Pagan Tenets

Join Larissa Gibbs as she leads a discussion as to what it means to be Pagan. We each have our own individual gifts to bring to our spiritual path, but how can we express that to others? What rules do we live by? How do we answer the big questions of life and death, and how do we celebrate our path? Larissa will look at historical aspects of various pagan tenets from different authors and councils. How do these tenets apply to the neo-pagan community today?

Larissa Gibbs has been a practicing neo-pagan since she was a teenager. She did a self dedication at the age of 16 and has never looked back. Over the years, Larissa has practiced as a solitary pagan, as well as worked with two covens, and with her family coven. She was the coordinator for the children’s realm of the Las Cruces Pagan Pride Day event for maybe five years. In 2011, she became one of the founding members of Desert Spirit CUUPS at the Las Cruces New Mexico Unitarian Universalist Church where she continues to serve as ritual coordinator. She is also a longstanding member and contributor to the Las Cruces-based, women’s spirituality group, Moonsisters. Larissa has a BS in biology, worked as a research biologist for 10 years and now teaches high school biology. She finds that one of the most profound truths in biology is the universal genetic code of life. Scientifically we know that all life is genetically related, spiritually we can feel at one with all life on Earth. Larissa also looks to history and archaeology to understand past and present human belief systems. Marija Gimbutas’ work with neolithic and Mesolithic imagery and megalithic mounds is very informative for Larissa as well. Larissa feels that science informs our world view and paganism gives us a way to contextualize our place in the world.