The Hindu discipline of yoga is big, big business in the West. Teaching yoga has become a favored second career, major airports now have yoga rooms, debates have erupted over its benefits, and how essential Hinduism is to its practice. So it is within this context that we should view the story of a popular hatha yoga school in America, and the scandal that has engulfed its founder. “An anonymous tipster has sent us info that could potentially muddy the shiny, happy,... Read more
Entheogens, psychoactive substances used in “a religious, shamanic, or spiritual context,” once popularly known as “psychedelics,” are often sensationalized, misunderstood, and are usually banned from being used legally. Despite the United State’s policy of religious freedom, there are only two instances where entheogens have been able to win legal protection (peyote for Native American ceremonial purposes, and ayahuasca by the União do Vegetal). So any attempts to demystify and contextualize their use to a broad audience can only help change the tone of the conversation. Enter... Read more
Attending FaerieCon West, a transformational festival of art, spirit, and myth, brings to mind how modern Pagans are also building arts-focused events. In California, Sharon Knight and Winter of the band Pandemonaeon, along with fashion designer Anaar, are organizing the first of what they hope will become a yearly festival dedicated to magick-based music and dance entitled “HexenFest.” “Hexenfest offers an evening of entertainment and revelry based on magick and a dark sensual aesthetic –both visual and aural– at the Oakland Metro... Read more
I’m in Seattle, Washington this weekend, part of the team that’s putting on FaerieCon West, a transformational celebration of music, myth, fantasy, and, of course, faerie. While FaerieCon West, and events like it, are not explicitly Pagan, the openness and embrace of Pagan culture can’t be missed by anyone whose eyes are open to it. While there are many presentations and performances I’m looking forward to, I’m perhaps most excited about participating in a panel discussion with Jeet Kei Leung, who’s writing a... Read more
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! Cherry Hill Seminary Names Two New Department Chairs: Pagan learning institution Cherry... Read more
Local and national news outlets are reporting on the case of a 4-year-old girl whose parents are being investigated by police after a daycare employee found lacerations on the girl’s chest. The parents, and a neighbor who witnessed the event, claim it is a Santeria ritual of health and protection for the child, not abuse. “The girl’s parents told police that the cuts were part of a religious ritual. Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik went to the girl’s apartment off Greenhouse... Read more
I have two Gerald Gardner-related news items for you today. First, “Britain’s Wicca Man,” the first documentary to focus exclusively on this foundational figure within Wicca, now has a trailer out. “Britain’s Wicca Man tells the extraordinary story of Britain’s fastest growing religious group – Wicca – and of its creator, an eccentric Englishman called Gerald Gardner. Historian and leading expert in Pagan studies, Professor Ronald Hutton, explores the unlikely origins of modern pagan witchcraft and experiences first hand its growing... Read more
British tabloid The Daily Mail’s website has become the most-visited newspaper site in the world, surpassing The New York Times (though the Times disputes those numbers). Analyzing the rise of the Mail Online, Will Oremus at Slate.com notes that the site drifts away from the xenophobic nativism of its print version to focus on anything that will generate more hits. “This is not news, really. It’s click bait, the stuff pageviews are made of. There’s no parochialism, no xenophobia, no... Read more
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 case of Forsyth County, North Carolina v. Joyner, which ultimately ruled that opening invocations and prayers before government bodies cannot be overwhelmingly sectarian in nature, is now being used to challenge the sectarian prayers in North Carolina’s State Legislature. The ACLU is threatening... Read more
NPR correspondent Eric Weiner is the latest in a long line of journalists to temporarily embed themselves within a Pagan practice in order to explore our religions first hand. In Weiner’s new book, “Man Seeks God: My Flirtations with the Divine,” he engages with a number of different religious traditions in order “to better understand faith, and to find the god or gods that speak to me.” Eric Weiner in conversation with Lisa Napoli from Ted Habte-Gabr on Vimeo. “Weiner, a longtime “spiritual voyeur” and... Read more
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