Archdruid Terry Dobney (no longer) in Trouble: Just yesterday I wrote about the legal plight of Terry Dobney, Archdruid of Avebury and Keeper of the Stones, who was accused of welfare fraud. Today, and I’m going to break my no-linking-to-the-Daily-Mail policy just this once, it is being reported that Dobney has been cleared of all charges.

A jury found Dobney not guilty of three charges of false representation to gain benefits and exemption of liability following a three-day trial at Salisbury Crown Court. They accepted his claim that the cash was collecter for his elderly mother and acquitted him on a majority verdict. [...] Speaking outside court, he said: ‘Truth, honour and justice has prevailed.”

I’m very heartened to hear this news, and glad to spread the word. I hope that the Religion News Service (RNS) follows suit and also posts an update on this story, one that was isolated to the tabloids in the UK.

Huckabee Gets Grilled on David Barton: I’ve spoken at some length at this blog about potential presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s troubling admiration for Christian pseudo-historian David Barton, a man who believes Pagans aren’t protected by the 1st Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause. So far, no mainstream media outlet has grilled Huckabee about how far his admiration goes, or why he thinks Barton’s views should be taught in public schools. Which leaves satirist Jon Stewart of The Daily Show to pick up the slack. In a nearly twenty-minute interview posted to The Daily Show’s website (part 1, part 2, part 3), Stewart tries to figure out how deep Huckabee’s admiration goes.

Huckabee tries very hard to separate himself from Barton, while reiterating what a great historian he is. Sadly, Stewart never asks him the question I would love to ask him, which is whether or not he believes that the First Amendment protects the religious rights of all Americans, not just the Christian ones. Stewart does claim he’ll try to bring Barton himself on the program, but I can only imagine in would be a cold day in heck before that happens. Still, this interview does put the Barton association on the table, and perhaps some “serious” journalists will be now inclined to dig a bit deeper.

James Arthur Ray’s Bad Sweat History: On Wednesday, the trial of James Arthur Ray, accused of negligent homicide when a sweat lodge ceremony went horribly wrong and killed three people, took a dramatic turn. Judge Darrow will now allow testimony regarding previous sweat lodge ceremonies that Ray has held, something the defense has fought tooth-and-nail to prevent.

“Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk argued Wednesday that the medical testimony has taken place and that the alleged suffering of participants in Ray’s pre-2009 sweat lodge ceremonies established a pattern she said was inescapable: that when Ray led a sweat lodge at the Angel Valley Retreat Center, people got sick, and that when others did so, no one got sick. Defense attorney Luis Li reiterated his argument that the pattern theory was evidence of propensity and not causation, and that even if such evidence were relevant, it should not be admissible because the sweat lodges were not identical from year to year. Darrow ruled for the state, though, a move that defense attorney Tom Kelly said meant “the… floodgate is open. We’re eight weeks into trial and the rules have changed.”  The defense team moved for a mistrial on the basis that the timing of the ruling denies Ray a fair trial, but Darrow denied that motion.”

Key witnesses for the prosecution, freed from the restriction of not mentioning Ray’s previous sweat lodge ceremonies brought forth some pretty damning information.

“In 2007, Mercer had observed a tall woman exiting the sweat lodge with her eyes rolling up in her head before she collapsed onto the dirty ground. He dragged her over onto a tarp. He also described three women who had come out of the sweat lodge who stared right through him. They didn’t even know their own names, said Mercer.   In that year, he estimated about ten people needed assistance after exiting the sweat lodge.  In 2008, he saw a woman come out with severe muscle cramps. She’d remained locked in a fetal position for half an hour to fourty-five minutes. In both 2007 and 2008 he saw numerous people vomiting and collapsing.“

It is becoming very clear that 2009′s deadly sweat ceremony wasn’t some isolated accident, but that Ray held court over multiple poorly led sweats where people were clearly in distress. Which clearly paints him as negligent, and no doubt has his defense team scrambling for something better than conspiracy theories about poisonous wood.

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

Terry Dobney: The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald

“The 62-year-old arch-Druid told Salisbury Crown Court that the money belonged to his mother and that he planned to use it to buy a new thatched roof for his home. Prosecutors, however, claim that Dobney routinely falsely signed documents to accumulate illegal welfare payments. Fraud has sharply increased in recent years in Britain’s extensive welfare system.”

