This past Saturday the 1st Annual Conference on Earth-Based, Nature-Centered, Polytheistic & Indigenous Faiths was held in California at the Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco. Organized by the Pagan Alliance, and co-sponsored the Circle of Dionysos, Solar Cross Temple,Institute for Transpersonal Psychology, CAYA coven and the Earth Medicine Alliance, the theme for the one-day conference was “Gender & Earth-Based Spiritualities” and featured Vicki Noble as keynote speaker. While sparked by issues arising from an incident of transgender exclusion at a public women-only ritual during the 2011 PantheaCon in San Jose, the conference itself opened itself up to a much wider-ranging discussion concerning gender within modern Paganism. Here are some reflections shared with me by conference chair and Pagan Alliance president JoHanna White.

joi wolfwomyn and Vicki Noble. Photo by Greg Harder.

“The Conference went remarkably well. It was well attended for a first year Conference on a cold day in SF. There was an incredible list of presenters: Judy Grahn and Dianne Jenett, Vicki Noble, Charlie Glickman, Veronica Monet, T. Thorn Coyle as well as many interested attendees such as M. Macha Nightmare, a number of Radical Faeries, students from ITP, PSR, etc. We had 5 cameras taping various lectures and performances and we hope to put out some online videos and a dvd within the next few months. Two documentarians, one filming for Ssex Bbox, and another working on a forthcoming documentary on sex, spirituality, and culture, shot video of talks at the Conference.

In her introductory remarks, joi wolfwomyn asked folks to treat eachother with respect and really listen to the different perspectives brought out in the day and that energy of respect really carried forward into the entire day of programming and events. Vicki Noble’s keynote integrated both her personal experience as a feminist separatist as well as her acknowledgement of the multitude of genders that exist and our need to respect the diversity of gender. Her statement on separatism was that it can be through having separate spaces that members of marginalized groups can become stronger and return to the larger community with the confidence and commitment to make real and positive change. The Conference had a number of workshops and presentations on 3rd and 4th genders throughout the world and was a wonderful sampling of the diversity of our community. CAYA’s co-sponsorship (along with ITP, Solar Cross, Earth Medicine Alliance, and Circle of Dionysos) on the event pushed us over a threshold where we were able to offer scholarships to many transfolk, low-income attendees, and disabled persons. Making this conference accessible to many. Hurrah!

We had some lovely seasonal Pomegranate mimosas (one of my best ideas of the year, I think) Hail Persephone and all that jazz and a beautiful food spread for attendees. Members of the Circle of Dionysos put on an amazing cabaret during the luncheon that included a costumed Sinnerjee depicted Loki doing “Every Other God a Greek.”an original composition (to the tune of Do Re Mi from The Sound of Music) by Origynal Sinnerjee, a musician depicting Freyr sang traditional Pagan songs in Finnish and Icelandic, as well as a drag Cybele monologue, an original song about Sirens a la lesbian separatists. The cabaret was overwhelmingly well received.

I had a great time and we’re looking forward to next year. We will likely continue to address Gender and Earth-based spirituality (due to overwhelming requests/suggestions from folk at the Conference), but will be bringing in some new tracks.”

In addition to White’s impressions, T. Thorn Coyle, who presented at the conference, shares her experiences in a just-posted column for Patheos.com.

T. Thorn Coyle at the conference. Photo: Greg Harder.

“The 1st Annual Conference on Earth-Based, Nature-Centered, Polytheistic & Indigenous Faiths with the theme of Earth-Based Spiritualities & Gender left me with an intriguing mix of thoughts. I feel grateful that the Pagan Allianceput in the time, energy, and money to organize the conference, and am proud that Solar Cross Temple helped to sponsor it. Talking about gender in the context of Paganism feels very important to me. The sense I was left with after Saturday was that while we only scratched the surface of the topic, an elephant in the room was barely addressed, and more dialogue is necessary, goodwill was present amongst those attending, and that counts for a lot.

Many things felt heartening to me about the day: a variety of gender expressions walking through the hallways; seeing second wave feminists I cut my teeth on presenting at a Pagan conference; meeting a human rights activist from the Organisation Intersex International and wanting to talk more theology; the insightful comments and ideas that people shared with each other during my presentation on genderqueer theology; talks with people in between sessions”

While Coyle felt that the “whole subject of gender, normativity, fluidity, and polarity felt like it needs a lot more breathing room,” she applauded the Pagan Alliance “for seeing a need, and moving to address it.”

