A story I have been covering for some time, the saga of a ski resort wanting to spray (treated) wastewater snow on the San Francisco Peaks, may be entering its final act. The snow-makers are being fought by a coalition of 13 Native American Tribal Nations who feel the act of spraying treated waste-snow is a blashpemy on par with “pouring dirty water on the Vatican”. Since 2005 the coalition have endured ignorant insults from lawyers, courtroom wins, and courtroom losses. Now the case is being appealed before the Suprem Court for a final say.

American Indian tribes are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a lower court’s decision that allows for snow-making on an Arizona peak the tribes consider sacred. In their petition filed Monday, the tribes contend the use of treated wastewater to make snow at Arizona Snowbowl violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and could contaminate natural resources.

In the most recent ruling, the Court found that using reclaimed sewer water to make snow for skiing on an admittedly sacred site posed no ‘substantial burden’ on the Plaintiffs’ exercise of religion in this case. According to the Court, the “only effect of the proposed upgrades is on the Plaintiffs’ subjective, emotional religious experience. That is, the presence of recycled wastewater on the Peaks is offensive to the Plaintiffs’ religious sensibilities…the diminishment of spiritual fulfillment – serious though it may be – is not a ‘substantial burden’ on the free exercise of religion.” The Court dismissed Plaintiffs’ religious beliefs as calling them mere “damaged spiritual feelings.”

Deo’s Shadow, once the most popular Pagan podcast on the Internet, has decided to officially call it quits after several months of hiatus. In their farewell message, co-hosts Deò and Mandy describe how the podcast spurred them toward personal growth, specifically “growing out of” modern Paganism and into atheism.

Making deòs Shadow was usually a joy, and as the show grew more popular, we had many opportunities for new experiences which helped us to grow as people. One of the interesting side-effects of such growth is that one can end up growing out of that which induces the growth. We’ve moved on from Paganism and are now practicing atheists. We’re both in our 30s now, deò is half finished his PhD program (he began the show as an undergrad), Mandy is busy at a successful career, and we’ve got our eyes on the mundane things in life like securing a future and starting a family within the next few years.

In a follow-up post Deò ellaborates on his journey from Christianity, to Paganism, and into atheism (and why he isn’t jumping from Paganism into a different spiritual/religious practice). Spurring the follow-up was a comment by a listener of the podcast who experienced a similar (though not identical) trajectory.

I understand outgrowing things. I was a self proclaimed Pagan for 13 or so years. Recently after much study, therapy and self reflection I knew I had to take the plunge and drop the label. I can no longer label myself as a pagan. Doing this felt amazingly liberating. Who would have thought? Now this wasn’t necessarily a rejection of Paganism. I still find great value in many things deemed Pagan. This was just a moving forward from the need to put myself in a “box” that was stifling my growth. Now I know that this could be very offensive to some and I understand that.

Reading those pages made me think of the excellent posts by Cat Chapin-Bishop on her Quaker Pagan Reflections blog about balancing a Quaker and Pagan identity, about Al Billings’ (from In Pursuit of Mysteries) move from a Pagan/occult identity to Buddhism (albeit one still informed by his Pagan past), and even, briefly, about the conversion of author Carl McColman from Paganism to Catholicism. All of these narratives – Deò and Mandy’s, Cat’s, Andrea’s, Al’s, Carl’s – speak of growth, a growth that in most cases leads them away from a Pagan identity (or at least a displacement of Paganism as their core religious affiliation). Someone “outgrowing” Paganism (or hyphenating their Paganism) seems almost like a cliche nowadays, and it makes me wonder if we are alienating some of our more skeptical and philosophically-minded adherents in ways we don’t realize?

I say none of this because I resent Deò and Mandy’s (or anyone else’s) decisions, or that we should try to win them back. I wish them both the best, and thank them for their years of service to our communities. However,  that the hosts of a popular Pagan program have turned atheist should evoke some soul-searching about growth and maturity in our communities. Chas Clifton recently pointed out that pre-Christian (pagan) philosophy used to embrace everyone from the “hard” polytheists to the skeptical materialists. Who (and what) are we not embracing? Where are we not growing that these smart and talented folks must find their spiritual (or philosophical) satisfaction elsewhere? What do you think?

Note to my fellow Pagans and Witches: threatening to hex the police officer won’t get you out of a ticket.

But, sometime the most memorable stories are just the reactions from drivers, such a witch stopped by California Highway Patrol Officer Tom Maguire . “I was hexed by a witch,” said Maguire, who works in the CHP’s Contra Costa office. “I stopped a lady for a speeding ticket, and she said, ‘I’m a Wiccan,’ and that I would have a lifetime of bad luck.”

You have to figure the CHP are used to pulling over people adept in the occult sciences by now, they’d know that a Wiccan isn’t supposed to bring down a lifetime of bad luck down on someone just because they got caught speeding. Looking at past occasions of Pagans having trouble with the law, I’d say that the gods/powers/universe have no problem seeing you get caught if you do something foolish.

