Facts, Experiences, and Insights about Volunteering in Prison

I've been volunteering with the Wiccan circle at San Quentin, at their request, for the past five years.  Their circle had done a spell to get a facilitator from outside, and I volunteered.  I'm not Wiccan, but rather Witchen; however, Wicca is a term that's gaining recognition and credibility in government bureaucracies such as prisons, so I'm happy to go with it.  That said, I tell the inmates I work with that I'm Pagan, as a broader term.  I come from no particular group, just as an individual Witch at Large, although there are some individual members of CoG and a man from the Kemetic Temple of Ra who have provided some financial support for candles, incense, tools, etc.  I'm currently contemplating seeking sponsors to pay the cost of a basic book for each of the men who regularly attend.  We do maintain a small library in their supply locker, separate from the main prison library where the books they seek are stolen or otherwise disappear. This system is more reliable

I have also arranged to have a priest of Hermes, Sam Webster, from the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn to come and teach two three-hour sessions.

What follows are some interesting insights, experiences, and cold hard facts about our circle:

Ethnicity

Nearly ever man who regularly attends is PoC.  Not too surprising, though, considering the unfortunate (and inequitable) makeup of inmate population (minorities, addicts, mentally ill, military veterans).  I find this very interesting and I try to create rituals that honor their heritages as well as the Western European where the religion was generated.  It's a challenge.  One man is dedicated to Brigit, another to Cernunnos, and one who also practices Ifá wants Yemaya to be present in our circles.

Chaplains

SQ employs at least five chaplains that I know of: Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American.  Volunteers need to be sponsored by one of the official chaplains.  We began with the Jewish chaplain we were assigned; however, the men preferred their circle to be sponsored by the Native American chaplain, reasoning that their worldview and practices aligned more comfortably with ours.  For reasons internal to the DOCR, the NA chaplain disappeared with no one advising me. [???]  So I asked Father George, the RC chaplain.  (BTW, there is a brief interview with him in the SQ episode of W. Kamau Bell's "United Shades of America" on CNN.  It's excellent in providing an overall view of life inside that institution, which, as it happens, is significantly different from the rest of the prisons in the state. (Long story for another time.)  Fr. George is a truly caring man who sees the decency of each inmate. He's easy to work with and accommodating.

One chaplain, the Protestant one, is reported to be openly hostile to our circle, although I have never personally met her.  The men in our circle complain of harassment by rigid, narrow, dogmatic 'born-again' inmates who refuse to accept our religion as valid and instead equate it with sin and devil worship.  It's probably needless to say that prisons provide fertile ground for evangelicals seeking converts to their ways.

Pagan Prison Population

In San Quentin there is an Odinist group there that holds to white superiority, it seems.  There is, I am told, only one Druid inmate who wishes to remain solitary.  In addition, there are two other minority (in terms of population, not value) religions practiced inside: Ifá group and a Hawaiian group.  The Odinists, the Witches, and the Ifá practitioners have been given an outside space to practice, separated from the main prison yard by a cyclone fence and adjacent to the NA space where they have drum circles, grow sacred herbs, and have sweats.  Sweats at SQ were begun by my friend Hector Frank, the NA chaplain, about 30 years ago and are the first in the California system.  Due to the rights NAs have gained in the DOCR, they have always proven themselves to be supportive allies to Pagans seeking religious accommodation.

In the accompanying photograph of the exercise yard, Mt. Tamalpais appears in the distance.  In the left rear there is a short tree.  That tree shades the NA sacred space, and to the left, separated by cyclone fence, is our outdoor space.  We have no tree yet, and it will be an amazing feat when we do manage to convince the bureaucracy to permit it, but we have longer-range plans to get one.  Father George is a strong ally in this pursuit.

Limitations

We sing sometimes, on rare occasions we dance a spiral, and we do not attempt drawing down at all.  We do guided meditations fairly frequently.  We are restricted in what we can do by the circumstances.  One good thing, though, is that we can burn candles and incense.  They all love incense and like to saturate their hair and clothing with it so they can carry the scent of the circle with them.  Also, I bring little birthday candles for spells because they can be burned down over the course of a circle meeting.

Federal and different state corrections systems have different regulations.  Some cannot have open flame, for instance.

Support and Increased Presence

I'm happy to say that our circle now has another volunteer priestess from CAYA Pagan Congregation.  She has attended with me a couple of times, has applied and taken training to get her 'beige card' which allows her gate clearance for a year to enter the prison without escort, and will probably be alternating with me.  I go in approximately monthly, especially for sabbats.  The circle has assigned meeting times on Saturdays and also another day a week when they use the outdoor space independent of the Odinists and Ifá folks.  They would like us to come every week; however, that's just more Saturday afternoons than I want to sacrifice.  Thus, having another priestess can fill in some of the days when I don't come.

I also maintain a private Pagan Inmate Ministries FB page where volunteers, former inmates, and others in the field share resources and experiences.

