Screenreader greenpane News and Extras
News (click)
House of Danu Lughnasadh Festival weekend (July 30 to August 2), Santa Cruz mountains north of Watsonville. 2nd Annual Gorsedd. All Bards, Ovates, Druids and Neopagans welcome!
In October 2009, Isaac Bonewits was diagnosed with cancer—he has a good prognosis but feels crappy due to treatments. Send Isaac and Fay prayers, healing vibes and cash.
from Storycatcher (click)
pages 18-19
written by Christina Baldwin
of Peerspirit, Washington,
reprinted here with author's permission
I have read a story of a tribe in southern Africa called the Babemba in which a person doing something wrong, something that destroys the delicate social net, brings all work in the village to a halt. The people gather around the "offender," and one by one they begin to recite every thing he has done right in his life: every good deed, thoughtful behavior, act of social responsibility. These things have to be true about the person, and spoken honestly, but the time-honored consequence of misbehavior is to appreciate that person back into their better part of himself. The person is given the chance to remember who he is and why his important to the life of the village.
I want to live under such a practice of compassion. When I forget my place, when I lash out with some private wounding in a public way, I want to be remembered back into alignment with my self and purpose. I want to live with the opportunity for reconciliation. When someone around me thoughtless or cruel, I want to be given the chance to respond with a ritual that created the possibility of reconnection. I want to live in a neighborhood where people don't shoot first, don't sue first, where people are Storycatchers willing to discover in strangers the mirror of themselves. I want to be surrounded by a story-based culture that itself remembers story is essential to human survival.
Screenreader What's a Tribe?
What Are Pagan, Celt, Witch, Wicca, Druidcraft & Faerie/Feri?
Pagan, Witch and Faerie, Oh My
written by Larzean
5 January 2010
The word "pagan" can be capitalized or not. I capitalize it. I capitalize it because Paganism is up there with Christianity, Islam and Judaism—Paganism is a religion. More accurately, Paganism is hundreds of different Paganism depending on locality. Paganism, being a religion, deserves all the protections as has a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or person of any other faith. If pagan is not capitalized, then christian, muslim, jew, hindu or buddhist shouldn't be capitalized either. Any contemptuous act towards a Pagan is the same as a contemptuous act towards someone of any other religion or race, is defined as a hate-crime and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Celts started out as Pagan, then converted to Christianity. Christians of now like to say that Pagans and Druids in Europe of old converted willingly but there is equal evidence that Pagans and Druids were converted by pain of death. If Christianity's reputation holds up, Christians FORCED Pagans and Druids to convert. To the present time, Christians and Muslims kill Pagans when Pagans are unwilling to convert. Druids and Pagans don't proselytize.
Witchcraft in Europe of old was an ideology explaining misfortune and was all about scapegoating—if you didn't like your neighbor, you accused her of witchcraft. Or accusations of witchcraft were a way to humiliate or control those who didn't conform. Witchcraft and Wicca are religions, and as such, deserve all the protections as has a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or person of any other faith. Any contemptuous act towards a witch or Wiccan is the same as a contemptuous act towards someone of any other religion or race, is defined as a hate-crime and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Druidcraft is a concept coined, I think, by Philip Carr-Gomm to describe the mixing of Druidry and witchcraft.
Faerie and Feri are religions, and as such, deserve all the protections as has a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or person of any other faith. Any contemptuous act towards a witch or Wiccan is the same as a contemptuous act towards someone of any other religion or race, is defined as a hate-crime and will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
Let it be known that it is not socially acceptable to dump on or slander any Pagan or Neopagan. It is not socially acceptable to dump on or slander any Druid or Neodruid. It is not socially acceptable to dump on or slander any witch or Wiccan. It is not socially acceptable to dump on or slander anyone of Faerie or Feri faith.