During this year’s conference Lady Yeshe Rabbit, High Priestess of CAYA Coven, whose Amazon Priestess Tribe’s Rite of Lilith at PantheaCon 2011 provided the setting of transgender exclusion that ultimately led to this day, led a Ritual of Radical Forgiveness. At her blog, Lady Yeshe Rabbit explains the rationale for the ritual, and shares the ritual itself for those who couldn’t be there.

Lady Yeshe Rabbit at the conference. Photo: Greg Harder.

“CAYA’s commitment to gender diversity includes a commitment to creating public circles for all to practice ritual together, circles for all who self-identify as a particular gender, and private, closed circles for those who continue to identify with their gender at birth for the sake of healing and deep personal work. It is not an easy place to be. On the one hand, intellectually-sound and impassioned arguments exist for the full inclusion of all self-identified men and women in all gendered spaces they choose. These arguments are well-reasoned, clear, loving and radical- all very much in keeping with CAYA’s core philosophies. On the other hand, there are mysteries and wisdom paths that are associated with embodying a certain gender from birth and the lifetime of acculturation to that gender, as well as physical experiences associated with coming of age in that particular body. These are primal, powerful, visceral and also radical- very much in keeping with CAYA’s core philosophies.

I do not think anyone in CAYA or outside of CAYA has the final answers on how this integration of diverse and sometimes opposing viewpoints can happen effectively to the highest benefit of the greater pagan community. Certainly it won’t happen overnight. Certainly it requires delicacy, patience, and good faith.

Our hope in offering a Ritual of Radical Forgiveness at the conference was to magically and sympathetically put to rest the discord around the topic of the past year and to acknowledge that there is pain and challenge on all sides of this issue. It is our prayer that, moving forward, everyone who has a strong and powerful opinion on this topic or experience of their gender reality will be able to at least co-exist in mutual harmony, respect for one another’s right to hold their views and practices as best befits them, and non-violence in our language and actions toward one another. The religious right would love to see us tear one another apart. It would mean they don’t have to lift a finger in order to cripplingly disempower us. I, for one, will not allow that to happen if I have any say in the matter whatsoever. My intent is to create respectful unity around our spiritual diversity and thus protect it with my own intentions, prayers, words and actions. To that end, here is the ritual outline, for those who were not able to attend. The ritual was received very well by the 25-30 participants who attended, and while it is not a final step to end all conflict, it felt like a powerful step in the right direction toward peace and wholeness within our extended community.”

The results of this conference are a first step, something acknowledged by all who attended. As intimated by JoHanna White, next year’s conference will also focus on gender in order to continue the important conversations started here. A date of September 8th, 2012 has been set. For more coverage, please see the follow up post from the PNC-Bay Area bureau.

As I said earlier this year, I have few illusions that all problems will be “solved,” but I do think what we are witnessing here is historic, and will change us in ways we can’t envision now. CAYA’s Amazon Priestess Tribe’s Rite of Lilith acted as a catalyst for a long-overdue conversation about the role of gender, and transgender individuals, within modern Paganism. If you look at how quickly modern Paganism has grown in the span of a single generation, particularly in the United States, it shouldn’t surprise anyone. When Margot Adler’s “Drawing Down the Moon” was initially published in 1979, gay and lesbian Pagans were just emerging from decades of silence and marginalization within our interconnected communities, now, 32 years later, we’re having serious discussions about “Gay Paganism’s Second Wave.” In such an atmosphere, the issue of how we treat, respect, and integrate transgendered individuals was destined to stop being a fringe topic dealt with only in passing, or in isolated corners, and demand a wider discussion.

I think a collective future of “transcentric imagery, gods and goddess with the wide variety of trans bodies,” alongside and complementing the more prevalent cisgendered representations, will become a reality far quicker than any of us might realize, and that modern Paganism, a movement so ready to accept change, challenges, and differences, yet still remain identifiable and vital, will ultimately benefit from it. The collective maturity and willingness to dialog seen at this conference is a credit to our family of faiths, and when future historians look back at this gathering, it will be rightfully seen as a milestone in how we all approach the topic of gender within our interconnected communities.

This past Saturday in Berkeley, California was the one-day conference TheurgiCon, an intensive that focuses on the practice of theurgy, the use of magic and ritual to invoke (or evoke) the gods. This year’s line-up included Tony Mierzwicki, Brandy Williams, Don Frew, Diana Young, and Sam Webster. COG (now on Facebook) members Rachael Watcher and Greg Harder were there on behalf of the Pagan Newswire Collective to cover the event. First, here’s an interview with TheurgiCon founder and organizer Glenn Turner (who also founded PantheaCon).

