Source: The San Francisco Chronicle

On March 26, 2002, The San Francisco Chronicle featured an article on "The Pagan Pride Parade, the Bay Area's first ever, [which] more or less coincided with the ancient European pagan festival Ostara... The official theme of the parade was the Return of the Snakes... Snakes represent transformation and healing, especially appropriate in a post-9/11 world... Organizer Micha Dunston said he's heard estimates there are 50,000 pagans in the Bay Area. Their many beliefs were represented at the Berkeley event by, among...

Source: The Seattle Times

http://www.womenofwisdom.org

On February 9, 2002, The Seattle Times featured an article on the Women of Wisdom conference, whose participants are practitioners of "everything from earth-centered and goddess spirituality to Incan shamanic practices... About 2,000 people are expected to attend parts of the eight-day women's spirituality conference at Seattle Unity Church, a nondenominational metaphysical church. More than 90 events are planned, exploring...

Source: Star Tribune

On January 26, 2002, the Star Tribune reported that "reflecting a national trend, Minnesota's small private college students are increasingly interested in religion as an academic study and in seeking private faith answers. This comes after decades of secularization of the colleges, but also shows the new diversity of faiths on every campus... For several decades many small colleges, facing rising costs and tougher competition for students and an increased diversity in student populations, turned away from their close ties with the...

Source: The Houston Chronicle

On January 12, 2002, The Houston Chronicle reported that "a Houston-area witch says in a lawsuit that members of a Unitarian Fellowship program fell far short of their promise to welcome people of all religious beliefs when... they dismissed her... Mary LeBlanc says in a lawsuit filed this week that members of a Unitarian group belittled her disabilities and religion and harassed her to violate her religious beliefs by teaching them secret Wiccan rituals... LeBlanc said she first joined the Unitarian Fellowship... because it...

Original Source: Los Angeles Times

https://newspaperarchive.com/nashua-telegraph-jan-15-2002-p-5/

On January 7, 2002, the Los Angeles Times reported that in Wisconsin, "a state representative from... West Salem is leading a drive to yank funding for Witch's $32,500-a-year post, saying...

Source: Los Angeles Times

On December 21, 2001, the Los Angeles Times reported that during the holiday season of December, "Pagans (of whom Wiccans are probably the most prominent group in America), Druids (derived from Celtic traditions) and others who belong to Earth-based religions will celebrate the solstice as a high holiday called Yule. (The freshly cut yule log is originally a Druidic practice distilled from Norse and Teutonic customs, a wintry counterpart to summertime bonfire celebrations)... 'Yule is really a Norse holiday,' says Liz Guerra,...

Source: The Hartford Courant

On December 20, 2001, The Hartford Courant reported that in Manchester, Connecticut, the "Unitarian Universalist Society's... Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans -- ahead of the popular curve -- has been celebrating winter solstice for a dozen years. This year's event will celebrate solstice in the Norse tradition, using animal totems... For pagans, wiccans and other earth-based religions, the winter solstice marks the start of a new year. The winter equinox occurs when the Western Hemisphere is tilted farthest from the...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com/lifestyle/religion/dec01/6854.asp

On December 20, 2001, The MIlwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "Wiccans and followers of other nature-based faiths across Wisconsin are reaching back to the dawn of time today to celebrate the winter solstice with sunlight, songs, flames, feasts and prayerful reverence... The Wiccan religion has caught the public's attention in recent weeks because of controversy over...

Source: The Deseret News

http://www.deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,355012326,00.html

On December 15, 2001, The Deseret News reported that the "First Unitarian Church of Salt Lake City... will hold its 10th annual Solstice... The Rev. Silvia Behrend said the event is more than just a fun celebration for the church — it is also a religious-oriented event that welcomes the renewal of life... She believes the solstice event can bring additional Christmas meaning...

Source: The Kansas City Star

On December 10, 2001, The Kansas City Star reported that the Gaea Retreat Center is a "170-acre private camp - which allows nudity in certain places and is host to an annual pagan festival - is the first Leavenworth County operation in recent memory that couldn't get its special-use permit renewed... The pagan festival attracts about 1,200 participants. The total number of visitors approaches 4,000 a year... 'I can't think of a time in the four years I've been here that we've denied a renewal,' said county Planning Director John...

Source: The Boston Globe

On December 9, 2001, The Boston Globe reported that "the holiday season means something a little different over at Allston's Ritual Arts store. Every year, as the days grow shorter and the nights colder, the store caters to Bostonians who partake in the ancient, pagan celebration of the winter solstice... Toni Fanning, 45, the store's owner, says that most of her customers draw heavily upon the Celtic celebration of yule. Its traditions echo many Christmas mainstays such as evergreen plants, seasoned wine, and the burning of a yule...

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

On December 8, 2001, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that "in response to the state's hiring of a Wiccan as a prison chaplain, a state lawmaker said Friday that he plans to draft legislation making the percentage of prisoners who practice a certain faith an eligibility requirement to be a chaplain... Rep. Scott Walker (R-Wauwatosa), chairman of the Assembly's Corrections Committee, questioned the wisdom of Waupun Correctional Institution in hiring the Rev. Jamyi Witch of Mount Horeb as one of its two prison...

Source: No source given.

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=20011209&slug=witch09

Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

http://www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec01/witch06120501a.asp

On December 6, 2001, The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel featured an article on Jamyi Witch, the new Wiccan chaplain at a Wisconsin Prison. "Out of 1,200 inmates at the institution, 30 are Wiccan, 400 are Christian, and the rest are either non-religious or practice other religions, including those in the Islamic and American Indian traditions, said Gary McCaughtry, the...

Source: Wisconsin State Journal

http://www.wisconsinstatejournal.com/local/8446.html

On December 6, 2001, the Wisconsin State Journal featured an article on Rev. Jamyi Witch, the new Wiccan chaplain at Waupun Correctional Institution in Wisconsin. "Rep. Scott Walker, R-Wauwatosa, head of the assembly committee that egulates prison, said he was 'offended' by Witch's religion and was looking into whether she had been hired in defiance of the state's hiring freeze... At...