A Study of Tradition and Change in the Eponian Faerie Faith

Grounded in ongoing ethnographic and archival research, this presentation offers reflections on the Eponian Faerie Faith, an eclectic, nature-oriented form of contemporary Paganism that developed during the 1980s in the American Southeast. The key formulator of the Faerie Faith, Lady Epona (the late Dr. Patricia Zook, 1951-2016), combined initiatory structures drawn from Dianic Witchcraft with elements of Celtic and American New Thought philosophies (especially the work of Max Freedom Long) to offer practitioners a "shamanistic" path for personal development. While numerically small, the Eponian Faerie Faith stands as a fascinating case study for exploring the ways that new religious movements appeal to and/or invent tradition to legitimize their practices.