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Bay Area Pagan Instrumental in Senate Bill 1172 Being Passed

October 9, 2012 in Pagan Leaders, Politics

Governor Brown

On September 30, 2012, the honorable Jerry Brown, Governor of California, signed into law Senate Bill 1172. SB1172 prohibits professional mental health providers from attempting to change or reform the sexual orientation of minors and efforts to do so would be considered unprofessional conduct and could cost the provider their license. Even more groundbreaking, SB1172 includes the following statement: “Being lesbian, gay, or bisexual is not a disease, disorder, illness, deficiency, or shortcoming.”

Recently PNC-Bay Area’s Jalen VanderYacht had the opportunity to interview Deborah Oak Cooper, a psychotherapist  and Pagan in the Bay Area, who worked tirelessly to get SB1172 passed.

 

How did you get involved in Senate Bill 1172?

I became active in Gaylesta, the LGBTQ Psychotherapy Association, when we realized that CAMFT* was not supporting marriage equality — that essentially the board of the biggest association of mental health providers in California had been taken over by the Christian Right. We fought that and won — CAMFT now supports both Marriage Equality and eventually came around to even supporting SB1172. I started an advocacy committee in Gaylesta and eventually became Co-President.
During this time, we found out that NARTH** was registered by the BBS*** as a CEU provider. We talked about what could be done about this and one of our committee — Dino DiDinoto — reached out to Fiona Ma’s office – we met with them and her office started writing up the bill which Ted Lieu came to introduce.
*California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
**National Association for Research & Therapy of Homosexuality
***Board of Behavioral Sciences

What was your motivation throughout your involvement?

DOC: Magic is the art of changing consciousness at will. Therapy and activism are ways of doing magic. Good therapy can save lives; bad therapy can destroy them. LGBTQ youth should not be subjected to therapy that really is professional bullying. Lives are at stake here.

What was the lowest point in your work on Bill 1172 and how did you prevail?

At the beginning, it looked like CAMFT — which is very powerful — was going to oppose it. This brought back all the pain of fighting with CAMFT about marriage equality and shifting that association  to seeing homophobia as the disorder, not homosexuality. We had to put pressure on them — again — to do the right thing. Eventually they did, as so many other mental health associations supported it right out of the gate.

What was the highest point in your work on Bill 1172?

 Waking on the morning after the harvest full moon to find out the Governor had signed it. I still am crying about this victory.

Do you feel that as a pagan you have a moral responsibility to work on causes like Bill 1172?

I believe that Love is the Law. Working towards a world where this is upheld is my responsibility as a Pagan. My being a Pagan and a therapist are very integrated for me. My work is to be an agent of change, both in the therapy room and outside it. Working with Gaylesta has been very good integration of this for me.

Do you believe that anyone who follows the Witch’s Rede (That it harm none, do as thou wilt) implies a moral responsibility to uphold the rights of all human beings?

 Yes, I would hope so!!!! This is putting the Rede and the Charge of the Goddess into action. There are many ways to change the world for the better. The trick is finding the way you personally can do this. I feel blessed to be an activist in my chosen profession. And, it fits perfectly with my spirituality. It is simply the work I am meant to be doing.

 

Jalen VanderYacht reporting, Pagan Newswire Collective Bay Area

Editor’s Note:  Jalen VanderYacht is the former (and last) student director of the GLBT Center at UC Santa Cruz.

 

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Yeshe Rabbit and the Campaign against Rape Culture

September 1, 2012 in Pagan Leaders, Politics, Uncategorized

On August 23rd, 2012, Yeshe Rabbit Mathews, Local High Priestess and co-owner of the Sacred Well in Oakland, launched a campaign on her blog, Way of the Rabbit, to stand up against “rape culture” asking men for their help in the struggle.  In her blog post, titled Overcoming Rape; Men, We Need Your Help, Yeshe Rabbit wrote,

Men (and I mean all who identify with the masculine here), I invite you to do something simple that will make a world of difference in this debate. It is easy, it is a good start, and it will make a powerful statement.

“I stand Against Rape in person and at the polls” – Ivo Dominguez, Jr

In the campaign men are encouraged to take a photo of themselves holding a sign that states “I stand against rape, in person and in the polls” and post this photo on social media outlets to make a statement about sexual crime. Many people participated in this call to the community immediately, including well known Pagans such as Jason Pitzl-Waters, Teo Bishop, Ivo Dominguez, Jr., David Salisbury and Devin Hunter.

As this blog request went viral and pictures were being posted on facebook and twitter, Pagan Newswire Collective Bay Area spoke with Yeshe Rabbit to ask questions about her motivation and thoughts around this movement.

Question:

What inspired you to write this blog and call for this picture response regarding, what you refer to as, “rape culture”?

Answer;

 Rape culture is the complex of social and institutional beliefs/behaviors that normalize rape as an unavoidable, and in some cases even acceptable, part of life. It is difficult to pin down exactly what constitutes rape culture, as it involves many different facets, including but not limited to social jokes about rape, depictions of rape in music and the media as titillating or exciting, tactical military approval/encouragement of rape as an act of war, coercive legislation around what constitutes rape, stigmatization/blaming of rape survivors, and widespread silence about rape.

