Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains PotPourri

* It’s been a cool Spring here in the magical MidAtlantic. It was sunny for our Beltane celebration, but still cool enough that the fire felt good. Shortly after we finished up, the rain came and put out the fire. It rained all night and, by morning, everything was that indescribable shade of emerald that simply bellows, “Alive!” Things change so quickly in Spring. Literata has a great discussion at her blog about Beltane, desire, relationship, and change.

* My latest article — on magical ethics, and, yes, I do have some — is out in the current issue of Witches & Pagans. You can subscribe and buy back issues here.

* Julian Meade writes:

Today I was plowing faithfully through a horticultural tome when I came to a chapter which began thus, “If you would have a really successful garden, it behooves you –”
The hell it does. My garden is one place in the world where I am not beehoved.

~ from The Unbeehoved Gardener in The Writer in the Garden, edited by Jane Garmey.

I love that. We all need at least one place, either a garden or a room of our own, where we are not even the least little bit beehoved. Where’s your unbeehoven spot?

* Today is supposed to be Pagan Coming Out Day. I know that this isn’t going to make me popular, but, here goes: I’m all for Pagan Coming Out Day and for Pagans coming out on any day — except.

Except that for some people, it’s still not safe. People do still lose their jobs (and medical benefits, etc.), their clients, their children, their homes, etc. when they come out as Pagans.

I admit to getting a bit chaffed by people, often professional Pagans who don’t have “day jobs,” and/or children, who self-righteously announce how easy it is for them to be out and how they’ve done it for years. (I’m glad for them and I hope that someday, due, in part to their efforts, being Pagan won’t be any more remarkable than being Jewish, or Hindu, or Catholic, or generic Christian.) It’s just that there’s a whiff of condescension about those pronouncements and a lack of understanding of what other Pagans have to deal with. (In some cases, there’s even a bit of unacknowledged privilege: people without children can often be unaware of what parents face; urban Pagans can be fail to understand what it’s like to live in the rural South.) And, I admit that it makes me even a bit more out-of-sorts when those same folks conduct their latest “please donate for my medical expenses” or “please contribute to my travel fees for a festival” campaign. Yes, we all need help sometimes and we should all help each other as much as we can. But some of us have funds to donate because we have day jobs that require us to stay in the Broom Closet while you’re busy being an “out” Pagan. I’m willing to honor your role and the trail that you’ve blazed; in return, I’d like you to honor my path and my contributions. For anyone coming out today, I’m sending you bright blessings and a wish for acceptance.

* Here’s a poem for you:

You May Leave a Memory, Or You Can be Feted by Crows

~ Dick Allen

Three years, Huang Gongwang
worked on his famous handscroll,
Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.

As he put successive applications of ink to paper
over the “one burst of creation,” his original design,
it is said he often sang like a tree frog
and danced on his old bare feet.

One day, he adds one hemp fiber stroke,
the next a moss dot.

What patience he had,
like a cat who comes back season after season to a mole’s tunnel.

Honors may go to others.
Riches may go to others.
Huang Gongwang has one great job to do.

And he sings like a tree frog,
and he dances on old bare feet.

That’s how I want to live, to write, to garden, to be.

* What’s the best change that you’ve made in your life since Samhein?

Picture found here.

Dark Moon Potpourri

*Yesterday evening, I found myself across town at a meeting that was ending at the height of rush hour. Instead of sitting in a cab for 40 minutes, I met Son and DiL for dinner. Afterwards, driving home along the pearly pink Potomac just at dusk, I was talking to the River when I turned onto Spout Run and watched a doe sprint across the road, from the woods into the water in the run.

I know that gardeners are supposed to be at war with deer (and, seriously, if they ever show up and nom my day lilies and hosta, well, it’s not going to be pretty) but I ward my tiny Bit of Earth against them and, so far, it’s worked. For years and years, seeing a deer has been a sign of good luck for me, a message from the universe that I’m on the right track and just need to keep on keeping on.

I drove the rest of the way home feeling very, very blessed.

May it be so for you.

*I really need to start reading Franzen:

Today’s nature writers have a serious decision to make. If we still want to be thought of as anything other than incestuous literary outcasts who are the only audience for our own writing, then we better think hard about what it means that America’s premier novelist is a birder writing about overpopulation and land conservation. If we hope to end up something other than jaded academics that make a living teaching expensive nature writing classes that students love but aren’t professionally going to benefit from at all, then I say we get Franzen’s back.

Here’s why: Franzen has brought environmental issues into the limelight, and not just in the literary sense. He’s a household name. For someone writing about environmental problems, that’s an accomplishment that can’t be understated. Who else besides Al Gore can claim such name recognition? These days, not only has writing about environmental issues become marginalized and out of vogue, heck, being ecologically literate isn’t even important.

hat tip: Sia.

This:

.

Being late on a regular basis (you know who you are) is a sign of your sense of privilege and of your clear disrespect for others. It says, as loudly as it can possibly say, “My time is more important than yours. It was more important for me to sleep in, get up and putter around, finish reading that chapter, etc. than whatever you might have done with the time that you spent standing around and waiting for me. That effort that you put into getting up early, leaving on time, being prepared? Well, that was sweet, albeit now wasted, but I’m too important for that.”

Seriously. That’s what everyone is thinking when you stroll in twenty minutes late, even if they’re too polite to say it.

And, no, that regular call that, by now, we all expect, that call that you make just as the ritual is supposed to start, saying, “OK, I’m leaving just now [from my home, 45 minutes away from the ritual,] and will be there soon,” no, that doesn’t make it OK. It makes us roll our eyes. At you.

