Broomstick Chronicles

Loving Yule

2011-12-22T17:24:00.000-08:00

The altar has been erected with loving care, each item carrying meaning and intent. Similarly, the hearth has been laid with care, the cauldron of gifts on the fireplace apron. Witches gather and greet one another.

The priest sings incantations as he prepares salt, water, and incense. During the course of the ritual, a newer coven member may stumble a bit on wording, but is quickly, gently, and lovingly righted on his footing by more experienced colleagues. The ritual unfolds seamlessly and gracefully.

We meditate on the year and the darkness. All candles are extinguished. Out of the darkness, a priestess lights the center Sun candle, then the other candles on the altar. I am struck by the beauty of the poetry she speaks as she brings back the light. A priest takes the flame from the altar candles and uses it to ignite the hearth fire.

We dance around the old year's dry wreath, chanting: "Horned One, Lover, Sun, leaping in the corn, deep in the Mother, die and be reborn." The priestess calls a drop and places the old wreath on the fire, where it roars and brightens the whole room. In some years, this act elicits cheers. This year, however, we gaze in silence -- contemplative, reflective, awestruck, warmed, renewed. We see a bright year ahead

After some time of communal silence, we exchange gifts from the cauldron, each a surprise to the recipient. We share culinary delights that each of us has brought to our common feasting. We engage in sacred conversation -- sacred because it takes place within the sacred circle.

We are rewarded for our efforts and our honoring (or maybe not by our efforts) by the return of the Sun, without whose light we and the many beings with whom we share this glorious green egg cannot thrive.

I am sustained, nourished, renewed by the sharing of this annual rite.

Solstice blessings to all! May your year be warm and bright like our burning wreath.

AAR Annual Meeting, Part V

2011-12-12T05:42:00.000-08:00

Shawn Arthur of Appalachian State University presided over the Contemporary Pagan Studies session on Pagan Analysis and Critique of "Religion on Monday afternoon.

Suzanne Owen's paper described "Definitions, Decisions, and Druids: Presenting Druidry as a Religion." In England, where they do not have separation between church and state, residents are asked to state their religions on census forms. For religious groups other than those of the state religion to thrive, they must be sanctioned or approved or in some way officially recognized by the government. In recent years Druids have sought, and eventually received, such recognition. Dr. Owens' paper detailed their efforts. During Q&A, Patrick McCollum noted that this case in England has been useful in efforts here in the U.S. for inmates who are Druids (and other Pagan inmates) to assemble as a group in prison chapels for worship and ceremony.

Dr. Christine Kraemer, Cherry Hill Seminary, delivered an excellent paper on "Perceptions of Scholarship in Contemporary Paganism." Of course, since Christine is Chair of CHS' Department of Theology and Religious History, I'm confident that she's knowledgeable and current on such matters. She offers several examples of Pagan critiques of Pagan scholars and their responses -- Ronald Hutton, Ben Whitmore, Aidan Kelly, Don Frew, et al. While confirming the value of these critiques, she also cites Richard Hofstader's contentions, propounded in his book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life , that this attitude is "historically rooted in deeply held American values such as egalitarianism and democracy." He claims that nineteenth-century evangelical religions have influenced American thought so that it expresses "more heart-centered than head-centered values," and that this attitude is found among modern amateur Pagans as well.

Helen Berger, Brandeis University, delivered a paper called "Fifteen Years of Continuity and Change within the American Pagan Community" that follows up on her earlier studies. She noted that religions either die or change.1 Among the changes she found in her follow-up studies are:

The population of American Witches and Pagans2 who are female has increased from 65% to 71%.
Pagans are geographically more evenly spread, pointing towards "normalization."
Pagans are more educated than most Americans; 98% have high school diplomas compared to 87% for the rest of the population.
There are fewer "older" Pagans. I don't recall that Helen specified what age would be considered "older," but it appears that more of her respondents were "younger." This fact, coupled with the fact that religions either change or die, reinforces the need for us to explore the notion of eldership, as I've been doing.3
Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed claim to be solitary; 86% of "younger" people consider themselves to be solitaries.

These data provoked lots of questions. For me, I wonder if the fact that so many claim to be solitaries reflects perhaps: A dearth of teachers and/or training covens? An unrealistic expectation of what covens are? An indication of poor social skills and difficulty getting along with others or building trust with others? A move away from a more private practice and towards a preference for larger-group or community rituals?

Caroline Tully, University of Melbourne, delivered the final paper, "Researching the Past as a Foreign Country: Cognitive Dissonance as a Response by Practitioner Pagans to Academic Research on the History of Pagan Religions." Caroline is someone many of us have known for some years online, but on this, her first trip to the U.S., we had the good fortune to meet her and hang out. Her paper reminded me once again of a phenomenon in Paganism that I call a "yearning for authenticity." Many people, not just Pagans -- Christians are a fine example -- seem to require evidence of antiquity or of a long unbroken (or broken and reclaimed, revived, reconstructed) tradition to cite as a claim of authenticity, to claim credibility. I am not among them. On the contrary, I see much syncreticism in almost every religion of which I have some knowledge. I don't think a religion is more or less authentic because of its alleged antiquity. I think it's authentic if it speaks to its practitioners' spiritual needs, if the practice of its forms offers meaning and comfort,

Later I attended the Comparative Studies in Religion Section session on Noncanonical/Nationalist Reinventions of Religions' Narratives of Origin, Christopher Patrick Parr, Webster University, presiding. Chris, who teaches religious studies and I had encountered one another at other sessions and we had a friendly chat before the meeting began. The subject intrigued me. Pagans have many stories of their origins. All religions and ethnicities and groups of people seeking to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world, or seeking to define themselves, and seeking a sense of group solidarity and cohesion, have narratives of origin. We Pagans have a few ourselves.

I apologize ahead of time for confusion about which speaker was speaking about what, since the program only listed their names and not the titles of their papers.

The first speaker said that there were numerous neopagan nationalist groups in Russia who posit an advanced Russian civilization before St. Cyril, and that they claim a conspiracy of silence on the part of monks and others to suppress knowledge of this earlier time. These groups are more bookish than outdoorsy and do not perform outdoor rituals. They claim a mysterious Russian or Cyrillic or "planetary" alphabets comprised of 147 characters, and that the monks' theft of this alphabet paved the way for aliens and alien culture to proliferate in Russia. Slavs had an autochthonous alphabet and writing before Cyril.

To me, the most interesting paper was about Buddha Shakyamuni and Mother Earth, or Mae Thoranee. Mae Thoranee is a Thai and Laotian Earth mother figure found beneath the Buddha in statues and paintings. The fingers of the Buddha's right hand touches the earth. A tiny image of Mae Thoranee appears underneath the larger image of the Buddha. This Mae Thoranee foundation upon which the Buddha rests reminds me of the appellation of Mary as Mother of God found in Catholic prayer.

Mae Thoranee, protrectress of the land and its fertility, exists in localized versions. She is both animist and Buddhist; the soil is her spirit and the trees are her children. Merit is stored in the water in her hair. She is shown wringing water from her hair, pouring the waters of merit to redistribute it among any wandering spirits. One of the slides showed a statue of Mae Thoranee in the act of wringing water from her air on the grounds in front of a civic building.

Another paper was about Takeuchi Kiyomaro (1874-1965), a priest of the Shinto sect known as "Takeuchi-bunsho," dating from the 3rd-4th centuries CE. The speaker told of how this sect, and others, asserted the superiority of the Japanese people.

* * * * *

Tuesday morning, the last half-day, and which session to savor? I was interested in:

Ethics Section, Economic Ethics and Political Reform, in particular, "Whole Foods or Whole People?: The Madness of Neoliberalism and the Paradoxical Political Economy of Hunger" and "Reforming Economic Excess: Towards a Solidarity Economy." I don't know how much effect a bunch of academics talking about these topics might have to influence economic change or to fill empty stomachs.

North American Religions Section, Industrial Effervescence: Manufacturing Economic Selves and Producing Religious Collectivity in American History, in particular, "Gilded Age Railroad Brotherhoods as Industrial Religion" and "Parts of a Whole: Ecological Consumerism in a Global Age." I find the whole culture of railroads fascinating, and know little about it. I'm also intrigued by brotherhoods, lodges, and other "in-group" organizations. I suspect we could learn more about creating group cohesion, group identity, group solidarity from studying these phenomena.

Women and Religion Section. Performing Gender and Identify through Song in South Asia, "Dancing with the Goddess, Singing for Ourselves."

However, I attended the session on North American Hinduism Consultation, California Dreaming: South Asian Religions Encounter the Counterculture.

"Utopian Settlements, Californian Vedanta, Huxley, Isherwood, and Friends," presented by Smitri Srinivas of UC-Davis, described places and people I've heard of or encountered in my years in California. It was interesting to hear these times spoken of from a historical and analytical perspective when one has some awareness of how they have influenced one's life. I say that as a person who lived in the heart of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the 1960s.

"The Reception of Kundalini Yoga in California and Its Relation to Sikh Dharma/3HO," was presented by Michael Stoeber, himself a practitioner of kundalini yoga.

"California Hinduism: The Shiva Lingam of Golden Gate Park, 1989-1994," by Eliza Kent, Colgate University, related to a new audience a story I like to cite when the topic of sacred images and sites comes up. I remember when this occurred; it's a wonderful tale.

Jeffrey J. Kripal of Rice University and Shana Sippy, Carleton College offered thoughtful responses. I'm familiar with Dr. Kripal from my readings about my matron, Kali Ma. He wrote Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna as well as other writings on Kali.

I enjoyed comments from people of a certain age, myself included, during the Q&A session at the end of the session.

As I was leaving the room, I was pleased to encounter Samir Kaira, a friend from the Hindu American Foundation. I had expected to run into others from that organization over the course of the Annual Meeting, but other than seeing Dr. Mihir Meghani at the Pagan studies reception on Saturday night, I saw no one. No doubt this is because there were so many intriguing sessions and they probably focused on the Hindu related ones while I focused on the Pagan ones.

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1. Interestingly, it is our survival, and the changes necessary to ensure it, that motivate my work.

2. She did not, to my knowledge, make a distinction between the terms Paganism and Witchcraft.

3. Please see my survey on Survey Monkey Note that this survey has been extended to January 15, 2012, so if you haven't already participated, I invite you to do so now.

AAR Annual Meeting, Part IV

2011-12-07T03:35:00.000-08:00

On Monday morning I attended the New Religious Movements Group on Religious Appropriation of Secular Culture. All five papers interested me from a nascent-culture perspective. First was "Haunted Ground: Nature's Nation form the American Metaphysical Perspective," followed by "Summer Camp and New Paradigms of Sacred Space in New Religious Movements," by Ann Duncan, Goucher College. In past posts on this blog, I've commented about Reclaiming's Teen Earth Magic, a summer camp for adolescents. Many of these teens are alumni of the annual Witchlets in the Woods family camp. Summer camps have been a part of American religious life since at least the early 19th Century, if not earlier. I attended both Girl Scout and Methodist Church summer camps in the 1950s.

"From HippieCrits an' Jesus Freaks to the Twelve Tribes: the Integration and Reinterpretation of Vietnam Era Pop-culture into a Fundamentalist Communitarian Movement's Ideology" had great potential, but I think this was the first paper the two young scholars, Bryan Barkley and C.A. Burriss, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, had ever presented because they fumbled a lot when their Power Point Presentation didn't respond as they'd planned, and as a result they lost time and had to abbreviate their talk. It dealt with a Christian camp created by counterculture boomers, presuming to appeal to younger seekers, but the reality turns out to be that there's a lot of transiency. People come but don't stay long. I think only six people have been there any length of time.

I'm only minimally knowledgeable of the many Pagan attempts at creating Utopian communities, but I do know that it is a desire for, a yearning for, a belief in the possibility of a "better" world that motivates many Pagans. "Better" means different things to different people, but one might reasonably assume "better" would include plenty of nourishing food, warm, comfortable shelter, clothing, loving family and community, the pursuit of "right livelihood," education, music, art, all in an atmosphere of safety, mutual love and trust, a spirit of cooperation, working together for the common good.

Shannon Harvey spoke on "'Eat Your Way Back to the Godhead': Reducing Karma and Calorie-intake Using International Society of Krishna Consciousness Cookbooks."

But it was the final paper that I found most intriguing, "Hoop Spiritualities: The Hula-Hoop and Embodied Spiritual Practice," presented by Martha Smith Roberts and Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand, both from UC Santa Barbara. Both scholars are hoopers themselves. They undertook this study because anecdotally they learned that hoopers underwent spiritual experiences when they got "in the zone," and they themselves had had similar experiences. They surveyed many hoopers from around the country. Hooping appeals more to women than to men, although among the men there are charismatic teachers. Some hoopers spin for many hours a day. Respondents described their experiences as being meditative, offering a sense of oneness with the universe, a sense of peace. Hooping rebalanced them from the stresses of their daily lives. It created an altered state of consciousness in the hoopers. The sense of being a part of the world both increased and decreased with this sense of wellness. It increased a feeling of interconnectedness yet allowed hoopers to let go of worldly concerns.

As Roberts and Gray-Hildenbrand described their findings, I was struck by all the parallels I was seeing between hula hooping and Pagan religious practices. First, hoopers are literally working within a circle; most Pagans construct sacred space in a circular form. Hoopers have no guru and neither do Pagans, although we do have organizers, ritualists, writers, and leaders among our illustrious co-religionists. Hooping has no doctrine. We call the space we create one that is "between the worlds." Hoopers feel suspended between the worlds. Respondents described individual spiritual experiences in the course of hooping, as Pagans do of experiences in ritual, and their experience/learning is embodied. More women practice Pagan religions, as more women spin hula hoops "religiously." I spoke to Ms. Gray-Hildenbrand after the session, since any Q&A time had been eaten by delays of one kind or another. She agreed with the similarities I had observed, and said that as it happened, a large percentage of their survey respondents identified as Pagan.

While I attended the NRM session described above, I forewent a Wildcard Session on Gods and Monsters of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Imagination. The session addressed ideological and material exchange among Greco-Roman, Anatolian, Mesopotamian and Levantine cultures in the form of shared religious and mythological themes from the Bronze Age to late Roman civilizations. The five papers were "Hearing the Chaoskampf in Iliad 21," Further Parallels in Greco-Anatolian Disappearing God Rituals: the Hittite Kursa Hunting Bag and the Dios Koidion (Fleece of Zeus)," Syncresis and the Cult of Isis in the Greco-Roman World," The Greek Gigantomachy and the Israelite Gigantomachy: Giants as Chaosmacht in Israel and the Iron Age Aegean," and "The God Aion in a Mosaic from Paphos and Helleno-Semitic Cosmogenies in the Roman East." Don't they sound juicy?

Monday afternoon I was tempted by several sessions. In particular, the

Native Traditions of the Americas Group, Resilience and Revitalization in Indigenous California. "Asumpa (To Flow): Native American Language and Cultural Revitalization through Hip-Hop," Melissa Leal, UC Davis. This whole session sounded intriguing.

North American Hinduism and Yoga in Theory and Practice Consultations, panel on Mother India Meets the Golden State: California Gurus and West Coast Yoga.

Religion in Europe and the Mediterranean World, 500-1650 CE Consultation on the theme of Mapping Medieval Boundaries: Textual, Physical, and Institutional, two of four papers, "The Anachronistic Crone: Margery Kempe and the Hands the (Re/Un)Wrote Her Theology of History" and "From Dominican to Benedictine, form Benedictine to Dominican: Religious Women and Reform in Late Medieval Italy." The second paper interested me because I have formed friendships with two Dominican sisters1 in MIC, and I have heard them speak of the powerful feeling they experience when they consider that they have 800 years of tradition behind their work. I don't quite understand how Catholic religious orders work, but I understand that the Dominican Order includes friars, nuns, and congregations of sisters and lay members. I also know that Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, Dominicans both, wrote the Malleus Malifacarum (Hammer of the Witches) that was so cruelly employed during the Inquisition against segments of the populace I identify with. Regardless, the Dominican sisters I know are wonderful, caring women.

Religion in South Asia Section and Hinduism Group, Mughal Bhakti: Devotees, Sufis, Yogis, and Literati in Early Modern North India. Paper entitled "Bitten By the Snake of Love: Jogis, Tantra, and Mantra in the Poetry of the Bhakti Saints." The San Francisco Asian Art Museum's current exhibit, "Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts" compliments this session.

Indigenous Religious Traditions Group, Sacred Mountains in Indigenous Traditions. Of the five papers, two interested me: "Places with Personality: Sacred Mountains, Sacred Geography" and "Returning to Foretop's Father: A Sunrise Ceremony in Wyoming."

Mysticism Group and Music and Religion Consultation, Music, Mysticism, and Religion. What can I say? Isn't that a lot of what we are about? The four papers that most appealed to me: "The Musical Self: A Nonemotive Reinterpretation of Schleiermacher's Aesthetics of Feeling," "'Drumming' Ritual Identity in Santeria," "From Breath to Dance: Music as a Language of Experience in an American Sufi," and "What the 'Strange Trip' of the Deadhead Community can Teach Us about Religion." Well, duh!

Religion and Disability Studies Group, Metaphor, Language, and Corporeality, in particular "Of Gimps and Gods: Disability as Embodiment of the Divine in Yoruba and Diasporic Religions," by Amy Ifátólú Gardner, UC Berkeley.

Western Esotericism Group, Western Esotericism and Material Culture. Five papers. Egil Asprem of the University of Amsterdam, who spoke first on "Technofetishism, Instrumentation, and the Materiality of Esoteric Knowledge, had joined us on our pilgrimage to Isis Oasis, et al. on Friday. "The Use of Tracing Boards and Other Art Objects as Physical Aids of Symbolic Communication in the Rituals and Practices of Freemasonry," by Shawn Eyer of nearby JFK University. (I'm fairly certain that Shawn's path has crossed with mine somewhere along the line, but I cannot place him at the moment.) I had chatted with the next presenter, Stephen Wehmeyer, at the NCLC-CoG reception on Saturday night, but missed his talk on "Conjurational Contraptions: 'Techno-gnosis,' Mechanical Wizardry, and the Material Culture of African American Folk Magic." Henrik Bogdan of the University of Gothenburg's paper was ""'Objets d'Art Noir,' Magical Engines, and Gateways to Other Dimensions: Understanding Hierophanies in Contemporary Occultism." If I'm not mistaken, Bogdan published a book about Asatru a few years ago that caused a stir. The final paper was "Storming the Citadel for Knowledge, Aesthetics, and Profit: The Dreammachine in Twentieth Century Esotericism."

Though many of the papers speak from the rarefied air of academia's ivory towers, one can also see how many are relevant to, and informed by, contemporary 21st Century (CE) culture. Pop culture and embodiment flavor much of this year's studies. The reader can see from the samplings mentioned here and in my other blogs how the AAR can be viewed as a banquet table laden with a glorious intellectual feast.

Please check this blog in a few days for more about the rest of Monday and Tuesday morning.
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1. Sisters may be confused with nuns. Nuns live cloistered lives. Sisters live and work in the public world.

AAR Annual Meeting, Part III

2011-12-03T04:39:00.000-08:00

Here are a few of the intriguing sounding presentations I missed on Sunday:

New Religious Movements Group, Strategies of Legitimation in New Religion, one talk in particular: "Jungian Archetypes, Metagenetics, and Kennewick Man: Scientific Discourses and Racial Theory in American Folkish Asatru," Carrie Dohe, University of Chicago.

Ritual Studies Group, Case Studies in Ritual Practice, three papers: "Homa: An Exemplary Asian Fire Sacrifice, Holly Grether, UC Santa Barbara; "Dismantling Gender: Between Ancient Gnostic Ritual and Modern Queer BDSM," Johathan Cahana, Hebrew University, Jerusalem; and "Ritual as Technology of the Body in Early Confucianism." Ori Tavor, University of Pennsylvania. The second paper seemed especially helpful given ongoing discussions of gender within contemporary Paganism.

North American Hinduism Group, Constructions of Hindu Selves and Hindu Others in North America, in particular "Sightings and Blind Spots: The 'Protestant Lens' and the Construction of Hinduism," Michael Altman, Emory University. Again, because we are a new religious movement, and because there is a phenomenon identified in the field of ritual studies known as "the Protestantization of religion," whereby immigrant religions strive for assimilation by adopting a Protestant church structure, I thought this talk might offer insights and ideas that might prove useful to us as we Pagans establish ourselves within wider society. We can learn what methods and templates suit the organizational structures and institutions we create and adopt or adapt them, and we can learn what customs, roles, policies, and forms don't suit us and might compromise our uniqueness. In other words, what to emulate and what to avoid. As someone who's been deeply involved for the past ten years or so with establishing a Pagan seminary, I'm acutely aware of the tendency to parrot the "overculture" -- because it's easiest, because it's what we're familiar with. At the same time, I try to consider whether these forms and roles are concordant with who we are.

Death, Dying, and Beyond Consultation, Death in Popular Culture, featured "The Power of Death and Dying: Images as a Means of Conversion and Modes of Shaping Afterlife Beliefs in Nineteenth Century America," The Guide of Souls: Characteristics of the Psychopomp in Modern American Media," (there's that pop culture theme again) "Shimmering Between the Symbolic and Real in Pan's Labyrinth and The Fisher King," and "Jewish Ghosts: A Content Analysis of Some Jewish Folklore." This is just one of the death and dying sessions I'd have liked to attend. I did, however, run into my friend Megory Anderson at Starbuck's between sessions. Megory founded the Sacred Dying Foundation, on whose Advisory Board I serve. We met when we were both researching books on death and dying; there is a Pagan blessing from The Pagan Book of Living and Dying in the alternative religions section of her book, Sacred Dying: Creating Rituals for Embracing the End of Life.

Anthropology of Religion and Ritual Studies Groups, Ritual and the Construction of Sacred Space. Right up our Witchen alley, right? Of the three papers, I was most intrigued by "A Trip to the Spring: A Four-Generation Water Ritual at Shingleroof Camp Meeting." Summer camps seem to be one of the ongoing themes addressed this year.

Templeton Lecture, Martin J. Rees, Master of Trinity College, Cambridge and Astronomer Royal -- pretty impressive title, huh? It appears he's also titled, Baron Rees of Ludlow -- gave a lecture entitled "Our Final Hour: Can Our Species Determine the Fate of the Earth?" I figured that Dr. (or might the proper title be 'Sir' or 'Baron'?) Rees, a theoretical astrophysicist and winner of this year's Templeton Prize, would be offering his scientific perspective on this rather daunting topic and that he was probably well worth listening to, but alas, I had no time to attend.

PlenaryAddress, New Thoughts on Solidarity, considering the relationship between sexual and religious minorities in the context of the right to appear in public [?]... [and] the affiliative meanings of queer in light of new efforts to separate queer politics from anti-racist and anti-colonial struggles," Judy Butler, UC Berkeley, panelist.

The theme of the Body and Religion Group was Somatospiritual Development: Matter, Symbol, Transformation, again reflecting notions of both embodiment and the embodied spiritual experience and secular culture's influence. Of five papers, one, "Muscled, Mean, and Sometimes Moral: Professional Wrestling and the Embodiment of Cultural-Ethical Tensions," Dan Mathewson, Wofford College, interested me most. Our religion(s) is an embodied practice, meaning that we do our rituals, we perform them with our bodies and voices, rather than listening to an authority figure, often presumed to be more spiritually evolved or "closer to God" than the assembly, tell us what to say and do. We often explain this to mainstream religious practitioners as being experienced rather than revealed (i.e., revealed to Moses or some other mortal).

The Tony Blair Faith Foundation held a session on Religion and the Internet. Had I perfected the art of bilocation, I'd have attended this for two reasons: one is that I wrote a book called Witchcraft and the Web: Weaving Pagan Traditions Online, which discussed the effects the Internet has had on Paganism and the Pagan presence on the Web. The other is that I made the acquaintance of a lovely man named Dr. Ian Jamison, a Face to Faith Teacher Trainer with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation -- and he reads this very blog!

What I've listed here is just a sampling of the many sessions that I was interested in yet had to forgo in order to go to ones I felt were even more important to me to attend. These should give you an idea of the breadth and depth of studies given voice at this annual meeting of 10,000 people -- religious studies scholars, religious leaders and practitioners, religion journalists, seminarians, publishers of religious titles, and many more. You can also see how difficult making those choices is. You can also see thematic threads having to do with pop culture and secularism, mixed and revived cultural and religious practices, legitimation, multiculturalism. All the while, the elephant in the meeting rooms, sometimes named, was Occupy San Francisco nearby and the Occupy Movement in general, as I've mentioned before.

Check back here in a few days for more detailed posts about the sessions I did attend.

Contemporary Pagan Studies Sessions at AAR

2011-11-30T03:05:00.000-08:00

There are always dozens of alluring presentations going on at the AAR; usually the most compelling are scheduled simultaneously. This year was no different. I passed up so many that I wanted to attend, but unfortunately I have not yet learned to bilocate, or even trilocate. Sunday was a big day for Pagan Studies.

The first morning session was a joint one presented by the Contemporary Pagan Studies and the Religion and Ecology Groups on the theme of "Elemental Theology and Feminist Earth Practice." Starhawk and Rosemary Ruether shared the panel, with Marion S. Grau, Jone Salomonsen,1 and Heather Eaton responding. Naturally, due to the theme of the session and the fact that Occupy San Francisco is only a few blocks from Moscone Center West where we were meeting and some AAR folks visited the encampment (not to mention the fact that Starhawk and others are there nearly daily), the subject of the Occupy Movement arose, as it did in several other sessions. This also led to talk about group organization, leadership and no (overt) leadership, egalitarianism, consensus process, and related aspects of group dynamics and movement health and sustainability. One of the first questions addressed to Starhawk and referring to groups and group process was whether we (meaning, I assumed, any of the groups in which she's active, but after speaking to the querist after the session, learned was Reclaiming) had any "rituals of reconciliation." Wow! This took me aback. I had never thought of such a thing, yet it seems so obvious.

Rumination on Reconciliation

Most of the groups I've worked in over the years, 95% of which have run by consensus process, have had problems with divisive issues, difficult people, personality conflicts, and similar disturbances. This is just part of being human and interacting with other humans. As often as not these episodes (or ongoing disputes) lead to one or more members leaving the group. These individuals are usually hurt by the leave-taking, and in addition their loss to the group can leave a rend. The group itself can ritualize the leave-taking, and sometimes they do, but that doesn't account for the disharmony within the leave-taker(s). Of course, it is not a group's responsibility to heal the person who is longer a member; if that were possible, the person probably wouldn't have taken the extreme measure of disaffiliating in the first place. So where does reconciliation come in? Somehow I can't imagine that some of the people I've seen leave a group would seek to reconcile. Not that I don't view that as a positive act towards the ultimate healing of all parties involved. I do. Perhaps it's worthwhile for us to consider how we might create such a ritual, even when we have no candidate seeking to be reconciled. I do think we're all in this together, and we are best served by at least operating in harmony with each other, with other groups and such, even if from a distance. So enacting a ritual of reconciliation, with or without the presence of the hurt former member, could have beneficial effects on all parties involved. This is something I'll have to ponder.

