[You can read part one of this entry, here.]

05. Dominionism! The Reponse! Christians Behaving Badly! I don’t revel in writing about extremism and anti-Pagan fervor within the politically and culturally dominant Christian religion(s), much preferring to instead highlight achievements and challenges within our interconnected communities. Still, even the most temperate of commentator would have to agree that this was the year when some ugly elements within Christianity inched ever closer to the mainstream, and, for a time, received some much-needed scrutiny from the mainstream press. There were three main and intertwining narratives, the Christian religious phenomenon known as Dominionism, the continuing emergence of the New Apostolic Reformation, and the embrace of these elements by mainstream politicians.

“What [Pastor] Thomas [Muthee] was probably doing, and he and I are friends also, what he was probably doing was speculating that there would be some people who practiced witchcraft and other forms of the occult who would try and take Sarah Palin down through certain rituals or curses or other techniques that witches have and try to destroy her through those things. And I think Thomas was praying a shield of protection around Sarah so that she would not be affected by them.” - C. Peter Wagner, one of key architects and Apostles of the New Apostolic Reformation movement, on NPR’s Fresh Air.

Fred Clark at Slacktivist pointed out that Dominionism has been a serious concern within conservative Christian circles for some time now, but many Christian commentators chose to frame questions about it as conspiracy theory  or anti-Christian paranoia by leftist/liberal elements. Meanwhile, for many Pagans, the New Apostolic Reformation’s spiritual warfare techniques started hitting too close to home, spurring a counter-campaign to preserve religious liberty and diversity. A serious discussion of these issues that goes beyond denial and alarmism is clearly needed, especially since we are at a point where serious presidential candidate have clear and definable ties to figures within these movements. As I’ve pointed out before, paying lip-service to extreme elements may seem politically expedient, but it can have serious repercussions once a candidate has taken power. I fear the “Religious Right” is becoming something very different from what people understand, and I hope that these controversies in 2011 were but passing storms and not a harbinger of what is to come.

04. Patrick McCollum, The Ninth Circuit, and the Future of Pagan Chaplaincy: At the end of 2010 I said that the struggles of Pagan activist and chaplain Patrick McCollum “represented and defined the public face of Paganism” and that there’s “every indication the 2011 will see even more from this tireless advocate for Pagan rights.” 2011 did indeed see much more from McCollum, as his legal challenge to the State of California’s “five faiths” policy saw a serious setback when the 9th Circuit Court upheld a lower court decision stating he doesn’t have standing to challenge California’s discriminatory “five faiths” policy. This policy limits the hiring of paid chaplains to Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American adherents and is part of what McCollum has called an “endemic” level of religious discrimination against minority faiths in our prison system. Ultimately, McCollum decided to not appeal this ruling, and is instead working to shepherd new cases through the court system.

Patrick McCollum on the cover of Witches & Pagans.

“I’m currently in a place where if an inmate brought a case, my case could go forward [...] I saw this coming down the pike, and so I have helped inmates bring forward cases that meet the criteria to make it so my case is viable and valid [...] I’ve managed to keep those cases under the radar and the first of those cases his the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week. [...] If the court rules that those inmates who are on that case do have a right to a chaplain then I can walk right back into the court and forget the ruling made by the 9th Circuit or anybody else.”

These battles are vital, as the basic question of equal treatment for Pagans and other minority religions lies at its center. Access to chaplains, to religious guidance and instruction, should be a fundamental right and the human cost when that right is denied can be greater that some would imagine. The rights of prisoners are a canary in the coalmine of our society, what we imagine is acceptable to deny them eventually become acceptable to deny others. Precedents are won and lost behind bars, and McCollum has worked tirelessly to ensure that minority religions have access to chaplaincy. I have no doubt that 2012 will see even more reverberations from this story, and from the larger battle over access to chaplains.

03. Candidate Gary Johnson and the Pagan Media: On October 16th a live Google+ video interview/”hangout” with GOP Presidential candidate Gov. Gary Johnson and members of the Pagan media was held. Pagan media organizations participating in the Q&A with the former New Mexico Governor included Cara Schulz of PNC-Minnesota, Star Foster of Patheos.com, Devin Hunter of ModernWitch Podcast, David Salisbury of PNC-Washinton DC, Crystal Blanton of PNC-Bay Area, and myself. In addition,Ramesh Rao of the Hindu American Foundation also took part. It was, as far as I can tell, the first time any serious presidential candidate agreed to speak with Pagan media representatives, and Johnson’s willingness to reach out to us ended up making headlines in the political-minded press (and snarked about at Wonkette, New York Magazine, and Gawker).

