Paganism & Disability Links

I’ve on and off researched the connections between disability and various forms of spirituality. One of the best to emerge in recent years is the Staff of Asclepius blog by Teresa Masery Miller.  She has now come out with an anthology on individual experiences’ called Rooted in the Body, Seeking the Soul: Magical Practitioners’ Living With Disabilities, Addiction & Illness ( my quibble with this is that some of us don’t practice magic but oh well)

Blogs:

Staff of Asclepius blog by Teresa Masery Miller

Vulcan’s Sister: A Blog About Paganism & Disability by Jane Raeburn, author

Disability & Faith– a blog by a medium who also has cerebral palsy

Taigh Brighde– Robert, a devotee of Brighid, discusses his spiritual practices and experiences as a blind man.

Treasure in Barren Places– Leithin Cluan, a Gaelic polytheist on the autism spectrum who has physical disabilities as well

Deaf Pagan Crossroads by Ocean (Virginia Beach) On hiatus- but there is an archive of great posts, and she is writing a book!

Specific Posts/Articles:

Is Paganism Blind to the Disabled? and Living in My Own Mind: A Pagan With Asperger’s both by Star Foster

The Spiritual Component of Autism (including a quote from Isaac Bonewits!)

Autism, Paganism- is there a Connection?

Access and Pagan Practice by Jenett (of the Cauldron Forum) Excellent, very thorough list of tips from an experienced High Priestess and Pagan event organizer. She also writes about recognizing her own needs and limits as a person with health conditions in Thinking About Limits and Responsibility.

A Challenge from Aine Llewellyn to us to avoid using ableist language particularly terms referring to mental illness. I know I’ve been guilty of using those sort of words carelessly so it’s a good thing to keep in mind.

Rantings of a Disabled Witch by Aislynn (visual impairment/albinism)

What I’ve Learned as a Disabled Heathen by Ingeborg S. Norden

“I’ve learned that although tradition and lore have legitimate places in Heathenry, they were never meant to become an all-encompassing straitjacket. We face social problems that the Saxons, Norsemen and other Germanic peoples didn’t; therefore, we need to find solutions consistent with our own time and place, not with theirs.”

Paganism and (Dis)ableism by Leithin Cluan- who has a Master’s in Disability Studies & Sociology of Religion- her thesis was on attitudes toward disability in Christianity. Here’s a post she wrote for PBP last year on the subject of Embodiment.

This Dyslexic Witch– Book of Mirrors

Books:

Rooted in the Body, Seeking the Soul: Magical Practitioners’ Living With Disabilities, Addiction & Illness

More to come, please add in the comments!

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