The afternoon session of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group addressed "West Coast Pagan Practices and Ideas."

I had been looking forward to my friend Kerry Noonan's paper on "Wish They All Could Be California Grrrls?: The Influence of California Women on the Goddess Movement and Neo-Paganism," but unfortunately ill health prevented Kerry from being there. This paper was about us!

Dr. Christopher Chase of Iowa State University spoke on "Building a California Bildung: Theodore Roszak's and Alan Watts' Contribution of Pagan Hermeneutics." I always appreciate and learn from Christopher's presentations and this one was no exception. Learning more about influential people you know or know of and who are of your time and place is so much fun.

Kristy Coleman was the last presenter, on the topic of "Re-riting Women: Dianic Wicca." This is another topic I know fairly well; it's of my time and place. Dr. Coleman pointed out that Dianic Craft, as promulgated by Z Budapest, Ruth Barrett, Circle of Aradia, and emanating from Los Angeles and beyond, will be meeting to celebrate their fortieth anniversary this December. An impressive milestone that speaks to sustainability and ongoing relevance.

Fritz Muntean, co-founder and Editor Emeritus of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, responded.

The final session I attended on Sunday was the Religion and Ecology Group's "Author Meets Critics: Bron Taylor's Dark Green Religion: Nature Spirituality and the Planetary Future" featured panelists Sarah Pike, Lisa Sideris, Laurel Kearns, and John Baumann, Bron Taylor responding. The panelists read papers critiquing Bron's book and pointing out what they saw as weaknesses, oversights, or distorted emphases. The general tone, but for Sarah's paper, was that it wasn't "Christian enough." Bron disagreed, and so do I. This is an important book that I hope many people will read.

Sunday evening's Special Topics Forum featured a "Conversation with Gary Snyder, 2011 AAR Religion and the Arts Award Winner," presided over by Mary Evelyn Tucker.2 I've long admired Gary Snyder and his work, even have a quote of his on the back of my business card: "Find your place on the planet. Dig in, and take responsibility from there." Alas, I wasn't able to make it.

Because of my involvement in the world of interfaith relations, I had also wanted to attend the Wildcard Session on "Institutionalizing Interfaith: Emerging Models for Educating Religious Leaders in a Multireligious Context," addressing "How do we train the next generation of spiritual leaders, rooted in their own religious tradition with the skills and motivation to work across faith lines?" The panel, as listed in the program, was comprised entirely of Abrahamics.3 All the more reason for me to have been there, since I would have spoken up about my own real multireligious experiences working in interfaith. I guess it's good that they're addressing this topic as being seminary-study-worthy. We Pagans have been developing interfaith trainings for nearly 20 years, and in fact, Cherry Hill Seminary's 2012 Leadership Institute, "Transforming Our World," will include a session on "Our Place in the World of Interfaith."

~~~~~~~~~~

1. Dr. Salomonsen is the author of Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco.

2. I have never met Mary Evelyn, but have known of her work since the late '90s when I served on The Biodiversity Project Spirituality Working Group with her husband, John Grim. Not that he'd necessarily remember me, except that I was the lone Witch among the dozen participants.

3. The Abrahamic religions are those that sprang from the legacy of Abraham, i.e., Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Thanksgiving Eve Celebration

2011-11-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

Once again this year I joined the Rev. Paul Gaffney and the folks at Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy for a Thanksgiving Eve celebration with the homeless population of our city. A significant part of the ceremony is the gathering of offerings -- primarily sleeping bags and socks -- and blessing them for their use in keeping people warm and cozy through the cold, wet winter months.

Some of the ritual contributions, mostly drumming, poetry, and singing, came from the homeless population. I've come to know a few of them over the years and to appreciate their talents. In particular, we have enjoyed the singing of Cup Bach Pham, a woman from Southeast Asia.

Among the religious leaders who participated were Fr. John Balleza, the new priest at Church of St. Raphael and Mission San Rafael Arcangel; Dr. Laura Stivers, a religion and philosophy professor at Dominican University; Qayyum Johnson from Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center, the Rev. Dr. Curran Reichert of Community Congregational Church of Tiburon (site of the 9/11 Contemplative Service for Peace reported on earlier); the Rev. Dr. Liza Klein of San Rafael First United Methodist Church; and others.

Most touching, to me, was a personal story told by Clair Mikowski from Congregation Rodef Shalom about her parents' immigration to this country and some of the things her mother taught her. She delivered this story on the day her mother would have turned 100 years old.

Among the musical offerings, Taneen, from the International Association of Sufism, sang an evocative sacred chant. They have performed at MIC events in the past and I always look forward to hearing them.

Corby usually accompanies me to this annual event and sings with me. This year he was away for the holiday. I was fortunate in that my friend Gwion from North Bay Reclaiming joined me as a Pagan presence. I told an abbreviated version of the story of the abduction of Kore, later called Persephone, by Hades and the searching and grief of her mother, Demeter. It's a familiar story to many non-Pagans, and since we are celebrating harvest and the fruits of field, orchard, and barnyard, it seems perfect. We followed the brief story by singing "Demeter's Song" by Starhawk. I love the song. I love the melody and harmonies. And I especially love the theology, or worldview, it illustrates.

After the service we moved to a room nearby to share seasonal comestibles.

Ritual in the UU World

2011-11-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

Before the big NCLC-CoG-hosted party on Saturday evening, I attended the Unitarian Universalist Scholars ad friend Discussion on the theme of "Celebrating Embodied and Transformative Worship and Ritual." As a ritualist, I was intrigued by the topic, and as someone scheduled to teach liturgical design at a UU seminary, I was doubly intrigued.

The first panelist, Dr. Robert N. McCauley of Emory University, explained that in UU there are two kinds of members: anti-ritualists and non-ritualists.

The former are those who were reared in religious traditions with extensive, prescribed ritual practices. They were pressured to participate in and perform these rituals and they experienced pressure to conform and censure for non-participation. In addition, many carried the Protestant attitude that rejected the elaborate rituals of the Roman Catholic church in favor of simpler rites. Further, one would assume, they did not find the rituals to be satisfying or enjoyable, the result being that they were anti-ritualists.

The non-ritualists, on the other hand, had little experience with religious rituals in childhood, perhaps from being brought up in secular families. They were uninformed and indifferent; hence, non-ritualists.

Both groups overlook some of the benefits of shared ritual practice. Rituals help create a shared identity and enhance group cohesion. They foster a sense of "morality and ritual connection." They separate the shared ritualists from non-belongers, and increase in-group cooperation while fostering out-group hostility. They way I would put this is that shared rituals create bonding among the participants.

One of the examples Dr. McCauley used to illustrate his points was the cargo cults of Melanesia, a fascinating phenomenon of which I had been ignorant.

"Special agent" rituals, "those in which the relevant supernatural being is the agent of the action," acting either as the giver or the receiver. They are performed only once, since the result is considered to be permanent. Rites of passage are special agent rituals, which usually involve high levels of sensory pageantry (music, aroma, garb, implements, lighting, etc.) and are done once for each "ritual patient."

I'm intrigued by Dr. McCauley's work and intend to explore it further.

The Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones of the First Unitarian Church of San José (California) spoke of using storyteller's art to embody the other. [her emphases] This is a familiar ritual technique in Reclaiming Tradition Witchcraft, particularly in the contexts of WitchCamps. Embodied learning and experiencing the divine in the physical body is a distinctive characteristic of the Craft.

Dr. Emily R. Mace addressed the phenomenon of rituals within the overall UU world that draw liberally upon other, non-Christian sources, usually interpreted loosely. To me, this tends to foster a reliance on scripture over lived experience. While this borrowing from other religious sources acknowledges a wider range of wisdom, it also brings up the problem of cultural appropriation. I'm sensitive to this phenomenon, yet I view most religions, including the Abrahamic faiths, as being syncretic in many ways. In addition, we live today in a wildly diverse multicultural world, one where we are exposed to all manner of religious and artistic expression of the spiritual dimension of our beings. If we learn from those exposures, if we find value in their teachings, if we consider that those teachings enhance our spiritual lives, can incorporating them into our personal practices be wrong? I know this topic is a big bugaboo, but we do need to view it clearly and discuss it honestly.

The Rev. Dr. Dorsey Blake of Starr King School for the Ministry, serves the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, "the nation's first interracial, interfaith congregation," founded in 1944, whose mission was "to create a religious fellowship that transcended artificial barriers of race, nation, culture, gender, and social distinctions," is a dynamic presence who speaks in a deep, resonant voice. He explained that the church is comprised of folks from diverse backgrounds who do ritual together. They create shared experience; they find common ground. He claims that members don't have to be religious, they only need to share values and want to do ritual with others. "Isn't that community?" he asked.

He claims that "worship is radical." An individual may be nobody in society but in ritual he or she is somebody. Shared ritual deepens the spiritual lives of the people who participate. He explained the overall format of the Fellowship ritual, which follows the sequence of Matthew Fox's Cosmic Mass, i.e., four phases progressing from via negativa (grief and sorrow experience) to via positiva (dance of joy, delight and celebration of existence) to via creativa (communion with the divine) to via transformativa (receiving energy of the ritual to, as Dorsey says, "fire souls with the energy of apostleship," or to transform society). These phases include meditation, which can be yoga or breathing or standing and singing; drumming; music for "sitting in the presence"; "the word" (sermon).

The speaker and I share the goal in ritual of not having it become routine with too much repetition, but rather to mix things up, add elements of surprise, and make them participatory. We also both believe that singing without reading the words can allow for "singing from the heart."

Where we differ on ritual practice is the inclusion of preaching. I want ritual to foster an experience, or experiences, or lead to insights or clarity or serenity, or whatever. I don't want to listen to someone tell me how to live or what's going on around me. That doesn't mean I don't love an eloquent, inspiring orator; I definitely do. But I don't necessarily want sermonizing as part of my ritual experience. Perhaps this antipathy comes from my Christian childhood, which was full of preaching, but in any case, in ritual I prefer embodied experience .

The Rev. Clyde Grubbs, recently retired from the Throop UU Church of Pasadena, was the last to speak, but not before I had to leave. This session has refined my thinking about ritual and inspired me to follow up on some resources I hadn't known of before.

Pre-AAR Annual Meeting Field Trip

2011-11-25T19:35:00.000-08:00

L-R: Raina, Egil, Macha, Tim, Mary, Chas, Christine, Nick

On the Friday before the meetings got into full swing, a caravan of eight (Chas Clifton of Colorado; Egil Asprem, a Norwegian student living in Amsterdam; Mary Hamner, a student from NC; Christine Kraemer of Boston; her friend Nick; Timothy Miller, a professor at the Univ. of Kansas; charioteer Julie O'Ryan; and me) took a field trip through Marin and Sonoma Counties, passing near to many significant places (Druid Heights, Sausalito houseboats, Olompali) on our pilgrimages to three sites.

After picking up Raina Woolfolk O'Ryan-Kelly in Rio Nido, we drove to Isis Oasis in Geyserville, home of Loreon Vigné and her many exotic cats, brilliantly plumaged birds, and other animals. The weather was damp and gloomy, so after we toured the temples, studio, lodge, and the rest of the retreat center, we gathered in the toasty dining room to share tea and some tasty "occu-pie" the folks at Isis Oasis had made and brought to the locals at Occupy Geyserville. I bought Loreon's latest book, Lots and Lots of Ocelots. Loreon is one of the few individuals who has successfully bred ocelots in captivity. She has also bred servals. Both ocelots and servals are gorgeous, precious animals whose population is threatened by the encroachment of humans into their native habitats.

After a lunch which took nearly an hour to be served, we drove on up to visit Cat Yronwood and Nagasiva at the Lucky Mojo Curio Co., where Julie's son and Raina's husband, Aidan, works. I took a few photos that weren't that good, but others took more that I hope to see soon and post when I acquire permission to do so. In the meantime, here are two shots of Cat's reading room and an altar inside.

By this time some of us were late for appointments in San Francisco; however, instead of returning, we proceeded to the home of Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart to view her spectacular collection of goddess images. We weren't able to stay long and really immerse ourselves in her collection and hear all her many stories. Another time, I hope.

~~~~~~~

Forgive me, readers. I had this post looking good, only to discover I'd inadvertently posted it to the California Corrections Crisis blog. I got all messed up trying to move it to the Broomstick Chronicles.

It's a Generational Thing: Musing on Our Youth

2011-11-08T04:36:00.000-08:00

At this year's 32nd Annual Spiral Dance Samhain ritual, amidst about 15 glorious altars, the East altar in particular delighted me. I found it beautiful with all the white and lights and several different kinds of knives. One of my most valued magical tools, the blade clearly fosters discernment, allowing us to separate this from that, truth from fantasy, fact from fiction, the pertinent from the irrelevant. With it we can delineate crisp boundaries when we want them. We can envision blue flame when we trace sigils in the air with the tip of the blade..

Also on the altar were feathers and wings, a recorder and a violin and bow, an open book of musical notations, and other books. Books! Intellect! Something I value highly and find undervalued and underused in many Pagan communities.

When I asked who created this altar, I learned it was the youth from Teen Earth Magic (TEM). They obviously have learned their magical symbolism well. From the looks of the altar, they also enjoy working together to create something of beauty to share with their larger community.

Calling the Beloved Dead

Once the ritual had begun, I sat watching various invocations being offered, waiting for the activity I had really come for, the big, intoxicating spiral dance itself, when I was shocked out of my complacency by a powerful invocation that stood out among all. About six young adults came into the central circle amidst the big crowd, and they called, "Beloved Dead, we call you." From various parts of the crowd arose black-veiled persons, each making her or his way to the center and joining one of the living callers in an embrace. In silence. The reverence, respect and love embodied in their invocation honored the memory of all those we love who have passed from this world of the living in a way not often seen. With minimal words, masterful movement, and solemn silence.

I learned that this invocation of the Beloved Dead had been created by guess who? The young people from TEM, with the help of dancer and performance artist Keith Hennessey.

These are kids who grew up in our community. Many attended Witchlets in the Woods family camps with their parents when they were younger, then joined the older kids in TEM camp. I know a few of them a bit and one well. Many of their parents are the generation of my children. When my contemporaries were young parents, our Craft was truly occult, being hidden deep in the dark recesses of the broom closet. As a movement, we were comprised of younger adults rather than having grown up in Pagan families. All of us had sought, and ultimately found (and/or created/co-created), an alternative, more spiritually satisfying religion from the ones, in any, in which we were brought up. Most of us came to Craft from mainstream Abrahamic religions.

I'm heartened to know that these children are hearing our ancient, and new, stories, learning songs and magic, being steeped in Pagan ideals, all changes that enrich our Pagan culture. As it behooves younger people to listen and learn from those who've walked a Pagan path ahead of them, so too it gladdens the hearts of those of us who are older to listen and learn from our vibrant youth. Only when all of us -- the full spectrum of humanity, from the Beloved Dead through all the ages of the living, to the yet-to-be-born -- work and play in concert can we enjoy a religion that draws upon ancient wisdom, applies our knowledge and creativity to the present we inhabit, in pursuit of a sustainable world for all humanity.

MIC Contemplative Service for Peace

2011-09-13T17:15:00.000-07:00

Like so many millions of Americans across the country, we here in Marin County stopped to remember the events of 9/11/2001. There were about a dozen events listed in the local newspaper commemorating that day, so I wasn't expecting too many people to come to this one offered by Marin Interfaith Council, but come they did, about 80 in all. In speaking with others who were there, I learned that some were not religious people, but simply wanted to come together in community for this occasion. They didn't want preaching, of which we had none (and if we had, I likely would not have participated).

We gathered in a circle around Community Congregational Church of Tiburon's new labyrinth. One arc of the circle was shaded by a small grove of redwoods, and another opened onto a vast view of the Golden Gate and the Golden Gate Bridge. A central altar table held a staff (gift to the church from the woman who consulted on building the labyrinth), a blue glass novena candle, a Tibetan singing bowl, and a small statue of Lady Liberty. I placed the last two items there. Lady Liberty's torch held a small candle. There was a light breeze blowing, so I didn't expect to be able to keep a candle lit. Those who saw me about to do so told me not to bother. Still, it was important to light it, so I did. It burned for a few seconds, maybe a minute, and blew out.

The Marin interfaith singers opened the gathering with "Dona Nobis Pacem," a lovely song that most, if not all, religions seem comfortable with. I know I am.

We were welcomed by the Rev. Carol Hovis, Executive Director of MIC, and the Rev. Curran Reichert, pastor of the host facility. I was encouraged to hear Carol speak of the religious dimension of the 9/11 attacks and of the fact that all religions have their dark sides.

The Rev. Jeremy Levie of Green Gulch Farm and Zen Center, read from the Buddhist tradition. Rabbi Henry Shreibman, a reconstructionist Jew, recited in Hebrew from the book of Lamentations, then spoke the words in English. Then MIC intern Abby Fuller rang a bell signaling silent meditation.

From Brahma Kumaris, a Hindu order, Sister Kyoko Kamura played flute while Sister Roslyn Seaton read.

Group chanting and silent meditations occurred between readings.

Sister Colleen McDermott, of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael, read a Roman Catholic meditation.

Following another period of silence, in honor of Lady Liberty, I read "The New Colossus," by Emma Lazarus, written in 1883 and inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York City Harbor.*

As I walked back to my seat on the other side of the labyrinth, I stopped to relight Lady Liberty's torch. It lit, and it stayed lit.

After a musical meditation by Stephen Iverson, Music Minister at Sleepy Hollow Presbyterian Church in San Anselmo and Cantor at St. Rita's Catholic Church in Fairfax, a youth leader, Nura Heydari, from San Rafael Bahá'í Community, gave a reading.

Author Nafisa Haji of the International Society of Sufism, gave the final reading, followed by closing words from MIC intern Abby Fuller from San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo and First Church of Christ Scientist, San Rafael.

We closed with a group chant that was written by a member of the EarthSpirit Community in Boston as her immediate response to the 9/11 attacks. As I led the chant, I extended my hands to grasp those of the people on either side of me, until the we all created one circle.

Rabbi Schriebman played taps.

The magic of the day was that for the duration of the service, Lady Liberty's flame stayed lit. It would flicker and seem to be gone, and then it would leap to life again. Corby and I were watching it intently. I noticed that Carol Hovis across the circle was also watching it. As it turned out, almost everyone was watching that sacred flame, as many of them commented to me afterward. I told them it was magic, which indeed it was. We Pagan priestesses are good at doing magic.

Corby and I, and others, I'm certain, found each different reading offered something comforting, wise, and inspirational to be gleaned.

One could not have asked for a more beautiful day to commemorate such a horrendous day ten years earlier. Or a more beautiful location. Healing is happening.

* I was pleased to learn that my colleague at CHS, Holli Emore, read the same piece at an Interfaith Gathering for Peace in which she participated in Charleston, SC.

Marin Interfaith Council Considers Death Row

2011-09-02T02:59:00.000-07:00

See guest post at California Correctional Crisis blog.

Memorial Procession

2011-07-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

The sound of drums drew people together to a circle made of flowers under the trees in Albert Park in downtown San Rafael. The Rev. Paul Gaffney, of the Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy, welcomed us to the "14th Annual Memorial Procession in Honor of Those Who Have Died on the Streets of Marin County," beginning with a brief meditation.

A man whose name I don't know played a Native American flute, followed by an offering of incense by the Rev. Michaela O'Connor Bono of Green Gulch Zen Center, and a blessing by the Rev. Liza Klein of the First United Methodist Church of San Rafael.

Bearing our flowers, we proceeded in silent reverence up the street lined with palms, as Paul sounded a bell.

It was strange walking by diners sitting at little tables with crisp linens and glasses of wine on the sidewalk and in the windows of restaurants, since they did not appear to know what we were about. We had no sign. Our silence and reverent attitude, together with the ringing of the bell, made it obvious were about something serious. The distracted part of me wanted to engage these folks in conversation about the very fact that we have homeless people in this rich country of ours, to ask them for money to support the chaplaincy, but I refocussed my mind back on the lost ones......

We arrived at the courtyard of St. Raphael's Church, built at the site of Father Junipero Serra's Mission San Rafaél. Some years ago this same group planted a tree in memory of those we were honoring this day on the church grounds, and it was around the base of that tree that we laid our floral offerings.

We were joined by others who had been waiting in shade of a tree in the courtyard, and welcomed by Fr. John Balleza, who has just taken over as pastor from Fr. Paul Rossi, and who is new to Marin Interfaith Council.

This annual memorial was scheduled later in the day this year than it has been in the past, partly due to the scorching sun and uncomfortable heat of the earlier afternoon. This made for a welcome more shaded venue.

People took turns reading the names of everyone known to have died homeless in Marin County since 1995. After each name was spoken, all assembled repeated it together. This act stirred several mourners to tears as he or she heard the name of a loved one and grieved openly in community. I think this is a healthy part of the grieving process, which is one of the reasons I so look forward to hearing each name when I gather with my co-religionists to honor the Beloved Dead on Samhain night.

As I have in past memorials, I offered a prayer for those who have died violently or in great distress, concluding with an appeal to the Mother of Justice that justice be done. Then I taught a four-line chant written by Starhawk and Anne Hill. When everyone had learned it, we sang it together for a while. This year I didn't try to break it into a round -- it's beautiful when done as a round -- and it seemed to flow more smoothly. There were also fewer people this year than in past years. Usually there a contingent of Dominican sisters come. I think the singing went better this time because some people had sung it in the past and because we were in a cooler space. In any case, some people harmonized and overall it sounded really sweet. I trust it did its job of allowing us to blend our voices in song for the dead.

Paul concluded the ceremony with a reading from the prophet Isaiah.

The Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy "provides a compassionate presence for those who are living outside."

If you are a Pagan and you are reading this, especially if you've ever considered doing any work in the world of interfaith relations, you might consider participating in such events in your area. If there is no homeless chaplaincy, there are surely other activities directed toward aiding less fortunate residents of your community. Consider offering your assistance in their work. There is no need to bring religion into it, except in a gentle way. There are no theological discussions, no "whose god(s) is/are better, more real, more authentic, more powerful, more righteous, or even if you have a belief at all, rather than your lived experience with the numinous divine as you've perceived it. Further, it's easy to join in these efforts without compromising the uniqueness of your Paganism in the slightest. Instead, by sharing something of your ways, you not only educate others about who we are, but also you dispel fear and enrich the overall experience for all participants, yourself included. By joining with other people of other religions in projects beneficial to the commonweal, we help mend tears in the fabric of society.

Blessings of the living land,
Macha

Gossip Is the Sticky Stuff

2011-07-22T03:22:00.000-07:00

Gossip is the sticky stuff that holds us together as community. It’s the mortar holding the stonework of our edifices in place. Without gossip we fragment and disintegrate.

I realize that the word gossip has negative connotations. It's a term associated with the shallow, trivial, meddlesome. But, really, it's just engaging in conversation about friends, family, and even foes.

How many times when you encounter a friend do you ask how she's doing, and she asks you the same? And those queries and responses lead you to ask logical follow-up questions about others? Or they lead you in a new direction that concerns news of others? You ask because you care -- about the individual, about others in his life, and about your shared community. Well, you're gossiping.

Where gossip goes south is when someone spreads unflattering information about an individual or group without substantiating its factualness. That's lying. Or when the person doing the telling has malicious intent and puts a negative, judgmental spin on his "news," well, that's not good. And it's not a good use of the sticky stuff that is gossip.

But when you and your friend (or friends) chat about your lives and the lives of others, it's recreational. Instead of doing harm, your talk helps reinforce the threads of connections binding us together in a religious movement like no other in human history.

M. Macha NightMare/Aline O'Brien © 2011

Note: Some months ago, in response to a solicitation, I volunteered to write a response to the question "What is the function/role of gossip (if any) in the community?" As far as I know, it was never published, so here it is.

Growing Pagan Elders: An Exploration of Sustainability

2011-06-29T13:19:00.000-07:00

I began exploring the notion of Pagan elders about 15 years ago when the then-editor of The Green Egg asked me to write an article. I'm pleased to say that the article made it into the Green Egg Omelette, an anthology of the best of GE over the years.

In the Fall of 2010 I created a survey on Pagan attitudes about elders on Survey Monkey. Between then and January 2011, 627 Pagans responded to that survey. I allowed plenty of room for comments. This volume of responses allows us to begin to assess how Pagans feel about this subject.

I come to this subject from personal motivations.

As Carol Christ has said, and as I have often repeated – and I paraphrase -- it’s not enough to reject the ways we have been given if we find them unsuited to who we find ourselves to be, because in times of stress we will turn back to those ways. Rather, we need to create effective alternatives. That was one of the motivations for our writing The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, and it is my motivation in exploring the notion of Pagan elders.

I believe that in order for a community to be sustained, it must include the full spectrum of ages, from the ancestors to the unborn. In between, babies, children, youth, young adults, parents, and elders. Elders may simply be older members of a community. Or there may be an acknowledged group of individuals who play a more formal role in community life.

We Pagans often speak of ourselves as belonging to a tribe, and in the broadest sense I feel that way, too. But we are not like the tribes of our Native American contemporaries or of our (mostly) European, African and Asian ancestors. Pagan groupings are not like the clans of the Celts or the tribes along the Rhine; not like the villagers in Tuscany or Malta. We lack a common familial ethnicity, mores, lore, culture, foods, songs. We contemporary Pagans do, of course, share lore, music, customs, and a language, but not nearly to the degree that tribes do.

We arose primarily from the counter-culture. We were seeking meaning and connection in a rapidly modernizing, culturally diverse, and frequently socially fragmented world. In essence, we sought a tribal identity. And we found it -- only the state in which our tribes find themselves is inchoate, rudimentary, immature, not fully formed. We lack the cohesion of a tribe.

If a tribe is

a social division in a traditional society consisting of families or communities linked by social, economic, religious, or blood ties, with a common culture and dialect, typically having a recognized leader : indigenous Indian tribes | the Celtic tribes of Europe.

then you can see that we are missing several characteristics of tribe, while others exist in a rudimentary form.

When I was “coming up” as a Witch in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1970s and ‘80s, there were few real distinctions made among traditions and few elders. We were all Witches. Some of us were Faery Witches, some NROOGD, Garderians, Alexandrian, Georgian, Majestyc, Tower Family, and plenty of unspecified. The only “elders” of which I was aware were Victor and Cora Anderson (Faery, now spelled Feri) and Grandma Julie of the Tower Family.[1]

In my particular case, I had been doing ritual and magic with a coven, Holy Terrors, and a larger, more public group, Reclaiming Collective, until after some years this particular style of Craft grew to become a tradition in its own right, called Reclaiming.[2]

Well, a few years down the line and matters began to arise that called for the involvement of what, for want of a better term, one might call “elder.” As a member of CoG who met the criteria CoG sets for the issuance of Elder credentials, to wit: “capable of perpetuating the tradition,” I have long held CoG Elder credentials. I officiated at weddings, memorials, baby blessings, etc. I think this criterion is a valid one, but it leaves the matter of what knowledge, skills, and characteristics an elder must have up to the covens and traditions, since CoG is primarily a federation of covens rather than individuals.