Have you ever been in a social conversation where someone mentions rape? Responses I have seen range from general discomfort and avoiding eye contact, to jokes, to a few trite phrases being tossed out before someone quickly changes the subject, to awkward silence, to comparison of war stories, to violent impulses being expressed, to people saying things like “She just wants attention”…and more. Try it. Say the words, “I would like to talk about rape and what it means in our society,” in as social conversation, and watch how people react. That can be the beginning of your own investigation into what I mean when I say “rape culture.”

Todd Akin’s gross misinformation about the scientific nature of pregnancy as a result of rape is one example of rape culture we have seen recently. Paul Ryan’s proposed legislation to ban federal funding for abortion, even in the case of rape or incest, is part of rape culture. Todd Smith, a GOP senatorial candidate in PA, who asks us to “put ourselves in the father’s situation” even in cases of rape, is part of rape culture. Several state-level restrictions on abortion, up to and includingVirginia’s state-sanctioned rape in the form of mandatory internal ultrasound even in cases of rape or incest, is part of rape culture. I could go on. There is so much more than this. But I think from these recent examples, you can see why I feel an increasing urgency around this topic.

According to the police reports (and the official numbers should be critically evaluated, as many, many rapes go unreported, because silence and a sense of futility are part of rape culture) the largest number of rapes in this country originate with men and are perpetrated upon women. Men are also targets of rape, as well as individuals who choose not to identify by gender, and women are also perpetrators of sexual assault in some cases. But my focus right now is on the largest demographic, which is still men raping women. Part of rape culture is that women, vulnerable individuals, are told not to get raped, instead of men being told, not to rape.  I believe we really need more men to stand up and say to women, vulnerable individuals, in a public and accountable way, “I stand against rape,” and to educate each other about the need to end rape and rape culture. I don’t think I am being overly negative when I admit that, after thousands of years of rape being normalized in various cultures despite women’s fervent outcry against it, men don’t appear to really hear the message from women alone.

While I see many women stepping forward in outrage around the ways that rape culture is currently being normalized on the political playing field, I do not see as many men taking up the charge against it. I don’t think this is because all men don’t care. Some men don’t care. Some men will say, “Well, I’ve never raped anyone, so why is it my problem?” But there are a lot of men who know that they are needed in this fight. I just think that many sensitive and aware men do not know how to enter the dialogue. So, instead, they say nothing, which means they get lumped in with those who are silent because they don’t care. Silence is part of rape culture and it harms us all. I launched this campaign to invite self-identified, aware men to actually stand up and enter into the conversation about rape and rape culture in a visible way. I don’t see these photos as the be-all, end-all of the conversation. They are merely the opening of a door. And they send a big message of visibility and alliance.

 

“I stand Against Rape in person and at the polls” – Teo Bishop

Question:

Were you surprised by the response?

Answer:

 I have been surprised by two things:

1) How quickly men have responded to this; literally leapt to the charge. In 24 hours there were 50 photos. And every day there are more photos. It’s great to watch them roll in! They are creative. They are serious. I love to look at the men’s faces as they take their stand: they mean it.  Many men have added their own statements and sentiments, such as “I am a PROUD feminist,” and “Rape jokes are NEVER funny. Ever.” I have been reposting the photos on my Facebook and Twitter, and also gathering them all onto a single page on Pinterest. You can see them here, even if you don’t have a Pinterest account: http://pinterest.com/yesherabbit/i-stand-against-rape-in-person-and-at-the-polls/ It is really inspiring to see all the photos together. One man made a youtube video, here: http://youtu.be/J5JprwrTji8

2) There are men who have said they will NOT participate because they seem to think the project won’t actually help destabilize rape culture. For my part, I know that dozens of women have written to me saying how healing it is to see these photos, to know that there are, in fact, men who are willing to be publicly vocal and accountable around this issue. There are men who have come out about their own rape stories and spoken up against the stigmatization of rape victims of all genders. There are actually men, friends of project participants, who have made rape jokes in the comments sections of some of the photos, thus revealing their own participation in rape culture, and others who have then stood up and said, “Hey, that is not OK.”  To me, this visible dialogue is progress. There is less silence around this issue from the male sector of the population than there was a week ago. So, who can really say it ISN’T helping? I see it helping already. Of course there is more to be done. But why wait for another time or set of circumstances to enter the dialogue, when it is actually relevant on so many levels right now? Will silence, instead, help? Has it helped yet? I think not.

Question:

What would you like to see from the Pagan community around this particular political issue?

Answer:

It’s up to so many more than me to determine how we, as pagans, will deal with the issues of rape and rape culture. I truly think that pagans, as one of the most innovative and fastest-growing spiritual demographics in the country, can be leaders in this dialogue. My wishlist for how the pagan community critiques rape culture includes:

- to see more pagan men leading by example and participating in the visual dialogue of this project

- to see pagans of all genders being vigilant in holding the line against rape in our own communities by engaging in safety practices, public conversations to raise awareness, and creating spaces of support for all who have been victimized

- to see pagans stop, immediately, saying “boys will be boys” as a means of excusing behaviors of violence in young men. That rhetoric becomes increasingly dangerous as boys get older. They are basically being told they have urges they cannot control, and that this is just part of their nature. This is untrue and damaging for all of us.

- for us to consider how rape culture has in some cases found its way into Trad and Coven Initiations, Festivals, and other places where we gather, and to keep dialogue and accountability open around that issue.

- for pagans to critically analyze the myths of deities that include rape, to investigate rape in the context of the cultures where it arises in myth, and to write about their own perspectives on the topic

- for pagans to hold politicians accountable for how they promote rape culture in public policy. It is my sense that the same people who would strip women of bodily rights would also strip all of us of our religious freedoms, if they gain enough leverage.

