Pagans reach out to community at workshop

Cindy Westfall, left, organizer of Champaign-Urbana's Apple Branch Protogrove, meet with the Pagan Students Association to discuss totem animals in the Union on Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009. The Pagan Association practices Pagan beliefs and seeks their spiritual guides through animals.
Joanna Mirowska The Daily Illini

Pagans of the Champaign–Urbana area reach out to followers and non-Pagans alike to foster discussion of their faith – partially to clear up previous notions people may have about their beliefs.

David Kees, member of the Pagan Student Association and Champaign resident, said the group hopes to clear the air of any misconceptions about the Pagan faith, including stereotypes about “witchcraft” and “demon worship.”

Instead, he said the religion includes elements of naturalism, in which the individual can choose to follow any of the many routes possible under the Pagan “umbrella.”

“For me, I don’t go as far as defining what Paganism is,” Kees said. “The politically charged word would usually be ‘witch.’ I personally practice a pretty much eclectic path involving herbalism, magic work and all sorts of various parts of different Pagan paths.”

Quique Pina, marketing and social chair of the Pagan Student Association and junior in LAS, said many people think pagans are not agnostics, atheists or other independent spiritual thinkers.

“What makes us unique is that many don’t recognize that we do worship a higher being,” Pina said. “It’s not like how it is in Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or Buddhism. I personally worship my own god.”

The Pagan Student Association, a Registered Student Organization, hosted “Way of the Wild: A Totem Animal Workshop,” a discussion of the concept of totem animals in the Pagan faith, on Wednesday at the Illini Union.

Cindy Westfall, head Pagan of the Apple Branch Protogrove of Champaign-Urbana, a sect of an international Pagan group called A Druid Fellowship, was the main speaker.

At the workshop, Westfall introduced the concept of a totem animal, an animal spirit guide, and its significance in a Pagan’s trans–work or journey work, where the individual meditates and allows his or her subconcious to flow to whichever direction it so chooses.

In an example of trans–work, a Pagan could imagine walking down to a creek where a talking salmon would show up as a symbol and must be confronted. She said she understands why people could consider this tradition odd.

“It may sound weird, that you would be talking to a salmon,” Westfall said. “But we as humans have very creative imaginations, and it is only natural.”

In describing the concept of a fetch, a separate entity of the soul represented by an animal, versus the totem animal, Westfall shared her own experiences with discovering her totem animal: the dog.

“I would have never expected this,” Westfall said. “And once you find what your totem animal is, you form a very personal relationship with this animal.”

Westfall said Pagans are very centered on nature, and not magic or wizardry. Pagans of the area tap into the nature of the area by visiting forest reservations or parks, such as Busey Woods or the Japan House’s gardens.

“People are very familiar with Nature, with the capital ‘N,’ which involves dolphins and whales,” Westfall said. “The nature Pagans deal with is very much about the earth and personal.”