The former New Mexico governor spoke with members of the Pagan Newswire Collective, ModernWitch Podcast and Patheos.com, among others. He said it was important to reach out to voters that fall outside the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths, and slammed his own party for being too beholden to the Christian right. “I think the world looks down on Republicans for their socially conservative views, which includes religion in government,” Johnson said. “I think that should not play a role in any of this. When Republicans talk about values — you know what? I bet you and I have the same values.”

In an editorial at The Washington Post I tried to contextualize the importance of this event, noting that alienating religious minorities is not a good long-term strategy for any political party, and that modern Pagans have real, serious, concerns that should be addressed by our political system. Since that press conference, Johnson has indicated that he’ll try to run as a Libertarian in 2012, noting that obstacles his candidacy has faced within the current Republican Party. Johnson’s chances to win the presidency of the United States are slim, but his willingness to reach out to Pagans, whatever the motivations were, opens a door to our faiths being taken seriously within the context of American politics.

02. Occupy Paganism: Time Magazine named “The Protester” as its Person of the Year, including in that archetype the growing and ever-evolving Occupy movement that started with Occupy Wall Street in New York. The movement, centered on issues of economic justice, has gripped the news as Occupy camps were (sometimes violently) removed by police, and Occupiers “mic checked” various events and political figures. Several modern Pagans have involved themselves with the Occupy movement, including noted figures like Starhawk, who noted with amazement how the organizing ethos she’s long preached suddenly sprung forward organically to effect massive changes in a matter of months. Former COG First Officer Peter Dybing stood ready to be arrested with Occupiers in Florida, while T. Thorn Coyle noted why so many Pagans seemed to take to Occupy so readily.

Peter Dybing at Occupy Fort Lauderdale

“Not all Pagans or Magick Workers support the Occupy movement. I would not expect them to. However, I am unsurprised at the large number of us who do. We are used to linking the spiritual with the material, honoring the sacred in the baking bread, the programmed pixels, the words we speak, the trees, the earth, the sky. Some of us find comfort in humanity and some from our Gods. For me, the Occupy movement includes all of this. Also, Occupy is about the spirit of individual people striving to connect with one another, to feed each other, to fight for each other, and to lift each other up.”

Here at The Wild Hunt I’ve tried to document Pagan involvement with the Occupy movement, highlighting Pagan chaplains at Occupy Wall Street, launching a group blog to document Pagan and Heathen voices, and even interjecting with a rare moment of pure editorializing in favor of the movement’s goals. As things progress I think we’ll see more Pagan voices emerge from within the Occupy movement, using the organizational and spiritual technologies taught them by their traditions to effect change. I think this is a unique moment for politics in America, and for modern Pagans who involve themselves with it. I think history is being made, and when it is written, Pagan voices will be a part of that narrative.

01. West Memphis Three Go Free: On August 19th, 2011, the West Memphis 3 (Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jesse Misskelley Jr.) were released from prison on an Alford plea. The West Memphis 3 case is perhaps the most high-profile trial known in which the 1980s Satanic moral panic played a significant role, using Damien Echols interest in the occult and Wicca as proof of his murderous interests. The case was decided with no physical evidence, and a coerced confession from the mentally challenged Misskelley. Jessie Misskelley’s former defense attorney Dan Stidham, in an interview with John Morehead, paints a picture of the Satanic hysteria that surrounded the trial.

“…you really have to put this case into historical perspective. In 1993, the Satanic Bandwagon Folks like Dr. Griffis were mainstream and largely supported by both the media and established religion. We now know better, just like we now know that there are such things as “coerced confessions.” In 1993, virtually everybody believed that the phenomena of Satanic Ritualistic Homicide was very real, and perhaps even more regrettably, that no one, not even a mentally handicapped person, or a child, would confess to a crime that they did not commit. Thankfully, due in large part to pioneers with real credentials like Dr. Gisli Gudjohnson, Dr. Richard Ofshe, and Dr. Richard Leo, we now understand the dynamics of false confessions. By the way, not many people remember that Dr. Ofshe won a Pulitzer Prize for his work studying religious “cults.” He had a dual expertise.”

