Coming Out of the Broom Closet

'Hail Persephone': Pagans Retool the Rosary

Kimberly Winston looks at "Christo-Pagans" and other neo-pagans who are adapting the Rosary for prayer to Celtic, Norse, Greek and Roman gods and goddesses, in this week's full-text RNS article, linked above.

Quote:

"It has been very common for contemporary pagans to regard Mary in some of her manifestations as a goddess," said Chas Clifton, a professor at Colorado State University and author of "Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and paganism in America." "Language and ritual have been transferred around from goddess to goddess in the pagan point of view, and the idea of having beads on a string is cross-cultural."