The other week on our drive up to Longwood, Landscape Guy & I were talking about self-respect. There are two things that both of us do as a sign of respect not only to others, but, also, as a sign of self-respect. We’re both almost always on time. And we both make our beds almost every morning, even though we live alone. (Yes, sometimes — maybe once every few years — you leave early enough to arrive, based on past experience, on time at the ritual space. And there’s a bad traffic jam and you’re late. And, sometimes — maybe once every few years — I’m swamped at work, fall into bed at 2:00 am, claw my way out of bed at 6:00 am, and leave for work w/o making my bed. Note the operative words: once every few years.)

Both of those acts are ways of saying, “I am the kind of person who . . . .”

Do you operate on Pagan Standard Time? How tolerant is your circle of this practice? What do you do out of self-respect?

*Here’s a wonderful post about gardening with the God/desses.

Performing chores and labor in a ritual context is a meditative exercise. Unlike Eastern meditation that seeks to disengage the mind, and is passive both physically and mentally, pagan meditation is active. It differs, too, from the Christian form of meditation of Western civilization. Often Christian meditation involves reading passages from sacred texts or from prepared devotional texts. One is to silently ponder the meaning of these texts, applying them to himself or herself. . . . The method used by Teresa of Avila was similar to Eastern meditation in that her “recollection” involved suppressing the intellectual mind and the senses as she focused on a prayer so that her soul might recall its spiritual origin. ”Recollection” was preparatory to other stages of quiet meditation. In both Eastern and Western (Christian) meditation a goal is to disengage the mind from the body. This is due to a perspective of the physical world being somehow evil and contradictory to the spiritual world. . . . Pagan practice instead begins with a notion of the Universe being composed of body, mind and soul, and a desire to bring these three parts into harmony. Harmony is sought within one’s own being, and also in the world around us. . . . But the starting point begins by introducing ritual into our daily activities, developing a sound mind and a sound body in harmony with our soul, which will in turn bring us into a harmonious relationship with the Gods around us in Nature. The garden quite literally feeds our body, our mind, and our soul, even as the garden acts as a euphemism for tending our relationship with the Gods in the Universe.
Vadete in pacem Deorum.

For me, it’s weeding. Odd as it sounds, I love to weed. It’s one of the most meditative tasks I know, other than kneading bread or knitting.

To work in my garden is to co-create the manifest (thank you, PaganMamma) world in partnership with the Goddess. I am never so humbled nor so honored as when I pull weeds.

*Do you have a picket pin?

*What JMG Said:

Being a Druid today means learning how to take less from nature and give more back, reshaping every detail of our daily lives in order to honor and heal the living Earth. Being a Druid means composting vegetable peelings instead of sending them to a landfill; it means walking or bicycling instead of filling the air with tailpipe fumes; it means buying groceries from local organic farmers instead of from multi-national agrabusiness. Such acts are practical necessities to everyone who recognizes the interdependence of all life. To Druids, and all others who follow nature-centered paths, these things are also acts of worship, disciplines of the spirit, offerings we make to the Goddess-Planet on Whom we live our lives.

“Reshaping every detail of our daily lives”: that’s a spiritual practice. JMG’s discussion ties in with my recent post about the importance of just being outside and observing to the process of becoming a Witch. Composting, for example, is messy business and mundane in the extreme. It’s hardly the esoteric training that anyone hoping to become a Witch or Druid might imagine. And, yet, it’s magic. It’s necessary. And it’s what Witches and Druids do.

*I’m going to get to this exhibit in the next 72 hours, or die trying, even if I have, thanks to a crush at work, to speed-walk through it. How important is art to your spiritual practice? To your practice of magic? How do you make time for it?

*Here, in the heart of deep Summer along the Potomac, the early morning hours are often the only ones when it’s really comfortable to lie between clean sheets and drift, half asleep and half awake. That makes it even more difficult to drag myself out of bed. Lately, these guys get me up and onto the treadmill. (I’m fairly certain that getting an old, American Nonna up to exercise is nowhere in these young men’s mission statement.) Who inspires you to live healthy? Whom might your inspire, all unawares?

Picture found here.

A New Sabbat

Next Sunday, April 22nd, is Earth Day, although I’m fond of the United Nations’ designation of it as Mother Earth Day. If I ran the zoo, Earth Day would be the 9th Sabbat. What could be more important to Pagans than the Earth?

Of course, in some sense, every day is Earth Day for practicing Pagans; being in relationship with the Earth is a major part of most Pagans’ religious work. Yet, just as it’s a good idea to have Samhein to help us to really focus on our ancestors, our own eventual death, and issues that reside in our own underworld (as well as the dying of the year), even though those are also issues that we work with all the time, it’s a good idea to have a day devoted to Mother Earth and our relationship with her.

For many Pagans, having a relationship with the Earth is sort of like le bourgeois gentilhomme in Moliere’s play who exclaims, “Par ma foi! il y a plus de quarante ans que je dis de la prose sans que j’en susse rien, et je vous suis le plus obligé du monde de m’avoir appris cela,” roughly translated as: “I’ve been speaking prose all my life without even knowing it!” We grew up having that relationship, just as fish grow up swimming and only later learn that it’s not a universal, that not everyone is in communion with the trees or hears what the bees are dancing. And it’s often Paganism’s acknowledgement and celebration of that relationship that, inter alia, draws us to Paganism.

In Last Child in the Woods”, however, Richard Louv notes that many children today spend less and less time outside, especially the sort of unstructured time that can lead to a relationship with Mother Earth (playing soccer, for example, is wonderful. G/Son’s a pretty decent soccer player for a six-year old and his weekly soccer practice gets him outside, gets him some fun exercise, and teaches all the good things that team sports (at their best) can teach. But it’s not the same as just “messing about” outside).

