When thinking about The Wild Hunt, the question I always ask myself is “What’s next?” How can I build on what I’ve done so far, and expand it to new audiences? How can I make my work sustainable? How can I bring the most good to the many communities I report on and for? After months of talks, consultations, and soul-searching, I’ve decided on a new path for this site – one that I think is exciting, and that opens up new realms of possibilities for the future of Pagan media. Starting tomorrow, The Wild Hunt will be transitioning over to the religious dialog and news site, Patheos.com. This move will obviously raise many questions and concerns, so I’d like to address them now, and share my thinking on why I’ve gone in this new direction.

Why Patheos?

Patheos.com has become a premiere website for religious news, dialog, and information. Unlike many religious news outlets, Patheos’s commitment to modern Pagans has been there from the very beginning, and has only grown over time. They have collaborated on our projects, and entered into a mutual content-sharing deal with the Pagan Newswire Collective, the first mainstream media outlet to do so. Under the leadership of Star Foster the Patheos Pagan Portal has become a first-rate source for intelligent and thought-provoking Pagan content, featuring contributions from writers like Eric Scott, P. Sufenas Virius Lupus, T. Thorn Coyle, Steven T. Abell and many others. Patheos’s commitment to featuring voices from all corners of modern Paganism has been truly impressive. It was Patheos who helped get me onto the Washington Post’s On Faith panel.

In addition to their commitment to Pagan voices, Patheos has an ambitious vision for its future, one that as Pagan journalist I want to be a part of. Informing our own communities is only the first step towards building a robust Pagan media. One of the next steps is making our voices heard by mainstream news outlets. I think that being a part of Patheos at this time will help achieve that goal. One immediate benefit will be that posts on The Wild Hunt will soon appear in Google News search results, which is a small but important step towards bringing Pagan issues to a wider audience. I feel confident at this stage that being a part of Patheos will benefit our community in ways we can’t envision now.

What does this mean for me?

For the majority of Wild Hunt readers, the shift will be seamless. The new site will initially have the same design as the old site (though I may do an upgrade to something a bit more modern in the near future). Permanent redirects will ensure that links to The Wild Hunt will continue to work as they always did. Updates will continue to show up at social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. We are improving the Comments function. Finally, the site will become far more reliable and stable in regards to performance and stability.

Back in February, I was obliged to change servers, because The Wild Hunt was generating so much traffic that it was crashing other people’s sites, and threatening to create excessive downtime for readers. Generous individuals made that move possible, but many of us are still experiencing significant sluggishness and database timeouts when trying to visit the site. The Wild Hunt will soon outgrow affordable hosting options. Simply put, to keep The Wild Hunt sustainable and running on all cylinders, we need extra help.

What about remaining non-commercial? What about the donation model?

From the beginning, The Wild Hunt aspired to run as an independent: non-profit, not beholden or dependent, and as Andrew Sullivan says: “of no party or clique.” This would be hard to do while relying on, say, contributions from Pagan publishers or umbrella organizations. In my years as a journalist for our community, I have been able to report on hard stories, including stories that some of my friends would have probably preferred I ignored. The Wild Hunt has been accused of being not sufficiently on the Left or Right at various times, indicating that I personally have succeeded somewhat in separating my personal views from “the work.” I’ve tried to err on the side of a generally “pro-Pagan” stance, instead of getting caught up in partisan squabbling or single-issue myopias.

However, despite the generous individuals and organizations who have supported The Wild Hunt through the past few years, it has rapidly become clear that our trajectory wasn’t sustainable. The Wild Hunt has simply outgrown its original freebie structure. It’s time for Pagan news to hit the major leagues.

Yes, there will now be (hopefully unobtrusive) sidebar ads on the site, as there are for other Patheos pages. You can see an example of what that might look like, here. There will be no pop-ups, pop-unders, banners, or other flash-based nonsense. All you, as a reader, will do is continue to visit, read, link, comment and discuss, as you’ve always done.

Who owns The Wild Hunt?

