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BY JOYCE RUSSELL
Times Staff Writer | Sunday, September 12, 2004 | (No comments posted.)
PORTAGE -- Nancy Machin hoped to see 200 faces turn out for Saturday's Pagan Pride Day celebration at Woodland Park.
She wanted to share her beliefs, dispel myths and quench curiosity.
"We aren't a bunch of green-faced hags. We're perfectly normal people like anybody else, but we have different religious believes," said the South Haven woman who works at Purdue North Central.
A practicing pagan for about 15 years, Machin says the understanding of the nature-based religion that draws on pre-Christian, usually European, religious beliefs, has gotten better.
"Everybody at work knows I'm a pagan and they're OK with it. Mostly it is a lack of understanding. People think of the witches they knew of as kids instead of learning what modern witches are," she said.
She said another part of the problem is that many with her beliefs are afraid to speak up publically about their religion. If that was more acceptable, the tragedy earlier this month in Knox when the suicides of two teenage girls was tied to their study of Wicca, could have been prevented, Machin said.
"That was quickly corrected. There is no connection between Wicca and the suicides. The problem is that people are afraid to stand up and say they are pagan. Kids who have an interest don't have a place to go. If those girls would have been able to talk to someone experienced, there would have been no suicides," Machin said.
She said she planned to address that subject at the closing of the day's events.
Suzanne Spycha, of Portage, calls herself a "baby pagan."
"We're just learning," she said of herself and her partner who had set up one of a dozen vendors' booths selling anything from candles to clothing and jewelry. Her business, Gaia's Garden of Soy, is named after Mother Earth.
Spycha attended the event twice before as a spectator. Last year's celebration drew nearly 150 people.
"I like to call myself a kitchen witch because I enjoy herbalism. We feel best when we are outdoors and close to nature. It is very important to us who are open with our spirituality to be at events like this," Spycha said.
She said she's attended pagan-sponsored events from camping to rituals to learn more about the religion.
The event also featured a series of speakers, a children's tent with games and stories and the collection of goods for Mixed Up Mutts animal shelter and local food pantries.
Joyce Russell can be reached at joycer@nwitimes.com or (219) 762-4334.
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