But I wasn’t very old, only in my 30s.

I never felt I had anywhere to look, anyone to consult, when difficult community matters arose, not to mention when I had questions about my own psycho-spiritual experiences encountered during the development of my personal and group practice of Craft.

What happened was that I gradually accrued a circle of friends, a series of friendships, with co-religionists I liked, respected, and admired. They were not necessarily from within my own tradition, although frequently they were. Most were active in other Pagan communities, so they had a similar set of experiences upon which to reflect and proffer conclusions, yet were not directly involved with some of the things about which I sought counsel.

These same individuals reciprocally consulted me about matters in their own communities.

For the most part, that practice has worked well. But it’s not appropriate for many matters. For instance, when someone within one’s community (using the term “community” very loosely) feels an injustice has been done, or that someone else has behaved in an inappropriate manner in the context of community work. In the case of Reclaiming, that might be about something someone did or that happened at a WitchCamp or in a class or public ritual.

One of our attempts at addressing such issues is to have a “listening circle. This is especially helpful if there are two or more parties to a dispute and only one of them wants to resolve it. There is, or at least has been, no way to compel anyone to come parley. Yet if there remains someone who feels dissed, unheard, disrespected, or in some other way offended or transgressed upon, I do not think it’s helpful to disregard that person’s, or those people’s, grievance. In such cases, the aggrieved party seeks out others from within the trad whom she sees as fair, and asks them to sit in a listening circle. Those sought out are always people who have been part of the particular tradition for a long time, often since its beginning. I am unaware of any young people having been asked to serve in a listening circle. All of which is not to say that those sitting in the circle are Elders, per se.

These listeners usually reflect back to the offended what they hear, and perhaps offer suggestions of either coping or eventual resolution.

Listening circles do not have the authority of something like a panel of judges.

How do we assure accountability for one’s actions within a trad? Is this a function of elders?

There is also the option of mediation if both parties to a dispute wish to resolve it. In that case, an outside professional may be hired. Alternatively, a group of three to five specially selected “elders” might sit in discussion. Discussion usually opens with some informal ritual, lighting a candle, setting or creating sacred space – such a conference may be done in the context of a sacred circle – or with a prayer or solicitation to a particular deity.

This whole question of Pagan elders is an open one, and will remain so for years as we grow our communities and work to keep them healthy. I have suggested some of the criteria that's been used, or might be used.

The elephant in the living room is what happens to Pagans when they grow old and less able to care for themselves. Should we consider gathering funds for their care as many communities do? Should we begin establishing homes or retreats or other places where we can house our elders in comfort as well as assuring them space at our gatherings and in our homes?

Although this is a subject for another blog, and much, much more discussion, I believe, as I said early on in this blog, that if our communities are to survive and thrive, we need to address the notion of elders, both as a precious resource that can contribute and enrich our lives, and as a group we need to assist as they age.

* * * * *

[1] Today there are several lines of Faery and at least two lines of Tower Family.

[2] Some consider Reclaiming to be a line of Faery/Feri.

MIC Annual Meeting -- Vote Your Values

2011-06-20T04:10:00.000-07:00

On a hot evening in at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in San Rafael, Marin Interfaith Council held its annual meeting. Executive Director Rev. Carol Hovis updated the gathering on the status of the council -- what MIC has sponsored, review of budget, thanking various members for specific work, honoring outgoing and incoming officers, etc. Author Nafisa Haji, whose second novel, The Sweetness of Tears,1 has just been published, and who represents the International Association of Sufism, has concluded her term as President and is now freer to promote her book and work on new ones. The Rev. Rob Gieselmann of St. Stephen's Church in Belvedere takes over. Other Board members' terms are completed and new members have come onto the Board.

Among the announcements, Robert Plath,2 founder of Worldwide Forgiveness Alliance, invited everyone to the 15th annual International Day of Forgiveness on August 7, preceded by workshops on August 6. The honorees share incredibly inspirational stories of forgiveness in their lives. I hope this event is widely celebrated in other towns and cities as well.

Anne Ryan, a former intern with Marin Interfaith Counsel and recent graduate of Dominican University, who now works for CompassPoint, gave a presentation entitled "Vote Your Values: An Interfaith Conversation about the California Budget Crisis." Using a power point presentation and giving more relevant facts about the state budget crisis than I could note, Anne also had us do some role-playing and small-group discussions at our tables.

As a result of one of these discussions, when we were talking about the prison system, I made the point that there are only five religions recognized by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: Protestant, Roman Catholic, Judaism, Islam, and "Native American." Five Abrahamic faiths and one vague name for several belief systems, but one that benefits Native American inmates, and sometimes can benefit Pagans. I pointed out that in that room there were far more than five religious traditions. Perhaps it is assumed that Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, and others don't commit crimes? I spoke briefly about Patrick McCollum's lawsuit in the 9th Circuit. News of this situation was met with dismay.

Among the few facts I managed to note were:

A one-half cent sales tax would generate $3 billion in one year. Of course, this would impact the poor more severely than the wealthier population.
California ranks 48 in the nation on education (spending per student, and teaching results). For a state blessed with so much wealth, this is shameful. It would be shameful even if California were not so prosperous. It's just flat-out shameful! We do our children a disservice by leaving them ill prepared to earn their livings and to compete for jobs.
Among the states where oil is extracted, 21 of them tax the oil companies. The only state that doesn't is California. Imposing such a tax seems an easy partial remedy to our budget shortfall, and a no-brainer but for the pressure of oil interests on legislators.
The state income tax rate for income exceeding $250,000 per year (only on the income that exceeds that amount) is currently 9.3%, which is very low. Increasing that tax to 10% would generate an additional $6 billion in revenue and would affect only 2% of the population. Another no-brainer were it not for political opposition.
California legislators are working on a domestic workers' bill of rights, guaranteeing minimum wage and other benefits commonly extended to wage-earners (as distinct from salaried employees). This can only be a good thing.
Eliminating the death penalty would save the state $125 million annually.
Nonprofits are the second largest employer in the state.

Among the questions she posed, one was, "What did you learn in your home about taxes?" I didn't hear anyone say s/he had learned anything at all about taxes. (Americans are so uptight about money. They would rather reveal intimate facts about their sex lives than speak about their earnings or their personal wealth, not to mention the same if they were to admit to being overextended and/or impoverished.)

One of the Jewish members explained their attitude towards charity, saying that they contribute to organizations in order to preserve the pride of the individual recipients of largesse.

I have known for many years that California has the eighth largest economy in the world. What clicked for me most strongly as a result of Anne's talk was that the money is here! It is in this state, and it just has to be channeled, by way of taxes, into schools, infrastructure, social services, and the many other needs of a large and diverse population.

As always, MIC has provided its membership with valuable knowledge to help us set priorities and work towards a more just world for all.

Other groups can avail themselves of Anne's presentation by contacting CompassPoint.

1. I enjoyed reading her first novel, The Writing on My Forehead, from which I got a better sense of the Pakistani American experience.
2. Bob and I first met in San Francisco in 1964, in what was a previous life for both of us.

Interfaith Day of Prayer, 2011

2011-05-13T15:14:00.000-07:00

Carol Himaka, Stacy Friedman, Don Frew

Every May my local Marin Interfaith Council, of which I am the sole Pagan member (and an active one), presents an interfaith prayer breakfast.[1] The date corresponds with the National Day of Prayer (36 U.S.C. § 119) breakfast in Washington, DC, held on the first Thursday in May, beginning in 1952 in the Truman administration. The fact that the National Day of Prayer is exclusively Christian rather than being inclusive of other religions and yet presumes to call itself national offends me, as it does not reflect the religious diversity of our nation.

We have three speakers from three different religions; each tells us a bit about her or his religion, and then shares a prayer, song, chant, meditation, or some other experience. In the past we've had a Sufi, another kind of Muslim, Rabbis from different branches of Judaism, a Pentecostal, a Brahma Kumari (a type of Hinduism), Roman Catholic, Vedanta Society (also Hindu), Religious Science, ministers of other Protestant denominations, Eastern Orthodox, Zen and other branches of Buddhism; you name it, we have it here in Marin.

This year the Rev. Carol Myokai Himaka, a teacher Jodo Shinshu Buddhism from Enmanji Buddhist Temple in Sebastopol, and Rabbi Stacy Friedman from Congregation Rodef Shalom in San Rafael, were joined by the first representative from an Earth-based spirituality ever to speak at this annual event, Gardnerian Wiccan Don Frew, one of CoG's interfaith representatives, from Berkeley. I'm given to understand that our Interfaith Celebrations Team made this choice, and I'm grateful to them for having done so.

In 1997, when Starhawk's and my book, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, was launched under the sponsorship of the late Shambala Bookstore in Berkeley, Don Frew introduced me. Now, in 2011, I had the pleasure of introducing Don to my friends and colleagues in MIC. What a treat!

Carol spoke about the founding of Buddhism in the 6th Century BCE by Siddartha Gautama, the Buddha, as well as about some of the different schools of Buddhism. This being a rather complicated matter, and time being limited, she went over time and had to conclude rather abruptly.

Since we were behind schedule by now, Don spoke succinctly about the revival of Witchcraft and Pagan religions in the mid-20th Century CE. Then he had everyone stand at their round tables and hold hands while he led us in a tree of life meditation. This is such a perfect contribution to this kind of event: everyone loves trees and can relate to feeling the sun on her leaves and the solidity of the Earth beneath. They loved it! They applauded. They wanted more. And I was so proud and pleased.

Stacy's presentation was also shorter than it might have been. She passed out sheets containing some Jewish prayers, printed in Hebrew, transliterated, and translated, so we could see each prayer in three forms. We recited them together.

We who work in the field of interfaith encourage all interested people to come to our events, especially the annual interfaith prayer breakfast. Often the presenters have co-religionists who come to support their representatives. But we have few.

Unfortunately, events of this nature that take place in the daytime, when most people work, preclude much in the way of Pagan participation. I saturated the local Pagan networks with the announcement of this event (as I do for most MIC events) in an effort to solicite Pagan participation. For all of that, I'm grateful that Hawk and Thermal from North Bay Reclaiming were able to come, because the four of us (Hawk, Thermal, Don and me) were the only Pagans in the room. Why is this? It's because most other religions, mainstream or not, have people whose job it is to participate in interfaith and other activities. They have paid clergy. I'm not making an argument one way or another for our creating a clergy class within Paganism, at least not here and now. What I am saying is that this is a difference that distinguishes us, and one that makes Pagan participation in such activities minimal. In order to do so, one needs either money (sponsorship of an organization, employment by an organization, or independent funds) or to be retired. I am happy to be able to participate because I'm past retirement age and have no job (although I welcome opportunities to earn income).[2] For interfaith representation that involves greater expenditures, I gratefully receive stipend support from CoG. So do other CoG interfaith representatives at times, but it seems that most Pagan organizations don't give interfaith involvement a very high priority. I am happy to be disproven of that assertion.

In any case, I expect to return to the next meeting of MIC's Justice Advocacy Team, the group in which I participate the most, to colleagues who now have a clearer and richer understanding of my religion. I tip my pointy black hat to Don, and the Interfaith Celebrations Team, for this valuable contribution -- to MIC and to the world.

[1] Reports from previous MIC interfaith prayer breakfasts here.

[2] As my friend Victoria says, "lettuce pray" that Social Security holds out. I sing the praises of FDR for the many implementations of the New Deal.

Pagans Respond to Japan's Plight

2011-03-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

People often ask me, how can I, as a Pagan, help in the case of catastrophes like earthquakes, in a way that shows we also share concern for the commonweal? We normally join with mainstream relief organizations and support them with our dollars. This is great. But it doesn't show us in a more distinct and identifiable way as Pagans. That shouldn't matter, but the fact that we are often misunderstood and outright discriminated against gives such a public stance importance.

Further, in my interfaith work I encounter groups that have very strong presence in specific areas of service. For instance, my friends the Dominican Sisters have a Social Justice Committee that does such things as antiwar activism and protesting state executions. We Pagans are not mature enough as a movement to have created much in the way of such institutions. I don't mean that as a criticism, but as a fact; we simply have not been around that long nor have we created much in the way of lasting institutions. For that matter, many Pagans do not see this (creating institutions) as important or valuable. That's a discussion for another time.

In the wake of the devastation that Japan has suffered and continues to suffer, my friend Peter Dybing, who as a first responder himself knows a thing or ten about disaster relief, has initiated Pagan Japan Relief project to raise funds for Doctors Without Borders. We Pagans -- you and me and our friends and colleagues -- can make a statement while making a difference. Please contribute what you can at Pagan Community FirstGiving.

What To Do in Case of Psychic Attack or of Being the Victim of Malevolent Spell

2011-03-11T02:01:00.001-08:00

Being a relatively visible public Witch, I get plenty of requests for spells, which I politely decline to do. I tell people two things: One is that it's best to create one's own spells rather than have someone else cast them. The other is a caution against performing any magic that would interfere with the free will of another. The exception to that would be a binding of someone else, making them unable to do further harm.

Today, through the agency of the Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy of all places, I received this request:

could you get to O[...] [in] contact with a Wikkin [sic] Practitioner who may be able to reverse, break, heal from witchcraft spells. O[...] has a cousin who has a girlfriend from Morocco (speak English) who believes she has had a witchcraft spell put on her.

This has inspired me to publish this brief blog in response to this query and any similar queries that may come my way (or yours) in the future.

If you believe someone has put a negative spell on you (usually called a hex), here are a few things you can do to protect yourself, and possibly reverse the spell.

First, purify your person. Take a shower, or better yet, soak for a while in hot water containing sea salt, bath salts, or Epsom salts. Allow the salt and water to neutralize any negativity within yourself; think of this as you soak. Let any contamination be washed away with the water spiraling down the drain, out of your house and out of your life. Drink lots of water to wash out your insides. Wash your hair, brush your teeth, put on clean clothes. You may also wish to drink mint tea or another tea that you find refreshing.

Second, purify your dwelling. Dust, sweep, vacuum, tidy up, polish. Air out the rooms. Wash the windows with a mild solution of vinegar and water. This allows purifying sunlight and moonlight to illuminate the room as well as making the glass more reflective to deflect unwanted energies.[1]

Circulate through the rooms where you live with sage or other purifying incense, making sure to fumigate everywhere -- stairways, closets, underneath stairways, basement, attic, garage if attached. If your dwelling is one that you can circumnavigate, you may wish to walk all around the outside of the building wafting this smoke.

Then mix salt and water and sprinkle it around the house. As with the incense, do this around the outside of the home, too, if you can. Be sure to cense and sprinkle all openings to the outside -- doors and windows, of course, but also skylights, electrical outlets, heating vents, chimneys, ventilator hoods, toilets, and sink, tub and shower drains. Also do this to mirrors.

While you're doing these things, speak the words, "With Earth and Water I purify this space," and "with Fire and Air I consecrate this space," because that's exactly what you're doing.[2]

Third, ward your space. If you're the witchy sort, trace a protective pentacle with the salt water on all doors, windows and mirrors. Rosemary grows in abundance where I live, so I like to use a sprig of it to sprinkle the salt water. Then I like to leave rosemary sprigs on all the window sills.

When you've done all these things, take a step back, be very quiet, look around, listen and note how different your space feels to you now.

You may also wish to perform these acts at other places where you spend a lot of time, such as work, if you can.

One last thing you may want to do, although it's not as easy and practical as the rest. You may wish to hang little mirrors in the windows or on the outside of the building to reflect away negativity. The mirrors aren't really necessary; they're just extra insurance, if you will. You should be fine just doing the other things I've recommended.

Now envision yourself within a bubble. Project this bubble around you and around your home. Nothing can pass through the membrane that has not been invited by you. Anything unwelcome bounces off the bubble. Build a strong image of this bubble in your mind. If you have a small object, maybe a clear quartz crystal or a piece of rosemary, that reminds you of this visualization, carry it in your pocket or keep it someplace handy. You can't be expected to hold this image in your consciousness all the time. But if you have this object, then at times when the image has faded and you feel you need to reinforce your working, take it out and look at it and touch it to reawaken your sense of your protective bubble.

As with all magic spells, you needn't stick with the formula offered here. If other ingredients call to you or other actions spring from you, trust your intuition and go with them.

These are my recommendations. For another approach, here's a Lemon Uncrossing Spell (to break a curse). I have never tried this so I can offer no assurance of its efficacy.

[1] For a super-duper heavy cleansing of a home, say if you're just moving in after someone else has been living there, and if you have the time, get some dragon's blood incense and burn it on a piece of charcoal in a container left in the bathtub or shower. As soon as you light it, leave and let it fumigate the entire house. You don't want to breathe much of this stuff. Then return a few hours later and open all the windows to let out the dragon's blood fumes.

[2] Some additional things you can do to cleanse a new or dirty home: Walk throughout the rooms with noisemakers, rattles, a drum to frighten off unwanted spirits. Do this before censing and sprinkling. After censing and sprinkling, ring a little bell at the windows and mirrors.

(c) M. Macha NightMare/Aline O'Brien, 2011

The Helicon Nine

2011-03-07T02:17:00.000-08:00

On Saturday Corby and I took a day-long workshop called "Courting the Inner Muse," with my old friend Willow Kelly and her partner Crow, who are visiting from Virginia. Besides working with two visiting teachers, we shared the experience with Reclaiming Witches from what appears to be a thriving North Bay Reclaiming community. I guess, technically, since we live in the North Bay, this could become our home community.

During the invocation to the divine at the beginning of the day, I could only remember five of the nine names, so I repeated those five over and over again. Thalia, Urania, Erato, Calliope, Polyhymnia. I know they heard me. I revere the other four as much. So to reinforce the work we did Saturday, and to put a spell for inspiration out into the world, I solicit the influence and aid of the Helicon Nine.

Daughters of Zeus and the Titan Mnemosyne, I call to you in your home high on Mount Helicon

Chief muse, Calliope (beautiful voice), may your writing tablet become my laptop. Bestow eloquence to my public speech. Grant me serenity and good judgment.

Erato (passionate or lovely), muse of mimicry and erotic poetry, I appeal to your favor of crows like me. May the song played upon your lyre bring pleasure.

Thalia (festive or flourishing), fill my life with laughter.

Urania (mountain queen), mistress of the celestial, may my path follow your stars. May I know when to keep silent and when to speak.

Polyhymnia (many songs), grant me the ability to remember sacred songs and to compose new ones in praise of all that is holy.

Clio (proclaimer), speak through the books I read and write, may the lore I pass on by true to our history and informative to those who listen.

Euterpe (rejoicing well or pleasure giver), manifest in me through harmonica, frame drum, soprano recorder, and voice.

Melpomene (songstress), may I speak fluently and convincingly of serious matters.

Terpsichore (rejoicing in the dance or whirling), may I move with your grace; may my voice sing in harmony and fullness with other voices.

SMIB!

Hindu-Pagan Interfaith Devotional to Our Great Mother

2011-03-05T00:31:00.000-08:00

Since deep in my Witch's heart I feel much sympatico with Hindu beliefs and practices, I consider myself fortunate to have been invited to to assist in the performance of the ritual referred to in this press release. Amadae, a Dianic priestess, coordinated the ritual with people from the Hindu American Foundation. Its purpose was devotion (bhakti) to the Great Mother.

There was a two-sided round altar, with Hindu altar objects on one side and Pagan ones on the other. Reclaiming priestess Kala created the Pagan half of the altar. After the puja mentioned below, flowers and petals adorned both altars.

The ritual opened with the beautiful singing of Sangeetha Venkataraman; Corby and I had the pleasure of hearing her at the HAF Annual Dinner last September.

The sitar player, recently moved to the SF Bay Area from Ann Arbor, is a student at the Ali Akbar College of Music about a mile from our home, where he works with Arjun Verma. Arjun was one of four performers at Marin Interfaith Council's Annual Music of the Beloved sacred music concert last month. I invited my new friend to let me know when we might find a chance to visit when he's in San Rafael. I hope he does.

Cosette Paneque, of Beachfyre Coven, EMLC-CoG and Social Networking Coordinator of Cherry Hill Seminary, called upon the spirits of Air; Christine Kraemer, Department Chair at CHS, called Fire; I called Water; Wendy Griffin, CHS Academic Dean and frame drummer, called Earth; and Amadae called Spirit.

The pujari who led the Devi Ma puja and the men who sang with him had strong voices, made louder by the unnecessary use of a mike. This was unfortunate because we were performing in a hotel ballroom, separated by not-very-soundproof, floor-to-ceiling movable partitions from adjacent hotel ballrooms where other PantheaCon events were taking place: Yes They Are! queer gods ritual on the West side and Tarotist Mary Greer on the East. Having been in rituals in these ballrooms when another, sometimes louder event is taking place right next door, I know from past experience that it's a challenging situation for all. In any case, the men chanted for about 20 minutes. I was pleased to find that I was able to understand some of the words they chanted from having gone to many Kali pujas in my town and from kirtan singing.

After that, six lovely temple dancers, with bells on their ankles, exquisite gestures, and smiling faces, arrived to perform a dance to Lord Ganesha so that he may remove all obstacles to the worship of the Great Mother. This dance made me misty, for some reason. I later learned that none of the dancers was over 18 years old, and they had to perform these prescribed dances perfectly for years before they can perform alone.

The dance concluded with a spiral dance led by Amadae, to the chant "We all come from the Goddess..."

As a ritualist, I felt that we Pagans had more flexibility to adapt our ritual to age-old Hindu practices than the other way round, and we did. The fact that the participants wore big smiles at the conclusion convinces me of its effectiveness for each individual participant and as an interfaith collaboration. Those I spoke with expressed pleasure in the working.

As far as I know, this is the first anyone has blended traditional Hindu practices done by traditional Hindu practitioners (as opposed to Western attempts verging on cultural appropriation) with contemporary American Pagan practices. I was pleased and honored to be a part of it, and I was proud of my Pagan colleagues. I hope other opportunities to share sacred space with our Hindu friends present themselves. I will be ready.

Beth "Bone Blossom" Saunders

2011-02-11T19:01:00.000-08:00

I am saddened to be writing about the passing of my old Holy Terrors coven sister, Bone Blossom (Ardath Elizabeth Saunders Stanford). We were very close for many years, yet in recent years we had less frequent contact. She had been ill for some time, and the last I heard from her in late October, she spoke of having been very ill but having just turned the corner and begun to recover. Since then she underwent emergency abdominal surgery, then died last night in ICU of a stroke as she was being weaned from a respirator. I'm comforted to know that her husband, Jim, and sons Silas (now Renzo) and Guthrie were with her during her final hours.

Born on the Winter Solstice of 1948 in Little Rock, Arkansas, Bone often spoke of her love for the crystals to be found in Mount Ida. She attended Carleton College in Minnesota, and later landed, with her two sons, in San Francisco, which is where our paths crossed. She became close friends with another psychonaut like herself, Terrence McKenna. She traveled often to Colombia, where she conceived her elder son Silas, and to other parts of South America to learn native weaving techniques and to explore native spiritual practices on their lands, particularly those involving entheogens.

We met in a class created by Starhawk and, IIRC, Lauren Liebling, called The Iron Pentacle, the first of its kind, in around 1979. Several people in that class joined together to form a coven we called Holy Terrors.[1] The four years during which we met every single Tuesday night, plus for sabbats and Reclaiming open rituals -- public rituals were a new thing in those days -- profoundly shaped the Witches we all became. Bone, along with Sophia Sparks, Cerridwen Fallingstar,[2] and myself, formed the nucleus of Holy Terrors.

Soon Bone followed her heart to Middletown, Connecticut, where she continued teaching what she had learned. A coven with the wonderful name of Ouroborous Isis Gnosis formed as a result of that teaching. I had the pleasure of meeting many of its members at CoG's MerryMeet in Amherst, MA, in 2006.

In the early '80s, Bone and Anna Korn co-taught a wonderful course in herbs and plants. In addition to learning specific plants and their uses for healing, dyeing, and such, we went on local herb walks and we created potions and salves and dyed eggs with natural dyes.

Bone had a huge loom in her living room upon which she wove all manner of wonderful cloth. For the direct action at Lawrence Livermore Labs at the maybe Brigit of 198? she created an open weaving into which demonstrators wove flowers, photographs, and other things; then we stretched the web across the road to the lab. It was for this demonstration that Starhawk wrote the chant, "We are the flow, we are the ebb, we are the weavers, we are the web."[CORRECTION] As we sang, a group of policemen on motorcycles tried to destroy the web by driving through it. Well, you know how strong webs are. Instead of rending the web, the cops became entangled in it. Our late friend Sequoia approached the officers and with profuse apologies tried to disentangle the cops, and their guns, from the weaving. Eventually we managed to toss the weaving over the fence separating lab property from the rest of Livermore, where it was charged to do its work.

For one Midsummer action at Livermore, Bone and I took lots of home-fried chicken and other food and designer coffee, with linens for the picnic table, to the park where the direct activists were camping. That night we burned a glorious wicker man. I especially remember Sequoia and me stripped to the waist, sweating, and dancing up the fire that was baking the sacred loaf.[3] Bone and I had young children at home so we weren't planning to be arrested; we came to do magic outside lab property and to support those who risked arrest.

At the very first MerryMeet[4] in 1981, CoG produced, at Rodeo Beach, we Holy Terrors offered a ritual as our contribution to the event. Called the Wheel of the Year, it featured one HT for each of the eight sabbats, with Meg Granito leading in introductory meditation and my late husband, Rod Wolfer, drumming. Needless to say, our Bone was the Hag of Winter.[5]

In 1984, at Harbin Hot Spring, California, where MerryMeet was produced by Glenn Turner as the first Ancient Ways Festival[6], Bone, Sharon Devlin,[7] and I created a ritual we called "Kali, the Terrible Mother, and Other Dark Goddesses." The reason I know it was in 1984 is because that's the year Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom was released, and that film was one of the instigations for our doing the ritual. All three of us are devotées of the Dark Mother. Sharon in particular was offended at the portrayal of Kali in that movie. We decided She needed a proper revival.

We set the rite out in a triangle around a bonfire under old oaks in the middle of a meadow at the witching hour of midnight. Sean Folsom accompanied us for parts of the ritual on a thighbone trumpet. The late Paul Ehrhorn beat a huge Middle Eastern drum.

We began with Bone, dressed in white, leading celebrants into trance by evoking many bone-white goddesses, like Skadi. As she spoke, I carried an iron cauldron from person to person and had them reach inside and take a bone. (Bone had gotten lots of animal bones from a butcher.) They held these bones while she spoke.

Following Bone, I, dressed in red, spoke of many bloodier goddesses, Sharon passed around a skull chalice[8] containing pomegranate juice for each person to take a sip. Many were completely convinced that the cup contained blood.

Finally, Sharon, in black (big surprise), led celebrants deeper into the mysteries of the Dark Mother.

