Pagan Family Values: Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism

Cover

Pagan Family Values THE NEW AND ALTERNATIVE RELIGIONS SERIES General Editors: Timothy Miller and Susan J. Palmer Hare Krishna Transformed Burke Rochford, Jr. Transcendent in America: Hindu-Inspired Meditation Movements as New Religion Lola Williamson Prophets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America Benjamin E. Zeller Digital Jesus: The Making of a New Christian Fundamentalist Community on the Internet Robert Glenn Howard Saints under Siege: The Texas State Raid on the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints Edited by Stuart A. Wright and James T. Richardson Pagan Family Values: Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism S. Zohreh Kermani Pagan Family Values Childhood and the Religious Imagination in Contemporary American Paganism S. Zohreh Kermani a NEW YORK UNIVERSIT Y PRESS New York and London NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS New York and London www.nyupress.org© 2013 by New York University All rights reserved References to Internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kermani, S. Zohreh. Pagan family values : childhood and the religious imagination in contemporary American paganism / S. Zohreh Kermani. pages cm. — (The new and alternative religions series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-8147-6974-4 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4798-9460-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Neopaganism—United States. 2. Families—Religious life. I. Title. BP605.N46K47 2013 299'.94—dc23 2012049432 A previous version of chapter 4 appeared as “Don’t Eat the Incense: Children’s Participation in Contemporary Pagan Practice,” The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies 11, no. 2 (2009): 181–196. © Equinox Publishing Ltd 2009. New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper, and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability. We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books. Manufactured in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 For my family This page intentionally left blank ...