clifflandis.net » Paganism

Projects projects projects!

Cliff — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:53:55 +0000

Here’s some of the projects I’ve been working on in the last few months:

GIL-Find — An installation of the VuFind social catalog interface. It’s currently being tested at several institutions across the state, and ours is one of them! The students love it, and it’s way more functional than our Voyager catalog (relevance ranking and persistent links! w00t!).
Vtext — A DSpace digital repository for VSU. It’s stable and running, now the fun part: marketing to faculty!
I built Odum Library Search applications for Facebook and MySpace as part of a forthcoming writing project. I’ll talk more about it when it comes out.
Pagan Archives Network — I’m working with several Pagan Studies scholars to develop a web-based finding aid for primary and secondary resources. It’s still in development, but a few Pagan librarians have already started to volunteer their time to develop taxonomies and work on finding/inputting collections!
SaveTheMantas.org — Volunteering as a researcher, pulling together research and photos for their site. Give them a tax-deductible donation!
And last, but not least, I just did a re-design of clifflandis.net using the Go Green template. I hope you enjoy!

Out of da woods, into IL2008!

Cliff — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:13:47 +0000

I’m sitting at the Atlanta airport, slowly working my way back to civilization. After four days in “da woods,” it can be hard to slip back into librarian/speaker mode. Going for four days without checking a watch, refreshing my email, and without any “have to” or “must” events really puts me in perspective. I’m trying not to “speed up” too quick (which is hard to do in an airport).

Here’s a taste of what I enjoyed…I look forward to our next gathering, but am excited to get revved up about librarianship again!

Campfire

Uber-trip: Day 1

Cliff — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 12:00:07 +0000

I have now officially packed for 12 days on the road. From now until Monday I’ll be camping in the back woods of Alabama with my Pagan friends. Then I’m off to Internet Librarian 2008 in Monterey, CA, where I’ll be presenting twice. Then off to my sister’s in San Diego (this time sans forest fire) for a little R&R. So three very different trips are all packed into three small bags (one of which will stay in Alabama). I will have more detailed stories soon, I’m sure!

I’ve been doing lots of cool stuff at work, and I hope to be all rested up from my blogging sabbatical to tell you all about it! Here we go!

Thanks to my Brazillian friends!

Cliff — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:50:03 +0000

Thanks again to everyone from Brazil for the opportunity to speak at the 4ª Conferência de Wicca & Espiritualidade da Deusa. Here are some pictures from my session, as well as an awesome t-shirt and book I got as “thank you” presents! Sweet!

4th CWED: Karma & Responsibility presentation

Cliff — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 13:34:29 +0000

Saturday I was picked up from the airport by friends and we went to see Margaret Cho at the Tabernacle; as always she had me laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. We then went out dancing, and finally got to sleep at about 2:30am (a great way to round off a day of international flights!). After a few hours of sleep, we woke up early and drove back to Valdosta so that I could speak to the 4ª Conferência de Wicca & Espiritualidade da Deusa. I gave a speech on Karma and Responsibility via Live Messenger. Rose and Lulu did a great job of translating for me, and Claudiney (as always) was excellent at coordinating the presentation. Although I was unable to see the audience, they were able to see me, and luckily some of my jokes successfully translated. There were great questions after the presentation, and I hope that one day I will get to meet all these great Pagans in person!

On my way to CIL2008

Cliff — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:10:15 +0000

My bad luck in commercial flights appears to be congenital, because one flight was cancelled and another delayed. Luckily, I’ll be able to make the whole conference this time (unlike IL2006). But I think this journey will be quite interesting for other reasons as well.

First, I’m going to be teaching Sunday School tomorrow. I’ll be staying in DC with my friend Sarah. The Sunday School class that she teaches (with her masterful M.Div. degree) is doing a series on world religions. When she first asked me if I’d be willing to teach about Paganism, I had that knee-jerk reaction:

“Are you guys learning how to convert Pagans?”

“C’mon Cliff, it’s me. Hello.”

“I know, I know, just checking…”

Given Sarah’s strongly liberal religious leanings (she and I agree on most metaphysical concepts), I know that I have nothing to fear. So I plan on going in and sharing some of the basics of Paganism, the major branches, and the few unifying themes of the Pagan religions (taken from a well-timed episode of the Deo’s Shadow podcast). From Sarah’s description, I have nothing to fear and lots to look forward to. I’ll promise not to hex them if they promise not to stone me.

