The Feri Tradition of Witchcraft (aka Anderson Feri), while a relatively small grouping within modern Paganism, has had an immense impact on our movement through its initiates. Starhawk is a Feri initiate, and many of the individuals that would form the nucleus of the Reclaiming tradition were also initiates. In turn, many of those Reclaiming/Feri initiates (Aline O’Brien, Anne Hill, Deborah Oak Cooper) would go on to hold prominent positions within our interconnected communities. Bard, activist, and Feri initiate Gwydion Pendderwen had a pivotal role in developing the idea of a “Pagan music” in the United States, and his shadow still looms large over many modern Pagan musicians. Over the years Feri initiates have played a role in several achievements and milestones within modern Paganism (the founding of COG, for instance), and in many instances have cross-pollinated with other Pagan traditions, creating new paths as a result.

Today, Feri is more visible than it has ever been. Several initiates have become high-profile teachers, including T. Thorn Coyle, Storm Faerywolf, Anaar, and Valerie Walker (among others). There are hundreds of individuals who are being taught, or have attended classes, led by a Feri initiate. In addition, Feri initiates like Morpheus Ravenna co-run a Pagan sanctuary, and are featured in documentaries, while others, like Sharon Knight, create music much-beloved by today’s modern Pagans. But Feri’s increasing popularity and visibility, amplified by the Internet, have also intensified long-standing tensions within the Feri community. Recently three web sites, The Faery Tradition, Faery Roads, and Free Feri, emerged claiming that there has been a split within the tradition.

“We dissociate and emphatically disconnect ourselves from the practice of those who seek to define the name “Feri” exclusively to themselves and from the public face they have created.” – The Faery Tradition

Shortly after I was made aware of these sites, and started making inquiries in order to cover this very public move for a tradition that highly values its privacy, T. Thorn Coyle wrote an essay for Patheos.com about the split.

“At core, I feel the sundering of the Feri Tradition is a reflection of the tension seen all over the world right now, which is the tension felt in ages of transition. It has been said that we are moving from the Piscean to the Aquarian Age. Pisces wants to hold things close and in reclusion, within existing structures, striving for a beautiful purity. Aquarius wants to open up the windows of the Witch’s hut—or sometimes bust down the walls – and let in some fresh air, while figuring out how to build something new. While I have great sympathy for the Pisceans, and think that likely there will always be those needed to hold that polarity, my work is firmly on the side of the non-conforming Aquarians, even when we vehemently disagree. The world needs us. The world is in trouble. We must bring the souls of body, culture, and spirit back together, or we shall surely perish, whether alone or together. To do this requires stepping out of the nurturing cave, and into the light.”

This sparked quite a bit of comment, and a lengthy response from Henry Buchy, a Feri initiate, teacher and member of The Covenant of Rhiannon.

“Concerning the ‘Blames’, this sundering has been ongoing for decades before I received initiation into the tradition. I would add ‘not listening to the counsel of peers’, as one of these ‘Blames’. Concerns about this issue and all of the ramifications and possibilities have been continuously put forth over the years, and went unheeded. Those who have decided for themselves to teach Feri publicly, to teach it enmasse, to make Feri practices available to the public indiscriminately decided on their own to withdraw from discussions. Some few claimed autonomy. Some few claimed they as initiates had the right to do whatever they saw fit to do in regards to teaching, to materials held in common, and that any criticisms to the contrary were simply attempts for power over or control.

And yes, there were heated exchanges and impassioned discussions and things were said on both sides that were regrettable, but there were also attempts to reconcile which were refused out of hand, that were taken into the public arena well before this, and mischaracterized to support claims that initiates on the whole were dysfunctional and irrational in their disagreement and sought only power over and elitism.”

After that, the matter of this split spread all over the Internet. Thorn offered further explorations of the issue at her blog, several outsiders weighed in on the matter from different angles, while Feri initiates like Happydog1960 and Eldri Littlewolf offered their own personal takes.