Here’s their report on TheurgiCon.

It was a room full of mostly older folks dressed in varying ideas of LL Bean casual, coffee in hand, milling about prior to settling down to work for the day; your usual run of the mill business meeting with the usual number of computers, reference books and notated materials. However, with the opening statements of the first speaker, it became obvious that this was not your parent’s kind of business.

Welcome to Theurgicon 2010, held on August 28, in Berkeley California. The brain child of Glenn Turner, long time Witch and veteran Convention organizer, it was a one day symposium, the goal of which was to cover all you ever wanted to know about Theurgy but were afraid to ask; and believe me, you had better be paying attention because the information that proceeded from the day’s speakers was dense, deep, and fast paced. It was, in this attendee’s opinion a masterpiece in organization. Five speakers were arranged in such order as to present basic historical information first, with each speaker building upon the work of his or her predecessor. Each succeeding speaker moving forward in time, followed the thread of theurgy as it developed from its most ancient roots to its present day practice in such organizations as the Open Source Order of The Golden Dawn and British Traditional Wica.

Tony Mierzwicki started the morning followed by Brandy Williams, and Don Frew. They took us from the root and branch of Hermeticism through the development of theugy and the Chaldean Oracles, Platonic cosmology and theurgic practice, to Neo-Platonic cosmology, praxis and its part in Western Occult magical traditions today. They shared elements of ritual practice simple tools and technique. Whew! It reminded me of nothing less than those college lectures where you were afraid to take notes in fear that you would miss something vital. Mr. Mierzwicki and Ms. Williams are accomplished writers and Mr. Frew felt obliged to joke that being a Gardnerian had put a real crimp in his ability to publish though it should be said that he is a historian of note in British Traditional Wica.

By the time time lunch happened our brains were full. I needed the break to digest what had already transpired and I am no new comer to any of the material presented. Lunch was followed by a presentation from Diana Young on The Nexus of Mystic and Magus, and Sam Webster finished up with a discussion of the future of theurgy. He called for altars in public places, the establishment of temples, and clergy to serve the developing laity. He encouraged us to sample deeply, collecting “whole sets” creating synergy, to develop our own interpretations, to think of ways to make our presence more known. I suggested that perhaps we should take a page from the x-geners and practice flash rituals [a reference to "flash mobs" - ed]. Apparently that struck a nerve because many came up to me after the conference to ask if I were serious and when would we start. Let me encourage you who have the knowledge and industry to go forth and flash and may the Gods be with you.

The day of academic pursuit was followed by equally deep and thoughtful conversations in the Hospitality suite accompanied by wine and food. I wandered about seeking impressions of the day from participants. Gus diZerega, author and teacher commented, “I think it was a great presentation. It far exceeded my hopes. The quality of the presentations was wonderful, the variety of perspectives fascinating …” Barbara Cormack, head of the Open Source Golden Dawn, “I came because I feel that my tradition is one of the modern flowerings and an inheritor of theugric practice. I was curious to see what the speakers would do with that topic and I wasn’t disappointed…” Nathan Bjorge, presenter at PantheaCon on Neo Platonic practice “I think that this was a wonderful opportunity for different traditions to come together and explore this history, this context for our modern pagan traditions…” Everyone agreed that it was a great success, worth the money and stated that they looked forward to next year’s presentations with interest as well as curiosity as to how, as a concept, this symposium would develop.

Glenn Turner promises a published presentation of the papers presented, and I look forward to that. I’m also delighted that this is only an annual event. It will take me that long to digest what transpired here today.

I’d like to thank Rachael and Greg for covering the event, and allowing me to share it with you here at The Wild Hunt. I’m hoping this kind of local coverage inspires the formation of a PNC news bureau for the Bay Area of California. As one of the most populous Pagan hot-spots in the country I’m sure there’s no end to the news and events to be covered.

Speaking of California-based Pagan coverage, I’d like to quickly point you to Joanne Elliott, the LA Pagan Examiner, who’s been doing a lot of great local-based coverage. Notably, the plight of Pagan elder Ed Fitch, who’s been fighting to keep his home. That is exactly the kind of stuff that a robust Pagan journalism should be looking into (that, and thousands of other things).

ADDENDUM: Here’s presenter Tony Mierzwicki’s experiences of TheurgiCon.

I’m sure many of you have already read about this on Boing Boing yesterday, but in case you haven’t, West Marin Witch the Rev. Joey Talley (who can apparently help you with your alien and shark problems) made the news after being booted from a local farmers market.

