Editor's Note: This story is part of our series, Sacred Earth which examines the intersection between climate change — and faith, worldview, philosophy, psychology, and the creative arts. This series is sponsored by the Fetzer Institute.

KALAMAZOO, MI — Say pagan — and for many, the first image to come to mind may be devil worshippers dancing around a fire. That image, however, is far from accurate. 

“Pagans aren't in league with the devil,” says Susan Fisher, ministry officer for the Hearth & Grove Fellowship, a 501c(3) ecclesiastical corporation originally organized in the early aughts as an umbrella organization for communication and common events among local pagan groups.

“We don't usually embody evil in that way, and among people I know the prevailing attitude about evil is that it mainly consists of willfully destroying the planet's ability to support our kind of life, and you don't have to look to the supernatural for who's doing that,” she says. 

Modern paganism is a religious movement, Fisher explains, based largely on principles derived from living on the Earth at this time, using metaphors derived from ancient (and some modern) religions. 

“Theology varies from tradition to tradition, but common themes would be the interrelated cycles of the planet and our lives, the interrelatedness of everything, and how best to recognize all that in religious ways,” Fisher adds. 

Hearth & Grove Fellowship (HGF), established in 2005, meets weekly both in person and on Zoom in Kalamazoo, twice on Sundays and with a song ritual on the fourth Wednesday of every month. 

Tenets of Paganism

The fellowship is based on these nine tenets:

1. Recognize the worth and dignity of all.

2. Honor the Earth and the Web of Life.

3. Encourage spiritual growth within ourselves and the Fellowship at large.

4. Live a life of integrity and responsibility, for ourselves and with others.

5. Have justice, equity, and compassion in all our relations.

6. Accept one another and maintain an open and responsible search for truths and their meanings.

7. Respect the past, live in the present, and work toward a future of wholeness and wellness for the Earth and all its children.

8. Speak with the understanding that our words have power and to use them with care.

9. Share in fellowship, the Wheel of the Year, and the cycles and seasons of life.

Fisher explains: “Paganism in America right now is pretty amorphous but can be characterized in a few ways that would apply to most: I think we all now recognize that we are a modern religious phenomenon, not something that has been passed down from the ancients intact. We do think there are some things our ancestors had right, usually different (modern) interpretations of what it might mean to live closer to the earth and closer to our place than many of us do now. 

“Most modern pagans follow the eight-spoke Wheel of the Year of festivals that evoke the agricultural cycle but also speak to the personal life cycle. In many traditions, the Wheel is expressed in terms of a specific culture's mythology; in HGF we try to avoid specific deity names or stories and focus on core meanings.”

Beyond Earth care

The Kalamazoo Pagan community, Fisher says, supports a local branch of a statewide food bank, called Pagans in Need, which brings in people from the larger pagan community as workers and occasionally clients. They also participate in OutFront's Faith Alliance in ways that bring their diverse membership in touch with the larger community of religious organizations.

“We try to keep our members and attendees informed about area environmental and other activities that may be of interest,” she says. “We are a broad representation of modern paganism with representation of a lot of currently active traditions. 

"Among current regulars, our backgrounds range through several flavors of Wicca, several reconstructionist traditions including Norse and Egyptian, UU, Catholic, and many varieties of Protestant upbringings, and recently also a few who grew up pagan, and secular interests — herbalism, astrology, environmental concerns. We have quite a few folks with active personal practice but possibly an equal number of agnostic/questioning/learning people—and everyone is welcome. 

“What we have in common is a wish for a close, regular community that is community-involved and espouses an environmental ethic but seeks first to provide an inclusive ritual format where reverence counts more than dogma and everyone's ideas can be heard.”

Becoming a pagan — not a one-size-fits-all all

To become a member of HGF, Fisher says, a person must first decide that the Pagan church and its tenets are appealing. 

“We're fairly visible, and I think that trajectory is pretty normative; somebody knows someone, and eventually they drop in and keep coming back. Membership itself involves being able to vote and hold office and is a fairly simple process that takes a minute. Material contribution — time or money — is important but no specific amount is required, and most of us would recoil at the idea of tithing.”

As to who one might find attending HGF or other pagan events, Fisher says, “Pagans are all generations; we're not all superannuated hippies, and we're not all 20-somethings with lots of tattoos. Some of each, and a lot that don't fit either of those pictures. Our average range is 20s to 70s and often includes the toddler of one of us or the young teeners of another.”

Kalamazoo Pagans 

Fisher says HGF is no longer as much of an umbrella organization for other local pagan communities as it originally was. Kalamazoo Pagans, an active page of nearly 700 members on Facebook, for instance, keeps area members well informed about events and news. The site is open to all, pagan or simply those who are interested in learning more about paganism, with a focus on the Southwest Michigan area but open to others beyond the area as well. 

Jennifer Passavant is the founder of the site and current administrator. Initially, a volunteer helping to maintain the site, she now oversees its functions. Passavant is a certified holistic healer by profession, offering intuitive spiritual life and health coaching and channeling alchemical energy healing to balance the mind, body, and soul. 

