The Burden of Liberty

Posted on July 1, 2021June 16, 2025

Fireworks, footlongs, baseball and the beach are the usual order of the day on the U.S. Independence Day holiday. Our philharmonic here in S.C. will accompany lakeside festivities with the usual 1812 Overture, complete with cannon fire. And many will contemplate the years they served in uniform, or supported someone who did. Being in the Bible Belt, no doubt some will pray for our country and sing patriotic hymns. The predominant emotions, though, will be enjoyment of a long weekend and cookouts with friends.

Cherry Hill Seminary serves students and includes faculty from a number of countries, but we acknowledge our American residency, roots and culture by reflecting on what spiritual messages we might glean from July 4th. The U.S. certainly has much to be proud of. There is also more than enough shame to go around. Americans (and many Pagans, I might add) have often been brash, self-absorbed, and obsessed with the idea of independence—whether national or personal—as rivaling the common good for supremacy.

Being so recently transplanted from other shores, most of our ancestors might have cautioned us that liberty is a rare flower which only thrives in the right conditions, with a time of bloom that can be shorter than we anticipated. Our indigenous – First Nations friends can certainly attest to that truth. I happen to love flowers and go to some trouble to keep my yard blooming most times of the year. I know all too well that neglect or just hoping for a good outcome are not enough to ensure a colorful display in my garden.

Gardening wears me out and leaves me aching; so does the work of being a citizen in my country. It is not enough for me to only read the news I want to see, hope the local zoning and water commissions will issue permits that are good for the land as well as the community, or substitute clicktivism on social media for actually trying to understand issues and make an impact myself. At the time that I write, it is looking as if negligence may have caused the deaths of at least 150 people at a collapsed condo in Florida. The final crash of concrete happened quickly, but the signs were there several years ago. Likewise, our neglect of healthy community can begin to crack the foundations of democracy.

This weekend may we enjoy some long overdue fun, including the hotdogs. But let’s also pause to contemplate the work—the burden, if you will—of enjoying a way of life that few in history have known. Ask your gods, consult your preferred divination, and discuss with your intimates, how to make our world a kinder, stronger, safer place. Commit to the ongoing burden of liberty, and look forward to more beautiful seasons of its flowering.

Holli S. Emore, M.Div
Executive Director

Katrina Messenger

Posted on June 12, 2021June 16, 2025

Katrina Messenger, a well-known elder, priestess, warrior and witch joined us for a live interview on June 26, 2021. Read more about Katrina and watch the recording of our conversation on how patriarchy, white supremacy, and capitalism have diminished us spiritually.

Coming to the Center Hosts Katrina Messenger

Posted on April 19, 2021June 18, 2025

Coming to the Center

Katrina Messenger is a poet, priestess, warrior and witch. She is a full time Wiccan mystic and an ordained minister. In 1999 she inaugurated a magical working called Connect DC, to reconnect and heal the city of Washington, DC. In 2004 after retiring from her career as a researcher, internet architect, and technologist, she opened the Reflections Mystery School. And now as the elder of her religious order, she offers classes, rituals, spiritual direction, and mentorship to her many students, clients, and colleagues.

She is also a Washington, DC native with over fifty years of experience as a grassroots activist, and community leader. She has taken on leadership roles in almost every group she has joined, including her election to the state presidency of Maryland NOW and later when she served eighteen months as the acting minister for the Sojourner Truth Congregation of Unitarian Universalists.

Katrina has studied mythology, esoteric sciences, and human development for over thirty years. The author of Elemental Psychology: Using Jungian Psychology and the Sacred Elements for Spiritual Development, Descent: A Journey for Women, and Dark Beauty, she has published articles in the Reclaiming Quarterly, contributed to the highly successful Twelve Wild Swans, and taught at Reclaiming witch camps from 1997 to 2003. Katrina is an elder in her community and a recognized leader and teacher worldwide.

Watch the Recording!

Anything Can Happen: Let’s Make it Good!

Posted on March 15, 2021June 19, 2025

Anything can happen in 2021…

We survived and thrived in 2020, despite all the challenges before us. Not just as a center of learning, but we rallied to those challenges as spiritual beings with an appetite to know more, be more, and do more!

And now? In April, our very first SpiDir (Spiritual Direction Certificate) cohort will begin their two-year journey towards offering their own services as a spiritual director or companion. This summer we’ll begin Coming to the Center, an exciting program which launches in the summer featuring live online interviews with notable experts on wide-ranging topics. We’ve held symposia jointly with the University of South Carolina since 2013, bringing together scholars, students and the public around sacred lands, religion and the environment, and white supremacy. We believe we can do so much more this year, with your support.

After all, Cherry Hill Seminary is now well into our second decade as the only graduate and continuing education program of its kind in the world, a surprising milestone for a Pagan organization. How has that happened? Not without a great deal of hard work, patience, and a lot of people envisioning a world where we are on equal footing with others in the ministry professions.

So why not make this year –2021– one to remember, one that inspires us, a year of bold, visionary action?

Hypatia of Alexandria, the guardian ancestor of Cherry Hill Seminary, has been a model for fearless learning since the third century of this era. Hypatia taught her students to pursue knowledge and live with the integrity demanded by a rapidly-changing society. This is why we each year we invite you to celebrate March 15, International Hypatia Day, by honoring our spiritual ancestor with a contribution to CHS in support of her passion for excellence in education.

Over the years, we’ve thrown Hypatia parties, held drawings for prizes, and in various ways invited the world to become part of our Seminary family with a gift (or a pledge to give sometime during 2021). Thanks for the memories pictured in the photos here!

Will you support Cherry Hill Seminary with a contribution today? Then perhaps you will tweet or post what you’ve done with one of the memes found below? The world loves stories of generosity and goodwill, after all. (Don’t forget to link back to this page.)

Most importantly, anything can happen in 2021, so make it good, starting with your contribution to Cherry Hill Seminary.