“I stand Against Rape in person and at the polls” – Jonathan’s picture for the campaign

 

Crystal Blanton reporting, Pagan Newswire Collective Bay Area

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Transgendered Inclusion at PSG; Humanizing the Experience on Both Sides

June 28, 2012 in Events, Politics

photo by Crystal Blanton

On Wednesday, June 20, 2012, Pagan Spirit Gathering hosted  ”A Dianic Women’s Ritual for the summer solstice” specifically for “women who bleed, will bleed or have bled our sacred bloods”, bringing up issues previously discussed at Pagan events around transgendered inclusion in gender specific rituals.
Pagan Spirit Gathering (PSG) is one of the largest and longest running Pagan festivals in the United States.  Centered in the Mid-West, this festival has been known for its focus on community and rites of passage throughout its time.  Rev. Selena Fox and Circle Sanctury are known for putting on a festival full of a variety of rites and opportunities for the community to experience.
This year the festival participants experienced their own version of this ongoing controversy that have been happening at Pagan festivals around the struggle for transgender inclusion in rituals versus the stance of Cis-gendered rituals at Pagan festivals.  The past two years at Pantheacon we have seen this same conversation play out in live action among the festival participants, resulting in the silent meditation that happened outside of a “women born women” ritual to stand against hate speech.
The experience at Pagan Spirit Gathering appeared to take a different tone, one that Selena Fox referred to as an “experiment in cooperation”.  During the press conference at PSG, Selena Fox referred to the idea that there did not have to be a decision made to exclude one type of ritual or another but to co-exist in cooperation with all sides.
Melissa Murry, a transgender woman, read a letter in the PSG morning meeting after the previous night’s woman’s ritual, expressing her pain from being excluded from the rite.
“Sisters, Brothers, Tribe,
Today I rise as a woman and ask you to bear
witness to my pain. As a tribe any wound, is
inflicted on all of us. My pain today is caused
by my exclusion from the main woman’s
ritual; it flows from an event occurring in the
very community where we all expect to find
acceptance, love and understanding.
Yesterday I stood invisible, excluded and in
tears as a result of this exclusion.
Today I do not seek easy answers, there
are none, I do not seek protest or debate,
only the acceptance of my community and
acknowledgement of my pain.
Today I ask you to understand that as a
trans woman, I stand within the ocean of
love that is PSG: My only call to my sisters
and brothers is to be included in what we all
enjoy as a community: acceptance, love, and
understanding.”

Numerous discussions, support and outlets were opened immediately after the morning meeting.  There were moments of seeing Ruth Barrett, a Dianic High Priestess, in deep discussion with Murry.  Barrett and Murry presented, in a later morning meeting to the PSG community, an intent of possitive discussions and cooperation.  This presentation to the PSG community was applauded by the audience and Murray and Barrett stood hand in hand as a sign of mutual respect.

Photo by Crystal Blanton

Pagan Spirit Gathering made an announcement that a official meeting with Pagan media would take place after Saturday’s morning meeting to discuss the direction that the community of PSG wishes to go.

The two hour press conference included agreements from both Barrett and Murry to support the rites of one another and to help the process of creating transgendered mysteries for the future of PSG events.  Murry volunteered to stand guard for the blood mysteries rites and Barrett said the same about the transgendered mystery rites.  Upon Murray’s statement of the importance of the blood mysteries, Ruth Barrett showed tears and intense emotion that illustrated the layers of pain that this conflict have tapped and the sheer importance that this issue has for all parties.  It was a genuine face to the issue that has not always been displayed in other leaders.

Photo by Crystal Blanton

Pagan Spirit Gathering made a commitment to review policies in support of the spirit of cooperation and respect.  Melissa Murry made a commitment to explore the development of transgendered rites for Pagan Spirit Gathering and Ruth Barrett committed to support Murray in the process.  The conference ended in hugs and tears, showing an investment in the outcome.
 What Murry, Barrett, Selena Fox and the PSG community have done for the collective Pagan community on this issue is still to be seen but the PSG community appeared to benefit from the tone that was set at this year’s festival.  Regardless of how incidents like this will affect the upcoming festivals approach, the humanizing of this issue that Murry did for the transgender community and Barrett did for the blood mysteries community showed real people behind the debates and arguments.

Photo by Crystal Blanton

Crystal Blanton reporting for Pagan Newswire Collective Bay Area

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Green Festival – San Francisco – November 12-13, 2011

November 15, 2011 in Environmental issues, Events, Pagan Leaders, Politics

This last weekend the Green Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary at the Concourse Exhibition Center in San Francisco. The festival was sponsored by Global Exchange and Green America.Global Exchange: “Global Exchange is a global human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice since 1988.

We’re changing the rules across the globe from a profit-centered global economy to thriving people-centered local economies; from the politics of greed to a living democracy that respects the rights of workers and nature; and from currency to community. 

Our holistic approach reaches thousands of members and supporters, through educating the U.S. public about root causes of injustice and the impacts of U.S. government policies and corporate practices. We inspire change by building people-to-people ties, engaging grassroots education for action and linking social and environmental movements.

We are based in San Francisco, CA and are membership sustained” Green America: “Green America is a not-for-profit membership organization founded in 1982. (We went by the name “Co-op America” until January 1, 2009.)

