2019 has been a great year for the Heathen Visibility Project. Even before I gave my speech on the Project at my local Pagan Pride Day, there was already a lot of momentum building. Many people were joining in with tagging their pictures with the heathenvisibility hashtag. Participants created Instagram channels devoted specifically to heathen visibility, mostly featuring images of altars. My Deviantart gallery for the Heathen Visibility Project mostly featured photos of altars, too, especially at first, but as the Project got rolling I started including more pictures of people. I acquired some new-to-me camera equipment, joined Shutterstock, and got some heathen visibility photos approved for inclusion on their site. Then Pagan Pride Day really gave the Project a boost.
Both the featured major speakers from out of town took photos with the hashtag sign. Pictured above is Oberon Zell with me as I hold up the sign and he holds up a poster of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, which he had at his booth. Selena Fox was in the group photo with the sign after my speech, and she even got the group to yell "Hail the heathens!" for a short video for her Instagram. Having the Project featured on such a big name's Instagram really got the Project a lot of publicity. For a more complete report on Las Vegas Pagan Pride Day, including the group photo with Selena, see my prior post "A Great Time at Pagan Pride Day 2019" here: A Great Time at Pagan Pride Day 2019
I pride myself as being part of a family unit that is not quick to judge people. We have raised the kids to look at the bigger picture, listen to others, do some investigation before judging. Give the person some time to show their true self. When you are quick to judge, you miss out on a potential trustworthy friendship.
Yet, as I write this, I find us judging a young man. And I'm torn.
So I came across this Onion article earlier today that gave me quite the chuckle, and yes, many of my colleagues found it entertaining as well. I love finding tiny bits of levity, especially these days, because it somehow makes everything a little bit better. It's the core reason why Saturday Night Live has been a thing since I was saying my first words.
Full Title: Social Media's Centralization of Online Dialogue Hurts Pagan Culture
What if wildly witchy articles no longer existed? Imagine if only corporate media "Pagan" blogs were available, as milquetoast as the fake Christianity that dominates media to suppress robust, responsible Christians? Paganism tamed!
The more corporate social media centralizes online dialogue, the closer we move to deterioration of Pagan culture and extinction of meaningful online Pagan conversation.
I love social media, but it could devastate Pagan innovation and culture unless we do something. Here's why:
Black Americans discontented with society and Christianity turn to ancestral religions. A look at the reliability question regarding oral histories. And an examination of what Heathenry may (or may not) be "missing." It's Watery Wednesday, our weekly segment about news in the Pagan community. It's all this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
Someone had to test the waters. While there are at least 20 states plus the federal government who have passed so-called “Religious Freedom Restoration Acts,” Indiana’s was singled out because, as Pagan lawyer and blogger John Halstead explains, it expands the definition of “persons” who can be protected and it allows the use of the law as a defense in civil suits. In other words, it gives people and private business owners with religious objections a potential shield to discriminate against the gay community.
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
Erin Lale
Here's another link to a pagan response to the Atlantic article. I would have included this one in my story too if I had seen it before I published it...