In two insightful posts, Literata makes Louv’s point rather nicely, I think. In Waiting for the Bus: A Hymn to the Landbase of my Youth, she writes, in part:

This is the place where I
grudgingly
picked up pine cones and
gleefully
wore azaleas and dogwood in my hair
on Easter,

Where I learned how pine trees age
and new ones volunteer,
how pine cones open and close
with heat and rain
and why long-leaf pines
are dangerous in ice.

But it is mornings I remember most of all
waiting for the bus
outside with Talking Self so briefly still
in my first meditations.

And, in a follow-up post, she explains that:

In particular, I went outside to do devotions this morning, and I realized that a lot of my relationship with and awareness of this landbase was formed in those early morning hours of waiting for the school bus because that was one of the few times that I was outside, regularly, and being quiet and even, occasionally, observant. I didn’t know what I was doing, but in some ways, those times were when I first learned to meditate.

For me, it was a weekend walk to the nearby creek, where I could get away from my dysfunctional family for a bit and simply “be.” But of course, like Literata, I was learning to be observant, to open myself to place and the Spirits and Powers of a place, and to meditate.

Where was it for you?

And for those Pagans for whom a relationship with Mother Earth isn’t as natural as breathing, there’s nothing I can recommend better than getting outside, messing about, and then sitting down next to a tree, or a river, or a rock and opening yourself to relationship.

Sunday’s WaPo had a great article about D.C.’s guerrilla gardeners:

“Guerrilla gardening is urban gardening and food justice. It’s just this really cool mix,” says Emmy Gran, 25, who is teaching seed-bombing in a floppy sun hat at a recent Saturday morning workshop in the courtyard of Old City Green, a gardening store in Shaw. “But it’s controversial, too. If you see an abandoned, neglected lot and you decide to do something about it by planting vegetables and herbs, are you an occupier? It’s kind of radical, in some ways.”

If you’re looking for a fun way to celebrate our Ninth Great Sabbat, here’s how to make seed bombs (a bit of clay works to bind the dirt together):

Wine-Dark Sea

April is, as the poet said, the cruelest month. And, April is National Poetry Month. The connection isn’t lost upon those of us who love poetry.

I have a theory — and it’s backed by zero research — that those who love poetry were introduced to poetry as young children, sitting upon laps, dancing around flames, kneading dough. And that those who say, “I’ve never gotten [have always hated] poetry” were first exposed to poetry in school. Often by having to memorize it. Perhaps, even, by being forced to scan it.

Some of my dearest friends who “don’t get” poetry can quote you line and verse of song lyrics. And many of those song lyrics qualify as, at least, mediocre poetry. The only difference, in many cases, is whether the words are spoken or sung.

Druids, in particular, have a long relationship with poetry.

Where does the poetry come in? What little we know about the ancient Druids includes some information about the role of bards in Celtic societies. Whether or not the bards were part of the Druidic religious path I can’t say, but there is no doubt that they were an important feature of Celtic culture. For someone interested in things Celtic, and a Celt inspired spirituality, the bardic tradition therefore is an appealing one. The romantic image of the windswept wandering bard, harp slung over shoulder, is alluring. There is consensus that poetry was very much the domain of the historical bard.

But Witches, as well, have a long relationship with poetry. Auntie Doreen, for example, gave us:

Listen to the words of the Great Mother, who was of old also called Artemis; Astarte; Diana; Melusine; Aphrodite; Cerridwen; Dana; Arianrhod; Isis; Bride; and by many other names.
Whenever ye have need of anything, once in a month, and better it be when the Moon be full, then ye shall assemble in some secret place and adore the spirit of me, who am Queen of all Witcheries.
There shall ye assemble, ye who are fain to learn all sorcery, yet have not yet won its deepest secrets: to these will I teach things that are yet unknown.
And ye shall be free from slavery; and as a sign that ye are really free, ye shall be naked in your rites; and ye shall dance, sing, feast, make music and love, all in my praise.
For mine is the ecstasy of the spirit and mine also is joy on earth; for my Law is Love unto all Beings.
Keep pure your highest ideal; strive ever toward it; let naught stop you or turn you aside.
For mine is the secret door which opens upon the Land of Youth; and mine is the Cup of the Wine of Life, and the Cauldron of Cerridwen, which is the Holy Grail of Immortality.
I am the Gracious Goddess, who gives the gift of joy unto the heart. Upon earth, I give the knowledge of the spirit eternal; and beyond death, I give peace, and freedom, and reunion with those who have gone before. Nor do I demand sacrifice, for behold I am the Mother of All Living, and my love is poured out upon the earth.
Hear ye the words of the Star Goddess, she in the dust of whose feet are the hosts of heaven; whose body encircleth the Universe; I, who am the beauty of the green earth, and the white Moon among the stars, and the mystery of the waters, and the heart’s desire, call unto thy soul. Arise and come unto me.
For I am the Soul of Nature, who giveth life to the universe; from me all things proceed, and unto me must all things return; and before my face, beloved of gods and mortals, thine inmost divine self shall be unfolded in the rapture of infinite joy.
Let my worship be within the heart that rejoiceth, for behold: all acts of love and pleasure are my rituals. And therefore let there be beauty and strength, power and compassion, honour and humility, mirth and reverence within you.
And thou who thinkest to seek for me, know thy seeking and yearning shall avail thee not, unless thou know this mystery: that if that which thou seekest thou findest not within thee, thou wilt never find it without thee.
For behold, I have been with thee from the beginning; and I am that which is attained at the end of desire.

At the end of desire.

Is there a more poetic line anywhere short of “wine-dark sea”?