“After spending the past six summers giving free tarot readings beneath the redwood trees of Bolinas Park, the Rev. Joey Talley, the “Good Witch of West Marin,” has come to think of herself as a part of the Fairfax Farmers Market. Managers at the Marin Farmers Market see things differently. The organization, which operates eight farmers markets throughout the Bay Area, says Talley has never applied to work as a vendor or entertainer at the Wednesday night market, and they’ve asked her to leave.”

Kicked out! Boo! Hiss! But before we switch our outrage meters into overdrive, we might want to read a bit further.

“Talley agrees that she’s never sought an application, and admits that she “snuck around behind her back” after Spilger asked her to leave the market last year. But Talley believes she’s providing a free public service and has been gathering signatures on a petition asking that she be allowed to stick around. “I’ve been here year after year,” Talley said. “There are teens who tell me things they could never take to their parents, and they could never afford to schedule a $100 session with me.” While Bolinas Park belongs to the town, the Marin Farmers Market has the right to use the park every Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m., and to decide which vendors can participate…While they appreciate Talley’s unique talents, Marin Farmers Market representatives insist she take part in the same application process as every other vendor at the Fairfax market. It’s that process, Spilger said, that lets customers know what they see at the market is what they’ll get.”

In other words, they kicked her out for flouting the application process and sneaking around after being asked to leave. Rev. Joey seems to think that her free services to local teens are so important that the rules should not apply to her.

“I’ve been here year after year,” Talley said. “There are teens who tell me things they could never take to their parents, and they could never afford to schedule a $100 session with me.”

Of course Talley could simply offer free services to teens at her office, or those tarot-desperate teens could attend one of her many sessions at local coffee houses, but that might not drum up new paying customers the way glomming onto the farmers market does. Sorry Joey, if you break the rules and get caught you pay the price. If you behave dishonorably in your business dealings (like lying and sneaking around), you can’t then imply that you were wronged and circulate a petition as though you were a cause worth fighting for. This isn’t religious discrimination, and it isn’t something to get outraged about.

Four recent news reports tie into two larger stories, the first is the issue of Pagan burial space, a matter that will become more prominent as the Baby Boomers travel further into their retirement years. There are already dedicated spaces in Wisconsin and Washington in America, and an Asatru-dedicated space in Denmark. Now we can add at least two more, an Asatru space in Norway, and a Pagan-inclusive interfaith woodland burial park in the UK.

After spotlighting three news items yesterday, I find that I have another three to share with you today. First up, we have a profile of the Denver Catholic Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. Chaput is receipient of this year’s Canterbury Medal, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty’s highest honor. But while Chaput thinks that the United States is “a nation that only really makes sense in a religion-friendly context”, it is clear from his acceptance speech that he doesn’t mean friendly towards all religions.

The archbishop said “the bedrock” of our common moral heritage was the First Commandment, “I am the Lord your God; you will not have foreign gods before me.” “All of our Western beliefs about the sanctity of life, human dignity and human rights ultimately depend on a Creator who guarantees them. In other words, we have infinite value because God made us. No human being or political authority can revoke that infinite value. Only God is God.” Any other pretention to answering human suffering and hope is “finally an impostor and a road away from God’s light.” Archbishop Chaput said this view of the value of human life was in direct contrast to a contemporary American spirit in which science can “comfortably” coexist alongside “superstition or barbarism.” As the Western moral consensus weakened alongside the progress of science, people did not become more ethically mature. “The 20th century was the bloodiest in history, and today the occult is flourishing right alongside our computers and Blackberries,” he said.

It seems somewhat strange that a group fighting for the rights of Santeros to perform animal sacrifice would give their “highest honor” to a man who most likely thinks “occult” religions don’t merit the same freedoms and considerations as the dominant “world religions”. Indeed, in his comments he seems to hint that “occult” beliefs are the enemy of religious freedom and liberty. An odd attitude for someone who once served on the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. I guess it just goes to show you how elastic terms like “religious freedom” and “religious liberty” are.

We turn from religious freedom honours, to the potential honour of becoming one of the most powerful judges in the United States. With the pending retirement of Supreme Court Justice David Souter, speculation has been rampant as to who President Obama will name to replace him.  One name being bandied about is U.S. Appeals Court Judge Sonia Sotomayor. While not officially named as a possible appointee, conservatives are already scouring through her decisions (and the decisions of other possible candidates) looking for enough controversy to mount an effective grass-roots challenge. One of the possible talking points should she be appointed is that she is against distinctions being made between faiths in court decisions concerning religion.

