Reclaiming (neopaganism)
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Reclaiming (formerly known as Reclaiming Collective) is an international community of women and men working to combine earth-based spirituality and political activism. Reclaiming was founded amid the peace and anti-nuclear movements of the late 1970s and early 1980s, and focuses on progressive social, political, environmental and economic activism.
Reclaiming's spiritual approach is based in the religion and magic of the Goddess, who is understood as the Immanent Life Force, not as a transcendent deity. Theologically, Reclaiming is very diverse. The common thread is an active honoring and defending of the Earth. The focus of teaching and rituals is empowering the individual and the community to take action.
Reclaiming originated about 1980 in the San Francisco Bay Area, blending the influences of Victor and Cora Anderson's Feri Tradition of Witchcraft, Dianic Witchcraft as taught by Z. Budapest, and the feminist, peace, and environmental movements.
Among the tradition's teachers are Starhawk, author of The Spiral Dance and several other books; T. Thorn Coyle, author of "Evolutionary Witchcraft"; and M. Macha Nightmare, co-author of "The Pagan Book of Living and Dying".
Today, Reclaiming has several dozen affiliated communities across the U.S., Canada, and Europe. Weeklong intensives called "Witchcamps" bring Reclaiming people together in about a dozen regions. Classes such as "Elements of Magic," "Rites of Passage," and "Iron Pentacle" share practical skills in personal empowerment and group process. Reclaiming has also produced several CDs of pagan chants and songs, and publishes a magazine called "Reclaiming Quarterly."
[edit] See also
[edit] Further reading
- Jone Salomonsen, Enchanted Feminism: The Reclaiming Witches of San Francisco (London and New York: Routledge, 2002) ISBN 0-415-22392-X
- T. Thorn Coyle, Evolutionary Witchcraft (Tarcher/Penguin, 2004)
- Starhawk and M. Macha Nightmare, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying (Harper/SF, 1997)
- Starhawk, author of The Spiral Dance and numerous other books - see Starhawk
- Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America (Penguin, 2006)
- V. Vale, "Modern Pagans" (Re/Search, 2001)