It’s easy to forget how pervasive anti-Satanic propaganda was back then, with many journalists and talk-show hosts (even Oprah) diving right into the hysteria. The result was thousands of lives ruined, directly or indirectly, by this phenomenon until it finally lost steam and faced a backlash from investigators and skeptical Christians. As a society, we are still dealing with the fallout of “Satanic Ritual Abuse” panic, and sadly, some judges and prosecutors are continuing to engage in the same tactics that convicted the WM3. The freeing of the West Memphis Three presents a vindication of those who have long fought against individuals being prosecuted simply for their outsider beliefs or mannerisms, and a warning that these moral panics can happen in a supposedly rational and free society.

That wraps up my top ten news stories about or affecting modern Paganism in 2011. Thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll join me for another year of sifting through the news and views of interest to our communities. See you in 2012!

Last night on the PagansTonight show special guest Patrick McCollum, a noted chaplain and activist within the Pagan community, announced that he would not be pursuing a Supreme Court appeal to a recent 9th Circuit Court ruling that upheld a lower court decision stating he doesn’t have standing to challenge California’s discriminatory “five faiths” policy. This policy limits the hiring of paid chaplains to Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American adherents.

Patrick McCollum on the cover of Witches & Pagans.

“I have decided not to go to the Supreme Court. My primary reason for deciding not to go to the Supreme Court is that there would only be two issues the court would allow us to bring forward out of the whole case. The one issue is not if we [Pagans?] have rights, but do inmates generally have religious rights. So if I went and I lost I would take away the religious rights of every inmate in every correctional institutuion [...] but if I won all I would get is that we had rights, but I would not win our case.”

Instead of going forward in challenging the 9th Circuit Court decision, McCollum has been nurturing new cases brought by Pagan inmates that would also challenge the California chaplaincy policy. According to McCollum, one of those cases is now before the 9th Circuit, with more waiting in the wings if necessary.

“I’m currently in a place where if an inmate brought a case, my case could go forward [...] I saw this coming down the pike, and so I have helped inmates bring forward cases that meet the criteria to make it so my case is viable and valid [...] I’ve managed to keep those cases under the radar and the first of those cases his the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals last week. [...] If the court rules that those inmates who are on that case do have a right to a chaplain then I can walk right back into the court and forget the ruling made by the 9th Circuit or anybody else.”

McCollum also noted that Jones Day, the law firm that has been representing his case, has agreed to not only continue working his case pro bono, but has also committed itself to represent all these other cases that could result in clearing the way for Pagan chaplains (and by extension, other minority faith chaplains). You can listen to the entire PagansTonight interview, here.

I’d like to thank the PagansTonight crew for bringing this vital update to the Pagan community, and Patrick McCollum for his tireless service on this important issue. This seems like a very hopeful move forward from the disappointing 9th Circuit decision. For more background on this case, here are some highlights from my coverage.

• Official Statement from Patrick McCollum on Ninth Circuit Ruling
• Patrick McCollum on Why His Fight Matters
• 9th Circuit upholds lower court ruling in McCollum v California
• Patrick McCollum’s Case Hits the Mainstream

In addition, the latest issue of Witches & Pagans (pictured above), available in print or as a digital download, has a nice summary of the case, and an interview with Patrick McCollum regarding it, and his work.

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.

