Trans Pagan: Life at the Intersection of Faith and Gender
Email for inquiries and submissions: dee@paganfm.com
Megalithica Books, an imprint of Immanion Press (Stafford, U.K./Portland, OR, U.S.A) is seeking submissions for Trans Pagan: Life at the Intersection of Faith and Gender
This anthology examines the interesectionality of transgender lives and Pagan faith. It will explore such questions as:
- What does it mean to be transgender?
- Why are transgender individuals drawn to a Pagan spiritual path?
- What are the implications for male-female duality in covens and groups that accept transgender members?
- How can the Pagan community support our Transgender brothers and sisters?
- What can the Pagan community learn about themselves from transgender individuals?
- How can we dispel fear and speak to intolerance in the Pagan community and beyond?
- What unique perspectives can transgender individuals bring to Pagan groups that permit all of us to better understand ourselves and the divine?
- What have been the experience of our trans allies?
- How can transgender experience help to inform the larger Pagan community?
- Ritual ideas for transgender groups, or for groups with transgender members.
The vision for this anthology is to include a combination of academic and personally inspired pieces that explore the experience of transgender lives within a Pagan context.
Here are some suggested topics to give you an idea of the focus of this anthology:
- Youthful experiences of Transgender Pagans.
- As a transgender individual, what drew you to a Pagan spiritual path? How does your gender inform your spiritual practice?
- How has intolerance of a non-traditional gender identity touched you or your loved ones, and how have you overcome it?
- Violence against transgender individuals.
- The effects of stigmatization on depression and suicide.
- Building a healthy and welcoming Pagan group.
- Seeing our Gods and Goddesses from a transgender perspective.
- Exploring the Native American concept of the 2-spirit individual.
- Initiation of transgender or gender-queer individuals in traditional Wiccan covens.
- The “othering” of transgender Pagans by some Pagan groups and its impact on the greater Pagan community.
- Stereotypes and prejudice and the impact on spiritual or magic workings.
- Being the only transgender person in a coven, group or community
- Accommodation of transgender individuals at Pagan conventions and events.
- How discrimination harms the Pagan Community, and how it shows up in the Pagan Community
- How can the Pagan Community export a welcoming and accepting attitude to our wider communities; how can we be a model for others.
- What has worked in our groves, covens and groups, and what have we learned as leaders – as individuals and as groups?
- Rituals, spiritual poems or songs that can be used in rituals, such as initiation or other ceremonies involving the transgender experience.
Rough drafts are due by September 1. These drafts will be edited in a back-and-forth process with the editor. Essays should be 1500-4000 words, although if your work falls outside those limits, do submit it – we can discuss this during the editing process. Drop us an email if you are unsure whether your idea fits into the content. The sooner you start the communication process the better, as after the deadline we won’t be considering additional ideas.
Essay requirements:
• Citations for all quoted, paraphrased, or otherwise unoriginal material • Bibliography of works cited • Prefer APA format
Write in your voice! If you’re academically inclined or trained, feel free to be as intelligent and technical as you like. If your work entirely talks in the first person about your own experience, please include this also. There is a wide range of voices, and we are interested in being as inclusive of style as possible.
Accepted contributors will receive a free copy of the anthology when it is published and additional copies sold at 40% off the cover price to contributors. All contributors will be provided with a contract upon final acceptance of their essays, not when they are accepted for editing. If your essay is not accepted for the anthology, we will tell you after the first round of edits.
The anthology will be edited by Deirdre Hebert. Deirdre is a transgender Pagan whose writing career ranges from technical writing to radio news copy. She is the host of PaganFM – one of the longest-running Pagan podcasts and radio programs. She was the editor of Wicca Revealed, the textbook for Magicka School, and is the author of The Pagan in Recovery: The Twelve Steps From a Pagan Perspective, a contributor to Out of the Broom Closet, and has authored articles for a number of Pagan journals and periodicals.
Deirdre can be reached at dee@paganfm.com which will be the email address for communications regarding this project.
Immanion Press is a small independent press based in the United Kingdom. Founded by author Storm Constantine, it expanded into occult nonfiction in 2004 with the publication of Taylor Ellwood’s Pop Culture Magick. Today, Immanion’s nonfiction line, under the Megalithica Books imprint, has a growing reputation for edgy, experimental texts on primarily intermediate and advanced pagan and occult topics. Find out more at http://www.immanion-press.com.