Then we three, all of whose faces had been veiled in our respective colors up to that point, lined up -- Bone, Macha, Sharon -- and, waving our arms up and down holding in our hands Kali's tools of flaying knife, skull, and other implements, swept off our veils, amidst shrieking, blast of thighbone trumpet, thunder of giant drum. We began a Kali chant --

Jai Ma Kali! Jai Ma Kali! Jai Ma Kali! Jai Ma Jai!
Jai Ma Kali! Jai Ma Kali! Jai Ma Kali! Jai Ma Jai!
Jai Ma! Jai Ma! Jai Ma! Jai Ma!
Jai Ma! Jai Ma! Jai Ma! Jai Ma!

over and over again, as each person passed through the tunnel made of our three sets of spread legs and emerged reborn.

After everyone had passed through, we refilled the skull chalice, only this time, in order to facilitate the return of the celebrants to a mundane state of consciousness, we poured in milk and salt. Ick, right? It did the trick.

Oh, the stories I heard afterward from people who participated! Sequoia, who was traveling in India at the time, even heard of it there from someone here. Evidently, it was quite effective. The chant we used has been widely shared around the California Pagan scene and beyond.

In 1987 MerryMeet was again held California, this time at Camp Swig in Saratoga. We were asked to reprise "Kali, the Terrible Mother," except that Sharon had moved and was unable to come, so Bone and I recruited Sequoia to complete our triad. This time Sophia Sparks created a stunning central altar around the bonfire, using lots of bones found in the wild, and we had different musicians. Sequoia had brought home from Bali three demon masks in our three colors.[9] We wore these masks on the backs of our heads, with the veils covering our faces in the front until the time when we unveiled.

When were were dressing for the ritual in the women's shower room, we conscripted a lovely red-haired woman who'd come inside to use the facilities and solicited her help in arranging and fastening our costumes. I remember that in our state of gearing up to perform the rite we were rather demanding. Yet she took it all in good spirits and helped us. Later I learned that our helper was Tarot authority Mary Greer.

By all accounts, this ritual also gave participants a powerful experience. This happened to be during a time when California was being devastated by wildfires. Some people claimed that we should not have performed our ritual because it was exacerbating the fires. Pffft!

Another story about Bone concerns the multicolored weaving she made for magical use in our coven. Mainly, we placed those in need of healing upon the weaving, which we called a magic carpet. One Tuesday night I arrived at coven in a state of agitation. I had just left fighting with my husband at home. My HT sisters insisted I sit upon the magic carpet and chill. We got to some idle chat about Craft names. I had been reading about Macha, and having just been in a state with Rod, I said, "I feel like Macha tonight!" From then on that was what they called me, and it still is.

For some time, when I was living in North Beach and Bone was working nearby on Russian Hill, she would come by most afternoons for coffee and conversation.

There are stories of Bone and some of us other HTs when we went to a Pagan festival in the Oakland Hills produced by the late Gwydion Penderwen and Stephan Abbott.

I could go on and on with stories about things Bone and I shared, but this is plenty to give readers an idea of the woman she was. Besides, some stories cannot be shared publicly.

I invite others who knew Bone to share stories on this blog so all of us may know better the wicked Witch who was Beth Bone Blossom.

My heart goes out to Jim, Silas, Guthrie, Bone's grandson Santino, and all her many, many loved ones who will miss her boney self. In love may she return again.

RHTH, Bone!

[1] We were nine, of whom only six remain alive today. The other departed Holy Terrors are Meg Granito and Judith Johnson.

[2] There is a scene on a beach in Marin County in Cerridwen's book, The Heart of the Fire, describing a shared experience with Bone, me and a few others.

[3] It was at that point that Sequoia finally recognized me as a Witch and not just a legal secretary, so she told me.

[4] CoG had been having annual Grand Councils since its founding in 1975, but its first MerryMeet festival happened the year I joined, 1981.

[5] Somewhere I have a snapshot of the ten of us in costume. I'll try to find it and scan it and publish it here.

[6] Caveat: I remember that Glenn Turner and Greg Harder produced that MM/AW festival, but I'm not entirely sure if it was at that one or a later one when we did this ritual.

[7] See the chapter "Interview with a Modern Witch" in Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon (1979).

[8] Yes, a real human skull, from somewhere in the Himalayas, and a real thighbone trumpet, too. We can save the discussion of the ethics of using such an object for another time.

[9] This night she died, Sequoia asked Rev. Jim to find these masks and give them to me, but he didn't find them then and doesn't seem to have found them yet. I promise to put them to good use when they come to me.

[CORRECTION] Here's an example of how the folk process, and individuals' memories, work. Starhawk informs me that she is not the author of the "We are the flow" chant; it was written by the late Shekinah Mountainwater. For two Livermore actions in 1982 Starhawk wrote "Rise With the Fire" and "We Are the Power in Everyone," the latter being for Summer Solstice. My apologies for my mistake.

In Honor of the Lady Brigit

2011-01-31T01:40:00.000-08:00

Joining in my friend Oak's call for Brigit Poetry Festival 2011:

Brigit the Healer

You wear a long green dress
Your toes are peppermint chamomile comfrey
golden seal valerian
Your fingers give just the color that's needed
just the jewel that's needed
Yours is the work of the yew tree
for weapon and weapon salve
are one in You
Your power is to keep the stars
bonewhite circling above
or whirling below
Your height is to bind
Your height is to set free

~ Ellen Cooney, from Mother of the Silkless: Inovcations to Goddesses and Gods

Greg Bunker, Mensch

2010-12-28T23:29:00.001-08:00

Gregory Bunker
September 3, 1948 - December 29, 2010

I was shocked to receive a call today from my sister Catherine telling me that our friend Greg had suffered a massive heart attack yesterday while vacationing with his wife, Stephanie, in Santa Barbara. She said Greg's two sons, one of his sisters, and Stephanie's sister were all on their way there, but that last rites were being performed, and the situation did not look good.

I immediately lit my Brigit candle and said an urgent prayer for Greg. By evening, Catherine called to say Greg had crossed over. What a sweet man he was, and what a great loss his death is to those who loved him, and to many he served.

Greg used to drink too much and eat too much, but in recent years he had been sober, dieting, and had gone back to college, where he'd been earning straight A's. His major, "Organizational Behavior & Leadership," could only enhance his work as Executive Director of Francis House, a counseling and resource center for poor individuals and families in Sacramento. Here's an article on Greg's passing from the Sacramento Bee.

Greg grew up in Ohio, one of eight children in a big Catholic family, then served in Vietnam in his young adult years. I'm so glad he was one of the fortunate soldiers who returned alive. I suspect his experiences in Vietnam influenced his choice of profession, since he undoubtedly had a lot of sympatico with the many homeless who are veterans of that war and whom Francis House serves.

Greg also served on the Board of Safe Ground Sacramento, "protecting the human rights of homeless people."

I remember when Stephanie met Greg and then fell in love. I remember their wedding on the banks of the Sacramento River when my Deirdre was a toddler. I remember once, when my late husband, Rod Wolfer, and I had a big party in our flat on the Mason Street cable car line in North Beach and someone had called the police about the noise. This was during the years when the TV show "All in the Family" was popular. I remember looking over the railing down into the stairwell where Greg was talking to the cops. They asked his name and he answered "Greg Bunker." For some reason his surname had never registered with me, although I undoubtedly knew it, so when he gave that name to the policeman, I laughed, thinking it was a fake name in homage to the character Archie Bunker.

This photo of Greg and Catherine was taken on Christmas Day, only four days before his passing.

Greg and Stephanie, although not technically blood relatives, were, and are, a part of our family. We have celebrated weddings and births and memorials together. He leaves to mourn him his wife Stephanie, sons Jesse and Simon, siblings, and a host of others whose lives were enriched by having known him.

Gregory wasn't Jewish and neither am I, but Greg was the kind of man the Yiddish word "mensch" was meant to describe: a stand-up guy who always made you feel good to be around, always smiling and caring. In love may he return again.

Midwinter Reflections: Light in the Dark

2010-12-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

My local interfaith group, Marin Interfaith Council, created a Winter Interfaith Service to share the celebrations of various member organizations that take place in the winter months. When the director asked me to share a ‘teaching’ from my religious tradition, I had to really think about what a teaching would be like from a Pagan perspective. It got me to thinking about light, which, after all, is what this season is all about – the waning and return of the light.

In our modern world, we tend to take light for granted. We’re used to living constantly amidst all manner of human-made lights. We seldom reflect on the fact that for most of human history our only sources of light came from the sky and from fire. We easily forget that there was a time when torches were a new invention, oil lamps were valued possessions, and chandlers toiled so people could see in the night by candlelight.

Our ancestors bedded down at nightfall, for the most part. Of necessity they lived their lives finely attuned to Nature’s cycles – of light and dark, then later the cycles of sowing and reaping. They knew that their lives depended upon the Sun, so they created rituals to ensure its annual return.

In fact, marking the return of the light was so important to them that at least 5,000 years ago some of our Western European ancestors built megaliths such as Brugh na Bóinne in Ireland and Maes Howe in Scotland. Brugh na Boinne, or Newgrange, is a mound near the Boinne River (named for Boann, a cow goddess) comprised of a passage leading to inner chambers carved with spiral designs. The builders constructed the mound so that the light of the rising Sun on Midwinter morning shines a shaft of sunlight deep inside to illuminate the innermost chambers. Although only a limited number of people can experience this remarkable occurrence from within the mound, today, in the cyber age, millions of viewers can see this phenomenon live on Solstice morn from anywhere in the world via webcams placed inside the mounds.*

Some ancestors decorated their dwellings with evergreens; they cut a tree and decorated its branches with twinkling little candles. Today, if we’re ecologically minded as we should be, we use strings of LED lights. This tree represented the World Tree that unites the Underworld, the Middle World, and the Upper World, and it never dies.

I think humans are hard-wired to gather around fires, especially during the long nights of Winter. Other ancestors gathered round a Yule log -- Yule is a Scandinavian word usually taken to mean “wheel” -- to keep warm through the cold longest night of the year as they sat together, while bards and elders told stories, musicians played and people sang and danced, ate and drank.

Somewhat like the Salvation Army and other charities do today for those with fewer means, the poorer folk trekked from household to household, singing wassail songs in exchange for hot wassail and bread or other food.

We Pagans, at least the majority of us, view the Winter Solstice as the night when our Great Mother labors to bring forth the reborn Sun God. We see in images of Mary and the baby Jesus something ancient and primal, an icon that speaks to us.

In my tradition, we gather on the beach at sunset on the longest night of the year, and as the Sun goes down over the waves, we all plunge into the ocean as a ritual purification; then return to warm up at the big waiting bonfire in the sand.

Later we return to homes, often lots of us in one home, where we sing Yule carols, light candles, drink hot brews. We feast and eat Sun cookies the children have baked. We gather near the fireplace telling and listening to stories, playing games, perhaps doing divination.

As dawn approaches, we go outside and gather in the high places around the Bay Area and sing and sing and sing up the Sun – often in the rain, but always we can see the lightening skies.

When we perform these acts – when we sing the carols, trim our trees, light candles – we reenact the things our ancestors did, we reconnect with them, and we honor our heritage. Celebrating Midwinter together allows us to reaffirm the continuance of life.

In the spirit of the season, I’d like to teach you a little chant as a Yule gift from Pagans to the interfaith community. The words are by American poet e.e. cummings. I don’t know who made a chant of those words, but we have been using them for the past 30-plus years and it seems to be working fine.

i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth**

* Webcams have been mounted in these megaliths in years past. People are chosen by lottery to have the privilege of being inside the mound at sunrise.
** Unfortunately, I don't have the expertise yet to record this chant to share it here.

I wish all a joyous Solstice, warmed by the loving hearts of friends and family and a toasty fire.

Gift from My CHS Class

2010-10-07T01:47:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a course at Cherry Hill Seminary called "A Saunter with John Muir and Walt Whitman--The Poetry and Politics of Nature." The instructor, Chris Highland, asked us to choose a poem from Whitman's Leaves of Grass to reflect upon. I happened upon this one, written in 1856, and it blew my mind, so I want to share it here.

Unfolded Out of the Folds

Unfolded out of the folds of the woman man comes unfolded,

and is always to come unfolded,

Unfolded only out of the superbest woman of the earth is to

come the superbest man of the earth,

Unfolded out of the friendliest woman is to come the

friendliest man,

Unfolded only out of the perfect body of a woman can a man

be form'd of perfect body,

Unfolded only out of the inimitable poems of woman can

comes the poems of man, (only thence have my poems come;)

Unfolded out of the strong and arrogant woman I love, only

thence can appear the strong and arrogant man I love,

Unfolded by brawny embraces from the well-muscled woman

I love, only thence come the brawny embraces of the

man,

Unfolded out of the folds of the woman's brain come all the

folds of the man's brain, duly obedient,

Unfolded out of the justice of the woman all justice is

unfolded,

Unfolded out of the sympathy of the woman is all sympathy;

A man is a great thing upon the earth and through eternity,

but every jot of the greatness of man is unfolded out of

woman;

First the man is shaped in the woman, he can then be shaped

in himself.

International Day of Peace, and Then Some

2010-09-22T16:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I set out to attend the re-dedication of the peace pole on the campus of Dominican University. Our local Dominican Sisters, colleagues in Marin Interfaith Council, do this each year. In the past, when my friend Sister Marion headed the order's Social Justice Committee, I have been an active participant. This year, when the event was announced at an MIC clergy luncheon, I spoke with Sister Marion, who's now retired, about participating; she said that whoever was in charge had already formulated all their plans and that I should just show up. Well, I did, but, I'm embarrassed to say, I had written the event in my calendar as taking place at noon when in fact it began at 11 am. So I arrived just as they were concluding.

In 1981, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution declaring an International Day of Peace, and in 2001, it adopted the resolution declaring September 21 of each year International Day of Peace. This year's theme is "Youth for Peace and Development."

Since its inception, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress towards peace. It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums [sic] where hundreds of thousands of people participate. Anyone, anywhere, can celebrate Peace Day.

International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire -- a day in which armed conflict is meant to be stilled; a day on which we appeal to combatants to observe a ceasefire; a day on which we reaffirm a commitment to non-violence and the peaceful resolution of disputes.

Last night I missed most of the nightly news I usually watch, but I suspect there were hostile engagements taking place yesterday in spite of the best intentions of those of us who seek to promote peaceful resolutions to conflict.

What was extra special about this year's ceremony was that the words that roughly translate to "May peace prevail on Earth" in the local Coast Miwok** language were to be added. "Hiya aa puli suta weyyatto."* The pole was blessed by the Coast Miwok and all others who were there. Until yesterday, the pole bore those words in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.***

The assembled people exchanged peace greetings in Arabic: As-salaam aleikhum, Wa-Leikhum As-salaam; Hebrew: Shalom aleichem, Alechem shalom; Serbo-Croatian: Mir nek bude tebi, Nek tebi bud emir; Chinese: Hun pink ban sway nee, Ban sway nee huh ping; Masai/African: Wenna kanta laf-fi, Laf-fi la Bumbu ("God gives peace. Peace is something special."); German: Frie de sei mit Dir, Und mit Dir sei Frie-de; and Coast Miwok: Puli sutammi mikkoni.

In addition to offering prayers for peace from different religious traditions, people sang several songs from song sheets provided by the Sisters. There were the usual, such as "Let There Be Peace on Earth,"to the Pagan-ish "Circle Round," by Linda Hirschhorn, to the utterly wonderful John Lennon song, "Imagine." This last included an additional verse written by fifth grade students at Cornell School in Albany, California.

Imagine that our leaders
Would listen to our voices
And instead of riches
They cared about our choices
Imagine all the people
Caring for the earth...

There is good news in that even though I was late arriving I did meet someone I had hoped to meet there. She is Joanne Campbell, a Tribal Council Elder with the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. Graton Rancheria is comprised of Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo peoples. I invited her to participate in the third annual People of the Earth conference at the Interfaith Center at the Presidio of San Francisco in November.**** As soon as I have more concrete information to give her, I'll follow up on this invitation.

The Dominican Sisters of San Rafael's report on this event, with lots of photos, is here.

* * * * * * * * * *

During the afternoon I attended Marin Interfaith Council's Annual Meeting, where we did a lot of thanking of various individuals for their work,reviewed the budget, and officially installed Fu Schroeder of Green Gulch Zen Center as MIC's representative to the Marin Community Foundation.

* The "s" in the word "suta" should be underlined, not an option in this blog program.

** Coast Miwok people greeted Francis Drake when he first landed on the shores of Marin County in 1579 and other Europeans who entered what it now San Francisco Bay. See "Big Time."

*** While we American Pagans all speak English, and most perform their rites in that language, given the spirit of the annual re-dedication, I would imagine the sisters might consider adding these words of peace in Gaelic, assuming some Druid group involved in interfaith activities were to propose it.

**** Unfortunately, there is no announcement on the ICP website nor any flier for this yet. Watch my FaceBook page for updates.

Ruminations on Pagan 'Clergy'

2010-09-03T15:13:00.001-07:00

I was rooting around in some of my old writings and discovered this. Originally drafted in 2004 when I was functioning as the chair of the Public Ministry Department of Cherry Hill Seminary, this piece speaks to my ongoing concerns about the growth of the Pagan movement, as I call the entire phenomenon. Since 2004, CHS has undergone changes in emphases and goals, most significantly in its pursuit of accreditation from the DETC (Distance Education and Training Council). However, my essential concerns remain, and require frequent review and re-evaluation. I welcome your comments on this important topic.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

As a Pagan, I feel it's paramount that we define ourselves rather than leaving that to sociologists, journalists and others. I admit to a mistrust of what I call the 'overculture' - the mainstream, linear-thinking, rational, American consumer culture. We can take from the overculture that which suits our religions, but we don't have to parrot it in everything we do. So even though I'm helping to establish a public ministry program at a Pagan seminary, the goal of which is to offer ordination to Pagan 'clergy,' I don't feel comfortable with the terms ministry, seminary, and most especially, clergy.

What most Pagans do in our spiritual practices is (to make a verb of a noun) 'priest/ess.' In my tradition, the term “to priestess” describes what a priest/ess is doing when performing or conducting ritual. Priest/ess is a role one assumes in that context.

But the world changes, and Paganism, as a living religion, changes with it. Today we see more Pagans offering rituals and other religious practices to the public, although many of us traditionally have practiced in private and continue to do so. Moving from working with a close, intimate bonded group of friends to working with people we may not know at all changes what we do and how we do it. So we need to rethink how we present ritual to others -- to the public and to non-initiates of initiatory traditions. Performing these public celebrations is the work of clergy.

Pagans are assuming many other roles that in the overculture are customarily performed by clergy. We are serving as chaplains in hospitals, prisons and the military. These roles require special knowledge and skills. We officiate at people's rites of passage -– naming ceremonies, coming-of-age rituals, weddings, elderings, funerals, and memorials. These are all 'clergy' roles; they may or may not be priest/ess roles as well. The rituals themselves are 'priest/essed' but they may or may not also include such things as premarital counseling or grief counseling.

We are called upon to speak, to give interviews to media, and to address college classes. We are better served if we have some skill in public speaking and if we know about media relations and journalism.

One significant area where Pagans are acting in some sense as 'clergy' is interfaith. From the largest international interfaith organizations such as the Council for the Parliament of World Religions and United Religions Initiative, to the regional, down to the local, Pagans are joining with leaders of other faith traditions in working on such issues as peace, affordable housing and homeless shelters, education, health care, meals for the hungry, facilities for the differently abled, habitat restoration, disaster relief, and other social concerns, as well as in the arts and music.

I believe it behooves us to prepare ourselves -- those of us who may be called to such public service -- to work effectively in these areas. That means ascertaining what knowledge and skills we feel it's necessary to acquire in order to do that work effectively. Then finding people within our Pagan culture who have specialized knowledge in those subjects so that we can learn from them. We can take what our society offers us and adapt it to our ideas of culture, our worldviews, our belief systems. But we do not have to take all of it. We do not have to take that which doesn't suit how we see and live in the world. We will create new forms and techniques that honor who we are. We can create our own 'clergy' and when we have done that, perhaps we'll have found just the right noun that denotes what we do and who we are.

"Rich Kids, Poor Kids: Same Stress, Different Packages"

2010-08-27T02:24:00.000-07:00

Today I attended an MIC clergy luncheon at which the speaker, Don Carney, addressed the problems of Marin County teens, rich and poor. (Contrary to the impression some readers may have that Marin, because it is one of the wealthiest counties in the U.S., has no poor people, it does. And just like in other regions, the ranks of the less privileged are expanding while the middle class is shrinking.)

The speaker shows an obvious passion about the work he does with youth. He spoke mainly about youth courts in the U.S. today, and more specifically about the Marin County Youth Court, run by the YMCA and the Marin County Superior Court and the California Administrative Office of the Courts. Only a few years ago there were about 70 youth courts in the country and now there are 1,350.

Youth who have admitted guilt to a misdemeanor are eligible for this program, which focuses on the principle of restorative justice. In adversarial cases, the offender is prosecuted and defended by youth attorneys, before a youth jury. An adult judge presides and a youth bailiff supervises the process, with adult caseworker support for the youth and his or her family. If the offender completes the program within three months, he or she leaves with no juvenile record. The focus is on healing the harm done to the victim, the community, and the perpetrator.

Mandatory aspects include serving two to five times as a juror, providing 10 to 80 hours of community service, and taking a prevention class. Discretionary sentences imposed by the youth jury include restitution to the victim, letters of apology, reflective essays, anger management class, theft awareness class, drug education class, prevention class, additional counseling, and mentoring.

Seventy percent of the kids in youth court are from white, upper middle class families, and 90% of the offenses involve substance abuse. The pressures on kids to achieve often unrealistic goals contribute to their stress levels. Family dynamics add to the pressure and confusion. Marin has the high rate of binge drinking for both teens and adult, and pot smoking is twice the national average. The good news is that youth involvement in AA is enormous, some arising from sentences imposed in youth court.

Kids with what are known as "surplus assets" do not present like less privileged kids do. High achievers can be as drugged and drunk as lower achievers. Underneath are substance and family issues. He cited Madeline Levine's book, The Price of Privilege: How Parental Pressure and Material Advantage Are Creating a Generation of Disconnected and Unhappy Kids. Dr. Levine is a clinical psychologist here in Marin.

Mr. Carney also showed a TV news feature about the Marin Youth Court and recommended a documentary film called "Race to Nowhere: The Dark Side of American's Achievement Culture," made by Vicki Abeles.

A third resource he recommended was Hold on to Your Kids: Why Parents Need to Matter More Than Peers, by Gordon Neufeld, Ph.D., and Gabor Maté, M.D.

The emphasis on cooperative education rather than competitive education that the youth court espouses can lead to lowered stress for teens. Mr. Carney said that we need alternatives to suspension for students who violate school rules. He said this leads to dropping out of school, when in fact the practice really pushes the kids out of the system. He believes the system should bear the onus, not the kid. As an example, he cited a good student found carrying a Swiss Army knife in his pack. With a zero tolerance policy in effect, this student was sent to a program with chronic offenders. He also said it's not helpful to mix middle school offenders with high school offenders. Whether an offender is put with peers or peers and older teens, the fact that he or she is in any kind of punitive environment leads to more alienation and the potential for greater offenses.

The irrefutable value of youth courts shows in the recidivism rate of kids who've gone through this process: 13% nationally and only 5% in Marin.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Among the more compelling upcoming events announced at this luncheon:

International Day of Peace on September 21, 2010, celebrated at Peace Pole at Dominican University, sponsored by the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael. This year they will be adding a fifth plaque in the language of the Coast Miwok, the original human inhabitants of this area (see Big Time). I'm hoping to participate in this, as I did in 2007 when my friend Sister Marion chaired the Sisters' Social Justice Committee.

Ceremony on August 27, 2010 marking the return of the Torah belonging to Congregation Kol Shofar in Tiburon back to the synagogue from its temporary home at Westminster Presbyterian Church, where it was kept during construction of a new building housing the former.

Community dinner on October 16, 2010 at Pickleweed Park Community Center in the Canal District of San Rafael, a neighborhood where many immigrants live, featuring Mayan food and entertainment.

MerryMeet 2010 - Return to the Heart of the Mother

2010-08-18T03:33:00.001-07:00

Since I arrived on the muggy heat of the night, after 1 am, I figured I'd tiptoe in our room and quietly unpack and go to bed, but to my surprise, my mates, Don Frew, Anna Korn, and Anith, all of us from the Northern California Local Council of CoG. What do you do when you get four loquacious, involved, activist Witches in a room away from home? You talk and talk and talk.

Our very full weekend began on a sad note with the news of Isaac Bonewits' untimely passing. Although I didn't arrive in Indianapolis in time for the opening ritual, those who attended told me that he was honored.

It was great to enter the meeting room and immediately be greeted with enthusiasm by my friend Lord Cuchulain of Everglades Moon LC in Florida, who introduced me to his student, and my new special friend, George. I also enjoyed getting better acquainted with their EMLC colleagues, Lady Bridget of Witch & Famous Coven. (I love that name!)

National First Officer Sylvia Webb opened Grand Council with an invocation of Coventina, she who is special to the Covenant. With grace and focus, Sylvia presided over a refreshingly cordial meeting. I think the years of working by consensus process, or at least trying to do it as well as possible given that different groups and individuals have had a greater or lesser grasp of how it works, and not necessarily much experience, is finally paying off. I am one of those sticklers who frequently harps about process. That role seems less and less necessary, I'm happy to say.

Cherry Hill Seminary's new display debuted at MerryMeet. I neglected to take photos, but I think it looked great and I know several people took flyers and signed the mailing sheet for our newsletter and occasional announcements. Taking a cue from Amber K, who immediately preceded my CHS report with hers on Ardantane, I passed a tumbler -- Amber had a cool copper cauldron to pass -- for donations. I know I should be doing this whenever I'm together with a group of Pagans, but I tend to forget. I'm grateful to the many CoG members who contributed.

After dinner on Friday, Don Frew, Rachael Watcher and I gave a presentation on interfaith. I'm hopeful that the interest expressed by those in attendance will result in a greater Pagan presence in more interfaith organizations in different regions of the country. I remain available for consultation should anyone wish it. If it should happen that local groups are reluctant to admit Pagans, I know that our experiences and friendships with other interfaith activists can often smooth that process. As Swiss Roman Catholic theologian Hans Küng said at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions:

There will be no peace among nations,
until there is peace among religions.
And there will be no peace among religions
until there is dialogue among religions.

Oberon and Banshee of Circle of Wondrous Stories designed the Friday evening main ritual. I really appreciated witnessing them working together, as it was obvious they shared a long magical working relationship. That's not something I see much of, and it's a pleasure.

After the ritual, I delighted in schmoozing with old friends Midwestern friends Gail, Ginny, and Magenta, Chamisa LC friends Amber & Azrael, local (to me) pal Prudence Priest, and the younger coveners of the Covenant of Gaia coven. I videoed Prudence doing her hilarious song about channeling in Enochian. Now I have to figure out how to upload it. I also requested that she be given the opportunity to do it at the end of the closing ritual, which she did.

