Far from stares and jeers, pagans affirm their rites

Worshipers express pride, celebrate harvest at Lakeville festival

Mhorrigan, Shannon Regan, 11, and Michelle Kurker of the Moon Tribe perform a ritual during the Southeastern Massachusetts Pagan Pride Day festival. (Aram Boghosian/Globe Correspondent)

The Reverend Kendra Vaughan Hovey, head of the First Church of Wicca in Duxbury, knows all about cold shoulders, hard stares, and verbal assaults.

Usually, Wiccans, witches, and other pagans worship in small, closeted groups. Hovey's church is one of a handful of such congregations across the United States that offer public sessions.

Opening the doors to what many Christians consider heretical and occult practice also has led to not-so-subtle accusations.

"Many times I've had people say, 'I see through you. You're the devil in disguise,' " Hovey said.

Raised Jewish, Hovey, 41, said the intolerance she experienced as a Jew has helped build a thick skin against prejudice. She says she feels a similar intolerance as a practicing witch in a new religion, which she joined when she was 11.

"It just shows me how far away from understanding and tolerance we really are. It helps me understand their understanding of what we are," Hovey said.

Last Sunday, however, Hovey was surrounded not by hostile naysayers, but by the scent of burning incense, pentacle-wearing warlocks, and hundreds of dancing pagans during Southeastern Massachusetts Pagan Pride Day at Ted Williams Camp in Lakeville.

Hovey was one of several speakers who hosted discussions and workshops on a range of pagan ideas and traditions such as the history of Wicca, rune study, astrological events, and the healing power of chants, singing bowls, and gongs.

Vendors sold healing stones and rocks, ritual candles, jewelry, books, and calendars of witchcraft.

In its 21st-century embodiments, neo-paganism encompasses a multitude of practices and religions that are often characterized by reverence for nature and the cycles of the earth, and often worship male and female deities as equal gods.

Pagan practices include polytheistic and magical beliefs such as Druidism, Roman and Greek mythology, astrology, and holistic healing. Many of these practices were wiped out by the rise of Christianity and such movements as the Inquisition and the Salem witch trials.

One of the festival's organizers, Lisa Butler, a practicing witch who lives in Sandwich, said being accused of devil worship is common, even though most pagans and witches do not practice so-called black arts or believe in the devil.

"We're really trying to dispel the myths and stereotypes that have persisted through TV, movies, and misinformation," said Butler, who wore a white "Pagan Pride" T-shirt.

"Most of us believe in God and do not worship the devil," she said. "Not all pagans are witches, and not all witches are pagans." Witches, she added, cannot transport themselves, or astral travel, from one place to another with a blink of an eye or a crinkle of a nose.

"I haven't yet, but I'd like to," she said.

To some believers in traditional religions, such as Margaret Shatkin, a theology professor at Boston College's Divinity School, the new pagans are missing the point.

"While the earth, moon, sun, and trees are beautiful, they are not God. They were made by God, the one, true, unborn immortal creator," Shatkin said. "As well meaning as many neo-pagans are, they are intellectually in error."

According to Shatkin, the real question is why the Judeo-Christian religions are missing what many pagans are seeking.

For most, the attraction to paganism is concentrated on the love of the earth and nature, and a lack of freedom in more mainstream religions.

Jessica Ryan, 34, of Johnstown, R.I., said she was raised Catholic but she could not agree with many of the teachings and restrictions of the faith and has become a Wiccan.

"When we were little we were taught that God loves everyone, but when we become adults we are taught something else," Ryan said. "It's not inclusive, there are too many restrictions. Here you can be yourself."

Last weekend's festival coincided with the pagan tradition of celebrating the year's three harvests. Next Sunday is the second harvest celebration, and the third is Halloween, or to pagans, Samhain, the end of the pagan wheel of the year.

The Moon Tribe, a group of male and female witches, led attendees in a harvest ritual that included sharing of apple cider and cookies, prayers to a harvest god made of straw, and an intimate and cheerful Spiral Dance.

Those present expressed friendship, love, and good luck on yellow ribbons handed out by organizers that were tied to a faux spider web.

The web and its good intentions are to be burned during the Samhain festival next month.

Last Sunday's event drew more than 250, and organizers blamed heavy rain for a lower-than-expected turnout.

Attendees donated 207 pounds of food for the Community Cares Food Bank in Middleborough and 21 pounds of pet food for the Friends of Taunton Humane Society.

Pagan pride events began in 1998 with the support of Pagan Pride International Project, which promotes and sponsors open rituals around the world during September.

Last September, the organization estimates 100 pagan pride events were held in the United States, Canada, England, Europe, and South America, with more than 30,000 attending.

Trish Telesco of Buffalo, a popular writer on metaphysics and a speaker at the festival, tried to put the event into perspective. She said today's paganism and witchcraft are much different from what was practiced in ancient times and came under deadly scrutiny. "We are just like everybody else," Telesco said. "We have jobs, we are parents, we're soccer moms and dads. We don't steal children, and we don't drink the blood of animals. As a matter of fact, I like gourmet cooking."