It’s unclear which, if any, UK Druid group Dobney is a part of, though he did speak out in support of The Druid Network winning religious charity status. Dobney is also listed as an “associate” of the Council of British Druid Orders (CoBDO). So far no Druid leader or group has issued any statement on the charges against Dobney, and it’s been largely tabloid fodder in the UK. It’s unclear what the religious ramifications would be should he be found guilty of fraud. Would a new Archdruid of Avebury come forward? A new Keeper of the Stones named? Would it have no effect at all?

News coverage so far has been rather sparse, but I’ll try to follow up with some of my UK Druid contacts and see what their impressions are of this matter. Serious? Tempest in a teacup? Hopefully greater context will be forthcoming soon.

ADDENDUM: Dobney has been cleared of all charges.

Detail from the “Witch’s Wit” label.

“First of all, it’s an insult to me as an ordained Pagan minister and long-time practicing witch. If you want to capitalize on the beer’s name in order to sell more brews, at least use a more tasteful image. Hex, I could accept a picture of the stereotypical wart-nosed, green-skinned ugly old hag over this. But to show a buxom woman standing helplessly as the flames engulf her… while a group of onlookers (presumably male monks) surround her gawking at the sight is simply degrading.”

In a widely-forwarded e-mail message about the beer label, Motherpeace Tarot co-creator Vicki Noble calls the image dehumanizing and outside the bounds of good taste.

“Can you imagine them showing a black person being lynched or a Jewish person going to the oven? No, of course not, such images are simply not tolerated in our society anymore (thank the Goddess) and this one should not be either. Please call them or write them a letter to protest this hateful and dangerous expression which dehumanizes women.”

So far no statement has been issued from the California brewery, and there’s no mention of the controversy on their Facebook or Twitter feeds, though a discussion thread has been started at their Facebook page. Considering the fact that women are still being killed and imprisoned for crimes of “witchcraft” it does seem rather tone-deaf of the company. I’ll keep you posted as this story develops.

UPDATE: Lost Abbey responds:

“I encourage you to look at all of Lost Abbey’s beers and consider them in context. Each of the Lost Abbey beers features a label which depicts a theme of Catholic excess — good and bad — on the front, and tells a moral story on the back. (Our founder is a recovering Catholic.) In the case of Witch’s Wit, the back label is a story of the bad consequences of religious intolerance and oppression. The woman on the front is referred to as a “healer” on the label and accuses the Church of being narrow-minded and violent, threatening the same fate to anyone who would help the woman. The label ends with a note that this beer — a light, sweet and golden ale — is brewed in honor of that woman (and all those who died for their convictions).”

I’ll be interested to see how Noble and others who were offended will respond to this.

Pagan elected Trustee of International Interfaith Organization: Covenant of the Goddess National Interfaith Representative Don Frew has been voted in for another term as an At-Large Trustee for the Global Council of the United Religions Initiative.

“The URI is the world’s largest, grassroots interfaith organization, with 496 local branches (“Cooperation Circles”) in 77 countries, involving millions of people in interfaith programs around the world (www.uri.org). The purpose of the URI is “to promote enduring, daily interfaith cooperation; to end religiously motivated violence; and o ctraete cultures of peace, justice, and healing for the Earth and all living beings.”  I worked with many others – including CoG’s Deborah Ann Light – in the writing of the URI’s Charter in conferences in 1998-2000.

This is my third term on the URI’s Global Council.  In 2002, I was elected to be one of three Trustees from the North American Region on the URI’s first elected Global Council.  In 2006, I was asked to be one of two At-Large Trustees on the URI’s second elected Global Council.  This time, on the third elected Global Council, I am again one of two At-Large Trustees, the other being Swami Agnivesh of New Delhi, India.”

This election to a third term as a trustee of the URI comes not long after Covenant of the Goddess member Rachael Watcher, a longtime interfaith activist, was elected to the Executive Board of NAIN. In addition, Phyllis Curott, President Emerita of COG, is one of three Pagans currently serving on the Board of Trustees of the Council For A Parliament of the World’s Religions. It’s clear that COG is an organization that is leading the way for Pagan involvement in the interfaith community. Congratulations to Don on his election.

Druids vs The Daily Mail: One of the ongoing side-stories to The Druid Network being granted charity status in the UK (a process that was explained in-depth here at The Wild Hunt) was reaction to a scathing editorial by Melanie Philips of the Daily Mail, who called the situation both “absurd” and “malevolent”. TDN founder Emma Restall Orr sent out a lengthy rebuttal to Philips, while a 4100 signature-strong petition calling for an apology was hand delivered by around 30-50 Druids and Druid-supporters to the Daily Mail offices.

