This is Part Two of an attempt to answer whether or not Pagan is a useful term. Read Part One. art by Jen Delyth Paganism is concerned with the primacy of direct connection and relationship. Whether we are polytheists or not, whether we work magick or not, our religious or spiritual impulse comes from a place of direct communication with forces, or with Nature, or with parts of our own soul that have the ability to affect, and be affected by, the manifest world. Some of us co

Scott Reimers wrote on Patheos, suggesting that we stop using the word Pagan. In response, I reposted to Twitter and Facebook my non-creed “Pagan” which is a litany of things that make up my sense of my religion. In response to this, someone asked whether or not I felt the word Pagan served us well. This first long essay I wrote yesterday, and it raises many questions. This morning, I wrote part two, which feels more like an answer and an affirmation. If you only have time to

Four Hammers by Kat Lunoe This is long, folks, and likely needs to be longer. Hopefully it is the start of a larger conversation: I’ve been circling around to this topic for the last couple of months, and am writing today on the anniversary of the assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero, killed for living his religious convictions. A fair amount of my social justice and activist work has been done around radical Catholics. Strange, isn’t it, for a public Pagan to have at ti

Personal example: I don’t comprehend authors who “write the books they have to so they can someday write the books they want to”. That seems ridiculous to me. What, is our religion a market where we chase every fad, hoping to get noticed or make a buck? We just show up. We listen. We do our work. We speak. Some exchange happens. Some people will notice. Most people will not. But that’s OK. I don’t need to have that kind of a relationship with everyone. Sure, I’d like to sell

This morning, I sit near my altar, feeling the coolness of fog through the open window, and listening to the sound of chimes in the breeze and birds complaining. I’m preparing to head off to the Pagan Spirit Gathering for Summer Solstice week and am wishing I could take the fog with me to the land of blazing sun and wet air. I also realize that I won’t be back in time to write the long post I’ve been thinking of for Pax’s “Pagan Values Blogging Month” before June’s end. But i

The nightclub was the size of a postage stamp, with a tiny stage set in a corner. The show was sold out, the house was literally packed, and earplugs would be necessary. A shot of whisky in hand, the music began. Fists pumped the air, head’s snapped forward and back, and then we all were dancing. Between bands, the doors opened wide, letting in the sweet night air. The club was hot, and smelled like a mass of humans. There was no way to escape the heat that rose from bodies p

Here is a continuation of the previous post on the Planned Parenthood action: As a Pagan, I have a deep sense that the sacred flows through all and that includes creation and destruction. I also sense that in this flow, spirit can move on if necessary. I had an abortion once, many years ago, when a condom broke with someone who was in no way a partner to me, and I was ill equipped to care for a child, as it was struggle enough to pay my own rent. I spoke to the spirit and ask

“Brave men do not gather by thousands to torture and murder a single individual, so gagged and bound he cannot make even feeble resistance or defense.” – Ida B. Wells As Black History Month draws to a close, I would like to write of one of my heroes, Ida B. Wells. A fierce advocate for racial and women’s equality and justice, she did what few were willing to. In 1884, she refused to sit in the “Jim Crow” car of a train and was dragged from it by force, 71 years before Rosa P

Governor Schwarzenegger, Attorney General Brown, and Secretary Cate, I’m writing in support of Chaplain Rev. Patrick McCollum and for the rights of all citizens in the State of California to have access to spiritual counsel and religious expression. I appeal to your good conscience. I appeal to your heart that sees another human as a being of worth. I appeal to any sense you may have that the sacred is with us. I appeal, this day, to justice. I am writing to appeal to you gra