Category Archives: communications-pages

Coming to the Center Hosts Katrina Messenger

Posted on

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!

Coming to the Center

Posted on

Coming to the Center is your chance to listen and learn, as well as ask questions of contemporary figures in the community.

Each semester Executive Director, Holli Emore, hosts a live interview with thought leaders, scholars, & experts in Pagan spirituality. Each 60-minute session will be held on Zoom; a good internet connection and the latest version of Zoom is recommended.

Free and open to all, you don’t have to be a student to participate, but you may want to become one after attending!

Love what we do? Contributions to support the series are always welcome. Use the Donation box on the left (desktop) or the Give Now link to support Cherry Hill Seminary programs.

Upcoming Interviews

Nothing Found

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching can help.

Previous Interviews

Nothing Found

It seems we can’t find what you’re looking for. Perhaps searching can help.

Discontents Revisited Web Panel

Posted on

Cherry Hill Seminary and the Univ. of S.C. Institute for Anthropology and Archaeology present on Sunday, December 13 at 2:00 PM Eastern (US) Time:

An online panel with Michael Strmiska, Diana Paxson, Gus DiZerega, Jon Leader and other Paganism and Its Discontents contributors, as well as Ethan Stark of Heathens Against Hate, as they revisit the rise in white nationalism and appropriation of Heathen symbols since the March 2019 symposium.

Contemporary Heathenry has held an attraction for proponents of white nationalism, many of whom claim the religious tradition as their own, to the dismay of inclusive Heathens. Since the March 2019 symposium Paganism & Its Discontents held by Cherry Hill Seminary and the University of South Carolina Institute for Anthropology and Archaeology racism has become more overt, with alarming increases in racist and anti-semitic hate speech, vandalism and outright violence. The publication of papers from the symposium has sparked renewed discussion about how to use our scholarship to inform strategies for reducing the threat and achieving more harmonious communities. There is no cost to attend, but guests must register to receive a link for the panel.

Classroom Conduct Policy

Instruction at CHS is conducted for the common good, with the aim of facilitating learning. Disruptive and/or abusive conduct inside a class can stifle the candid scholarly discourse required for exploration of divergent views, preventing all in the class from obtaining a meaningful learning experience . . . Prohibited conduct includes:

  • The disruption, obstruction or unauthorized interruption of class sessions, conferences, meetings, or any other institution.
  • Physical abuse, verbal abuse, intimidation, coercion, ad hominem insults, and threats.
  • Argument that goes beyond the scope of the topic under discussion after having been warned by the instructor.

The host of this online panel will mute, or if necessary, remove anyone who will not maintain these standards.

Cherry Hill Seminary Announces Release of “Paganism and Its Discontents: Enduring Problems of Racialized Identity”

Posted on

Columbia, S.C. — Cherry Hill Seminary announces the release of “Paganism and Its Discontents: Enduring Problems of Racialized Identity”, a volume containing papers presented at a 2019 symposium by the same name, plus a preface by sociologist Helen S. Berger. The symposium was a joint effort of Cherry Hill Seminary and the University of South Carolina Institute of Anthropology and Archaeology (SCIAA). The symposium was the first academic conference to address the specific issue of racialized identity theology in some contemporary Pagan religious traditions.

Proponents of racist interpretations of pre-Christian Norse-Germanic spiritualities have claimed to be preserving “heritage”, while others belonging to the contemporary Heathen movements have moved to distance themselves from “volkish” thinking. Long-simmering just beneath the surface of American Paganism, racialized Heathenry was on full display in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia. Tragically and ironically, news of the Christchurch, New Zealand shooting reached symposium attendees as they arrived for the opening session.

“Paganism and Its Discontents” is edited by Holli S. Emore and Jonathan M. Leader. Contributors include Michael F. Strmiska (keynote address for symposium); Jefferson F. Calico; Ben Waggoner; Diana L. Paxson (guest speaker for the symposium); Gus diZerega; Tahni J. Nikitins; Holli S. Emore; and Stephan Grundy.

“Symposium papers are presented not just for the purpose of scholarship, although they will add considerably in that regard,” states Seminary director Holli Emore. “But they are also shared in the hope that better knowledge of the ideas underlying white supremacy presenting as a religion will begin to turn back the ugly tide of rising hate and violence.” Co-editor Jonathan Leader, SCIAA director and S.C. State Archaeologist, noted that, “The book is the direct result of individuals who were engaged with the communities of concern. The information they provide is not simply from an academic standpoint but represents the communities themselves.”

Currently available in hardback from Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

For more information, contact Tracie Mooneyham, Marketing Coordinator at tmooneyham@cherryhillseminary.org.