Poetry is a large portion of my own praxis. What role does it play in yours?

Picture by the blogger; if you copy, please link back.

What It Really Means to “Hold” Community

So, since it’s the best/only thing that I could figure out to do, I’ve been sitting every morning for a few minutes at my altar, continuing to hold Greater Paganistan in my heart. It’s interesting to me the many ways in which, once you start to pay attention to something, the Universe begins to shower you with gifts directed towards your attention. (Energy, as we Witches say, follows attention.) The other morning, the Universe sent me this post by the brilliant Joe Gerstandt. (Hat tip to my brilliant friend who turned me on to JG.) Gerstandt’s not, that I know, a Pagan, but it’s as if he were writing directly to today’s Pagans, wrapped up in the recent controversy from Pantheacon:

The word community gets thrown around a lot today. I see and hear lots of conversations about building community, managing community, [One could add: about "Holding Beloved Community."], etc.

* * *

I think that real community demands a certain amount of mutual commitment, a certain amount of relational courage. If we break it down to the basics, relationships can be built of two things, difference and commonality. Between all humans there exists difference and commonality and in healthy, generative relationships both are shared.

But that is hard to do. It is much easier (at least in the short run) to just focus on one or the other and that is what most groups do. Groups of people have very strong tendencies toward focusing just on their commonality or just on their differences. Both are problematic. (emphasis added.)

When we choose to focus only on commonality, we are subordinating individual identities to group identity. To do this we have to ignore, deny and remove difference. Highly conformist, this approach creates false, cosmetic community. When we prioritize our individual differences, we cannot come together at all. We are subordinating group identities to individual identities and this approach results in silos, segregation, borders, walls and generally some form of violence.

***

There are people that will tell you that group identities (nation, gender, political party, profession) should always take priority over individual identities. There are also plenty of people that will tell you that group identities should always be subordinate to the individual.

As usual, I think that the truth lies in the middle. Whether you are talking about an actual community, an organization, a virtual network or some other social entity, a robust and creative community demands a dynamic balance of both.

It requires that we choose to belong to each other. It does not require us to like each other or agree with each other…it requires us to be committed to both caring for the container of commonality and the individual differences inside. (emphasis added.)

It’s hard work. There is nuance and flexibility involved. It requires prioritizing and investing in relationships. It requires listening and dialogue, maturity and courage. It requires “I” and “we” language, not “them” and “they.”

It takes courage to live in paradox. Real, living community requires us to embrace both the truth that we are all different and the truth that we are all the same. It is paradoxical and it is not simple or easy, that is why it requires courage.
Be good to each other.

I couldn’t have said it better, myself. “Relational courage.” Dear Greater Paganistan: this is my wish for you today.

Picture found here.

Friday Night PotPourri

*Just off a conference call to finalize plans for this Sunday’s Celebration of the Divine Feminine and Religious Freedom. It’s going to be absolutely amazing. It will start at noon at Lafayette Park. Without giving too much away let me just say: Have you ever wanted to dance the Spiral Dance in a place of power at Samhein? Well, have you?

*Valeriana’s pretty much got Samhein covered:

As people around me speak their dread of
the coming cold and the growing dark, I sink into my roots, release summer’s fire through my fingertips, and begin the composting of the year. Dreaming into the dark, I tap the ancient well of blood-wisdom. In the spring, dreams will rise up through my veins like the sweet sap of a sugar maple.

You should go read the whole piece.

*Last weekend and, again, tonight, G/Son and I watched Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. G/Son isn’t quite sure what to make of Gollum. On the one hand, he can tell that Gollum’s bad. But, on the other hand, he feels sorry for Gollum. We talked about how Gollum used to have the ring and the ring is power. And about how too much power can corrupt someone. Tonight, G/Son asked me, “Nonna, how come when Gollum got the ring and power corrupted him, it made him so that he couldn’t walk upright like a hobbit?” I love that kid.

*Here’s a lovely chant for Samhein:

Between the heavens and the earth
The way now opens to bring forth
The Hosts of those who went on before;
Hail! We see them now come through the Open Door.

Now the veils of worlds are thin;
To move out you must move in.
Let the Balefires now be made,
Mine the spark within them laid.

Move beyond the fiery screen,
Between the seen and the unseen;
Shed your anger and your fear,
Live anew in a new year!”

Found here.

*Winter seems determined to make an early start, at least here in the Mystical MidAtlantic. I worry about the OccupyDC protesters. I’m going to pull out my yarn stash (every knitter and crocheter has one!) and start making quick stocking caps for them. We all do what we can. I’ll think of it as guerilla knitting.

*Ireland’s elected a poet as president.

One wonders what it would take for Americans to do that.

Picture found here.

Demonstration in Lafayette Park, DC to Counter #NAR

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

More on this soon:

DC Pagans to Hold Halloween Ceremony Countering the New Apostolic Reformation Cursing Prayer Campaign
On October 30th in Lafayette Square Park

Silver Spring, MD, October 19th, 2011 Priestesses and priests from the Washington, DC Pagan community will hold a Celebration of the Divine Feminine and Religious Freedom in Lafayette Square Park across from the White House on Sunday, October 30th, 2011, as a protest to the New Apostolic Reformation’s 51-day prayer campaign targeting Pagans, Wiccans, Witches, Druids, Heathens, and other Goddess-worshipers nationwide.

The New Apostolic Reformation is a Dominionist group of Christians preaching that all feminine forms of deity are demonic. The NAR is engaged in a 51-day campaign of imprecatory prayer to create a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in the USA. Republican presidential hopefuls Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry are influenced by the NAR agenda.