In 1994, Judge Sotomayor ruled in favor of two prisoners who claimed to practice Santeria, a Caribbean religion that involves animal sacrifice and voodoo, saying that “distinctions between ‘traditional’ and ‘non-traditional’ religions” are “intolerable.”

Frankly, this just makes her seem more appealing to advocates of true religious equality. It is also a stance taken by the Supreme Court (including Antonin Scalia), who saw no distinction between the religious rights of Santeria practitioners and adherents of more “mainstream” faiths. In fact, the (in)famous case of Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah was decided by the Supreme Court in 1993, one year before her 1994 decision. Sotomayor most likely looked to this decision as a guidance on her ruling. I can’t imagine this decision would gain any real traction in the controversy department, but then certain groups are big fans of what I like to call the “Witch Gambit”. Using someone’s non-traditional religion as a basis to deny them custody, convict them of crimes, or discredit them as a witness.

In a final note, the San Francisco Chronicle puts the spotlight on journalist and fellow Pagan blogger Victoria Slind-Flor who is being honored as the “Keeper of Light” at this year’s 8th Annual Pagan Festival & Pride Parade in Berkeley.

“Slind-Flor is a practical witch, grounded in the real world. She worked as an editor and reporter for newspapers in Seattle, New Orleans and Los Angeles before becoming an online business reporter in San Francisco, specializing in copyright law, a field they don’t teach at Hogwarts. When wearing her other hat – the pointed one – she teaches workshops, gives tarot readings, and hangs with the coven. Being Keeper of the Light is the best thing that could happen to a witch, Slind-Flor said, and she will try to be worthy of the honor when the parade rolls through Civic Center Park. She is practicing what she calls her Queen Victoria wave, and she is very glad to be riding in a float, as her legs don’t work as well as they used to and the broom thing cannot be counted on. “I’m probably a symbol of the graying of our community,” she said.”

Congratulation to Victoria on this honor. The festival is tomorrow (Saturday) if you happen to be near Berkeley. Also, if you’re curious, last year’s “Keeper of the Light” honoree was Max Dashu of the Suppressed Histories Archives.

If I could outlaw one rhetorical and stylistic device I think it would be comparing your idealogical opponent to Hitler, Nazis, and fascists*. It cheapens the true horrors of WWII and the Holocaust, and instantly destroys any chance for a civilized debate. The political left and right both employ this “scorched earth” tactic of demonizing the other side, and some religious leaders aren’t much better. So I felt a certain amount of disappointment when I read an article about an intermittent California Bay Area ban on wood burning sent to me by a reader of this blog.

“…most Bay Area residents have been surprisingly receptive to a new rule banning wood fires on pollution-laden Spare the Air days during the winter, say officials at the Bay Area Air Quality Management District … But don’t try telling that to the neo-pagan pantheist who fired off an e-mail to district employees and members of its board of directors. ‘I will NOT be deprived of my constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of religion by bureaucrats looking for more ways to control even more aspects of our lives,’ wrote the pantheist. ‘I’m claiming an exemption because this ban violates my right to practice my religion, a right that is guaranteed by the Constitution … When the government controls everything we do, say and think, that’s fascism … Anyone who would turn in their neighbor for burning wood would be right at home in Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. Think about it, people, what have we become.’”

Who knew that the new jack-booted thugs would come in the guise of a program banning wood burning on Winter days when air pollution reaches unsafe levels.

“In the wintertime, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) becomes the pollutant with the greatest impact on air quality … When our morning forecast predicts that concentrations of PM2.5 will exceed the national health-based standard, the Air District will issue a Winter Spare the Air Alert. Winter Spare the Air Alerts will be posted on our Spare the Air home page and on the Air District’s www.baaqmd.gov home page.”

Now perhaps our anonymous Pagan pantheist had a point in asking for a religious exemption, but by comparing an initiative to improve air quality with Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia he has labeled himself an un-serious crank who will be ignored by those in power. In addition, Pagan groups who do seek to get an exemption should a holy day fall on a day when a Winter Spare the Air Alert is issued will have to combat the impressions made by this Pagan who cried “fascist”. So if you are planning to write a letter of complaint about a local ordinance, try not to compare your elected officials with regimes that have murdered millions of people, you might be surprised how much further you get in resolving your issue!

* Of course, should your idealogical opponent actually aspire to emulate Hitler, Nazis, or the principles of fascism, feel free to let those analogies, metaphors, and rhetorical flourishes fly!