“We are still working out our ‘standards’ here. To Stop kinstrife this Had to happen–It Did Happen. That part is done. Nobody is ‘better’,'more Feri’, or ‘less Feri’. We are Different, and that is Good. When tribes get too big, they often divide—bands go different Directions- (hunt different game)–sometimes they meet up and camp together, later, then go separate ways once more. This is not war–only clan division”

As a Pagan journalist I believe that what happens within our communities is important. When this split started spilling out into the public eye, I knew that it would be irresponsible for me to simply ignore it. Feri has become too influential, too seminal in our history, too “big” to escape our notice when something like this is revealed to non-initiates. However, I was also somewhat vexed on how to frame this schism for the readers of The Wild Hunt. There are different narratives and nuances as to why this happened, and I hesitate from making a rush to judgement as to what “the” reason was. So in addition to the links from various opinions and essays above, I have uploaded statements from several Feri/Faery initiates that I personally contacted, or who contacted me, regarding this schism. Some follow a simple three-question format, and some do not, but I hope all of them will provide deeper context into the issues and history involved.

• Response from Storm Faerywolf [PDF]
• Response from Henry Buchy [PDF]
• Response from Anaar [PDF]
• Response from Sarsen [PDF]

Splits and schisms are nothing new in the history of Paganism, ancient or modern, or indeed in the history of religion as a whole. What separates us from some religions and traditions is that we are generally able to carry on and coexist with each other after these splits, sunderings, and schisms happen. We can still attend the same conferences, attend public rituals together, break bread, preserve friendships, and eventually, find the wisdom and humor in experiences that were once so wrenching, and possibly even find a way to unite once more. Feri, or Faery, may be split, but it will carry on. This notion is touched on in a thoughtful essay from Morpheus Ravenna.

I wish to say that what the initiates of the Feri tradition are experiencing is not just another witch war. It is not a petty personality conflict – it is the fruit of long-standing, deep-seated and substantive differences in philosophy and practice. Some kind of change or divergence of paths was probably inevitable for a tradition growing as fast as ours. In the minutia of the process, of course personal conflicts have arisen, but that is not what’s really driving this, and I feel like it would be demeaning and harmful to our process to frame this as a Big Personality Conflict between two opposed sides. “The Sundering”, as it’s being called, is not nearly as severe as that title implies. The reality is, people are still in communication across all sides of the philosophical debate, and the community as a whole is far from divisible into two camps.

Schisms happen to Pagans, and we should take them seriously when they do, because they can ripple through and affect our own spiritual lives, but we should take heart that these splits are not impediments to our growth, or insurmountable obstacles that trigger the scorched earth campaigns of some faiths. I wish the Feri, and the Faery, well in the future, and hope that these developments bring growth, positive change, and new beginnings for those who need them.

The Atlantic Wire and The Daily Dish both point to an essay in The Chronicle of Higher Education by Stephen Asma, a professor of philosophy at Columbia College Chicago, that criticizes the rhetoric of the “New Atheists” (Dawkins/Hitch­ens/Harris) while making the case for the preservation of “wacky” belief systems like animism (“the Rod­ney Dan­ger­field of re­li­gions”).

The be­lief that na­ture is load­ed with in­visi­ble spir­its that live in lo­cal flo­ra, fau­na, and environmental land­marks is gen­er­al­ly char­ac­ter­ized by West­ern­ers as “prim­i­tive” and high­ly irration­al. Even re­li­gious dev­o­tees of mono­the­ism in the de­vel­oped West look down their noses at an­i­mism. An­i­mism is the Rod­ney Dan­ger­field of re­li­gions. But most of the world is made up of an­i­mists. The West is naïve when it imag­ines that the ma­jor op­tions are mono­the­istic. In ac­tu­al num­bers and geo­graph­ic spread, be­lief in na­ture spir­its trounces the One-Godders. Al­most all of Af­ri­ca, South­east Asia, ru­ral Chi­na, Ti­bet, Ja­pan, ru­ral Central and South America, indig­e­nous Pa­cif­ic Islands—pret­ty much ev­ery­where ex­cept West­ern Eu­rope, the Mid­dle East, and North America—is dom­i­nat­ed by an­i­mis­tic be­liefs.

[...]

