Reclaiming (neopaganism)
Encyclopedia
Reclaiming is an international community of women and men working to combine earth-based spirituality and political activism. Its predecessor organization, the Reclaiming Collective, was founded in 1979 by two Neopagan women of Jewish descent, Starhawk
and Diane Baker, in order to explore and develop feminist Neopagan emancipatory rituals. Today, the organization focuses on progressive social, political, environmental and economic activism.
, blending the influences of Victor and Cora Anderson's Feri Tradition
of Witchcraft, Dianic Witchcraft
as taught by Z. Budapest
, and the feminist
, anarchist, peace
, and environmental
movements.
, 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.
Among the tradition's teachers are Starhawk
, author of The Spiral Dance and several other books; T. Thorn Coyle
, author of Evolutionary Witchcraft; Diane Baker and Anne Hill, co-authors of Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess Tradition (1998) and M. Macha Nightmare
, co-author of The Pagan Book of Living and Dying.
Starhawk
Starhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion...
and Diane Baker, in order to explore and develop feminist Neopagan emancipatory rituals. Today, the organization focuses on progressive social, political, environmental and economic activism.
History
Reclaiming originated in 1979 in the San Francisco Bay AreaSan Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
, blending the influences of Victor and Cora Anderson's Feri Tradition
Feri Tradition
The Feri Tradition is an initiatory tradition of modern traditional witchcraft. It is an ecstatic, rather than a fertility, tradition stemming from the experience of Cora and Victor Anderson...
of Witchcraft, Dianic Witchcraft
Dianic Wicca
Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
as taught by Z. Budapest
Zsuzsanna Budapest
Zsuzsanna Emese Mokcsay is an American author of Hungarian origin who writes on feminist spirituality and Dianic Wicca under the pen name and religious name Zsuzsanna Budapest or Z. Budapest. She is the High Priestess and the founding mother of the Susan B. Anthony Coven #1, the first feminist,...
, and the feminist
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, anarchist, peace
Peace movement
A peace movement is a social movement that seeks to achieve ideals such as the ending of a particular war , minimize inter-human violence in a particular place or type of situation, often linked to the goal of achieving world peace...
, and environmental
Environmental movement
The environmental movement, a term that includes the conservation and green politics, is a diverse scientific, social, and political movement for addressing environmental issues....
movements.
Influences and teachings
Reclaiming's spiritual approach is based in the religion and magic of the GoddessGoddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
, who is understood as the immanent
Immanence
Immanence refers to philosophical and metaphysical theories of divine presence, in which the divine is seen to be manifested in or encompassing of the material world. It is often contrasted with theories of transcendence, in which the divine is seen to be outside the material world...
life force, not as a transcendent
Transcendence (religion)
In religion transcendence refers to the aspect of God's nature which is wholly independent of the physical universe. This is contrasted with immanence where God is fully present in the physical world and thus accessible to creatures in various ways...
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.
Among the tradition's teachers are Starhawk
Starhawk
Starhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion...
, author of The Spiral Dance and several other books; T. Thorn Coyle
T. Thorn Coyle
T. Thorn Coyle is a San Francisco-based author and teacher who began in the Feri Tradition and the Reclaiming tradition, but now works and teaches within her own "Morningstar" practice and ....
, author of Evolutionary Witchcraft; Diane Baker and Anne Hill, co-authors of Circle Round: Raising Children in the Goddess Tradition (1998) and M. Macha Nightmare
M. Macha Nightmare
M. Macha NightMare , a priestess and witch, is an author, teacher and ritualist, with a penchant for collaboration. An initiate, and among the founders of, Reclaiming Tradition Witchcraft, as well as Faery/Feri Tradition, Macha holds Elder credentials through The Covenant of the Goddess , the...
, co-author of The Pagan Book of Living and Dying.
Activities
Today, Reclaiming has several dozen affiliated communities across the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. 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 the magazine Reclaiming Quarterly.See also
- NeopaganismNeopaganismNeopaganism is an umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe...
- Feri TraditionFeri TraditionThe Feri Tradition is an initiatory tradition of modern traditional witchcraft. It is an ecstatic, rather than a fertility, tradition stemming from the experience of Cora and Victor Anderson...
- Dianic WiccaDianic WiccaDianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
- FeminismFeminismFeminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
- EnvironmentalismEnvironmentalismEnvironmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
- Spiral DanceSpiral DanceSpiral dance, also called the Grapevine dance and the Weaver’s dance, is a Neopagan group dance emphasizing community and rebirth, although it is also used as an effective way to raise power in a ritual...
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 CoyleT. Thorn CoyleT. Thorn Coyle is a San Francisco-based author and teacher who began in the Feri Tradition and the Reclaiming tradition, but now works and teaches within her own "Morningstar" practice and ....
, Evolutionary Witchcraft (Tarcher/Penguin, 2004) - StarhawkStarhawkStarhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion...
and M. Macha NightmareM. Macha NightmareM. Macha NightMare , a priestess and witch, is an author, teacher and ritualist, with a penchant for collaboration. An initiate, and among the founders of, Reclaiming Tradition Witchcraft, as well as Faery/Feri Tradition, Macha holds Elder credentials through The Covenant of the Goddess , the...
, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying (Harper/SF, 1997) - StarhawkStarhawkStarhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion...
, author of The Spiral Dance and numerous other books - see StarhawkStarhawkStarhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion... - Margot Adler, Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids Goddess-Worshippers and Other Pagans in America (Penguin, 2006)
- V. Vale, "Modern Pagans" (Re/Search, 2001)