Short answer: I, your editor, do. Long answer: The deal I’ve struck with Patheos allows them to host The Wild Hunt’s content, and grants them rights to distribute and republish it, without infringing on The Wild Hunt’s intellectual property ownership in any way. If The Wild Hunt should leave Patheos, we will retain ownership, while sharing republishing and distribution rights. If something horribly dramatic happens – which I don’t expect – The Wild Hunt is free to relocate.

Closing thoughts

This is a big step, one that I think is a good one. I hope that you, dear reader, understand and support the reasons for this move, and wil continue to be a part of the Wild Hunt community. See you tomorrow – at Patheos!

For a short period today this site was down, the account suspended by our hosts at A Small Orange. The suspension wasn’t because I had done anything wrong, or because ASO (or anyone else) had nefarious intentions, but because The Wild Hunt is just getting too large to operate comfortably on the shared server hosting model most smaller sites run on. The ever-growing stream of traffic triggered an automatic shut-down so that we wouldn’t also bring several other sites down. I was lucky, because someone inside A Small Orange (Jen, who used to run Drak.net) called me personally, helped get the site back up, and suggested options to help keep it up.

Unfortunately, those options aren’t cheap. The Wild Hunt is now at a point where dedicated server space is needed to avoid future shut-downs. That means a very substantial chunk of change had to leave my reserves today, about triple what I normally pay per year to host this site. That cost may inflate if the account level I’m moving to isn’t sufficient. I have no qualms about doing this, I think what I do here is important, and from the conversations I have with individuals at festivals and conventions, so do many of you. However, it does raise questions about support and sustainability, and I’d like to briefly discuss them with you.

The Wild Hunt isn’t the first web site to run into these issues, several years ago The Witches’ Voice ran into very similar problems and luckily found the community ready to step up, producing waves of sponsors that keep things running to this day. What my experience today taught me is that The Wild Hunt is at the cusp of a wave of Pagan media that will soon get large enough to need support beyond what their personal incomes can provide. It is part of the reason why I started a yearly pledge drive, to build an infrastructure of support that can grow into a model other sites and services can someday emulate. Though this process is just beginning, I’m encouraged that so many of you are willing to fiscally support Pagan media services, and I’m given great hope that we can collectively build a new media foundation that endures.

The money donated to The Wild Hunt not only pays for this site, it also helps defray costs when I travel to events like PantheaCon (which will be generating several stories for this site), and makes my life dedicated to Pagan journalism somewhat sustainable. However, as costs rise, so will support if I’m going to keep The Wild Hunt open, ad-free, and independent. So If you missed out on donating during the Winter Pledge Drive, or would like to chip in towards my new hosting bill, now’s the time.

You can either make a one-time donation:

Or commit to making a small monthly donation:

In addition, if you are a part of a Pagan organization, and would like to become an underwriter of this site, joining groups like CUUPs, Solar Cross, The Brotherhood of the Phoenix, and others, please contact me for details.

As much as the events of this day have been surprising, the silver lining to it is that it was caused by a Pagan news site experiencing ongoing growth and success. That in of itself points to a bright future. I hope you’ll join me in helping to build one that’s sustainable.

Today’s the last day of the Wild Hunt’s second annual Winter Pledge Drive. I’d like to again give my deepest thanks and gratitude to all of my readers for showing that they value Pagan journalism and are willing to support a non-commercial donation-centered model. One thing I’ve learned from this drive is that the Wild Hunt community is becoming an increasingly global one, with donations coming in not only from across the United States, but from Canada, England, Scotland, Sweden, Australia, New Zealand, and several other locales. As we move into the future, my hope is to partner The Wild Hunt with other initiatives like the Pagan Newswire Collective and bring an increasingly global perspective, encouraging the flowering of Pagan journalism in any country, state, or city in which we live and gather.