Our mission is to harness economic power—the strength of consumers, investors, businesses, and the marketplace—to create a socially just and environmentally sustainable society.

Our Vision – We work for a world where all people have enough, where all communities are healthy and safe, and where the bounty of the Earth is preserved for all the generations to come.”It is reported that over 40,000 people attended the two day Green Festival.  The event completely filled the Concourse Exhibition Center -  a 125,000 square foot pavilion.  Divided into specialty areas the festival  included: The Main Stage, Ben & Jerry’s Community Action Pavilion, Fair Trade Pavilion, Sustainable Home and Garden Pavilion, Green Business Pavilion, Green Kids Zone, Acoustic Café, DIY Demo Area, Organic Beer & Wine Garden, Sierra Club Green Cinema, and a coaching area.  Each area featured hourly programming throughout the event.

Hundreds of Green Organizations and businesses had booths in the exhibition spaces.  Among the groups were the Festival Partners : “Partners are companies that have have passed the Green America screening process for leadership in social and environmental responsibility and have earned the Green America Seal of Approval for their commitment. Focused on business as a tool for positive change, these values-driven, green business leaders are committed to sustainable practices.” Some of these groups are known as Corporate Innovators. One ”innovator” which had the largest chunk of exhibit space was Ford Motor Company.  They are introducing a new line of all electric and hybrid vehicles: ”Ford Motor Company is a global automotive industry leader committed to creating sustainable automobile solutions for everyone. By 2012 Ford will be expanding its vehicle lineup to include five new electric vehicles, including next generation hybrids, a plug in hybrid and a full electric vehicle.” At the  main stage the program began on Saturday with “The Power of Plants: Discovering the Benefits of a Plant-based Diet. The panelists included Jack Norris, RD. , Dr Michael Klaper, M.D., Coleen Holland,  Jeffrey Smith, and Eric Tucker  It was moderated by Jeff Golfman – the “Cool Vegetarian“.All of the food at the festival was vegetarian and mostly vegan.

This was followed for the rest of the day by Laura Flanders, John Perkins, Frances Moore Lappe, Rev. Lennox Yearwood, Jr., Anuradha Mittal, Jeffrey Smith, and Alicia Gravitz – Executive Director of Green America.

Sunday’s program began at noon with a rousing and well attended presentation by the award winning  journalist - Amy Goodman. Her presentation did not  focus much on environmental issues specifically.  Mostly she shared concerns about human rights by telling stories of individual people and strugles.  She spoke about the Troy Davis execution held recently in Georgia, an East Timor Massacre story, her personal experience of the life and death Ken Saro-Wiwa in Nigeria, and her recent interview of an Occupy Oakland demonstrator. These were stories of ordinary people who took a stand, “spoke truth to power,” and made a difference.  Though her examples were not about environmentalists, she elucidated the connections between human rights issues and environmental degridation.

Later on Sunday there was a presentation by Mark Hertsgaard.  He briefly touched on some environmental issues such as  Climate Change.  He spent more time stressing the importance of the “Occupy” movement, and what it could mean to the political process: 

 ”The bursting to life of the Occupy Wall Street movement is the most hopeful development in American politics since Barack Obama was elected president three years ago this month. Obama’s election has turned out to be largely a false hope. But that false hope might still be redeemed – and the president motivated to become the reformer he once pledged to be – if the Occupy movement grows into the kind of massive, broad-based, relentless movement no president can afford to ignore.”  

He also talked quite a bit about the recent environmentalist victory in the decision to pospone Keystone XL Pipeline project. 

His new book is Hot: Living Through the Next Fifty Years on Earth.

The festival came to a close on a Pagan note with a presentation and ritual by Starhawk and the Spiral Dance Chorus and Band.  As others did, Starhawk spoke about the “Occupy” movement, and  explored “Occupy’s ‘ conection to environmental concerns. 

 She examined  the “General Assembly” consensus based governing process currently being used by the movement. Pointing out that it was early in the organization process, she referred to mistakes being made: 

“We could have changed the world ten times over if we didn’t have to do it together with other people: those irritating, self righteous, controlling, fluf brained, clueless idiots who are our friends and allies.  We can do better. Learn to create nurturing group structures, deal with difficult people, and embrace constructive conflict.” 

These ideas are drawn from Starhawk’s new book – The Empowerment Manual.  She  wrote An Open Letter to the Occupy Movement: Why We Need Agreements  to offer help to the movement:

“Just as we call for accountability and transparency, we ourselves must be accountable and transparent. Some tactics are incompatible with those goals, even if in other situations they might be useful, honorable or appropriate. We can’t be transparent behind masks. We can’t be accountable for actions we run away from. We can’t maintain the security culture necessary for planning and carrying out attacks on property and also maintain the openness that can continue to invite in a true diversity of new people. We can’t make alliances with groups from impacted communities, such as immigrants, if we can’t make agreements about what tactics we will employ in any given action.”The next Green Festival will be  on Earth Day Weekend, April 21-22, 2012, in New York CityFor more photos of this event please see my flickr group.

Greg Harder for PNC Bay Area

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32nd Annual Spiral Dance

November 1, 2011 in Events, Pagan Groups, Politics

On Saturday, October 29th the Reclaiming Collective put on the 32nd. annual Spiral Dance.  It is and has been one of the largest public Samhain rituals in the country – regularly attracting over 1000 people in attendance.  The ritual is complex and involved  with a complete musical score, a band, a chorus, and many dancers and ritualists. Well over 100 participants are part of the performance each year.  It is a monumental effort to put on such an event year after year. Reclaiming has done this well now 32 times.  Another big part of the Spiral Dance are the many community altars which are always provocative and inspiring. The proceeds from this ritual fund most of Reclaiming’s community work for the rest of the year.