“The Daily Mail had someone waiting for us on the steps to take the petition. I handed it over and he promised that he would get it to Robin Esser. I made damn sure I got a handshake and thankfully, someone was quick enough to take a photo of that. At the PCC, Simon Yipp, the gentleman who has been dealing with complaints RE this article, came down personally to recieve the petition. I’m going to give it a week and email both the DM and the PCC for updates, if I don’t hear from them before then.”

In attendance at the petition-delivery were noted UK Pagans like Arthur Pendragon, Vivianne Crowley, and Andrew Pardy (Chairman of the Police Pagan Association). It remains to be seen if this petition will have the desired effect. No doubt Philips thrives on controversy, and I can’t imagine her backtracking on her views.

Moving Halloween? Since Halloween falls on a Sunday this year, some communities are moving observances to Saturday. Some for practical reasons, and some because they believe Halloween to be “pagan” or “Satanic” in origin. News10 in California covered the mini-controversy and spoke with PNC-Sacramento coordinator David Shorey, from Sacramento Grove of the Oak.

“David Shorey. a practicing Druid (a form of Paganism) with Sacramento Grove of the Oak, says “Halloween or as we call it Samhain, is a time to honor the ancestors, look at the past year and honor those who have passed on.” Shorey recognizes that Halloween has evolved into a secular holiday for most Americans and says he and his fellow Druids celebrate with candy and costumes as well as in a traditional Pagan manner. ”We’re actually going to be celebrating on the following weekend where we’re going to do an ancestors feast, where folks come together and bring a dish that recognizes and honors their ancestry,” Shorey said.”

Catholics in the UK are trying to “reclaim” Halloween, while animal shelters halt adoption of black cats, partially due to rumors that Witches are out sacrificing cats. All seem to be rooted in the anxiety that Halloween, at its true root, isn’t really associated with the Judeo-Christian backdrop most people are comfortable with. In any case, I think David did a good job with the interview, and stressed that this time of year is one of religious observance for most Pagans.

Invoking Artists: In a final note, artist Jeffrey Vallance, participating in the annual Frieze Art Fair, decided to hold a massive séance involving famous (deceased) artists.

“There were some spooky goings on this week at the fair around the Frieze Project devised by the artist and Fortean Times contributor Jeffrey Vallance, who asked five psychics to channel the spirits of blockbusting artists Van Gogh, Frida Kahlo, Jackson Pollock, Leonardo da Vinci and Marcel Duchamp. Before the mediums—and the artist phantoms—arrived, the spiritualists predicted: “There might be some problems with electricity.” Before you could say Doris Stokes, the internet crashed during the séance, which meant that a live web broadcast had to be scuppered. It was all to do with “forcefields”, apparently.”

Of course the Internet crashed! Artists, particularly great artists like Kahlo and da Vinci, are/were some of the most potent magic(k) workers around. You don’t invoke them lightly. It’s unseemly, and it’ll play havoc with your electronics.

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

Being a Druid is good for society, says UK Charity Commission. Or so the headlines should have read in the BBC, the Telegraph, the Times, the AFP, the Associated Press and CNN this past week, as each major media outlet reported on the [Charity Commission]‘s approval of The Druid Network‘s application for religious charity status. Instead the news, which has earned a surprising amount of attention (and not a bit of bile) since the decision was announced in a press release on 1 October, has run under headlines declaring, Druidry recognized as a religion in Britain.

Which is, strictly speaking, true. But it also isn’t news. In fact, modern Druidry has been a recognized religion in Britain for as long as there have been practicing Druids to call it one.

Religious Freedom in UK Law

Similar to the religious freedoms protected in the United States’ Bill of Rights and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the freedom to believe and practice according to one’s personal conscience has long been protected in the legal systems of the United Kingdom. Article 9 of the Human Rights Act 1998 (based on the European Convention of Human Rights, in effect since 1953) states that a person’s right to freedom of religion includes: “…freedom to change his religion or belief and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.”

In other words, under British law a system of belief or practice is “recognized as a ‘religion’” — and protected as one — if one or more adherents to that system say it is a religion. That goes for Druids, Pagans, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, Scientologists, Jedi and Pastafarians alike.

