I have a special editorial up at the Washington Post’s On Faith section about the religiously-motivated firing of Pagans, and the case of Carole A. Smith, who was seemingly fired from the TSA for her adherence to Wicca.

What happened to Carole A. Smith is, sadly, all too common a story for many pagans. Smith, a TSA agent in Albany, NY, endured bizarre claims, indifferent superiors, workplace harassment, and finally, termination.

Like many pagans, she wasn’t officially fired for being a pagan, but was subject to a “death from a thousand cuts,” where every minor slip-up is obsessively cataloged until a legally acceptable threshold for dismissal is reached. This was starkly conveyed when msnbc.com revealed an email exchange between two of Smith’s supervisors: the first read, “Hammer Time,” with the response, “Not yet – not enough.” Because Smith works at the TSA, a government agency, her story is now making headlines, and her chances of proper legal recourse are increased because of it.

I’d like to thank the Washington Post for allowing me to present a Pagan perspective on this important story, and I hope you’ll head over, read it, and share it with others.

There are lots of articles and essays of interest to modern Pagans out there, sometimes more than I can write about in-depth in any given week. So The Wild Hunt must unleash the hounds in order to round them all up.

• Are feminists less religious? Feminist sociologist Kristin Aune, looking at data from a survey of British feminists she co-conducted for the book “Reclaiming the F Word: The New Feminist Movement” notes that “feminists are much less likely to be religious, but a little more likely to be interested in alternative or non-institutional kinds of spirituality.” She jokes that perhaps Pat Robertson was right, and feminism does “lead women to reject traditional religion.”
• The Discovery Fit & Health network reality show “I’m Pregnant And…” is looking for Pagans, and PNC-Minnesota gets a brief response from Associate Producer Aundrea Posey, who claims they aren’t tying to exploit Pagans, or be sensationalist. Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent for the Guardian, skeptically notes that “previous shows included I’m Pregnant and …Morbidly Obese; I’m Pregnant and … a Drug Dealer. My favourite is a future show – I’m Pregnant and … May Be Having a Dwarf.”
• Dangerous Minds points to a Daily Telegraph article about a six-day conference being held at the Regina Apostolorum Pontifical University in Rome. According to organizers and exorcists there’s been a “revival” of Satanism and that “the rise of Satanism has been dangerously underestimated in recent years.” You think they include Pagans in that Satanic revival? For all my exorcism-revival coverage, click here.
• Alyssa Rosenberg heaps quite a bit of scorn on the new Arthurian Starz series “Camelot,” calling it “almost completely devoid of ideas or values, much less decent acting or writing.” Perhaps, like “Spartacus,” it will get (somewhat) better as the series progresses? One can always hope.
• In last week’s round-up I noted that the Ballan Autumn Festival in Australia had banned a vendor’s wares under a clause forbidding “products or services relating to the occult, black magic or devil worship”. Now, Moorabool Weekly reports that Mayor Pat Griffin and the local council “will be looking more closely at the events to make sure council regulations [regarding diversity] are being followed.” Pagan Awareness Network president David Garland acidly wondered if “flaming torches and pitchforks formed part of the festivities.” All this comes in the wake of a recently released Australian Human Rights Commission survey on religion, which found that there is pervasive distrust of modern Pagans in that country.
• The case of former TSA employee Carole A. Smith, who alleges she was fired and harassed for being a Witch, has sparked quite a bit of comment since the MSNBC article appeared. The Get Religion blog praises the piece, saying it is “must reading for anyone who cares about religious liberty and mainstream coverage of religion in the workplace.” Ruby Sara at Pagan Godspell critiques the idea that Wiccan’s don’t cast spells. Jezebel recaps MSNBC and helpfully reminds us that “magic isn’t real.” I weigh in at the Washington Post, and the Lady Liberty League is on the case.
• The New Apostolic Reformation’s planned 2011 Social Transformation Conference, hosted by  the Harvard Extension Service & Leadership Society, has been under fire since the depths of their extremist rhetoric were revealed. Truth Wins Out placed a full-page ad in the Harvard Crimson, and is planning to protest due to the groups rampant homophobic comments. Now the Harvard Crimson reports that organizers have released a new statement promising that no “hateful comments” will be made at the conference. Wayne Besen at Truth Wins Out calls this latest PR move “outrageous and totally unacceptable,” that it would be “the equivalent of hosting David Duke on campus, but prohibiting him from talking about race.” Organizers also say they will reach out to LGBTQ and Muslim groups on campus, but there’s no confirmation that this will actually happen. More on this, here.
• Today is the 300th anniversary of the last witch trial to take place in Ireland. On this occasion University of Ulster lecturer Dr Andrew Sneddon announces he is writing a book on the history of witchcraft in Ireland entitled “Witchcraft And Magic In Ireland, 1586-1946.” The work is to be published in 2013.
• Things are getting combative in the James Arthur Ray “death lodge” trial, as the defense tries to push their “organophosphate theory,” that wood treated with insecticides were what caused the deaths, not the sweat lodge itself. Here’s a rather extensive run-down of the day’s events. More, here.
• Public schools are Satan’s tools, but you knew that, right?
• Bron Taylor thinks Stephen Colbert should try “Dark Green Religion” on for size.

