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| Witchvox Chapter: Wren's Nest News | Chapter Page Views: 54,888,417 |
 Pagans Prepare To Celebrate 8th Annual Autumn Moon Festival In Virginia Beach Author: WTKR-TV3 Source: WTKR-TV3 (VA) Title: PAGANS PREPARE TO CELEBRATE 8TH ANNUAL AUTUMN MOON FESTIVAL IN VIRGINIA BEACH It might not be considered by some a traditional religion but this weekend its followers hope to raise awareness and shatter stereotypes. This Saturday is the 8th annual Autumn Moon Festival celebrating Pagan Pride Day in Virginia Beach. The woman helping coordinate the festival admits she's a practicing witch. She says she's proud of it and there's nothing to fear. Deborah Foley is co-owner of The Mystic Moon. She calls it a working witch-craft store. | |
| Community Thoughts: There are 4 comments posted | Reverse Sort |
| Large Event, And Unlisted Extras | Sep 18th. at 10:32:44 am EDT |
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Terry (Irvington, Virginia) - Email Me One of the challenges of this event is that the park closes at dusk, and the event includes an open circle and drumming into the evening. That means that unofficially, the venue shifts from the area surrounding the reserved shelter space, to the ball field just outside the park (at the East end) . Another challenge is that this event draws too many people for traditional ritual practices to be workable. It's near a main road, between "Robertson Central" and military bases, and so has some traffic noise. With 80 to 150 people joining in the after dusk open circle, and others watching from the outskirts, from the hundreds who've participated earlier in the day, timing and simply being audible to such a large number and physical space imposes challenges not present in common small circle rituals. WTKR is one of the major network affiliates in the Norfolk broadcast market, and so reaches a broad audience for this event. While Debbie did a good job shaping this story (as a pagan shop owner of some years, and host of a large, year round regardless of weather, weekly drum circle) , I'd prefer to see one that doesn't in effect endorse prolific patterns of institutionalized bigotry as if social norms. In the third sentence, perhaps is there a way of hooking audience between than "describes herself as", rather than say "admits she's" (a practicing witch) ? In the tenth sentence, how about, "Within the mosaic our diverse society has become, our spiritual traditions may be less familiar to many than those that advertise or recruit in ways most pagan groups do not"? The hook is a little fuzzy too, even if the overall story is positive compared to many news reports. Anyone care to suggest how this story could be improved and used as a foundation for other pagan event interactions with mainstream media? |
| Interesting | Sep 18th. at 8:01:04 am EDT |
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Happy Wiccan (Shelton, Connecticut) - Email Me good to hear |
| ... | Sep 17th. at 9:16:10 pm EDT |
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Draken (Bronx, New York) - Email Me - Web ...and the local shotgun-toting retarded Pat Robertson followers haven't shut this down yet? I'm genuinely surprised. If something similar to this happened in VA Beach ten years ago (while I was in the Navy and stationed in nearby NAS Oceana) , the local rubes would have ran them out of town. |
| Brave Women Representing Us Well | Sep 17th. at 9:10:58 pm EDT |
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R. Cicero (Seattle, Washington) - Email Me I have but one exception to this singular statement: we are NOT the alternative to the norm. Oh, I know it seems that way, but pardon me while I pump a little sunshine up your butt. Much as I relish the sometimes shadowy, anarchistic and countercultural strains of modern paganism, the plain fact is, if you think about the ethics of all of your actions, and try to act accordingly; if you have respect for flora and fauna beyond the scope of your myopic humanity, and respond compassionately; if you are also unafraid of what is most natural and animalistic in yourself, your sexuality; and, if you think twice about what possible deity forms might metaphorically, or even literally represent this totality in which all life struggles, and seemingly only the purest love triumphs--then, I'd argue that you are in fact a normal, well-balanced human, worthy of friendship, respect and possible breeding privileges. Lucky you! No, the simple fact is, deviance and abnormality are so widespread, that we just kind of stand out. It sounds like an excellent party out at old Virginia Beach. Good luck, kids. |
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