Pursuing Joy

T. Thorn Coyle linked this article on either Google+ or Facebook (or perhaps both), with the message that activists, caretakers, etc, shouldn’t forget our own happiness. We do burn out. We become lost in hopelessness and despair. We forget to take care of ourselves because we feel so small in the face of the overwhelming …

A Pagan Response to Savita’s Death, and the ongoing fight for reproductive justice worldwide

After my last post about Savita, I emailed T. Thorn Coyle to ask for her help in finding ways to respond to this tragedy. I felt that something needed to be done, besides writing and prayer, but I didn’t know what. She had some really good suggestions for organizing a response. One was to lobby …

A Call from Brighid & Morrigan: Justice for Savita

My entire path is about activism. I’d be lying if I said otherwise. Morrigan and Brighid want me to do Their work, and They want it done everyday. They want me to be a witch, and They have been very clear that to be a witch — to do Their work — I must also …

Fit to Worship

Trigger warning: fatphobia, ableism, mention of disordered eating, suicide So recently there was a question on TC regarding whether or not we have a religious duty to take care of our bodies. I refrained answering, and for a while even refrained reading the thread. Threads like that have a tendency to fall into fatphobia, fat-shaming, …

Psuedonyms, Privilege, and Accountability

Trigger warning: mention of rape, abuse, death threats, e-bullying; use of a word that’s often used as a slur as description of sexual orientation; privilege denying people. I had two separate run-ins, arguments, disagreements, whatever, with two different people this summer. The arguments were about completely different things, but each person holds the belief that …

“Queering Paganism,” or Let Your Freak Flag Fly

So, I read this blog post this week, and I really want to address the idea that we, as pagans, need to make ourselves normal to break away from negative stereotypes. (Note: I’m not singling out this blog post for any reason other than it happens to be the most recent thing I’ve read that …

Fat-Shaming In Pagandom — a story

I want to share this story from a friend of mine. Back in May, my friend — let’s call her Rachel — went to a Beltaine celebration. This celebration was attended by various mutual friends of ours; bunch of local pagans. Rachel has food allergies and eating disorders. Most notably, she’s a recovering anorexic and …

The Fat-Shaming War Continues — News From the Frontlines

Some of you may remember my post, “Obesity,” or Fuck Off, Pagan Concern Trolls. In it I take well-known pagan and supposed pagan elder Peter Dybing to task for his fat shaming in this post (EDIT as of August 14th, 2012 — Dybing has deleted his post, for some unfathomable reason, but it’s still available on …

Being Brutally Honest

I made a commitment to myself at some point this year. Not a new year’s resolution, because I don’t believe in those and it’s a stupid time to make resolutions, anyway, but a commitment. I committed to being brutally honest. You weren’t already? you all exclaim, shocked and horrified. No, I wasn’t. I didn’t talk …

Eve and Reproductive Rights

Something that a lot of pagans have always associated with fertility is the pomegranate. I’ve been to Beltane rituals that used pomegranate as a symbol of fertility; search “magic associations of pomegranate” and you’ll find several sites attesting to its good fertility magic. Even the New Age health nuts attest to its great fertility powers. …