LGBTQ+ Affirming Wicca

September 26, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

The first place to start, of course, is by asking people to speak from within their experiences, and in their position, to give voice to LGBTQ+ spiritual understanding. Beginning, even further back, with finding a language, teaching and learning ritual skills and building a tool kit of ideas, experiences, and techniques that will assist in bringing forward these things. To have a LGBTQ+ accepting spirituality we must have powerful and moving ritual that connects us to the divine through those lenses – ritual is the means through which religion moves in the communities of faith, building meaning together, celebrating our joint understandings. Read more

Liturgy and Ritual

September 24, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

One key activity, the central activity of public temples, is ritual performance. Training in liturgy and the performance of effective ritual is more important than training in theology and the minutia of organization and bureaucracy, more important than training in ethics. This is how we awaken the sacred in all parts of life and all of the stages of life in our activities. Read more

Slice of Life

September 19, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

A slice of life today. This week has been very busy with Witchy things and it is going to continue to be so through this weekend. I’m really delighted by this and hope it keeps up. I'm very involved in my volunteer chaplain gig right now. It's the start of the school year and lots of things are happening! Read more

Temple Publicity and Public Information Tips

September 17, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

Our temples are public, and our ordained clergy are public figures. Temples must all be above board and sensibly organized, headed by competent people who present themselves well. Spokespeople must be clearly authorized and able to say who has authorized them to speak for them – High Priestess IReadABookRavenFart will not be quoted if there is a sensible person who is qualified and authorized to quote instead when the reporter is dealing with an event. Part of clergy training should include dealing with publicity and with the press. Read more

Just the Start of School Again

September 13, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

The academic year has commenced at University of Alberta, where I am the Wiccan chaplain. So, for a week or so ahead of that we chaplains were involved in orientation activities – this is the two week or so window in which we have a chance to connect up with students before they get completely locked into their schedules, before they’ve completely committed themselves to all of the things that they will make time for in the school year. Read more

Bad Examples in Pagan organizing

September 10, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

We learn more from failures than successes. Over thirty-six years as a Pagan I have known many Pagan and Wiccan organizations, successful and not so successful. Lessons drawn from the successes have shaped my temple organization. Negative experiences from various Pagan and other organizations also went into the mix. Read more

Parent Rite of Passage

September 5, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

When a child is born everyone celebrates the child (as they should) but they do not properly mark the parents’ life changes with ritual. The ritual needs to honor the person that the new parents were, but will not be again. The Mystery has reached down and touched them, and their old self, their old identity has died, like a butterfly bursting out of a chrysalis. Read more

Growth and reproduction of Wiccan Temples

September 3, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

Social, personal, and religious transformation cannot be accomplished by maintaining what we have already or relating to our in-groups. We must aim toward growth in numbers and in influence. Groups should be set up to multiply as soon as it is organically feasible and possible. Read more

Affirmation and Sacrifice

August 30, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

The Wiccan understanding of the divine masculine is not the Patriarchal all-powerful ruler of the cosmos. It is the grain god who dies that we may eat, lustful life, death that serves life. It is Trickster, who creates and destroys with one breath, that goblin god, chaos. Read more

Mystery and Personal Growth

August 27, 2018 By Samuel Wagar

The intellect makes sense of an experience or work of art, but it does not make meaning. But religion is in the business of making meaning and ritual performance is first and meaning comes afterward. What is truly meaningful becomes part of life, informing and inspiring action beyond the purely spiritual realm. Read more