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Pagan Superlatives 2014

Pagan Superlatives 2014

Last updated on: December 31, 2014 at 10:43 am by Jason Mankey

Pagan Superlatives 2014 2014-12-31T10:43:50-07:00 Jason Mankey

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Originally I was going to write a “Best and Worst of 2014” sort of column, but some where in the middle of that I started having way too much fun writing The Hornies, my especially random awards in and around Paganism. I gave out some Hornies last year and the response was off the charts! (Well, “off the charts” as long as your charts are rather small.) Don’t take any of these awards too seriously, I don’t, it’s all just in good fun. To all of my winners your Hornie is in the mail and should arrive sometime in 2085!

A few categories that didn’t make the cut:
Best Legs Under a Utili-kilt
Most Ludicrous Outrage About Something From Someone Who Obviously Didn’t Read The Thing That Made Them Mad
Come Out From Under Your Bridge: Best Pagan Blog Troll
Best Complaint About a Blog that Cost Nothing to Read and Could Have Been Easily Avoided
Leggings Are Not Pants Award
Look at me! Look at me! I’m Standing in this Spotlight I Created Award

The Hornies, The Especially Random Annual Raise the Horns Pagan Awards

The Surprised How Much I Enjoyed Your Writing This Year Award: Cara Schultz
I think most of us who are plugged into the Pagan Blogosphere are readers of The Wild Hunt. I thought there were a lot of really strong articles at The Hunt this year and a lot of great writers (except for the hack who wrote there over Thanksgiving weekend), but my favorite was Cara Schultz. Cara wrote about a lot of stuff this year, but my favorite was Modern Culture, Practicality Lessen Nudity at Pagan Festivals. I thought it was a stellar overview of a sensitive topic. Cara also wrote a lot of great history related articles, and generally without the sensationalism I find in other internet spots.

Favorite Stand Alone Informative and Sarcastic Blog: Gardnerians (No One Speaks For All of Us, But Some Are Louder Than Others)
I know, I know, I’m biased because I’m a Gardnerian, but that’s not all of it. Gardnerians is a heady brew of history, practice, and advice served alongside a big pile of snark. I love it. Gardnerians often says what I’m thinking when I’m feeling especially sarcastic. That two of the categories featured on it are “You’re all tools” and “Opinions are like assholes” all makes me laugh.

Best New Macro Pagan-Blog Site: Polytheist.Com
What is a Macro Pagan-Blog Site? It’s a site featuring a whole host of bloggers, like PaganSquare or Patheos Pagan. The latest macro-site is Polytheist.Com and it features a whole slew of great writers, it also has an extremely attractive layout and it’s easy to navigate. It’s also been pretty active in terms of fresh content, which is much trickier than many people believe. It’s nice to see some more varied Pagan content out there, though I do hold to my own belief that there are a lot of us Wiccans who identify as polytheists.

Thanks For Working Your Ass Off Award:
Anne Newkirk Niven
When you see Pagans at your local newsstand in the United States you have Anne Niven to thank for it. When you read Stephen Posch online you are probably doing it at Anne’s place. There’s hardly any money in Paganism so doing this stuff can only be a labor of love. Having gotten to know Anne a little bit over the last two years I can say that Witches and Pagans Magazine, Sage Woman, and PaganSquare are all labors of love and we all owe here a big thanks for it. Anne’s not a big-name Pagan in the sense that she has tons of books in print or leads a lot of super-big rituals, but she’s a big name Pagan for what she has given to our community.

Great Job, Kind of, Sort of, Rookie Blog:
Between the Shadows
I have trouble thinking of Sable Aradia as “new” here at Patheos Pagan, she’s been writing here for a couple of years, but her personal blog is a new thing and it’s a great thing. This probably sounds a little glib but I’ve been enjoying it because she’s been writing about “Pagan Things” which is why I read Pagan blogs in the first place. I’m looking forward to what’s she going to write next. I almost added a category for “best blog” at Patheos Pagan, but why bother? That would obviously be John Beckett’s Under the Ancient Oaks and most everybody knows that. Great bloggers, especially at spots like Patheos Pagan, have to write consistently, often, and about a variety of things. No one does that better than John.

One Liner That Made Me Think and Made Me Wish That I Had Written It:
Asa West
Another strong new voice at Patheos Pagan has been Asa West at Shekhinah Calling. Back in November in a post about altars she wrote: “The altar is an umbilical cord to the Divine” and that line has stuck with me ever since. I’m going to steal it for my BoS the next time I add something to that. I’ve really enjoyed Asa’s work this year and her unique perspective on things. She and I aren’t always going to agree on everything, but that’s cool. Sometimes it’s best to read the writers you don’t agree with for a different perspective.

