This Week In Heresy

This week we talk to Lon Sarver, devotee of Dionysus and polytheist. What is polytheism, and why does it matter? Are we too hung up on the meaning of words like Wiccan, polytheist, duo theist, and others? We discuss the emerging arguments about pagan theology and how it benefits, and doesn’t benefit, the community as a whole.

Lon Sarver is a devote of Dionysos, polytheist, and editor living and working in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's been a tarot reader at the Ancient Ways store in Oakland, helped run the Ancient Ways festival for years, and been otherwise involved in Pagan communities in the Bay Area and Midwest for twenty-five years. You can find his most recent writing on spirituality at iodionysos.wordpress.com

Links

Lon’s Blog: Drinking From the Cup of Life

Email: [email protected]

Social Media: Facebook and Ello

The Spiral Dance: A Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Goddess: 20th Anniversary Edition

Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America

This week’s guest is Shavon Walker. In this episode we talk about the role of women in the Baptist church that she attends, feminism, and the differences of the roles of women between conservative and open and affirming African American churches. We also venture into why feminism is important for all genders, body image, sex education, and of course the Big Hats. (Because, Church Hats!)

Shavon Walker is a self proclaimed foodie, and a former English teacher who just can't stop teaching. She can research and write about anything, but her specialty lies in restaurant reviews, cooking, and cocktails. She also believes that there is a strong connection between food and faith--after all, what do most people do after services? Go out to eat!

Links

Shavon on Google+: walkie74

Shavon on Ello: @siobhankathleen

The Good Men Project: http://goodmenproject.com/

This week’s guest is Tanesh Watson Nutall, TransSaints Chaplain and transgender minister at City of Refuge UCC. In this interview, Tanesh tells the story of her life and how her faith and prayer brought her to where she is today. This powerful testimony was recorded on location at City of Refuge UCC in Oakland, CA.

Links

Tanesh’s Facebook profile: https://www.facebook.com/tanesh.watson?fref=ts

Tanesh’s email: [email protected]

City of Refuge UCC: http://cityofrefugeucc.org/

TransSaints: http://www.transsaints.org/

TransSaints Prayer Call: An hour of Intercessory prayer by and for transgendered persons with Tanesh and others from the TransSaints and City of Refuge communities. 11 AM Saturday mornings. Call: 1-661-673-8600 Access Code: 478753

Valerie Walker, Feri tradition priestess and elder, joins us this week to talk about life, death, and navigating not only the Pagan community, but her own tradition. We also talk about her struggle with cancer, and how it has changed her practice. This episode was recorded at Valerie’s house (over tea) in San Francisco.

Valerie Walker is an initiate of Starhawk (1976), an initiate of Niklas Gander and Willow Moon (2001), and informal student of Cora Anderson (2001-2008). She is the founder of the DustBunny line of Feri witchcraft and teaches out of her home in San Francisco. You can learn more about her and her tradition from her website (linked below).

Links:

Valerie’s Website: http://www.wiggage.com

Valerie’s Email: [email protected]

Books:

The Dust Bunnies Big Damn Handout Book

The Big Damn Coloring Book

Other Books by Valerie Walker on Lulu.com

On this week’s episode, Athena Wallander returns to talk about the history of magick and grimoires in the Christian tradition. While most people try and deny that there is any connection between Christianity, the occult, and modern witchcraft (and other pagan groups), the reality is that they are quite strongly connected. We also discuss how to go about learning from and using grimoires and other magickal texts.

For more about Athena, visit her website: http://www.enochian.org/faq.shtml

Links

Twilit Grotto: Archives of Western Esoterica: http://www.esotericarchives.com/

Internet Sacred Texts Archive: http://www.sacred-texts.com/

Athena’s Site: http://www.enochian.org

Click here to find Athena on Facebook.

This episode is a bit heavy on the announcement side of things. It's also about letting go and giving thanks! 

Click here for more information about Between the Worlds Church Mabon Community Potluck.

Click here for more information about our Samhain service and how to send me names of the Beloved Dead. 

This week’s guest is my mother, Nancy Pond. Besides probably learning a little bit more about my childhood, we talk about what it means to be agnostic, and why being agnostic doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re still seeking. Mom and I also share personal stories about how God (however one defines God), and Love, is present in our lives.

Nancy Pond is a devout Agnostic, but brought up Catholic. She has a BS in Business with a minor in Philosophy, and has an MBA. She is also an accomplished artist. Nancy does not believe that God is religious, but that God is Love!

If you have questions or would like to contact my Mom, you can leave a message in the comments and I will make sure that she sees it!

On this week’s episode, we continue the discussion with Rev. Philip Tanner, the Greek Geek, about the “gotcha verses” in the Bible that are used for condemning LGBTQIA people. In this episode, we also analyze why these verses are used, who uses them, and why it is important to know about context and translation issues.

See Rev. Philip’s bio on our Regulars page where you will find links to his blogs and his new podcast.

Links:

Strong’s Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Lexicon: http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html

BibleGateway (for comparing different translations of the Bible): https://www.biblegateway.com/

The Blue Letter Bible (another concordance website): http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=death&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

The Online Greek Bible: http://www.greekbible.com/

“The Great Emergence: How Christianity Is Changing and Why” by Phyllis Tickle (Amazon)

Words have power. Words can hurt. Words can heal. How do you use words in spiritual space?

The reading in the beginning is from Mark 8: 27-30.

This week we have the first of two episodes with Rev. Philip Tanner, the Greek Geek, about the “gotcha verses” in the Bible that are used for condemning LGBTQIA people. We begin these episodes by talking about the verses themselves, and why they may not mean what you have been told they mean.

See Rev. Philip’s bio on our Regulars page which includes links to his blogs and his new podcast.

Links:

Strong’s Concordance with Hebrew and Greek Lexicon: http://www.eliyah.com/lexicon.html

BibleGateway (for comparing different translations of the Bible): https://www.biblegateway.com/

The Blue Letter Bible (another concordance website): http://www.blueletterbible.org/search/search.cfm?Criteria=death&t=KJV#s=s_primary_0_1

The Online Greek Bible: http://www.greekbible.com/