Warrior Blessing Ritual

Various military Pagans, led by Dave Sassman of PEN (Pagan Educational Network), performed a Warrior Blessing ritual honoring all branches of the military and all first responders, both active and veteran. As soon as the flag-bearers entered the room bearing the colors, much to my surprise, I started to choke up. They marched briskly in a circle several times until instructed to present colors. There were at least five, maybe six, flag-bearers, all members of CoG and military vets

Now, the military is not something that plays any role in my life. I am not from a military family. Although I was born during WW-II, my father, working in the vital industry of agriculture, stayed stateside and civilian. I went because I appreciate those who serve on our behalf, and I wanted to give them my respect.

Further, I am not given to open displays of emotion. I can count on one hand the number of times I've been overcome to the point of tears by a ritual. I don't know where the tears came from, but I had plenty of company. Someone came around the circle with a box of tissues eventually. I was completely bewildered by my reaction.

There were several altars around the room, not just at the quarters. There was one for each branch of the military -- I confess I was not able to tell them apart unless I went up and read the badges -- one with a symbolic solitary meal. Several of the altars bore statuettes of Lady Liberty, which pleased me, since I consider her to be the goddess of the USA.

The quarter-calling featured military references and this was followed by a open call for deities, allowing several participants to name their own special protectors.

At one point we recited the Pledge of Allegiance, the pre-1954 one without the words "under God." Again, I'm not especially patriotic. I prefer to consider all of us citizens of the world, human inhabitants of Mother Earth.

Tears rolled down my cheeks throughout.

I am not a pacifist per se, although in general I am opposed to war as a solution and have put a lot of effort into either stopping or preventing the US from becoming militarily engaged. I have very mixed feelings when confronted with the reality of what happens to soldiers. I know one thing on my mind when I was weeping was the needless death and suffering, the sacrifice of the young and less privileged, the devastation of young lives.

The National First Officer of CoG presented the Order of the Pentacle medal to one of CoG's members who hadn't received it in earlier meetings.

At the end, we were invited to take ribbons -- enamel pins shaped like a map of the continental US painted with stars and stripes, with an image of Lady Liberty superimposed over all. The pins are attached to cammo-printed ribbons. I am happy to wear mine.

I tried to take some photos. Strange, there was a day when you would never even think of doing such a thing, and now there were plenty of cameras in action. It never even occurred to me to ask. There was a day when I'd never have made such a presumption. After the ritual, the priest asked those who'd taken photos and videos to provide him with copies, so evidently the practice was not only okay, but even encouraged in this particular situation.

I had begun taking photos, figuring that this particular ritual didn't hold a lot of meaning for me and that those involved would be glad to have them. The latter proved to be the case, but not the former.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Thanks to CoG's interfaith fund, I am able to attend the AAR Annual Meeting in Atlanta, where I'll be performing a Samhain ritual on October 31 for the visiting Pagan scholars and friends. Eibhlean (Evelyn to you and me), Hawk, Lady Magdalena from Dogwood LC, along with Sapphire's coven, offered to help me with this ritual. They all agreed on a local Witch named Jason who's an accomplished ritual drummer whom they think would work with us, and have since provided us with a cyber-introduction. More about this when the times comes.

Dave Sassman of PEN showed me an album of photos that were taken at the Pagan Summit sponsored by PEN that took place in Bloomington, Indiana in 2001. What a treat! All of us who were there look so much younger, and only nine years have elapsed. Patrick McCollum's hair was dark brown and is now white; mine was (dyed) red, now grey. Among those assembled is the late Isaac Bonewits. I look forward to receiving scans of these photos.

Kathy Blizzard, one of the organizers of ConVocation in Michigan and a woman active in the Tempest Smith Foundation, supervised the tie-dying of squares that will be assembled into a quilt. The Tye Dye for Tolerance [sic]. She told me that my presentations at ConVocation two years ago garnered laudatory feedback. The organizers evaluate the feedback forms and then forward them to the presenter. Mine were good, but according to Kathy, the oral feedback she's heard since then has been outstanding. So I may be invited again. I hope so. I have lots of ideas of things I'd like to do.

Keynote Speech: Pagans and the New Media

By far the highlight for me of this recent gathering was Jason Pitzl-Waters' talk about Pagans and the New Media. Most readers probably know of Jason's superior blog, The Wild Hunt. He really fired up his audience, and I am ever so grateful. I hope that now we'll begin to see more evidence of the good works of CoG and other Pagan organizations in news media.

I know this sounds like sour grapes, but the fact is that I have been harping and griping and griping and harping about CoG telling the public what it's doing for at least 15 years. After a while the complaints of someone within the organization don't seem to be able to be heard. It takes a fresh, politically un-allied voice. Jason provided this in spades -- and much, much more. I doff my pointy black hat and offer a sweeping curtsey to the man of the hour!

After Jason's inspiring talk, some members approached me asking about Cherry Hill Seminary's Media & PR course. This has not been offered for the past couple of years because our excellent teacher, Victoria Slind-Flor, now works for Bloomberg News and her employer forbids her from teaching outside the company, and we have not found a suitable replacement. Now, however, we have renewed our search for the perfect teacher. And we've found one! Jason Pitzl-Waters will be offering a four-week online course exclusively through CHS. Watch your CHS Newsletter for further developments.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

I want to take the opportunity to salute the dedication of Stachia and Jack, both of whom have held more than one national office and show no signs of flagging in their dedication to Coventina. I also tip my pointy black hat to Zenah, who as Pursewarden had to put in way more time than the job normally would entail in order to fix problems that arose from mistakes of some previous office-holders. All three live in Southern California. Zenah is proprietor of the Enchanted Crystal in Running Springs, bordering the San Bernardino National Forest.

I commend Co-Second Officers Ronda Dufour and Tony Branam of CoG's newest local council, Midwest Regional LC. and their staff for a job well done. Not only that, but the food was abundant and delicious!

Overall, I left this most recent Grand Council with the feeling that things have come unstuck. Obstacles have been cleared. The drain is clean and now flowing freely. The Covenant has overcome its constipation. I attribute this to several factors. One is the improved skill of members in the use of consensus process. Another is a lack of contention within the ranks over the past few years. A third is the realization on the part of more, if not all, members of the importance of interaction with the public, i.e., friendlier, fresher website; frequent press releases and reports on our activities and accomplishments.

I wish incoming National First Officer Peter Dybing the best. I pledge to support him in whatever ways I can. You will also begin seeing my interfaith reports on the CoG interfaith blog as well as here at the Broomstick Chronicles.

Big Time

2010-07-30T01:45:00.001-07:00

Earlier this month, Corby and I attended the 30th Annual Big Time, a midsummer festival of the Coast Miwok and Pomo people of California. The College of Marin, in partnership with the Miwok Archaeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM) and the Point Reyes National Seashore, offered a special event in conjunction with Big Time.

The first speaker, Betty Goerke, author of Chief Marin: Leader, Reble, and Legend, a biography of the Native (1781-1839) for whom the county was named -- his name was Huicmuse, he was christened at Mission Dolores as Marino, shortened to Marin -- gave a brief history of the Marin's indigenous Coast Miwok people who were living here when English ship captain Francis Drake (prior to being knighted) and his crew, sailing on the Golden Hind, landed at what is now called Drake's Beach in 1579. They were the first Europeans to encounter Coast Miwoks.

She showed the former coastline of what is now California, which extended maybe another 20 miles into the Pacific; this was before the formation of San Francisco Bay. She claims there is evidence of Miwok villages under the sea where the coastline had been, dating back 20,000 years.

She also showed illustrations of Coast Miwoks, in their tule boats, paddling to meet European ships entering the Bay.

Ralph Shanks, an authority on basketry, told us that many of the most exquisite examples of regional basketry are in the collections of European museums -- in Germany, in London, and at the Hermitage in Russia. Russian traders settled along the Russian River and the towns of Fort Ross and Sebastopol in Sonoma County (one county north of Marin) around 1812. Evidently those traders recognized the value and uniqueness of this indigenous art form. Dr. Shanks and his wife, Lisa Woo Shanks, have written books about California Indian basketry.

He showed photos of many kinds of baskets, some of which were decorated with shells and feathers. The red feathers on the heads of the acorn woodpecker were highly prized, both for basketry and for personal adornment.

In addition to their everyday uses, for cooking, gathering and other domestic applications, baskets had ceremonial uses. They held water, but were not suspended over fire or they'd burn. Instead, hot rocks were placed into the acorn mush or whatever they were cooking in the basket, and that cooked the contents as well as any other cooking method could.

Because the coastal hills of California and the sea and waterways contain abundant and diverse edible vegetation, the Coast Miwok had no need to develop agriculture. They did hunt. Due to the mild climate and their semi-itinerant lifestyles living in small villages, they had no reason to erect large structures or to develop sophisticated architecture. Nature provided all they needed for a healthy life of comfort. So their artistry went into basketry. California Indian basketry is known worldwide for its beauty and complexity.

I possess two beautiful baskets that belonged to my former mother-in-law, Eulalie Braden Wolfer, that I think are Pomo. Now that I'm acquainted with Dr. Shanks, I plan to show them to him and get his advice as to their origin, value, and the best ways to preserve them. One is a very tightly woven bowl shape, with triangular designs; I'm sure it can hold water. The other is larger, also bowl-shaped, but of a coarser grass with the design created by the weaving and texture rather than with colors. I hold them as family heirlooms to be passed to my daughter, from her paternal grandmother, at the proper time.

Gene Buvelot, who is on the Board of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, gave a fascinating update on how several local tribes, not all Coast Miwok, organized and petitioned the federal government in 1970 to recognize them as Native people and restore their tribal status. This was necessary because the government had been informed (by whom I don't know) that there were no more Coast Miwok or other local Indians.

Since 1983, thirty of the thirty-eight California tribes that were terminated under the policy have been restored to federal recognition through litigation and legislation. In 2000, following a lengthy process, the Tribe became the most recent of these tribes to have its federally recognized status restored through enactment of the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act (“Restoration Act”).

Interesting lessons in current federal bureaucracy.*

Following the talks, we ate box lunches of broiled salmon with blackberry ketchup, grains of the Americas (red, white and black quinoa, amaranth, and wild rice), citrus seaweed salad tossed with field greens with agave nectar vinagrette, acorn brownies, and mint tea sweetened with maple syrup, prepared by Chef John Farais of Indigenous Edibles .

After lunch we went to Kule Loklo (bear valley), a native village on the grounds of the Bear Valley Visitor Center, Point Reyes National Park, where we watched Native dancers. We also wandered the village, entering the roundhouse, kotchas (family dwellings), and other structures, and viewing Native crafts and jewelry. Others, mostly children, drilled shells to make beads (like those used to decorate baskets), flaked flint arrowheads, and spun bull-roarers.

Even though it was a very hot, sunny day, the dancers performed around a small fire pit. Several of the dancers were related -- father, son, grandson, nieces, cousins -- as well as being from different local tribes and blends of different tribes. Accompanied by two drummers and a singer, the dancers did group dances, dances for women and girls, dances for men and boys. The men's costumes consisted of feather skirts that they sometimes flounced up in the rear. Of course, these dancers, performing as it were before a mixed general audience, wore shorts, jeans, sometimes T-shirts, under their costumes, when I'm sure that originally these dances were performed wearing only the feather and leather costumes, with no Western clothing underneath. (The Coast Miwok who greeted Drake wore no clothes most of the year because our weather here is temperate.)

I found it interesting that the males dressed in native ritual garb, mostly made of what appeared to be either hawk or turkey feathers -- there are lots of turkeys roaming the hills hereabout -- and shell beads, while the women's clothing, which was also no doubt traditional among these peoples, being made of cotton cloth, showed the clear influence of European fashion -- and modesty.

The men's dancing consisted mostly of a double tap with each foot, sometimes crouching and seeming to imitate animals, and often flouncing the tail feathers. The women, on the other hand, carried pieces of cloth draped between their two hands, and they rocked these cloths up and down from side to side as they danced. At certain points in the singing, all the dancers twirled around. The ribbons streaming from the women's dresses and their long glossy hair lifted spread out beautifully as they spun.

I learned from this experience something of how I imagine my European ancestors might have expressed their Pagan lifestyles: Accepting the gifts of the land, sky and sea; celebrating together; making art; expressing their joy in living. This, to me, is the best contemporary Paganism has to reawaken.

* I spoke with Gene after his talk because I want to invite local spiritual leaders to the upcoming Third Annual People of the Earth gathering at the Interfaith Center of the Presidio.

All photos, except that of the basket, by Aline O'Brien (Macha). Basket photo from the collection of The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT.

Interfaith Memorial

2010-07-29T12:05:00.001-07:00

I've had a busy, eventful Summer, so where to start? Starting with the most recent, last Sunday afternoon, at the invitation of my friend the Rev. Paul Gaffney, I participated in the Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy 13th Annual Memorial Procession here in San Rafael. We gathered to the sounds of drums at Albert Park, where we were given flowers* and programs. A Buddhist colleague had set up a small altar there. We circled while he lit some incense and asked us to bow three times, once towards each other.

Following this blessing, we proceeded in silence up A Street to St. Raphael's Catholic Church, built on the site of the old Mission San Rafael Arcángel, the second northernmost mission established by Fra Junipero Serra in the early 1800s. There, right by the sidewalk, grows a Japanese maple planted in honor of those who've died homeless in Marin County. We placed our flowers around the base of the tree.

My friend Chris Highland, who preceded Paul Gaffney as the local chaplain to the homeless (and who now teaches at Cherry Hill Seminary), told me the story behind the planting. The folks at Green Gulch Farm (Zen Center) donated the tree to the homeless chaplaincy in 1999. Before the tree was planted, the homeless chaplaincy and their supporters pushed the tree in a wheelbarrow up and down all the streets of downtown San Rafael to awaken the more fortunate to the presence of their often unseen neighbors who had no homes. A plaque tells passers-by the meaning of the tree.

Father Paul Rossi welcomed us to St. Raphael's, after which all the names of those who died homeless in San Rafael were read and repeated. This list, which grows each year, only includes names of those whose names are known. It was printed on the back of the program. Following this reading, I offered a prayer "For One Who Has Died Violently or in Great Distress."**

While volunteers passed a collection plate around for donations to the homeless chaplaincy, I lead a round called "When We Are Gone," written by Anne Hill and Starhawk and printed in the program.

Paul then invited those assembled to share refreshments, conversation and music in the Kennedy Room of St. Raphael's. Food was donated by Trader Joe's.

I'm pleased that my contributions -- and this is the third time I've participated in this annual event -- are welcomed and valued. This shows us Pagans in a good light, as involved, caring citizens.

Here is a report from the local Marin Independent Journal newspaper on the event. Although it contains minor errors, it's view is positive.***

* Flowers generously donated by Burns Florist in San Rafael. Unfortunately, Burns will not be donating flowers again because, after having served the community for 100 years, they have become victims of the economic downturn and are closing.

** This prayer can be found in The Pagan Book of Living and Dying.

*** You can see me in one of the photos, about five or six rows back.

**** Photo of Paul Gaffney and me by Chris Highland. Photo of March from Marin IJ.

New Titles of Interest to Pagans

2010-06-17T01:22:00.000-07:00

As a member of the AAR, I am on the mailing list of lots of academic and religious publishing houses so I get their catalogs. I enjoy perusing them and sometimes come up with some intriguing titles. Here are few from the latest from Ashgate's Religious Studies and Theology:

Invented Religions: Faith, Fiction, Imagination, Carol M. Cusack, University of Sydney, Australia. "...investigates four religious movements founded in the West which are intentionally fictional: Discordianism ["Chaos is a goddess"], the Church of All Worlds ["science fiction, environmentalism and a holistic pagan vision"], the Church of the SubGenius ["science fiction mythos, culture jamming, and the sacredness of slack"] and Jedism ["Third millennium invented religions"]. ... explores these groups as reactions against the religious marketplace of the 1950s and 1960s. Their continued appeal and success, principally in America but gaining wider audience through the 1980s and 1999s, is chiefly as a result of underground publishing and the internet." [my emphasis] Fewer than 100 pages for a hundred bucks!* I would imagine that an Aussie's perspective on these American phenomena would be enlightening.

From a series on Sexuality and Religion:

Indigenous Religions, edited by Stephen Hunt. This British scholar "...gives full scope to the multitude of attitudes towards human sexuality found in expressions of religiosity outside of the so-called 'World Faiths,' with examples taken from cultures as far afield as Africa, Australasia, South American and the Pacific Islands" A whopping 800 pages for a whopping $250! I'm assuming by "World Faiths" they mean the Big Three Abrahamics, plus maybe Buddhism and Hinduism.

New Religions and Spiritualities, edited by Stephen Hunt. "...reveal the range of contentious attitudes towards human sexuality from the so-called 'new spiritualities,' quasi-religions and the more 'hidden' forms of religiosity, which are now evident on a global scale." [My emphasis.] Contentious, eh? I'm guessing that we Pagans may be among those referred to as "new spiritualities" or "quasi-religions." Five hundred pages for $250!

From series on Vitality of Indigenous Religions: Blackfoot Religion and the Consequences of Cultural Commoditization, Kenneth Hayes Lokensgard, ("Commoditization" is a longer way of saying "commodify.") "...explores the exchange of Blackfoot 'medicine bundles' within contemporary Blackfoot culture and between the Blackfoot Peoples and Euro-Americans. ... deals with the attempts of some Blackfeet to repatriate ceremonial materials from Euro-American hands." There's that old cultural appropriation bugaboo again. For this hundred bucks you get not only 192 pages, but also four b&w illustrations and a map.

Crafting Contemporary Pagan Identities in a Catholic Society, Kathryn Rountree, Massey University, New Zealand. "Contemporary western Paganism is now a global religious phenomenon with Pagans in many parts of the world sharing much in common -- from a nature-revering worldview and lifestyle to a host of chants, invocations, ritual tools and magical practices.

"Taking the Mediterranean society of Malta as a case study, ... [shows] what it is like being Pagan in a society where the vast majority of the population is Roman Catholic ... reveals that Paganism here is a unique brew of indigenous and global influences." [My emphasis.] Well, this book has a few more than 200 pages, plus 21 b&w illustrations, for another hundred bucks. I would love to hear those chants; bet we know many, if not most of them.

Another Southern Hemisphere perspective. I'm glad to see that our English-speaking neighbors below the Equator are getting funded to do this kind of research. Also, note that the word Pagan is capitalized in this book, but not in some of the others.

* Many of these books are available in hardback or as eBooks for the same price.

Interfaith Retreat Day

2010-06-14T00:39:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I attended Marin Interfaith Council's only retreat of this year, at Green Gulch Farm, shown in this photo and scene of other retreats I've mentioned here. The day was sunny and gorgeous. Proceeding without a specific theme, the two teachers offered a variety of commentary.

Sheikh Jamal Granick, raised Roman Catholic in the Bronx, now practices Sufi Muslim and is associated with the International Association of Sufism, founded by one of his teachers and one of my colleagues in MIC, Dr. Nahid Angha. He works as a psychotherapist.[1]

Sheikh Jamal's co-teacher was the Rev. Arlene Lueck of the host Zen center. She, too, was brought up in a Roman Catholic family. After a life as a wife, mother, and high-powered businesswoman, she visited a monastery around the time she was divorcing, and stayed. She had entered with no intention of seeking a religious life. She is now tanto, or practice leader and mentor, of Green Gulch Retreat Center.

Jamal began by saying that "practice is implementation of faith, otherwise it is just belief." As someone for whom faith is minor to non-existent, and who relies upon experience over belief, this statement doesn't quite apply. That said, I guess you could consider it to be walking one's talk, a practice I admire and try to do.

Arlene said that Zen is about breath. It is above and beyond any "ism." It is about not attaching, letting it be, but not a free-for-all. She says nothing is an absolute, that meditation leads the voice, and that "not knowing" is most intimate. "Buddha" means awakened mind.

They compared the concept known in Sufi as "primordial nature" with that known in Zen as "original mind."[2]

We sat in silence for maybe a hour, after which the teachers opened the floor to questions. Jamal explained that there are many orders of Sufi and many kinds of dancing. The dervishes originated with Rumi, a Persian in Turkey. Rumi was in mourning, so he began to move, and out of that movement came dance and then poetry.

Arlene claims that sacred sound, sacred dancing, and sacred silence are all the same, forms of "deep listening." She said that all of us were there because we had "ecumenical minds."

Jamal compares the teacher to a mirror. The word sheikh means "teacher." He says if you need the teacher too much, you're not taking responsibility for yourself. If the teacher needs you too much, you're caught.

Because he is a psychotherapist, Jamal was asked to speak of the difference between religious practice and psychotherapy. He said our acquired personality is what we learn from the senses, and that ours sense of self is derived from reflections from our environments. On the matter of transference/projection, he claims that a good teacher will not accept transference, it won't "take." Again the teacher is the mirror of the student. This was a timely thing for me to hear.

In Pagan circles, I sometimes encounter those who use their time working together as a form of therapy, and I don't think this is the purpose of circle work. I know that ritual work can be very therapeutic, and I think it's great to use it that way. Gods know I've used ritual and magic as a form of personal therapy. But to use the circle mainly for the deep down and dirty work of therapy does not, in my opinion, honor our gods. If we need therapy, we can seek out a competent therapist or group. Then we can fortify the work we do in therapy with our magic. But I am uncomfortable using circle work as a primary method of therapy. Of course, I know there are plenty of covens who don't do this.

We shared a scrumptious vegetarian lunch lovingly prepared with fresh vegetables grown right there by people staying, learning, and serving at the retreat. Some of us ate in silence, while those who wished to converse ate in another section of the dining room.

Both teachers spoke a bit about how their organizations were structured. Both of their religious organizations are relatively young groups within much older religious traditions, and both were founded in the U.S. Women play a prominent role in both. Arlene said that she's observed in older Japanese Zen orders an openness to the active participation of women that they didn't have before their interactions with American orders. I think you can say this about Craft, to some extent. Women are more prominent in Witchcraft in America than in Europe, and I'm hoping that the "backcrossing"[3] has a similar effect in Craft in Europe to the effect it's had in Zen in Japan. In most other American Pagan religions women seem to have parity with men.

The Zen group was founded by Americans coming out of the counter-culture of the 1960s and '70s, as has American Paganism. Most of those who created the Zen center came from middle-class backgrounds, relatively privileged and well educated, just like much of the Pagan population. They had no experience with organizing a religious group, much less a Utopian community where they all had to live together in harmony. They have their internal disputes, things they have to confront and work out. They are human.

As these two teachers described the structure of their respective organizations, I couldn't help but reflect upon my experiences with Pagan organizations. There are a few Pagan groups in the U.S. who own property communally and live on it together, often gaining their livelihoods from some kind of shared business or farming endeavor. I have never been drawn to be a part of them. However, I've involved myself in other efforts at Pagan organizing (Reclaiming, CoG), and currently work at making an accredited Pagan seminary. (Cherry Hill Seminary: Distance Education for Professional Pagan Ministry; please consider making a donation to support our work.)

Jamal claims that no group has authority in Sufi, that authority comes from within. This notion comports with my own position as a Pagan. As an example, he said that if when you're thirsty and someone offers you water to quench your thirst, you're more likely to follow that person to the source of more water. But if someone just tells you about a source of water, well, so what? Perhaps this is the difference between care and kind acts on the one hand and preaching on the other. We Pagans tend to dislike being preached to (although I personally really appreciate a good orator like our President).

Arlene says that Zen has no greeters; you find your own way in. This is how I've always understood Craft. One of its appeals to me was the fact that you had to do a little searching to find it. This made the finding all the more precious. That is not the case anymore. We have become much more visible in the past 15 years or so. I don't mind the visibility so much, although I know plenty of Witches who prefer to stay deep within the broom closet. What I do mind, though, is what sometimes seems almost like commodification of Craft. Sometimes I see streaks of proselytization that make me very uncomfortable.

Arlene told of how each person makes his or her own rakasu (rakusu), stitching it as I would a quilt, as a meditative act. A rakusu is a bib, the color of which indicates the wearer's position in the order. Teachers wear brown or gold rakasu. One must have achieved a certain level of teaching in order to wear a rakasu. They are worn for a ceremony of receiving Bodhisattva Precepts.

Arlene, in her early 60s, reflected on the fact that she realizes that she has reached the last part of her life. Me, too, only I'm a bit older. She said it's a time of life when you don't take life too seriously, but you do treat it seriously. I like that.

She claims that boddhisattvas equate to Catholic saints, something that I, and probably other Pagans, have been noting for years, particularly when discussing theology, a monotheistic concept in the first place.

We concluded the day with a walking meditation. Arlene showed a specific way of holding the hands if we wanted to. We were to walk with our gaze down, looking at nothing and being aware of everything.

I have attended nearly all of the retreat days MIC has offered. Some turn out to be nice days in nice company, being quiet. Others give evidence of attitudes that annoy me. I nearly always gain some insights, usually unexpected.

Note on photos: The bed of bright orange California poppies grows just to the left of the entrance to the zendo. The foxglove grows near the restrooms.

[1] Interestingly, one of the co-leaders of MIC's retreat last Winter was a Philadelphia-born, Catholic-raised Sufi Muslim college professor.

[2] I realize that many Pagans are knowledgeable about Zen and Sufi beliefs and practices. I think that, in general, contemporary Pagans are more familiar with other religions than the practitioners of those other religions are about each other, let alone Paganism. One of the fun things about doing interfaith work is finding your commonalities.

[3] "Backcrossing" is a term used in animal breeding when a domestic animal is bred with a wild animal of the same species. (Not being a breeder myself, I'm no doubt oversimplifying.)

Three Pagan Elders Gone

2010-05-20T02:02:00.000-07:00

Just last month I mentioned reading the "Irish Sporting Green," which is what this blog seems to be becoming.

On Beltane, after having danced two Maypoles in Berkeley, longtime NROOGD Witch Robin Goodfellow died of complications of diabetes. Robin was a familiar figure riding his bike around town. In the past he'd worked as an artist's model. He took the Pagan notion of skyclad seriously by doffing his clothes the minute he crossed a boundary into clothing-optional space, such as at Harbin Hot Springs. Widely read and loquacious, Robin never met an invocation, or even a notion, he could not expand upon indefinitely.

In 1981 when I first joined CoG, CoG was a member of the young Berkeley Area Interfaith Council. Several of us local CoG members attended a meeting where it fell upon me to lead a guided tree of life meditation. You may think this is no big deal, but the Pagan movement was really young then, most practitioners were firmly "in the broom closet," and I was a brand new Witch. Robin and his longtime partner, Gaia Wildwood, as experienced members, encouraged my participation and assured me I could do it. I did. I will always be grateful to them for that kindness when I was a baby Witch. Gaia survives Robin.

I think it's fair to say he went in style, though, since he attended a "Pictish Feri"* Beltane in one park and a NROOGD Beltane in another that afternoon, dancing two Maypoles. This photo was taken by Mick Roche at one of those rituals.

When I informed my friend Cerridwen Fallingstar of Robin's passing, she told me of the untimely passing of another Pagan friend back on March 24, 2010. I have circled with Susan Leigh Star's coven since I first set foot on the path back in the '70s. Leigh led her life in academia, where she explored "the broad roles of the library and of information in modern society." She chose to remain in the broom closet, but I always felt assured of her support of my being such a public Pagan. I am trusting that blowing her cover now that she's on the other side of the veil won't upset anyone. Although I did not know her well or see her frequently, we shared one of those friendships where you feel like old friends who'd just talked yesterday whenever we got together. Leigh's husband, Geoff Bowker, survives her. I plan to attend her memorial in August.