My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

Cuba’s babalawos have gotten together once again to make predictions for the coming year. While warning against natural disasters and marital strife, they seem somewhat upbeat (if cautious) about economic matters.

“There is a favorable time for loans, an increase in certain powers from the financial point of view, but one has to be careful about using that increase,” [Victor Betancourt] said. The prediction also warns of the perils of drinking water being contaminated, family quarrels, wars and the threat of natural disasters, and calls for men to respect women in the home. He also recommends being careful when speaking to avoid interpersonal conflicts, not revealing secrets people trust us with, and guarding against marital infidelity.

The Ifa readings for 2009 say the year will be reigned over by Oggun, the loa of war, and by Oya, in charge of storms and gentle breezes. You can read what I think is the text of the 2009 readings, here. You can also look at last year’s readings to see how accurate they were.

Medusa Coils reviews a new book by Jeri Lyn Studebaker (aka Athana of Radical Goddess Thealogy fame) entitled “Switching to Goddess: Humanity’s Ticket to the Future”.

Studebaker (who blogs as Athana on Radical Goddess Thealogy) doesn’t mince words in her bold assessment of where “war-daddy god” worship has gotten us and why we need to return to the female divine, whose cultures have been associated with peace, equality, and risk-taking. She doesn’t tip toe around difficult issues, and isn’t afraid to directly and strongly criticize Christianity and the Bible, for example. Though she often writes in a slangy style, you’d be wise not to be taken in by the flip language: Studebaker is no intellectual lightweight. The offbeat language helps make the book more accessible and enjoyable, but behind it a strong intellect and Goddess interpreter is at work.

Studebaker’s book was released by O Books, who have been gaining a good reputation as a company unafraid to publish thoughtful, challenging, and provoking Pagan-oriented books (most notably recent works by Brendan “Cathbad” Myers and Emma Restall Orr). For those unfamiliar with Studebaker’s work, note that she is an unapologetic Goddess booster on a mission (not that there is anything wrong with that). Even her positive reviews typify her writing as “fierce”, “provoking”, “zealous”, “fiesty”, “hard-hitting”, and (naturally) “radical”. Personally, I’m glad to see more Pagan books unafraid to stir things up now and then.

Attention scholars, music lovers, metal-heads, and others interested in the links between spirituality and music. A massive new collection of (seemingly free) interviews with musicians entitled “The Spiritual Significance of Music” has been released. Of particular interest is the “Metal Edition” which covers the interest in Pagan, Satanic, occult, and esoteric practices by metal bands.

…an exciting exploration of how music powerfully impacts spirituality, and why spirituality influences music. Readers will discover sincere expressions of spiritual beliefs from the world of metal music. This portfolio includes an eclectic mix of musicians playing many forms of metal music; ambient metal, avant-garde death-metal, black metal, brutal metal, death metal, doom metal, experimental metal, funeral-doom, gothic metal, grindcore, heavy metal, industrial metal, melodic metal, power metal, progressive metal, psychedelic metal, Satanic metal, sludge metal, speed metal, symphonic metal, technical metal, thrash metal, and includes musicians from alternative-rock, avant-rock, and hardcore-punk bands. Metal Edition provides readers with an important introduction to metal music’s affinity with demonology, divination, magic, mysticism, Satanism, spiritualism, the occult, and witchcraft.

There are also “Christian”, “World” and “Authors” editions to peruse as well (though the “World” and “Authors” sections seem to be down at the moment, perhaps due to traffic problems). Just the metal section alone looks like a treasure-trove of information, and I can’t wait to start sifting through it all. Kudos to editor Justin St. Vincent for the yeoman’s work performed here.

More signs of the growth of alternative and minority faiths in prison? In a fairly standard profile of prison chaplains for a women’s prison in Idaho, they reveal the religious make-up of the institution.

Mostly, he refers the inmate to one of the numerous groups that routinely visit the prison as part of the ministries program. At initial intake into the prison population, each woman is asked her religious leaning. Forty-five percent of inmates identify their orientation as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 24 percent as non-Roman Catholic Christian, 10 percent as Catholic, 4 percent as Wiccan, Odinist, Rastafarian or other less-mainstream religion, and 1 percent as Jewish.

The high Mormon numbers seem about right for a state  where around 23% of the population are LDS members, but I was surprised to see a prison in Idaho with such a high percentage of minority and Pagan faiths. Are more Pagans going to prison, or are we seeing an increasingly large number of people turing to Pagan faiths while incarcerated? If so, it certainly places extra importance on efforts to obtain equal and fair treatment of Pagan inmates across the country.

In a final note, the Reuters FaithWorld blog highlights the unveiling of Catholic Google (no official relation to actual Google) that removes (as much as possible) offensive sites and gives extra weight to pro-Catholic sites.

So now there’s Catholic Google, a search engine that calls itself  “the best way for good Catholics to surf the web”, It claims that “it produces results from all over the internet with more weighting  given to Catholic websites and eliminates the vast majority of unsavoury content, such as pornography”. When I heard this today, my first question was whether Google was getting into the religion business. Were there Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or other versions of the search engine out there as well?