I’d also like to take a moment and give special thanks to the three new Pagan organizations that have chosen to provide underwriting support of The Wild Hunt this year. They are BBI Media, publishers of Sage Woman and Witches & Pagans, Mill Creek Seminary, a resource for professional Pagan religious information, training, services, and counseling, and The Brotherhood of the Phoenix, a neo-pagan order for Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender men who love men. Their listings will be appearing soon on our Affiliates page, along with our other supporting organizations.

As I’ve said before, The Wild Hunt isn’t just some guy and his blog, it’s a community of people. A community of support, debate, and information-gathering that is nurturing a long-term investment in the future of Pagan news. My goal is to not only make Pagan journalism my full-time job, but to eventually make it possible for other people to follow in my footsteps. All of you have helped to make that future possible.

There will be future pledge drives, and this blog will try to develop over time a robust non-commercial funding method that can be adopted and emulated by other Pagan media outlets. Thanks to you, the The Wild Hunt will always remain open, reader-supported, and non-commercial. Thank you.

It’s still not too late to donate! If you’ve been meaning to participate in the Winter Pledge Drive now’s your chance! You can either make a one-time donation, or you can commit to a monthly subscription fee. In addition, you’ll be able to access donation-information year-round at this site.

Thank you again for supporting The Wild Hunt!

Once again, thank you to everyone who has donated so far in our Winter Pledge Drive. Your support is essential in keeping this site open, ad-free, and updated daily. As we head into the drive’s final days, I’d like to post a reminder for those who haven’t given yet, and share some quotes from Wild Hunt supporters.

“We have developed ourselves in nearly every aspect of media, and I for one love and appreciate this facet of living the Pagan life. But by far my favorite is The Wild Hunt. I have said it many times and will continue to say it: It is the pinnacle of professional Pagan journalism. It is the CNN of Paganism. Jason provides an invaluable resource to our community, and as a community we have an obligation to support and sustain these resources if we have any hopes for the future of Paganism.

Last year I donated to The Wild Hunt Pledge Drive, and challenged my readers to do the same. This year I have upped the ante and and my organization has the honor of becoming and affiliate underwriter for The Wild Hunt. Again I challenge you to do the same, make a donation, support a valuable member of our community, support the the invaluable service he provides to us all.” – Joseph Merlin Nichter, chaplain, founder of the Mill Creek Tradition and Seminary.

“The reason there is so little exemplary new media journalism that reaches the bar set by The Wild Hunt is that few can afford to put as much work into it on a daily basis like Jason does and yet earn so little for their efforts. This is our opportunity to show that we want quality reporting and we’re willing to pay for it – I hope many take it! There is so little good reporting to be found anywhere these days, I am so grateful for The Wild Hunt and I am willing to put my money where my mouth is. This is real and powerful work that Jason is doing, he deserve to earn a living doing it and if we all do our little part to support his work it is very possible. What we invest in we manifest. Awesome work, Jason. I’ve just become a monthly donor.” – J. Hannah

If you’re a regular reader of The Wild Hunt, if you find yourself forwarding the stories, or sharing them on the various social networking sites, please consider donating this year. Even if it’s only a few dollars, a little bit from a lot of people truly does make a big, big difference. My life is dedicated to reporting on our interconnected communities, and I can only keep doing that with your support. If you’ve given already, thank you! Please help spread the word by writing about the drive on your blog, journal, Twitter, or Facebook account.

“The Wild Hunt is a vital service to the Pagan community and is supported entirely by reader donations. If you value The Wild Hunt and having access to a daily Pagan news update, then please consider making a donation. I make a monthly pledge because I feel The Wild Hunt is an important part of modern Paganism. I hope you feel the same!” – Star Foster, Pagan Portal Manager, Patheos.com

To everyone who has given so far during my second annual Winter Pledge Drive, I want to thank you for your generosity and for sharing my vision of a Pagan new-media model that can eventually grow to support not just The Wild Hunt, but a variety of media and journalism projects originating from within the modern Pagan movement. To all my wonderful readers who haven’t had the opportunity or time to donate to this effort yet, please consider taking a few minutes before this week is done to become part of a growing community of support for quality Pagan news and commentary. Ask yourself, if The Wild Hunt was a magazine or newspaper, what would I pay to have access to it year-round?