That’s it for now! Feel free to discuss any of these links in the comments, some of these I may expand into longer posts as needed.

Recent polls have placed former Arkansas governor and Fox talk-show host Mike Huckabee as the likely front-runner for the 2012 Republican presidential ticket. Though he’s been a bit coy about if and when he’ll officially throw his hat into the ring, this is an enviable position to be in, far better than the one populist favorite Sarah Palin is in. However, while Huckabee tries to present an aura of likability and reasonableness to many Americans, his alliances have become very troubling. Perhaps most troubling for modern Pagans is his friendship with David Barton, founder and president of WallBuilders.  A man who believes that “paganism and witchcraft were never intended to receive the protections of the Religion Clauses.”

“The true historic meaning of “religion” excludes paganism and witchcraft, and thus, does not compel a conclusion that McCollum has state taxpayer standing … paganism and witchcraft were never intended to receive the protections of the Religion Clauses. Thus, in the present case there can be no violation of those clauses … Should this Court conclude that McCollum has taxpayer standing … this Court should at least acknowledge that its conclusion is compelled by Supreme Court precedent, not by history or the intent of the Framers.”

At the American Family Association’s (AFA) recent Rediscover God In America conference, Huckabee tried to express just how much affection he has for Barton and his work.

“And I just wish that every single young person in America would be able to be under his tutelage and understand something about who we really are as a nation. I almost wish that there would be a simultaneous telecast and all Americans would be forced, forced, at gunpoint no less, to listen to every David Barton message and I think our country would be better for it.”

Now, obviously Huckabee was engaging in a bit of comic hyperbole, but that makes his full-throated endorsement of Barton’s teachings no less troubling. I would even be willing to give Huckabee the benefit of the doubt, and say he doesn’t know the full toxic extent of Barton’s teachings, except that other people he cozies up to, like the AFA’s Bryan Fischer, have also publicly expressed their views that the Free Exercise Clause doesn’t apply to non-Christians.

“Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious liberty for non-Christian religious traditions in America, the Founders were not writing a suicide pact when they wrote the First Amendment.”

Huckabee can only claim ignorance for so long, he’ll eventually have to take a stand on whether or not he believes that the First Amendment protects the religious rights of all Americans, not just the Christian ones. If he doesn’t, if he remains silent on this issue, then it’s all but a tacit endorsement of marginalizing minority faiths in America, and he, in my mind, then disqualifies himself from becoming the president of a secular government. You can’t drop spiritual warfare hairpins and still claim to be a moderate.

The always-informative Religion Clause blog points to a Vancouver Sun article about closing arguments in the B.C. Supreme Court case concerning Canada’s law banning the practice of polygamy. I’ve taken an active interest in this case because Pagan families and clergy in Canada had been filing affidavits in support of decriminalizing the law under the assumption that it affects polyamorous families in addition to the stereotypical fundamentalist Mormon groups. Indeed, the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association has sought clarification for some time as to whether governmental defenders of the anti-polygamy statutes  think polyamory falls under their definition of polygamy.

“The CPAA wants to know if polyamorists will be caught under Section 293 should it be determined that the section is constitutional. CPAA lawyer John Ince told Bauman the attorneys general for Canada and BC have not delineated what their thinking is on the polyamorists.”

However, the Canadian and B.C. attorneys general have been tight-lipped on the subject, until now. In his closing remarks, Craig Jones, lead attorney for the B.C. Attorney General’s office, made very clear that polyamorous families would be treated like polygamous families in the eyes of the law.