But un­like West­ern fundamentalism, animism is not locked in a zero-sum bat­tle with sci­ence (nor, for that mat­ter, are mod­er­ate Christianity, Judaism, and Is­lam). In­stead of be­ing ex­clu­sion­ary, an­i­mism is high­ly syncretic, adopt­ing any and all spir­i­tu­al be­liefs and prac­tices as com­ple­men­tary rath­er than compet­ing op­tions. The more the mer­ri­er is how we might char­ac­ter­ize animism’s pro­mis­cu­ous atti­tude toward be­liefs and rit­u­als. There’s not much con­cern for, or his­tory of, or­tho­doxy in animism, a trait that can po­ten­tial­ly ren­der it lib­er­al and tol­er­ant toward al­ter­na­tives, in­clud­ing science.

Those are just a couple key paragraphs, but really, I would simply reprint the entire essay if I could. While the thrust of Asma’s article is to call for moderation for any atheist-inspired public policy agenda, and to point out the “pro­vin­cial­ism” of many fashionable atheist arguments, it also easily doubles as a spirited defense of animism, and by extension, polytheism. In his closing, Asma argues religions “that hu­man­ize, con­sole, and in­spire should be fos­tered,” and he clearly includes animism/polytheism in this mix.

Naturally, several atheists (and some offended Christians) are having a field day ripping Asma’s essay apart in the comments, complete with some ignorant stereotypes of polytheistic and indigenous faiths usually trotted out by the conservative Christians they claim to have no truck with. Still, this essay is a welcome and friendly reminder that religion isn’t a simple matter, and that polytheism (ie animism) is worthy of respect, consideration, and preservation.

In the “Witch City” of Salem, psychic readings are a big business. In recent years the city has relaxed their regulations on licensing psychics, causing a boom in the number of (largely seasonal) practitioners plying their trade within Salem’s Fall/Halloween tourist economy. While many have welcomed the boom in business, some local politicians seem to be having some second thoughts about the sustainability of their current situation.

Monday night, City Councilor Joan Lovely came before the Licensing Board to discuss the proliferation of licenses. While she didn’t propose a cap or limit, the issue came up. “I don’t think we want a fortuneteller on every corner,” Lovely said at one point. [...] “At this point, it’s not far from being out of control,” member John Casey said after the meeting. Lovely, a lawyer, said she planned to discuss the “constitutional issues” of a cap with City Solicitor Beth Rennard.

The Salem News also interviews some local business owners and readers who are as “concerned about the skyrocketing numbers as anyone else.” Not interviewed is any voice in defense of the expanded numbers of psychic licenses and practitioners. That voice had to be provided in the comments, from Salem business-owner (Hex and Omen) and promoter Christian Day, who campaigned three years ago to relax regulations on psychic services, and runs the annual Festival of the Dead.

Speaking as the employer of the largest number of psychic readers and the single largest generator of psychic license revenue in the city of Salem, I want to go on record as being strongly against any sort of caps. While they would probably not affect existing businesses such as mine, the issue of caps concerns me two other reasons entirely.

First, I think there are serious constitutional issues with limiting fair trade, especially when that trade centers around a practice so intrinsically tied up with religious belief systems such as Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, Spiritualism, and other faiths that embrace psychic work. In an age where so many people calling for less government intrusion into our lives, we should not be looking for more ways to regulate everything that businesses do, especially when those practices are an extension of the religious beliefs of a people. We would never dream of trying to restrict a Catholic gift shop as it is encompassed by the greater spiritual mission of the church.

The question now is if this is simply political posturing, or if Lovely, Casey, and other local politicians are testing the waters for a cap. There’s always been some tension between those who embrace the Mardi Gras atmosphere of Halloween in Salem, and those who’d prefer to emphasize other, more sedate, historical features. Preferring a Salem that was more, well, stereotypically “New England” in composition. The problem is that people love the Witches, and come to see them in droves.

“Last year, the City of Salem commissioned a marketing study that asked participants why they chose Salem. Among the various attractions that were checked off, like architecture (64.3%), maritime history (65.9%), and shopping (55.4%), 88.8% of participants included the Modern Witch in their response.”

Further, Salem-area Pagans are growing demographic (reportedly around 10% of the population), one that might not look too kindly on any measure that could be construed as anti-Witch in its intentions; and Salem’s economy, like many places in the United States, has suffered in recent years. Would a cap hinder one of their few growth industries? These are all questions and concerns that will no doubt be aired soon, as it looks like a renewed debate over these issues is looming.

