Lectures. Workshops. Community-building.
Upcoming Events
Queer Ancestor Vigil
October 29, 2024
7:00pm EST
Virtual
Join Ron Padrón of White Rose Witching for a Queer Ancestor Vigil. This ceremony is based on the lectio divina method of meditation and reflection on a written work, and will last about 30-45 minutes. This is a space to reflect on and honor a Queer Ancestor (or more than one!) who has had an impact on your life that you would like to honor in this space. This could be someone you are related to, someone well-known within LGBTQ+ history that you admire, a queer-coded deity or spirit in your faith/spiritual practice, etc. Space will be provided to invite them into this ritual with us.
Sana, Sana, Colita De Rana: Intersecting Latinx And Pagan Identities
March 27-30, 2025
Sacred Space Conference
Towson, MD
Join Wendy Mata, Ivo Dominguez Jr., Solomon Pakal, Jesse Hathaway Diaz, and Ron Padrón for a panel discussion exploring their experiences navigating the American pagan landscape as Latinx practitioners. Topics will include: How do we carve out identities in a country that is not the one of our roots? Why does cultural diversity matter for the future of Paganism and the occult? What does it mean to be “ni de aqui ni de alla”? How do our syncretic practices both reinforce colonial hegemony and rebel against it from within?
Building Sustainable Cross-Pagan Communities
March 27-30, 2025
Sacred Space Conference
Towson, MD
How do we build welcoming, sustainable, and resilient communities? How do we create spaces that are intentionally anti-racist, queer/trans-affirming, accessible, and culturally competent? Join Wendy Mata, J.R. Mascaro, Irene Glasse, and Katrina Messenger in a panel discussion moderated by Ron Padrón where they will share insights from founding and running large cross-pagan communities both in-person and online. This talk will share challenges, lessons learned, best practices, and tools that attendees can use in cultivating their local communities.
Past Events
Vote Forward: Letter Writing Party
September 8, 2024
1:00pm EST
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick
Join Ron Padrón of White Rose Witching in a letter writing party as part of VoteForward's Week of Action, writing letters to underrepresented voters encouraging them to register and make a plan to vote. All supplies will be provided, all you need to do is show up and write a few letters! You are encouraged to bring anything that symbolizes a deity or spirit of justice or civic duty to add to the community altar so we can channel their guidance and wisdom into our letters.
A Lavender Path: Honoring Queer Ancestors
Delmarva Pagan Pride
Sunday, June 30, 2024
Legislative Mall
Dover, DE
Our queer ancestors can show up in many ways. They can be blood-relatives who were known to be queer. They can be historical figures who lived a life in open defiance of the norms of their time, or who lead a quieter existence with questions of their sexuality left to rumor and gossip. They can be mythic figures who embody themes outside the binary. This workshop will discuss ways to incorporate Queer Ancestor veneration into a spiritual practice. Participants will learn how to find Queer Ancestors in history, and various ways of connecting with them ranging from shrine-tending to developing a personal Queer Ancestor pilgrimage.
Crafting Queer Ancestor Talismans
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick
In this workshop participants will learn about different ways to work with Queer Ancestors, specifically the construction of physical items imbued with magical intention. Following a short guided journey, participants will work to create tokens, talismans, and amulets to commemorate our shared community ancestors. These mementos can be placed in the home, given as gifts, incorporated into a personal queer spiritual practice, or carried at a Pride event.
Participants are encouraged to bring an item to place on a Queer Ancestor community altar for the duration of the workshop.
What Is Remembered, Lives: Archiving Your Queer History
Saturday, April 13, 2024
4:00pm EST
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick
The history of LGBTQ+ people is often erased, hidden, or overlooked. Looking for our queer ancestors in the historical record requires overcoming several obstacles, often looking for what is not said or recorded. Join Ron Padrón and Joe Sherren for a workshop discussing the challenges in researching queer history, and how you can help future generations of researchers by preserving your own personal histories. Participants will learn about academic, practical, and technical resources to ensure our community is remembered.
Vote Forward: Letter Writing Party
April 13, 2024
3:00pm EST
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick
Join Ron Padrón of White Rose Witching in a letter writing party as part of VoteForward's Week of Action, writing letters to underrepresented voters encouraging them to register and make a plan to vote. All supplies will be provided, all you need to do is show up and write a few letters! You are encouraged to bring anything that symbolizes a deity or spirit of justice or civic duty to add to the community altar so we can channel their guidance and wisdom into our letters.
