Sarah Wilson
A revolutionary wave is about to ripple through the Pagan and Neo Pagan community. Cherry Hill Seminary (CHS), a South Carolina nonprofit organization with the only online study graduate program of Pagan seminary studies in the world, is announcing the first ever Master’s Degree Program exclusively catering to the Pagan community According to Holli Emore, Executive Director for Cherry Hill Seminary, we “need individuals who are adequately prepared to provide Pagan ministerial services, counseling, chaplaincy, and community leadership. As the modern Pagan movement comes of age, it is important to set standards of excellence for ministry. Cherry Hills Seminary is at the forefront of setting those standards.” As early as June, classes may start and students will begin their high education.
The emergence of the CHS Master program is instrumental in establishing credibility to Pagan faith in a non-Pagan world. The people who will benefit from this Masters program are people who already have a fundamental understanding of pagan philosophies as well as achieved higher education in such fields as social work or psychology. Kirk Thomas, CHS Board of Directors President and Vice-Archdruid, says students of CHS “are serious students who are able to bring their own backgrounds in the working world, from previous college work, and from their experiences in the Pagan community to the table, which can only enrich the classroom experience for everyone.” Students who come to CHS either train in ministry or enhance their education and to serve the community. Current student Hugh Eckert came to CHS because “I felt that it was time to get some formal education and training to back up my experience. CHS came highly recommended and I was very happy when I was accepted there.”
Cherry Hill Seminary professors and all faculty members have extensive education in their fields including both practical and career experience. “The instructors bring a lot of knowledge and experience to their classes, but are also very willing to learn as well as teach,” says Eckert. “The subjects are interesting, thought-provoking, mind-expanding, and have a great deal of practicality and relevance to my ministry. The work is hard and often pushes me out of my ‘comfort zone.’”
As of now, CHS Master’s Program is only general and global. Under the umbrella of Paganism, all traditions are accepted and can be applied to the Master’s Program. Collins advises that the Master’s program will work with solitary (individual) and also a coven’s own traditions that incorporate CHS core values, values all students must procure. The values of CHS unite the sacredness of Earth, promotion of service, respects diversity, and honors scholarship and spiritual autonomy.
CHS is located in South Carolina and is a nonprofit organization and rely on charitable contributions. The purpose of CHS is to provide an education in all aspects of Pagan philosophy, ritual, and trained ministry. CHS continues to be a resource of ongoing individual online education and serves as a forum for scholarship and community.
The Master’s Program will have a junior status and a senior status hierarchy and is divided into four disciplines: Master of Divinity, Master of Pagan Pastoral Care and Counseling, Master of Pagan Ministry and Master of Pagan Studies.
- Master of Divinity
This program takes 72 hours to complete and it is a basic professional ministry degree, balancing Pagan academics, personal spiritual development and Pagan ministerial practice. Most professional religious positions, such as chaplaincy, certain types of counseling and other ministerial activities, require a Master of Divinity degree.
Master of Pagan Pastoral Care and Counseling
This program takes 60 hours to complete and is a specialty degree studying pastoral care, religion and psychotherapy, or counseling in Pagan marriage and family. This course offers reflection, study and supervised practice that prepare the graduate to pursue various aspects of Pastoral Care and Counseling.
Master of Pagan Ministry
This program takes 48 hours to complete and prepares the student for specialized ministry in such areas as education, media, the arts or other practices. The programs also combines Pagan academics with practical and/or pastoral experience with diverse Pagan populations.
Master of Pagan Studies
This program takes 48 hours to complete and is a Pagan academics degree. This course focuses on study and research in any one curriculum concentration major.
- Text, Tradition and Interpretation
This concentration studies the literature, language(s), traditions, arts, philosophy, theology, history, ethics and development. There is also study of contemporary expressions of Pagan groups, tribes and communities.
Nature, Deity and Inspiration
This concentration studies the history, development and current interactions with the natural world, various ecosystems, spiritual formation, direct personal and community mystical experience, practice, devotion, meditation and prayer.
Pastoral Care and Counseling
This concentrations trains students to become Professional Pagan Pastoral Counselors and enhances ministry skills in Pastoral Care. Students explore how they (as Pagans) serve people and how they serve Pagans through the counseling and/or care giving encounter. This area of concentration includes clinical chaplaincies that focus on providing service to persons in immediate, acute, crisis, such as hospital and military chaplaincy.
Public Pan-Pagan Ministry and Expression
This concentration equips students to serve the Intra-religious Pagan community and includes study in ritual, religious leadership, education, the arts, and chaplaincy. Through these elements students learn to focus on providing services primarily for Pagans in long-term, ongoing or chronic settings such as prisons, educational institutions or organizational situations.
Advocacy in Inter-religious and Secular Venues
This concentration prepares students to serve the Pagan community in Interfaith and secular venues. Students share knowledge, understanding, acceptance and respect while working to secure religious and other minority rights through Interfaith Chaplaincy and Dialogue, media, legal and human services.
Another strong consideration is the community focus. Collins addresses that all too often, Pagans can feel alone in the public arena. In a time of crisis, the Pagan perspective is absent. One of Collins’ many hopes is that through this Master’s program, graduates can combat the negative treatment on the public stage with their higher education and respect to the world in love and service. The graduates will apply their knowledge and use it to bridge to the isolated Pagans in times of need.
Perhaps the greatest reason is simply that this is an opportunity that may not come again. CHS is the first of its kind and although Collins hopes other graduates programs develop, this is a rare opportunity. Through this program, Pagans can bring their local activities to the globe. Says Collins:
- “As Paganism becomes an increasingly recognized and influential religion, we are delighted to be able to offer higher education for those who would serve as clergy professionals, whether as scholars, mentors, counselors, teachers, artists, organizers, leaders, chaplains and/or advocates in local, regional, national and international settings. A challenge we face is to integrate academic excellence, practical supervised training, individual responsibility and personal and community spiritual development from a Pagan perspective. We seek to enhance and expand our depth and breadth while finding ways to serve others, Pagans and non Pagans alike.”
Cherry Hill Seminary is revolutionizing not only the Pagan community but also the modern world. “A Master’s Degree in Divinity, for example,” says Kirk Thomas, “earned in a Pagan context, will provide clear, verifiable, and legitimate standards of education which will allow our students to have the confidence they will need in order to best serve their own communities.” The introduction of the CHS master program provides a secure foundation so Paganism can stand side by side with all other mainstream religious institutions. But perhaps more importantly, Pagans will have quality education to aid every aspect of the Pagan community.
As Cynthia Collins illustrates with as much excitement as can be expected, “Cherry Hill Seminary’s Master's Program is an invitation into history.”
For more information about the Master's Program or Cherry Hill Seminary, visit www.cherryhillseminary.org or contact Holli Emore at 888.503.4131 or CHS@cherryhillseminary.org.
Sarah Wilson is a freelance writer and solitary Wiccan. She currently lives in North Carolina.