[Reprinted from the Pagan Newswire Collective blog Pagan+Politics. Article by Cara Schulz.]

There is no act more political in nature than making an oath of citizenship to a nation. On Tuesday, Melissa Gold, a Pagan living in Canada did just that.   Like many new Canadian citizens, she did so with her hand resting on a book containing stories, poems, and hymns sacred to her religion.  What makes this event extraordinary, and possibly a first in North America, is that the book wasn’t a Bible, a Torah, or a Koran – it was a text containing Hesiod and Homer.

Melissa Gold (right) holding a Canadian flag, her certificate of citizenship, and her copy of Hesiod and Homer.

Melissa agreed to speak with Pagan+politics about about her experience and what it meant to her.

PNC: Melissa, first off, congratulations on your new citizenship status.  I know this was very exciting for you and your family.  But how did a nice American girl like you end up in Canada?

Melissa: Yep, I’m a Canuk! Got a flag pin and a little paper flag along with my citizen card and welcome letter from our Prime Minister.

I came to Canada from North Carolina, right after I graduated from UNC Chapel Hill in 1972.  Although this was the era of Viet Nam draft dodgers, I came because of a young Canadian man I’d met on a university exchange program between my school and the University of Toronto.  We married that same year.

I’ve lived in Canada for 38 years, my entire adult life, so it definite feels more like ‘home’ than where I was born.  But more, Canada as a society embodies more of my principles than the US: Canada is more liberal and believes in social support systems to a greater degree.  I’m sure I couldn’t afford to live in the US any more.  Canada doesn’t have the divisive partisanship and religious extremism of the US.  Canada was one of the first countries to embrace same sex marriage and to have a cultural conversation of diversity—not a perfect one but more inclusive and accepting than in the US or Europe.  I’ve already decided to assist our local Member of Parliament when elections are next called, so that I can ensure that the progressive agenda of environmental and social concerns is maintained and forwarded.  Now I can be wholly and fully involved in every aspect of the country where I have been living.

PNC: OK.  Let’s switch over to religion.  You are a member of Hellenion, a recognized church of Hellenic Pagans that use reconstructionism as a tool to revive the pre-Christian religious practices of ancient Greece.  How long have you been a Pagan and how did you end up in Hellenismos?

Melissa: I’ve been in the Hellenic movement for almost eight years.  I loved Latin and Greek when I was in high school but my father encouraged me to study something more “practical” in university, so I went into biology.  However, when my outdoor education position ended ten years ago, I decided to return to university and chose Greek, which I had had to abandon when younger.  I studied many aspects of antiquity but felt especially attracted to philosophy and religion.  When my Greek hair dresser told me that there were people in Greece who actually worship the gods, I nearly fell out of the chair with excitement!  I had no idea such a thing could be.  As soon as I got home, I went on to the computer and found both YSEE and Hellenion and applied to Hellenion immediately; that was in 2003.  I had been searching for a spiritual home and knew I had found it, even though much work remained to be done.  Hellenic practice has been my only involvement in pagan communities.

PNC: How do your family and close friends feel about your religion?

Melissa: My closest friends are in the religion, in my Hellenion Proto-demos.  I’ve drifted away from friends in my former religion, Judaism, and haven’t talked to them about it.  Because my Hellenic group is beginning to get media attention, some of my former friends will hear about it eventually and they may refuse to associate with me, but I would never refuse to associate with them.  All my immediate family know about my new spiritual practices and group, and it helps that my family are not particularly “religious.”  As the oldest person in my family now, I’m not looking for approval: I give approval.  Again, because Canada is so open and tolerant, I’m not concerned about how the wider society might react.

PNC: I have to tell you, I’m extremely impressed with your Proto-Demos and what you all have been doing.  Your rituals are  beautiful and are drawing quite a crowd.  The Solstice celebrations were amazing, both of them.  The ritual to honor Ares and the Heroes was something that was commonly practiced in our religion long ago, but many modern Hellenics are slow to revive.  Your religion is obviously something that is an important part of your life and it’s exciting that you were able to bring that into the citizenship ceremony.  How did it come about that you were given an option to choose a holy book for your swearing?