Each Spiral Dance is a complex and time consuming endeavor.  Planning for the next year’s Spiral Dance begins almost immediately after the previous ritual is over.  There are many community meetings and rehearsals through out the year that make each performance happen.  It takes more than a “village.” I would say that it takes a city to do this. With that introduction let me give my personal thoughts on this year’s performance.  I felt that the overall tone of the ritual was a bit more somber than in years past.  Starhawk gave two presentations, and in each her tone was serious.  She talked about the Occupy movement and the difficult times people are facing. Then later she discussed  the controversy involved in invoking the Fey.  They can be tricksters that can cause disruption and havoc. She stated that we may need a bit of this to shake up the status quo.There are always somber parts of the ritual such as reading the long list of each year’s dead.  Other parts have a celebratory almost carnival atmosphere.  This year the celebration seemed toned down.  In previous years there have been aerialists and trapeze performers, extremely elaborate costumes, and elemental invocations involving 50 people or more.  This year there seemed to be less of all of that.  Some of the invocation performances were very well done such as this year’s invocation of mothers and babies. Others had fewer participants and were not quite as well conceived. 

The chorus sang a new upbeat version of the “Isis, Astarte. Diana, Hecate…” song, but they were in the bleachers  in the dark at the back of the room, and all the lighting was on the circle in the center without much going on there.  People were looking around to try and see the musicians.  I think it would have been better to bring the chorus out to the center to sing the new song.  I am aware that could be an additional audio tech problem, but it would have been worth it.

The Spiral Dance has always been an edgy ritual involving controversial themes, nudity, cross dressing and provocative costuming.  This years performance had no nudity that I saw, and seemed to be rated PG in its presentation.  I miss the old “Pagan in your face” attitude of previous year’s performances.  Community participation was also somewhat muted. In past years it seemed that the Spiral Dance was a good reason for everyone to dress in costume, paint faces and bodies, and be obviously Pagan for the night.  This year as I went around the room I saw mostly dark colored street clothing on attendees.  I hope that this is not a trend that will continue. The Spiral Dance is a participatory ritual in which everyone plays an important part. If people are going to come and just watch some of that community magic goes away.

The community altars were interesting and provocative as always, but I found that I missed the themes of previous years alters as well.  First, there was no alter to the military dead as there has been for the past few years.  I know that Reclaiming is a peace oriented group that opposes US policy, but not remembering the thousands of young people killed is an omission that is troubling. There were fewer ethnic altars such as a “Dia de los Muertos” altar, or an African themed alter, or Native American themed presentation.  All of these things have been well done in the past but were missing this year. 

Some of the alter presentations I am not sure what the creators were trying to say.  There was no written program handed out this year, and some alters had no titles.  One alter had a group of knives and swords stuck in it with a violin and a musical score on display.  Was this about music and aggression?  I am not quite sure.  The North altar is always the largest and most elaborate.  The late Judy Foster of Reclaiming and NROOGD, and Beki Filipello of NROOGD always worked on this altar in the past.  When they were alive they made sure the altar had many photos and personal items from  members of the community who passed.  The whole purpose was to present pictures and displays of the people we have lost – “what is remembered lives.”  I saw one picture of Judy, none of Beki, and very few others.  People in the community should step up and honor those of us who have passed better than this.  We should all bring pictures and stories to help revive this tradition of the North alter in the future.A good example of how this should be done was this year’s alter to the memory of Beth Saunders Stanford  - a founding member of Reclaiming who died in Feburary. It was very well conceived, and I believe her son and husband put it  together with the help of  M. Macha NightMare.I would have thought there would have been an alter on the subject of Permaculture.  This is and has been one of Starhawk’s most important causes to which she is dedicated, yet there was no presentation of this at all.  The only nature or food related theme that I observed was excellent altar dedicated to bees.I hope that some of the trendsseen in this years ritual were just aberations, and do not reflect a loosing of intrest in Pagan consiousness and creative expression.  Because the Spiral Dance is such a large community event,  it  can reflects the pulse, so to speak, of the overall community. I hope that that pulse is not skipping a beat.   Samhain is a timeof looking to the future and new beginnings.  Let us see ourselves as re-energised and working to build a stronger and inclusive Pagan culture.  As they say in the Spiral Dance – “Let it begin now!”To see more photos of Spiral Dance 2011 - please go to my flickr page.

Greg Harder for PNC Bay Area

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The New Media Revolution – Bioneers Conference Workshop

October 26, 2011 in Environmental issues, Events, Politics

Bettina Grey, Chair of the North American Interfaith Network and film maker, is no neophyte to media production.  She has produced films and interviews with many of the World’s foremost religious leaders including the Dali Lama.  Most recently we worked together in Australia’s Parliament of the World’s Religions producing live feed coverage of that event in cutting edge technology

Rachael Watcher

From Bettina Grey

“The New Media Revolution and Political Expression” workshop was very interesting and made all the more so because of a mix up in room assignments.  For the first 45 minutes only Steve Katz, the panel facilitator,  was there from Mother Jones.  He wisely plunged right into audience questions — asking the audience what he would have asked the panelists and getting some quite interesting answers.  Ironically this was a metaphor for the topic itself.  The media revolution is an intensely international level, democratic, leveling process which is full of exciting opportunities and considerable pitfalls as well.

