It was interesting that during the last class we were able to dip our toes into pagan traditions through the jigsaw assignment. In the research I did for my capstone project I explored goddess traditions to make a case for women being at the center of medicine through these healing deities. It was fascinating to see the modern traditions associated with goddesses and again I saw the same pattern of empowerment as is the case with Wicca/witchcraft. I also appreciated that the article I read (Dragonfest) not only detailed the way that women were empowered through the religion but also the ways that patriarchy and gender roles were being combated to aid in the empowerment of women. It also made me consider how much of this is was idealized. How many practitioners weren’t just having fun with the “magic” of it all. It seems like a tradition that is involved in that level of social justice would be larger or gather more attention especially given our modern circumstances. But, instead, it is a relatively small group which leads me to believe that there is another level to this that I cannot see. I would assume either 1. Much of the concepts and beliefs are idealized and at a ground level things are different 2. The connotation of witchcraft is so counterculture to our American Christianity that groups like these are and will continue to be marginalized.