Melissa: As it turns out, Canada adapted its citizenship ceremony to be workable for the vast number of different cultures from which its new citizens come.  In fact, we don’t swear allegiance, we affirm it, a word choice that avoids problems for many people.  We also have the option to use any holy book we wish or nothing at all.  My group of candidates included 68 people from 26 countries.  We stood in a group facing the citizenship judge and raised our right hands and repeated the oath.  No one observed or cared whether our other hand held a holy book or not.  In fact, most people had not brought anything with them.

PNC: OK. Affirm, I’ll remember that.  Can you tell me a bit more about what the ceremony was like and what it meant to you to be able to honor your religion while you affirmed an oath?

Melissa: I described the moment of affirming above, but I can add that the ceremony included formal and legal procedures as well as a warm welcome by all the officials present.  Much time is taken to confirm that we are who we are but the judge was personable and welcomed each one of us as we received our certificates of citizenship.  In the background, mellow music mixed with the sounds of Canadian nature was playing.  The judge welcomed us to the “family of Canada,” which informed the entire process.  I am fortunate that I didn’t have to act defiantly in order to honor my spiritual practice, although I was prepared to do so.  That I didn’t have to is typical of Canada and is yet another reason why I choose to live here.

PNC: This gets to something that may be a bit controversial in our wider religious community, the idea that Pagans could have a holy book and why we would swear or affirm an oath on one.  Which book did you choose and why did you choose that one?

Melissa: I wanted to make a point that Hellenic texts could logically be part of a citizenship ceremony in lieu of touching an altar of Zeus, which was a traditional way to make oaths in antiquity.  I had brought a Loeb volume containing the works of Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, and the Homeric Hymns.  Those texts represent some of the earliest writings about Hellenic spiritual practice and mythology, which underlie most of what was done in ancient times along with the epic poems and give us inspiration and direction today.

PNC: Did it give you pause to be choosing a book, knowing you may be setting an example or precedent for Hellenics?

Melissa: Yes and no.  While I realized that some people might regard my particular choice as a precedent, I suggest that anyone in a similar position choose whatever is of importance and significance to them.  If it helps anyone to have the works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns be known as a precedent, that’s great; but polytheism is inclusive and therefore many other choices would be just as good.  There is no one right choice as in monotheistic societies.

PNC: I’m curious, how did the officials react to your book choice?

Melissa: The officials did not ask or attempt to observe what any one of us brought or failed to bring to the ceremony.  In a way, that seemed too easy.  On the other hand, it represents an approach that is the most inclusive of the diversity of religious practices within this country; no one need feel uncomfortable or unacceptable because of their choice.  It is one more reason why I love my adopted country of Canada.

PNC: OK, yeah, that was easy.  Canadians, like Minnesotans, are known for being nice.  I think this interview is going to make American Pagans long to cross the border like you did.  I have one more question for you.  You may be the first Pagan in North America to affirm or swear an oath of citizenship on a Pagan sacred book – can you tell me how you feel about that?

Melissa: I don’t imagine that oaths of citizenship among Pagans happen very often, especially in the US.  Obviously, in Canada, it’s not an issue.  I don’t know what the process involves in the US, but if it empowers anyone there to know that, in Canada, at least one person is known to have affirmed an oath of citizenship while holding Hellenic texts, then I’m happy to be the first!  The whole ceremony was wonderful and will remain a treasured memory for me.

PNC: Melissa, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me.  And again, congratulations on gaining Canadian citizenship.

The PNC contacted Hellenion, the religious group Melissa is a member of, to get their reaction to Melissa being able to affirm her oath of citizenship on Hellenic texts. Here is what they had to say:

“Hellenion is delighted for Melissa Gold, who was recently able to undertake her Canadian citizenship ceremony while holding a volume of Hesiod and Homeric Hymns. We celebrate with her that she was able to mark the moment of being able to participate fully in her country’s democracy while maintaining her Hellenic principles. In these times all of us are regularly reminded how precious the rights of religious freedom and tolerance are, and salute the government of Canada for their on-going commitment to these principles. We hope more countries will soon enact laws to extend religious freedom to all their citizens. All the best to Melissa and her family.”