So why all the fuss? Because the rights and freedoms granted to religious practitioners of Druidry and Paganism in the UK are, as in the US, not necessarily guarantees that they will also have access to all of the same benefits available to more mainstream faiths — benefits such as nonprofit status, state-recognized holidays, prison and military chaplaincy, clergy who are legally empowered to perform marriages and burials, and so on. In short, although British law provides freedom from discrimination for practitioners of all religions, the freedom to participate fully and equally in civil society is something that rests on a foundation of legal precedent. For many religious minorities, securing the latter means buckling down to a long process of challenging numerous individual instances of oversight and exclusion, in order to push past the tipping point from legal tolerance into social acceptance and support.

In the United States, the work of Patrick McCollum and the Lady Liberty League, among others, helps to establish just such a critical mass of legal precedent for Druids, Witches and Pagans within mainstream American society. Similar strides have been made in the UK, where Pagan chaplains already work in hospital and prison ministry and Druids have played prominent roles in public discourse about the protection and preservation of ancient monuments and other important aspects of British heritage and culture. In both countries, several Druid and Pagan organizations also already enjoy not-for-profit status, including The Pagan Federation, the Children of Artemis, Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF), the Henge of Keltria, and the Avalon Druid Order. Yet, despite the exaggerations and well-intentioned misrepresentations in much of the mainstream media coverage this past week, The Druid Network’s success in becoming the first Pagan organization to earn charity status under the new Charities Act 2006 is a momentous stride towards wider social acceptance of Druidry and Paganism in the UK.

TDN’s Journey to Charity Status

The Druid Network officially began the arduous, four-year-plus process of seeking charitable status under English Charity Law in February 2006, when they submitted their application to the Charity Commission of England and Wales (more briefly known as the Charity Commission or CC) just as the new Charities Act 2006 was passing through British Parliament. A great deal of research, reflection and discussion had already gone into the formulation of TDN’s constitution and by-laws before that point, however, as Phil Ryder, Chair of Trustees for TDN, explained to me recently in an interview.

Ryder said he became involved in the process early on: “I simply asked if we were registered and got the reply, ‘Should we be?’ So I investigated the options and found that we did indeed need to register.” As an unincorporated association that accepted membership fees and donations from contributors, The Druid Network was legally obligated to pursue one of two courses of action. “We could have registered with Companies House as a Limited Company,” Ryder explained, “or we could register with the Charity Commission. ‘TDN Ltd’ didn’t seem right, so the trustees decided to register with the Charity Commission.”

After that decision came the challenge of drafting a constitution in a way that, as Ryder put it, “reflected our vision of TDN as an organisation with no hierarchy based on pagan principles of honourable relationship.” Easier said than done. Harder still was the process of crafting a forward to that constitution that included a definition of religious Druidry describing, as simply and inclusively as possible, the basics of Druidic belief and practice that would be both acceptable to the CC and approved by as many of the major Druidic organizations as possible. As an article published to the TDN website clarifies:

Druids by nature (pun intended) don’t wish to be tied down or submit to definitions; however, they all relate to the term ‘Druid’ so it must mean something, or it would simply be a meaningless word. Great thought, mediation and spiritual guidance went into the drafting of the definition of Druidry adopted by TDN (Annex 1 to the decision [.pdf]). It was intended as a statement of common ground held by the majority of Druids who felt that Druidry was a religion or deep spirituality; it was not a full definition. [...] It is not, and was never intended to be, a creed or definition that all Druids must accept, but a legal explanation of common ground of those Druids who consider their path to be essentially religious.

The carefully-crafted religious focus of this definition was necessary, Ryder explained in our interview, because English Charity Law requires charities to register under what are called “Heads of Charity” (for instance, “the advancement of religion,” “the advancement of education” and “the relief of the poor”) which outline potential causes in the service of “public benefit.” Although the British government provides no formal, legal mechanism for defining “religion” — and indeed, the term remains ambiguous and problematic even among academics — English Charity Law has its own working definition for the purposes of determining charitable status.

At the time of TDN’s initial application, the CC’s understanding of religion was determined by the Charities Act 1993 and precedent set by several legal cases since, including the application and rejection of the Church of Scientology for charitable status in 1999. In fact, the CC originally rejected TDN’s application as a religious organization under the assumption that Druidry was esoteric or occult (that is, a mystic or mystery tradition intended for only a small number of initiated members) and therefore not beneficial to the public at large. This initial rejection led to a review procedure of TDN’s application, during the course of which the new Charities Act 2006 came into effect and began to change the rules of the game.

The Druid Network’s application for charitable status stalled as the CC scrambled to determine what the new Charities Act, which amended and expanded upon much of the previous Act, meant for their definitions of “religion” and “public benefit.”