The following week I received from my friend Jo Carson the following announcement of the death of one of the founders of Feraferia, the long-time partner of the late Fred Adams, Lady Svetlana. Jo is Fred's literary executor. There will be a memorial in Los Angeles this coming weekend.

Svetlana Butyrin, or Lady Svetlana of Feraferia, as she liked to be called, passed into the realm of the beloved dead on Thursday, May 6, 2010. Born Svetlana Golubeff on November 2, 1934, she was 75 years old. ....

Svetlana, along with her long time mate Fred Adams, founded Feraferia, Inc. as an official church in the state of California on August 2, 1967. Feraferia means "celebration of wildness" in Latin, and on and off for many years Svetlana and Fred created rituals and parties to celebrate Nature and the divine feminine, especially in the form of "Kore", the daughter or young girl - with all the playfulness and spontaneity that implies. Svetlana wrote a complete set of Feraferian seasonal rituals which were published in Amsterdam, Holland by Feraferia initiate Peter Tromp.

Feraferia was designed to be a religion based on the bliss between lovers and earth, with both the Goddess and the God. "Feraferia is a Pagan fellowship for the erotic celebration of Wilderness Mysteries with Faerie style and grace, and for the lyrical unification of ecology, mythology, and sacrament. In such play-love-work may women and men be reunited with Great Nature, each other, and their own beings..."

While it was most active, Feraferia members spent time in wilderness singing, dancing, communing with nature and nature spirits, and having a rambunctious good time. Feraferia flourished in Southern California during the 60's and the 70's, and then reemerged in Nevada City, California in the 90's, when Svetlana moved there to be near her children.

[Photo at left] ... (photo credit Don Harrison, Church of the Eternal Source) of Svetlana joyfully leading a ritual in her later years. Plagued by occasional panic attacks since a frightening dream in her teens, Svetlana was increasingly fearful during her last eight years. However after Fred died in 2008, she gradually lost her fear of death, partly due to dreams wherein she saw Fred sitting by the gates of a Feraferian Paradise, urging her to come on over. She would answer him "I'm not ready". But finally, she was ready. May the Maiden Goddess bless her on her way.

I never met Lady Svetlana, but I heard lots of stories about her, and when Starhawk and I published The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, Svetlana wrote us a long handwritten letter scolding us for what she considered an erroneous description of what happens to people after they die. She insisted that they descended to Hades where they were greeted by Persephone. I suspect Svetlana was received by the Queen of the Underworld in style.

I cannot over-stress the importance I give to documenting those who've been on the front end of what I now see as the Pagan movement. I am grateful that Jo Carson has accepted the job of keeping alive the ideas and works of Fred Adams and Lady Svetlana. I hope younger Pagans have an interest in interviewing those who spearheaded this movement while they live. I believe it's important, for so many reasons, for us to learn our history.

* Forgive me, Tony, if this term is inaccurate.

11th Annual Interfaith Prayer Breakfast

2010-05-06T14:08:00.001-07:00

Today my local interfaith group celebrated National Day of Prayer in a more ideal form than many have come to expect. By more ideal, I mean in a truly diverse and tolerant way, respecting all religions. With over 200 in attendance, many for the first time, we had 21 tables, each with a table captain to facilitate discussion. I was one such table captain. The question for discussion was in what ways you use prayer in your life. Due to the size of the crowd and the noise of people getting their breakfasts from the buffet tables, our conversations were limited to those few sitting on either side of us instead of involving all seated at a table.

After a welcoming by our director, the Rev. Carol Hovis, and an opening prayer, the Marin Interfaith Singers sang "Dona Nobis Pacem," a song I really love.

The Rev. Linda Ruth Cutts, a Zen Buddhist priest from Green Gulch Farm Zen Center, said that although prayer is not a term used in Buddhism, "everything we do is prayer." She said Zen practitioners do have words/language similar to what others might consider to be prayer, such as the words they say when offering gratitude for a meal and all the life forms, sunlight, soil, cultivation, preparation, and such that went into the meal. She said that monasteries and in some private homes altars are erected outside the restrooms for the users to take a moment to acknowledge their interdependence on all things. She differentiated between seated meditation and active meditation (out in the world), followed by a brief seated meditation for all of us.

David Stevens, Christian Science practitioner and teacher, although he is an accomplished speaker, articulated his Christianity with a degree of certainty that I found less appealing. His prayers were understandably limited to appeals to a single god, with the assumption that all his listeners shared this perspective. He reminded us that prayer is unconfined, it's portable, and it's natural. He claims that prayer "replaces fear with confidence" and "confusion with clarity." I agree it can.

He concluded with a reading of the Christian Lord's Prayer. He had a colleague reach each line in the familiar language from the King James Bible, followed by his reading the interpretation of the same line as found in the writings of Mary Baker Eddy in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Personally, I did not resonate with these words.

The final speaker was Sister Mary Neil of the Dominican Sisters. Sister Mary holds a Ph.D. and taught religious studies and theology at the University of San Francisco for many years. Now retired, she is a very young-looking 77 years old. (That's Sister Mary on the left in the photo. The woman in the center is my friend Sister Colleen McDermott, a member of MIC's Board of Directors.)

One of the first things Sister Mary did was apologize to anyone who may have been hurt by her church, and then to ask whom of those present was ever hit by a nun. One woman raised her hand. Sister Mary asked her to come up, and then asked her to hit her and with that hit, to let go of the hurt. The woman's slap was weak, so Sister Mary asked her for a stronger one.

She said that prayer isn't something you really think about very much; rather, when you are in crisis, you cry help! Prayer is "remembering who I am." She claims prayer is difficult because it demands intimacy and it demands truth.

She says she feels a strong pull towards Buddhism, particularly for its development of meditative techniques. She explained a chakra meditation she does in which she applies scriptural words and phrases to each chakra as she meditates upon it. For instance, at the throat chakra she speaks of the hunger and thirst for God, and at the crown chakra, she says Jesus' final words, "into thy hands I commit my spirit."

I think it's really interesting to recall that it was due to the participation of the Hindu Swami Vivekananda at the first Parliament of the World's Religions in 1893 at the Chicago World's Fair that opened the world of Eastern religion to the West, and here we are today, more than a century later, listening to a Roman Catholic nun speak of applying the chakra system to her Christian meditation and prayer.

Before I even got this, this article about the event appeared in the Contra Costa County Times. (Contra Costa is across the SF Bay from Marin County.)

The Irish Sporting Green

2010-04-17T17:36:00.002-07:00

Lately this blog looks like the Irish Sporting Green. One of the bigger local newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle, publishes its sports page on green-tinted paper. I don't know if other papers do this or not. This section is called the sporting green. Many Irish-Americans regularly read the obituary column, so it's fondly called the Irish Sporting Green. I keep posting about dead relatives and friends; hence, this appears to be the Irish Sporting Green of the Broomstick Chronicles. Obviously I'm feeling especially vulnerable to the loss death brings. I mourn.

And speaking of the departed, my sister sent me this wonderful photo, lifted from a very large group shot, of my parents. It was taken in 1946, so my mom would have been 35 and Daddy 37. Such a fine-looking couple!

2010-04-17T17:36:00.001-07:00

I don't feel like it

2010-04-15T15:13:00.001-07:00

I don't feel like blogging. I don't feel like doing anything. I've been done in for too long.

Christy's family held her memorial at the Lovejoy's Tea Room, her favorite place. It had been so long since I'd shared tea with Christy there that the tea room was in a new location down the street. They had displayed lots of Christy's hats on the Victorian hat rack, and had lots of wonderful photos of Christy throughout her life playing on a video screen. It was great to see her at so many ages and in so many circumstances, loving life and brightening the lives of others. I had brought a tube of extra posters that she and I had printed for the book we did in case some of her loved ones wanted a copy. They seemed glad to have them.

When we were invited, I spoke about my relationship with Christy. I brought condolences from some of our other Goddard friends. (Some of us are planning a picnic on Ring Mountain later this month in memory of Christy.) Others had mentioned how she was always giving little gifts. I told of a Waterford crystal shot glass she gave me that I intended to fill with Jameson's when I got home and lift a toast to Christy.

After the ceremony, Richard shared with me some of the details of Christy's crossing. I don't want to share them here because I don't know if that might feel too revealing to her family, but I can tell you they moved me deeply. They underscored my feelings and knowledge of the dying process as well as what a special person Christy was.

Richard asked me to close the ceremony with this poem that Christy loved, written by a mutual friend of ours from the San Francisco Writers Workshop we used to attend at the library named Mary TallMountain. Mary, now also sadly gone, was an Athabascan from a remote village in Alaska.*

There Is No Word for Goodbye**

Mary TallMountain

Sokoya, I said, looking through

the net of wrinkles into

wise black pools

of her eyes.

What do you say in Athabaskan

when you leave each other?

What is the word

for goodbye?

A shade of feeling rippled

the wind-tanned skin.

Ah, nothing, she said,

watching the river flash.

She looked at me close.

We just say, Tlaa. That means,

See you.

We never leave each other.

When does your mouth

say goodbye to your heart?

She touched me light

as a bluebell,

You forget when you leave us;

you’re so small then.

We don’t use that word.

We always think you’re coming back,

but if you don’t,

we’ll see you some place else.

You understand.

There is no word for goodbye.

* Bill Moyers featured an interview with Mary on a show he did about Native American poets. He found her enchanting.

** Unfortunately, this blog will not accept the proper formatting (indents) even if I don't put the poem in quotes. Apologies to Mary and all poets.

Christy Kearney

2010-02-28T14:11:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Christy Kearney (aka Chrys Rasmussen and Christy Werbel) passed away last Saturday after a long battle with breast cancer. Christy was a Goddard friend; we met when we both arrived at the Goddard Adult Degree Program at Asilomar, California, in 1977. At the time, Christy lived in Illinois and I in North Beach, San Francisco. She was determined to move to San Francisco, which she did shortly thereafter.

My daughter Deirdre turned one year old during the course of that two-week stay at Asilomar. Her dad, Rod, brought her down for a birthday celebration Christy was part of at the lodge. Christy was wonderful ‘auntie’ to my daughter Deirdre throughout her life. Deirdre wore some beautiful dresses that had been worn by Christy's daughters, Heidi, then Marcy. When Rod was dying back in 1988, Christy took Deirdre out for meals and other diversions to give her a break from the hospital vigil. Three years ago when I needed help for Deirdre, unsolicited, she sent a chunk of money.

One of the things not mentioned in this lovely obit linked above is that Christy was a fine poet. In 1981, she and I formed a publishing company, Continuing Saga Press, and published an anthology, co-edited by the two of us and another Goddard friend, Kitty Costello, called WomanBlood: Portraits of Women in Poetry and Prose, which contains some of Christy's work. Of course, in our enthusiastic naïveté we knew nothing of book marketing and had no budget for ads or much else in the way of promotion (although we did share a booth with IBPA and COSMEP* at the ABA convention), so we didn’t sell all our print run. Regardless, the book garnered favorably reviews and contained the works of well-known poets and writers as well as those of the relatively unknown. We proudly consider it a worthy work.

I'm sorry to say that Christy and I had less frequent contact over the past few years, mainly due to her being away caring for her ailing mother and our respective schedules, later exacerbated by her weakening condition. When I received an email from Marcy saying that Christy was dying, I planned to visit her right away but my car was in the shop for what was supposed to be one day. Unfortunately, that day turned into two days, by which time Christy had passed. I wanted to tell her how much she means to me and and how much I loved her. I deeply regret that I didn't get to do that, and I hope she died knowing that fact all the same. (Let this be a lesson to all to keep close contact with loved ones. They won't always be there.)

Christy was a Beltane baby, born May 1, 1947. Beltane babies are said to be able to see the fey; I’m sure she did.

In love may she return again.

Donations in Christy's memory to U'ilani Fund.

* COSMEP = Committee of Small Magazine Editors and Publishers

In Honor of Holy Bridey

2010-02-02T17:54:00.000-08:00

I want to thank my friend Oak for reminding me again this year to stop and hear Her song. I've been in the midst of family changes, including the death of my partner Corby's mother in the wee hours of Friday morning, as well as having just returned from the Sixth Annual Conference on Current Pagan Studies at Claremont Graduate University, far from my home in Northern California. Candlemas nearly got away from me. (Corby circled with some of our Gardnerian friends last night, but I was too wiped to go.) Whining over; here are the poems I've chosen this year. Since Brigit is a triple goddess, I offer three.

My friend Penny Novack, in her new book Your Luminous Self,* written in the woodlands of Western Massachusetts, calls Brigit:

Hail Brede

Bride of fire
Brede of flame
Melting thought
Moulding song

Brede of Bards
Brede of Smiths
Hammering iron
Moulding gold

Winter-change Brede
Weird of the Boundaries
Cradle of Inspiration
Brede who sets to forge
The Fates, the Muses
And the creation
Of the soul

From the collection Dark Beauty, by Katrina Messenger:

Oh Mother
Oh Mother, guide my feet
Oh Mother, guide my feet
Calm my heart
Calm my mind
Calm my soul
Oh Mohter, guide my feet

There she stands
A child in fear
Balled up fists
Face in tears

Crying out
For love and support
For safety
And a kind word

Oh Mother, guide my feet

Expectant she eyes
The horizon
Cynical cuz
She knows the score

Prove her wrong
Prove her right
But leave her in
The wilderness no more

Oh Mother, guide my feet

I know her name
And her history
I've seen her harmed
At every turn

Pick her up
Carry her home
Wipe her face
Take away her wish
That she'd never been born

Oh Mother, guide my feet

I am her
I am she
I am mother
And I am me

And as we walk
This path together
Oh Mother,
Guide my feet

This third poem is also from Your Luminous Self.

She Changes
(Second Meeting With A Red-Haired Woman)

Surprised, you say she appeared
A different way
Our meeting last.
Yes, I say, you can never tell.
Though you think yourself now to be
At a warm, light hearth,
Crowded and merry,
For all you know
You may have insteaad
Stopped off in the dew-cold woods
And be holding blind council
With a fox,
A crow,
And a grey-tufted owl.

The photograph of Brigit is of a mask made by Lauren Raine and worn by a priestess in a ritual. You can find it in her book, The Masks of the Goddess. Although I am unable to find a credit for the photo, I am almost certain it was taken by Thomas Lux. I cannot be sure, but I suspect the priestess is Diane Darling.

* Your Luminous Self can be purchased from Asphodel Press, Hubbardston, Massachusetts.

New Year Greetings from Cherry Hill Seminary

2010-01-07T23:39:00.000-08:00

Greetings! We here at CHS hope your holidays were filled with the warmth of shared times with loved ones.

As I move into my year as president of the Board of CHS, I am mindful of the big shoes I have to fill after the year headed by Druid Kirk Thomas. Kirk has helped us become more steady and ready for further growth. During his term, CHS has grown in revenue (although not yet nearly enough to really roll), staff, faculty, offerings, and, most important, enrollment. Kirk worked closely with Executive Director Holli Emore and the Board throughout the year, and I think the results are truly encouraging.

The past year has seen the introduction of CHS’ Master of Divinity and Master of Pagan Studies programs, now numbering nearly 20 matriculated students. Meanwhile, four Board members have taken the course required for CHS to apply to the DETC (Distance Education and Training Council) for accreditation.

In August, after months of hard collaboration, our administrative staff published a comprehensive Student Handbook.

Judy Harrow, who has been such a strong supporter and active participant in helping to shape CHS, retired this year to tend to her health. We were sorry to see her go, and remain ever grateful for her tremendous contributions. Judy continues to assist us at times and will be teaching two short courses this Spring semester. (Judy and I joined the folks at CHS at the same time.) We have named our library, created under the direction of Caroline Dechert, the Judy Harrow Virtual Library created under the direction of Caroline Dechert.

We continue to work with the New Alexandrian Library, a project of Assembly of the Sacred Wheel in Delaware, on establishing our bricks-and-mortar library. (Having a library of a certain size is one of the requirements for accreditation.)

CHS has for some years had a strong presence at the American Academy of Religion (AAR). CHS faculty, students and Board members have been active as presenters and moderators, as they were this year in Montreal.

This year we are joined by two new Board members: Richard L. Hall, CPA, CMA, and Gretchen Faulk. Ryk, who regularly attends EarthSpirit events in Massachusetts, lives in Salem, Virginia, where he has been active in, among other things, wildlife rescue. He has taken over as Treasurer from the capable but overburdened Diane Edgecomb, freeing her to attend to other matters such as applying for grants for CHS. Gretchen, a Dianic Witch and Thelemite who works in the field of cancer research, lives in Salt Lake City, Utah, where she is well-known in the Pagan community there. I welcome them with open arms and look forward to the benefits of their contributions.

In 2010, I anticipate expanding our Board membership to 16. CHS’ Board, unlike some, is a working board; we who serve on it are collaborating in the creative process of nurturing and bringing to maturity a seminary born in Vermont in 2001.

A few words about my personal involvement: I have been involved with CHS in various capacities, beginning as faculty, for several years. Over the course of that time CHS has grown and changed in unexpected ways. Since our students and potential students expressed a strong desire for a master’s program and eventual accreditation, we had to shift gears a bit in order to design programs that would meet the criteria of accrediting bodies. We have chosen DETC as being the most appropriate accrediting institution for our Web-based school. In the long run, we also plan to gain accreditation by the ATS (Association of Theological Schools).

I have had mixed feelings about adapting Pagan ways to the type of professional training expected in mainstream culture. My concerns have been satisfied by the implementation of the PCELL (Pagan Continuing Education for Lifelong Learning), a compliment to the Master’s Program serving Pagans who are not seeking a degree but who wish to take courses for personal enrichment and more general community service. We are ever mindful of not compromising the unique characteristics of Paganism as we develop the seminary.

So far, my experience on the Board, as well as in other capacities at CHS, has been rewarding. Although we are diverse and many of us have, shall we say, strong personalities, we have always been able to keep the mission of CHS foremost above any personal issues. This speaks to maturity and depth, and bodes well for the future of the seminary and Pagan culture.

I wish for the seminary at large, and for myself, to remain open to discussion, ideas, suggestions, and the thinking of our students and the Pagan public. To that end, I invite you to subscribe to our newsletter, join our FaceBook community, help us publicize our courses and other events, send us your ideas, and, most importantly, consider fiscal sponsorship. Our fundraising committee has designed several clever options for your coven, grove, nest, hearth, church, circle, family or other group (or individual) to sponsor CHS. Contact Holli Emore for details. CHS is our seminary. We design it in harmony with our Pagan culture and values.

We begin the decade with several goals, not all of which have yet been articulated. But one is establishing an endowment fund. Ryk and Holli will be providing more information about this over the next few months. Meanwhile, you help us to keep tuition low and run more efficiently by your regular contributions to the annual fund, plus purchases from our student bookstore, Scrip program, and occasional gift items (like the Yule ornament, and soon to be announced cookbook and auto sticker).

One last thing: you may know me as Macha NightMare. I’m still Macha, but in recent years I’ve returned to using my birth name, and I suspect you’ll agree that Aline O’Brien may open more doors as I represent Cherry Hill Seminary in the mainstream professional world of education, interfaith activities, and fundraising.

Yours in changing culture,

Aline O’Brien
President

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Paganism and the Academy: A Brief Overview of Pagans at the AAR

2010-01-07T04:44:00.000-08:00

The American Academy of Religion (AAR) celebrated 100 years at its Annual Meeting in Montreal in November. For four days scholars and theologians gathered to present papers, serve on panels and attend plenary addresses, films, concerts, walking tours, and concerts.

People who study Pagans and Paganism, as well as some who practice one or another form of Paganism, comprised a portion of the presenters and attendees. For about 12 years a Contemporary Pagan Studies group has been establishing its presence and credibility, organized by Chas Clifton, Michael York, Wendy Griffin, Kat McEachern and others. Thanks to them, Contemporary Pagan Studies is now an official Group within the AAR. (Areas of study begin as Consultancies. When they have attracted greater interest, they progress to become a Group. Fully established areas are called Sections.)

This year’s offerings in the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group and Indigenous Religious Traditions Group (combined) began on Saturday afternoon with a session on the theme of “Common Ground/Differences: Pagan and Indigenous Studies in Religion.” Suzanne Owen of Leeds Trinity spoke on “Indigenous Religious Expression? Mi’kmaq Tradition and British Druidry,” followed by “Houses for the Holy? A Reconstructionist Debate among Modern Norse Pagans,” by Michael F. Strmiska of Orange County Community College in Middletown, NY, then “The Goddess and the Virgin: Examining the Role of Statue Devotion in Western Europe,” by Amy Whitehead of The Open University in the UK. Ms. Whitehead compared the devotional practices of the Virgin of Alcala in Spain with those of a contemporary goddess temple in England. One scheduled presenter did not appear. Jace Weaver of the University of Georgia then responded to the three papers.

“Idolatry” was the theme of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group session on Sunday morning. Graham Harvey of The Open University spoke on “Materiality and Spirituality Aren’t Opposites (Necessarily): Paganism and Objects,” followed by Bron Taylor of the University of Florida on “Terrapolitan Earth Religion or Ecototalitarianism? Assessing the Peril and Promise of Nature Religion in Environmental Governance,” and “Idolatry, Ecology, and the Sacred as Tangible” by Michael York of the Academy for Cultural and Educational Studies, London.

The third and final session of the Contemporary Pagan Studies Group addressed the theme “The Book and the Practice: The Relationship between Literature and Contemporary Paganism.” Four papers were read. Chas S. Clifton of Colorado State University, Pueblo, called his talk “Before Stranger: Twentieth Century Paganism as a Literary Response to Texts.” Christine Kraemer of Cherry Hill Seminary spoke on “Contemporary Paganism, Utopian Reading Communities, and Sacred Nonmonogamy: The Religions Impact of Heinlein and Starhawk’s Fiction,” followed by “Journeys Upstream and Encounters Across Time: Reading the Pagan and Indigenous through Cinema,” by Adrian Ivakhiv of the University of Vermont, and “Open Source Religions Versus Citationality: The Function of Literature in Contemporary Pagan Praxis,” by Megan Goodwin of the University of North Carolina. While all presenters put forth good data and analyses, I found Dr. Kraemer’s paper to be exceptionally informative, insightful and polished.

In addition, Pagan scholars contributed papers to other related Sections, most notably the Ritual Studies Group (“The Denial of Ritual”) and New Religious Movements, but also in the Death, Dying, and Beyond Consultation (“American Funerary Practices Since the 1960s”), Comparative Studies in Religion Section (“Trees, Goddesses, and Conflict in Myth and Theology”), Bioethics and Religion Group and Religion and Ecology Group (combined) (“Frankenfood, Bridges, and Hazards: An Interdisciplinary Exploration of Social Justice and Sustainability in a Global Context”), Religion, Media, and Culture Group and Ritual Studies Group (“Exploring Ritual in Contemporary Media and Culture,” with one paper entitled “Performing Religion in Virtual Worlds: A Contested Field”), and Religion and Ecology Group (“Exploring Ecological Discourse in Global Contexts: Tensions and Tropes Rooted in Local Soils,” including papers on “Elephant Tails and a Mother’s Good Deeds: Local Expressions of Mother Earth Inspire Engaged Buddhism in Southeast Asia,” “Religion, Ecology, and Globalization (Colonialism, Imperialism, Population, Pronatalism, Political Holism, and Food),” and “Grow Bees Grow: Of the Sacred and of Human Affinity with Bees”).

A dean, a department chair, a Board member, and several faculty members from Cherry Hill Seminary attended sessions on many topics, from those on distance learning, a field in which Cherry Hill Seminary is in the vanguard, to those on Religion and Politics; Ethics; Science, Technology, and Religion; Music and Religion (“Oxum and Yansan: Candomblé Trickster Archetypal Models for Female Drummers,” “Scriptures, Soundtracks, and the Acrobatic Self: Reception and Use of the Music of U2 in the Contemporary Process of Identity Formation”); Religion, Medicines, and Healing; Queer Theory and LGBT Studies in Religion; and many others.

I attended on behalf of Cherry Hill Seminary and as an interfaith representative of the Covenant of the Goddess. I’ve managed to make it to most of the past 12 annual meetings and I really enjoy the stimulation, not to mention the opportunity to become acquainted with the best of Pagan scholars. (I took notes at some of the presentations I attended and plan to share my impressions in more detail in subsequent posts.)

Note: This piece previously published at examiner.com.

Celebrating Art

2010-01-05T15:49:00.000-08:00

This year past I celebrate three artist friends. Corby and I join a small group of middle-aged Pagans and Paganish folk for a convivial evening at Brigit House in Berkeley to ring in new years. Our custom is to spend some time sharing our creative endeavors of the year past. Corby showed slides of the many wildflowers he communes with in the Marin hills.

Joanie Mitchell showed her delicate batiks, as well as some line drawings and water colors she did while serving as artist-in-residence at a local Renaissance Faire.

Co-host Tom Lux has taken his fine photography into the digital age. He had with him a mounted print of an incredible shot of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, with the S-curve in in while it's being rebuilt after the 1989 earthquake. (Tom has purchased a domain name; website anticipated.)

Lauren Raine, mentioned here frequently, wasn't with us in Berkeley on New Year's Eve, but a photo taken by Tom of a priestess dancing in one of Lauren's goddess masks hangs in the room where we partied. While artist-in-residence at the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, DC this past Fall semester, Lauren completed this stunning installation, part of her Hands of Spiderwoman work.

I tip my pointy black hat to Joanie, Tom, and Lauren!

Happy New Year, everyone!

Ascending the Giants

2009-12-08T00:36:00.000-08:00

While visiting our friends Sophia and Casey over the Thanksgiving weekend, Corby and I met some of their friends who were pursuing their passion. And what a passion it is! Two young arborists, Brian and Will, were in pursuit of a 30-foot (diameter of trunk) madrone tree somewhere in the woods of Southern Oregon. Armed with two snapshots of this giant taken in 1991, they and two friends wandered the woods for some days seeking the old one and showing the photos to locals in hopes of finding and documenting this wonder.

You see, nowadays, we seldom see really large old trees. We cut them down before they can reach elderhood. So these men at Ascending the Giants, "dedicated to the documentation of champion trees," travel the world in search of these special beings. That's what these trees are called: champions, those who surpass all rivals. When searchers locate one of these trees, they do not publish its whereabouts out of respect for its age and concern for their survival. Brian claims -- and I believe him -- that there's much to be learned from mature trees. He traveled throughout Indonesia from January to August seeking big old trees native to that region.

Wherever you are in the world where there are trees, if you know of one that's exceptional in size and age, take a photo and note its whereabouts, then send the information to the folks at Ascending the Giants.

And where to they get their high-tech tree-climbing equipment, you might ask? They get them from New Tribe.

