The Small-Town Pagan's Survival Guide: How to Thrive in Any Community

177 Pages·2011·1.67 MB·English

by  Bronwen Forbes

© jim hogg photography About the Author Bronwen Forbes has lived in both big cities and small towns and has experienced the
advantages and drawbacks of both. She co-founded Free Spirit Alliance and has taught at various Pagan festivals, Pride Days, and
conferences across North America. She is also the author of Make Merry in Step and Song: A Seasonal Treasury of Music, Mummer’s
Plays & Celebrations in the English Folk Tradition.
Llewellyn Publications
Woodbury, Minnesota
Copyright Information The Small-Town Pagan’s Survival Guide: How
to Thrive in Any Community © 2011 by Bronwen Forbes.
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First e-book edition © 2011
E-book ISBN: 9780738729787
Cover art © Paul Oglesby/AA Reps, Inc.
Cover design by Lisa Novak Editing by Brett Fechheimer Interior
photograph © Sylvia Forbes Llewellyn Publications is an imprint of
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For
Ravenna, Spiritrunner, K, Noey, Julia, Donna Hames, Becca, Jenn, Evy, Witch of
the Woods, Kathleen from North Dakota, Deanna Eberlin, Moondancer,
Keltasia, Cordelia, Lisa McSherry, Ruth Merriam, Rowen Brianna, Fergus, Kim
Schaufenbuel, Andrea Covey, Darren, and Iris.
You have taught me so much.
Acknowledgments
It is always true that one person does not write a book in a vacuum. In this case,
I have fifty survey respondents to thank, especially the twenty-three who have
agreed to let themselves be quoted in this book either in their own words as they
completed my survey or as interviewees on specific topics. They are as much co-
authors as they are contributors; their wisdom and experiences have taught me a
great deal.
My thanks also to Elysia Gallo of Llewellyn Worldwide for once again
believing in me and what I have to say. She and production editor Brett
Fechheimer are truly saints for not panicking when a family medical crisis
delayed my work on the final manuscript.
I have tried to be as accurate as possible when recording the population of the
towns the survey respondents live in, unless the respondents did not want their
town specifically mentioned. For this I have used the numbers provided by the
U.S. Census Bureau for its 2009 Population Estimates Program. I apologize for
any inaccuracies.
I could not have written this book without the help and support of my husband,
A. G., and my daughter Rose. Not only have their own experiences as small-
town Pagans been chronicled here, but they’ve handled my telling of those
experiences to perfect strangers with humor and grace. They were also the best
traveling companions ever, for the now-famous “Walmart Altar Road Trip”
recounted in chapter 4.
Finally, because of life and moving and finishing a bachelor’s degree in
journalism and a few other inexcusable excuses, there was a four-year gap
between the time I originally sent out the survey to interested participants and
when I actually started working on the book. During that time, several of my
original respondents changed or dropped the e-mail addresses they used to send
me their survey responses (the only way I had to reach them). Their comments
have not been included in this book, since I had no way to get their signed
permission to do so. One of those lost respondents didn’t have a lot to say in her
survey that was overly positive or negative, but the name she asked me to use if I
quoted her told me everything I needed to know. She asked me to refer to her as
“Silent.”
On a very deep and personal level, this entire book is dedicated to all the
“Silents” out there who were too frightened to say anything to me at all.
Bronwen Forbes
Baldwin City, Kansas
Summer 2010