An opportunity for change came with the implementation of the Charities Act 2006. It stated for the first time that a religion could involve a belief in more than one god or a belief in no god at all. After its implementation, the Charity Commission embarked on a lengthy process of consultation on how this Act affected charity law, which it followed by drafting various guidance documents that set down how it would interpret the law.

TDN remained deeply involved during the public consultation process that followed, submitting numerous documents and emails expanding upon their definition of Druidry and provoking detailed examination of how it compared to other non-Abrahamic faith traditions. “The CC just didn’t understand us,” Ryder said,

they are lawyers, not theologians, and have their own beliefs. It must have been hard for them to break down those barriers of monotheism. We simply provided information and answered any questions they raised. Of course, many times it served to confuse them even more and raised even more questions. At times we had to make comparisons with other world religions that the CC already had registered, and demonstrate that our understanding of deity and practice was not that far removed from those religions. It was hard, but on both sides, and full credit to the CC.

After four years of rigorous inquisition and debate, the Charity Commission finally informed TDN on 1 September of this year that its Board Members would be holding a meeting to determine its final decision on TDN’s pending application. The CC’s approval of The Druid Network’s status as a religious charity, ratified on 21 September 2010, was published in a 21-page document (available in .pdf) detailing the many areas in which TDN has demonstrated itself up to the task of “advancing a religion or belief system for the benefit of the public.”

Perhaps most interesting about this decision is the fact that the Charity Commission lists among TDN’s publicly beneficial activities not only those such as “promoting the preservation of heritage and culture” and “promoting conservation and preservation of the environment” but also “the provision of information on the practice of Druidry to the public” and “facilitating the practice of Druidry through conferences, camps, workshops, retreats and courses, and through its affiliated groups.” In other words, according to the CC, a non-ministerial department of the British government, greater access to information about Druidry and the practice of Druidry itself are both beneficial to the general public.

News Spreads, The Druid and Pagan Communities Respond

Given the impressive influence The Druid Network had on the Charity Commission’s evolving approach to definitions of religion and public benefit, and the implications of the CC’s decision to acknowledge TDN’s understanding and practice of Druidry as not only legitimately religious but also beneficial to the larger community — it’s no surprise that the mainstream media coverage of this story entirely missed the point.

News reports soon spread in several major media outlets (both in the UK and here in the US, where the story even made it on to a local nightly news program in California), announcing that Britain had “officially recognized” Druidry as a religion for the first time in thousands of years. Stock photographs of bearded men in white robes hoisting staves above the silhouettes of Stonehenge graced every page. CNN reporter Phil Gast even indulged in a bit of good ol’ tacit American competition with Merry Olde England about who was more tolerant of Pagans, when he quoted Professor Marty Laubach of Marshall University saying, “‘In some ways, Druidry in Britain is catching up to Druids and other neo-pagans in the United States, which already provides tax-exempt status for religious groups,’” completely overlooking the fact that, while Pagan non-profits already exist in the UK, there is no comparable process of earning charitable status in the U.S. Amidst the hubbub, one columnist for The Daily Mail produced an article of astounding prejudice, decrying Druidry as a bunch of “barking mumbo-jumbo” and demonstrating not only the writer’s gross ignorance of even the basics of Druidic belief and practice, but her fundamental misunderstanding of religious freedom under British law. Yet all in all, the coverage was positive and congratulatory in tone, if often far off-the-mark on the facts.

Meanwhile, Druids and Pagans in the UK and abroad had begun to weigh in with their own views. For many, The Druid Network’s success was cause for celebration and optimism. “It’s an awe inspiring thing to have seen happen,” wrote Brynneth at The Pagan & The Pen, one of the first public responses to the news. “One of the things that charitable status for the Druid Network shows is that we can engage and be heard, without having to become something other than we are. That gives me hope.”

“I, for one, am quite excited at the development,” said Kirk Thomas, Archdruid of Ár nDraíocht Féin, one of the most influential Neopagan Druidic organizations in the U.S. “We have an ADF Grove in Hampshire, and have long wondered what it would take to get ADF recognized in the UK. We suspect that TDN has ‘broken the ice’ as it were, and this might make it easier for other Druid groups to become recognized.”

