Community Building: Research and Donations

Professional Folklorist Calls for Interviews with Polytheists about Faith

By now you’ve noticed I like to promote research within the Pagan community. Any chance we have to learn more about our theology/theaology, practices, customs, or views is an important one. These opportunities show us how much we have in common and we can learn new ideas from those who speak up and share their diversity.

Wendi Wilkerson is a Pagan polytheist and folklorist. This December she earned a Ph.D. from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Her dissertation research concerned contemporary rites of passage. She is interested in researching personal experience narratives, ritual, and religion. Her current project is about faith and polytheism. She would like to interview polytheists who will provide thoughtful dialog about their faith and personal experiences.

The full research notice is available at Witchvox. www.witchvox.com/vn/vn_detail/dt_no.html?a=usny&id=17461

If you would like to participate, you can email Wendi at [email protected]

“Fundraising and Building Community” guest post by Brendan Myers, Ph.D. at The Wild Hunt blog. wildhunt.org/blog/2011/03/guest-post-fundraising-and-building-community.html

Brendan Myers is a Canadian author, award winning researcher and philosopher. He’s written “The Other Side of Virtue”, “Loneliness and Revelation”, and other books. His website is brendanmyers.net Brendan co-hosts the Pagan podcast Standing Stone and Garden Gate. stonegatepodshow.net/

“All our relationships are person-to-person. They involve people seeing, hearing, touching, and speaking to each other; they involve sharing goods; and they involve moral values like generosity and compassion.

But they are also mediated and assisted by the material infrastructure: town squares, telephone networks, internet servers, farmer’s markets, schools, libraries, concert halls, and private homes. Relationships do not happen in abstraction. They need a place; they need a centre, even a home.

And infrastructure, as you know, costs money. That’s probably why there are donation drives on the Wild Hunt from time to time. A local community wants to rent a hall for regular public rituals, or rent a campground for an annual outdoor festival. An organization wants to publish a newsletter. An elderly teachers wants to talk to her geographically-distant students on the phone, or drive to visit them once in a while. These things do not come free.”

In the February 21st podcast, Brendan and Juni ponder if Pagans could have a shared sacred location or words that could be acknowledged to help create a sense of community. Read more about that episode and my response in the Staff of Asclepius post “Steps Toward Pagan Unity”
www.patheos.com/community/paganswithdisabilities/2011/02/24/504/