“When multi-partner, conjugal relationships are like “duplicative marriages,” Jones said they are criminal regardless of whether the individuals are heterosexual, gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered. Although he said ‘duplicative marriage’ need not be “exhaustively defined in advance,” Jones said all conjugal relationships involving more than two people are criminal if they go beyond “mere cohabitation” and have some form of imposed consequences related to entering or remaining in the relationship.”

So now we know the true stakes in this decriminalization effort, and very likely why they kept this viewpoint under wraps until the very end. They aren’t simply seeking to crack down on abusive forms of polygamy, they see all “duplicative marriages” as criminal and potentially open for prosecution. Never mind that polyamory isn’t the same as polygamy, isn’t patriarchal, isn’t intergenerationally normalized, and isn’t restricted by gender pairing or sexual orientation.

“This law is not just about people living in Bountiful, British Columbia as the media and the Attorneys General would have us all believe.  This law impacts many many people who have loving healthy families and live right next door to us.  This law would break up families who are doing no wrong and just dare to love and build solid healthy empowering relationships in a different manner than perhaps you do.  This law impacts our rights and paints us with a wide brush that is both terribly unfair and terribly inaccurate.” – Dear Polly Amorie

If you think that since you’re not Mormon, you’d never get prosecuted under the polygamy law, think again. Canada has had no seeming qualms charging people with antiquated laws against “pretending” to practice witchcraft, so tacking on a polygamy charge when you’re already under arrest for something else isn’t out of the question. The failure to end criminalization of polygamy could have far-reaching impacts on Canadian Pagan poly families and Pagan clergy willing to perform multiple-partner ceremonies. However, even if this current effort at decriminalization fails, I think the defense made a tactical error by lumping all “duplicative marriages” together. This may create more outrage, new activists, and new trials now that the scope of the law is interpreted as expanding beyond a fundamentalist Mormon context.

Closing arguments continue through this week. You can see live-streaming of the trial, here. Hundreds of transcripts and documents from the trial are available online. I’ll update you once I have more.

Top Story: msnbc.com reports on a Wiccan from Albany, New York, who claims she was harassed, treated differently, and ultimately fired from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) because of her faith.

“Immediately after the complaint about casting spells, Smith’s personnel file started to bulge with disciplinary actions. A training coordinator wrote her up for having a negative attitude. A supervisor warned her for not properly checking a boarding pass. She was eight minutes late to work. She was accused of insubordinate behavior for yelling at supervisors when they told her she’d have to work a 16-hour shift because she was the only woman on duty to pat down female passengers. On April 2, the personnel specialist at Albany, Robert Farrow, sent Johansson an e-mail about Smith. It read, in full, “Hammer Time.” Johansson replied, “Not yet … not enough.”

The evidence obtained by msnbc.com is damning, and it’s very clear that she would have won her initial Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaint had she hired a lawyer instead of representing herself, a problem she intends to correct on appeal. The article also interviews Selena Fox about how Wiccans and Pagans are experiencing more acceptance, and more harassment, as we become increasingly visible. Carole A. Smith experienced what many Pagans experience when their religion becomes an issue, group harassment, indifference or hostility from superiors, and  the ever-common inflating of small infractions to justify a firing. There’s more to this story, including whistle-blowing, anti-Union sentiments, and sexism, I recommend reading (and watching) the entire report. I’ll be sure to keep my eyes open for updates.

The First Amendment is Only For Christians (Revisited): I’ve discussed at some length the troubling belief held by some conservative Christians, most notably pseudo-historian David Barton, that the Free Exercise Clause in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution only applies to Christians. But Michele Bachmann’s history teacher isn’t the only prominent conservative Christian to push this theory, talk radio host Bryan Fischer, Director of Issues Analysis for the American Family Association, recently held forth on the topic while invoking fear of an encroaching Islam.

“Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious liberty for non-Christian religious traditions in America, the Founders were not writing a suicide pact when they wrote the First Amendment.”

Fischer, it should be noted, recently came to our attention when he wrote a disturbingly ugly editorial about Native Americans (naturally, he was the victim). Fischer is also on the “Green Dragon” fear train. The problem is that Fischer, Barton, and other would-be Christian historians that are building a case to deny us equal protections are flat-out wrong. The Founding Fathers knew quite well that religious freedom also meant freedom for Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and even Pagans. Dave Hill does an excellent job of debunking the pernicious idea that the First Amendment was only meant to protect Christians, and digs up some amazing quotes from the debates that were held at the time.

