<p>OK, a Wiccan priestess. That’s unusual.</p>
<p>[Margot</a> Adler - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margot_Adler]Margot”>Margot Adler - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Did you actually read the article? She’s a Unitarian Universalist.</p>
<p>It also says she is a Wiccan priestess. I am a Unitarian Universalist, and it does not surprise me that she also participates in the UU community. UUs are VERY open to allowing people of any faith to belong to their community. I was at a solstice potluck at our church last night, and I commented to someone that if there is one religious group that actually lives out the ideal of allowing freedom of religious thought, it is the UUs! It makes for some interesting services, though, as you never know quite what you are going to get from week to week 
We have not had a Wiccan ceremony during my attendance at our congregation, but our pastor gave a very interesting sermon about druids one time…</p>
<p>"Adler is the author of Drawing Down the Moon: Witches, Druids, Goddess-Worshippers, and Other Pagans in America Today[4], which was revised in 2006[5]. The book is considered a watershed in American Neopagan circles, as it provided the first comprehensive look at modern nature-based religions in the US. For many years it was the only introductory work about the American Neopagan communities. Her second book, Heretic’s Heart: A Journey Through Spirit and Revolution, was published by Beacon Press in 1997. Adler is a Wiccan priestess in the Gardnerian tradition, an elder in the Covenant of the Goddess,[1] and she also participates in the Unitarian Universalist faith community</p>
<p>Sounds like a witch to me. A nice one. How’s that reading thing working for you?</p>
<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca</a></p>
<p>It’s been known for a long time. I remember reading about this several years ago. I was surprised then.</p>
<p>So is that a good or bad thing?</p>
<p>barrons - curious as to why you think this is <em>unusual</em> or that it is even worthy of comment.
Wiccan is becoming more mainstream. The DOD recognizes it and has appropriate grave markers for our soldiers who pay the ultimate sacrifice and are Wiccan.</p>
<p>tom:</p>
<p>Neither. After I learned it, I tried to listen more carefully for signs that her being a witch influenced her reporting and found none. The fact that people are surprised to learn it means that they could not detect it either. Or does it mean she has bewitched us all? :)</p>
<p>marite- I agree with you.</p>
<p>From the article cited as proof (in the Wikipedia article):</p>
<p>“I guess I chose UUism because I need to live in balance. I can do all those wonderful, earth-centered spiritual things: sing under the stars, drum for hours, create moving ceremonies for the changes of seasons or the passage of time in the lives of men and women. But I also need to be a worldly, down-to-earth person in a complicated world–someone who believes oppression is real, that tragedies happen, that chaos happens, that not everything is for a purpose. Unitarian Universalism gives me a place to be at home with some of my closest friends: my doubts. Of course, there are many rationalists within the earth-centered community, but somehow I feel more centered in this denomination. And I think, in turn, the Pagan community has brought to UUism the joy of ceremony, and a lot of creative and artistic ability that will leave the denomination with a richer liturgy and a bit more juice and mystery.” <a href=“http://moonpathcuups.org/margot.htm[/url]”>http://moonpathcuups.org/margot.htm</a></p>
<p>Not a big deal to me. I know some wiccans. They act as normal as most people do – whatever normal is. It’s just another spiritual path.</p>
<p>Boogie boogie!</p>
<p>I don’t think singing under the stars, drumming for hours, or creating rituals for seasons or life cycle events are threatening to the fabric of society, or to individuals either. Actually sounds like a lot of people I know, of diverse religious persuasions.</p>
<p>Wiccan is not mainstream IMHO as generally practiced. Sorry. And dmd77–just because she is ALSO into the UU does not mean she is not also a Wiccan priestess. I think UU is pretty much come as you are. Why are you trying to deny this part of her practices? I don’t care really about the fact that she’s on NPR too. Just found it pretty out there. Let me know any other mainstream folks we might know who are also Wiccans.</p>
<p>Well, you wouldn’t know her, but I know a lawyer who’s a Wiccan priestess. A Republican too, by the way!</p>
<p>That sounds about as mainstream as it gets ;)</p>
<p>Mother Nature
???</p>
<p>barrons - you probably know a few Wiccans - you just don’t know they are Wiccans. They don’t walk around with a big red “W” emblazoned on their chest after all. Perhaps you are more sheltered than you thought?</p>
<p>The ones I know are all college educated. There were a bunch at my daughter’s college and my daughter even went to an equinox celebration one Easter.
You may think their celebrations odd but I know some Protestants who think the High Holy Mass odd.
There was a Wiccan on “Say Yes to the Dress”. She was really cute. Wanted to attach fairy wings to her dress IIRC.</p>
<p>The folk singer Dar Williams has a really cute and poignant song called “The Christians and the Pagans”. Maybe it’s on you tube.</p>
<p>There are lots of nature-worshippers in the world and have been for millennia. Most of them just don’t use the term Wicca or witch.</p>
<p>I checked with all 18 here and no Wiccans. I did know a few in college. But that’s Madison. I’m sure there are some in Seattle too–maybe 500 out of 2.5 million. Still few enough to think of as odd.</p>
<p>Barrons–the point I was trying to make is exactly the one you made: she’s a Unitarian Universalist (as am I, some days) and may or may not be as influenced by that as by Wiccan practices. The fundamental tenet of the Unitarians is “Faith, Reason, Tolerance.”</p>
<p>As for Seattle: keep in mind that there are more people of “no religion” in Seattle than in other US cities: [url=<a href=“http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gnoreligion/flash.htm]USA”>http://www.usatoday.com/graphics/news/gra/gnoreligion/flash.htm]USA</a> Today<a href=“I%20also%20found%20this%20source%20interesting:%20%5Burl=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_United_States]Demographics%20of%20the%20United%20States%20-%20Wikipedia,%20the%20free%20encyclopedia[/url]”>/url</a></p>