• The Seattle Times reports on the passing of Brian Fairbrother, a well-known and liked barista, who was also a member of the local Pagan community. Fairbrother defined himself as an “urban Pagan,” and commissioned the “Sacred Shrine of Caffeina, Goddess of the Waking Day” near his espresso walk-up back in the 1990s. Fairbrother died as a result of head injuries from a bicycling accident. May he rest in the arms of his gods, and may his family and friends be comforted.
• Sarah M. Pike, author of “Earthly Bodies, Magical Selves” and “New Age and Neopagan Religions in America” , writes about the 2011 Burning Man for Religion Dispatches. According to Pike, “for those “Burners” who are true converts, it is a religious event on a massive scale.” Pike also cites the work of Lee Gilmore, author of “Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man”, who argued for the event being “pagan” at its roots.
• Pagan chaplain and activist Patrick McCollum will be speaking this evening at an interfaith event in California. The event will be held at St. Mary’s College and is entitled “Young People on the World Stage.”
• Soriah with Ashkelon Sain, a duo whose album “Atlan” made my A Darker Shade of Pagan top-ten for 2009, returns with a new release for 2011 entitled “Eztica.” Described as “a neo-tribal, mystically ethereal, paranormally enrapturing musical experience” this mix of throat singing (what Soriah calls “an offering to nature in her own tongue”), atmospherics, and ritual, is truly captivating. The CD will be available on October 11th from Projekt Records, you can purchase a digital download now via Amazon (and, I’m assuming, iTunes). The title track, ”Eztica,” can be downloaded for free.
• R.F. Foster, author of “Words Alone: Yeats and His Inheritances”, discusses W.B. Yeats, faeries, and the Irish occult tradition for the Oxford University Press blog.
• Speaking of music that appeals to modern Pagans, Kate Bush is putting out a new album this year, her first since the 2005 double album Aerial. It’s entitled “50 Words For Snow” and will be released on 11/21 via Bush’s own label, Fish People.
• The Dogwood Local Council of the Covenant of the Goddess recently participated in a  24 hour prayer vigil to celebrate unity in prayer.  The event encouraged people of all faiths to experience how others worship,  with displays from many different religions and sects. A picture of the prayer alcove they erected for the event is now on Dogwood’s site splash screen, and Michael Cheiron gives his account of the event. In related Dogwood news, Local Coucil Second Officer, Lady Arsinoe recently conducted a small-scale demographic study of modern Pagans.
• Congratulations to Rebecca Elson at The Magical Buffet on hitting their five-year anniversary. In a press release, Elson said that “The Magical Buffet is proof that if you’re considerate, hard working, and have a good sense of humor you can accomplish amazing things.  I’m really proud of The Magical Buffet and I’m endlessly grateful that so many people read and support it.  The site is really about me and my readers, we’re definitely partners.”
• Transcendental Meditation (TM) is back on the rise. “The rolls of practitioners have tripled in the past three years, according to the Transcendental Meditation Program, the practice’s national organization.”
• A warm welcome to Teo Bishop, whose “Bishop In the Grove” blog has joined the Patheos family.

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.

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

Top Story: Pagan chaplain and activist Patrick McCollum has recently returned from the first International Conference on Transforming Conflict in Amman, Jordan. The event centered on dialogues with youth and adults from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and other countries, for which McCollum served as a speaker and facilitator. “It is clear to me that the younger generation in particular, has a clearer vision of what it means to be a global citizen, and it is this shift, in my opinion, that gives us hope for a better future” said McCollum, praising the Arab and Israeli youth who attended the conference. During the conference McCollum also met and spoke with Sharif Zeid Bin Hussein, the cousin of King Hussein the II, and former Jordanian Prime Minster Taher Nashat al-Masri.

Patrick McCollum with Taher al-Masri

“His Excellency was very gracious in his invitation to me, and I thoroughly enjoyed our discussions. Over the course of the evening, we touched on US-Arab relations, the Palestinian–Israeli conflict, the part youth has played in the Arab Spring revolutions and beyond, and new ways to move forward toward peace.”

In addition to his work at the conference, McCollum also met with local Bedouins, and visited the famous sacred sites Petra, Mt. Nebo, and one of the possible sites of Jesus’s baptism by John. In summing up his trip and experiences, McCollum said that “it is clear to me that I will return once again to the Middle East, not only to Jordan, but also to visit Palestine and Israel. And I look forward to once again to be present in the company of the many new friends I’ve made in each of these countries. I firmly believe that drawing on the touchstone of our common humanity, rather than focusing on the age-old narrative of our geographical and cultural differences, is the key to world peace.” The Patrick McCollum Foundation blog is now posting his daily thoughts from the trip if you’d like to know more about his experiences in Jordan, and the work of the conference.

