Moira Payne was named as this year’s Pagan o the Year.

This year’s Pagan of the Year truly understands that to be a good leader one must set aside their ego and serve the communities best interests, that to truly understand people you need to meet them where they’re at, and that in order for a group or event to be successful they have to form lasting positive connections to the community they serve.

She has been involved in our local pagan community for almost two decades and in that time has been part of many groups as both a member and a leader. She started her journey in our local community with the ADF and the Shining Lakes Grove, was a member of W.I.C.A, the 5 points ravens 4 pillars group, and is currently a student and member of the Temple of Witchcraft.

It is well known that she will go out of her way for a good ritual. In fact, her children love to tell stories of being dragged to different classes, workshops, rituals and drum circles. When she goes all in on something and believes in it, she takes her family along for the ride.

Throughout her personal journey she has given back to the community both publicly and privately. Privately she has made connections between people to introduce them to others who can help their ideas grow, helped fund passion projects, and given her time and energy to different causes that provide badly needed resources to individuals. These private connections have had just as much or more of an impact on the community as her public work. Her willingness to have the conversations, to personally reach out and follow up, and to live her ideals are an example we should all follow.

Publicly she has done so many things that it is hard to list them all here. She volunteered for Michigan Pagan Fest in 2010 and eventually ended up running their programming department. She attended the Witches Night Out starting in 2008 and eventually started running them in 2016.

In 2022, after attending ConVocation for years, attending board meetings, and seeing how much help was needed, this person applied for and was voted onto the MEC board. Her choice to step up then, a long with a few others, helped save an organization that will be celebrating its 30th anniversary this coming year. She is now one of the most well known faces and voices of MEC and ConVocation, as well as the current board president.

When collecting facts, dates and stories for this moment a few things were said repeatedly. “She puts community before ego”, ” She just gets people”, ” She always follows through with what she says”, and “She backs up her words with actions”. Her true dedication to transparency, honesty, fostering connections and community, as well as always putting the good of the community ahead of herself is what makes her a true leader within our local and statewide community. – Speech written by Lindsay Moss

Congratulations, Moira!

there seem to be more Pagan shops around Michigan than ever before, the community has also had three shops in metro-Detroit close this year already.

In Feburary, L&L Apothecary in Troy closed due to a family emergency. They had just opened in November, and their shop seemed to be growing quite nicely.

In late March, The Sacred Sage in downtown Farmington announced they’d be closing, stating that they were moving on to other things. Their closure was finalized at the end of April.

Today, Evenstar’s Chalice in Ypsilanti also announced their impending closure. They plan to keep their online store open, but are closing their shop on Huron Street sometime in July or August, and closing their community space on Packard in mid-May. They note that if you have reward points, those will only be valid while the physical store is still open.

The last few years have been quite challenging for brick & mortar businesses, and SEMAPHORE News reminds you to support your local Pagan shops.

On February 2, 2024, Mr. Wil Fiacco, formerly a Democratic candidate for the New York state assembly for district 117, and now a candidate for the New York state Senate for district 53, posted a photo taken from someone else’s facebook page, with the statement, “A pic from an account of a Satanist school teacher who wants to indoctrinate YOUR children into devil worship. Yes, our schools are done. Time to remove bad teachers and start all over again.”

The photo in question has been confirmed by SEMAPHORE to be a photo from last year’s Correllian Lustration in Buffalo, NY. Buffalo is not in the districts Mr. Fiacco has tried to run for office in.

The Correllian Nativist Tradition is a 501(c)3 Wiccan church, which has been around for a number of years. They are the source of WitchSchool.com, one of the first online Pagan seminaries. They have well over 100,000 members world wide, with locations in many countries. They are not Satanists.

Mr. Fiacco was disqualified from the 2022 race for the state assembly (we are unable to determine why at this time). Mr. Fiacco has also not been endorsed by the Republican party for the seat he is running for this year – they’ve endorsed the incumbent candidate.

Mr. Fiacco does not list a political party on his website, but in 2023 he spoke at a Moms for Liberty event on the topic of schools and gender ideology. It would seem that he is concerned about the state of schools, he is anti-trans, anti-public school, and pro-cannabis. Many posts on his social media are about his conservative Christian faith.

In some states in the US, a teacher being outed as Pagan might not be a big deal, but in others it might cost them their job. Given Mr. Fiacco’s statements, an important question may be whether the school administration understands the difference between Pagans and Satanists.

We will continue to follow this story over the coming days.

L&L Apothecary is run by Jen Luke and her family.

Their address is 5921 John R Road, Troy. They’re tucked back into the corner of a strip mall – their door isn’t immediately obivous, but it’s easy to find once you walk up on the sidewalk.

For the grand opening, the bakery just a couple doors down provided cookies and other treats.

The store is holding a drawing for a number of prizes if your provide your email address. They also offer classes and events.