Among the exciting opportunities were the obvious — the ability to exchange direct information person to person, group to group leaping over the earlier boundaries and gate-keepers.  One example Steve Katz gave was that Twitter has revolutionized the way journalists do stories.   They start with twitter feeds in collecting the stories and information.  Then develop the story in greater detail when and as needed.  He commented that this was just the inverse of the way journalism had been done when he started in the 1970′s.  He strongly recommended that everyone in the audience get and use Twitter for information updates.  Twitter is “where other journalists hang out.

 “Retweeting is a very efficient way to move a story through social media.”

Another example (which Greg Harder, the Editor of the Bay Area PNC,  also commented on to me in the break) is the use of Google Earth to collect data and verify clear cutting of forests and be able to prove the extent of damages which were being denied.  In the past access to that information was controlled and very difficult to confirm.  It is now available to anyone with a computer and the will to investigate.  Mining data has become the major challenge.

The flip side, and second major challenge of the digital media revolution is the reliability of sources, and the impact of digital surveillance for either commercial or political ends.  Before the panelists arrived Steve asked the audience how they saw the known digital snooping –  tracing of online activity.  The new “siri” on iPhone — phones home to Apple keeping a record of what is being asked, both Google and Facebook track the user’s online viewing.  Google’s algorithm creates a feedback loop that prevents viewers from seeing new material since it delivers information based on past viewing habits.  Suggestions to correct these ranged from making use of “private browsing” available in several web browsers, using a web browser dedicated to only viewing facebook and a second web browser for all other online browsing or making use of “https everywhere” software from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (“defending your rights in the digital world.”)  Panelist Nora Barrows-Friedman, journalist-photographer, commented that, “of the various ways of exchanging information, mobile phones are the least secure.”

One of the areas that was not discussed at all is the new access to broadcast media via free video webcast and internet conferencing.  That was my disappointment with the area of discussion.  The focus was almost entirely on print/text journalism and its political implications.

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The Choir and Beyond: The Dual Role of Environmental Media – Bioneeers Converence workshop

October 26, 2011 in Environmental issues, Events, Politics

“The Choir and Beyond: The Dual Role of Environmental Media“  was moderated by Steve Katz of Mother Jones. The four panelists all had video/audio/music production expertise. One was  Kim Spencer, Chief Content Officer for Link TV.  Unfortunately the direction of the conversation did not veer toward the technical “how to” of new media much so I didn’t hear from them the kind of content I would have liked but in all fairness, very few in the audience would have wanted that kind of technical discussion.

The description of the session states: “The U.S. environmental and social justice movements lack a choir — and need one. At the same time, it’s imperative to reach beyond the choir.”  

This session explored how communication and media can reach a larger segment of viewers.  Unfortunately too much of it was the same old rhetoric of us vs them polarization — a political polarization fixation!  Had I the opportunity to comment I would have said that drawing a larger circle by finding common goals and motivations might help.

 A perfect example of this “larger circle theory” is the story of how a representative of the Land Institute in Salina Kansas found that while talking about global warming did not motivate a local conservative Kansas community to make changes in their energy conservation habits, talking about caring for the earth and becoming energy independent as a nation was much better received and accomplished the same end goals.  The community’s energy conservation went up measurably after the focus of the discussion shifted to goals the participants shared.  She found that her target audience cared about the environment as a part of their Christian commitment to “God’s creation.” And politically they agreed with the concept of becoming energy independent.  This kind of re-work which allows for a broader buy-in from many different parties was not, unfortunately, part of the session discussion.

Bettina Grey for PNC Bay Area

Bettina Grey, Chair of the North American Interfaith Network and film maker, is no neophyte to media production.  She has produced films and interviews with many of the World’s foremost religious leaders including the Dali Lama.  Most recently we worked together in Australia’s Parliament of the World’s Religions producing live feed coverage of that event in cutting edge technology

Both Bettina and I had hoped that more emphasis and exploration would have been spent on the newer technologies that would have allowed such a conference to have occurred virtually without the heavy carbon costs of bringing 5000 people together in one place.   All of the plenary sessions were recorded and are available to any interested party at a cost, and many are absolutely fascinating.  However that doesn’t reduce the initial cost.

The Bioneers also has a “Beaming Bioneers” program which allows groups to watch a live feed of the plenary presentations from a distant location.  No workshops were given on offering this technology, nor was there a discussion of its relative merits, or how to presentations of whether this might be a viable means of holding such conferences in the future.   We were somewhat disappointed and can only hope that the Bioneers continue to explore this technology and decide to share the environmental benifits at some future date.

R. Watcher

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Occupy Wall Street brings awareness and activism to the Bay Area.

October 10, 2011 in Environmental issues, Events, Pagan Groups, Pagan Leaders, Politics, Uncategorized

On September 17th citizens from all over the world flocked to Zucotti Park in New York (formerly Liberty Plaza Park) in peaceful demonstration against America’s current economic and capitalistic policies which protesters say favor big-business and privatized corporations over the rights of middle and lower class citizens. The protests come at a time of political, social, and economic upheaval in the Middle-east and parts of Europe.

