As I have mentioned before I am pagan, and electic solitary witch. I generally keep most of what I do and practice to myself as it’s my path and I don’t wish it upon others, some notice the pentagram around my neck but that is the only outward sign that I have any interest in that area, some make the assumption that because I have black hair, tend to dress in black and the pentagram mean I am some form of goth *chuckles* but I wanted to share a little something today…

I bought and ordered two new books today *squeeee* … a present to myself for putting up with a monster of an annoying client last week.

Raven Kaldera is a queer northern-tradition shaman and a pansexual FTM transgendered intersexual. That complicated string of titles translates to someone who was born with an intersex condition, raised female, transitioned to being socially and physically male, and became a transgender/intersex activist. At the same time, he was claimed by the Norse death goddess Hela, who visited him and informed him that he was required to get sex reassignment. “I’m sending you where you’re needed most,” she told him.

He suffered through not only sex reassigment but a protracted illness that culminated in a near-death experience and began to be plagued by gods and spirits afterwards. Afterwards, trying to make sense of what was happening to him, he began to read anthropological accounts of traditional tribal shamans, and realized that he had suffered through experiences that were frighteningly similar to those of tribal shamans of western Eurasia. Further research revealed that a good number of the things that the gods and spirits wanted him to do were things that northern tribal shamans were traditionally expected to do. In spite of being a white American, they had come and taken him anyway. There was nothing left to do but either do the work and live the job, or go mad and die, so today Raven is a northern-tradition shaman in the modern world.

This also led to many workshops on the history of transgender spirituality, exploring such ancient gender-transgressive figures as Agdistis, Lilith, Shiva, Dionysos, Aphrodite Urania, Athena, Baphomet, Obatala, and many others. He is determined to spread the concept of being third-gendered and/or transgendered as the central part of one’s spiritual path, not simply an annoying fact that must be endured in secrecy. He also writes and teaches about the sacred side of BDSM practice and polyamory, using them as part of one’s spiritual disciplines.

I just bought Pagan Polyamory: Becoming a Tribe of Hearts (you can view some of the actual book with this link thanks to google books) and Dark Moon Rising: Pagan BDSM and the Ordeal Path both look like fascinating reads and I am all excited and can’t wait to read them because the pagan aspect is close to my heart. I also found out that the term “polyamory” and it’s definitions actually formed within the pagan community, or simply it was given a name, which has me grinning from ear to ear with pride for fellow pagan folk, so open minded and willing to explore life in their own ways, so further research will ensue hehe as now I am very intrigued.

Raven’s site can be found here