Author: Jennifer Lee

Source: The New York Times

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/candidates-religion-is-point-of-contention-in-queens-race/

Dan Halloran, the Republican candidate for a City Council seat in northeastern Queens, actively practices Theodism, a neo-pagan faith which attempts to reconstruct the pre-Christian tribal religions of the European Germanic people.

While...

Author: Mark O'Brien

Source: News 10

http://www.wten.com/Global/story.asp?S=11416524

While most people know Oct. 31 as Halloween, Pagans call it Samhain (pronounced "SOW-an").

It's an old celebration with Celtic and Gaelic roots as a harvest feast and festival of the dead.

"Samhain has traditionally been a holiday where the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is thinnest," explains Rev. Leigh Dupee of the Pagan...

Author: Samuel G. Freedman

Source: The New York Times

Author: Aaron Burgin

Source: The Press-Enterprise

http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_E_new_witches31.46d6183.html

It might never be easy to be a witch in southwest Riverside County, but it's getting easier, Ivy Lieberman said.

Lieberman, a Lake Elsinore resident, is a practicing pagan and a member of the Murrieta Witches of the Goddess, a pagan group whose membership has ballooned from...

Author: Gregory Zajac

Source: The Maneater Student Newspaper

http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2009/10/27/columbia-pagans-discuss-samhain/

With Halloween less than a week away, several Pagan organizations sponsored an event Sunday afternoon designed to better educate people about Paganism and how Pagans observe it.

"In the general public when I say the word, witch, they think of the media stereotype and the...

Author: Ryan Brooks

Source: The Red and Black Publishing Company

http://media.www.redandblack.com/media/storage/paper871/news/2009/10/26/Variety/Pagan.Festival.Seeks.Tolerance-3812436.shtml

Paganism is a word that carries many different connotations. To some, this is not only acceptable, but is encouraged. 

"One of the things that brings different Pagans...

Author: Jeremy Smerd

Source: Workforce Management

http://www.workforce.com/section/00/article/26/75/37.php

Last Halloween, Gina Uberti took vacation days to celebrate the Wiccan new year in Salem, Massachusetts, the town infamously known for the witch trials of 1692 that ended with the hanging of 14 women.

Less than a month after Uberti took part in the festivities of Samhain, one of the holiest days in the Wiccan calendar, she was...

Author: Melanie Asmar

Source: Colorado Daily

http://www.coloradodaily.com/cu-boulder/ci_13590243

When University of Colorado junior Emma Lee transferred to the state's flagship university this fall from the much smaller Mesa State College, she noticed there was one big thing missing: a Pagan Student Alliance. 

So she's doing the same thing at CU she did in Grand Junction -- starting one from scratch.

"I was shocked and appalled...

Author: Steve Mocarsky

Source: Times Leader

http://www.timesleader.com/news/A_day_for_examining_the_unusual_10-12-2009.html

Standing near Martz Pavilion in Kirby Park, Jay Fink lit afire two pieces of poi fruit attached to tethers and began spinning them through the air to the beat of music.

A fire spinner whose performance was modeled after the Maori poi dancers of New Zealand, Fink, 37, of York, was one of...

Author: Dana Clark Felty

Source: The Ledger-Enquirer

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/251/story/868528.html

For hundreds, maybe thousands of years, forms of paganism reigned over human spirituality.

But after the rise of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the word "pagan" became synonymous with "evil."

Modern pagans want to change that image.

"Paganism is not something to be feared," said Paige McDuffie of Vidalia. "We're just...

Author: Stacey Eidson

Source: Metro Spirit

http://metrospirit.com/index.php?cat=122309084390509&act=post&pid=12350710091689365

Augusta’s first ever Pagan Pride Day held on Saturday, Oct. 3, at the Lake Olmstead gazebo attracted more than 250 people and collected more than 340 pounds of food for It's Spooky to be Hungry.

The festival, which featured a variety of workshops including Wicca 101, Kitchen...

Author: Kelly Jasper

Source: The Augusta Chronicle

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/2009/10/03/rel_550410.shtml

Theoretically, there are two types of witches.

"There are those of us who live in the broom closet and then there are those of us who" are more visible, said Joe Zuchowski, a Wiccan high priest.

A festival, he figures, just might help that.

In actuality, there are several varieties of pagans, a few of...

Author: Ryan Curtis

Source: The Maneater Student Newspaper

http://www.themaneater.com/stories/2009/9/29/columbia-celebrates-pagan-pride-day/

Chanting in a spirit circle as part of their opening ceremony, attendants of the Mid-Missouri Pagan Pride Day summoned the directions, the god and the goddess Sunday.

Outdoor rituals like this are typical of Paganism, a religion based on respect for the earth. These rituals...

Author: Sherrel Jones

Source: The Daily Toreador

http://www.dailytoreador.com/la-vida/annual-pride-celebration-informs-about-paganism-1.1905553

An eclectic group of Pagans gathered Saturday at Clapp Park to raise awareness and celebrate the Pagan religion for the fourth annual Pagan Pride Day.

“Paganism is a blanket term,” said Denise Guinn, co-coordinator for Pagan Pride Lubbock chapter...

Author: Jim Warren

Source: Lexington Herald-Leader

http://www.kentucky.com/964/story/941829.html

The third annual Lexington-Bluegrass Pagan Pride Day is Saturday — and you don't even have to be a pagan to attend the festivities.

Event spokeswoman Susan Kelch says the festival will offer plenty of attractions for everybody — food, music, kids' games, a petting zoo, diviners giving personal readings, vendors, arts and crafts for show and...