The Wheel Keeps Turning

2009-11-02T02:17:00.000-08:00

Last night we celebrated Samhain at Reclaiming's 30th Anniversary Spiral Dance. The stated intention of this year's ritual was: "With joy and courage, we join together across generations and differences to move forward on the good road." To that end, my young friend Rhiannon, age 13, and I co-invoked the Mighty Dead of the Craft to come to our circle and dance with us. She and I had worked hard on this small piece and our work paid off. I felt that we did right by those who watch us from beyond.

When I finally arose today, I indulged in my Sunday ritual of reading the paper. I regularly read the "Irish sporting green," meaning the obituaries and death notices. What do you know but that the very first person listed today is an old friend with whom I'd lost contact. Her name is Judith Kuster Ackerly.

I remember so clearly the night in June 1968 when she and I had gone to see Battle of Algiers. Afterward, when she dropped me off at my home in the Haight, she summoned me back to the car. She'd just heard on the radio that Robert Kennedy had been shot that night in Los Angeles. It's funny the things one remembers and forgets. I have fond memories of beautiful red-haired Judy in her days as a young lawyer. I'd always regretted that we'd lost touch with one another when she and her then-husband, Tony Serra, divorced. I know she went on to live a rich life with people who loved her. May memories of her live.

* Richard Man took a wonderful series of photos of setup and ritual yesterday. He's done this for several years and now has quite a fine archive. Bless our documentarians.

Samhain Blessings

2009-10-30T23:13:00.000-07:00

Photo by Peter Hughes (RIP)

Blessed Samhain to All on Every Plane of Existence!

Well, folks, I had this very cool audio file I was gonna share here for our Samhain pleasure, but having just spent several hours on tons of sites, registering places to upload audio files, and then being unable to make it happen, I give up. At least for now. I'm tired. I got to the point where I had the choice to upload, but when I went to my computer to choose a file, it wouldn't permit me to upload an iTunes file. So, alas! no cool audio this Samhain.

That said, you can hear a Samhain Service on "Mama Fortuna Honoring Our Ancestors" and an interview on "Paradigms: Visions of a Viable Future, with Baruch and Guests." In addition, Cypress Fey produced these three little informal chats about Tradition of Altar Building, Interfaith Friends, and Invocation of the Mighty Dead.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Witches' work is turning the wheel,
And round the wheel doth turn.
~ Steven Posch

Turkish-American Dialogue & Friendship Dinner

2009-10-16T15:38:00.000-07:00

Well, Patrick and I made it to this event in spite of the fact that my car overheated in the BART parking lot where I was picking him up for the drive down to Santa Clara in evening rush hour. We managed to get the car several blocks to the home of Don Frew and Anna Korn, where Don gave us his keys and off we went.

We were guests at the 3rd Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner sponsored by the Pacifica Institute, a Turkish-American organization whose mission is "to promote cross-cultural awareness, in order to attain peace and diversity with our neighbors, help establish a better society where individuals love, respect and accept each other as they are." Since this group is specifically Abrahamic in focus, I considered it extra special that we Pagans were invited. My sister Catherine has been participating in activities sponsored by this organization for some years and has spoken of me to them, saying that what they are promoting is right up my alley. They generously extended an invitation to me, and fortunately Patrick was available and interested to accompany me. Anyone who knows Patrick knows what a charmer he is, perfect in such situations.

For dinner we shared a table with three other couples: Ahmet and Latifa Kaya, a Turkish-American couple who are members of the sponsoring group; Jerry and Cathy Fox, a Methodist minister and his wife; and Denise and her husband whose name I didn't get and who I think may have been among the sponsors. These last two were across the table from me so I couldn't hear most of what they said. Most of my conversation was confined to the people on my immediate left (Latifa) and right (Cathy).

The meal was delicious, with fresh baby greens salad, a salmon entree and rich melt-in-your mouth chocolate cake for desert.

At times I had difficulty understanding some of the welcoming talks due to the speakers' accents and rapidity of speaking. I did pick up some tidbits of knowledge, one being that the population of Turkey in 98% Muslim, making it much less diverse than we here in the U.S. are used to. The Pacifica Institute will host a shared dessert called Ashura in January, and it sponsors the largest Turkish festival in the U.S. in Los Angeles in the Spring.

We screened two videos about the Institute before the main speaker. One was an overview of their work, including some social service work (earthquake relief, child abuse).

The main speaker, Juan Campo, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies and the History of Religion at UC-Santa Barbara, spoke of things I have a fair knowledge of. His talk was informative, and yet I realized that I could probably craft a respectable talk on the exact same topic. That's no criticism of the speaker at all. Rather, it's a realization on my part that I know more than I credit myself with knowing and have more to share than I realized.

He began with a litany of the many problems facing us, the world, at this point in time, mentioning the writings of Thomas Friedman, disease, hunger, nuclear proliferation, political violence, religions and ethnic violence, the depersonalization of violence, global warming, nuclear proliferation, growing gap between the haves and the have-nots, and poverty. He claims that 1.4 billion people in the world today live in poverty, meaning on less than $1.25 a day.

He followed by mentioning reasons for hope. He specifically mentioned the election of Obama, calls for nuclear disarmament, Central and South American nations moving away from military dictatorships, rapprochement between Turkey and Armenia, and emissions reduction. He listed successful efforts at addressing these problems -- education, AIDS prevention, research, humanitarian efforts, and so forth. This was a prelude to the three things he emphasized.

He spoke of the emergence of a sense of need for a global ethic, beginning with the signing of Hans Küng-drafted Declaration of a Global Ethic at the 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago. The document speaks of universal human rights, peace and nonviolence, peace among living things, cultivation of a just economic order, seeking truth, speaking truth, promoting tolerance, women's rights, with love as the organizing principle. I'm definitely down with all that.

Professor Campo proceeded to talk of a book by H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama wrote in 1999 that also addressed the need for a global ethic, one that goes beyond religions. The book espouses compassion as an organizing principle, in the pursuit of reducing suffering and fostering happiness. The Dalai Lama articulates what he terms "dependent organization," meaning cause and effect; we, each one of us, can promote a positive effect or a negative one.

The speaker concluded with reference to the teachings of Fetullah Gülen, the founder of the movement from which the Pacifica Institute springs. Imam Gülen**, a member of a Sufi mystical spiritual tradition who is committed to Turkish national pride, teaches about a global ethic of loving service (to God together with service to humanity).

Campo's final challenge was for us to think beyond ourselves.

After Juan's speech, Latifah asked me what I thought of it. Of course, I told her I liked it, which I did, but then mentioned how pleasing it was to hear him speak of a document about which I had some knowledge. I told her that I had a dear friend who had signed that original document. Deborah Ann Light signed the 1993 "Towards a Global Ethic" on behalf of three American Pagan organizations: Covenant of the Goddess, EarthSpirit, and Circle.* I felt proud to be able to say this.

After the main speech, we were treated to a talk and power point presentation called Turkish Coffee 101, and a demonstration of how to make Turkish coffee, after which we were served same. Coffee reached Istanbul in the 16th century CE. brought from Yemen by Sulieman with the purpose of helping worshipers to stay awake and pray longer. The Turkish word for breakfast is kahvalti, meaning before, or under, coffee. The Turks have a saying, "A cup of coffee has a memory of 40 years," meaning that sharing one is the beginning of a long friendship. Sometimes people divine by means of viewing the residue.

Andrew Kille, with whom I spoke afterwards, made an announcement about his Interfaith Space organization. I learned when we got back to Berkeley that Andy is married to Don Frew's sister-in-law's sister. Small world!

A Presbyterian minister, who said he's Chinese born in Korea and brought up in San Francisco's Chinatown, delivered a greeting from Congressman Mike Honda before offering a closing blessing.

As we left, each of us was given a beautiful little flowered coffee cup, some finely ground coffee, and some Turkish Delight.

Afterward, Catherine introduced me to several of her friends who'd visited Turkey together this past May. Wow, were they enthusiastic! They were interested in the Spiral Dance, so I gave them some of the promo cards I had with me. Also gave one to Latifa.

By the time I got home hours later, after dropping Patrick at a BART station, phoning for a tow, getting my car to my local mechanic, waking Corby to pick me up from the mechanic's, and getting home in my house, I was really wired.

* Those of you who were active in Paganism back then know that choosing a single individual to sign on behalf of three different Pagan organizations was taking a huge step towards Pagan cooperation, collaboration and community-building. More about CoG's participation here.

** I believe this is the proper title for him, since he evidently acquired that title in 1959.

Blending In, Standing Out

2009-10-13T20:55:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I attended a the 6th Annual Marin Leadership Luncheon sponsored by the Marin Leadership Foundation. Marin Interfaith Council had sponsored two tables they sought to fill, so I signed up. Having gotten a bit lost on the way there, I arrived about 15 minutes late and entered a crowded ballroom. I was grateful to see Fu Schroeder from Green Gulch Zen Center wave at me from one of the tables. I was assigned to the other, with Carol Hovis, Chris Highland* and Nafisa Haji.

Usually I do a bit more research before attending an event that I understand to be interfaith in nature. This time I didn't. Imagine my surprise when I heard readings from the Bible and Christian prayers. Had I done my homework, I'd have known this was a Christian, although ecumenical, group.

I must admit I was impressed by the singer, Ken Medema, not that I liked his style so much as I admired his ability to be in the moment and to capture that moment right there as he sang extemporaneously. As a priestess, I have sought to cultivate this is a skill (not necessarily in song).

Jim Wallis, an "author, public theologian, speaker, and international commentator on ethics and public life," addressed the gathering with a talk entitled "Don't Hold on to Your Lunch." He works with a group out of Washington, D.C. called Sojourners, which claims to focus on faith, politics and culture. The best I can say for his talk is that he spoke in support of public health care as a moral issue, which to me it is. Most of what he had to say had little relevance to my life as a Pagan.

I'm not sure how comfortable Nafisa (Sufi) Chris (Nature chaplain), and Fu, (Zen Buddhist) were with the emphasis. At one point Carol thought I was going to get up and walk out, but I was only retrieving my purse from where it had fallen by my chair. If I've been invited somewhere and I've accepted the invitation, I'm not so rude as to leave before it's over. There would have to be some sort of personal attack for me to do that. Mom done brung me up better than that. I tried to blend in.

On the feedback forms, however, I commented that I found the event "uncomfortably Christian-centric." Cheeky of me, perhaps. Of course it would be Christian-centric if its mission is to be a Christian organization, but since this was billed as being interfaith I guess I expected a little more pluralism.

That evening at dinner I ran into Father Paul Rossi, another MIC colleague from St. Rafael's Church at Theresa & Johnny's Night Kitchen.** Paul laughed and said he'd been at the breakfast sponsored by the same group (MLF) -- evidently this was a day-long event -- and could have told me how strongly Christian-centered MLF is. Corby and I dined at T&J's because the proceeds of that evening's meals was earmarked for the Marin Interfaith Street Chaplaincy.

* * * * *

Thursday night my friend Patrick McCollum and I will be driving to Santa Clara to attend The 3rd Annual Dialogue and Friendship Dinner sponsored by the Pacifica Institute. This group, although they claim to be interfaith, limits itself to the big three Abrahamic religious traditions. It promotes the work of the Gülen movement, founded by a Turkish-American Sunni/Hanafi Muslim named Mehmet Fethullah Gülen. Patrick and I may be the first two Pagans to have been invited. The invitation, quite formal in its extension, is the work of my UU sister, Catherine, who's known this group for a few years. This past May Catherine and her husband Anthony spent about two weeks touring Turkey under the sponsorship of the Pacifica Institute. All they had to pay was their airfare.

Will we stand out?

* Carol and Chris are the couple at whose wedding I led a dance.
** Theresa & Johnny's only serves breakfast and lunch, except for one night a month when the serve dinner and give the proceeds to a specified charity.

New Scholarly Books of Interest to Pagans - I

2009-09-26T02:09:00.000-07:00

As a member of the AAR, I get lots of catalogs from academic publishers. While most titles are not especially relevant or interesting to Pagans, I do come across a few now and then. I pass on the latest several titles for the benefit of Pagan readers, to suggest the breadth, depth and scope of contemporary Pagan studies and areas of related interest. I've included some commentary of my own, particularly as I see these works relating to who we are as Pagans religions and how we might evolve and unfold in this post-almost everything world.

From Oxford University Press' New & Noteworthy Titles in Religion:

Ancient Religions:

Magic, Witchcraft and Ghosts in the Greek and Roman World: A Sourcebook, edited by Daniel Ogden, Univ. of Exeter. In a culture where the supernatural possessed more immediacy than ours, magic was important. This book presents 300 texts (curse tablets, spells from ancient recipe books, inscriptions from magical amulets) in new translations, with brief commentaries. What fun!

Fasti Sacerdotum: A Prosopography of Pagan, Jewish, and Christian Religious Officials in the City of Rome, 300 BC [sic] to AD [sic] 499, Jörge Rüpke, Univ. of Erfurt, and David Richardson, Institute of Linguists. Documentary sources for Greek, Roman, Oriental, Jewish and Christian cults, listing religious office-holders of various kinds, 4,000 bios of those who fulfilled ritual, organization or doctrinal roles. Discusses religion's relationship with the state, interplay of religions, etc. This seems useful to Pagans as our religions and movement unfold and develop, as well as to those active in interfaith communities. Whoo! A whopping $320!

The Arabic Hermes: From Pagan Sage to Prophet of Science, by Kevin Van Bladel, Univ. of Southern California. The first major study of the early Arabic reception and adaptation of Hermes Trismegistus. I know Don Frew and Sam Webster are gonna want this one. I'm tempted to buy it myself, but will probably end up borrowing it. $60.

Traversing Eternity: Texts for the Afterlife from Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, by Mark Smith, Oxford Univ. The title says it all. Based on, and with translations of, 60 texts. Yikes! $200.

Islam:

What I Believe, by Tariq Ramadan, Oxford Univ. A controversial figure, Ramadan was refused entry into the U.S. by the Bush administration in 2004. With support from the AAR and the ACLU, the ban was lifted. He speaks from a pluralistic perspective, urging Western Muslims to escape the mental, social, cultural and religious ghettos they've created to become full partners in democratic societies, while urging non-Muslims to recognize them as having the same rights and responsibilities as everyone else. Helpful to those of us working in the interfaith movement. Only 13 bucks.

Eastern Religions:

A Priest's Guide for the Great Festival: Aghorasiva's Mahotsavavidhi, by Richard H. Davis, Bard College. About nine-day "great festival" for the god Siva, based on 12th Century Sanskrit text. Contextualizes contemporary practices and South Indian temple festivals and processions. I'm sure it's full of ideas that can inform our development as a Pagan culture. Not bad -- $60.

Debi Chaudhurani, or The Wife Who Came Home, by Bankimcandra Chatterji, translated and with a critical introduction by Julius J. Lipner. The second trilogy of works by the famed Bengali novelist Bankimcandra Chatterji (1838-94) features a protagonist who transforms from rejected wife to bandit queen to goddess figure to India herself, showing caste and gender politics. As a long-time feminist longing to visit Calcutta, home of Kali Ma's cult(s), I find this appealing. Only $32.

The Final Word: The Caitanya Caritamrita and the Grammar of Religions Traditon, by Tony K. Stewart, North Carolina State Univ. Explains a Bengali cult devoted to a historical figure, Krishna Caitanya (1486-1533 CE), believed to be an incarnation of Krishna and Radha fused into a single androgynous form. The cult originated in Caitanya lifetime yet continues, with no named successor, no central leadership, no institutional authority, and no geographic center. Minus the avatar, how similar does this sound to many Pagan religions today? $60.

Was Hinduism Invented? Britons, Indians, and the Colonial Construction of Religion, by Brian K. Pennington, Marysville College, Tennessee. "Drawing on a large body of previously untapped literature, including documents from the Church Missionary Society and Bengali newspapers, ... a fascinating portrait of the process by which 'Hinduism' came into being." This would seem to offer insights into the current phenomena of Pagan cultures. Only $27.

I know this is a bit obscure, but hope some of you find food for thought. Check back soon. I have more.

Interfaith Double Whammy

2009-09-24T16:49:00.000-07:00

Last Tuesday I attended MIC's quarterly retreat. Teachers Mary Grace Orr from Vipassana Santa Cruz and the Rev. Rob Geiselmann from Christ Episcopal Church, Sausalito, spoke on the theme was "Holding Change" at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre. As always, we spent a lot of time in silent meditation.

Among Rob's opening remarks were that the sabbath is going into a space between time. To me, this is a sacred circle, beyond time and space, a place between the worlds. He quoted Wendell Berry, saying that "everything is ending and everything is beginning," and said that spiritual change is becoming more of the real you. He said if you're not wrestling, you're not growing. He stated definitively that "you can't control change." Later in the day I disagreed with this, saying that you cannot avoid change, but you can attempt to shape it. You may even be able to accelerate change or decelerate change. In my experience, magic is about shaping reality and shaping change.

The first morning meditation was what Rob called a "centering" meditation, using a word to bring one's wandering consciousness back to meditation. I love words, consider names have power, yet tend towards visualization when meditating. I considered using the name of a deity, then decided I wanted to be less definitive than that. I also considered spiral as an image. I ended up with "will-o'-the-wisp," a word which brings me an image of a spiraling smoky light emerging from earth and dissolving into air. Not that I've ever seen one, mind you.

Mary Grace said that change and impermanence "is that which wakes us up." I've done some vipassana in the past. She defined vipassana as "to see clearly." She claimed such a thing as "normal" suffering and suffering while you hold on. My favorite quote of those she offered is, "Theologians get together and argue. Mystics get together and laugh." In my experience, Pagans do a lot of laughing when they get together.

After a silent lunch, we moved outdoors for a walking meditation. Mary Grace advised us to go only about 25 feet, then turn, walking in a line back and forth while paying attention to our steps, our feet, ankles, legs. I wanted to be on the grass, found it full of gopher holes or something that made it uneven. I didn't like going in a straight line so I traced a lemniscape in the grass.

In between sittings, one or another teacher spoke or read. There was also some time for discussion, but never enough for me.

* * * * *

After the retreat, two of my interfaith colleagues, Corby and I went to St. Mary's College to hear Eboo Patel speak. My MIC friends are Judith Fleenor of the Golden Gate Center for Spiritual Living and Molly Arthur from St. Stephen's Episcopal Church * in Belvedere. Molly also serves as director of Sage Femme midwifery services.

All four of us had attended Barbara McGraw's talk entitled "The Founding Fathers' Religious Reasons for Separation of Church and State," about the religious foundations of the U.S. Constitution at MIC's Annual Meeting in June** (about which I had planned to blog but did not). This event was the first sponsored by the Center for Engaged Religious Pluralism, a project founded by Barbara. Directed towards building an interfaith movement among the young, judging by the turnout and rapt listeners, I'd say the event succeeded. The Soda Center auditorium filled to the point where two adjoining side sections had to be opened up and every chair in the building put out to accommodate the enthusiastic crowd. (There were 30 LDS teens seated in front of us, plus many more from other religious groups.)

Dr. Patel, a charismatic and informative speaker, received a Roosevelt Freedom of Religion Medal and serves as one of the religious advisors to the Obama White House, among his many other accomplishments. His address was based on his book, Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, and the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation. He implied that he spent a period of drawing away from the religion of his family, but that working in the field of interfaith restored him and deepened his faith.

He spoke of finding principles in common among different religions. In order to be an interfaith leader, one must define how one sees the world. He defines reality as concerns religion as being between pluralism and extremism. Extremists consider that only they, the holders of whatever extremist beliefs, live and thrive. Others must perish, or convert. Eboo believes, as do I, that all are entitled to "equal dignity and mutual loyalty."

Secondly, one must challenge religious bigotry. And third, one must act. Dr. Patel takes inspiration from the actions of Ghandi, Dr. King, Nelson Mandela and others. He spoke of their respect for one another, their cooperation with others in striving to make their actions effective, and their adoption of each other's methods of protest and measures of success.

Following his talk, the floor opened for Q&A, which proved lively, provocative, and heartening. I didn't get a chance to ask my question, so posed it when he autographed the copy of his book I purchased. I asked him what older people in interfaith could do to promote the work of the younger. His response was vaguely on the order of "keep on truckin'."

We oldsters left the event feeling encouraged and glad we'd gone.

* This is the church where Jerry Garcia's funeral was conducted by Father Matthew Fox, who was removed from his position in the Catholic Church by then-Cardinal Ratzinger for having such folks as Starhawk and Luisa Teish teach in his creation spirituality courses at Holy Names College in Oakland.

** BeliefNet Pagan blogger Gus diZerega was there.

Another Priestess Gone

2009-09-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

I am very sad today to learn of the passing of my friend Beki Filipello. She was a lovely woman and a wonderful (NROOGD) Witch. She had found the love of her life in David. She had moved to a place she'd longed to live in, grown a splendid garden, joined in doing good deeds in her local community. Beki is gone too soon. Her memory will live within all of us, her friends.

Changes Big & Small

2009-09-08T12:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Corby and I drove out to Drake's Beach, so named because Sir Francis Drake is said to have landed there in the Golden Hind in 1579. Even thought it was on a holiday, I was a bit surprised to find it so populous. Not crowded. I don't think it's ever likely to be crowded. Usually we see maybe 20-50 people spread along a very, very long beach bordered by sandstone cliffs on one side and the glorious Pacific on the other.

I headed southeast towards the big outcropping beyond which we shot our Baring Witness peace photo. At that time, about two days before the New Year of 2003, we had to ford a stream and then climb over rocks to get to a pebbled beach where we arranged ourselves for the photo.

What I found there was a beach! Not the stream and the big cliff and the pebbles we posed on. A sandy beach! Filled with picnickers, sand castles, children running around, dogs, frisbees. In the intervening years, the entire cliff had crumbled into the sea, and where there were pebbles, as you can see in the photos, is now sand.

Later as we walked down the beach in the opposite direction, we heard and saw many pebbles and rocks falling from the cliffs in the strong wind. Erosion in action. Some cliffs had spills of rocks and pebbles at their bases, others just sand. I felt the need to keep my distance from the cliffs that were at that moment in the process of changing themselves. I enjoy walking at the very edge of the sea, sometimes in the water if a waves reaches farther ashore, even though the wind closer to the water is much fiercer than that in the minimal shelter of the crumbling sandstone cliffs.

The color photo of women spelling PEACE above by Sean Smuda. I am the last person in the upper arm of the second E -- and yes, it was cold. The water lapped at the edges of the letter, meaning on me.

The peace symbol of naked men, by Christopher Springmann, features Corby as the bottom man in the upright of the peace symbol.

VOTE was taken before the 2004 Presidential election by Eva Soltes. I am also in the upper arm of the E in that shot, and Prudence Priest and Victoria are in the V.

The 2004 election didn't have the results we'd wished for.

Efforts to secure world peace continue.

Ma shrugged and a sandstone cliff fell. She washed the pebbles in Her amniotic fluid and they became sand.

Remembering, Reclaiming, Renaming

2009-09-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

Today is the natal day of my firstborn, a son, 47 years ago. He is no longer on this plane, but I always remember him, especially on his birthday. His name, given to him by his adoptive parents, was Nicholas, who is the patron saint of children. (They were a childless couple before Nicholas came into their lives.)

Today is also the day that I return to using my birth name, Aline O'Brien. From now on, I am either Aline or Macha, whichever is preferred by the person addressing me.

Aline has always been a perfectly fine name. I opted for using Macha when I first published because I was appealing to a Pagan readership and I figured no one in those communities would know who Aline was. I also tend to use Macha in interfaith, which is fine except when you get to the NightMare part. Some don't know what to make of it. Sometimes I myself don't know what to make of it. But I do know NightMare is I. It's not unusual for religious folk to have religious names; they get that. And at this point those in interfaith who know me are not discomfited by my name. Further, unlike some religious folks, I dress in street clothes except for rituals. I'm guessing that makes me a little more "normal"-seeming to others.

Aline and Macha both hope your Harvest Moon is an abundant one.

Thinking of Colors

2009-06-04T14:28:00.000-07:00

I've been reading a book called Justinian's Flea: Plague, Empire, and the Birth of Europe, by William Rosen. The author tells of some of the activities in sixth century Constantinople at the Hippodrome. Ostensibly a place for racing horses, the Hippodrome was the "main drag" of the city in its day. Actors, animal acts, music and such entertained people in between races. The teams of racers were identified by colors; everyone from charioteers and groomers to all that team's supporters wore the color of his or her team. Four teams wore red, green, blue or white. Eventually the Reds were absorbed into the Greens and the Whites into the Blues. The Emperor Justinian tended to favor the blues.

In 432 C.E. the city, beginning at the Hippodrome, broke into rioting, along color lines. Riots were not uncommon and always began at this gathering place. They were often about theological minutia. This particular riot, called the Nika (meaning "win" or "conquer") revolt, began as a result of a murder at the Hippodrome; it lasted an entire week and resulted in the destruction of buildings, including the Hagia Sophia*, and the deaths of thousands. Nearly half the city was destroyed.

How like this are the Crips and the Bloods; the Union Blue and the Confederate Gray; red and blue states; dark- and light-skinned people. In the case of the Blue and the Gray, we had the Civil War. Other colors are associated with fighting and assassination. We sometimes read of teens being shot down because they were wearing red (or another color of the despised "other").

Schools have their colors; my high school in New Jersey had maroon and white -- "Maroon and white, maroon and white, fight, team, fight!" In PE class we girls were teamed for drills; we wore pinnies of one color or another.

Teams have team colors -- to identify them on the field, one would suppose, although they sometimes have direr meanings. Fights and riots are not uncommon in competitive sports.

I've witnessed Pagans endlessly debating whether they should wear Roman collars (utterly stupid, IMO) and if so, whether those collars should be green for Nature or purple for "spiritually evolved" or some other color.

How helpful is this, I wonder.

When we celebrate the Feast of Brigit, we ask celebrants to wear white, gold or yellow, or red in her honor. At the Full of the Moon, I like to wear white, and at the Dark, black. I love to dress in the colors of the season or the deity I'm honoring. I think dressing in colors, using appropriately colored altar cloths and candles, along with incenses and foods and music, helps the resonance with what we are doing.

Overall, I like to think I live in a rainbow world.

* The Hagia Sophia was rebuilt by Justinian in only five years.

Jai Ma Kali!

2009-05-26T17:08:00.001-07:00

It's been way too long since I celebrated the New Moon by attending a Kali puja. Last night I did, and it was an exceptionally good one. There were eight musicians and three kirtan singers, taking turns. There were the man and woman who are always there, both of whom sing, while she plays harmonium and he plays tabla. Behind them a man played drone on tambura. Another harmonium player sang kirtans. The man who was with her played a long drone instrument that sounded kind of like a didjeridu but I don't think it was. It was about 5' long and painted with bright colors and sigils of some kind. I couldn't see close enough to figure out what they were. Then another man came and joined on his dumbek, while another woman played zils. The music was just great. The only other worshippers were the female pujari -- is that the proper term for a woman performing that role? -- and me. I clapped and chanted.

Ma drew me deep into Her image and we smiled. I just love her intense eyes and the cute way she sticks out Her tongue. (The primary image we use is a large color photograph of Kali from the Dakshineswar Temple in Kolkata/Calcutta/Kali's land.) She's made it clear that She wants me back as an active worshipper.

