Pagan Podcasting

The topic of Men in Wicca seems to be shrouded in mystery. The awesome podcasters here at the PPP have assembled resources to tackle this topic as a result. Here are some of the more memorable podcasts I have listened to on this topic .

Shhh! There are pagans in Texas!! has a very thought-provoking episode called The Man Panel (Episode 11). Like many thought-provoking podcasts, it is long, but even as someone experienced in absorbing and even propagating this information, there was a lot of new stuff here I previously had not encountered and that’s always fun for an avid podcast listener.

Coming from an exploration of male archetype in Wicca and how that should help inform men how to behave, The Wigglian Way has an excellent series of segments covering 4 aspects of the male archetype:

1. The Warrior (in Episode 61)
2. The Magician (in Episode 69)
3. The Lover (in Episode 85)
4. The King (in Episode 87)

Broadening the discussion to all of Paganism and not just Wicca, the discussion would seem one-sided without some input from some women. The Women at Pagan Women by Lamyka’s Wiccan Podcast discussed Pagan Men in Episode 7.

And, of course, we can’t forget the show I routinely contribute to for my friend Barrett up in Winnipeg – Pagan Men.

Launched in the wake of the Pagan Community’s discussion of gender identity resulting from the events of Pantheacon 2011, Pagan Men is a whole show dedicated to the topic of Men in various Pagan belief systems. Here’s a player for episode 1 which sets the tone and definitions the show uses.

David Carron of Ravencast joins a Who’s Who of the Asatru Media on Raven Radio to discuss how (and if) the Asatru Community is divided. Dave is very careful to emphasize the whole argument serves to divide the Asatru community.

However, as an outsider, I find the discussion to provide very thought-provoking insight into Asatru, its practitioners, history, evolution and practices. It’s long, but well worth a listen (well, maybe not the first 10 minutes or so – but it gets better).

A hearty welcome to Selena Fox and the folks at Circle Sanctuary on joining us in the podosphere . Many varied members of the Pagan podcasting community has been working with the widely respected Pagan elder intermittently over the past couple of years to try to encourage Circle Sanctuary to have a presence in the podcasting universe to help more people be aware of the awesome stuff they do. With the assistance of the very kind folks at Pagans Tonight, Circle Sanctuary has launched their first podcast: Pagan Warrior Radio. This show focused on Pagans in the military launched on November 11, 2011, known in the US as Veteran’s Day and most elsewhere as Armistice Day.

Normally I never mention shows in their first episodes because, well, shows in their first episode either have a lot of problems that don’t accurately reflect how awesome the show will be or get our palette wet for more only to see the show lasts a mere 2 or 3 episodes. Hence the PPP requirement for a minimum of 3 shows before joining just because we’ve seen this happen (and continue to happen) so often. Sure, there’s the news of this being a Big Name Pagan entering podcasting, but that alone isn’t terribly newsworthy seeing as other organizations such as CUUPS and The Troth have trail blazed this path previously.

I mainly want to mention this for those looking to get into podcasting. Here’s a team of people experienced with broadcasting and they have the same issues with their first episode that all us “normal” pagans encounter. And that’s fine! See, BNPs are people too – just like us. They just happened to have previously accomplished a lot of useful stuff for the Pagan community. I honestly believe listening to the first episode of Pagan Warrior Radio will put many potential podcasters at ease about doing their show. Heck, many associate me with the Pagan Centered Podcast and we didn’t really get good until Episode 87.

On a personal note, I find inter-organization cooperation like we see here very inspiring. I also am appreciative of some problems in the Pagan community being resolved by means of this show; specifically, the need for Pagans in the military to have a voice in the Pagan community and someone to talk to about issues that arise in the military from whom they can get useful answers.

So whether you’re looking to get into podcasting or want to learn more about the history of Pagans in the military, I encourage you to listen to the first episode of this show hosted on Pagans Tonight’s website: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/witchschool/2011/11/12/pagans-tonight–veterans-day-special

Right now, when something awesome is going on in Pagan podcasting, there’s no real way to learn about it. Sure, individual Pagan podcasters network with one another to spread news of awesome things like the Podkin Supermoot and PPP members can post here. However, there’s no widely known “ShowBiz News” site for Pagan media. So, we are re-purposing our under-utilized homepage to serve as this “ShowBiz News” site, with an emphasis on informing the Pagan community of awesome things going on in Pagan podcasts, video shows and other non-Blog/non-Paper media. All PPP members can still post and toot their own horn or endorse shows they love. However, the ultimate goal is make sure we’re all informed of the pure awesomeness that the PPP and those outside the PPP are contributing to the Pagan community.

This will not initially be run as a PNC bureau. I will be leading this project and have a sincere appreciation of the principles the PNC bureaus are asked to adhere to. However, we currently do not have enough organizational interest to live up to their editorial standards. As a result, we will not be running like a PNC bureau. As contributions come in, we can revisit this idea again. Until then, this will be run as a blog where anyone that has access can just publish what they want without an editorial process. I just ask that this not be a forum for drama – you can do drama on your own sites/shows, but please keep it out of here.

Also, very soon, we will be changing the appearance of the website (without sacrificing content) as just part of keeping the website on the latest and greatest software.

Questions? Just drop a comment .