ADDENDUM: YSEE, the Supreme Council of Ethnikoi Hellenes, also wanted to congratulate Ms. Gold. YSEE is an umbrella organization for Ethnic Hellenic religious groups in Greece and seeks the morale and physical protection and restoration of the Polytheistic, Ethnic Hellenic religion, tradition and way of life in the “modern” Greek Society. YSEE and it’s members have faced harsh religious oppression from the Greek government, including confiscation of property, fines, and jail.

YSEE salutes Melissa Gold’s swearing the oath of Canadian citizenship in the name of the Hellenic Gods. It was a good proof of our known thesis that Hellenism is a matter of mind and heart and that the Hellenic Ethinic Religion is the religion of all humanistic and logical men and women of the Globe, the religion of the ones that know how to honour both the beauty of Cosmos and human nature.

Here’s something that doesn’t come along every day. Media critic, scholar, and practicing Witch Peg Aloi interviews Father Gary Thomas, a Catholic exorcist who was featured in the book “The Rite: The Making of a Modern Exorcist”. That book has since been adapted into a feature film starring Anthony Hopkins, and Father Thomas has been getting interviewed quite a bit in the process. Aloi’s interview is excerpted at The Boston Phoenix, but an unedited version, which features direct questions regarding the priest’s feelings regarding the occult, Wicca, polytheism, and indigenous spiritualities can be found at her blog The Witching Hour.

PA: So, in your view, polytheistic traditions are unacceptable, or evil? Does that include Native American spirituality, which is polytheistic?

FGT: It depends on your vantage point when you’re asking the question. I would say that anything that is outside the realm of the Supreme Being is polytheistic. But that term is not necessarily pejorative. Native Americans have their own religious culture, it doesn’t make them bad, but quite honestly, it’s opening them up to a spirit realm that could be very dangerous.

PA: I wonder if you also make a distinction between what you consider occultism and the modern earth-based spiritual traditions, such as Wicca or neo-paganism. And I should tell you that in addition to being a film critic and a media scholar, I am also a former Catholic, and I’m now what you’d call a neo-pagan, or a witch.

FGT: The occult is not the same thing as the satanic. So people who are involved in Satan worship are not the same thing as those are involved in Wicca, but we (priests, presumably-PA) would say Satanists are Satanists. I don’t even consider pagans in the same ways as I would consider those involved in the new age, but I think it’s fair to say the occult can be a doorway to the satanic.

The whole interview is a treasure trove. A rare chance for a Pagan to directly question a Catholic exorcist. As readers of my blog may know, I’ve been keeping track of the recent revival of interest in the rite of exorcism within the Catholic Church, and its undertones of spiritual warfare against non-Christian (specifically Pagan) faiths. Specifically chilling is that Father Thomas, and by extension I would hazard to guess other Catholic exorcists, still believes in Satanic Ritual Abuse (SRA).

PA: Do you believe there are a lot of satanic cults out there?

FGT: There are probably more than we think. In fact, I pray over a woman right now who is a satanic cult survivor.

PA: I need to ask this. Speaking as someone who has done extensive research on the Satanic Ritual Abuse scare in the 1990s: Do you think it’s possible your parishioner’s experiences are false, or that she may be lying, or delusional? Because despite many, many horrific accusations of abuse and murder and various other atrocities by satanic cults over the years, most of them by alleged “survivors” who claim to be former cult members, the FBI, after years of investigation, never found a single shred of evidence to suggest there is or ever has been an underground network of satanic cults in the United States.

FGT: I don’t believe that she’s lying. She had been seeing a priest in our diocese for a while and her memories stated to surface, and that’s how we learned of her involvement in the cult. But if even half of what she’s saying is true, and I have not found any reason to doubt it, in her system, if anyone exposes the group, they’ll be killed. There is a whole culture in terms of what these people tell their members.

This interview is essential reading, and I urge everyone to head over there. Kudos to Peg Aloi for not only landing this interview, but for asking the tough questions I’m sure many Pagans have wanted to ask this new generation of exorcists. For more on Father Thomas, do check out this profile in The Catholic Spirit where he outright says that dabbling in witchcraft “immediately disqualifies” you to run for public office. This movie, and its resulting publicity, may be a hidden gift to our community, as it is illuminating a very secretive subculture about their motives and world view.

A few quick news notes for you today.