Tony Everett, who has been a member of TDN for a number of years but has usually kept in the background of the organization’s activities, felt both pride and humility: “When the news came I was so humbled by all the work that must have gone into the application over the last couple of years and proud to call myself Druid. Once all the negative press has settled and the antagonists have had their fun, I am certain that this can only do great things to promote Druidry and inform the public of the truth behind our beliefs.”

“It’s a good first step, wonderful in fact.,” said Farrell McGovern, another member of ADF residing in Canada. “[W]e have to be responsible adults if we want to be recognized as a religion. We thus need to jump through all the hoops and pay our dues just like every other religion out there.”

However, amongst the congratulations was also a hint of ambivalence and caution among some Druid and Pagan voices. In a post titled “Is Druidry a Religion?” on his blog, Philip Carr-Gomm, head of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids (OBOD), one of the largest Druidic organizations in Britain, expressed mixed feelings about the news, saying:

I ‘and many other OBOD members’ have always liked the way Druidry has avoided being ‘boxed-in’ to one definition: a spiritual path to some people, a magical tradition to another, a religion to a third, a philosophy or cultural phenomenon to another, and so on. As soon as you start on the path of trying to define Druidry you run into problems. [...] Not all people who call themselves Druids would agree with all aspects of the definition of Druidry that The Druid Network have agreed with the Charity Commission. As with many things there are positives and negatives and it’s a question of weighing these up and looking more closely at the implications of the decision.

Carr-Gomm’s post prompted several other OBOD members to leave comments both on his blog and Facebook page expressing their concern, discomfort and even fear at the CC’s decision to approve TDN based on their definition of religious Druidry.

Graeme Talboys, Druid scholar and author of Way of the Druid: Renaissance of a Celtic Religion and its Relevance for Today, also had a few misgivings about the decision, although he emphasized that it was generally “a step forward”:

On the surface, all that has happened is that TDN has been granted legal permission to operate as a charity. At a deeper level this has been achieved by persuading the Charity Commission for England and Wales that Druidry (sic) is a bona fide religion. It is another recognition in law of Druids and what they believe. [... I]t is now just a little bit easier, in England and Wales, to be Druid.

Pointing to several statements contained within the The Druid Network’s definition and description of Druidry, however, Talboys expressed his qualms with some historical inaccuracies and conceptual inconsistencies, worrying that “any pedant” could use them as an excuse to pick apart or challenge the definition on purely factual grounds.

Whilst I am grateful to [TDN] for the work they have done in this respect (and it cannot be denied it is a big step in terms of recognition in England and Wales), it is only a single step for one particular group of Druids. Whether it brings benefit to the whole Druid community, including those of us in the Hedge, remains to be seen.

Members of The Druid Network have, in turn, attempted to respond to some of the concerns raised by other Druids in the larger community, particularly those who do not consider Druidry to be distinctly Pagan or explicitly religious in nature. A comment shared on TDN’s website by a writer under the name ‘Celtic Knight’ notes:

I have seen some criticism that this move makes Druidry part of the establishment. I don’t accept that. What it has done is to force the establishment to take Druidry seriously. Some fear that this will somehow define or box in Druidry. It will not. The Commission accepted the diversity of beliefs and practices that represent Druidry and that these are a reflection of the diversity inherent in nature. [...] Many dislike the label ‘religion’, with its associations of rigid dogma, archaic institutions and being told what to believe. However, the decision accepts that Druidry is an experiential religion: Druids’ beliefs come from their experience and not from what they are told. They change and adapt over time and in different environments, just as nature differs according to time and space. This is not a case of Druidry being forced into the straightjacket of religion, but of the very definition of religion as accepted in charity law being changed to accommodate beliefs such as ours.

In our interview, Phil Ryder replied to my questions on the matter by appealing to what is positive about the decision, rather than what might be divisive. He asked that others obtain facts before voicing uninformed opinions, but acknowledged that “even then there will be those who disagree with TDN’s approach. And I celebrate that! How can we learn and evolve if we all have the same beliefs? We all perceive this reality in different ways, and that is Nature.”

In some ways, it is precisely this aspect of Druidry and the greater Druidic philosophical tradition — with its ever-evolving, self-analytical understanding of how the specifics of landscape and local community give rise to a diversity of religious experience and belief without jeopardizing the bonds that unite us together in a dynamic, thriving community — that may transform religious and interfaith discourse and bring the most benefit the British society in the future.