“The Winding Roads of the Hedge” at Sacred Space 2024
March 28-31, 2024
Towson, MD
White Rose Witching will be presenting an updated version of their “The Winding Roads of the Hedge” workshop at Sacred Space 2024. This workshop is inspired by the works of queer Chicana author and activist Gloria Anzaldúa and focuses on the power that comes from liminal spaces.
The Sacred Space Conference is the premier annual esoteric conference on the East Coast for intermediate to advanced practitioners. Meeting in the Washington, DC/Baltimore area, each year our featured teachers and a host of highly qualified regional teachers offer a wide variety of workshops and rituals developed for a more advanced audience.
It’s Not About The Books
October 25, 2023
7:30-9:00pm EST
Online (Zoom)
Special guest Allison Jennings-Roche will join the October 2023 Stone Circle Council LGBTQ+ Pride Circle to discuss the current attacks on schools and libraries.
Bookbans and attacks on schools and libraries have reached a fevered pitch, and now not only are the materials themselves under threat but library workers are being portrayed as threats to society, being called “groomers” who seek to “indoctrinate” children. Censorship is an act of control and its advocates are seeking to limit who is allowed to been seen and heard in the public sphere. To effectively combat this reactionary movement, library advocates and engaged citizens must embrace a communication strategy that actively disrupts these openly anti-democratic censorship movements. If our communities are to prevail in the defense of intellectual freedom, free expression, and cultural representation, censorship simply cannot become ordinary. This talk will examine the ways in which the rhetoric of censorship and social control operates, the ways it risks becoming normalized, and provide strategies for advocates to counteract and delegitimize the work of these right-wing reactionary groups.
Queercore Witchcraft: My Journey to a Queer-Affirming Spirituality
September 11, 2023
6:00-7:45pm PST
Online (Zoom)
From being raised Roman Catholic to casting circles in the swamp to honoring queer ancestors through activism, he will discuss the crisis of faith and exploration sparked by coming out. His story will touch on questions like “Why is witchcraft so popular in LGBTQ+ spaces now?” and explore the reclaiming of spiritual practices in ways that overcome religious trauma.
From Discomfort to Transformation: Trauma-Informed Spirituality
August 1-6, 2023
Free Spirit Gathering
Darlington, MD
This workshop will help participants create space for sustainable healing and radical change through trauma-informed spirituality. Together, we will discuss the danger of “spiritual bypassing” and the necessity of acknowledging trauma - especially that of marginalized communities. The discussion will center stories from the presenter’s experiences as a queer and disabled person. Participants will leave with steps on how to incorporate deeper healing and transformation in their personal and community practices.
The Winding Roads of the Hedge
August 1-6, 2023
Free Spirit Gathering
Darlington, MD
The idea of the “hedge” is often constructed as the dividing line between ordinary reality and Other World space, often overlooking this in-between as a space unto itself. This workshop builds upon queer Chicana author/activist Gloria Anzaldúa’s philosophy of “nepantla” to explore what it means to exist inside liminal spaces. Attendees will explore how and where hedge spaces exist in institutionalized systems as well as personal practice, the concept of the hedge as both mundane and mystical, how these spaces serve as refuge and incubators for transformation, and how those who operate within the hedge serve as bridge-builders.
Crafting Queer Ancestor Talismans
June 23, 2023, 7:00pm
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick
Frederick, MD
In this workshop participants will learn about different ways to work with Queer Ancestors, including a short guided journey. Following the journey, participants will work to create tokens, talismans, and amulets to commemorate our shared community ancestors. These mementos can be placed in the home, given as gifts, incorporated into a personal queer spiritual practice, or carried the next day during Frederick Pride.
Participants are encouraged to bring an item to place on a Queer Ancestor community altar for the duration of the workshop.
From Discomfort to Transformation: Trauma-Informed Spirituality
Frederick Pagan Pride Day
September 17, 2022
This workshop will help participants create space for sustainable healing and radical change through trauma-informed spirituality. Together, we will discuss the danger of “spiritual bypassing” and the necessity of acknowledging trauma – especially that of marginalized communities. The discussion will center stories from the presenter’s experiences as a queer and disabled person. Participants will leave with steps on how to incorporate deeper healing and transformation in their personal and community practices.
Pride Circle with Hecate Healing
June 21, 2022, 6:00-9:00pm EST
Virtual Workshop/Zoom
White Rose Witching is partnering with Hecate Healing for a special Pride Month Circle! Expect queer ancestor veneration, community medicine, and lots of opportunities to express our joy through movement, meditation, and community connection.
