A warm welcome from Metaphysical Times to The Right Reverend Ser Elizabeth Hamilton-Highcorrell. An Arch Priestess within the Correllian Nativist Tradition, and is a Paladin General within the Sacred Order of the Paladins of Gaia. At 34 years old, Rt. Rev. Elizabeth is an accomplished ritualist, World Walker, and Temple Head, and she walks the paths set before her by her personal deities, Janus and Hecate.
MT: Thank you for joining us Right Reverend Ser Elizabeth Hamilton-Highcorrell. Can you tell us a little about you and how you relate to the Pagan Community?
REH: Yes, of course! I have been a Correllian Wiccan for over half my life. I entered training for first degree when I was around 15 years old, I was initiated into the First Degree at 17, and I was ordained shortly after my 18th birthday. My relationship to the Pagan Community is an integral part of my everyday life. There is no minute that I am apart from the Pagan Community, because I am Pagan, inside and out.
My relationship with others in the Pagan Community has basically always been one of service to the community as a whole. That’s what clergy do; we are servants first and foremost. We strive to meet the needs of those in our communities, wherever those communities might be.
MT: That’s a lot of dedication to a community. We are grateful to you for being of service. What do you know and love most about Paganism?
REH: Well, the aspect of Paganism I am most familiar with is my own Tradition – the Correllian Nativist Tradition of Wicca. Some folks may also know us as the Correllian Nativist Church. Having grown up in my Tradition, I know its ins and outs fairly well; but as I like to say, if I don’t know something that comes up, I sure do know how to find out! In my Tradition, what I love most is how we give a bright, warm welcome to everyone who comes to our doors. You can come as you are, flaws and all. The other great thing I love about my Tradition is our practice of Ancestor Veneration. We hold the Ancestors with as much importance and high regard as we hold the living members and leadership of our Tradition; just because they are dead does not mean they are gone from us. We communicate with them frequently, and strengthen our relationships with them, and in return they give us guidance and direction just as they would in life.
As for Paganism in general, what I love most about it is the fact that we get to worship the Gods of old, in ways designed for the modern age while drawing from what we know of history, so that our worship of them truly is our own.
MT: What do you dislike most about it?
REH: In a nutshell? Infighting, and fundamentalism. The refusal of some folks to acknowledge the validity of paths and Traditions and ways of worshiping that happen to be different than their own is very sad, and demonstrates that those people have a lot of shadow work to do.
MT: If you could do anything to fix the world’s problems, what would it be?
REH: What a question! Let’s dig into it.
Let’s pretend everyone would listen and obey me for a day. Before anything else, I would instruct world leadership to immediately make strides toward finding and implementing renewable energy resources on a massive, world-wide scale, and designing and implementing the infrastructure necessary so that when our world ends its dependence on fossil fuels, we do not also need to quit things like commerce and travel. (It will likely look different, of course, but probably no different than when we went from horse-and-carriages to automobiles.) To that end, the big thinkers of the world would also be instructed to find ways to capture emissions out of our atmosphere and find a safe way to sequester them – and implement those as soon as safely possible!
Then, I would completely remove the influence of religion, pastors, churches, etc. from lawmaking, and conversations about governing and lawmaking (what we might think of as “political discourse”). I would ensure the complete bodily autonomy of all people, and make sure all the world understood that human rights are exactly that: Rights. Every single one of them.
After that, I would implement a fundamental shift in resources – for example, in the United States this would mean moving a large portion of funds currently “assigned” to the military spending budget, and focusing that money instead on housing the homeless, feeding those that do not have enough to eat, and making sure no person has to buy water from a grocery store because their water comes out of lead pipes, or is contaminated in some other fashion.
I would implement world-wide universal healthcare, because healthcare is a human right, and nobody should have to go into massive amounts of debt, or ask strangers on the internet to contribute to their GoFundMe so they can have an operation (or receive a medication) that costs an exorbitant sum of money.
Lastly… I would implement a critical mindset-shift in the world’s people. This mindset-shift would ensure that they recognized they are PART of this living, breathing planet that is our Mother Earth, and not separate from Her – and begin, in the days after that, to act accordingly.
MT: What a great answer! We hear you participate in or host events. Can you tell us a little about the one you’ve got coming up? It sounds like a blast, but it’s also something that is super important for all of the pagan community.
REH: The event that is starting in just a few days is The Road to Parliament 2022: Correllians Live! Telethon! It begins on Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 8pm Eastern, and will end on Monday, October 10, 2022 at 11:59pm Eastern.
This event will be 100 hours of live programming – with speakers and workshops, music, arts and crafts, and togetherness. We sum it up with our slogan, 100 Hours of Magick and Community. We will be live streaming on many different platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, and even Roku!
The goal of the Telethon is to raise at least ten thousand dollars in order to bring some of the Paladins in our Order to the Parliament of the World’s Religions, which is next August in Chicago. A large sum of the money we raise will be set aside so we can get housing for everyone and feed all of us for the duration. It’s a week long, and we plan on taking quite a few people, including several who haven’t been to a Parliament before – either because they’ve never had the opportunity, or because they couldn’t afford to.
During the Telethon, folks will be able to buy gift certificates for readings with psychics who have kindly offered their services and will be donating at least 50% of their earnings to the Telethon.
A continual feature of the Telethon will be an auction, wherein many items will be offered up for bidding! Some of these items will be offered as flash-auctions, while others will have a longer duration. Many of the items are one-of-a-kind, such as original artwork by Rev. Donald Lewis, the First Priest of the Correllian Tradition. We will also have a few incentive items, but our viewers will have to watch for when these pop up during our programming!
MT: Is the event free?
REH: Yes! The event is free to watch. All we ask in return is for everyone who watches to give our Facebook Page a Like, and to share it on whatever social media platforms they can, in order to get the word out about it. And of course, we really do appreciate every donation we get, even if it’s one dollar!
MT: Where can people go to make a donation?
REH: We are asking everyone to visit our website at Correllians.Live/Donate and use the PayPal button to make a donation before or during the Telethon. To receive a tax-deductible donation letter, please email us at correllianslive@gmail.com.
MT: Where can people find you online?
On the web: www.Correllians.Live
Facebook: Facebook.com/Correllians.Live
YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCYYWPVVjOnPfXvx3uR9j2Cw
MT: Thank you so much again for speaking with us, Right Reverend Ser Elizabeth Hamilton-Highcorrell. We appreciate all that you do with and for the pagan community. Please keep us posted on events and things you have happening in the future. Our readers will love to hear about it and tune in!
Be sure to tune in to the The Road to Parliament 2022: Correllians Live! beginning Thursday, October 6, 2022 at 8pm Eastern.
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