Voices
on the Path-
A
Collection of Interviews
Radio
Producer
Deirdre Hebert
FaceBook address: http://www.facebook.com/deirdre.hebert
Email: dee@paganfm.com
Website: www.paganfm.com
First
can you briefly tell us about yourself? What is your profession? Any
special hobbies?
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
So what can I tell you about myself? My name is Deirdre Hebert, and I'm the host of PaganFM and the Author of The Pagan in Recovery. PaganFM is a weekly radio program and Podcast that airs out of WSCA-LP, 106.1 FM in Portsmouth, NH. It began in about 2007, and strangely, that makes it about the second longest running Pagan radio program that is still broadcasting in the US on a regular radio station. The longest, for anyone interested is Murphy's Magic Mess which airs on KZUM in Lincoln, Nebraska, and they've been on the air for something like 20 years!
Other than my writing and the radio show, I'm an engineer, and currently working on a product called the X-harp which is a completely electronic harmonica-like instrument. You can find out more about that at www.xharp.com. I have a few other things up my sleeve, but I'm, not quite ready to talk about them yet.
When did you begin your path? What inspired you to walk this journey?
I began my journey probably around 1980 or 1981. I'm not sure why, but I was writing one night and a poem that I called "The Witch" wound up in my notebook. It described the thoughts of a woman who was a witch as she was being burned at the stake. Around that time I started reading Starhawk and other spiritual authors. I didn't make a formal profession at that time, but I began studying on my own, and I've been learning ever since.Can you tell us a little about your path? How would you describe yourself?
I follow my own path, which I call The Center Path. One of the teachers I've studied with asked me to write a creed. The final line of the creed reads "The center is my path", and this is what my path grew out of. I'm transsexual, and I wanted to have my spiritual path reflect the fact that there is masculine and feminine, to varying degrees, within us all. The dichotomy of genders that we experience in life is entirely a societal fabrication. And so in my path, there isn't this Wiccan emphasis on "balance of energy" - that is an energy that we balance within our selves.
I also have a great affinity for the Druids, but I recognize that there is no way to experience in the modern world what life as a Druid might have been like. There is no way that we'll be the counsellors to kings, we can't sit as judges (unless we happen to be such). The Druids were the judges, lawyers, healers and so forth, and the faith of these people was inextricably tied to these professions. That's not how our world works today. But I believe that learning is a vital part of faith, and this includes the arts and the sciences. The goals of religion are to understand our selves, the divine, and the universe we live in, but that knowledge is not philosophical alone; the arts and sciences are important as well.
Does the path you've chosen affect your profession? If so, how?
Fortunately, I work for myself, so I don't have to worry about what an employer might think about my faith. Working alone, I have time to devote to my writing and to produce my radio program. But I think that anyone who is a person of faith needs to choose their profession with their faith in mind. If celebrating the seasons is important to you, you need a job that will let you have those days off. If you are a person of integrity, you can't have a job that requires you to stretch the truth or lie to people. If you value the Earth and the environment, you can't have a profession that is damaging or polluting the environment. If integrity is important, it will exhibit itself in all aspects of our lives - our profession, our hobbies, our relationships.
Is community important to you, or do you prefer to express you beliefs as a solitary?
Community is very important. There are few of us who are able to live apart from society; there may be some Pagan hermits, but I don't know any personally. There are some solitaries, but even the solitaries I know do try to take part in some group events.
I think that some of us go through stages - when we are young in the faith, unsure of our selves, we want to figure out where we are before we commit to a group. Some may wish to continue to work as a solitary - perhaps because we don't find agreement with a local group. That's fine too.
But some level of interaction with others is important for most of us. As human beings, we are designed as social animals - interaction with others is a necessary part of being human. This as important in our relationships as people of faith as it is in any other endeavor.