Further Resources

• is on my blog, Meadowsweet & Myrrh (direct link), along with information provided by ADF Treasurer Ed Reis about the process of securing non-profit status for religious organizations under U.S. law.
• The Druid Network provides information about their charitable status on their website.
• The Charity Commisson’s decision document is available in .pdf format, along with detailed information about their services and review process, on their website.
• “The Complexity of Religion and the Definition of ‘Religion’ in International Law,” by T. Jeremy Gunn, from the Harvard Human Rights Journal

Heathens on the Plain: PNC-Heartland covers Lightning Across the Plain, the largest heathen gathering in North America, which took place September 24-26.

“On Saturday morning, the Chieftains of each tribe gathered to formalize an agreement on how they should work together to establish strong tribes in the Midwest.  This was the first time that so many Midwestern tribes had met face to face and everyone participating was ecstatic with the results.  The result was several general laws were agreed upon to ensure the autonomy of each group but established procedures that would enable mutual support.”

The event included and estimated 170 adults and 70 children, which is quite impressive for an event that’s only in its second year. It will be interesting to see what the long-term ramifications of these gatherings will be for Asatru and Heathenry in the Midwest and America.

Max Dashú Receives Honorary Doctorate: Artist and writer Max Dashú, famous for founding the Suppressed Histories Archives, and her presentations on female power through history, has been awarded an honorary Doctorate in Ministry by Ocean Seminary College.

“Ocean Seminary College is proud to confer onto Max Dashú the Doctorate of Ministry in honor of her significant and founding contributions to the fields of thealogy and Goddess iconography, as well as to women’s history.

Since the 19070s, Max Dashú has continuously explored, shared, and collected the rich iconographic history of the Goddess. Yet Dashú’s work is not limited to the religious sphere; rather her erudition extends into a critical global examinatoin of the underlying sociopolitical relationships between men and women and a restoration of knowledge of women’s essential role in human history. She has pulled these often disparate academic fields into a cohesive whole that has become the seminal Suppressed Histories Archives. This visual archive and its associated analysis has and continues to inspire women throughout the world to find their roots and reclaim their silenced historical contributions, while fostering renewed womancentric spiitual traditions.”

Ocean Seminary College was founded in 2005, and has a nature-based and interfaith focus in its curriculum. Congratulations to Max Dashú on the honor.

The End of MPN? The Military Pagan Network has released a statement that asks, with time and resources in short supply, if their mission has been accomplished, or if they should continue.

“The question now is MPN’s future. MPN’s ability to inform, educate, and network depends entirely on volunteers to make it happen. The current staff feels that we have done all that we can for now. Given our current resource pool and acknowledging the work of many other organizations, we feel that MPN may close its doors with a sense of “mission accomplished.”

However, given the magnitude and finality of such an action, it is important to us to make one final appeal to those whom MPN represents. If you are a military Pagan (A/D, veteran, or dependent), and you feel strongly that MPN truly needs to stay active, please step forward. Send a message through our online contact form stating your interest in keeping MPN running and how many hours/week on average you are willing to devote to making it happen. We realize that your military mission comes first, but it is up to you to decide whether MPN’s mission can and should continue. If a pool of truly dedicated fresh volunteers comes forward, the outgoing staff will gladly transition the duties and management of the organization over to you. If not, we must take this as a sign that MPN’s mission has been fulfilled to the best of our ability, and MPN will be closed.”

The deadline to contact MPN about their future is Samhain (October 31) 2010. While attitudes have changed within and without our communities about Pagan military personnel, many challenges still lay ahead. If you have an interest in revitalizing and helping the MPN move into the future, I would step forward now. You can contact them on their web site, or at their Facebook page.

Expanding on Theurgicon Coverage: Over at his Beliefnet blog, Gus diZerega expands on the recently held Theurgicon conference in Berkeley, California. First with an exploration of Tony Mierzwicki’s historical presentation, and then on Brandy Williams‘ presentation dealing the Chaldean Oracles.

“I am constitutionally suspicious of hierarchical understandings of reality.  They have had nasty political consequences, feed a lot of egos that believe they are “more evolved,” and I suspect constitute an attempt to apply models of relationship from agricultural societies that viewed nature and people as something to control to a spiritual realm.  Consequently I am most sympathetic to the less rigid models of dimensions that is a possible interpretation of this reality.

I believe this less hierarchical interpretation also fits better with my and other peoples reports of mystical encounters in their various forms. I would hope that less hierarchical forms of description will come to predominate.  My own working model is of a multidimensional tapestry where the closer one approaches “the One” the less differentiation exists and the farther one goes the more differentiation can be seen, maximizing the opportunities for love to manifest.  But it is all one tapestry.”