In Other News:

• Sacred Paths Center, a Pagan community center serving the Minneapolis/St. Paul area (aka “Paganistan”), has been able to reach its fundraising goals, and will be staying open. The center announced $13,140 had been raised during the past month, they needed to raise $12,000 to restructure for long-term survival. You can read all of my coverage on this story, here.
• Dead, Mad, or a Poet: A Journal to Faerie, a biannual magazine devoted primarily to poetry, fiction, articles, and art by Pagans, has released its inaugural issue. The first issue features contributions from Kathryn Hinds, Catherine M. Wilson, Kerry Higgins Wendt, and several others. It is edited by S. C. L. Amis, a contributor to No Unsacred Place, and a member of the Pagan Newswire Collective’s editorial team. The magazine is available in both print and PDF formats.
• The planned movie adaptation of Starhawk’s novel “The Fifth Sacred Thing” has reached its first fundraising goal. Nearly $62,000 dollars was pledged towards making a professional pitch video to the major film studios. This is an astounding achievement for Internet fundraising within the Pagan community, doubling what was raised earlier this year for Japan relief. At the project’s website, Starhawk writes that “Lammas is also a time for gratitude, and I am deeply thankful for all the wonderful support we have been receiving in so many ways.”
• COG Interfaith Reports has posted another report from NAIN Connect 2011, the annual meeting of the North American Interfaith Network. This time from Covenant of the Goddess member Rachael Watcher, a longtime interfaith activist, who was elected to the Executive Board of NAIN in 2010.
• Devin Hunter and Rowan Pendragon’s Modern Witch podcast features an interview with yours truly, in which I discuss The Wild Hunt, the Pagan Newswire Collective, my own podcast, and why building our own media is important. You can download the audio file directly, here.

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

Pagan chaplain and activist Patrick McCollum, who is involved in a high-profile case involving the rights of Pagans and religious minorities in California’s prisons, participated at a demonstration in Vallejo, California to protect a Native American sacred gathering place and burial ground called Glen Cove (or Sogorea Te in Karkin Ohlone language). The City of Vallejo is working to develop the land into a recreational park, something that the local Native American community has been opposed to.

Patrick McCollum with demonstrators.

On July 12th, over 100 people converged on the steps of Vallejo City Hall to bring a strong and clear message to City Council, which was holding closed session meeting regarding the future of the sacred burial ground known as Sogorea Te (Glen Cove). Demonstrators arrived an hour before the scheduled meeting, gathering together around the drum to sing before entering the council chambers. [...] Demonstrators patiently sat through almost four hours of City Council discourse on matters such as a proposed tax related to marijuana sales, awaiting the opportunity to further speak about Sogorea Te during the final Community Forum. By the end of the meeting at around 11:30pm, eighteen speakers had shared their deeply held convictions about the need to protect and respect the sacred grounds of Sogorea Te. Late-night speakers included Corrina Gould (Ohlone), Li Pono, Galeson Eaglestar (Oglala Lakota), Michelle Steinberg, Reverend Patrick McCollum, Dr. Barbara McGraw, Antonio Gonzalez (Seri), Sam Kirsham, Perry Matlock, LeRoy Cisneros, Zak Alvarez, Morning Star Gali (Pit River) and Mark Anquoe (Kiowa).

The Protect Glen Cove site has transcripts and video from many of those who spoke at the Vallejo City Council meeting, though not from McCollum. However, you can watch the entire proceedings of the meeting, here (Microsoft Silverlight plugin required). Patrick begins speaking at 4:30:00. During the talk, McCollum was emphatic that Circle Sanctuary, and his supporters, stood with Native American activists on this issue.

McCollum addressing the City Council.

You can find out more about the Glen Cove struggle, here. As for McCollum, he’s already on his way to Amman, Jordan to participate in a global conference on conflict resolution and cross-cultural dialog.

“On July 19, 2011 Patrick McCollum will travel to Amman, Jordan to speak at the first International Conference on Transforming Conflict. The conference, which is endorsed and sponsored by King Abdullah II, the Jordanian Government, and over 100 universities and organizations internationally, will focus on equipping the current and next generation to build capacity for proactive citizen leadership, constructive relationships, and a culture of peace. Drawing on the Patrick McCollum Foundation mission, Patrick will address youth and adults from the Middle East on ways to transform seemingly irreconcilable clashes of cultures and ideologies into alliances to create a better and more sustainable world. Patrick’s address will emphasize that we (the world citizens) must each learn to see and respect the inherent sacredness within one another and the unique sacredness of our diversity in culture, spirituality, and religion in order to achieve peace.”

McCollum has been doing a great deal of international travel lately, a humanitarian mission in Nepal, a goodwill/interfaith gathering in Thailand, and a spiritual forum in Kazakhstan; becoming an increasingly global figure within modern Paganism. We wish McCollum well as he continues his mission to advocate for Pagan faiths, works for the rights of indigenous and minority faiths, and pursues peace.

