This article appeared in the February 1, 2006 edition of the Portland Forecaster:

Alternative scout group an outlet for pagan kids
By Lori Eschholz

PORTLAND – When her daughter was 4, Lisa Marie Lindenschmidt began looking at enrolling her in the Girl Scouts. She didn’t like what she saw. To her, the Girl Scouts were too expensive and looked like an administrative nightmare.

It didn’t take long for her friend Nikki Shields to talk her into trying a new kind of group that was just getting started across the country. So, in 2003, the two women and their friend Hope Becker founded a local chapter of Spiral Scouts.

Spiral Scouts was started in 2001 through the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, a Wiccan church. Wicca is a form of paganism and the organization was developed on pagan beliefs and practices, but designed to be adaptable to accommodate other minority faiths. It now has “circles,” which are like troops, in 20 states, Canada and Europe.

Scouts wear uniforms, earn merit badges, go camping and on outdoor field trips, and learn about traditional woodland lore, camping and outdoor skills, as well as about the mythologies of the ancient world. Scouts range in age from 3 to 18.

At the same time, circles can be very flexible about how they run their meetings and what emphasis they want to place on paganism. Lindenschmidt said that Spiral Scouts headquarters is always looking for feedback about what circles are doing and what is working on not. She said it is not a “brown and serve” organization.

The first meeting the circle had was to decide whether it wanted to be a religious group or not. Lindenschmidt said kids were really excited about the idea and made the decision that they wanted to do so.

“It’s very volatile identifying as a pagan group. That’s why the kids made the choice to be a religious group. I think kids didn’t get what it meant to be a religious group at first. As they’re getting older, they’re starting to understand,” she said.

Lindenschmidt, who is a pagan, described paganism as an umbrella for many earth-based religions including Druidism and Wiccanism. She said paganism is about honoring the divine in everything. As there are many types of pagans, the circle is open for scouts to bring in their own definition of it to share with the group.

A typical meeting starts with all the kids entering the circle by going through a bridge that is made by two adult volunteers who put their hands together. Once through, kids know it is time to focus on the meeting. They then each recite a Spiral Scouts promise relative to their age group, then articulate the intention for that meeting.

A meeting could be spent working on a badge, such as gardening. Lindenschmidt said they try to bring in pagan ideals when working on a project. In the case of gardening, scouts might be encouraged to approach it with respect to the earth.

“We’re not trying to make anybody pagan. This is our slant on how we see the world and we’re trying to teach from that perspective,” Lindenschmidt said.

Lindenschmidt has been overwhelmed by the number of parents who have been interested in the group and how far they’re willing to travel to do so. In part, the group gives a sense of community to pagans.

She said that pagans run into a lot of prejudice and many aren’t comfortable with being “outed” as pagans. She said the word “pagan” is often associated with heathens or sinners or someone who is not Christian. A lot of the pagan community is trying to reclaim the name, she said.

Because of that, people who aren’t members of the circle aren’t allowed to come to regular meetings. The group allows new members once a year, in January, because allowing members in in the middle of the year can upset group dynamics and creates more paperwork.

For more information contact Lindenschmidt at 423-5184.

Lori Eschholz can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 110 or leschholz@theforecaster.net.