I look forward to reading his write-ups of the rest of the speakers.

More on Druid Charity Status: As I reported on Tuesday, The Druid Network in the UK has been granted charity status, the first Pagan group to gain such status under the Charities Act of 2006. Now the mainstream media is picking up on the story, including the BBC.

“After a four-year inquiry, the Charity Commission decided that druidry offered coherent practices for the worship of a supreme being, and provided a beneficial moral framework. The decision will also mean that druidry will have the status of a genuine faith. Referring to the tax breaks, Mr Ryder said: “For us that is a very small consideration because we don’t really have that level of income to make that even an issue.” He said what was more important was that it would make administrative tasks a lot easier for the organisation. “It does give recognition with local councils and people who provide premises and services to charities, who will only deal with registered charities,” he said.”

More coverage here, and here, and here. It’s looking like this accomplishment is making waves, and may signal an increased level of respect for the Druid religions in Britain. Congratulations once again to The Druid Network on their accomplishment.

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

“The Druid Network received notification yesterday (24th September) that our application to be registered as a charity furthering the religion of Druidry has been finally accepted. This has been a long hard struggle taking over five years to complete. Greater detail shortly and a big thank-you to all who helped make this important recognition possible.”

Brynneth at The Pagan & The Pen notes the historical importance of this event.

“This is very big news. It makes tdn the first recognised Druid charity in the UK and the first pagan group to be registered under the 2006 Act. It’s taken years and a lot of very wonderful people have fought very hard to make this possible – dealing with a system that had been set up to handle religions shaped more like Christianity than not.

The Druid Network having achieved charitable status will bring all kinds of benefits to the organisation, enhancing credibility and creating opportunities to promote and support Druidry. This is all good. It also means that any other pagan charity is going to have a much better chance of getting charitable status. No other Druid group is going to have to prove that Druidry is a valid religion. Other pagan groups will be able to use the tdn case to help express their own. The process that has got tdn charitable status has helped create understanding of nature based religion, modern polytheism, and things that are not remotely like Christianity. As this is a legal definition of tdn as a religious charity, it will have all kinds of wider legal implications too.”

The 2006 act that Brynneth mentions is the Charities Act of 2006, which made it easier for smaller charities to become registered, and to appeal decisions of the Charity Commission. In Britain, there’s a marked difference between a charity and a nonprofit. While The Pagan Federation is a nonprofit organization, it is not a charity, and as such doesn’t receive the same tax privileges. So this truly is a big step for Pagan organizations in the UK, and should hopefully see the creation of more Pagan charities there. Congratulations to The Druid Network!

The presentation of Rev. Kirk Thomas as Archdruid.
Photo by Rev. A.J.Gooch, used with permission.

“The ritual was very moving and magical for me. For my ordination I was presented with a new Stole to symbolize my commitment to my vocation, and for the installation I stood with a bare foot on a stone with a footprint carved in it, the other foot still in a sandal on the ground. This liminal posture was to connect me to the lineage of all those Archdruids who have served before me.”

In addition to being the ADF’s new Archdruid, Thomas also serves on the Board of Directors of Cherry Hill Seminary, and is in the process of creating an ADF Order and seminary at Trout Lake Abbey in Washington. In a statement on his vision for the future of ADF, Thomas emphasized the need to grow and reach out to isolated individuals and smaller groups.

“One of the things that attracted me to ADF was Isaac’s vision of the future – a time when ADF congregations support their own buildings and land, their own day-care centers, their own retirement homes, etc. and become visibly active and respected parts of the community. As a public religion, we reach out to the Pagan community with our open, public rituals and activities. But we need to grow. Member services need to be streamlined and made more efficient, and our clergy need to reach out beyond their own groves to those solitaries and smaller groves whose members can never make it to an ADF festival. I believe that with careful management and attention to detail our church can continue to grow and once we reach critical mass, the future will be ours. I am committed to a strong and vital ADF, and with the help of the Kindreds, we shall make Isaac’s vision a reality.”

To find out more about ADF, you can check out their website, follow them on Twitter, or “like” them on Facebook. On a personal note, I’d like to extend my congratulations to Rev. Kirk Thomas. I had the pleasure of briefly serving with him on Cherry Hill Seminary’s Board of Directors, and I found him to be capable, good-natured, and detail-oriented. He will no doubt lead this Druid organization to ever greater heights, and be the kind of responsive and forward-thinking leader the modern Pagan world needs now more than ever.