For those interested in more of the complexities and challenges I've encountered at SQ, there are some older blog entries here on Witch at Large: Ruminations from a Grey Perspective:

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/boundaries-permeability-inclusivity-exclusivity.html

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/creating-sacred-space-with-pagan-prison-inmates-i.html

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/creating-sacred-space-with-pagan-prison-inmates-ii.html

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/creating-sacred-space-with-pagan-prison-inmates-iii.html

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/creating-sacred-space-with-pagan-prison-inmates-iv.html

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/creating-sacred-space-with-pagan-prison-inmates-v.html

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/creating-sacred-space-with-pagan-prison-inmates-vi.html

• http://witchesandpagans.com/pagan-studies-blogs/witch-at-large/midsummer-behind-a-cyclone-fence.html

Photo GettyImages, text © Aline O'Brien

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MIC’s Annual Interfaith Prayer Breakfast

Don Frew, Macha, Matt Whealton, Carol Hovis

What’s a Witch to do when her interfaith council’s 15^th Annual Interfaith Prayer Breakfast, which occurs on the first Thursday in May, falls on Beltane?  Well, she sings up the Sun with the Berkeley Morris Dancers at dawn, then hustles across the bridge to Tiburon with her Wiccan (Gardnerian, to be specific) interfaith colleague, Don Frew, to rendezvous with Matt Whealton, a practitioner of Kemetic religion from the Temple of Ra, at his first foray into interfaith activities.

I attend this event every year.  MIC began hosting its own truly interfaith prayer breakfast on the same day that conservative Christians hold a breakfast meeting in Washington, D.C., with the President in attendance.  National Day of Prayer was established by Congress and signed into law by President Harry Truman in 1952, although it has antecedents that go back as far as the Second Continental Congress in 1775, when citizens were supposed to observe “a day of publick [sic] humiliation, fasting, and prayer”… and to bless our rightful sovereign, King George the Third...” I daresay that, considering that their 2014 theme is “Lord, hear our prayer!” the factions who created the day have not evolved to appreciate the religious diversity found in the U.S. today, in 2014 C.E. (Common Era).

MIC’s breakfast, though it is partly about and does include prayer, celebrates religious diversity.  The breakfast customarily features three different speakers from three different religious traditions speaking about that particular religion.  Three years ago Don Frew, representing Witches, spoke, along with a Buddhist and a Mormon.

* * * * *

This year we heard two other speakers, in addition to the three featured religious teachers:  Annie Reynolds, MIC Board member and Tamalpais High School Senior, announced a youth program later in the month.

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Heidi Kühn

I was most moved by the reports of Heidi Kühn, Founder and CEO of Roots of Peace, “a nonprofit, non-religious NGO turning mines to vines – replacing minefields with bountiful vineyards and orchards worldwide.”  Heidi told us of having her home in Kabul attacked by Taliban fighters just last month.  As it turned out, the attack had been focused on the preschool next door to her home.  Cowards shooting at five-year-olds!!!  Heidi said that the Afghan forces who were supposed to be protecting them, as American peace workers, resisted the Taliban forces for an attack that lasted four and one-half hours!  Ultimately the Afghani forces succeeded and the fighting ended. 

This is not just high-minded talk.  This is real people doing real work to benefit the lives of our

fellow humans.

* * * * *

Note pentacle and Nile goddess.

Speaking on behalf of the Bahá’í faith, Darrell Metcalf of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’í of San Rafael, explained that the religion was founded in Persia on May 23, 1844, and now claims more than seven million followers worldwide.  Darrell spoke of three core principles of oneness:  “unity of God,” “unity of religion,” and “unity of humanity.”  He said, “Like mirrors, we tend to reflect what we give attention to.”

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Lama Palden Drolma

Third to speak was Lama Palden Drolma of the Sukhasiddi Foundation, “founded in 1996 … [to] provides a vehicle for the teaching and practice of Vajrayana Buddhism in the West. … emphasizing “the cultivation of deep realization and understanding – even in the midst of our ordinary lives – so that wisdom, compassion and loving-kindness can open and flourish within us.”

Sukhasiddhi Foundation’s Core Values

• Honoring the feminine principles of openness, relatedness, peace, harmony, natural unfolding, embracing, nourishing, unconditional love, and wisdom;
• Embracing the masculine principles of clarity, one-pointed concentration, grounded strength, skillful activity, organizing, discernment, and creativity;
• Bringing the inner feminine and masculine principles into harmony, fruition, and union. Integrating spirit, psyche, and body and integrating practice with everyday life;
• Practicing being a good world citizen by: caring for our mother earth, ourselves, and each other; honoring the equality of all being; practicing generosity towards all beings; and acting with integrity, truthfulness, and honesty;
• Facilitating the unwinding and releasing of unhealthy habitual patterns, as well as taking responsibility for our own body, speech, and mind;
• Developing courage, self-reliance, confidence and flexibility;
• Facilitating the bringing to consciousness of the student’s own innate wisdom; and
• Cultivating a conscious spiritual community within an environment of support, friendship, and mutual respect that encourages open, direct and loving communication, and enhances compassion, loving kindness, fulfillment, gratitude and joy.

* * * * *

Bill Englehart

The Rev. Bill Englehart from Unity in Marin told us that Unity, founded in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1899, was part of the New Thought movement, that also includes Christian Science, Seicho-no-Ie (in Japan), Divine Science, and other iterations.  Bill stated, “As we think, so we experience life.”  He articulated the Five Principles of Unity:

• There is only one Presence and one Power active as the universe and as my life, God the Good.
• Our essence is of God; therefore, we are inherently good. This God essence was fully expressed in Jesus, the Christ.
• We are co-creators with God, creating reality through thoughts held in mind.
• Through prayer and meditation, we align our heart-mind with God. Denials and affirmations are tools we use.
• Through thoughts, words and actions, we live the Truth we know.

Bill stated, “Prayer is primary.  Prayer changes us.  We become like the god we worship.”

* * * * *

Some interesting facts I note is that of the composition of speakers about three different religions represented at the breakfast this year: (a) only one was Abrahamic; (b) two were monogamous; (3) two, being fewer than 250 years old, were New Religious Movements; and (4) one was non-deist.  I’m proud to be a member of an organization that welcomes and respects people of all religious persuasions and spiritual expressions.