ADDENDUM: The Committee to Protect Glen Cove has announced a victory in the struggle to protect the sacred grounds of Glen Cove.

“Yesterday, the Yocha Dehe and Cortina tribes established a cultural easement and settlement agreement with the City of Vallejo and the Greater Vallejo Recreation District (GVRD). The agreement sets a legal precedent for granting Native peoples jurisdiction over their sacred sites and ancestral lands. The cultural easement forever guarantees that the Yocha Dehe and Cortina tribes will have legal oversight in all activities taking place on the sacred burial grounds of Sogorea Te/Glen Cove. It also represents a significant step forward in enacting tribal sovereignty, as the first such easement under CA Senate Bill 18 to be negotiated at the city and recreational district levels.”

Congratulations to the defenders of Glen Cove!

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

A Pagan Festival in Israel: September will see the nation of Israel’s first Pagan festival, at least in our modern era. A new site is promoting a Mabon (Autumnal Equinox) festival, with word being spread by other Israeli Pagan sites.

“The first Israeli Pagan Festival that we shall celebrate together, on September the 22-24^th, 2011. [...] Pagans from all over the country are invited to celebrate together the spirit of kinship and community that Mabon invokes.”

It may seem like an odd occurrence for a land considered holy by all of the Abrahamic faiths, but modern Pagan religions have become a global phenomenon, and according to Dr. Marianna Ruah-Midbar, they could find fertile soil in Israel.

“At the moment paganism is not a large-scale practice here, but I believe it has very big potential,” she said. “Pagan religions are the fastest growing religions in the West, and it could succeed here too, because Hebrewism and Zionism could connect to paganism due to the emphasis on land and Hebrew holidays. Paganism is a close, unusual parallel of more common practices, like environmentalism or traveling to the East. In practice, it really is not very different.”

As I’ve pointed out before, the growth of Paganism in places like Israel helps puncture the lie that our faiths flourish merely as a rebellion against Judeo-Christian norms or as a result of secularism’s ills. The truth is that Pagan beliefs, practices, and theologies, offer an appealing alternative to the often exclusionary monotheisms that have come to dominate the West. I’ll be interested to see how their first festival goes, how many show up, and if they experience any trouble.

TheurgiCon Is Today: Today is TheurgiCon in Berkeley, California, a one-day intensive that focuses on the practice of theurgy, the use of magic and ritual to invoke (or evoke) the gods. This year’s theme is “Tools of Neo-Platonic Theurgy” and features presentations by Don Frew, Tony Mierzwicki, and John Opsopaus. TheurgiCon was founded in 2010 by Glenn Turner, who also founded PantheaCon, here’s an interview with Turner from 2010 about the event.

You can also read impressions from last year’s event here, here, and here. Read more about this year’s presentations at the TheurgiCon website. I’m hoping to have more coverage of this event in the near future.

Transitions for a Circle Minister: Drake Spaeth, a longtime Circle Sanctuary minister and key participant in Circle’s yearly Pagan Spirit Gathering, has announced that he’s amicably stepping down from his clergy position and taking a break from participation at PSG.

“Yet, open circles sometimes close, and the moment of realization comes that the time to move on has arrived.  I am at such a juncture. I would ill serve the many folks whom I have counseled to recognize and heed the call to take a new risk when the time comes, to make the proverbial Fool’s leap into the unknown, if I now backed away from this moment when it has now come upon me with such clarity. Circumstances have impelled me to the point where, despite any wistful desire I feel that the dream might have continued just a bit longer, that I must step down from being a Circle minister.”

Spaeth is not leaving Pagan ministry, but is instead dedicating his time exclusively to Earth Traditions, an organization he co-founded with Angie Buchanan of Gaia’s Womb. Our best wishes to Drake Spaeth on this transition, we have no doubt his decision will be to the benefit of our interconnected communities.

Gus diZerega Joins Patheos: Gus diZerega, political scientist, Beliefnet blogger, and co-author of “Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue,” has become a columnist at Patheos. His first column, “The Ethics of the Universal Potlatch,” is now up.

