Let me spin you a scenario that plays out periodically in the pagan community: You’re bobbing along, minding your own business. You’re helping run events or maybe you’re leading them. You’re doing readings, offering counseling, or assisting with spellwork and ritual. Maybe you’re teaching classes or workshops. Everything is going fine and then suddenly, out…
Category: Community
I find myself repeating a few different themes throughout my work and teachings. Know who you are. Know what you want. If you have those two things, or either of them, at least partially figured out, you’ll weather everything better. And that’s important. Because here we go again. The tide is starting to turn. The…
One of the memes floating around right now talks about the difference between nice and kind, and the way people can be one but not the other. It relates those concepts to different regions of the United States. That meme generates a chuckle for me since the east coast is associated with being kind but…
Anybody who has attended a Pagan event in the Mid-Atlantic region has most likely encountered Irene Glasse. As the president of Frederick Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (FCUUPS) in Frederick, Maryland, and the organizer of that organization’s annual Frederick Pagan Pride Day, Glasse has contributed to numerous events and organizations in Maryland and nearby environs….
One of the best and most beautiful aspects of modern witchcraft is that it is an evolving path. Although we base a good deal of our philosophy and practice on ancient religions, paganism and witchcraft as we know them today are new. Born of the 60s counterculture and the equal rights movements for women and…
The July sun shines bright and merry in the summer sky and the vegetables are starting to be heavy with this year’s harvest. This time of year, we would normally be several Pagan gatherings in and the lack of time with my chosen community weighs heavily on me. I find my thoughts returning again and…
Festival drop is real, and it really and truly sucks. If you haven’t heard the term before, festival drop refers to the depression and malaise that can set in after spending time in a festival environment. People experience varying levels of drop, and those levels tend to change from festival to festival. For example, a…
One of more recognizable suffixes in old Norse terminology is ‘-heim.’ or ‘heimr.’ It indicates, roughly, a ‘land of’ whatever comes before that suffix. So, Vanaheim is the land of the Vanir, Jotunheimr is the land of the Jotnar, Svartálfaheimr is the land of the Black Elves, or Svartálfar. My sweetheart told me that one…
You know, it really is lovely when a journalist elects not to go the sensationalist route when writing an article about modern day Paganism. As an ‘out,’ public Pagan, I’ve had the anxiety-laden role of being a ‘token witch’ for someone’s piece several times. I think Wyatt Massey did a really great job here in…