Welcome to Thoughts from a Threshold. I use this blog for public discussion of all sorts of Pagan related topics (in a very broad sense) from books to research methods, extended metaphors to ritual theory, interacting with seekers to pedagogical techniques.
This section of pages contains some useful background about me, this site, and how I use some terms and concepts.
- Who is Jenett anyway? (A brief bio) is below
- An introduction to what I believe, do, and how I talk about it
- An overview of modern Paganism, from my perspective. (start here if you’re totally unfamiliar with the topic: it’ll help you get used to some common terms and concepts.)
- An overview of religious witchcraft (the general category my religious life falls into)
- And some more specifics of my personal practice: what I do, believe, and care about in my religious life
- House rules: mostly common sense, but check here if you’ve got questions about linking to my content, commenting, or sharing my content elsewhere.
- Creative work: links to pages with creative Pagan-related work I’ve done at various points: everything from ritual meditations and stories to figures to chants.
more about me
The basics: Female, 34, live with my cat in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (I’m a transplant: I grew up in the Boston area.) I’m a generalist: I like many different things.
Religious life:
I’m a priestess, a witch, active in my local Pagan community and in several online ones. I’m high priestess and one of the founders of a small coven, Phoenix Song. You can read a bit more about the tradition and my coven over at that link. The short version is that I started training with a training circle in the Twin Cities in late 2001, received my 3rd degree in late 2007, and hived off to form the new coven in March of 2008
I’m particularly interested in the use of music in magical and ritual work, group dynamics and other ‘healthy community’ issues, and how to spend more time doing the things I like and less time on the things I’m not so crazy about. I’ve also focused on how to improve research and critical reading/thinking skills in the Pagan community. My personal ritual work tends toward the meditative and introspective side, with a dash of magical work for specific reasons.
I’ve been on the board of the Twin Cities Pagan Pride event since 2005, mostly as Programming chair or co-chair. It’s given a lot for me to think about in terms of community interaction, though my preference for ritual work is in a very small group (small coven) environment.
Interests:
I read anything that sits still long enough. On the fiction side, there’s an emphasis on thought-provoking urban fantasy, dystopia novels, and character-driven speculative fiction. On the non-fiction side, I’m fond of narrative non-fiction and microhistories. I’m on the computer a lot, and read a lot there.
Computer interests include online communities, online gaming (I’ve played World of Warcraft since it came out, though I’m very much a casual player), and a number of online discussion forums. Non-computer hobbies include drop spinning (a recent passion), a 29 string folk harp, and making bread.
Day job:
I finished my Master’s in Library and Information Science degree in the summer of 2007, and I currently work as a school librarian at an independent non-religious high school (grades 9-12, or about ages 14-18 for non-US folks.) I’m quietly out about my religious life. My professional interests include:
- Just plain helping people find information (and other resources) that matter to them.
- Online safety and literacy issues (from a non-alarmist point of view)
- How libraries can better serve ‘invisible’ populations (with a particular interest in minority religious groups, especially Pagans)
- Reader’s advisory (the library jargon term for “What do I read next?”)
- Policy development and practical adaptation.
got questions?
The easiest way is to use the Contact Me form (tab on the top header). Unless I’m amazingly busy or offline, I usually answer email within a day or two. If you don’t hear from me after 3-5 days, please feel free to leave a comment on an appropriate entry.
If you leave me a comment, I can see your email address (and can reply privately) but other people can’t. So you can leave a comment with “Hi, got something I’d like to discuss in email.” and I’ll email you from there, if you prefer.