“Is the Wild Hunt important? YES. And so is our responsibility to support the Pagan Press.” – Peter Dybing, National First Officer, Covenant of the Goddess

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone on Twitter and Facebook who have helped spread the word about the pledge drive, and shared why they think The Wild Hunt is worth supporting.

Your voice is being heard! The drive lasts until Sunday, so please keeping spreading the word! Again, thank you to all the individuals who have given so far. No matter what the size of your donation, know that it is appreciated. I’d also like to recognize and thank all the groups, like Silver Cauldron Coven in Maine, who have pooled money together and chipped in to this effort. Finally, I’d like to mention our amazing underwriters, Pagan organizations that have dedicated themselves to nurturing Pagan journalism. Thanks to all of you.

So please support The Wild Hunt this week, and keep our site full-access, non-commercial, and updated daily. Donate once, in any amount, or, if you prefer, commit to a small monthly subscription to keep us going throughout the year.

What:

Since it started in 2004, the Wild Hunt has become a vital news source for modern Pagans, and a crucial resource for those outside the Pagan movement who want to explore the issues that are important to us.

The Wild Hunt doesn’t simply alert you to the interesting (or infuriating) stories of the day, but adds analysis, context, and unique features.

• The Wild Hunt has interviewed movers-and-shakers within modern Paganism like Margot Adler, Starhawk, Mary K. Greer, Rachel Pollack, and Mike Nichols.
• The Wild Hunt provides special “Pagan’s-eye” coverage of historical events: the recent midterm elections, California’s Proposition 8, the UK Charity Commission‘s designation of religious charity status to The Druid Network, or the Park51 controversy in New York.
• The Wild Hunt tracks and provides Pagan reactions to major news stories, like the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the Nashville flood, and the earthquake that devastated Haiti.
• The Wild Hunt covers important events within our religious communities that never see mainstream media attention – a commitment that drives the ongoing “Pagan Community Notes” series launched this year.

The future is bright for The Wild Hunt, and for Pagan journalism as a whole! We’d like to invite you along, as we begin our second annual Wild Hunt Winter Pledge Drive. Our goals are three:

• To keep The Wild Hunt full-access (no subscription fees or “pay-walls”).
• To keep The Wild Hunt non-commercial (no ads or spam).
• To keep The Wild Hunt daily.

The Wild Hunt averages over 45,000 unique visitors per month, giving this daily news source a very respectable “circulation” in the world of niche journalism. Over 7,000 readers receive The Wild Hunt directly every day, via their Facebook, Twitter, Google Reader, LiveJournal, or email.

How:

If you are one of these avid followers of Pagan and religious-minority news, please consider contributing to the site during this year’s Winter Pledge Drive, in one of these categories:

• Basic – $5
• Reader – $20
• Supporter – $50
• Benefactor – $150

• Affiliate – Consider having your group or organization become a Wild Hunt underwriter, joining organizations like CUUPs, The Temple of Witchcraft, Solar Cross, Facing North, The Aquarian Tabernacle Church of Wicca, and the School of Sacred Ministries in supporting The Wild Hunt’s mission and goals. Please contact me for more details.

Click this button to contribute now:

If you’d prefer to make a recurring monthly donation through Paypal, you can do that in increments of $5 dollars per month or $10 dollars per month.

If you are unfamiliar with PayPal or have other questions, please contact me.

When:

This year’s Pledge Drive will continue from November 15th through the 21st. Feel free to share this post on Facebook, Twitter, and your other favorite social sites! Thanks for being a part of The Wild Hunt.

Some of you may have noticed that today’s post disappeared for a bit. I just wanted to reassure everyone that this was due to a glitch in a server migration and not anything more nefarious. My old web host, Drak.net, was recently bought by A Small Orange and today’s moving day. Everything should be back where it’s supposed to be, but if you spot something missing or out of place just drop me a line and I’ll look into it.

Thanks for your patience!