 PAC of North East Ohio  |
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PAC of North East Ohio |
Welcome to the home of
the
The Official and Original
Pagan Awareness Coalition
of North East Ohio.
www.PaganAwarenessCoalition.com
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Founded in NE Ohio in 1990, the Pagan Awareness Coalition
is a diverse group of people who are dedicated to dispelling the popular misconceptions about various religious paths such as
any Eastern, Western-Non-Christian, multi-theistic, nature oriented or Earth-based religions. Three times a year - at Beltaine (May Day), Samhain (Halloween) and the Autumnal Equinox or Mabon (Pagan Pride Day) - the Pagan Awareness Coalition
organizes public rituals, usually downtown on the North West quadrant of Cleveland Public Square, to celebrate the holidays and increase community awareness.
Note: This year (2007) the Samhain ritual will be held at Cumberland Park in
Cleveland Heights due to the construction downtown. The Beltaine Ritual is typically held the last Saturday in April, and the Samhain Ritual the last Saturday in October. Pagan Pride Day is held on a weekend very close to the Equinox.
PAC Mission Statement:
PAC's aim is to achieve religious tolerance by educating the general public about the variety of religious beliefs and practices in NE Ohio. We seek freedom from harassment from those who do not respect Freedom of Religion, or from those who perpetrate harm on others, and we wish to build bridges of understanding with the community at large, reminding all that we are members of your family, friends, neighbors and co-workers, despite any difference in religious orientation.
Beltaine on the Square 2007
Saturday May 5th - 12 noon - 7:00pm
Ritual will be held at:
Lakewood Park
14532 Lake Avenue
(Lake and Belle)
bring food, drink, and drums
non-perishable food, blankets and clothing for charity drive
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Pagan Pride Day Cleveland 2007
Sunday September 16th - 9:00am-10:00pm
Ritual will be held at:
Cleveland Metro Park TBA
bring food, drink, and drums
non-perishable food, blankets and clothing for charity drive
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Samhain on the Square 2007
Saturday October 27th - 3:00pm-9:00pm
Ritual will be held at:
Cumberland Park
Near Euclid Heights Blvd. and Lee Rd.
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
bring food, drink, and drums
non-perishable food, blankets and clothing for charity drive
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PAC Contact Information:
You may get in touch with PAC using the information below.
Pagan Awareness Coalition
c/o Lady C - (216)
371-1575
or through Jim Petro (Seeker) at:
[email protected]
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Links
Click here for our list of useful, educational, and Unifying links.
Click here for a complete calendar of Ohio and National Pagan Events
Pagan Awareness Coalition Press Coverage
Pagan Pride Day 2003 as brought to you by the Pagan Awareness Coalition of NE Ohio
an article covering NE Ohio's Autumn Equinox Event - Pagan Pride Day (aka PPD) - that is held world-wide each year.
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"It's that time of the year again"
09/20/03
http://www.cleveland.com/cuyahoga/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1064050523320510.xml
Catherine Gabe
Plain Dealer Reporter
Pagans are coming out of broom closets everywhere. And September, when the autumnal equinox occurs, has become the Pagan Pride ceremony season. Last weekend, pagans gathered in downtown Cleveland. Today, Lorain County pagans will have their first Pagan Pride Day.
In all, about 117 ceremonies are being held worldwide through October, including Ohio events in Findlay, Dayton, Oxford and near Cincinnati.
Druids, Shamans, Jewish mystics, heathens, witches, warlocks and crones are among those who consider themselves pagans.
"We are not scary, devil-worshipping, baby-eating savage people, but, unfortunately, that is the biggest stigma for all of us," said Clevelander Elizabeth Sommerer, a witch who works in a drugstore.
How many pagans there are, no one knows. But the group is open to anyone - especially those who aren't pagan, since the movement's mission is to increase community good will and public relations.
Ever since fictional hero Harry Potter appeared, the movement has almost become mainstream (even though pagans gently point out that "Potter" author J.K. Rowling never intended the wizard boy to be a pagan).
"Paganism is a religion," explained Brenda Dunlap of Elyria, a nurse and member of Lorain County Witches. "Pagans usually follow a path of worship with some sort of Earth force and Mother Nature around them." They are good-deed doers. Public service is required for a sanctioned Pagan Pride event.
Nearly 9,000 pounds of food and $5,000 were collected at Pagan Pride events in 2000.
The Lorain County Witches routinely clean a two-mile stretch of Ohio 58 just outside Oberlin, also near the site of today's pride event at Burgett's Park.
Admission for today's event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., is a canned good, which will benefit Genesis House, the county's domestic-violence shelter.
"We did have some concerns about accepting donations, because it is somewhat a controversial topic," said Marilyn Zeidner, executive director for Genesis House.
"We try to be inclusive of anyone in need - or anyone wanting to help us out."
The group also is collecting blood for the LifeShare bloodmobile that will be at the event.
"Our mission is to collect blood for all critically ill and injured, and we have no interests in judging anyone's spiritual beliefs," said Lisa Mayles, LifeShare spokeswoman.
Still, growing concerns about discrimination fueled the national Pagan Pride Project, which hosted its first event in 1998.
The group has a Web site - www.paganpride.org - with a code of ethics, policies, event-planning guides and history of the organization.