Reverend Barry Lynn, United Church of Christ minister and executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said, “Some people think the Dominionists and the New Apostolic Reformation are a newfangled movement. I call them what they are: the Religious Right in a new gown. They’re not fooling anyone. This is the same old bunch of theocrats we’ve been dealing with for more than 40 years. It’s the same crew that believes only its narrow version of Christianity is acceptable and pleasing to God. It’s the same collection of people who believe their religion gives them the right to run everyone else’s lives.”

Rev. Lynn went on to say, “I have news for them: Wiccans and Pagans are part of the American religious mosaic, and they’re here to stay. Founding Fathers like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison gave us religious liberty – and that means religious liberty for everyone. The followers of nature-based faiths are going to use it because they don’t want to lose it. What could be more in keeping with the great American tradition?”

Katrina Messenger, a writer, teacher, blogger, poet and Washington, DC native, will be the main celebrant in Lafayette Square Park. Ms. Messenger said, “The methods used by the NAR and other Dominionists are founded upon hate, fear, and ignorance. Their demonization of our Gods and Goddesses uses inflammatory language that can lead to violence and discrimination against followers of minority religions. We have choices in how to respond to this threat to our freedom and our faiths. Many are resorting to prayer, some to writing letters, and some to defensive strategies. We decided to honor the Queen of Heaven, the Goddess Inanna, in a public space, and demonstrate the very freedoms the Dominionists seek to destroy.” Ms. Messenger is the founder of Connect DC and the Reflections Mystery School in Petworth.

Event organizer Caroline Kenner is a Washington, DC-born shamanic healer and teacher who now lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. “Nationally, many in our community are appalled by the scurrilous lies about our Goddesses spread by the New Apostolic Reformation. We Pagans are proud American citizens entitled to all the religious freedom granted by the Founders of this country in our Constitution. We are dismayed by the hate-filled rhetoric the New Apostolic Reformation uses, and we wish to show the public that our Goddesses are beneficent and peaceful deities.”

The event in Lafayette Square Park begins at noon and ends at 5pm on Sunday, October 30th, Samhain eve to many Pagans, leading into one of the most holy days of the Pagan year. “Samhain, or Halloween, is the Feast of the Ancestors in some of our Pagan religions. We will invoke the Founding Fathers and Mothers of our nation during our ceremony, along with a multitude of Goddesses from pantheons both ancient and modern. Among our Goddesses will be Lady Liberty and Columbia, the Goddess who stands guard atop the Capitol Building,” said Ms. Kenner. “The New Apostolic Reformation people would topple Columbia from Her pinnacle, and rename DC the District of Christ.”

There will be a number of people offering prayers during the ritual, including a Unitarian Universalist minister and celebrants from several Pagan faiths. After the religious ceremony, there will be drumming, dancing, chanting and energy raising designed to protect people in all fifty states and DC who support freedom of religious belief and practice for everyone. People of all faiths or none are welcome to join the event.

Sacred Space, an annual conference on metaphysics, mysticism and magick, now in its 22nd year, is the sponsor of the celebration in Lafayette Square Park on October 30th. Supporting organizations include Connect DC, Reflections Mystery School and Gryphons Grove School of Shamanism. Individual supporters include Washington, DC Pagan bloggers Hecate Demeter, Literata and David Salisbury.

For more information or to read the NAR curse against Pagans, visit: http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2011/09/the-new-apostolic-reformation-message-to-pagans.html

What She Said

Because I know, in the center of my being where I know that I am a woman, that the body matters. There is a wisdom in the body that cannot be overwritten by any intellectual formulation. There is a meaning in the body that is the true meaning of my life. No man can know it, no man can explain it to me, no man has ever gotten it right, and it is a transgression when a man arrogates to himself the task of explaining to me what it means to be a woman.

Because my sisters matter. When I navigate the common divide by rejecting my sisterhood with other women to assume the mantle of manhood, I lose their company. I leave their conversation, their nurturance, the collegial sense of companionship which women of goodwill achieve so easily.

Because there are those among my sisters who cannot navigate the common divide by abandoning their bodies. They cannot bring themselves to sacrifice what the body knows and the company of other women in order to achieve in the world. So they give up — they never enter into the [magikal] lineage at all, or if they do, they content themselves with embodying the muse, the sexual vamp, the all-accepting whore, the love-without-limits mother, and they pursue accomplishments vicariously through the magical men in their lives.

Because I know, in the center of myself where I know the most important truth of my life, that I am not deformed or incomplete [because I am not a man], that I am not fitted only to be a helpmeet, that it is not my purpose in life to be someone else’s inspiration and servant. I know that I reason clearly, that I possess a soul, that I am both a material and a spiritual being. Thelemite that I am, I know that my will is my own and no one else’s.

I refuse to accept that I must abandon my body and my sisters, call the universe Lord, call myself he, center my magic in an organ that looks suspiciously like the male member, enact mystery plays about men’s lives in the world in order to be a magician. And I am incensed that I struggle every day of my magical life with this divide that no male magician has ever had to face, because his body and his gender and his way of knowing in the world is perfectly reflected in the lineage.

I challenge this.

~ Brandy Williams in The Woman Magician: Revisioning Western Metaphysics from a Woman’s Perspective and Experience

Picture found here.

Framing: How Are We Doing?

As The Wild Hunt reports, Pagan Pride Days are happening all over. Let’s take a look at some of the press and consider how well the organizers are doing when it comes to framing their message.

Here’s a report from Michigan:

Sault Ste. Marie Pagans to celebrate Pagan Pride Day

Witches, Wiccans, Druids, Pagans, Heathens, Goddess-Worshippers, and other earth-centred religious practitioners and their families will gather to celebrate Pagan Pride Day on September 11, 2011 beginning at noon, at the Bellevue Park Picnic Shelter.