As noted on the sign, they have smudge bundles, incense, crystals, books, jewelry, stickers, and tarot decks. They also have clothing, door mats, soaps and bath bombs, artwork, and other gifts.

They also launched their new website this week, https://www.landlapothecary.com/

We encourage you to buy local and support your local Pagan Shops.

Update: L&L closed in the spring of 2024.

These two events are one of the largest Pagan fundraisers in the region, and they support several charities – Pagans In Need, Wolf Run Wildlife Spiritual Sanctuary, and The Michigan Pagan Scholarship.

Hosted by Kenya & Kyle Coviak and their associates, the Bazaar brought several dozen businesses and non-profits together for customers to chat with and purchase from. The Macomb Daily did a nice article on the event as well. There was a wide array of products available, as seen in this video walk-through we did.

The Ball commenced later in the evening, with a wonderful mix of costumes and formalwear. The DJ was new this year, and seemed to struggle a bit to catch the community vibe. The food was good, as usual – beef, chicken, pasta, mixed veggies, salads, cake, and sorbet.

The evening’s entertainment was provided by Inner Mysteries, the core professional group behind Magick in Motion Belly Dance, based out of Flint.

And as is traditional, the Pagan of the Year was announced. This year’s choice was Solinox Glantzberg, who runs Keys to Manifestation in Lansing, and Weavers of the Web ATC. The award was a complete surprise to them, but they definitely deserve the honor when we look at all they do.

There was also a “Cackle Contest” which drew rave reviews. And door prizes given at the end of the night.

The planning committee is taking comments and sugestions this week, and planning for next year has already begun.

The ACLU has filed a lawsuit, alleging constitutional violations along with discrimination – the application states that Catholic Doctrine will be the final word on the school’s expectations for students and staff, leaving many to question what will happen to LGBTQ+ students, among other questions.

Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, says “The very idea of a religious public school is a constitutional oxymoron. Charter schools, like all public schools, must be open to all students, and they must be free from religious indoctrination. St. Isidore will be neither. The unprecedented decision to approve this religious charter school violates the separation of church and state and tramples the rights of Oklahoma taxpayers, students, and their families.”

The new charter school, St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, will open in 2024, assuming lawsuits do not hold up the opening. The school will serve up to 1500 K-12 students. The Archdiocese of Oklahoma City and the Diocese of Tulsa intend for this school to reach students in rural areas where there are not enough students to support an in-person Catholic school. They envision students possibly working at home or working in pods at local Catholic churches.

The diocese pointed out, in their application, that there have been a number of supreme court cases recently that have said states cannot withhold money from public organizations just because they are church organizations. Cases about grants for school playground equipment, vouchers for students in districts without high schools, and state funded scholarships and 529 accounts have been key decisions in recent years, pitting separation of church and state against religious-based discrimination.

Pagan groups should continue to watch this case closely, both because of the risks to our own liberties, and the opportunities for us to find ways to use these decisions to help our families and communities.

Earlier this year, he becan work to open Soul Tribes Ministries on Southfield Rd in Detroit. Metro Times wrote an article on the church earlier this month, and last week Friday (September 25th), the Detroit police showed up at the church with a search warrant.

They seized over $700,000 in herbs that Shaman Shu says were blessed sacramental materials.

Shu’s church was expected to be fully operational by November, but his sacrement center (a shop that sells mushrooms in various forms) was opened Labor Day weekend. Now the doors of his facility are taped with tamper proof police seals, and he is not allowed inside.

The search warrant directs seizure of all drugs, all paperwork and files, and calls the sacrement center an illegal dispensary.

DPD has told other news outlets that the search may be related to an unlicensed dispensary, but has not given further details.

The city of Detroit reportly stated that the local ordinance does not take precendence over the federal laws about narcotics.

Shu points out that as a legally formed church with psilocybin as a documented sacrament, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act should apply, and they should not be subject to these laws. He plans to file a lawsuit to get permission to re-open.

The form to apply is available now. While the program does not promise to cover all school supplies requested, they will try to help all families who apply.

Donations were collected at Pagan Pride Day recently, but Spiral Moon is still accepting donations. If you are interested in donating, please reach out directly to Rev. Janet Callahan, revjanetcallahan@spiralmoon.net

Spiral Moon Family Circle’s annual Toys for Yule program will begin collecting donations and taking applications October 1st.

The principal decided this was inappropriate behavior in the school, and interrupted her. In the following days, she received a letter from the superintendent, banning her from the building. The letter specifically calls out her oracle deck as the reason for her ban.

Now Pool is suing, claiming religious discrimination.

Her attorney, Igor Raykin, is a former teacher who specializes in school law. He points out that if she had read a Bible, it is unlikely that she would have even been interrupted, much less banned from the building.

Pool says that reading cards is integral to her faith, and being banned over it is a civil rights violation. While the lawsuit is specific to her situation, it will likely have far-reaching results if it actually goes to court, offering case law that says that parents may openly practice their faith while in their childrens’ school.