“The exclusion of religious tests is by many thought dangerous and impolitic. They suppose that if there be no religious test required, pagans, deists, and Mahometans might obtain offices among us, and that the senators and representatives might all be pagans. Every person employed by the general and state governments is to take an oath to support the former. Some are desirous to know how and by whom they are to swear, since no religious tests are required-whether they are to swear by Jupiter, Juno, Minerva, Proserpine, or Pluto.” - Rev. Henry Abbot, 1788.

The idea that the Free Exercise Clause doesn’t apply to non-Christians is dangerous, ahistorical, and stupid. That people like Barton and Fischer are preaching this lie weakens the very foundations they claim to protect. The fact is that the Founders were educated and far-sighted men who understood quite well what they were constructing and its implications. These revisionists would make them all into short-sighted dolts.

The Odds Catholics Prefer When Talking to Pagans? Recently Star Foster from Patheos.com went on a Catholic television program to talk about Paganism, and found herself defending our faiths against a disdainful and ill-informed panel.

“I feel I was a bit rude, because I insisted on saying something meaningful, and a bit flustered, stuttering and off-kilter, because I didn’t expect the attitude, ignorance or topic I was surprised with. I didn’t represent Paganism to the best of my ability, and looking back, probably shouldn’t have agreed to come on the show. I should have said Pagans as a rule don’t teach minors, and if they do it’s only with parents present. I should have emphasized community and service more. I shouldn’t have let them get so personal with their questions. I should have emphasized that Pagans leave Christianity because they find the doctrine faulty and irrelevant, not only because they feel alienated or disconnected.

I’m also a bit concerned that they edited out some parts of the interview, especially where the Msgr. Harrington and I had some interesting exchanges regarding whether Pagans were “making it all up.” I know editing happens and I don’t feel I was edited to look bad, but that some of the more interesting exchanges were removed. What I said really didn’t jive with some folks on the show and some of that discomfort has been removed.”

It seem that the program’s name, “In The Arena”, is quite apt. Attack, heap scorn, and edit out the bits that aren’t convenient. More kangaroo court than informational religion program, really. Still, despite the four-to-one odds, I think Star did as good as can be expected. We also learned an important lesson about entering that particular lion’s den.

Returning to Salem’s Psychic Boom: Fox News has picked up a local story about the licensing of psychics in Salem, Massachusetts, with some wondering if there’s now too many practitioners since regulations were relaxed.

Laurie “Lorelei” Stathopoulos owns Crow Haven Corner, a business dubbed “Salem’s first witch shop.” She conducts readings in a cozy back room and believes the city council needs to keep a close eye on the growing number of psychics. “I agree with Christian [Day] as far as the free trade but I also was one of the biggest advocates of keeping Salem quaint and small and magical and the more people we let in could hurt that name,” said Stathopoulos. “Just like having a Chanel bag, you want the real thing. You don’t want the run-of-the-mill or a knock off bag.”

The article also interviews Salem shop owner and promoter Christian Day, City Councilor Joan Lovely (who floated the idea of new caps), and Barbara Szafranski, a long time opponent of relaxing regulations. For more on this issue, see my post from January, which actually goes into more detail on some of the players and history surrounding regulation in Salem. My interview last year with Christian Day regarding laws and regulations affecting psychics may also be informational.

Around the World: Vietnam recently celebrated the Goddess of Mercy Festival, Buddhists prepare temporary mass graves in Japan, families pray to their gods in Myanmar (Burma) after an earthquake shakes the country, and are the Kalasha the “happiest people in Pakistan”?

“Gul Sayed, 25, sports a grin a mile wide as she hugs me, a lone foreigner in her home. She is a member of the Kalasha, a peace-loving pagan tribe living in the remote villages that lie between Northern Pakistan’s Chitral Valley and the Afghan border. She’s dressed in a black robe embroidered with rainbow threads, a beaded headdress adorned with cowrie shells and colorful necklaces. Rumour has it the blue-eyed, fair-skinned Kalasha are the descendants of the armies of Alexander the Great. But unlike their putative bellicose ancestors, the country’s smallest minority group — numbering around 3,000 — prefers to make love, not war. Proud of their warm, caring, crime-free culture, these could just be the happiest people in Pakistan.“

The Kalash people, like Hindus, are adherents to an Indo-European polytheistic faith. After the troubles they have experienced lately with the Taliban, I’m happy to learn that the Kalasha continue to thrive.