This educational event, hosted by the Sault Ste. Marie Pagan Association, will include information on associated religious practices, vendors, an assortment of workshops, a food drive to celebrate the harvest, and an open religious ritual.

The celebration is open to the public, and admission is a donation of non-perishable food to support the Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen or “creature comforts” for The Animal Assistance Group.

Cash donations will also be accepted to support future Pagan Pride Day events.

September 11th’s celebration will focus on a ritual celebrating the Autumn Equinox, a time of thanksgiving in many Pagan traditions.

The food and creature comforts drive held in conjunction with this is a way to give thanks for the abundance of the year, and share that abundance with others.

The ceremony will showcase the diversity of the Pagan community, give thanks combined with wishes for continued abundance, and bless the results of the food drive before it is given away.

Participants are encouraged to bring musical instruments, and families are welcome.

This year, we are proud to showcase vendors such as Rolling River Soap Company and Jess’ Crafty Things, as well as items created by Sault Ste. Marie Pagan Association volunteers and a Tarot card reader.

This year’s event is one of 132 worldwide in conjunction with the Pagan Pride Project.

More than a dozen states and Canadian provinces began joining in 1998 to honor the Autumn Equinox as a celebration of earth-based spirituality.

As founder Cecylyna Dewr explains, “Today, major corporations are adding diversity statements and programs to their human resources areas because they have moved beyond mere tolerance to recognize the value gained from a plurality of opinion, background, and viewpoint, especially in an increasingly global community. Yet many people who would be offended by a racial slur, or who support gender equality, still discriminate on the basis of religion because they believe that theirs is the only valid religion, or because they simply are misinformed about the practices of other religions. The Pagan Pride project hopes to challenge intolerance through education.”

Modern Paganism, or Neo-Paganism, is a growing religious movement based on combinations of ancient polytheism, modern eco-spirituality, and reverence for the Divine as both masculine and feminine.

Some of the more common traditions include Wicca or Neo-Pagan Witchcraft, Asatru, and Druidic spiritual paths.

Misconceptions about these religions range from the belief that they practice devil-worship to concerns about casting ‘black magic’; in reality, most practitioners don’t even believe in an entity of all evil, are found in all walks of life from professionals to homemakers, and simply enjoy celebrating a religion that emphasizes respect for nature, humanity, and oneself.

For more information about the event or about Pagan religions, contact Local Coordinator Amanda Zuke at (705) 254-5072 or through email at amanda.zuke@gmail.com .

Sault Ste. Marie Pagan Pride Day (including a copy of this release) can be found online at the website.

The Pagan Pride Project is located online at its website.

This starts off really well, with an emphasis on what the event IS and provides good clues to what Pagans value. See, e.g.: “September 11th’s celebration will focus on a ritual celebrating the Autumn Equinox, a time of thanksgiving in many Pagan traditions.

The food and creature comforts drive held in conjunction with this is a way to give thanks for the abundance of the year, and share that abundance with others.

The ceremony will showcase the diversity of the Pagan community, give thanks combined with wishes for continued abundance, and bless the results of the food drive before it is given away.”

I’m not sure why the event coordinators felt the need to say: “‘Today, major corporations are adding diversity statements and programs to their human resources areas because they have moved beyond mere tolerance to recognize the value gained from a plurality of opinion, background, and viewpoint, especially in an increasingly global community. Yet many people who would be offended by a racial slur, or who support gender equality, still discriminate on the basis of religion because they believe that theirs is the only valid religion, or because they simply are misinformed about the practices of other religions. The Pagan Pride project hopes to challenge intolerance through education.’” Still, it’s not terrible and makes the point that diversity is good. And it ties everything back to the coordinators’ values: “challenging intolerance through education.”

But, then, things go off the rails: “Misconceptions about these religions range from the belief that they practice devil-worship to concerns about casting ‘black magic’; in reality, most practitioners don’t even believe in an entity of all evil, are found in all walks of life from professionals to homemakers, and simply enjoy celebrating a religion that emphasizes respect for nature, humanity, and oneself.” [Please don't say "oneself." It's almost never correctly used and sounds stuffy and fake.]

Remember, when you attempt to negate a negative frame, you reinforce it. The (too long) sentence above is a wordy version of Christine O’Donnell saying, “I’m not a Witch; I’m you.” All anyone remembers about O’Donnell is that she “dabbled into Witchcraft.” If you were a young family looking for a fun event, that last paragraph would likely to put you off. Why risk taking your kids to an event that’s at all mixed up with “devil-worship”? This just isn’t necessary. You know, there’s good reason for parents to be concerned about exposing their children to Catholic priests. Not superstition, but good, factual reason. And you’ll never see the local St. Anthony’s Fall Festival written up with a paragraph that says, “Some parents worry about our priests molesting their children, but our priests are really nice people who love little children.” Know why? Because that’s really bad framing.

So, let’s look at Pennsylvania:

Pagans celebrate pride at annual Erie County gathering

BY DANA MASSING, Erie Times-News
dana.massing@timesnews.com

Hundreds of pagans from at least three states and another country will gather in Erie County this month.

The seventh annual Pagan Pride Day sponsored by the United Neopagan Council of Lake Erie will be held Sept. 10 from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. at St. Nick’s Grove in Millcreek Township.

New this year will be a special 2 p.m. acoustic show by Icarus Witch, part of an effort to expand the yearly gathering, organizers said.

“We decided this year to add some entertainment to it,” said Ruth Sprague, vendor/entertainment coordinator for the day.

