The Sophian

Issue date: 3/12/09 Section: Features

Here on Smith campus, students often try to educate themselves about diverse socio-cultural groups. Paganism, however, seems to be a topic that has escaped many, perhaps reflecting the public's general perception of this minority religion as completely mystifying.

Smith has its own Association of Smith Pagans (ASP), with a very familiar structure and set of practices. Much like any other organization on campus, the group has weekly meetings - each Sunday in the Campus Center - as well as regular events. This March, ASP will host a full moon ritual and Ostara, a Wiccan festival of the spring equinox in which participants welcome the warmth and light of the season.

Many of these rituals are open for all to attend, and the group is accepting to all denominations of pagans. "Paganism is any non-Abrahamic faith of European or Near Eastern origin, [with a] wide variety and amalgamation of rituals, pantheons and worldviews," says ASP Chair Kayleigh Bohémier '09.

Among the forms of paganism are Hellenic Polytheism, the worship of the Greek gods; Aztec Reconstructionism; Kemetism, or Egyptian Polytheism; and Wiccan forms, which are the most widespread of the modern pagan practices in the United States.

ASP is nearly as diverse as the varieties of paganism. "Many of our members are eclectic Wiccan, meaning that they practice no particular tradition," says Bohémier. "We also have a Kemetic Wiccan, who fuses Wicca and Kemetism, and a Hellenic Polytheist."

Although they do not often collaborate with pagan groups outside of Smith, the club has plans to organize an open panel in order to explain paganism to all those interested, both from the college and the community at large.

Other upcoming ASP events include full moon and new moon celebrations in March and April, a libation to Gaia on Earth Day, and Beltane, a fertility festival, on the last day of classes. All of this information and more can be found ASP's unofficial blog, found at http://smithpagans.wordpress.com/.

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