Paganistan: The Twin Cities Pagan community

May 10, 8:48 PMMinneapolis Paganism ExaminerMurphy Pizza

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A number of years ago, one of the Pagan priests in the Twin Cities coined the name "Paganistan" for the long-lived and feisty Pagan community here. It was tongue-in-cheek, but the name has stuck; it's a name that the Twin Cities Metro Area Pagans have proudly taken on as a moniker.

Many people are surprised to hear that the Twin Cities boasts the second largest contemporary Pagan community in the US (only San Francisco's Bay Area is larger). Often, they are equally surprised to discover that it has its formative roots as far back as 1972, when the Gnostica Bookstore was holding spiritual seeker classes on topics like magic, contemporary Witchcraft, and other occult traditions down on Hennepin Avenue. Gnostica eventually grew to become Llewelyn Publications, the world's largest New Age and Paganism publisher -- and the Pagan community in the Cities grew right along with it.

It isn't only the size that makes Paganistan a unique and vibrant community. It also has been a religiously innovative community both in terms of the creation of traditions and practices, and in the way it expresses a diversity of paths and organizations. Often, Minnesota Pagans belong to many organizations; this sort of multiple affiliation is par for the course in this community. Twin Cities Pagans have always been "bootstrappers" when it comes to practicing their spiritualities. Always hungry for new ideas, restlessly creative, and having no ties to a lineage holder the way Pagan communities on either US coast do, the Witches, Druids, Heathens, Goddess-worshippers, and other Pagan folks here have always found a way to "mix things up", and to create regionally unique traditions that reflect a Minnesotan cultural influence.

In years past, the New Reformed Druids of North America held their rituals in Prospect Park, in the shadow of Witch Hat Tower, the highest point in the Cities. Other places made sacred by the local Pagans include the Mississippi River, Coldwater Spring, and Minnehaha Creek and Falls, the latter being the focus of a yearly cleanup effort by the community. Contemporary Paganism is an alliance of religions of place. Both natural and urban features of the Cities' landscapes, imbued with a history of religious use and containing spiritual power, according to many in the community, are considered sacred places. Additionally, what makes Twin Cities Paganism what it is has been its incorporation of Minnesota's dramatic seasonality and climate. A Minneapolis priestess once told me in an interview, "Paganism is a religion that celebrates the theatre of the seasons. What better place to be a Pagan than Minnesota?"

I spent nearly ten years researching and writing about the history and growth of Paganistan; the research is finished, but the community continues to grow and adapt. While a thesis or a publication is necessary, tangible documentation especially with regard to a community's history, communities by nature constantly grow and change. It's why this forum is particularly appropriate for continued reporting on this community and its members, and the work they continue to do.

Beltane (May Day) has passed; Midsummer (Summer Solstice) is approaching. Paganistan will be celebrating in backyards, parks, and week-long summer festivals. Twin Cities Pagans get cabin fever as badly as any Minnesotan, and reports from the field will no doubt showcase rituals and celebrations full of joy, sunlight, dancing, drumming, woodsmoke, and genuinely felt reconnections with spirits of the land that slept through the Winter. Paganistan in the Summer promises, every year, its own special magic.