About the book
For many Pagans, sexuality and the body are sacred. Unfortunately, this conviction is not enough to prevent sexual harassment, assault, and abuse. Like the mainstream communities they are immersed in, Pagan communities struggle with consent issues, especially around sexual touch.
Increasingly, Pagans realize that good consent practices must be embraced by communities, not just by individuals—and that consent is about more than sexuality. Consent culture begins with the idea of autonomy, with recognizing our right to control our bodies and selves in all areas of life; and it is sustained by empathy, the ability to understand and share the emotional states of others.
This collection grounds consent culture in contemporary Pagan values, stories, and practices:
- a Druid explores the concept of sovereignty
- Wiccans analyze “The Charge of the Goddess”
- a Heathen explicates medieval Icelandic lore
- a modern Polytheist draws on philosophies of difference
- …and much more
Additionally, contributors provide nuts-and-bolts guides to building consent culture:
- responding to the needs of survivors of sexual abuse and assault
- setting consent-based policies for rituals and events
- training children and adults in consent practices
- sacralizing pleasurable touch on an everyday basis
- ethically teaching sacred sexuality and sex magick
For Pagan leaders, teachers, and organizers, Pagan Consent Culture is an essential resource.
Buy your copy
Praise for Pagan Consent Culture: Building Communities of Empathy and Autonomy
An essential Pagan primer on consent, ethics, and sexuality
My copy just arrived today, and I can already say this: if you’re at all serious about your Pagan, Heathen, or magic(k)al practice, this is a book that belongs on your shelf. Actually, I take that back. It belongs on your bedside table, or in your bag, or — best of all — in your hands being read, possibly with a highlighter and a pencil for taking notes. The back cover says this book is an essential resource for “Pagan leaders, teachers, and organizers,” but with all due respect, I suggest that claim is too small. I think it’s an essential resource for anyone whose spirituality falls within the range of Pagan, Heathen, and magic(k)al practice, from the solitary witch to the hermetic magician. I’d even go so far as to suggest that people from other communities, religious or secular, could find a great deal of value in these pages. This is exactly the kind of “serious book on Paganism” that people have been clamoring for, and it’s exactly the kind of book on ethics, consent, sexuality, and philosophy that these communities need. Christine Hoff Kraemer and Yvonne Aburrow should be lauded for their absolutely stellar work in curating this collection of essays, interviews, and resources, and I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with it.
~ Misha Magdalene,
author of Outside the Charmed Circle:
Exploring Gender & Sexuality in Magical Practice
A truly seminal work for our community
Consent, like all notions that place individual wants and desires in tension against the needs of the larger community (think ‘justice’) requires contemplation and acknowledgement that there might be small variations within a larger cohesiveness. … Pagan Consent Culture arose directly from these conversations, and brings together a diverse collection of opinions and perspectives. …
Edited by Christine Hoff Kraemer, who holds a Ph.D. in Religious and Theological Studies, and Yvonne Aburrow, who has a master’s degree in Contemporary Religions and Spiritualities, Pagan Consent Culture is a natural evolution of their backgrounds and well-curated by their expertise.
I can’t recommend Pagan Consent Culture highly enough; I believe it is a truly seminal work for our community. While it might seem hyperbolic, I believe that if you have any interaction with any community — not just Pagan — this is a book for you. Read it, find your own use for its teachings, and become another person working to redefine our present, broken, culture into one in which all perspectives are valued as sacred.
~ Lisa McSherry,
author of A Witches’ Guide to Crafting Your Practice
and A Traveler’s Guide to Making Magic.
Companion website
The Pagan Consent Culture website has a selection of resources and workshop materials on consent culture.
Table of contents
Part I: Developing Pagan Philosophies of Consent
- Culture of Consent, Culture of Sovereignty: A Recipe from a Druid’s Perspective ~ John Beckett
- Thelema and Consent ~ Brandy Williams
- Consent within Heathenry ~ Sophia Sheree Martinez
- Matriarchy and Consent Culture in a Feminist Pagan Community ~ Yeshe Rabbit (please see note)
- Wicca and Consent ~ Yvonne Aburrow
- The Anderson Faery Tradition and Sexual Initiation: An
Interview with Traci ~ Helix - Context. Consent. Contact. An Animist Approach to Consent ~ Theo Wildcroft
- Seeking a Morality of Difference: A Polytheological Approach to Consent ~ Julian Betkowski
- The Charge of the Goddess: Teachings about Desire and Its End, and Their Limitations ~ Grove Harris
- Walking the Underworld Paths: BDSM, Power Exchange, and Consent in a Sacred Context ~ Raven Kaldera
- Saving Iphigenia: Escaping Ancient Rape Culture through
Creating Modern Myths ~ Thenea Pantera - Is “Tam Lin” a Rape Story? Yes, Maybe, and No ~ A. Acland
- Godspousery and Consent ~ Sebastian Lokason
Part II: Responding to Abuse and Assault
- The Third Degree: Exploitation and Initiation ~ Jason Thomas Pitzl
- From Fear into Power: Transforming Survivorship ~ Sarah Twichell Rosebill
- In the Midst of Avalon: Casualties of the Sexual Revolution ~ Katessa S. Harkey
- Responding to Abuse in the Pagan Community ~ Cat Chapin-Bishop
- Sexual Assault and Abuse Prevention: Safeguarding Policies for Pagan Communities ~ Kim and Tracey Dent-Brown, with the Triple Horse Coven
- The Rite and Right of Refusal: Sexual Assault Prevention and Response in Communities and at Festivals ~ Diana Rajchel
- Sex-Positive, Not Sex-Pressuring: Consent, Boundaries, and Ethics in Pagan Communities ~ Shauna Aura Knight
- Living in Community with Trauma Survivors ~ Lydia M. N. Crabtree
- Consent in Intergenerational Community ~ Lasara Firefox Allen
Part III: Building Communities of Autonomy and Empathy
- Mindful Touch as a Religious Practice ~ Christine Hoff Kraemer
- Consent Culture: Radical Love and Radical Accessibility ~ Staśa Morgan-Appel
- Wild Naked Pagans and How to Host Them ~ Tom Swiss
- Respect, Relationship and Responsibility: UU Resources for Pagan Consent Education ~ Zebrine Gray
- Self-Possession as a Pillar of Parenting ~ Nadirah Adeye
- Paganism, Children, and Consent Culture: An Interview with Sierra Black ~ Sarah Whedon
- Teaching Consent Culture: Tips and Games for Kids, Teens, and Adults ~ Christine Hoff Kraemer
- Asperger’s Syndrome and Consent Culture: An Interview with Vinnie West, Joshua Tenpenny, and Maya Kurentz ~ Raven Kaldera
- Consent in Gardnerian Wiccan Practice ~ Jo Anderson, with the Triple Horse Coven
- Teaching Sex Magick ~ Sable Aradia
- Healing the Hungry Heart ~ B. B. Blank
- Appendices
- Additional Resources