Where I live in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire, we've begun a different type of monthly event; we hold Pagan Pizza Parties each month. We get together at a local Pizza restaurant and have them make a Pepperoni Pentagram pizza and a cheese pizza with a design representing whatever sign of the zodiac we're in. I think it's important to help dispel the preconceptions many have about Paganism, it's important to give Pagans the opportunity to be out of the closet in a safe but public setting. And the Pagan Pizza parties are an opportunity to do that.
Are you associated with any organizations, volunteer work, or groups that support your spiritual beliefs?Well, WSCA, the radio station where I broadcast PaganFM is a volunteer organization - I don't get paid for producing that program. And I try to teach at least one workshop each year at our local Pagan Pride. I also taught a workshop on Paganism this year at a weekend recovery festival, and it looks like that will be a yearly thing as well. I think that as we mature in our faith, we begin to see that almost everything that we involve ourselves in supports our spiritual beliefs.
Would you say your path has been an easy or difficult journey? Any advice for someone new to this path?
If a journey is easy, it's probably not worth taking. As Robert Frost wrote in The Road Not Taken,Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
My advice to anyone who is new to the path, to any path, is to follow your heart - if something feels wrong, you're probably going the wrong way - at least for you. If you come to a choice, and one looks easy, and the other challenging, take the challenging way - it will likely be much more rewarding; but it's important that you be dedicated to the challenge. Don't go down that road if you have no intent of finishing the journey.
Finally, what three books would you say most influenced your path.
Three books - just three books? I'm always reading, so it's difficult to choose only three. But if I had to pick, I'd probably say Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler. That book showed me how Paganism is a group of real faith traditions, practiced by real people, here in America and around the world. It became even more real as I've had the opportunity to meet and speak to some of the people in this book.
Then there is Joyce and River Higginbotham's book Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions. This is a book that I recommend to anyone who comes to me asking what Paganism is all about.
And for people who want to know what Wicca is, I tend to recommend Wicca Revealed by Pino Longchild. Pino runs the online Magicka School, and this book is the basis of the first year of that program. It's probably one of the best and most complete first-year courses around. I was pleased to have the opportunity to help with the editing of this text.
Deirdre Hebert has office space at 1 Washington St, Suite 3110 in Dover, NH. She can be reached via email at dee@paganfm.com
Thank you so much for this opportunity.
So what can I tell you about myself? My name is Deirdre Hebert, and I'm the host of PaganFM and the Author of The Pagan in Recovery. PaganFM is a weekly radio program and Podcast that airs out of WSCA-LP, 106.1 FM in Portsmouth, NH. It began in about 2007, and strangely, that makes it about the second longest running Pagan radio program that is still broadcasting in the US on a regular radio station. The longest, for anyone interested is Murphy's Magic Mess which airs on KZUM in Lincoln, Nebraska, and they've been on the air for something like 20 years!
Other than my writing and the radio show, I'm an engineer, and currently working on a product called the X-harp which is a completely electronic harmonica-like instrument. You can find out more about that at www.xharp.com. I have a few other things up my sleeve, but I'm, not quite ready to talk about them yet.
When did you begin your path? What inspired you to walk this journey?
I began my journey probably around 1980 or 1981. I'm not sure why, but I was writing one night and a poem that I called "The Witch" wound up in my notebook. It described the thoughts of a woman who was a witch as she was being burned at the stake. Around that time I started reading Starhawk and other spiritual authors. I didn't make a formal profession at that time, but I began studying on my own, and I've been learning ever since.Can you tell us a little about your path? How would you describe yourself?
I follow my own path, which I call The Center Path. One of the teachers I've studied with asked me to write a creed. The final line of the creed reads "The center is my path", and this is what my path grew out of. I'm transsexual, and I wanted to have my spiritual path reflect the fact that there is masculine and feminine, to varying degrees, within us all. The dichotomy of genders that we experience in life is entirely a societal fabrication. And so in my path, there isn't this Wiccan emphasis on "balance of energy" - that is an energy that we balance within our selves.