I truly hope that this isn’t something that takes hold. I would personally recoil at the thought of a “Pagan Google”. What is wonderful about Google is the lack of fences in search results. When religious faiths start acting like China when it comes to the Internet, the possible damage to ecumenicism, interfaith outreach, and dialogue is inestimatable.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

Word has been buzzing around the Internet that popular Pagan musician SJ Tucker (aka Sooj, aka “skinny white chick”) has been hospitalized with what appears to be appendicitis. Like many independent musicians and artists, she doesn’t have any health insurance and is facing a massive medical bill of $25,000 dollars or more. Friends, fans, and loved ones are now rallying to raise money through donations, charity auctions, and special sales of Tucker’s work.

SJ Tucker

I know that some of you have already heard about SJ’s recent emergency and hospital stay. It looks likely that it may actually be appendicitis, although the doctors want to confirm this with another CT scan before they do any surgery. We -do- know that the hospital bills are going to be significant, since this first trip to the hospital involved two emergency rooms, four doctors, a 45 minute ambulance transfer between the two hospitals, a CT scan AND an X-ray, multiple IV antibiotics, nearly daily bloodwork tests, and five and a half nights in the hospital … Please help us raise money to pay for these medical bills. Buy CDs. Spread the word. Share links and diggs and do all that interweb magic. What we need is 1000 people with $25. Do you have $25? Do you know someone who does? If you can’t give us money, please tell people who might.

I think it is safe to say that some of the things close to my heart  are Pagan music, and the awful state of health care in America. Living in fear of getting sick or having an accident is stressful, and when it happens, devastating. While we wait for our politicians to reform medicine in America, we have to do our best to take care of our own. I know for a fact that I have way more than a thousand readers, and while many of us have been hard-hit by the recent economic troubles, surely a percentage of us can spare a few bucks? Let’s unleash The Wild Hunt here, and help out in this effort. Make a donation, or purchase a CD (I bought a digital download of her album “Blessings”), and when you do, tell them you came from here.

ADDENDUM: Over $14,000 dollars was raised in the first week! Congratualations to SJ Tucker’s supporters on this amazing start, and thanks to all my readers who went out of their way to give to this cause, you helped make this happen.

The Times-Picayune brings us the story of a Wiccan mother, Susan “Willow” Schroeder, who responded to her son’s shooting death by painting her house, fence, and surrounding sidewalk with colorful designs and patterns.  Schroeder, who fought having her house demolished last year, is now dealing with an angry neighbor unhappy with the painted sidewalk, and a city that seems to be able to enforce sidewalk painting but unable to actually repair sidewalks in the neighborhood.

Susan “Willow” Schroeder and Karen “Feather” Espeut.

“Schroeder continued working out her misery through a sprawling memorial, covering her entire yard and every inch of her home, inside and out. Since the 2001 murder, most of her neighbors have watched the kaleidoscopic transformation with empathy for her inestimable loss. In a city that proudly embraces eccentrics, they say, the house fits right in. But one neighbor, JoAnn Taylor, didn’t share their tolerance. She called the encroaching sidewalk paint “harassment,” a frightful abomination. Soon, she enlisted City Hall in her quest to get the sidewalk returned to its usual gray.”

JoAnn Taylor and her husband call the house “spooky” and that it looks like a “witch’s house” (oh, the irony), and while Schroeder has erected a large fence to block their view of the house, they are still on a warpath to have all paint removed from public property. As for the city, a spokesperson said that Schroeder will soon be fined $100 a day until it is removed, and that the city, ultimately, may paint it over for her (at her expense). Meanwhile, her other neighbors seem to appreciate the mother’s artistic therapy writ large.

Most neighbors, however, seem to relate to the garden and the other paintings. “I like it,” said Roland Brown, who has lived his entire 20 years two houses away and knew Ayo. He sees images of himself and other longtime residents in the mural in the park. “It’s the whole neighborhood on there,” he said … Down the block, Larry Anderson talked about his fondness for Schroeder’s garden, where he said he sometimes goes to seek peace … Rose Gentry, 79, who lives directly across the street, said she likes to sit on her porch and look at Schroeder’s house. It reminds her of country houses, like the ones she grew up near in St. Francisville. Almost every day, she said, people stop outside and take photographs. She said she’s baffled that anyone would object …

This struggle brings to light the tensions between communal art, individual creative expression, and the laws designed to keep order and peace. While JoAnn Taylor and the city are clearly in their legal rights, the rest of the neighborhood seems to appreciate the art and Schroeder’s contributions to their community. One would hope that some sort of compromise could be reached that won’t incur fines and hard feelings all-around, but it appears to be too late for that.

The Wild Hunt is currently undergoing a new-years facelift and move from Blogger to WordPress. Forgive the hiccups, dust, and rude comments from the construction workers while I get things in order.

Forwarding should already be in place, but I would appreciate it if you update your links from www.patheos.com/blog.html to www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/ for optimum performance.