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Happy Yule from CHS
CHS wishes everyone a very happy Yule and Midwinter season. CHS Newsletter Coordinator, Ben Hoshour, is sharing pieces on the Midwintter Solstice in his blog, The Pagan Perspective. He will also be posting reflections on the origins of the Midwinter Solstice and Santa Claus, the symbology of the Yuletide and many other intriguing solstice facts using John Matthew's book, The Winter Solstice. |
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Congratulations COA!
The Circle of Aradia/Temple of Diana, Inc. is hosting the 40th Winter Solstice Dianic Anniversary, marking the official start of the Dianic tradition in 1971. You can find more information here |
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Updated CHS Catalog
The latest version of the CHS catalog has been posted. You can find a copy of the updated catalog here.
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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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Student IDs are Here!
 CHS is now offering student identification cards. If you are a student in a degree or certificate program, please send us a head shot photo if you would like an ID card. |
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Student Notice for Class Withdrawals.
In order to help speed our students toward graduation, mandatory counseling with the Dean of Students is required for any student who has withdrawn from or received NC in 4 Master's classes before enrolling in another class."
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Important Dates
For Students
December 17 - End Fall Classes
January 9 - End Spring Registration
January 16 - Begin Spring Classes
January 23 - Drop/Add Last Date
For Faculty December 31 - Fall '11 grades due to office January 1 - Summer '11 course information due to office
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Spring Semester 2012 Highlights
Spring One: Jan 16-Feb 11
Foundations of Germanic Spirituality: Tradition, Myth & Lore
Instructor: James Acken, PhD
Class meetings: Tuesday, 7 pm ET
Description: Contemporary Germanic paganism draws on an array of sources from medieval literature to modern scholarship and traditional folklore to ethnographic research. Through recorded presentations, primary documents, and weekly discussions all offered online, this course offers students the chance to explore these fascinating and involved topics while marking some of the often-vexing problematic issues of interpretation and cultural transmission.
Required texts: TBA
Earth Congregations: Nature as Classroom and Sanctuary
Instructor: Chris Highland, M. Div
Class Meetings: None
Description: The open doorways of the natural cosmos reveal beauty and wisdom accessible to each person. Students will take a closer look at eco-village and green village concepts, as well as transformative possibilities for existing spiritual communities. For instance, what would happen if a church, temple, synagogue or mosque chose to turn their building into a community center addressing social issues in their town and held their spiritual gatherings in a more Pagan way, near trees, waterfalls and wildlife? What if people of many faiths and no faiths met in these natural environments to learn, honor and respect diverse perspectives with the purpose of widening the root structure for active compassion and justice? Each student will construct their own "earth congregation" model and show the ways in which the earth-related setting presents the organic foundation for cooperative action in a diverse community.
 The Druidic Past and Present (T6405)
Instructor: James Acken, PhD
Class meetings: Tuesdays, 5:30-6:30pm ET optional
Prerequisites: None; C5121 Contemporary Global Paganisms or T5940 Research and Writing for Pagan Scholarship recommended.
Description:Since the eighteenth century, druids and the heritage they represent have fascinated and inspired Western tradition, but this heritage is vexed by more than a thousand years of either absent or contradictory evidence. This course reviews evidence from several disciplines and pertaining to the druids, analyzing the connections between what we believe we know of their reality to the extant evidence, but it will also look beyond the usual scholastic analyses to folk customs and traditional lore.Fulfills the Area I requirement for a course in Paganism and history.
For more information about these courses, visit our website. And when you're ready you can register for your classes here. |
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Cherry Hill and the AAR 2011
Several CHS faculty and administration attended the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Religion (AAR). Of particular interest was the section devoted to the study of Contemporary Paganism. You can find M. Macha Nightmare's coverage of Contemporary Pagan Studies at the AAR here and more general coverage of the AAR here.
Aso representing CHS, was Dr. Christine Hoff Kraemer. presenting her paper on the "Perceptions of Scholarship in Contemporary Paganism," which can be found here. |
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Accreditation Update
Our recent Future of CHS survey reaffirmed overwhelmingly that you (our students, supporters, faculty) want accreditation for Cherry Hill Seminary. In light of your passion for this goal, we will occasionally use this space to report on progress towards accreditation standards as well as where we still fall short. In this way you can have a better idea of what it takes to move us toward that weighty but exciting goal. For starters, here's something we did two or three years back, but which actually generated discussion by respondents, including some suggestions for improvement.
DETC Standard: Advertising and Promotion - The institute must not discriminate in its admissions because of race, sex, color, creed, age, or national origin in admitting students.
The CHS Board of Directors voted in 2009 to approve the non-discrimination policy found on most pages of our main web site, and later voted to modify it to include "gender identity or expression." By voting at the board level, CHS demonstrated the importance of its commitment to maintaining an open and affirming organization. All new faculty and staff sign an agreement to comply with and uphold our non-discrimination policy. |
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