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

The initiative started by Peter Dybing for the Pagan community to raise 30,000 dollars for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières has reached and surpassed its goal! Here’s a statement from Peter Dybing on this achievement.

Today the Pagan Japan Relief Project prevailed in its effort to raise $30,000.00 for Doctors Without Borders. This achievement belongs to the entire community. While there are many examples of individuals and organizations that established efforts in support of this project, it is the community as a whole that has spoken; declaring it’s allegiance to the principle that we are one human family.

Already First Giving has distributed funds to Doctors Without Borders in support of their relief efforts. As little as $3.00 purchased a blanket for those without shelter. The small sum of $5.00 obtained medications for individuals unable to afford them. Today there are survivors receiving critical care as a result of this effort.

This project also represents an important moment in Pagan history. Working together across intrafaith boundaries this community has demonstrated the maturation that has occurred over the past few decades. We have established that we are an effective and unified religious community that can respond to world events, take action when necessary and work together in support of achievable goals. Gone is the quietly whispered sentiment that Pagans do not work together or that Pagans do not give to charity.

Pagans from all over the country gave from the heart in support of this effort. About a week ago I received an email from a community member who was attempting to figure out how to make the FirstGiving site charge their ATM card $5.00 as that was the balance in their account. It is this ethic of giving all that we can that has so impressed me. Many community members have given multiple times to the effort. We should all be proud of these incredible expressions of intent, compassion, self-sacrifice, and determination to make a difference. Collectively, we have manifested change in the world and our community all at once.

As facilitator of this project it has been my privilege to witness our community pull together in this effort. Humbled is the only word I can think of that expresses my feelings about this effort. Humbled viewing this achievement humbled to be a member of this community and humbled to be allowed to play a small part in this historic response.

Pagans we are strong, we are focused, we are effective, we have proven that there are no limits on what this community can accomplish and we deserve to be Proud.

In Service and Gratitude,
Peter Dybing

In addition, here’s a short statement from Selena Fox of Circle Sanctuary, who was instrumental in spreading the word and making contacts within the Pagan community for this to happen.

“The combined efforts of Pagans of many paths & places in giving, in expressing support, and in networking has not only raised money to help one of the international organizations engaged in relief efforts in Japan, but it has raised consciousness that Pagans can work together for the greater good.”

That the Pagan community has been able to collectively raise over $30,000 dollars, much more if you could count donations to other initiatives and organizations that Pagans have been involved in, is a monumental achievement. My personal thanks to all of you who became a part of this effort, and not only helped the people of Japan and a very worthy organization, but also showed that we can collectively pull together to accomplish great things. To the people of Japan, the Pagan community stands in solidarity with you at this time of crisis and tragedy.

Before there was The Wild Hunt, there was simply “patheos.com,” my personal web site, and its host was DrakNet. Knowing very little at the time about web hosting, I decided to fiscally support a Pagan-owned and operated hosting company. This turned out to be a very good move on my part because DrakNet, and its owner Jen Lepp, provided me with excellent customer service that was responsive and accessible to a degree that I was to learn later was very rare in the world of web hosting. As The Wild Hunt went through its many growing pains, I shudder to think at what would have happened to me had Jen not been there to oversee things, and when Drak.net was recently acquired by A Small Orange I followed along primarily for the promise that Jen would be an ongoing part of ASO. Since DrakNet was the first web hosting company that I know of to bill itself as a Pagan-owned and operated company, I decided to interview Jen about the history of DrakNet, the perils of running a Pagan business, and its recent acquisition by A Small Orange.

Jen Lepp

When DrakNet first started in 1997 it was billed as a Pagan-owned and run company, and many of your oldest clients were Pagans (including me!). You even provided free hosting to various worthy Pagan organizations (and in some cases, still do). Could you talk a bit about that? What made you decide to make the Pagan-owned element a selling point? How did that evolve?

Before DrakNet started, I actually had no intention of owning a web hosting company, and DrakNet really was a bit of an accident.