Although these demonstrations began on September 17th much of the coverage of this historic protest was limited to small and independent news organizations and it was not until nearly two weeks after the beginning of the movement that main stream media began to cover the story. Now, more than 70 cities have joined the movement, including San Francisco, San Jose, and L.A. being one of them.

Activism has long been a theme among the neo-pagan movement and as this movement expands pagans are beginning to see this as another cause that both represents pagan environmental concerns as well as the echo of economical sustainability issues among the lower and middle classes. Jenya T. Beachy, Santa Cruz teacher and community leader, has seen these concerns first hand;

“I have friends who are struggling at the poverty line. One of my dearest sisters has two kids and has been on public assistance for years, while holding a steady job (or two or three) all the time. She works in the ‘caring professions’, as a teacher and a skilled care-giver and yet, for at least 10 years she’s not been able to make ends meet. And she’s one of the lucky ones, who has friends and family who can help.”

She later goes on to say:

“I feel like this movement is significant to everything! From a spiritual perspective, it is a crashing open of doors which have kept people contained for years. The expansion that can result of this kind of liberation of energy is dramatic.”

Adbusters, the Canadian organization responsible for the start of the protests released a statement on their website containing thirteen demands of the movement, which they now are referring to as “The Sovereign People’s Movement.” Each demand directly challenges Congress and American economic leaders to free-up funding for universal health care, education, and environmental policy changes. Many pagans, including Bay Area author and counselor Crystal Blanton, feel these concerns mime those of many deeply rooted pagan spiritual beliefs:

“This movement is of great spiritual and social significance to Pagans. As a minority religion, we are a part of fighting for the rights of all minorities and movements that support equality. When a voice is denied to one it is denied to all and we should always feel an investment in the movement of any group that is pushing for the right to survival. Every movement that pushes for acknowledgement of the needs of their community is simultaneously fighting for the rights of Pagans and other minority voices. Pagans are a part of the 99% and this is something we cannot ignore.”

 Sharon Knight, pagan musician and singer continues to say:

“These demands are definitely in keeping with pagan values as I understand them. We revere nature, so of course we want to protect the environment. We tend to be tribal in nature, which predisposes us to wanting to care for one another. Most of us have a “We’re in this together” mindset. Out of this mindset also comes the desire for everyone to pay their fair share. Ending the wars would make a lot more resources available for accomplishing these other things, not to mention a global “We’re in this together” mindset doesn’t lend itself well to killing each other. I’d say the average Bay Area citizen would feel about the same.”

As the movement continues to grow and raise awareness many pagans are taking to the street and are logging on-line to see how they can help. Jonathan Korman, local community leader, blogger, and member of Solar Cross and the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn has been to the San Francisco protest which is being held at 101 Mission Street.

“ I have contributed supplies to both Occupy Wall Street and Occupy San Francisco, and have visited Occupy San Francisco a few times now, though I did not participate in the 6 October march. I expect to continue to vigorously support both, and I hope to spend significantly more time participating in discussions among Occupy San Francisco participants in the weeks to come.”

Efforts have been made to both send food as well as clothing and other supplies to the occupations in each major city, to find out how you can help follow the link here.

As a result of the now ‘Sovereign People’s Movement’ pagans from all over have reached out by forming their own organization and aide efforts, as well as contacting long term independent political organizations. The Covenant of Columbia, a network of pagan spiritual practitioners have pledged to raise awareness of this issue and any issue related to the movement as well as send a united collection of prayers, energy, spell work, and healing to those in demonstration.

This movement promises to bring awareness to many underlying issues within our social and economical structures. The Bay Area in particular mirrors New York’s own class structure, a collection of rich, poor, immigrant, and migrant and the separation of the classes is seen in the streets of both cities.

“Living in San Francisco confronts one with juxtapositions of class in a way that one does not see as often in suburban America. In an ordinary day — or even an hour — walking around San Francisco one can rub shoulders with well-to-do professionals, hardworking poor immigrants, bohemians both rich and poor, dot-com millionaires, the impoverished underclass, service industry workers just scraping by, and even the stratospherically wealthy. For a while I was working in an office in the same building as Gump’s, a big store which sells beautiful, useless, inconceivably expensive tchotchkes to rich people, yet fifteen minutes’ walk could take me to the charity kitchen under Glide Memorial church in the Tenderloin. I suspect that a similar overlap between rich and poor in everyday life in New York City contributed to the Occupy Wall Street movement beginning there. “

While some politicians such as Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney declare the movement to be “Dangerous” and an act of “Class Warfare”, others like independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders say, “We desperately need a coming together of working people to stand up to Wall Street. We need to rebuild the middle-class in this country and you guys can’t have it all.” Reactions have been just as mixed here in California as the movement arrives and the state’s unemployment rate is at a dramatic 12%.

Korman goes on to say:

“To frame this in Pagan terms: Hermes stands on top of Grand Central Terminal in New York City, cresting a sculpture entitled “The Glory of Commerce;” directly at his back lies the New York Stock Exchange, an institution whose history and spirit descends directly from the agora the Greeks held as sacred to Hermes. I honor Hermes and make an offering to him every day. But a wise Pagan knows that the gods’ purposes differ from our own, and you do not want to live a life of All Hermes All The Time any more that you want to live in Morrigan World or Skaldi World or any god’s domain exclusively. The Pagan sensibility, rightly, sees exclusive devotion to one god as neither desirable nor even truly possible, seeking balance in evoking each god in its time and directed to its proper purpose. So too with market capitalism, a force I respect but wish we had better balanced with its more egalitarian cousins.”

