This article is from a lifer who has serverd 20 plus years and is still serving. if you would like to discuss this our any other aspect of this site please join the fourm. If you have family or friends inside and they would like to tell their story please email the webmaster webmaster@cyber-cauldron.com if you are intested in becoming a Visiting Minister (VM) or a Writing Minister (WM) visit our VM & WM section.
Pagan in prison
Bit of a controversial subject among the pagan community! Me, I've been in prison since 1985 and realised my life was a spiritual wasteland soon after.. I was eighteen years old, reasonably intelligent, physical fit with no mental health issues - so why was I in jail for Murder?
Obviously the answer was far from simple, but one part of it was lack of spirit in my life. Mind and body were OK, but there was a near total neglect of my spirit, I set about exploring this.
Organised religion had never held any appeal for me - why should I need a go between the Devine and me? I thought back to the times in my life when I'd know contentment, and quickly realised they virtually all involved me being outdoors (in the woodland and huge deer reserve not far from where I'd lived, along the riverside, at the coast on holidays etc). I've never felt so content as when walking in an old English woodland.
So the clue was nature!
I spent close to five years investigating 'natural' and 'indigenous' faiths, finally coming full circle back to my own doorstep Britain.
I explored Wicca in its ever-growing variety of variations, Duridry, the Native British Tradition and the Northern Tradition amongst many. All had worth, All held knowledge they said much to me, but none quite felt right, Then one day as I read a book on early English history, there was a section on the faith of the Anglo-Saxons - and click The Anglo-Saxon branch of the Northern Tradition was it. I felt rather stupid to be honest, because I had (and use) Runes since the early 1980's - I just hadn't realised the Anglo-Saxons had used Runes! Anyway one thing lead to another and, on the Vernal Equinox of 1990, I formal dedicated myself to the Aesir and Vanor.
To mark my Path as a connected, but separate, branch of the Norse dominated Northern Tradition, I use a term I found in a book by Bill Griffiths - Oslàc i.e. 'One who makes sacrifice to God' - in my case Thunor.
Those where exciting times but - as the Home Office didn't reconise Paganism as a valid spiritual path until 1996 - times that I kept to myself!
Tentatively reaching out in letters to organisations, which were ignored, or replies were full of prejustice and basically they didn't want to know, so I was alone. It stayed like to 2001 when I arrived at HMP Rye Hill. There, for the first time, I found a pagan up and running, fully sanctioned by the prison - and with a visiting "Minister"!
Over the following years we had a number of VM's Belinda W, Tiziana S, Gillian H, Walks Crow and the Wonderful Kerry P, and I spent several years in touch with the then Pagan Prison Manager for the P.F Carrie de Fey.
Carrie was a remarkable lady who fought so long and tirelessly for us all and never really got the recognition she deserves, only ill health stopped her in the end, and she had to stand down - whereupon Suzanne White stepped up to the mark.
(The present Pagan Prison Manager is Anne MacDonald Coleman)
In a recent issue of Pentacle Magazine, Mike Howard declared that pagans in prison don't need a VM - as we all act as our own priest / priestess. Whilst that is true, Mr Howard doesn't really understand prison life.
A VM isn't just a teacher or guide, but a buffer and liaison between inmate, prison and, in some cases, the Home Office. A good VM ensures that a prison remains mindful of the legal rights of a pagan inmate. The fact is that, as someone from the outside, a VM receives more attention from the prison than a n inmate. A VM can settle a situation with a phone call to the prison Chaplain or Governor, which would, for an inmate, require protracted legal action.
Pagan prisoners have long since been a bone of contention amongst the pagan community. Carrie de Fey often came up against, shall we say, a lack of enthusiasm from people who should have know better. I actually believe that more people could benefit from interaction with pagan prisoners. Hers why.
A surprising number of people find that they develop a spiritual awareness in jail. They might not think of it in those terms, but the desire to become someone better isn't as rare as you think. If they feel drawn to Paganism then you generally find them enthusiastic and dedicated with enough time on their hands to put in serious study and effort. There are people in prison who are desperate for a guide or teacher to get them onto the right direction in what will be a life-long search for betterment. Can you imagine the sense of fulfilment working with such people?
The positive, nurturing energy you could create in them?
There are also people inside who have used their time as a retreat in which to engage in both deep, traditional practices and new, experimental forms. They could end up teaching you! Our cells are our refuge, our study hall and our temple. We cannot go outwards, so we travel inward and experience the divine in it's multitude of forms.
Pagans In Prison are P.I.P's and, as such, can with nurturing - grow into something vibrant and rich. So get involved with a Pagan prisoner - it could be a tow-way education!
Ges?ld