I originally started out as a representative for the Witches League for Public Awareness, and then Laurie Cabot made a decision to “fire” all the Representatives that worked as volunteers for religious tolerance. In Texas, our state Representatives chose to start Texas Pagan Awareness Online independent from any national organization (though we did work with national organizations and folks frequently), and it was through a need to financially support TPAO that DrakNet was born.

Originally, TPAO offered hosting instead of asking for donations as a way to support its endeavors. After it had about 10 people hosted on it’s Reseller’s account, I realized that these poor folks really could use some documentation other than just constantly emailing me, and I created a more formal hosting site with some How To’s and some order forms. I never truly understood how it happened, but it took off and we got orders at a very, very steady clip until I woke up one day and realized that I was a business owner, and DrakNet was an actual business.

Because of how it was “born”, the Pagan element was never really a question, at least in the early years. DrakNet owed it’s entire existence to the Pagan community, and the religious tolerance movement within it. I felt a responsibility to give back to to the community that helped birth it with what I was able to do. I hoped we did that with our non-profit program, which was one of the few hosting non-profit programs that did not require a 501c3, did not preclude religious groups, and did not preclude politically active sites from applying.

Over time, your own personal life journey led you away from Paganism, to Unitarian-Universalism, and ultimately to Judaism. How has your personal faith journey shaped your business and work? Did you get a lot of flack from the Pagan community when you moved away from being a “Pagan company”?

There are some folks in the community that know why my own path, and DrakNet’s, “evolved”, and to some extent I became an example case of what I was fighting against as an activist. But many people were not aware, and so yes, as we “de-Paganed”, there were some people that were very angry. They felt, and were very vocal about, the fact that they felt we had sold out. It was a very difficult time for me.

This question, actually, has lead to the long lag in my response to this interview, as I wrestled with how public I wanted to be in answer to this question.

The fourth year I owned DrakNet, my husband and I got a divorce, and the following year (for a variety of reasons I won’t go into), we entered into a highly acrimonious custody battle. The suit stated outright in it’s initial filing that the basis was the fact that I was Pagan. I hired an attorney who dismissed it as a concern, stating my religion could not be used against me. While I have no doubt the attorney believed that when he told me, he was wrong and his objection was overruled. The county this lawsuit was in was extremely right-leaning, and the Judge in the case relieved me of custody temporarily while my beliefs and their affect on my ability to parent was investigated.

Those I knew in the community did offer to rush to my defense, have protests on the courthouse lawn, call the press, and make the case into a circus, but I strongly felt then, as I do now, that a child cannot choose to be at the center of a public controversy. Though I was very, very careful in my answers not to establish any precedent or disclaim or lie about anything I was in the final trial, once I fought back and defended myself and won, I chose not to tempt fate a second time and I left Paganism so that it could not be used against me
again.

Once I did that, I had to “de-Paganify” DrakNet. That was a difficult thing to do both because of how it came about and how much devotion some segments of the community felt towards us, and some people left the service angry. Many stayed, and many continued to “claim” both me, and the company, regardless of what I said to the contrary. To them, we were always Pagan and Pagan friendly.

But, yes, some people didn’t understand, and some people felt betrayed. Perhaps those that were angry may read this, and understand a bit better why I couldn’t answer “why” at the time.

As for my personal faith journey, I’m not sure I ever truly changed other than my tools and my circles – the Goddess was welcomed at the UU Church, and I became a Sunday School teacher teaching the lessons I had once been taught as a neophyte to children. When my son became curious about his Jewish heritage, we found a Jewish Renewal synagogue that spoke of Asherah and who’s congregation would turn each Friday to an opened the door to the Sabbath Bride and bow to Her.

Once you know the Goddess (and, more importantly, She knows you know Her), it’s honestly very tough to get away from Her.

One thing that never changed in DrakNet’s history was its commitment to the environment, free speech, equal treatment towards all faiths, and very personal customer service. Do you think that your ethos is still uncommon among web hosting companies, or is it one on the rise?

I actually joked with my husband that it was finally ok to sell because actually listening to customers was in vogue. What the Pagan community was way ahead of the curve on was social networking – The Witches’ Voice was doing it before Facebook, hooking people up into a tribe. The Pagan WebCrafters Association gathered the geeks. Pagans have always been incredibly net-savvy, utilizing the tools to build circles and webs wherever they need them.