$5 from each ticket sale will go towards The Okra Project, “a collective that seeks to address the global crisis faced by Black Trans people by bringing home cooked, healthy, and culturally specific meals and resources to Black Trans People wherever we can reach them.”
A Lavender Path: Honoring Queer Ancestors
Hallowed Homecoming: A Samhain Retreat
October 29-October 30, 2021
Prince William Forest Park, Triangle, VA
Pilgrimages have often played significant roles in the exploration of faith and spirituality, but what do you when those you want to connect with have been obscured in the retelling of history? This workshop will explore the creation of a Queer Pilgrimage that can deepen your connection with Queer Ancestors. We will discuss finding queer spaces and characters in history, tools and resources that can be used in developing your personal “pilgrim’s way”, the role public/private and permanent/temporary memorials can play in this design, and leveraging technology to make make a more accessible experience.
Spiritual Activism: Dreaming Other Worlds
August 14th, 2021 at 10:00am EST
Virtual Workshop
Social justice work requires us to imagine a world that doesn’t yet exist, and channel that into acts of creation. Join Shige Sakurai (they/them) and Ron Padrón (he/him) to discuss spirituality for social change. This workshop will discuss notions such as channeling the liminality of marginalized identities, past and present social justice demonstrations both implicitly and explicitly magical, justice work and ancestor work as intimately connected, and the idea of “spiritual activism” as put forward by queer Chicana author Gloria Anzaldúa. Attendees will be challenged to reflect on how their own identities and magic show up in social justice work.
The Tools We Use
July 25th, 2021 at 7:00pm EST
Format: Online (Zoom, access the link here.)
Join White Rose Witching and NoVa Pagan Moot for a discussion on how the tools we use influence our lives and our craft. We’ll talk about formal ritual tools, everyday objects that might seem mundane, and the accidental enchanting of keepsakes. “Show and Tell” is encouraged!
Personal Alchemy: Tarot and Meditation
February 23, 2021 at 7:00pm EST
Virtual Workshop
White Rose Witching is excited to partner with @glittrwitch to learn more about how she uses tarot to inform her meditation practice. She hosts a weekly ‘Third Eye Thursday’ at 6:30pm EST on Instagram Live. This workshop will be a discussion on how/why she brought tarot into her mediation, how this practice has deepened her understanding of the cards, and how it has impacted her overall spiritual practice. We’ll end with a guided meditation on a drawn card.
Here There Be Witches: Witchcraft in Colonial Maryland
October 15, 2020 at 7:30pm EST
Virtual Lecture
What did witchcraft in the Maryland colony look like? What fears kept the colonists up at night? How do those stories survive today? Come learn about the history of witches and witch trials in early Maryland with a focus on the life and death of the only person ever legally executed in the colony for being a witch: Rebecca Fowler.
Image Credit: The History of Witches and Wizards, 1720. Credit: Wellcome Collection. Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Hallowed Homecoming: Working With Queer Ancestors
October 7, 2020 at 8:00pm EST
Virtual Workshop
Our queer ancestors can show up in many ways. They can be blood-relatives who were known to be queer. They can be historical figures who lived a life in open defiance of sex and gender norms of their time, or who lead a quieter existence with questions of their sexuality left to rumor and gossip. They can be mythical figures whose stories embody themes outside of the gender binary. Regardless of who we claim as our queer ancestors, how do we honor their lives and legacies?
This workshop will discuss:
- Who are our Queer Ancestors? How can we find them?
- How do we connect with our Queer Ancestors?
- How can you begin/continue working with Queer Ancestors in your practice?
Queer Ancestor Workshop
June 21, 2020
Virtual Workshop
Our queer ancestors can show up in many ways. They can be blood-relatives who were known to be queer. They can be historical figures who lived a life in open defiance of sex and gender norms of their time, or who lead a quieter existence with questions of their sexuality left to rumor and gossip. They can be mythical figures whose stories embody themes outside of the gender binary. Regardless of who we claim as our queer ancestors, how do we honor their lives and legacies?
Three Centuries of LGBTQ+ History in the Mid-Atlantic
Ferbruary 28, 2020
Sandy Spring, MD
Through documented histories of queer and gender non-conforming individuals, our speakers will cover the evolution of gender and sexuality in the mid-Atlantic over three centuries, and challenges face by Revolutionary War generals, African American schoolteachers and female husbands, among others.