Tag: interviews

The Makings of a Priestess – Editorial

Rainbow and Janet Farrar

Rainbow and Janet Farrar

I was able to connect back up with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone after twenty years or so at Heartland Spirit Gathering  last week. I am transcribing over two hours of recorded interviews into something manageable for publishing next week.  Our interview was interrupted by  a personal ceremonial commitment, and so I left them on their own to relax in our merchant booth.

A young lady of eleven, Rainbow, had been working all day for various merchants, doing service and selling what she found to raise money for a small drum for herself.  She started earning by helping me deliver ice as a community service task that morning. She came to the booth frequently to report her fund-raising progress and so returned with a report in my absence that she gave to Janet Farrar.  Just a few dollars short now, Janet took her by the hand and went visiting merchants and shoppers, explaining her young friends plight. Within a few minutes the balance needed for the purchase was secured, and when I returned the drum was purchased, and Rainbow ran off overjoyed. The interview then resumed.

The next day I tracked down Rainbow’s parents for permission for a photo, and I learned more about Rainbow than I knew from the experience the day before. She had announced to her family she was going to get a drum that day, and they had every confidence somehow she would make it happen.  We rounded up Rainbow and took her over to Janet for this photo.  She only knew Janet as that nice lady who helped her, and was delighted to discover she was also a guest of the event.

The interviews next week will include a lot of Pagan history, assessment of the present, and a view of the future. Janet and Gavin have strong views of what it means to be a priest or priestess, to speak with the gods, and where the leaders of the Craft of the future will come from. This selfless aid to help fulfill a young women’s goal illustrated to me a beautiful example of the daily work of a priestess, and the simple experiences that empower a determined priestess of the future.

Watch for the interview series with Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone next week.

Nels Linde

Elder Interviews – Estelle Daniels

Estelle Daniels is a native resident of Paganistan and is interviewing elders in the Pagan Community who attend Earth House Midsummer Gather to get their stories.

 

Earth House Midsummer Gather takes place from June 16-23 at beautiful Eagle Cave campground in Wisconsin, a short 4-5 hour drive from the Twin Cities. It’s a medium sized festival with a definite family feel. This is the 13th year it will take place, and there has grown up a community of Earth House attendees—several of whom are elders with many years festival experience. Estelle will be interviewing some of the elders who attend Earth House to show what a rich variety of people attend the Festival from all over the Midwest. For more information or to register for Earth House, go to earthhousemn.org

This  interview is with elder Rick of Rick’s Cafe, a fixture at many midwest festivals over the years.

Rick S. from Cahokia, Il.

Rick S. from Cahokia, Il.

 

“Good morning Earth House! It’s coffee! It’s hot water too!”

 

That’s the cry of Rick inviting all who would come to his camp for coffee, hot water and great conversation. Everybody goes to Rick’s—in the morning. His coffee is (so I’m told) very good, and the camaraderie in the morning is just what a sleepy camper needs to wake up and face the day.

 

Rick lives outside of St. Louis, across the river in Cahokia—in a subdivision. He does a lot of gardening—vegetables—and does a lot of canning and brewing. He told me the mounds aren’t in Cahokia itself—they are 15 miles up the river. Just so we know.

 

How many festivals have you been to over the years? I don’t know—I started going to Pagan festivals in ’89—went to at least one festival every year since then in Wisconsin—some years two. Then I’ve attended two or three more every year in my local area, in Missouri. The ones in Missouri are more weekend get-togethers run by college students. So that’s at least 23 week long festivals, and 20-25 more for weekend festivals. Then I have also been to many private festivals with friends, these were a meeting of old friends who are magickally inclined. Maybe 8 or 10 of us—close friends getting together to camp and spend time. Many many festivals.

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Pagan Elder Interview by Estelle Daniels

John Stitely

John Stitely

Estelle Daniels is a native resident of Paganistan and is interviewing elders in the Pagan Community in the Midwest who attend Earth House Midsummer Gather to get their stories.

Earth House Midsummer Gather takes place from June 16-23 at beautiful Eagle Cave campground in Wisconsin, a short 4-5 hour drive from the Twin Cities. It’s a medium sized festival with a definite family feel. This is the 13th year it will take place, and there has grown up a community of Earth House attendees—several of whom are elders with many years festival experience. Estelle will be interviewing some of the elders who attend Earth House to show what a rich variety of people attend the Festival from all over the Midwest. For more information or to register for Earth House, go to earthhousemn.org

Rev John Stitely is the current Chair of Earth House. He is originally from Iowa, born and raised there—went to school there and worked as a lawyer there for many years. He has been attending Pagan Festivals for many years and I talked to him about his experiences. I interviewed him about his experiences at Pagan Festivals.

What was the first festival you attended? I can’t really remember—I graduated from Law School in 1987, and I guess summer of ’88 was my first Festival—PSG 88 then. I decided to take the suit off for a week.

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Andras Corban Arthen – Sacred Harvest Festival Guest – Interview

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I can listen to Andras Corban Arthen all day. He has a rich, low voice with the gentle cadence of caring. He has a lifetime of experience in the Pagan community, and the depth of perception and the wisdom of his words keeps you riveted.  He is presenting and performing all next week at Sacred Harvest Festival, near Geneva, Minnesota.  Advance registration closes today, gate registration is available during the event Aug. 6-12th.

Andras Corban Arthen

You are just back from Europe, what were you doing there?

Andras: I go to Europe fairly often, since I have family and friends across the pond (I’m from Spain, originally), and a big part of my work is focused there. This trip served several purposes, the main one being related to a book I am writing, based on one of the presentations I will be doing at Sacred Harvest Festival (SHF) entitled The “Indians” of Old Europe. It looks at the cultures and spiritual practices that were originally called “Pagan” in the context of indigenous traditions from around the world. For over 35 years I’ve been searching for people in Europe who may be keeping alive the remnants of the old ethnic spiritual traditions of their countries, and have found some, both in Eastern and Western Europe, mostly in small, rural, out-of-the-way places where the old languages are still spoken. Most of them do not use the label “Pagan,” though their practices are not Christian and appear to be authentically very old. In some significant ways, they are quite different from what one typically finds in the modern pagan movement, and there are some important things that I think we could learn from them. When I first met these people I hadn’t been planning to publish a book, so before going further with this I needed to go back to touch base with them in person and ask for permission to write about them, their beliefs, and practices. I was able to do that with four of them, and in two of those cases wound up getting more information than I had before, so I’m pretty satisfied on that account.

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Happy Birthday PNC-MN! Two Years of Reporting

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The Pagan Newswire Collective – Minnesota Bureau is two years old!  The Minnesota bureau first posted Community Notes from TCPagans on July 28th, 2010.

So how have we done?

Here are some of the stats for our first two years. We have had over a quarter million page views, averaging 250/day or 4000 -10,000 a month. Twelve of the last 24 months averaged over 7000 readers. On our best day we had over 28,000 readers stop by. We have written 488 posts, an amazing number in two years! We have tripled direct subscribers to 223, added 1800 twitter subscribers and another 750 who follow our Facebook page for posting notices. All of our posts get a fair reading, especially over time. We learned the power of Facebook when one of our top posts went viral on Facebook and we had over 45,000 visits in just a few days. I have to credit Cara for covering many of those stories which skew our stats upward. She has a long background in finding compelling stories that interest Pagans! As the editorial editor, I am really satisfied that over 25 of our editorial articles and interviews have over 500 views. Our content is used as a resource for other news and religious writers across the internet.

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