“This is my first contribution to what I hope will be a weekly column here at Patheos. I am delighted to be in such good company with other Pagan contributors, both those I know and those I have not (yet?) met. I hope to explore some of the insights I think Pagan spirituality brings to challenge Western modernity, which far more than many realize, incorporates transcendental monotheistic assumptions antithetical to our own, and does so even in its secular guise.”

I’m honored and pleased to have Gus in our ranks here at Patheos, and I have no doubt his columns will be enriching. As for his blog at Beliefnet, he’ll continue on there, though in slightly different form.

More Community Notes:

• The planned movie adaptation of Starhawk’s novel “The Fifth Sacred Thing,” which is currently in the midst of a Kickstarter campaign to make a professional pitch video to the major film studios, has launched its own website.
• Congratulation to the Washington DC bureau of the Pagan Newswire Collective, which has just celebrated its one-year anniversary.
• The new issue of Witches & Pagans is about to come out, featuring interviews with Pagan chaplain Patrick McCollum and activist, author and Pagan cop Kerr Cuhulain. This isn’t one to miss! More on this issue once I receive my copy.

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

Just a few quick quick news notes to start off your Wednesday.

Absent Christian Soldiers: Remember that story a couple weeks ago about a Christian group in Dorset, England who were going to hold vigils outside a pub in order to “combat” a Pagan moot (social gathering)? Well, it turns out they didn’t show up.

“A Pagan moot in Bridport last week went ahead without any trouble after a planned Christian demonstration never materialised. [...] Despite the Christian group announcing to the press they expected “a high turn out” no one showed up at the venue on the night.”

That’s right, not a single Christian prayer warrior braved the elements to do some anti-Pagan praying. Instead, triple the number of Pagans who usually attend showed up, and they raised some money for the Dorset County Hospital’s Kingfisher Ward. Obviously Pagans meeting in pubs and donating to charity is something that should be stopped, and I’m shocked that these Christian Soldiers who have vowed to halt “evil” failed in their quest.

The Blessed Ex-Satanist: Maybe those Christian Soldiers should take a page from the Blessed Bartolo Longo, a Catholic lay-leader who had once joined a “Satanic” group in Italy during the late 19th century. Once converted, he had no qualms about acting like a jerk around the people he used to hang out with.

To prove his new-found commitment to Christ and His Church Bartolo even attended a séance. In the midst of it, he stood and raised a medal of the Blessed Virgin Mother and cried out: “I renounce spiritism because it is nothing but a maze of error and falsehood.”

See? These are the kind of people who don’t get invited to the cool spirit-invoking parties. As for the article itself, the author seems to be unsure if Longo was “New Age,” “pagan,” or a “Satanist.” But I suppose such distinctions matter little if you believe they are all going to the same place.

We’re All Neo-Pagans Now: Former Wild Hunt guest contributor Lee Gilmore, author of “Theater in a Crowded Fire: Ritual and Spirituality at Burning Man”, writes an essay for the University of Southern California blog The Scoop on modern Paganism. Entitled “Boy Wizards, Green Living, Blue Aliens: We’re All Neo-Pagans Now,” the piece touches on our growth, treatment in the media, Patrick McCollum’s court case, and the “allure of magic and witchcraft” in popular culture.

“In the broader culture, Paganism remains comparatively small in numbers, but influential in terms of the broader cultural trends it embodies. The definitive number of American Pagans remains elusive, but reasonable estimates place the number between 750,000 to 1.2 million, or possibly more. Religious censuses like the Pew Forum’s Religious Landscape survey often lump Pagans in with “Other/New Age” faiths, thus missing the extent to which the values that typify Neo-Paganism are increasingly found in other arenas.

The allure of magic and witchcraft— whether in practice or in fancy—also bubbles up in cultural phenomena like the “Harry Potter” franchise and the new Wiccan subplot in HBO’s “True Blood.” There is also a growing cultural turn toward “green spirituality” in which individuals and faith communities strive to value ecological sustainability and to seek harmony between nature and the sacred. And while it may seem like old news, the widespread and ongoing fascination with the romantic, pantheistic world of “Avatar“—along with its sequels in the offing—is also part of this important cultural trend.”

In her closing, Gilmore notes that reporters would  “do well to take a closer look at Paganism, and other minority faiths,” a sentiment I heartily agree with. Be sure to read the whole thing, she has some incisive analysis, particularly of the McCollum case.