Did Religious Conflict Play A Role? The News Tribune in Alaska reports on the retrial of Rachelle Waterman, accused of plotting the 2004 death of her mother with two older men when she was 16. The first trial resulted in a hung jury, and now the Ketchikan District Attorney is trying again with a second indictment. At issue in Waterman’s defense is whether she truly meant for the two men to kill her mother, and what her mental state was at the time she allegedly discussed having her mother killed. In recent testimony from the woman’s father, Carl “Doc” Waterman, he claims that there was religious conflict in the home.

“He said Lauri was stricter on Rachelle than he was on some things but he never saw any evidence she hit their daughter and Rachelle never told him about anything like that. Neither of them used physical punishment, Waterman said under questioning by prosecutor Jean Seaton of Sitka. Other witnesses have testified that Rachelle told them her mother tried to push her down the stairs, became angry if her grades slipped, and withheld food, telling her she was fat. Prosecutors say she told even more to Jason Arrant and Brian Radel, the men who carried out the killing. Lauri Waterman was a strict Catholic and was upset when Waterman began experimenting with Wicca, a pagan religion and form of witchcraft, Doc Waterman said.”

This case got a lot of Internet buzz when it first made the news in 2004, due to the fact that Waterman had (and still has) a LiveJournal account. Many noted that Waterman claimed to have been grounded over her interest in Wicca (among other things). Now it’s for the jury to decide if grown two men in their 20s (one of whom was dating Waterman) took the irrational rantings of a disgruntled teenager as mandate for murder, or if Waterman, as the prosecution attests, was the mastermind for the killing. I’ll keep you posted as this case develops.

Dan Halloran and the New York Snow Removal Controversy: The New York Times looks at the ongoing story regarding allegations that New York City sanitation workers staged a slowdown after the Dec. 26 blizzard. At the center of this story is New York City councilman (and out Heathen) Dan Halloran, who claims that sanitation workers came to his office and informed him of the planned slowdown (allegedly to embarrass Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg). But evidence has been hard to pin down, and Halloran currently risks professional embarrassment. Recently, Halloran has been softening his story as he nears giving testimony to a federal  grand jury.

In an article that appeared in The New York Post on Dec. 30, he said the workers had been told “to take off routes” and “not do the plowing of some of the major arteries in a timely manner.” “They were told to make the mayor pay,” Mr. Halloran said in the article, “for the layoffs, the reductions in rank of the supervisors, shrinking the rolls of the rank and file.” More recently, the councilman has said the workers were not explicitly told to take part in a slowdown, but were subtly informed there was no need to rush while clearing the snow.

The NYT piece runs down Halloran’s career so far, including his election as an out Theodsman, run-ins with parking enforcement, and recent bankruptcy and divorce proceedings. Halloran now says that his goal “was never to make headlines or anger people,” but that damage may already be done, and he could be forced to give up the names of those who came to him when he testifies. For more on Dan Halloran, check out this recent Pagan+Politics interview.

BBC and a Witch Queen: The Romanian witch tax story keeps on chugging along, this time the BBC interviews “Queen Witch” Mama Bratara, who has threatened to curse the lawmakers.

“Life for witches, astrologers and spiritual mediums in Romania has always been tough. Under the Communist regime of Nicolae Ceausescu, the supernatural industry was banned, and now witches say they are being hit again – this time by new tax laws. Once Ceausescu was ousted from power the witches re-emerged to carry on their craft. Their work has a considerable following, particularly in rural areas. Now the government has angered the witches again by making them register as self-employed and requiring them to pay tax, social security, and pension contributions.”

I recommend checking out the video embedded in the story, which gives an interesting look at the formidable Mama Bratara.

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

Pagan Community Notes is a companion to my usual Pagan News of Note, a series more focused on news originating from within the Pagan community. I want to reinforce the idea that what happens to and within our organizations, groups, and events is news, and news-worthy. My hope is that more individuals, especially those working within Pagan organizations, get into the habit of sharing their news with the world. So lets get started!

A Split in the Feri Tradition? In recent weeks there’s been quite a bit of activity online regarding a split within the Victor and Cora Anderson-founded Feri tradition, with several new web sites emerging that detail a separation on private/public lines. Author and teacher T. Thorn Coyle, perhaps one of the best-known modern Feri initiates, writes an essay for Patheos that explores her own thoughts and feelings on this developing situation.

