{"id":10336,"date":"2012-09-15T08:42:37","date_gmt":"2012-09-15T15:42:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/?p=10336"},"modified":"2012-09-15T08:42:37","modified_gmt":"2012-09-15T15:42:37","slug":"wiccans-the-band-plus-some-pagan-pride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/wildhunt\/2012\/09\/wiccans-the-band-plus-some-pagan-pride.html","title":{"rendered":"Wiccans, The Band (Plus Some Pagan Pride)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I think that modern Paganism has hit some sort of landmark when hip(ster) touchstone Vice Magazine features a new music column spotlighting a show in Ann Arbor, Michigan<\/a> headlined by a band called \u2018Wiccans.\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Wiccans in Ann Arbor, Michigan (Photo: Vice)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cLast night I walked into\u00a0Encore Records<\/a>, the best record store in Ann Arbor and one of the best anywhere, where Wiccans front women Aran Ruth and Kelly Jean Caldwell had cleared a space on the floor to spread out a flowery blanket on top of which they were busily setting up an altar made out of spellbooks, incense, a silkscreened tapestry of a tarot card Empress, and candles\u2014one of them in the shape of a kitten because there\u2019s apparently no rule against mixing magick and cute shit. When they had everything properly arranged and lit Aran picked up an acoustic guitar, Kelly picked up a flute, Fred Thomas (who plays in Saturday Looks Good to Me, which Kelly used to sing for) picked up a set of bongos and a djembe, and the thirty or so representatives of Ann Arbors sizable indie rocker, weirdo artsy crust punk, and hardcore witchcraft scenes sat in a semicircle around them.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Not to be confused with the hardcore punk band of the same name<\/a>, Wiccans sounds like \u201cPentangle meets Pentagram\u201d<\/em> and sings songs with titles like \u201cInvocation\u00a0of the Horned God,\u201d \u201cMoon Door,\u201d and \u201cOh Holy Maiden.\u201d In a perhaps unintentional nod to the past of modern Pagan music, their release is\u00a0available\u00a0only on cassette<\/a>. This raises many questions, are Wiccans Wiccan? Will they be releasing their music in a format other than cassette? \u00a0Will they play at a Pagan festival if we asked them nicely? In any case, it\u2019s an interesting development, one that speaks to how Wicca is mainstreaming, while still holding on to enough counter-cultural edge that bands are being named after it.<\/p>\n

In other news, it\u2019s Pagan Pride<\/a> season and tomorrow is the Columbia-Willamette Pagan Pride<\/a> in Portland, Oregon. I\u2019ll be there to have a public discussion with\u00a0Anne\u00a0Newkirk\u00a0Niven, editor of Witches & Pagans<\/a>, about Pagan media. It should be fun! I was lucky enough to be interviewed by local paper The Oregonian in advance of the event, and you can read the results here.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cBasically, we\u2019re just like you. That is the message all minority faiths try to tell the world: We have the hopes and fears of everyone else. We just follow a different religion. We have a message and wisdom that we can share, about being more aware of the natural world, that the divine can have a feminine face. Some real potent elements within pagan faith can be helpful to the wider world as we deal with ecological calamity and the basic rights of women. The message from the closing ceremony of the Paralympics was universal in scope. There can and should be a space where our poetry and our world are integrated with everyone else\u2019s.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I thought it turned out very well, do check it out if you have the chance<\/a>. If you\u2019re in the Portland area, why not drop by?<\/a> It\u2019s being held at an amusement park! For real! I\u2019ll try to post photos and experiences from the event tomorrow.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think that modern Paganism has hit some sort of landmark when hip(ster) touchstone Vice Magazine features a new music column spotlighting a show in Ann Arbor, Michigan headlined by a band called \u2018Wiccans.\u2019 \u201cLast night I walked into\u00a0Encore Records, the best record store in Ann Arbor and one of the best anywhere, where Wiccans […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,6],"tags":[3608,1130,1490,1554,1694,1734,3607,2579,3609],"class_list":["post-10336","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-paganism","category-religion","tag-columbia-willamette-pagan-pride","tag-jason-pitzl-waters","tag-michigan","tag-music","tag-oregon","tag-pagan-pride-day","tag-portland","tag-vice-magazine","tag-wiccans-the-band"],"yoast_head":"\nWiccans, The Band (Plus Some Pagan Pride)<\/title>\n<meta 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