The city is in the grip of the Christmas spirit, but members of the neo-pagan community in Centretown are standing their ground as they prepare for this year’s Yule celebration and craft show, scheduled to take place Dec. 14 at the Bronson Centre.
The Magic Forest Yule Celtic Spirit Craft Show and Sale will feature vendors selling artisan creations and occult products, as well as a psychic fair and Celtic music performed by local artists.
It is held to celebrate the Celtic tradition of Yule, which occurs this year on Dec. 21, the day of the winter solstice. It marks the sun’s “rebirth,” after which the dark makes way to the light and the days become much longer.
The show will feature 35 vendors, the most it’s ever had. Event organizer Dot Wasilewski says it’s a great opportunity for neo-pagans in the community to stock up on supplies for the coming year.
“People are making things tailored towards the spiritual practice, and the best supplies are the ones you get from people you know, who take a lot of care of love and put that into their craft,” she says.
These products include everything from herbs, spices, candles and clothing used for ritual, to tools such as wands and brooms. Brooms are used in Wiccan ritual as a clearing of the sacred space.
Neo-paganism is a group of contemporary religious movements derived from the pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe. It includes Wicca, Neodruidism, and a variety of other spiritual practices.
Judith O’Grady, a researcher and member of A Druid Fellowship, or ADF, says she was drawn to druidism because of her Irish ancestry.
She says their population may be small compared to established Christian religions, but Ottawa’s three druid groves have a collective 55 members, an unprecedented number.
Wasilewski says the large community is part of the reason she feels accepted by non-pagans.
“In Ottawa, I’m comfortable, and people are more curious than they are fearful or condemning, and that’s a good thing,” she says.
Lorayne Katz, a tarot card reader who will be featured at the event, says she draws from a number of different religions in her own spiritual practices.
“Growing up I had friends who had all kinds of different beliefs. I was always very curious about the way people related to divinity, to God, and I just made my way, I made my own stuff up,” she says.
Wasilewski adds that it is common for pagans to draw from different traditions and incorporate them into their own spiritual practices.
Katz says this idea is part of what drew her to neo-paganism.
“It always seemed kind of strange to me that people felt they had to go into a special building to talk to God, when to me it felt like everything was god, you know, the wind and the trees and the sunlight on the water of the river,” she says.
She says the beliefs of neo-paganism have many links to those found in First Nations spirituality. This year’s event will also feature five aboriginal vendors and artists for the first time.