“It is said of late that the Feri Tradition has been broken in two, being named by folks on one side of the divide as a split between the “Mystery tradition” (taking on the old spelling of Faery) and “public religion” (Feri). While there have been splits and factions for almost as long as the tradition has been active, while the spelling of the name changed over time, and scapegoating, shouting, and long silences have abounded, I never before felt such an energetic sundering. As I write this, I can feel the mighty gates closing on what was. What will emerge, I do not know. Perhaps nothing will change, and perhaps everything will. Such are the times we live in, and various are the pronouncements of our egos trying to figure things out.”

Coyle, who no longer publicly teaches Feri to students, feels that this split is “a reflection of the tension seen all over the world right now, which is the tension felt in ages of transition.” Faery/Feri has been a very influential tradition in the history of modern Paganism in the United States, and currently counts many charismatic and influential teachers among its initiates. I feel this split is an important moment in our shared history, and I am currently putting together a longer article exploring this split, interviewing several individuals from both sides of this seemingly widening gulf. Expect the hear more on this very soon, if not this week, then most certainly next.

D.C. Commits To Opening a Community Center: David Salisbury from the Washington D.C. PNC bureau reports on a historic meeting of regional leaders and organizers to finalize plans for a joint community center.

“Yesterday I was invited to attend the Open Hearth Foundation’s Pagan Leadership Summit which met to discuss and finalize plans for the upcoming Pagan Community Center, an 11 year goal for the organization and the DC Pagan community in general. This day-long summit of leaders from around the metropolitan area shared views on details such as the centers location, size, programming, funding and when it actually plans to open the doors.

It’s a rare occasion when this many Pagan leaders from our area can gather. Rarer still is the fact that the leaders met to give input on this area’s most important Pagan land space project ever, a Pagan Community Center. Becoming, Reflections Mystery School, Ecumenicon, Firefly, Spiral Grove, covens and more spent 5 hours in a thrilling high-energy debate.”

A seeming consensus has been formed to achieve this in one year, by Imbolc 2012. If they manage to achieve this, it could set a new standard for cooperation towards building communal infrastructure among different Pagan groups within a community. The Washington DC-PNC will no doubt keep up updated and informed as this process goes forward.

Pagans and the Health Care Reforms: Masery at the Patheos-hosted Staff of Asclepius blog examines the religious breakdown of a recent Associated Press/GfK poll regarding health care reform and decides to drill down into that pesky “other” category by creating a nearly identical survey aimed at the Pagan community.

The health care poll was conducted by the Associated Press and Gfk Roper Public Affairs Corporate Communications from January 5 – 10, 2011. By telephone they spoke to 1001 Americans ages 18+  Religious affiliation: Protestant 25%, Catholic 25%, Mormon 1%, Jewish 1%, Muslim 1%, Other 26%, No religious denomination 19%. Of the “Other” religion 87% were Christian and 13% were not. What do Pagans think? You can answer the same questions as the AP poll at www.surveymonkey.com/s/CZFX8TR

If you’d like to see what the Pagan community thinks about current health care reform laws, please spread the word to your own blogs and social networking sites, so that a significant sample size can be reached. I’ll be sure to share the results once they are available. Once again, the survey can be found, here. Also, while you’re there, do check out her interview with Kimberly Hedrick, PhD about the recent groundbreaking Pagan Health Survey (which I covered here at The Wild Hunt).

6th Annual Brigid Poetry Festival: An Internet tradition that began in the early days of the Pagan blogosphere continues!

It is that time of year again, when bloggers around the world post a favorite poem in honor of Brigid, the Irish goddess and patron saint of smithcraft, poetry, and healing. Brigid’s feast day is February 1st, so between now and then is the perfect time to publish a poem to celebrate. Last year many great poems were published all over the web. This year, I have set up a Community Facebook Page to help people easily view each other’s poems and to share them around as much as possible. If you post a poem on your blog, please share the link on the community page so we can all go there and read it. If you don’t have a blog or website of your own, go ahead and post your poem in its entirety to the community page.

I look forward to yet another year of poetry in honor of the goddess!

Final Note: If you haven’t been following along, do check out the Patheos Wicca series running through January. It features some interesting perspectives on what Wicca is, and where different individuals think its going.

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