I also have a great affinity for the Druids, but I recognize that there is no way to experience in the modern world what life as a Druid might have been like. There is no way that we'll be the counsellors to kings, we can't sit as judges (unless we happen to be such). The Druids were the judges, lawyers, healers and so forth, and the faith of these people was inextricably tied to these professions. That's not how our world works today. But I believe that learning is a vital part of faith, and this includes the arts and the sciences. The goals of religion are to understand our selves, the divine, and the universe we live in, but that knowledge is not philosophical alone; the arts and sciences are important as well.
Does the path you've chosen affect your profession? If so, how?
Fortunately, I work for myself, so I don't have to worry about what an employer might think about my faith. Working alone, I have time to devote to my writing and to produce my radio program. But I think that anyone who is a person of faith needs to choose their profession with their faith in mind. If celebrating the seasons is important to you, you need a job that will let you have those days off. If you are a person of integrity, you can't have a job that requires you to stretch the truth or lie to people. If you value the Earth and the environment, you can't have a profession that is damaging or polluting the environment. If integrity is important, it will exhibit itself in all aspects of our lives - our profession, our hobbies, our relationships.
Is community important to you, or do you prefer to express you beliefs as a solitary?
Community is very important. There are few of us who are able to live apart from society; there may be some Pagan hermits, but I don't know any personally. There are some solitaries, but even the solitaries I know do try to take part in some group events.
I think that some of us go through stages - when we are young in the faith, unsure of our selves, we want to figure out where we are before we commit to a group. Some may wish to continue to work as a solitary - perhaps because we don't find agreement with a local group. That's fine too.
But some level of interaction with others is important for most of us. As human beings, we are designed as social animals - interaction with others is a necessary part of being human. This as important in our relationships as people of faith as it is in any other endeavor.
Where I live in the Seacoast area of New Hampshire, we've begun a different type of monthly event; we hold Pagan Pizza Parties each month. We get together at a local Pizza restaurant and have them make a Pepperoni Pentagram pizza and a cheese pizza with a design representing whatever sign of the zodiac we're in. I think it's important to help dispel the preconceptions many have about Paganism, it's important to give Pagans the opportunity to be out of the closet in a safe but public setting. And the Pagan Pizza parties are an opportunity to do that.
Are you associated with any organizations, volunteer work, or groups that support your spiritual beliefs?Well, WSCA, the radio station where I broadcast PaganFM is a volunteer organization - I don't get paid for producing that program. And I try to teach at least one workshop each year at our local Pagan Pride. I also taught a workshop on Paganism this year at a weekend recovery festival, and it looks like that will be a yearly thing as well. I think that as we mature in our faith, we begin to see that almost everything that we involve ourselves in supports our spiritual beliefs.
Would you say your path has been an easy or difficult journey? Any advice for someone new to this path?
If a journey is easy, it's probably not worth taking. As Robert Frost wrote in The Road Not Taken,Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
My advice to anyone who is new to the path, to any path, is to follow your heart - if something feels wrong, you're probably going the wrong way - at least for you. If you come to a choice, and one looks easy, and the other challenging, take the challenging way - it will likely be much more rewarding; but it's important that you be dedicated to the challenge. Don't go down that road if you have no intent of finishing the journey.
Finally, what three books would you say most influenced your path.
Three books - just three books? I'm always reading, so it's difficult to choose only three. But if I had to pick, I'd probably say Drawing Down the Moon by Margot Adler. That book showed me how Paganism is a group of real faith traditions, practiced by real people, here in America and around the world. It became even more real as I've had the opportunity to meet and speak to some of the people in this book.
Then there is Joyce and River Higginbotham's book Paganism: An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions. This is a book that I recommend to anyone who comes to me asking what Paganism is all about.
And for people who want to know what Wicca is, I tend to recommend Wicca Revealed by Pino Longchild. Pino runs the online Magicka School, and this book is the basis of the first year of that program. It's probably one of the best and most complete first-year courses around. I was pleased to have the opportunity to help with the editing of this text.
Deirdre Hebert has office space at 1 Washington St, Suite 3110 in Dover, NH. She can be reached via email at dee@paganfm.com
