He would swear, for all his oaks,
Fall’n beneath the dockyard strokes,
Have rotted on the briny seas … NOTTINGHAMSHIRE, U.K. — The poem above, by John Keats, reveals three things about English folklore: the power of the figure of Robin Hood, the sacred nature of the oak tree, and the indelible link between the two of them. Writing in 1818, Keats was invoking these powerful images as he railed against the Royal Navy’s plundering of the nation’s forests to take oak for shipbuilding. Today, the figure of Robin Hood is again being invoked as his very heartland of Sherwood Forest, and the great ancient oak, fabled to be his hideout, are now facing a very contemporary threat. Anti-fracking campaigners in the UK recently learned that chemical multinational INEOS has been in discussions with the UK’s Forestry Commission to carry out seismic surveys in Sherwood. If agreed, the survey will allow INEOS to spend up to two years burying charges and using other seismic equipment to search for shale gas in the forest, which is designated as a National Nature Reserve.

The Warrior’s Call and “Beacons in the Dark”

[Dodie Graham-McKay is both a quarterly columnist and a monthly news writer. She helps us bring you the important news stories out of Canada.Your donations and support make it possible for her and for us to cover wide-range of communities and work. If you like reading articles, like the one below, donate today to help keep The Wild Hunt going for another year. Every dollar helps! Donate here and share our IndieGoGo link! Thank You.]

On September 26, 2015, an international group of Pagans banded together to perform a “rolling ritual.” As 8 pm arrived in every time zone, participants lit flames and encircled the Earth in a wave of fire, linking anti-fracking Pagan activists into one unified, global family. From single candles lit by solitary individuals, to mighty bonfires attended by groups of singing and drumming people, the initiative did indeed span the globe. Participants were encouraged to place a pin on a world map, and contributions were recorded throughout Great Britain, Belgium, Poland, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Canada and the USA.