Pagan weddings attract more than a cult following

By LISA CUPIDO
COLUMBIA NEWS SERVICE

last updated: May 03, 2008 08:39:51 AM

NEW YORK -- On the morning of Anna-Jeannine Kemper's wedding, she, like many brides, will fasten the corset of her lace and taffeta ballroom gown, pick up her silk pink orchid and rose bouquet, and re-count her Champagne flute favors.

But while some brides pace nervously before the ceremony, Kemper, 25,will be busy blessing the four corners of the courtyard where she and fiancé Justin Herman will exchange vows with items that symbolize the four elements of nature: air, fire, water and earth. Later, the couple will bind their hands together with a cord, light unity candles and jump over a broom. The latter gesture is also a tradition in some African-American weddings, but in pagan weddings, it is embraced as a symbol of sweeping away the old and welcoming the new.

Supporters and critics of pagan weddings -- like Kemper's -- often describe the ceremonies as beautiful, mystical, bizarre and even evil, all descriptions Kemper has heard. But, according to some experts, there is one word they can no longer use: uncommon.

A 2001 survey by the Graduate Center of the City University of New York found that the number of followers of Wicca, one of the many religions that fall beneath the pagan umbrella, increased from 8,000 in 1990 to 134,000 in 2001, making it the fastest-growing religion in America in terms of percentage increase.

Marty Laubach, a sociology professor at Marshall University, says the number of followers of pagan religions is even higher now, citing a 2008 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey that put the estimate at 1.2 million.

"My suspicion is that the first number was way too low due to people not responding," Laubach said. "The 1990 study was conducted at the height of the 'satanic panic,' which kept many neopagans in the closet." There are many varieties of paganism, such as Druidism, Shamanism and Wicca. While some subsets don't believe in gods, others, like Wiccans, worship many gods and goddesses. Women, in fact, are revered as the bearers of life in Wicca. Most pagans share in the belief that people should develop their personal and spiritual potential and respect the environment.

The combination of a greater environmental awareness and the higher status of women has created a very attractive spiritual experience for many people today and could explain the dramatic growth in the Wiccan movement, experts say. Wiccans emphasize through their rituals and practices the moral autonomy of women and their spiritual empowerment, according to Lloyd Steffen, a religion professor at Lehigh University.

"Wiccans take a stand against patriarchy and misogyny," said Steffen. "What I find powerful in their position is their ethic, which affirms that people should take responsibility for who they are and what they do." As a follower of Wicca, Kemper, a graphic designer who lives in Akron, Ohio, was adamant about incorporating her beliefs into the ceremony, despite disapproval she encountered from several members of her fiancé's conservative Christian family.

Some of the Wicca rituals they will observe include handfasting, in which the officiant ties the couple's hands together with a cord and helps them create a knot that they'll keep as a memento of the day. Kemper and Herman also have written a "declaration of intent," similar to wedding vows but with an emphasis placed on the promise that both individuals have united in free will.

Like most pagans, Kemper feels a strong spiritual bond with nature and will marry in the herb garden of Quail Hollow State Park in Hartville, Ohio.

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