I wanted to talk a little about the inspiration for this blog, because as I begin it in late August of 2014 there has been a series of posts on Pagan environmentalism and lack thereof, with some people arguing that environmentalism has solidly failed in the Pagan community, having had much of the consciousness of the 60's and 70's degrade over the decades. This isn't unique to Pagans. Rather, we're prone to the same patterns of consumption everyone else is. But something I noticed afterward is just how often the Pagan web focuses so deeply on maintaining the appearance of an Earth-based, eco-friendly culture without really talking about what we can really do. I'd gotten some smatterings of this from my offline community--from a select few individuals--but otherwise it was limited to people talking about being environmentalists rather than doing environmentalism. And yes, there are some very prominent and dedicated Pagans out there who fully and unashamedly incorporate environmental and social activism into their work, but these are comparatively few.
I'd been--and this is mostly unrelated to the article series I was talking about above--trying to work on reducing and in some ways reversing my own impact on the Earth, and as a Pagan those two things just naturally connected. This blog is largely about that journey of "doing," coming from the perspective of somebody who was raised to be both extremely outdoorsy and extremely lacking in actual environmental consciousness. Its intention is both to motivate me to continue and to inspire other people to do their own work.
So here you'll find practical environmental information integrated with Pagan themes, understanding, and magick, as well as articles talking about Pagan and activist social issues. "Magick in Action," though, is about more than just environmental issues. I have spent many years as a human social justice activist and animal welfare activist, among other things, meaning it will not be uncommon to find writing about other pertinent issues, such as queer and transgender inclusion and cultural appropriation.
Anyway, about me as an individual? I'm a long-term Pagan, having practiced a little over 17 years as I write this. I am in either my late twenties or early thirties depending on how long it'll take for me to update this. My Pagan "tradition" if you will is primarily Eclectic, with a strong background in Kemetic/Ancient Egyptian religion, Therioshamanism (mostly based on pre-Christian European traditions), Earth and Nature worship, and a strong undercurrent of queering. I am polyamorous and bisexual, and am a medically transitioning trans man as well.
I live in the Laurentian Great Lakes ecoregion, in the Lower Fox watershed in a suburban house with my roommate/landlord. I have a Bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Religious Studies from the University of Wisconsin in Oshkosh.