For sure this all promises to be a long a bumpy road and as always PNC Bay Area is dedicated to keeping our community up to date on information as it arrives. Stay tuned as in the coming days we will be covering reactions from local activists from the 60′s and 70′s liberation movements as to how they feel this movement both correlates and deviates from political causes fought in the Bay Area during the height of the peace movement.

Resources:

http://www.sfbg.com/politics/2011/09/28/occupy-wall-street-spreads-san-francisco

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occupy_Wall_Street

http://www.occupysf.org

http://www.occupywallst.org

http://www.sfexaminer.com

Devin Hunter reporting for PNC Bay Area

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Hindu American Foundation Fund Raiser in Cupertino California

September 19, 2011 in Events, Interfaith, Politics

On Saturday evening September 17th, the Hindu American Foundation  held it’s annual fund raising dinner.  Two of the Covenant of the Goddess’s National Interfaith Representatives were there to enjoy the dinner and witness the professional finesse with which this organization handles its only SF Bay Area fund raising drive. 

What makes this event of interest to us as Pagans and Wiccans, is that this religious organization holds so much in common with us, recognizes that connection, and is actually reaching out to us to form bonds of mutual support.   Rather than bore you with a blow by blow description of the evening let me instead mention some of the many reflections that occurred to me. 

The first thing that struck me so forcefully was the repeated mention of PantheaCon and their attendance at that event last year.  Samir Kalra made a point of coming over to join Macha Nightmare and myself prior to the start of the program to introduce himself as the HAF California representative this year.  He wanted to thank us for our presence and mentioned how much he had enjoyed attending the PantheaCon conference.  For those of you reading this who may not have attended the Convention last year, the Pagans and Hindus put on a ritual combining elements of both systems and everyone on both sides seemed to be very happy with the result.  Mihir Meghani, one of the co-founders also present at PCon, even mentioned  it during his main presentation.

I was struck by all of the ideologies, practices and beliefs that we share as the program moved forward. Army Oficer  Rajiv Srinivasan, of Roanoke, Virginia, now a recruitment officer for West Point, spoke of his isolation as a practicing Hindu, in the Armed Forces and how his faith was tested in Afghanistan as a platoon leader almost constantly in harms way.  As a Wiccan myself who was in the military I can very much relate to his feelings of being pressured to attend one of the religious services offered on base on Saturdays and Sundays and, having partaken of mess hall food can only imagine his difficulty in maintaining a vegetarian diet.  Many young pagans have spoken to me of similar issues.

They spoke of the difficulty that their children face in school.  Where Pagan children can sit quietly back and not worry that issues of their religion will arise, Hindu children must face that fact during the fifth and sixth grades here in California when, during Social Studies and World Culture, religions of the world are discussed.  Many of the text books are incorrect in their information on Muslim and Hindu practices and the children must face the decision to correct them, or set themselves up for ridicule from class mates during breaks and after school. To counter this mis-information on the Hindu religion, they have developed their own textbook in partnership with several Hindu scholars and professors which is due to be released in hard back within the next two weeks.

Their Gods, like ours are multiple and complicated and they emphasize the equality of power among genders.  Their practices vary as much as ours, and they respect men and women in modern practice equally.  Within this organization there were as many highly positioned and professional females as males. Many of their spokespersons are women.  

We do also have vast differences between us.  They worship in a congregational manner, with temples and all of the infrastructure that this implies. As I looked around the room I noticed that most of the people in it were Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, or  other very highly paid professionals.  A person at the  table next to us, during the fund raising part of the program, wrote a check for $20,000 without even wincing.  Can you imagine?  A Hindu comedian commented  that if you were an American Hindu male you had only four choices of career, doctor, lawyer, engineer, or failure.   Unlike most Pagans today, they have grown up with and have a deep commitment to their religion that goes back five thousand years over countless generations.  This means that they don’t even have to think about how much they wish to commit to this religion.  It is simply who they are. Many of these still fairly young professional families are donating a year or two away from careers to work full time without pay for this organization.

During the program they spoke about how they came to develop HAF and the plan that they implemented, which is certainly a model that we could all use.  The first step was reaction.  They took immediate action against articles and news reports that were incorrect and set forth to both correct and educate the people and organizations involved.  The second step was pro-action.   They quickly discovered that there was no “go to” place to get accurate information on the Hindu religion and so they set out to let those same people and organizations know about them.   The third step was activism.

This has been reflected in many ways.  They began a program to take back Yoga.  Over the course of many years here in the United State there had been a real effort on the part of health practitioners and the new age movement to play down and separate the practice of Yoga from its religious roots and connected practices.  The program was very successful with great news coverage by all of the major news media.  We received word during the dinner that several of the Lawyers in the room were flying back to Washing DC the next day to attend a congressional hearing on the case of the Hindus in the Kashmir.

There is much that we could learn from this organization and I believe that we will profit from the work that they are doing on behalf of Hindus and Pagans.   As a new religion I believe that Hindus have much to teach us about dedication to a belief, and as an organization I believe that HAF has much to teach us about organizational structure and how to use its members to their best and fullest ability. 

As a final note, all that this organization has accomplished has been done with only four paid staff employees and a budget one tenth the size of any of the comparable major religious organizations out there doing the same work. They raised approximately a quarter of a million dollars last night.  I wish us how to do THAT.

More photos of event

Rachael Watcher for Bay Area PNC

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