Bridging the Gap at the Crossroads Award:
Lilith Dorsey
It takes a special kind of woman to write about Voodoo at a Pagan website and Lilith Dorsey is that special kind of woman. For most of my twenty years as a Pagan, Voodoo and other Afro-Caribbean Religions have been more like whispers on the wind than a part of my greater, shared Pagan experience. Lilith has changed that. At Patheos Pagan, Voodoo Universe sits comfortably beside blogs written by Reclaiming Witches, Druids, and Pirate Story-tellers. Lilith writes about her faith in a way that’s easily accessible and crafts articles that are of interest to Voodoo initiates while appealing to Pagnandom at large. Wanna know another reason why I love Lilith’s writing? It’s all over the map, she writes about everything: theology, the media, spell-work, history, and food. Amazing stuff. If you ever get a chance to talk with her, take it, she’s one of the most fascinating people I’ve ever sat down with over a pint of cider.

Head in the Sand Award:
Jennifer Latson and Time Magazine
I’m sure that Ms. Latson meant no offense with her article Why Witches on TV Spell Trouble in Real Life back in October of this year. It was probably meant to be one of those disposable “hey October-Witches!” sort of articles that we all are used to seeing near Halloween every year, but it all came out wrong. The worst part of it boiled down to one line: “The difference, of course, is that terrorists are real, while witches are not.” Witches aren’t real? There aren’t a million people in the United States who self-identify as Witches? At best it’s lazy journalism, at worst it’s willful ignorance. In the weeks after this little dust-up what bothered me the most was Latson’s silence. Just a little “I’m sorry it came out like that” would have been fine. Instead she ignored everything on her Twitter account and once made a joke about invoking the wrath of modern day “witches”. Professor Emerson Baker, who was quoted in the article, actually offered up an apology for any perceived slights. “Sorry” might be the hardest word, but it’s not all that difficult..

I’m Sorry You Ended Up With This But Also Happy For You I Guess Award: Heather Greene
Heather is the new editor of The Wild Hunt, probably the most thankless job on the entire Pagan Internet. Not only does editing The Wild Hunt come with a great deal of responsibility I’m sure it comes with a great degree of backlash. “How come you aren’t writing about me?” “Why are you writing about them?” “I think you got that wrong” “Oh, by the way, you misspelled Mississippi. . .” I wouldn’t wish editing the Wild Hunt on my worst enemy! Heather is pretty amazing though and thus far she’s been doing a dynamite job. She deserves a lot of appreciation for it too! (And happy retirement to Jason Pitzl-Waters.)

Favorite Millennial Writing About the Greek Gods:
Conor Davis
I don’t really give a shit about anyone’s age, but I wanted everyone to know that there’s a millennial on this list in case anyone was worried that I have a Generation X bias. Now that we’ve got that out of the way let me just say that Conor is awesome. I’m always appreciative of Pagans who can write intelligent stuff and yet present it in a way that remains accessible. Conor is one of those writers, a skill that’s often under-appreciated. You can read Conor at his personal blog Under the Owl’s Wing and he also writes on Polytheist.Com (another reason to like that site). I’m also jealous that he gets to hang out with John Beckett at the UU Church in Denton Texas.

Most Kick-Ass New Age/Metaphysical/Pagan Bookstore: The Sojourner Whole Earth Provisions, Greenville North Carolina
These are my awards, so I get to make the rules, as a result The Sojo won this honor by a thirteen country miles. Not only was this the only bookstore smart enough to bring in Jason Mankey as a special guest speaker (and ritualist, we had a rocking Jim Morrison Ritual!) it also has an amazingly competent and friendly staff, and its owner is one of my favorite Witches on the East Coast. In all seriousness this is a gem of a place and I’m thankful for my weekend there.

Pagan Festival of the Year: Sirius Rising
I love festivals, I try to go to between four and six of them a year all across the country. This year my favorite was Sirius Rising at the Brushwood Folklore Center. It didn’t have the best programming, but it did have the best people, and that’s really saying something. It was laid back, everyone was friendly, and I just felt well taken care of. Things are easy when you are staying in a hotel room, they are something else entirely when you’re flying 2000 miles across the country to camp in a tent.

And with that we conclude this year’s Hornie Awards. I’m wishing you all a very horny and happy New Year and thanks for a wonderful 2014! It’s an honor to write for and interact with you all. Here are some other great end of the year lists you should check out: Nine Pagans That Have Influenced Me in 2014, Top Ten Pagans Working as Change Agents for Social Justice, Top 10 Pagan Quotes of 2014, and Ten Pagans Who Made a Difference in 2014. Happy New Year Everybody!

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