Between 250 and 300 pagans and others from Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York state and Canada are expected to attend, U.N.C.L.E. President Rich Konkol said.

“It’s a really good family atmosphere,” he said.

The annual gathering will feature workshops on pagan paths plus an evening bonfire and vendors selling books, pottery, jewelry, incense and other items, he said. Food also will be available for purchase.

Admission to Pagan Pride Day is free, organizers said.

However, there is a fee for the Icarus Witch show. Tickets purchased by Monday are $10.50 for adults and $5.50 for children, Sprague said. After that, including the day of the show, the price increases to $12.50 for adults and $8.50 for children, she said.

Sprague said the Pittsburgh-based band has a new singer, Christopher Shaener, who is originally from Erie. The group, which has six albums, plays “metal in the tradition of the early masters,” according to its website, she said.

“This is a real rare thing to get them to do an acoustic show,” Sprague said.

Besides providing entertainment, Pagan Pride Day is meant to educate, Konkol said.

He said people who follow the pagan path attend to learn more about it.

Organizers also try to attract the general public so people can learn about the polytheistic and nature-based religions practiced by pagans.

DANA MASSING can be reached at 870-1729 or by e-mail.

Nicely done. Notice how the emphasis is on what Pagan Pride Day IS and not on what Pagans don’t do. (I wish D. Massing would capitalize “Pagan,” just as s/he would capitalize “Christian,” but that’s not the organizers’ responsibility.) There’s basic information about the event, a focus on a new feature for this year, and a good nod to the general public: “Organizers also try to attract the general public so people can learn about the polytheistic and nature-based religions practiced by [P]agans.” Nothing negative.

What about Wyoming?

Pagan Pride Day set for Saturday
BY AARON LECLAIR / LBEDIT7@LARAMIEBOOMERANG.COM • THURSDAY, AUGUST 25, 2011

A local Norse pagan church will host a public festival this weekend to educate the public about paganism, to provide fun activities for children and adults and to collect donations for the Laramie Soup Kitchen.

The Wolf Tree Kindred will host a Pagan Pride Day festival from 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Saturday at the Otto Dahl shelter in Washington Park.

The event is alcohol-free and will include representatives from a number of pagan groups and belief systems from Laramie, Riverton and Gillette, Wolf Tree Kindred Gythia (High Priestess) Bronwyn Thompson and Chieftain Amy Bernard said.

“We hope to educate the community,” Thompson said. “(Paganism) covers a lot of religions that they would be familiar with, but just don’t realize that everything is lumped under one name.”

Buddhist, Daoist/Taoist, Wiccan, Eckankar and Unitarian Universalist groups have been invited to the event.

Pagan Pride Day will begin with an opening ritual performed by Jo Aelfwine, a local Wicca practitioner.

“Four different people will call down the cardinal quarters (North, South, East and West),” Bernard said. “And, we will invoke the blessings of the deities.”

Thompson said the opening ritual should last about 15-20 minutes.

From noon-5 p.m., activities and games will include sack races, water balloon tosses, relay races and Wolf Tree Kindred’s unique take on Pin the Tail on the Donkey with Pin the Tail on Sleipner. (Sleipner was the personal steed of Odin, chief of the Norse gods and father of Thor.)

There also will be tarot card, rune readings and a children’s booth with games, Bernard said.

In addition to activities and games, Pagan Pride Day will have raffles and a silent auction to raise money to support next year’s event.

Bernard said hosting this year’s Pagan Pride Day has “set us back over $1,500 or our own money.”

Raffle tickets will cost $1 or $5 for six tickets.

Items up for raffle include books, bath salts, crystal goblets, decks of tarot cards and “mystery baskets.”

“Hopefully, we’ll have an assortment for everyone, not just pagans,” Thompson said.

The silent auction will feature artwork, a Viking-style drinking horn made by Bernard, a collection of Joseph Campbell mythology books and handmade jewelry.

Both the raffles and silent auction will end at 7 p.m. Participants do not need to be present to win.

Vendors, meanwhile, will be set up around the Otto Dahl shelter and will sell jewelry, clothing and other arts and crafts.

Wolf Tree Kindred asks that all participants bring a canned good or nonperishable food item to be donated to the Laramie Soup Kitchen.

Pagan Pride Day will end at 8 p.m. with Bernard directing a closing ceremony.

“We’re planning to do a Norse ritual,” Thompson said. “It’ll probably only last about 20 minutes.

“It might take longer depending on how many people decide to join in.”

A drinking horn full of apple juice will be passed around and the participants will make toasts to whomever they wish, Thompson said.

In the traditional Ásatrú ceremony, a drinking horn full of mead or ale is passed around and participants make toasts to the gods, other supernatural beings, heroes, ancestors, past deeds and to oaths or promises of future actions.

Both Thompson and Bernard said people should feel free at any time to ask Pagan Pride Day volunteers or Wolf Tree Kindred members any questions about paganism.

“We’ll all answer questions,” Thompson said. “We’ll all have nametags.”

There will be handouts with information about various pagan faiths, Bernard added.

For more information about Pagan Pride Day, contact Bernard at 421-1627 or Thompson at (480) 751-9194.

Laramie group has 10 full members

Wolf Tree Kindred was founded two years ago in Laramie and is officially registered as a church by the state of Wyoming, Bronwin Thompson said.

“We are what is called Ásatrú, which is also known as Heathen,” she said. “We follow the Norse gods.”

Ásatrú (Old Norse for “belief in the gods”) was practiced on a large scale for thousands of years throughout Europe before the rise of Christianity, according to the Ásatrú Alliance, which is one of four major national Ásatrú organizations.

Specifically, the Northern European inhabitants living in the lands that today are Scandinavia, England, Germany, France and the Netherlands practiced Ásatrú.