Jai Ma! Jai, jai Ma! Jai Kali Ma! Jai, jai Kali Ma!

Memorial Day 2009

2009-05-25T16:13:00.000-07:00

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

This morning Corby and I drove to the Lafayette BART station to participate in a rite honoring Pagan service-people who've died in war.

The Lafayette War Memorial in itself is a deeply felt and important phenomenon. I guess you could call it conceptual art if you're on the highbrow side, or folk art in its spontaneity, simplicity and roughness. Erected in 2006 on private property by anti-war activist Jeff Heaton, the memorial evokes emotion for all sides of the political spectrum. See photos here of how it looked a few years ago. As we drove up in view of it today, we gasped at how much it's grown.

In 2007, when Pagans won the right to have a pentacle inscribed on the gravestones of military casualties, the Pagan Alliance performed a ritual there in which we placed pentacles in honor of individuals on the crosses. Today you can see crescents, Stars of David, Buddhist wheels, rainbows, tile and mirror work on the markers, and flower offerings.

Victoria spoke about the lives of each person newly honored this year, within a circle and in the presence of Mars, Athena, Freyja, and Hestia, who'd been summoned by Brighde Indigo.

Druid Jim Bianchi addressed the Quarters in closing.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Note: Please forgive the inelegance of this layout. This blog program has its limitations.

Truckin' Along

2009-05-19T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last week Thorn Coyle interviewed me for her podcast Elemental Castings. During the interview I was feeling clumsy and inarticulate, but when I listened to it I found it was better than I'd expected. I would add to my closing remarks the word "engagement." Listening is great, but you can't really do it if you don't remain engaged. I wish to see Pagans cultivate and foster an ethics of service. Thanks to Thorn for the opportunity reflect openly with her on these ideas of what we think can enrich Paganism and contribute to its viability, maturity and sustainability.

Along the lines of what we were discussing, community, I neglected to mention a phenomenon that was brought to my attention by religious scholar Dr. Nikki Bado-Fralick, a member of the Board of Directors of Cherry Hill Seminary. That phenomenon is what she called "the Protestantization of religion." As I understand it, that is the adoption, by religious communities that are new to the U.S., of the forms of organization that Protestant churches use. For instance, rabbis, who traditionally were commentators and interpreters of Torah and Jewish law, now also assume "clergy-ship," in the sense that they may be responsible for the administration of the temple, visiting the sick, crisis counseling, etc.

Yesterday I spent a few hours with my friend Luanne (Lulu), who has been overcoming leukemia. She's doing well. She and her partner, Urania, have a lush garden bursting with California poppies, deep purple irises, columbines, sweet peas, jasmine, grapes, and many different kinds of roses that look gorgeous and smell even better. The garden, often visited by their neighbor's cat Tigre, seems a restorative place for her to recover. (Too bad I didn't have my camera with me.)

At yesterday's Justice Advocacy Team of Marin Interfaith Council we continued our discussions about how to serve the wider community when we are strained for funds and the government and other social service organizations are not serving those affected by these issues either. The current California statewide election highlights this. Government officials seem reluctant to fund such efforts and/or do not have the necessary funds in their budgets. I resent the many thousands of dollars the state doesn't have being expended to conduct this election, when we already have elected a Senate, an Assembly and a Governor to run our state.

We are now seeing the predictable results of the passage about 30 years ago of the conservative Jarvis-Gann Initiative, Proposition 13. That law reduces and limits property taxes. So now we are faced with workforce reductions in every area of government: schools, hospitals and health care, social services, environmental conservation efforts, parks and recreation, law enforcement, fire protection, prison housing and administration, you name it. For a state that prides itself on its forward-thinking, this is a shameful state of affairs. As prosperous as the state has been, especially in the areas of agriculture, computer science, and entertainment, we have the awful distinction of sharing the lowest cost-per-student educational funding with several poor Southern states. We are 49 out of 50 in funding our schools!

Annoyance

2009-05-15T15:25:00.000-07:00

I need to take the opportunity to use this forum to gripe about folks, especially Pagans, who use black or dark backgrounds. I cannot read them. Jason Pitzl-Waters turned me on to a little thingy that you can download with which you can eliminate the black ground. But I just have to say that when I encounter them, they are a big turnoff and unless I really, really, really want to know what the person is saying, I just navigate from that page straightaway. They are proven harder to read.

While I'm at it, what's with this itty bitty typeface I find on so many websites? It's friggin' microscopic. I have to click the "make text bigger" feature two, sometimes three, times before I can read them.

Now I know that my eyesight isn't as sharp as it was when I was younger. I wear specs to compensate for that.

An don't get me going on those MySpace pages that are so full of clutter and cutsy that they're basically unreadable. I've abandoned MySpace in favor of FaceBook for that kind of time-sucker. (I confess I do avoid work by messing around on FB.)

I know I speak for many of my friends and colleagues when I say that we aging Pagans would appreciate it if people who'd like us to visit their sites would kindly make them more easily readable.

There! Now I feel better.

National Day of Prayer -- Interfaith

2009-05-09T01:32:00.001-07:00

I know there's been lots of fuss this year about the National Day of Prayer. I know that Christians feel they own it. President Obama has chosen not to honor it in the White House this year, which I think is the correct response. Americans United in particular has campaigned against it.

That said, however, for the past several years I've had a most positive experience attending the Marin Interfaith Prayer Breakfast sponsored by Marin Interfaith Council. The only year I missed it was when the first Thursday of May was Beltane. I wouldn't miss it for any other reason.

Held in a large meeting room* at Congregation Rodef Sholom in San Rafael (reformed), this year we had three speakers from three different traditions offering prayers as they traditionally do them. Dominican Sister Marion Irving (whom I've frequently mentioned) opened the gathering, asking people to speak of what they prayed for: peace, shelter for the homeless, end to the troubles in Darfur, President Obama, food for the hungry, ease for those giving birth, ease for those passing from life, healing for the sick, the well-being and healing of inmates, pure drinking water, etc. Who could argue with those goals? Cantor David Margules sang the opening prayer in Hebrew.

I'm comfortable enough now with my colleagues at MIC that it didn't bother me as much that they spoke of God, the Creator and Jesus. They don't overdo it. Plus, the people at our table were very interested to learn from me more about Paganism. Several others who'd attended Carol** and Chris' wedding the previous Saturday told me how they enjoyed the spiral dance and song.

In my experience, when prayer gatherings are made in good faith by caring people in the context of inter-religious dialogue and understanding, with open hearts and minds aspiring towards a commonweal, only good can come from it. If prayers, spells, desires, wishes, goals, outcomes are reinforced by such activities, so much the better. If not, what harm can it do?

The food was healthy and plentiful. The room was nearly full, probably the largest attendance we've had. We dined at round tables, where we discussed two questions: "What role does meditation or prayer play in your faith tradition, or in your own spiritual practice?" and "How do you experience individual and communal prayers/meditation in your religious community?" I was a table captain this year, to keep the conversation on topic and to be sure that everyone had a chance to express her/himself. Among the others at our table was a Protestant (she defined herself that way loosely), two Friends, and a young woman who is seeking, and also taking a priestess training with the Fellowship of Isis at Isis Oasis. Fortuitously, she sat next to me.

We heard three speakers, beginning with Swami Vedandanda of the Vedanta Society (Hindu). Swami Vedandanda co-taught one of MIC's quarterly retreats, with a Buddhist practitioner, at their retreat in Olema, so I had some familiarity with his tradition's teachings.

Rabbi Chai Levy of Congregation Kol Shofar (conservative) seems to be a woman of accomplishment. In addition to promoting the inclusion of praise for the foremothers of Judaism, she espouses s form of consumption called "ecokosher," meaning that animals are raised humanely (free range chickens, for instance), slaughtered humanely, and not wrapped in toxic, non-biodegradable plastics.

Father Stephan Meholick of the St. Nicholas Orthodox Church (Christian) explained some of the history, belief and practices of the Eastern Orthodox tradition. In addressing the need for community, Fr. Meholick quoted one of his church's elders when he stated, "Personal prayer is possible only in community."

This inherent need for community is something I've been giving a lot of thought in relation to our growing Pagan population. I've been comparing my own experiences with community, in my childhood churches, in my adult involvement in various communities, religious and otherwise, and in communities around me. Some seem healthy. Most experience disagreement, internal strife, breakdown, collapse, schism, renewal, restructuring and/or revival at various points in their existence. How can these lessons from other groups help nascent Pagan communities? Can they be avoided? What binds us? Well, I leave my pondering for another time. In the meantime, maybe we Pagans could learn something from the Eastern Orthodox traditions that seem to get along; talk about various orthodoxies -- Moscow Patriarchate, Carpatho Russian Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Antiochan Orthodox, Ukrainian Orthodox, Serbian Orthodox, Jerusalem Patriarchate, Bulgarian Orthodox, Macedonian, Romanian, Indian, International, Non-Chalcedonian -- whew!

Father Meholick and a colleague of his from a related tradition sang polyphonic prayers. He said they're practices were similar and that their prayers were close enough that they could enhance the prayers by singing them together. They really sounded beautiful.

Fr. Meholick mentioned that in his tradition they use rosaries, but that the beads are made of wool or leather instead of wood, stone, glass, bone or plastic, so that when you go into one of their sanctuaries, you don't hear the clicking often heard in Roman Catholic churches. He told us that the (Serbian? Latvian?) word they use for rosary means "ladder." I know of liberal Protestant churches that say and use rosaries based on the Maiden-Mother-Crone concept found in much of Paganism. I know of at least two Pagan rosarian traditions, one being that of the Church of Asphodel, and another created by Donald L. Engstrom-Reese. I've seriously considered using a rosary, most likely with Bridget as my focus. I've gone so far as to acquire 39 beads in three colors for three aspects in sets of 13, but haven't settled on exact prayer(s) nor found the right separator/goddess beads.

When I went to greet and say goodbye to Sister Marion, she wanted me to refresh her memory of the song we sang at the wedding. She said she'd had it running through her head ever since. It's not a well known Pagan chant, but I'll offer it here in case you're curious. The author of the lyrics is that old prolific Anonymous; the music is by Bone Blossom. She wrote it back when we were Holy Terrors together.

There's a part of the Sun in an apple,
There's a part of the Moon in a rose,
A part of the flaming Pleiades in every leaf that grows.

Assembly of the Sacred Wheel has recorded it on one of their albums, if you want to hear it sung.

* It's worth mentioning that the room in which we met was offered as a shelter one night a week, and at other times for dining, to homeless men and women of Marin during the cold winter months. Governor Schwarzenegger opened the Armory for one month only this winter. Thereafter, various congregations, from the most fundamentalist Christian to the most liberal religious congregations, rotated opening their buildings until April 30. MIC has been urging the County Board of Supervisors for permanent shelter for the homeless.

** The Rev. Carol Hovis, M.Div., Director of Marin Interfaith Council

More May Day Merriment

2009-05-06T01:49:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I led a spiral dance at the conclusion of the wedding of my friends Carol and Chris. Carol is the Executive Director of Marin Interfaith Council. Other officiants were a non-denominational Protestant/Buddhist (who also happens to be a doula), the abbess of Green Gulch Zen Center, a rabbi, and me. One of the ushers was my friend Sister Marion, a Dominican nun. (Her photo is about halfway down the page.) This article tells you what kind of woman she is, and also includes quote about her from Carol, Saturday’s bride.

Her groom, Chris Highland, is what I call post-Christian; he calls himself a freethinker. He used to be a minister to the poor and homeless in the streets of San Rafael and chaplain at the Marin County Jail. He had a crisis of faith and went off to surrender to Nature as his teacher.

The ceremony was supposed to take place in the rose garden at Green Gulch Farm, but since it was pouring rain, we held it in the zendo, an old hay barn.

Even though the dance didn’t really actually work (as a spiral in and out) due to the size and configuration of the space I had to work in and the number of people in that tight space, everyone loved the song and sang it well and smiled at each other and really loved doing it. Lots of people thanked me. One told me that it was way more fun than a receiving line. There were lots of folks there from MIC who’d only known me in meetings and knew nothing of Paganism. So this was a great opportunity to show us at our best and contribute to the interfaith movement. I’m grateful to Carol and Chris for the opportunity.

Anyway, the big surprise to me was that they were gonna pay me! It never occurred to me that they’d pay me to do something so cool. They asked me what name to put on the check, and I told them if they insisted on paying me, to please give the money to Cherry Hill Seminary — not that I couldn’t use it, mind you. They’re off to Kauai for their honeymoon. When they return, if not sooner, they’ll either be sending me a check or donating directly online (which you readers can do by clicking on the link to CHS in this paragraph).

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

On Sunday Anne Hill hosted her twentieth annual Beltane party. The weather had been inclement all weekend, but the sun came out enough on Sunday for us to dance the Maypole -- the one Corby cut a few years ago, which gets shorter each year as the bottom decomposes in the soil.

Her yard was full of California poppies. There was no way to dance without tromping on them. It pained me. Some people consider them weeds because they grow all over -- they're our California state flower -- but I've noticed a diminishment* of them the last couple of years and that distresses me.

Victoria took these photos. That's Kore in the fedora, Anne in the flowered blouse, Corby in purple, and me in pink -- very unusual for me.

Below the last few folks who still have ribbons are winding it down.

* That's not a word in the dictionary, but it works so I'm using it. Consider it coined.

Merry May!

2009-05-01T10:37:00.000-07:00

Corby and I are just back from singing up the Sun with the Berkeley Morris Dancers at Inspiration Point in Tilden Park, followed by breakfast at Vicki and Shelby' house. Not only did this lovely photo arrive in my email from my friend Victoria, but I also learned that our book, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying, is now being published in Czech. Yay! Another international publication.

On another very important note, Cherry Hill Seminary's annual fund-raising is in full swing. We cannot fulfill our mission without the help of donors. One of our Board members, Jason Pitzl-Waters, owner of The Wild Hunt blog, has this to say. Please take his words to heart and open your purse.

Merry May and Blessed Beltane to all!

Victory Gardens & Other Food Sources

2009-04-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

I hope you're as delighted as I that Michelle Obama has planted a garden on the White House lawn. I've been urging my colleagues in Marin Interfaith Council to plant them in their church yards to help feed the hungry at local food banks. (I live in a condo and have no yard to grow veggies.)

Our neighbors across the street have a couple of hens in their yard for eggs. I hear them clucking now and then. For weeks I've been hearing the crazy, distinct gobble of a turkey and have wondered where it lives. This morning when Corby looked up from the kitchen window, he saw this fellow, so went outside to take a few photos. He was not more than 10 feet from our front door.

We live in a small city of about 50,000, the Marin County seat, about 11 miles North of the Golden Gate Bridge. There are many feral turkeys in rural West Marin. I've not known them to be nearby until now. Maybe he's not feral at all. Maybe he's someone's pet.

ConVocation 2009

2009-03-14T17:30:00.000-07:00

The last weekend in my over-scheduled month of February found me at a gathering called ConVocation, near Detroit. My understanding is that each year's theme is taken from one of the Major Arcana of Tarot, this year the card being XV, Death. The con was titled "From the Shadow to the Mountain Top." ConVocation is sponsored by MEC (Magical Education Council).

Winter/Rodney and Jack/Deedra of Trillium Reclaiming met me at the airport -- Detroit Metro is one of the nicest airports I've ever used -- with a big glittery sign with my name on it. That's a first, and a fun one, too! As soon as I entered the Troy Hilton Hotel, Con Chair Cindy Dugan handed me my registration package and escorted me to my room, where I met my companion, Susan Wilson from Hearth & Grove Fellowship in Kalamazoo, who'd just arrived.

Susan presented me with a sweeping cloak she'd made, matching one she'd made for herself. She's mailing it to me because I didn't have room in my luggage to take it home with me. I'm eager to get it. I know I'll have many occasions to put it into good witchy use.

After the opening ceremony that first evening evening, Susan and I joined Jack, Lea and other Trillium folks for a chant and song exchange. I learned a few new ones -- well, I didn't learn them all that well because my senior mind needs to sing them longer than we did in order to retain them. I also experienced chants and songs I've known for years that had been transformed by the folk process. The one I liked best, and which was really powerful, was a dark mother chant used by the folks in the Church of Asphodel from Massachusetts. I need to contact them to learn it better. I found it compellingly powerful.

Speaking of the Church of Asphodel, King Raven Kaldera came to my first workshop, "Intrafaith: Creating & Sustaining Pagan Community." As is my style, I engaged attendees in dialogue about the topic. I learned that the Church of Asphodel was created with a mission to include Pagans who have a harder time fitting in with other Pagan groups: transgendered folks, people with lots of tattoos and piercings, those who have limited social skills or Asperger's disorder, who have Tourette syndrome, who've been disinvited from other groups. I think this is such a righteous mission. I'm glad the Church of Asphodel is doing this work, even though I couldn't do it myself. They have my respect. My heart was gladdened to learn that a person I got to know a bit when I visited Gainesville some years ago, Zot Lynn Szurgot, is the former "Speaker of the House of Commons" of the Kingdom of Asphodel. Their Asphodel Choir performs ancient, modern, and original folk songs. And speaking of choirs, Susan's Hearth & Grove Fellowship also has a small Pagan choir. Reclaiming's Spiral Dance chorus also performs at Pagan events here and there, now and then.

During that session, I backtracked to fill in attendees on the whole concept of interfaith as well as intrafaith. It seems that interfaith activities are much more limited in other parts of the country than they are where I live. Too bad. We can fix that, though.

I didn't manage to get to any earlier workshops on Friday morning. Among those I'd have liked to attend were "Instant Drumming" with Alex Wedmedyk, whom I know a bit from Starwood. I'd love to learn more about drumming and to be able to do it better. The last drum workshop I took was a frame drum session with Kevin Roddy at PantheaCon a few years ago. How pathetic is that that I've done so little?

Another workshop I missed in that time slot was "Story Telling (Oral Wisdom" with Trillium Reclaiming. Their group emphasizes singing, chanting and storytelling, and I can tell you they're very, very accomplished in all those areas.

The Con staff had me heavily scheduled, however. Immediately after my first workshop I had a booksigning, followed by a rehearsal for our Brigit ritual. Even with a script, performing a ritual with people you don't know, whose skills, strengths and weaknesses you can only guess, presents a challenge. More about the Brigit ritual later.

I'd have liked to sit on on "Manifestations of Orisha" with Joy Wedmedyk, (Apetebii Osa Irosun), had I the opportunity. Joy is a lovely woman I know from Starwood, where I invited her to participate in a panel on thea/ology last year. She and everyone else on the panel and in the pavilion listening had a great time.*

I had expected to see some CoG folks there, but didn't. I did see some former CoG folks, like Puck who used to be in Seattle. There wasn't even a CoG info flyer on any of the tables.

Later on Friday I arrived for my Besom Brigade workshop, only to find very few folks there. Those who were were enthusiastic, but we needed at least five to make our pentacle. Con staff got the hotel staff to scrounge up some additional brooms. They beat the bushes for people to come. We managed to get a few teen and young adult Pagans there. Here we are learning the welcome song.

I suspect there were so few people because my workshop ran concurrently with one called "From the Ordeal Path to Sado-Shamanism: Pagan BDSM." Here's the description:

From the Lakota SunDance to monastic submission, the elements of BDSM have been part of people's spiritual lives for millenia. We will explore the ways one can incorporate these varied practices into you spiritual life from the perspective of authors and practioners Michelle Belanger and Raven Kaldera.

That's some competition! I'm sure twirling brooms seems tame compared to sado-shaminism, even though the besom is a shamanic form of transportation. I didn't meet Michelle, but I've seen her talking about vampires and vampirism on the History Channel.

I missed the FOCAS (Federation of Circles and Solitaries) meet and greet because I needed to get some food in my body. I met several of them a few years ago when CoG members Oberon Osiris and his wife Banshee took me to meet them after I'd presented at an AFSC LGBT Peace Conference at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, where I'd also met Raven for the first time. I like that their focus seems to be on public service. I especially like that they rescue black cats!

I'd also have liked to attend "As Green as the Goddess: Environmentalism for Magickal People,"with Nekita, although I'm unclear as to how our Pagan environmentalism would be different from just plain old enviromentalism. I know we bring a sense of wonder and magic, an awareness of our dependence on the Earth and the interconnectedness of all Life.

Trillium Reclaiming presented "Sacred Bondage Lecture and Discussion: The Sacred Art of Bondage as Magic Tool of Transformation." I missed that, too. I missed "Conversations with Crones" with Judith due to schedule conflict. Others I missed were "Salt, a Historical and Magical Perspective," with Soror Ananyelka, OTO, and "Don't Check Your Brain at the Door," presented by Andrich Vitimus. I'm known to say with some frequency, "You don't have to check your brain when you enter a sacred circle." The "Mojo Bag Class," The Feral Fool: Honoring the Trickster," "The Eightfold Path of Altered States," and "Take Back the Night: A Dark Goddess Ritual" all appealed to me but didn't work out for me to attend.

Brigit Ritual

I'm ever so grateful to all the folks who helped make this ritual as good as it could be. This was the third time this particular scripted ritual to Brigit has been performed. A bit of its history: In 1999 I was contacted by a reporter, who'd been recommended to me by Oz Anderson of Albuquerque, to help her with a piece she was doing for the Fox TV station in Sacramento. (I know -- Fox, yikes!) For this story Michelle Hofland,** the reporter, needed some footage of a ritual. Well, you know how difficult that is to accomplish -- or at least was back in those days. Not to mention how hokey they seem on film when it's really the experience you have and carry in your heart and not the appearance of what's being done. I agreed to cooperate, but boy! did I take a lot of flak for it! That's a story for another day.

The then-Marin Ritual Planning Cell of Reclaiming collaborated with me. We began with the standard Reclaiming Brigit ritual, which involves a holy well and sacred flame. Urania and Luanne and I worked together to come up with a scripted triple Brigit invocation. The space had a fireplace at one end, concrete block walls painted white, and a light-colored linoleum floor. Joelle created four exquisite altars in the Quarters, each glowing with lots of candles. Urania set up the well and cauldron in the center, draped with white lace and surrounded by white flowers, with an anvil a bit to the side. The cameraman used a camera that required no lights. We directed him to shoot only towards specific sections of the room, to turn the camera off during most of the time when people were approaching the well/flame, and we offered people veils to wear if they were uncomfortable with having a camera there. What this meant was that we were able to perform the entire ritual entirely by candlelight and flame from the cauldron. This lighting resulted in a beautiful, nuanced video. I don't live in the area where it was broadcast, but a friend who does managed to tape that segment for me. It came off really well. I even heard compliments from a friend in Massachusetts who'd seen it on a Fox news broadcast in Florida.

The second time this ritual was performed was for the Center for Multifaith Education at Auburn Theological Seminary in New York City. One of the program offerings involves giving students an experience of the rituals of different religions. Since I was asked to do this on behalf of Witchcraft and Paganism, I chose to recreate the Brigit ritual we'd done for filming because (1) She's a goddess, (2) She's more than just Craft; She's important to Druids and Celtic reconstructionists, among others, (3) She's triple-aspected, and (4) She's not a threatening or scary divine personage.

For the New York ritual I sought the aid of other Pagans, most of whom I'd had little to no experience working with ritually. One of my Minoan Sisterhood friends, Lynn Pacifico, and Reclaiming friend Vajra served as the other two Brigits. A few New York Gardnerians, a Minoan Brother, and several local Reclaiming folks gathered props, wrote the two guided meditations, and performed other ritual roles. By all accounts, we succeeded in honoring Brigit and affording an opportunity for others to know Her better as well.

For this most recent performance, I enlisted the help of MEC Board Members Cindy Dugan, Kathy Blizzard and Jane Pierce in casting, procuring props, and preparing the room. Kathy crafted a lovely Bridey dolly from straw and lace, as well as erecting all five beautiful altars.

Constantina/Galatea embodied Bridhe of the sacred flame of inspiration and red-haired PK embodied Brigantia of the healing waters.

In my experience, the guided meditations reviewing the year just past and looking forward to the upcoming year by Winter and Jack were the best I've ever seen. These are difficult meditations, more difficult than most. Add to that the fact that there are few people of my acquaintance who are really adept at this sort of thing, in spite of the fact that they're done all the time in Reclaiming circles, where they're called "trances." They were far better than I could have done, although I consider myself only competent, not particularly talented. I tip my pointy black hat to them!

Here's a photo of some of the Trillium Witches who helped.

* * * * *

Saturday night Trillium Reclaiming offered a Queer Mysteries ritual. This was interesting to me for two reasons. One is the matter of experiencing how current and far-flown Reclaiming groups do ritual, and the other in light of the queer performance ritual I attended the previous weekend at PantheaCon. Let us say that in general I have a more formal, "old school" ritual aesthetic than most Reclaiming groups. Having said that, however, I experienced a well-planned, focused, elegant ritual. The heart of the ritual consisted of a beautiful story-telling by Matt of the Greek myth of Ganymede, cup-bearer and lover of Zeus, followed by a co-creation of a brew. Again I will say that these folks know their stuff. I was very glad I'd gone.

It snowed quite a few inches on Friday night and Saturday. That was a real treat for this California gal, especially since I was in a cozy hotel with amenities. Trillium sent out for Chinese; we dined together and hung out later for gossip, clowning and general schmoozing.

Sunday morning did a lecture/discussion called "Serving Our Own & Others" about community service, counseling, working with established service agencie/charities, the value (or not) of creating our own service agencies/charities (elder hostels, hospitals, food banks, homeless services., etc.) This time Joshua and Elizabeth from Church of Asphodel came, in addition to Raven. I learned that they, and others, are already establishing Pagan service agencies. It's my hope that we can all keep in touch and share our experiences and learn from one another.

The Trillium folks took me to lunch at a Lebanese restaurant on the way to the airport Sunday afternoon. Wonderful lunch, in fact, the best meal I had all weekend -- the Con hotel was lame on decent dining establishments. To my delight, the folks from Trillium Reclaiming lavished me with their gracious hospitality and pleased me immensely with their competence, spirit and grace.

To me, ConVocation is one of the best-kept secrets in American Pagandom. This was their fifteenth year, and they attract nearly 1,000 attendees, yet I'd not heard of them until they invited me. Neither have many of my Pagan friends around the country. Had I known of it, Cherry Hill Seminary and myself personally would have placed an ad in the program. I'm glad I know now. The secret's out and you readers now know of it, too. If you get the opportunity, go.

Next year's ConVocation theme is XVI, The Tower, "Surviving the Storm." Check it out.

* I notice that back in July of 2008 I said I'd be writing more about this panel, and then I never got around to it. In a nutshell, panelists were Tony Mierzwicki, Greco-Egpytian Reconstructionist; Ian Corrigan, ADF Druid; Joy Wedmedyk, Ifa; myself, Reclaiming, Anderson Faery/Feri and Witch at Large; and origynal sinnerjee, Reclaiming Craft, Radical Satyr of Radical Faeries and who knows what all of his own uniqueness.

** Michelle now works for MSNBC. The last I heard from her was when she was covering Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans; she was horrified.

*** Besom photo by Susan Wilson; all Brigit photos by Caridwyn.