The Latest Media Kerfuffle

When you are a member of a minority* religion (or "race" or gender, for that matter), you come to expect people mischaracterizing your ideas and culture. You expect bigotry and misinformation spread about you. It sadly comes with the territory.

You especially expect to have that bigotry come from people with a specific political agenda, like Fox "News". This is a network that literally invents news that fits its agenda, edits video to make people say the exact opposite of what they actually said, and adds constant right-wing commentary while delivering alleged "news".

So it was no surprise that Fox and Friends, the network's "Wake Up, America! It's a New Day to Hate!" program decided to rant for a few minutes on "Wiccans".



What do I think about all this? As I say, I am not surprised. I am not outraged either, considering the source. Anyone who takes Fox seriously is so far gone that reason will not aid them.

The reason Fox brought up the news item was that colleges are starting to recognize minority religions and our holidays in their academic calendars. The University of Missouri asked professors not to schedule exams on holidays listed on the calendar. It is a win for religious minorities everywhere and people who believe in pluralism and equality. The Fox "News" reaction is some of the expected backlash. It is simply small, scared people who are currently entrenched in power getting mad that others are being given a place at the table. It scares them.

What I am more concerned with is the reaction I see coming from the greater pagan community. Outraged petitions being spread on Facebook (that will not do a thing, as it is falling on deaf ears- Fox itself).

And of course, it was only a matter of time before one of our resident media whores decided this was a great opportunity to get more attention for himself. We have among us "Warlocks" (groan) that use every opportunity to get in front of the camera for personal ego stroking and profit (is it a surprise this dude not only owns stores, but  mentions them in a press release supposedly about media bias? He sells the Craft to the highest bidder and then gets "outraged" that someone else gets to defile us? Puh-lease.)

People like Day make our community look like a bunch of buffoons. (And no, I am not talking about the excessive eyeliner here.) I am far more concerned about how we come across - OUR voices, not the voices of those outside wishing to mock us. People who are constantly posturing and pimping are the ones that we, as a community, need to worry about.

To the non-Witchy world out there reading this: Despite what Day says in his press release- not all Witches are Wiccan, and not all of us act like him (thank the gods). We do not posture and profit from ill gotten gains.

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*When I say minority, I always mean political minority. Women, for example, make up more than half of the world's population- but for the most part have far less political power over their own lives and the lives of others. Same with Muslims and Witches in this country. We are a minority- in population, but when I use the term, I specifically mean political minority.

Interesting Religious News

So the world of religion has never been so busy or fascinating, to my mind. There is so much going on it is hard to report it all (so I don't try)!

The Catholic movement to ordain women continues in full swing, despite the new(ish) conservative backswing that came with Ratzinger becoming Pope Benedict.

(Mostly Christian) seminaries now realize their bad and are now rushing to add interfaith relations into the curriculum. (I can just imagine the old guard saying, "What, you mean we have to live in the world with all those 'other people'?")

The Supreme court of India decides marriages of Hindus to non-Hindus aren't legal. Sigh.

Rather than reaching out to Witches and African practitioners, social services in Britain reaches out to Christians as "more legitimate" in handling "witchcraft abuses". Another sigh. In similar news, another set of attacks on people "practicing witchcraft".

Psychics are real, science says! 

I came across this amazing open letter to transgender pagans. Not news, just awesome and should be spread.

A lovely essay on doing less spiritually, and opening up to simply Be-ing.

"In Chile they managed to have the 31st of October declared a public holiday "to devote it to prayer to the One True God and so preserve it from satanic practices". What they have done in effect is to give all neo-Pagans a free day from mundane work, to celebrate Samhain ;-) For which we duly thanked them in the national media, but not one letter was published." - Andrea Salgado Reyes, on FB

 Great new report is published on women of faith involved in peacemaking around the world.

 Witches of different traditions doing herbalism in NYC. Witchcraft trads from everywhere are being more mainstreamed with news outlets like the NY Times covering everyday witchcraft, like healing.

A great columnist here in SF hits the mark again. He talks of keeping the faith and hope alive in times like these.

Someone that I go to school with wrote a great article: 5 Myths Atheists believe about religion.

Pagan Coming Out Day of sorts, in Australia.

And now for the videos:

A Lakota woman talks about giants:


Hopi people send a love letter to the people of Japan:


Lakota woman talks about Bigfoot:



Two videos on Two Spirit people, one here, the other here:

Gender and Children

The Internet, TV and radio are all abuzz with the story of parents who are not disclosing the gender of their child to the world.