But while many pagans use their legal names, others prefer poetic ritual names, sometimes to be discreet.
Apparently, pagan pride goes only so far, because some fear they would lose their jobs if they went public. Others say they have lost their children over their beliefs. In past years, rosaries and bottles of holy water were thrown at them.
The movement has tapped the Internet, offering literature to help human-resources directors or school administrators assist pagans in the workplace and at school - be they teacher or student.
There is information on ways to cope with being turned down for a bank loan for wearing a pentagram, or what to tell your child if she is kicked out of dance class after telling the instructor she's a witch.
Last weekend, several pagans told stories of hardship, including one woman who wasn't ready to go public with her given name.
"I work at a Christian-based day care, and I do fear that if it got out, my job performance wouldn't change, but my job status would," she explained.
"People are afraid I'm going to cast spells on their kids. If I did that, I would have the best-behaved kids around."
The gathering looked like many others with food, stories, crafts and food. Some pagans wore jeans and T-shirts. A few wore medieval-type gowns and bare feet.
Almost all wore dangling silver jewelry adorned with crystals and pentagrams, signifying air, earth, water, fire and spirit.
Murray Brownlee, who happened to wander by, gazed at them and inquired, "Are you all going to have an orgy?"
"That's a common misconception," whispered Sommerer. "Who is he kidding? With my body image?"
Pagans gathered around Brownlee and launched into a serious theological debate.
"They are going to hell if they don't accept Jesus Christ as their Lord," Brownlee said later, gesturing their way. "They need to repent. But this is America."
Herb McGihon of Warren was with the pagans and said, "You know, in the beginning of Christian faith, the Romans said the same thing. When they talked about the body and blood of Christ, people thought they were killing people and had no clue. Romans fed them to the lions."
Brownlee quickly made the sign of the cross and walked away.
"Blessed be!" cried a pagan.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
[email protected], 1-800-767-2821
� 2003 The Plain Dealer. Used with permission.
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Samhain on the Square 2000
The following is the Plain Dealer article which covered our annual event, Samhain on the Square
in 2000.
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http://www.cleveland.com/living/index.ssf?/living/pd/l31spell.html
Tuesday, October 31, 2000
By FRAN HENRY
PLAIN DEALER REPORTER
What do you call a secularized, over-commercialized religious holiday? Christmas, most likely - unless you're a witch or Wiccan huddling beneath the religious umbrella of paganism. Then you'd probably say Halloween, a holiday pagans call samhain (pronounced sow-in), Celtic for "summer's end." It is the most important pagan holy day.
Tonight, while costumed children beg for candy and teenagers watch Halloween-themed slasher movies, Cleveland's pagan community will observe samhain in rituals reflecting their belief in the divinity of nature.
"Halloween," says Lady Cerridwynn, 60, of South Euclid, "should be more accurately presented as a harvest festival, the ending of the growing year, a time to do one's accounting for the year, a time to look into the unknown and plan for what is to come throughout the winter."
For 10 years, the Pagan Awareness Coalition of Cleveland has held a samhain ritual on Public Square to increase public understanding and acceptance of paganism. About 300 people attended Saturday. Another of the four major pagan holidays, Beltane, May 1, has been celebrated for five years on Public Square.
"We want people to see that we're a positive religious force," says Cerridwynn, who goes by her Celtic pagan name to avoid harassment. "We aren't people to be feared, people who conjure demons and hurt animals." Her husband, the son of a Lutheran minister, accepts her beliefs and has even helped with security at past Public Square rituals. "We are ecologically oriented people," she said. "The Earth is our mother. If we take care of her, she'll take care of us."
Cerridwynn, like the great-grandmother who trained her, calls herself a priestess. But many pagans, male and female alike, call themselves witches, a word weighted with negative connotations, says Rayven, 33, who works in an office at Case Western Reserve University. She, too, goes by her chosen
pagan name to avoid harassment.
"None of the popular images of witch and witchcraft are true," she says. "There's no such thing as an evil witch. If you're evil, you can't be a witch. And pagans don't believe in the devil or in hell."
The ugly hag part, too, grates on her. "There's no way to recognize a witch," says Rayven, who sits in her office dressed in tan slacks with a paisley blouse, her hair combed away from her makeup-free face.
The traditional pagan Halloween ritual, says Clevelander Larry Cornett, 54, revolves around meditation; an invocation of the forces of nature - fire, water, air and earth; paying homage to loved ones who have died; symbolically disposing of negative influences; and communing with the spirit world. The ritual is followed by fortunetelling and spell casting, both undertaken with positive intentions, says Cornett, an environmental consultant who is a member of the coalition.
Not only do modern pagans believe that good and evil come back to the doer three times over, he says, they also follow a version of the Golden Rule, called the rede, which says, "If it harms none, do what you will."
Cornett goes by his given name despite crank calls and the occasional death threat. "I'm going to be who I am, take it or leave it," he says. "I stand up for my religious beliefs." Besides, he notes humorously, "Halloween is one time when you can go out and be as occult as you want to be and not get hassled."
E-mail:
[email protected]
Phone: (216) 999-4806
�2000 THE PLAIN DEALER. Used with permission.
