What a radical act it would be to bring together a hundred people under these conditions:

(A) no government or corporate sponsorship – an honest-to-goodness grassroots event that doesn’t rely on “co-sponsors” for finances, publicity, etc

I’m not usually a big fan of “rotating power.”

Power is not a object that I can wrap up and pass along to the next person in line. Power shifts when someone takes it.

Pop Quiz: What’s more magical – a redwood tree or a subway?

Which is more part of nature – a dirt path through the woods or a downtown street?

If you chose the first of each pair, you’re missing half of the story. Because the correct answer is – all of the above.

Do we celebrate diversity, or do we simply tolerate it?

Mitchell stares at me intently as he asks the question.

Mitchell has helped bring trans awareness into Bay Area paganism, particularly Reclaiming events. So I had to stop and think. Do pagans really celebrate gender diversity and transgender people’s experience?

Or do we simply tolerate people who are permanently seen as “other”?

Mitchell has been part of the Spiral Dance ritual in recent years, when the “trans deity” invocation has certainly felt celebratory.

But he’s also been part of rituals that practice inclusivity by invoking “both goddess and god,” or that do gender work which recognizes only two groups, often defined by how we were labeled at birth: male and female.