“Earlier in my life, I fell into a fear-based, dogmatic Christian faith,” Passavant says. “I felt miserable in that faith, so I sought something outside of that. I read about paganism, and it resonated with me. I joined a local Kalamazoo coven and learned about the pagan community here.”

The pagan faith Passavant discovered — and what appealed to her — was that it was an earth-oriented, multi-layered belief system, grounded in the seasons and cycles of Nature. Paganism can refer to any non-Abrahamic religion yet remain flexible and eclectic enough that it may embrace elements of Buddhism, Greek and Roman mythology, astrology, and other belief systems. 

Sacredness of the Earth

“There is an ecological angle to paganism that honors and recognizes the sacredness of the earth,” she says. “We are aware of how Nature works rather than trying to get Nature to comply. We follow the planets and see how the earth’s climate is connected to the sun while the poles have been shifting over the years, decreasing the magnetic grid.”

Humans, Passavant says — and by humans she means mostly corporations — have been poisoning and destroying the earth, and the paganism faith is built on efforts to counteract that. She sees “green capitalism” as little more than justification to shift into a new way for corporations to make money from the earth while continuing to cause damage. 

“Be the change you want to see in the world,” Passavant says. “Be an example to others on how to live more environmentally aware, particularly in the products that we use and the foods we eat. Be aware of what your money buys. So often we buy chemically-based products, or we neglect using organic gardening methods, such as using heirloom seeds. I grew up in the woods — I still live in the house I grew up in. It is a wildlife habitat. I am careful what I feed birds, the kind of lights I use, and I garden organically, mulch what I mow, and plant heirloom seeds.”

As for the misconceptions about pagans and paganism, Passavant says, they usually center on the dark side. 

“While there are those who are Satanists, that is a very small part of paganism,” she says. “For some, paganism can be like a rebellion. They may feel like misfits in general society. But most pagans work to serve others and to serve the community. You probably know a pagan and don’t even realize it. Don’t pigeonhole us. We are as broad a community as humanity.”

Pagans in Need serving the community

May you never hunger, and may you never thirst. That is the motto by which the non-profit food pantry operates. Pagans in Need (PIN) headquarters is in Lansing with branches in Kalamazoo, Detroit, and near Traverse City. 

The Kalamazoo food pantry, headed by Kelly Burt, is located at 3408 Miller Road and is open every first and third Saturday of the month from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

“We’ve been around for about 30 years,” says Bill Ehle. Ehle is the director of PIN and works out of Lansing. “And I’ve been the director since 2017. We are a food pantry with an open door — anybody can come in and choose what they need. All you need is a valid ID, that’s it. The food is supplied through community donations and by fundraisers that we have in February and August along with summer festivals. We also pick up leftovers at farmers' markets. Our belief is that food is a right.”

CourtesyPagans in Need in Kalamazoo is a food bank that serves both pagan and others in need.To become a food pantry volunteer, Ehle says, one must undergo a criminal background check. Anyone with a history of domestic violence should not apply. 

“Respect for the earth is a basic tenet of paganism,” Ehle says. “This is the only planet we have. I started with the food pantry about 10 years ago when a coven mate said, 'I have no food.' We all went home and looked through our kitchen cabinets and came up with seven bags of groceries. It was a moment of huh, we can feed people!”

Ehle shrugs off the stereotypes of paganism that might be applied to him and PIN. 
“We are normal people,” he says. “I am your neighbor. I’m not scary. I’m just not a Christian. I only want to help people to have food when they need it.”

In Kalamazoo, Kelly Burt, director of the Southwest Michigan branch of PIN, runs the food pantry with six volunteers — two of whom started as recipients of food assistance but returned to volunteer and pay the help forward. The food pantry has been open since 2003.

“Some of the volunteers are from Hearth & Grove Fellowship, but others are just pagans who have experienced church-based trauma and are put off by formal religion,” Burt says. “Being pagan is not a requirement, though. Not to work at PIN or to use it. We also have people who are privately Christian but don’t like organized religion.”

A resident of Plainwell and a member of the Hearth & Grove Fellowship, Burt says her neighbors know she identifies as a pagan but don’t judge her for it. She has on occasion been introduced as Wiccan.

“That’s fine,” she shrugs. “But Wiccan feels more organized than what I am. I am just a straight-up pagan, someone who cares about nature and wants to help others. Really, we are like a bunch of hippies,” she says, laughing. 

“Kalamazoo is a more open-minded place than most, more diverse, so pagans feel safe here. Some of us gather in the park during a solstice celebration and people might stare at us, but it is all just joyful and fun. We seem to attract a lot of younger people who are trying to figure things out for themselves.”

The PIN food pantry serves 12 to 14 families per month, Burt says. 

“Mostly single mothers or large families who need help, regardless of religion. Many of them do have jobs but just have trouble making ends meet. We trust if you come in, it is not to take advantage, but because you really have a need. 

"We also have people from the LGBTQ+ community come in because they don’t always feel welcome at other food pantries. When they find we don’t judge people here, they are almost in tears of gratitude.”

While most food pantries open their doors only once a month, Burt says, PIN is open twice a month. Customers can fill out a form when they come in or submit a service request online prior to coming in. Proof of income is not required. Requests may also be sent by email to pinswmich@gmail.com.