From the Executive Director

Holli Emore

For years and years, incarcerated Pagans across the country have been writing CHS to ask, no plead, for instructional materials. About three years ago I was talking to Patrick McCollum about prison ministry and he suggested that one of the best things we could do as a learning institution was to create a set of lessons. He advised that they should be printed for regular mailing and be very low cost (most inmates work, but make only cents per hour and must buy their own toiletries). Meanwhile, the letters continued to come.

Several of our faculty raised a hand when I inquired about interest in working on such a project. This would be a labor of love, and it would mean learning about a culture and systems largely unfamiliar to most of us. Several times we thought we were close to releasing a series, then were advised by someone closer to the penal systems to make changes. We are greatly indebted to Selina Rifkin, who created the concept for eight written lessons and wrote each of them, and who formally transferred her copyright to CHS as a gift. We also owe deep gratitude to Candace Kant, who began the process initially, to Annie Finch, who contributed a number of ritual chants, and, especially, to Wendy Griffin, who spent many hours as editor and advisor. Thank you, all, for your caring, and for contributing your talent to this growing, though out of sight, need in our community.

We hope that the newly-launched Pagan Life Academy will inspire others to design additional lessons and contribute to the series. If you already volunteer in a prison, or would like to do so, the Pagan Life Academy series may be a good resource for you. Moreover, you or your group may wish to purchase a set of lessons for your local prison facility.

As America's prisons become increasingly crowded, they more nearly reflect the changing religious demographics of our country, which include growing numbers of Pagans and SBNRs ("spiritual but not religious"). The prison experience can be a cauldron of transformation for many; Pagan Life Academy is Cherry Hill Seminary's offering to our incarcerated Pagans and those who serve them.

Important Dates

For Students

Nov 3 Insights 2 classes end

Nov 4 Insights 3 classes begin

Dec 1 Insights 3 classes end

Dec 15 Fall classes end

Full calendar

For Faculty

Oct 17 Insights 1 grades due

Nov 17 Insights 2 grades due

Dec 15 Insights 3 grades due

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Pagan Life Academy: A New CHS Program for Incarcerated Pagans

Cherry Hill Seminary is excited to announce our newest program: Pagan Life Academy. To serve the needs of Pagans who are seeking personal and spiritual growth while in prison, CHS has developed a series of eight low-cost print courses, each of which focuses on both a holiday and a story from a specific mythology.

The Pagan Life Academy series is pan-Pagan, presenting values, ethics, stories and ritual elements that are common to various Pagan traditions. Each lesson uses elements common to nearly all modern Paganisms: holidays, the calling of directions, ritual practice, and mythology.

Because inmates are incarcerated most often because they have made poor choices, our writer chose eight character traits, or virtues, and re-wrote stories from ancient cultures to emphasize these virtues. The ritual actions are based on the stories and include a commitment to continuing the development of a given virtue.

Pagan Life Academy lessons are suitable for solitary practitioners or for groups, and for use by volunteers and chaplains in prison systems. Read more about these courses and register by visiting the Pagan Life Academy site.

CHS Student Spotlight: Holly O'Brien

When Holly O'Brien was last interviewed by Cherry Hill Seminary in July 2011, she had just started the Masters of Divinity Program with a major in Pastoral Counseling. Now, two years later, she is engaged in ministry at a women's prison near her home in Oregon. After experience as a volunteer, she recently began interning with a Unitarian Universalist chaplain at the prison. "I'm getting to see a different side of the prison than I did as a normal volunteer. I have a lot more responsibilities, a lot more freedoms in the prison. Which is interesting. I'm really enjoying it."

As an intern, Holly meets individually with inmates and prison staff members of all faiths, helps volunteers who need support with religious services, and organizes educational meetings for volunteers. She enjoys her work, although she notes that working with women at the prison can also present challenges. "Most of the time, the women I work with as a volunteer don't talk about their crimes, we focus on . . . what 's going on in their lives in the prison as well as outside with their families, whatever they left behind. And then of course I'm teaching them about Paganism and we're doing Pagan rituals, . . . so it's actually pretty uncommon for them to bring up their crimes. But every once in a while they do, and it's . . . so hard for me to even put into words, but sometimes I'm struck by the difference between the person I'm working with and their criminal past."

Also difficult is learning about the painful histories that most of the women had prior to incarceration, and encountering many of the women's current desire not only for tangible items, but also for intangibles like time and attention. "Normally, if someone was telling me these things, I would give them a hug, you know, you might share some of your own life experiences, you might cry along with them, you might give them something to take back with them, you know? If this was someone in your spiritual group, let's say, you might call them up on the weekend to check in on them. Those are things I can't do. So that's difficult for me to not be able to be more involved on that level."

Talking with Holly highlighted her commitment to serving the women at the prison, and also the sense of gratitude that participating in this ministry brings her. "It's been satisfying knowing that I am helping and making a difference. And it's really opened my eyes to small blessings that i took for granted. Like the wildflowers that grow along the highway, that are pretty, but I didn't necessarily pay a great deal of attention to before and that's not something they ever get to see. . . . Or just the full moon at night. They don't have windows in their cells, so they don't get to see the full moon or the stars. . . . It's really reminded to me that they don't see roses, they don't see daises. I think they see clover flowers, . . . but even just simple weeds are so pretty to me now."

Reflecting on the preparation she received from Cherry Hill Seminary before entering into ministry work, Holly found that the courses she took in counseling were among the most useful. She also noted that she took a dream class with Anne Hill that gave her strategies that are currently benefitting the women with whom she works. "A lot of the women are plagued by recurrent nightmares, and I've been able to help several of them stop having those nightmares using the methods that we worked on in Anne's class." Holly also feels that Cherry Hill Seminary provided her with the scholastic background she needed to work with diverse populations.

Holly encourages Pagans who might be interested in prison ministry to see if their local prison is open to volunteers. "I know that there are many, many Pagans all over the United States serving time that we're not aware of, and [who] could really use some support. And without a Pagan volunteer, they probably aren't going to get any from their prison. And I think that our Pagan values are good values to share with people in the prison setting, too."

Cherry Hill Seminary would like to thank Holly O'Brien for generously sharing her experience with our community! Readers who are interested in learning more about Holly's experiences and prison ministry should visit Holly's blog Pagan Prison Ministry.