This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone. The above thought is smart and doesn’t require any further addition. It’s perfect thought from my side.
Adam
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Those with nothing to hide, hide nothing. Religious rights are not gained through secrecy and intolerance. Since you so disapprove of this particular group's methods to bring sacred space to it's community and offer public transparency for the sake of acceptance and support, what are YOU doing to help bring rights to centuries of persecution, repression, and intolerance?

Great column! It's nice to see more on what lies under the surface in such a conservative area. Every area is made of up of several communities that live and work together.

To brandedl: The purpose of such exposure from the individual group's participation and allowance is commendable. It's about time people have pride in who they are and aren't afraid to show it. Freedom is a beautiful thing, and worthy of promoting. Through education of this 'controversial' subject, maybe everyone will be more comfortable working together to care for Hampton Roads, not just their own little corner in which they hide. As a pagan, interpreted through your comments, you better than most should understand the 'openness' of such groups. No community survives without acceptance, participation, and fellowship. You work against your own communities? How un-pagan of you. Maybe your roots run much deeper into modern conservative traditions than in those that have nurtured this world through the hatred and discontent. Sacredness is the heart, not the eyes of the public nor of those who believe themselves to be special and therefore more privileged to receive knowledge and divine grace. Those

The 2009 May Moon Beltane was a wondeful event! As one of the hosts, I could not be happier and more pleased. Vicki Cronis is a kind, honest respectful representative of the Virginian Pilot, we were proud to work with her on this project. What was sacred at this event... remained sacred. Everything that was done, was done with full permission and reverence for who we are, and what we represent. We are a positive people, Our motto is "All respectful seekers are welcome" It is our goal at Mystic Moon to foster, furthur and promote positive energy and the Modern American Pagan Movement, as well as reaching out to our local community with donations to local shelters, food donations, neighborhood clean up projects and more. We are proud to be pagan, we are proud to let the community know that we are your neighbors, we are nurses, doctors, lawyers, teachers, mothers, fathers, grandparents. For so many years we, as Pagans, have gotten such bad press, we have been mocked and made fun of. For hundreds of years Pagans have suffered abuse from the mindset of ignorance and intolerance. We hope to change this by showing the public that we have nothing to hide, that what we do is positive, resp

I am puzzled by your response to a very well-written story about Beltane. You seem to promote the misunderstanding that arises from secreting our beliefs and traditions away. We only seek tolerance of our paths, in the same way that we attempt to be tolerant of other spiritualities.

There is no reason to hide our celebrations, anymore than Christians, Jews, Muslims or any religious group should hide their celebrations. It doesn't make us attention-seeking, it makes us joyful in our beliefs and our life.
Peace and blessings

It was a lovely event, to be sure, though being held in a public park, one's expectation of privacy should obviously be a little less than a private, secluded event arranged amongst friends. With the type of press that the pagan community has received in earlier years, it seems an obvious and positive step to see this kind of reporting.
I'm guessing that Brandedl was operating under a false assumption. The press was not called to attend but came as a matter of public interest, in fact, for just the purposes stated by the author of the by-line, a laudable goal. That said, good press is always helpful. If I want to practice my religion in a private manner, away from prying eyes, then i do it in private.. and not in a public park. One advances the causes of minority groups by allowing the public at large to see that minority for what it is and what it does, dispelling the fear of the unknown created by unfamiliarity. Only education defeats ignorance, and it seems fitting that photos, capturing and revealing what is seen in the light, should also lead into light.
As usual, i was more than impressed by the effort that went into planning this festival, the camrader

First, thank you Vicky. Beautiful pictures of a wonderful day out at the festival. Your extremely polite and approachable attitude throughout the day was impressive to everyone who spoke to me about you. All I've heard from the people who were there is good things and honest appreciation for your visit.

Next, to all those who criticize the purpose of the article, I'd like to point out that the definition of news is: "A report of recent events, or previously unknown information." What about this article does not fit that bill? The reporter has presented you with nothing but the facts on the story she's put together here. It's simply a report saying, "This happened, in this area, at this time."

Third, as a practicing solitary in the area, I can't count the number of times I've heard other solitaries comment about how they'd like to meet people in the area but don't know where to start. This article has provided information about an extremely welcoming starting point. I use the term "starting point" on purpose to illustrate the fact that the organization behind this event is entirely too eclectic to offer a fixed path, or the "One and only way" to do anything. It's a

First off to address the concerns of other commenters. Virginia Pilot has done several articles through out the years on events going on in the Christian community so the answer to the last question is: yes- they would be permitted to promote so why are you getting all up in arms now? It makes you seem intolerant and ignorant. I'm SURE that's not what you meant, right? heh.

