We're at an exciting stage of evolution in the Pagan Community.

In the last few years, we've actually begun the necessary steps to get together as a Community, on the local, state, regional, and national levels. Ideas are being shared, groups are working together, and realistic, practical goals are being set. Sometimes these goals aren't met, but sometimes they are... often because of lessons learned in the past. One of these goals is a thing I call PaganSpace.

PaganSpace is fixed indoor space for the Pagan Community-- Pagan Community Centers.

The need for easily accessible space to hold religious, political, and social meetings has never been greater. While we are steadily improving the public perception of Paganism, there remains enough lingering doubt to cause problems getting space for public events. Furthermore, privacy and comfort levels are not at their highest at a coffeeshop or a bookstore, and a private home has numerous limitations, both in terms of size and space as well as safety for the people that live there. Furthermore, parking at a private home can cause problems with the neighbors, and there are legitimate zoning issues, not to mention issues that have been exaggerated for the purposes of persecution.

Pagan Community Centers resolve this problem. In addition to events that the center itself might create, other local organizations can borrow and/or rent the location for events, creating a gathering point for the community as well as a mutually beneficial relationship between the organizations in the community and the Center itself.

Perhaps most valuable of all, a Pagan Community Center is a place to be Pagan. To go and spend time with people who share similar values and viewpoints. A place where seekers can go for instruction or just to find people who might relate. A peer group is a marvelous thing, and a Pagan Community Center can expand the size of a Pagan's peer group exponentially.

By now, I would hope that a Pagan reading this would be thinking that this would be a good idea... but please notice that I am speaking in the present tense. PaganSpace exists.

My first encounter with a Pagan Community Center was at was the end of 1999. I was in Dallas, Texas, as part of a Y2K contingency plan, but took advantage of the trip to take an online acquaintance's offer to come to Betwixt and Between, a Pagan Community Center in Dallas.

I don't know what I was expecting when I got there, but I was totally amazed. While the place itself was impressive, the sheer concept of what a place like this could be was staggering. I attempted to start such a place myself at home in Charlotte, North Carolina, but just as the project began, my job relocated to Richmond, Virginia. In the process of that, however, I had begun searching for and establishing contact with any Pagan Community Center or Pagan Community Center Initiative I could. I've continued this practice, and many of the organizations had begun with no knowledge that there was anyone else doing it.

The problem, of course, is that the people who are doing this invaluable work are incredibly busy, and this kind of networking is very time consuming, and resources for self-promotion have to be spent where they will directly benefit the center-- in the local community. Therefore, this work is largely unknown in the Pagan Community on a national level.

It has been brought to my attention that I can help with this problem, and so my wife and I have created a website at http://www.paganspace.org. For now, this website provides three services:

The PaganSpace Directory provides a place for Pagan Community Centers and Pagan Community Center Initiatives to list themselves so that other organizations-- as well as potential patrons and/or volunteers-- may find them. Furthermore, Organizations can create multiple IDs and lists themselves in a public or private personal directory.

The PaganSpace Press Room is a web-based announcement forum. Registered organizations can post announcements for the public, or set them so that only members of the organization can view them, allowing them to use the directory for staff bulletins. Announcements can be viewed for all organizations, or just for a particular organization, giving organizations a low-maintenance forum that they can link to from their own websites.

The PaganSpace Announcement List is similar to the Press Room, but instead of being web-based, it is a Yahoo! e-mail group that allows registered organizations to post their e-mail bulletins to a much larger audience.

If you are aware of any Pagan Community Center or Pagan Community Center Initiative that is not listed in the PaganSpace directory, please let us know at directory@paganspace.org.

© 2003 by Cather "Catalyst" Steincamp