This is semi - local to me. Well, it's abut 50 miles or so from me and The Reading Pagans and Witches is a WONDERFUL group - I found them after the split with the Coven I used to be in, happened. Since there is such a distance I don't get to many of the events they hold but you can bet you buns I'll be at this one!

ARTICLE:

A festival designed to celebrate the nature-centered spirituality of pagans and witches is getting a mixed reaction from shop owners at Stoudtburg Village in Adamstown, where the event will be held Sept. 12.

While some of the village's shops will be open during the festival, others will close because of the group that is sponsoring the event — Reading Pagans & Witches.

Group president Jen Anderson-Wenger said that at the festival there will be educational workshops about the harvest celebrations of different spiritual and religious organizations, and there will be explanations of what those organizations believe.

The festival also will feature vendors, food sales to benefit children's groups, tarot readers and reiki practitioners. There will be children's games, storytelling and entertainment.

Jane Lesher, who owns The Soxy Lady but doesn't live in Stoudtburg Village, said her business, which is usually open on Saturdays, will be closed during the festival.

"I try to keep my personal feelings and being a merchant separate," she said. Personally, Lesher said, "I am a Christian, and anything that is not worshipping God is something I object to. You can't force it on another, but you don't need to support it in any way, either. I base this on what God says. I'm not just a stick-in-the-mud and can't change my mind, but I base it on what I believe is an absolute."

Lesher said that when she first learned about the festival, "I got the impression that it was to be ecology friendly, healing massages, vegetarian, aromatherapy," she said.

She said that she was "shocked" when she later learned it was sponsored by Reading Pagans & Witches.

As a merchant, Lesher said, she believes the Earth Spirituality Festival is "not the image we want to portray for Stoudtburg Village."