With that being said I also want to address the fact I am very disappointed in some people in the pagan community who participated in this. If you as an individual want to go sit down and talk to a reporter about the events you are involved in that's fine, your choice. But these gatherings people go to for spiritual reasons which are VERY private to a lot of us. To allow someone to come into a gathering to take pictures is very violating! Are you really that desperate for money or attention? This hardly seems like an advance for religious rights or the local pagan community- it appears very self serving to me. I'm glad I wasn't at this event, and now will probably never attend an event by this group of pagans again. Things like this are a BIG part of why I don't go to drum circle on Mondays anymore.

Thanks, Vicki, for writing such a good article about the Beltane celebration. It's refreshing to have a journalist write about paganism without sensationalizing the topic. You gave a good description of the purpose of Beltane and you educated your readers about paganism, helping to dispel the myths and fictional movie/TV depictions of the religion. The photos were joyous!

For my family and kin, we find the May Moon Festival to be a family centered, hate-free event which was attended by people who have respect for their own and others' opinions and feelings. Bravo, for the well written and beautifully illustrated article! It is nice to see that a media representative can see beyond their own experience and know that people have many ways to honor the Source.

While I heartily disagree with the entire pagan thing, I will hold my vote on this column in abeyance until I see what kind of things are covered in future articles. The idea behind this column is, at the very least, original and has potential to be entertaining. Hopefully it will not only focus on the "societal fringe" but also include those unknown entertainments that are more in line with the "main stream" types. We shall see!

Nice article for someone who is not part of the 'organized' side of non-traditional gatherings. I myself did not attend this particular Beltane, because I was at another gathering farther north, nearly 500 in attendence and was one of the most wonderful and free flowing experiences in my life. I come from a varied background and saw many instances of acceptence on all peoples parts.

We need more of this and less of the hate mongering that tends to follow these things.

I also firmly believe the sign on my truck..."I believe in the speration of church and hate".

Have you people nothing better to do than criticize others? I think this was well written, and as she stated this was her first time attending so she is not using her "position to promote" anything. She is, as stated, showing you things seldom seen. Unlike the news channels which repeat the same old same old, she has written about something new. something which obviously offends some of you. You must not be used to actually hearing NEW NEWs, just the same old regurgitated mess that the tv constantly plays! i may not support this but still find it interesting to learn about since it is something i seldom see or hear about. Thank you for enlightening me and I look forward to future articles full of NEW news :)

Wouldn't get into it myself, but certainly believe in folks pursuing their own happiness whichever way they choose, as long as it's in good civil taste and unobtrusive to others with similar freedoms. as a novice history buff, i would be interested in knowing more on the development of this celebration in terms of the development of man in general over time. It certainly is a precursor to how modern religions got going.
This is and will be an interesting section and I look forward to reading more on what lies "under the brush" here in Hampton Roads....LOL

A lovely event. I think that this is a great idea for a section of the local paper/online news. I have to agree with that writer previously who noted that should you not want to read the story, simply don't click on the story. It's all about choice. It's a funny thing that people sometimes insist that other folks believe exactly what they believe, but its nothing new. Thankfully, it's not even really that common, I think, in day to day life when dealing with people one on one.

In answer to your "Question": Yes, any religious person can state his point. It's called FREEDOM OF SPEACH! Broaden your horizons and learn about something new. Paganism makes more sense than following a book that someone wrote thousands of years ago just because you are told to! If there is something in the paper you don’t want to read, then don’t read it!

I for one enjoyed the article and the music!

...the answer to all of your questions is "YES". Just check out the Pilot's "Religion" section if you don't believe me - it should just be named "Christianity Today". It's about time someone did a story about something other than a local white-bread Christian church.

I think it's great that the Virginian Pilot is showing parts of the Hampton Roads community that don't get much publicity in the "Seldom Scene" section. It's interesting because it shows things going on in the community that we might otherwise not know about. Also, showcasing smaller and diverse sections of the community is a great way to promote tolerance towards others with different beliefs and lifestyles. Of course there will always be those whose world views are threatened when they learn there are others in the world who are different from them. Some of those people may even want to bully others into their sense of acceptability. It is those people who need to learn about tolerance the most.

And I do hope that other small gatherings are highlighted in the future whether they be pagan, protestant, catholic, morman, buddhist, moslem, or whatever.