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Voices of CHS
 I am a pagan and a military officer - these two aspects of my life define who I am to a large degree. I am currently a Nurse Corps Officer in the United States Navy working as a Labor and Delivery RN. I enjoy my work because it allows me to create a spiritual and sacred experience for families who are bringing a new life into the world; it is a place where I can put the tenets of my religion into practice in a meaningful way.
I came to Cherry Hill in order to gain a deeper understanding of both my own path (Druidry) and contemporary paganism as a whole. I have been extremely impressed with the caliber of Cherry Hill, both in terms of its academics and in terms of its leaders and instructors. My studies at Cherry Hill have opened up a whole new world. I have become increasingly aware of the challenges and struggles that contemporary paganism faces as well as the myriad of ways in which paganism expresses its beauty and necessity in our own time.
Cherry Hill fills a much needed void in our community. It is a forum and institution for the professional and academic preparation of pagan leaders, clergy, and the laity. It is academically rigorous, open-minded, and inclusive. These are the reasons that I have to chosen to pursue my Masters in Divinity of Pagan Theology at Cherry Hill.
- Ben Hoshour
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The Hypatia Society
 Join The Hypatia Society and become a part of the growing Cherry Hill Seminary family. A true passion for learning and service light these virtual halls. As a member of The Hypatia Society, you carry the light of knowledge further and higher.
Benefits for joining The Hypatia Society and supporting Cherry Hill Seminary are as follows:
$20 Astronomer - Vinyl CHS logo decal 5" square
$45 Mathematician - Enamel CHS pin 3/4" round, plus Astronomer benefits
$95 Philosopher - 10% discount on one Foundations course, plus Mathematician benefits
$150 Teacher - 20% discount on one Foundations course, plus Philosopher benefits
$250 Mystic - Free registration at any CHS one-day event, plus Teacher benefits
$500 Beloved - Glass Yule commemorative ornament, plus Mystic benefits
$1,000 Divine Guide - Online link as sponsor, plus Beloved benefits
Cherry Hill Seminary gratefully acknowledges the kind permission of artist Max Dashu to reproduce her haunting painting of Hypatia. Click here to order a printed poster of Dashu's painting.
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Important Dates
For Students
September 19 - Drop/Add Last Date
December 17 - End Fall Classes
For Faculty
December 31 - Fall '11 grades due to office
Foundations Courses
September 11 - October 8 - Foundations Fall One
October 10 - November 5 - Foundations Fall Two
November 7 - December 3 - Foundations Fall Three
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Meet Candace Kant
 Teaching for Cherry Hill Seminary is an exciting new adventure for me, an opportunity to offer in depth and graduate level classes on Goddess Spirituality. I offered "Introduction to the Goddess Path" in the fall of 2009 and enjoyed building the class and working with the students. Cherry Hill students are a delight to work with. I am offering it again this fall, beginning in October. This is a four week Foundations class designed to familiarize the student with practices of the Goddess Path and the theory behind the practice, in the process identifying what differentiates the Goddess Path from other Pagan paths. The course also looks at ethics and values from a Goddess perspective. I plan to offer a graduate level "Goddess Traditions" course in the near future.
I am a retired professor of history having taught at the College of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas for over thirty years. My primary teaching responsibilities at CSN were the U.S. History Survey courses and Nevada History. As I gained seniority, however, I was able to develop and offer more specialized courses. I created such courses as "History of Witchcraft," "Goddess Traditions," "Introduction to Modern Western Paganism," and "Modern Pagan Thought." Although my supervisors raised their eyebrows, they couldn't argue with the enrollment figures - the courses repeatedly filled to capacity. I also offered "Wiccan Mysteries" and "The Goddess Path" in our non-credit division. When I retired in 2008, my colleagues awarded me the title of Emeritus and I continue to offer several classes per year at CSN.
My specialized courses reflected my heart. Forty miles north of Las Vegas, in Cactus Springs is the Temple of Goddess Spirituality Dedicated to Sekhmet. The temple has been in existence since 1993. I have been a devotee of Sekhmet and associated with the Temple for over a dozen years. I was initiated into the Goddess Path there, Croned and ordained there, and in 2007, Anne Key, who was at that time the resident priestess, invited me and several others to be Temple Priestesses. We developed and led rituals, organized three Sekhmet Festivals, developed Goddess Path classes and did all the other myriad things that Priestesses do. I also worked with Pagan/Wiccan groups at both the men's and women's prisons in southern Nevada. I was honored to be able to serve as Temple Priestess until just recently when travel obligations and a new and challenging enterprise required my time and attention.
This new enterprise is a publishing company that Anne and I have founded. Called Goddess Ink, our motto is "Books for the Heart and Mind." We are dedicated to publishing high quality, affordable and accessible scholarly and creative books in the fields of Women's Spirituality and Goddess Studies. We seek to maintain the legacy of previously published work as well as to encourage new research and creativity. You can also find us on Facebook. Our first book, Heart of the Sun: An Anthology in Exaltation of Sekhmet is now in print. Heart of the Sun offers poetry, academic essays, visualizations, invocations, guided meditations, and ritual by over thirty contributors. Our second book, Desert Priestess: A Memoir by Anne Key is an account of the years Anne spent as Priestess at the Temple. Desert Priestess was released in late August 2011.
I look forward to sharing the Goddess Path with Cherry Hill students this fall.
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Congrats to Grant Potts
 Cherry Hill Seminary would like to congratulate Grant Potts on the birth of his daughter, Alchemy Grace DiMucci Potts, on September 12, 2011.
Congratulations, Grant! |
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Interfaith Photo Contest
 1000kalema.org is an international, interfaith photography competition open to individuals of all ages who are a part of, work with, organize and/or participate in peacemaking activities. Based on the idea that "a picture is worth a thousand words", photographs should tell one distinct story based on the areas of peacemaking listed below:
· Respect · Faith · Service · Answering The Call · Respecting Our Earth · Dialogues And Conversations · Sacred Spaces
· Ceremony · Celebration · Transforming Acts Of Violence And Conflict · People · Places · Cultures · Moments Of Inspiration
· Poignancy · Epiphany
An additional description of 150 words or less can be added along with a theme.
The full guidelines and rules are on the website. Rachael Watcher and Don Frew are both Pagans on the Council that was created to oversee this project by the organization holding the competition - the "Think Peace Media & Communications CC" of the URI.
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Call For Submissions
The religion journal Relegere is seeking submissions for a special issue dedicated to reception histories of the end times. The journal welcomes reception histories not only of Christian imaginaries of the book of Revelation, but also of the end of days in other traditions such as the Western esoteric and New Age milieus. If you are interested in submitting to Relegere's "Histories of the End," please submit an abstract of a maximum of 300 words by December 1, 2011. The issue will appear in December 2012. |
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