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Showing posts from March, 2015

Confronting Racism, Yankee Pagan Style

I am a Yankee.  Right down to my Pagan soul. My understanding of what it means to be a Pagan is to try to live in right relationship with the gods, the land, and the people, including the ancestors.  My gods are those that are comfortable in New England’s woods and hills.  My land is this rocky landscape of New England.  And my people and my ancestors–on Mom’s side, at least–are New Englanders: sea captains and dairy farmers, teachers and laborers.  Whatever granite is in this place or in my ancestors lives on in me and in my Pagan practice. Old Man of the Mountain stamp And that granite is why I am so driven to speak out against racism. To help me explain what I mean, I’m going to go ahead and borrow an ancestor: my friend Kirk White ‘s father. A Yankee like a Rock Kirk’s ancestors, like mine, were among the first Englishmen to arrive in North America.  Like mine, this landscape was where they found their home.  And like me, my friend Kirk and his family befo