Back then, as they do now, Ásatrú followers worshipped the Norse pantheon of gods and goddesses, which includes Odin, Thor, Freya, Freyr, Tyr, Loki, Heimdall, Skadi, Frigga and others.

Ásatrú has received some negative press over the years with various White supremacist groups using the religion to promote hate.

However, the Ásatrú Alliance states Ásatrú is apolitical and does not “practice, preach or promote hate, bigotry or racism.”

Furthermore, Thompson said White supremacist groups that follow Ásatrú are no more representative of Norse pagans than the radical anti-gay, anti-Semitic Westboro Baptist Church is representative of mainstream Christians.

Wolf Tree Kindred has 10 full members who meet at Bernard’s home.

For more information about Wolf Tree Kindred, go to the church’s Web site at http://www.wyomingasatru.com or e-mail wolftreekindred@wyomingasatru.com or bthompson@wyomingasatru.com.

To learn more about Ásatrú, go to the Ásatrú Alliance Web site at http://www.asatru.org or to the Wikipedia entry for Germanic Neopaganism at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_Neopaganism.

This starts off really well and provides more detail than you often see concerning exactly what’s going to happen at the ritual. That can be reassuring for anyone, including wannabe and newbie Pagans, considering attending.

Here’s where the message goes off of the framing rails: “Ásatrú has received some negative press over the years with various White supremacist groups using the religion to promote hate.

However, the Ásatrú Alliance states Ásatrú is apolitical and does not “practice, preach or promote hate, bigotry or racism.”

Furthermore, Thompson said White supremacist groups that follow Ásatrú are no more representative of Norse pagans than the radical anti-gay, anti-Semitic Westboro Baptist Church is representative of mainstream Christians.”

Again, the Catholic church has received some negative press over the years with various priests using the religion to molest children. But you’re not going to read about that in an article promoting a family festival to celebrate the Feast of St. Ethelbert. So why do Pagans think they need to apologize?

However, let’s imagine that members of the Asatru Alliance feel that they simply must separate themselves from racisim. If so, how about this:

The Asatru Alliance is not a political organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, national origin, or religion. We value diversity and all members of the community are genuinely welcome to attend our festival.”

Positive, but gets the message across. The organizers’ point that: “White supremacist groups that follow Ásatrú are no more representative of Norse pagans than the radical anti-gay, anti-Semitic Westboro Baptist Church is representative of mainstream Christians,” is a good one, but should be saved for a response to a specific question from the reporter: “Isn’t it true that Asatru groups are simply a cover for white supremacy?” It’s a nice way to frame the answer in terms that most Christians will understand and then allows the speaker to quickly shift focus. “Our event will include Buddhists, Taoists, and Unitarian Universalists. We’re collecting donations for the Laramie Soup Kitchen, which, as you know, feeds several hundred people a week . . . .”

BTW, the comments to this article are worth a read.

Check back later this week for more on how we’re doing framing our Pagan Pride events. If you’ve got an article about your event, please let me know. I’d like to start putting together a collection of well-framed announcements that other groups can use as models.

Picture found here.

Framing the Discussion

Everybody knows that I’m a one-note crazy woman, always harping on how Pagans need to learn framing.

Maybe it’s my training as a lawyer. Maybe it’s my stubborn Moon in Taurus. Maybe it’s my Ascendent Gemini understanding that how you express yourself is as (if not more than) important as what you say. Or maybe it’s because so many well-meaning Pagans start off on a defensive foot, immediately undercutting their message. We’re heading into the season of Pagan Pride events, and (fair warning) I’m going to ramp up my rants about framing.

Gus diZerega writes one of the best blogs in Pagondom and if you don’t read him regularly, you should. He’s got a brilliant post about arguing (having a nice discussion) with a Christian Evangelical at Starbucks (because Gus has about 1,000 to the 1,000th power more patience and kindness than I will EVER have). And you need to read the post (it’s not long) to watch how skillfully Gus handles framing. Please. If you are EVER even maybe, possibly, likely, kindamaybesorta going to talk to the press (or Evangelicals at Starbucks) go read Gus’ post.
Here’s just a taste:

So we began. I stayed friendly but I never allowed him to set the terms of the discussion because, frankly, I find those terms and assumptions ludicrous. For example, John wanted me to acknowledge [that] if there was a deity, that deity owned the earth. Therefore everything we had[,] we owed to Him, and even our acts of generosity towards others were false because we acted with goods we did not own unless we were at peace with God. This is the perversion of spirituality that comes from injecting eonomics into religion.

I told him I did not think ‘God’ owned anything, which implied distance between God and the world. Rather the Sacred was in everything. I wanted him on my turf because then we could have an interesting conversation and he might learn something to deepen his understanding (emphasis added).

John’s most common tactic was to try and emphasize what we had in common once he knew I was not an atheist, trying to build a bridge between us. Normally I am into bridge building, but only when the other side is willing to respect mine. I knew this was not the case with any evangelicals I had ever met. The tactic was to open us up for the sales pitch that would inevitably come.

Consequently whenever he remarked on how much we had in common I would return to what we did not have in common, particularly their claims they were the only true [religion] and that there was something particularly special about Christian morality or practice.

I said of course we have some things in common, but there is even more that divides us. I have never seen in theory or behavior anything to set Christians aside as uniquely special ethically. Where’s the evidence? Also, while you have not said it, you believe you have the one true path. I say there is no such path. While you have not said it, you also believe all alternative religions are deluded, demonic, or deeply in error. I do not. He did not contest my statements. He could not and still be an evangelical.

Go, thou, and do likewise.

Picture found here.