What Pagans were doing in the early 90′s everyone is doing now, including businesses and corporations. Views of customers and their power and their voices have changed with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, and other mediums and tools that make it easier for people to speak their minds about their experiences with companies. Companies have had to adapt and as a consequence have become much savvier about communication with the audience they wish to reach and, ultimately, to sell to.

Once they were listening, they realized people actually cared about company ethics, honesty, transparency, the environment. People will make decisions to do business with a company based on their company values and how well they communicate these company values. As a consequence, there’s a new movement in companies that actually puts customers before profits – at least for the companies that “get it”.

In web hosting, though, I do still think it’s uncommon – web hosting is somewhat of a unique industry in that it’s almost constantly in flux, and it’s customers are the savviest of the tech savvy, heavily utilizing internet mediums to complain, to praise, and to communicate. When your customer base lives in the same sphere you do, you have two choices – you can either do really great and engage with them and listen and be responsive, or you can ignore them and arrogantly dictate the rules. In my industry, it honestly seems that companies fall very much on one side or the other.

What made you decide to sell DrakNet to A Small Orange after 12 years of being in business? What’s the reaction from your customers been?

I was approached informally to sell DrakNet at HostingCon to HostGator. They had introduced me to Doug Hanna, the CEO of A Small Orange, to demonstrate that the founder of HostGator could buy small companies and not actually kill what was special about them. It was the first time I had heard ASO had been sold, and as a hosting owner the idea that all these special, unique companies were getting bought up just infuriated me. I felt like the industry was getting homogenized.

In response, I literally went ballistic outside the cPanel Party on 6th Street in Austin, naming all the reasons I was better, why the mega-behemoth couldn’t give the service I could. I truly did shoot them with both barrels. It affronted me on so many accounts, not the least of which was that I was one of the very few female owned hosting companies and I had a very idealistic notion of web hosting and what was owed customers that I felt they didn’t get. I came home, and wrote a blog post blasting them again, just to make sure they got the message.

It did get me to thinking, though, about how much I could accomplish with DrakNet as it was – I was a small fish in a very large pond. I was not large enough to get asked to speak and although I was fairly well connected in the industry, my revenue was not the type that would get me invited to share my pearls of wisdom anywhere about the hosting industry and my views on it. The idea of changing things “from the inside”, of trying to accomplish a coup d’état from within kind of appealed to me, so I decided to give them a call and see if they were really serious and what they had in mind.

In the end, I wound up connecting with Doug first, and he stated that he was never more surprised by any phone call for any potential deal than he was by mine. If there was a person he was sure would never, ever sell, it would’ve been me.

As we talked, we both realized that DrakNet customers meshed better with ASO’s philosophy, and I was honestly surprised at what extent ASO already focused on customers first, and exceeding customer service expectations. They were environmentally conscious, progressive in their thinking about employees and customers, and very focused on free speech. I was surprised at how much I liked them as I was so conditioned to be suspicious of a larger company, and so a deal was struck.

Our customer reactions, initially, were pretty stunning. Roughly 15% of customers took the time to express extremely, extremely strong opinions. Since the sale, however, I’ve heard 99.9% positive, and everyone seems very pleased with the move.

Do you have any regrets? Anything you wish you could have done differently? Looking back, how do you picture DrakNet?

I ran DrakNet for 12 and a half years, and I watched it do a lot of good. We hosted things that had been kicked off other hosts because the host didn’t understand the site and nuked it, we had transgendered people that could call and not have to explain why their name was male on their credit card and go through justifying who they were and what they wanted to be called. We didn’t balk when two covens started DMCA-ing each other because this person wrote that ritual and were able to help explain it in a way that everyone understood.

I hope that people that hosted with us felt that they were respected for who they were – a lot of people moved to us because they had been places where they weren’t being treated with much dignity because of who they were, or their site’s content.

If I have any regrets at all, it’s those times that we couldn’t help, and couldn’t get involved – we got DMCA notices from some very large, very powerful corporations and entities that sent them for no other reason than to squelch free speech, and it was obvious that’s what they were doing. It never failed to make me angry that my hands were tied.

Now that DrakNet has been absorbed into A Small Orange, what’s in store for the future?

I was “acquired” along with DrakNet, and am now the Customer Experience Manager for ASO. I hope that in this position I can apply some of what made DrakNet unique to a multi-million dollar company and for a wider number of people.

That would be a neat legacy.