Dowsing for Divinity

Building Communities of Empathy and Autonomy

Edited by Christine Hoff Kraemer and Yvonne Aburrow

Paperback – $20 / £14.97
eBook – $5 / £3.41
PDF – $5 / £3.37
Kindle – $4.99 / £4.14

For many Pagans, sexuality and the body are sacred. Unfortunately, this conviction is not enough to prevent sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. Like the mainstream communities they are immersed in, Pagan communities struggle with consent issues, especially around sexual touch.

Increasingly, Pagans realize that good consent practices must be embraced by communities, not just by individuals—and that consent is about more than sexuality. Consent culture begins with the idea of autonomy, with recognizing our right to control our bodies and selves in all areas of life; and it is sustained by empathy, the ability to understand and share the emotional states of others.

This collection grounds consent culture in contemporary Pagan values, stories, and practices:

• a Druid explores the concept of sovereignty
• Wiccans analyze “The Charge of the Goddess”
• a Heathen explicates medieval Icelandic lore
• a modern Polytheist draws on philosophies of difference
• …and much more

Additionally, contributors provide nuts-and-bolts guides to building consent culture:

• responding to the needs of survivors of sexual abuse and assault
• setting consent-based policies for rituals and events
• training children and adults in consent practices
• sacralizing pleasurable touch on an everyday basis
• ethically teaching sacred sexuality and sex magick

For Pagan leaders, teachers, and organizers, Pagan Consent Culture is an essential resource.

www.paganconsentculture.com

Reviews

From Misha Magdalene, author of Outside the Charmed Circle:

An essential Pagan primer on consent, ethics, and sexuality
Reviewed in the United States on March 4, 2016

My copy just arrived today, and I can already say this: if you’re at all serious about your Pagan, Heathen, or magic(k)al practice, this is a book that belongs on your shelf. Actually, I take that back. It belongs on your bedside table, or in your bag, or — best of all — in your hands being read, possibly with a highlighter and a pencil for taking notes. The back cover says this book is an essential resource for “Pagan leaders, teachers, and organizers,” but with all due respect, I suggest that claim is too small. I think it’s an essential resource for anyone whose spirituality falls within the range of Pagan, Heathen, and magic(k)al practice, from the solitary witch to the hermetic magician. I’d even go so far as to suggest that people from other communities, religious or secular, could find a great deal of value in these pages. This is exactly the kind of “serious book on Paganism” that people have been clamoring for, and it’s exactly the kind of book on ethics, consent, sexuality, and philosophy that these communities need. Christine Hoff Kraemer and Yvonne Aburrow should be lauded for their absolutely stellar work in curating this collection of essays, interviews, and resources, and I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with it.