I am not surprised that mainsteam America and Canada are having the reaction that they are (Which range from "Eew!" to "Child Abuse!") But I was even saddened to see that on the Mothering Magazine boards people did not agree with the parents' actions. After all, these are attachment parents (like me!) all over the world, but many of them still hold on the fragile ideals of stereotypical, Western, hyper-emphasized masculinity and femininity.

I have written about this before. It bears repeating: I believe that raising my son with a gender-free agenda for as long as possible is key to him becoming fully human. The only difference between me and that couple in Canada is that I sometimes tell people that Rowan is a boy after they "girl" him, just to mess with their heads. Sometimes I let their mistake slide- after all, it is their gender baggage not mine. We do not have to carry their luggage, if you know what I mean.

I also wrote a bit about gender and raising my son for the Blog Carnival of Natural Parenting this year. I also reviewed a book about raising a transgender kid- a great book for EVERYONE, regardless of how you or your kids identify.

As parents, we have so much influence in our kid's lives. I think we owe it to them to educate ourselves and think before we try and mold them into something that may not suit them. My kid may be transsexual or cissexual (and I will not know for years) or he could be heterosexual, bisexual, or homosexual (and again I will not know right away). He may also like "masculine" or "feminine" pursuits. If I started sending him the message regulating his behavior, gender conformity, and sexuality and he turns out to be something other than what I was socializing him to be- well, that alienates my son from me, hurts his well-being, and makes his life unhappy and harder. As his mom, I love him- no matter what. So we are keeping our options open.

A while back I posted this video of a lullaby that we sing to Rowan almost every night. It bears repeating at this time as well.

Interesting News of Faith and Spirit!

I have been collecting links and videos on other religions, interfaith activities, and the like and want to share them with you. Fantastic articles!

Muslims and Christians, working together:


Atheists asking for a chaplain of their own in the military. I personally support this idea and believe that everyone has the right to ask for help that is of comfort to them and not settle for help that makes them uncomfortable or feel marginalized.

Evangelical Christians attacking Native American faith. Sometimes I wish it was not so easy to point out messed up stuff that specific factions in Christianity do, but they make it so easy.


A new kind of Rabbi. Judaism is evolving and with it, embracing so many that were not before. (As a side note, I find it so interesting that with the Jewish Renewal movement, you see so many Jews returning to celebrations and traditions that only Orthodox folks or mystics were marking for so long).

Queer Voodooisants on the east coast. Voudou, like many faiths, has a place for queerness.

How a sitting practice actually changes the structure of your brain (for the better). Buddhists and other meditation aficionados, take note!

More on the reign of terror in South Africa. Witch hunts are killing people- today, in this day and age. Mostly, American evangelicals are to blame.

Thanks (and some links)!

Thanks to The Pagan Mom Blog for gifting me with this "lovely blog" award! It is nice to be recognized, and so I graciously accept!

All rewards come with a price! The rules for accepting the award are:
1. Post the accepted on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his/her blog link.
2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.
3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they’ve been chosen.

Here are my 15 "lovely blogs":
1. Reproductive Rites
2. Hobo Mama
3. The Witch of Forest Grove
4. The Wild Hunt
5. Peaceful Parenting
6. Womanist Musings
7. Raising my Boychick
8. By My Red Hand
9. The Gods Are Bored
10. Tidings of Comfort and Joy
11. TransGriot
12. You, Me, and Religion
13. Adventures in Witchery
14. Amused Grace
15. Holistic Mama

Also wanted to let you know that Witch Mom has been featured in another interview- this time at the blog Wicked Whimsy. It regularly has a feature called Pagan Paths where they interview people of different paths, and this time- it's me!

Interview with AOL's ParentDish!

Today, an interview with me appeared on the site, ParentDish. It's a large mainstream parenting site that gets readers of all kinds.

I was approached to do this interview after I critiqued their religion and spirituality section (after clicking on it, it contained only Christianity and Yoga!) and an editor contacted me about my comment. After some dialogue back and forth exposing my point of view, I was asked to do an interview and I agreed (as long as they promised not to make me look stupid, which I am glad to report that they did not).

While nothing scandalous or new necessarily comes out in the interview, I am glad for the exposure it gives to regular old witches like myself in this country. I laughed when the tags applied included "weird but true"- it's like a tag for my entire life!

The comments range from fundamentalist (mostly Christian) nut-jobs to normal everyday people who actually think before they speak. Feel free to leave your own comments and take their poll, too!