After that I’ll be spending Monday – Wednesday at CIL2008! I’m looking forward to seeing some old friends, meeting some new friends for the first time, and meeting in person folks that I’ve been trading blog posts with for a while (here’s hoping I don’t go all geeky fanboy on that last group!). Thursday through Sunday will be time spent with Sarah, Jason and their St. Bernard dog Bruno, as well as visits with friends who live in the DC area.

Review: Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America

Cliff — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 15:23:59 +0000

Chas Clifton is one of the premier scholars of Wicca and Paganism in the US, so when I heard about this book, I was truly excited. Clifton’s work is a complimentary volume to Ronald Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon, an exploration of Wicca and Paganism in the UK. By exploring historical, textual, oral and literary resources, Clifton paints a picture of Wicca’s development and transformation as it traveled from the UK to the US, and then around the world.

At the same time Clifton explores Wicca’s transformation from a small mystery/magical religion into “nature religion.” He does this by outlining three types of “nature”: Cosmic, Gaian, and Erotic. By making the cycles of nature, the planet, and our bodies holy, the religion of Witchcraft was transformed. The author goes on to explore the growth, change, and popularization of religious Witchcraft throughout the 60s, 70s and 80s. Additionally, he briefly covers the history of the Church of Aphrodite, Feraferia, the Church of All Worlds, the Psychedelic Venus Church and Druidism in the US.

In some places, the author repeats facts (which made me wonder in if I had lost my place), but this is done to aid in clarity; the history of Wicca and Paganism in the US is as sprawling a topic as the religions themselves. The author is forced to cross-reference himself in all directions to paint a larger picture, a challenge which he handles well. For those already familiar with the topic, new analysis of historical figures and themes will enlighten and deepen your understanding of this history. For those new to the topic, the book’s glossary will prove invaluable; understanding will be further aided by copies of the texts Clifton cites in the glossary (such as Adler’s Drawing Down the Moon and Bonewits’ Real Magic) for further context.

Clifton’s brilliant analysis of the words “Wicca” and “Witch” are worth the price of the volume alone. Her Hidden Children will be required reading for my students.

Religion & Social Networking

Cliff — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:39:49 +0000

With hundreds of social networking sites out there, it’s no suprise that a few will be dedicated to religion. Ones that I have seen before (such as MyChurch, Schmooze, MuslimSocial, and CovenSpace) typically center around a single faith. Today I happened upon CircleBuilder, which is open to all faiths. I was interested to see the two categories “Pagan & Earth-based” and “Reconstructionist.” Reconstructionist Pagans (if they use the term “Pagan” at all) are typically not represented in the larger religion community. After that pleasant surprise, I was half expecting to see a listing for “Amish.”

According to Mashable, it only appears to have around 100 members at this point in time. I’m curious to see if it remains a small niche network, or if its inclusiveness will allow it to expand and/or serve as a space for interfaith dialogue. Like all social networking sites it revolves around people, so only time will tell if it catches on via word-of-mouth.

Paganism in the eyes of LOC

Cliff — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 21:28:04 +0000

Apparently Wicca can finally be removed from the realms of Psychology (BF). In the future you can look for it in BP605 .W53 , in the section of “Islam, Bahaism, Theosophy, etc.” So now it’s right after stuff on the White Brotherhood. What a treat! This is amusing given Wicca’s history. And if you think librarians don’t have a sense of humor, check out the LCC subclass for The Bible.

Enjoy your newfound recognition, Wicca! You’ve earned it!

(via Chas)

“I wanted to choke my sister with her own handfasting cord…”

Cliff — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 20:40:32 +0000

The funny thing is, I know family that sound like this…

Just because your whole family is Pagan doesn’t mean that you all get along harmoniously (pardon the pun). Enjoy the parody, I sure did!

Area Pagan Dreading Big Family Vernal Equinox Celebration

MEDFORD, OR-”There’s always some new Church of the Sacred Pentacle Virgin or a cute single witch who they just have to set me up with,” lamented 27-year-old Jeff Birch. (via Chas).