We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ron Padrón a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ron, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Looking back at internships and apprenticeships can be interesting, because there is so much variety in people’s experiences – and often those experiences inform our own leadership style. Do you have an interesting story from that stage of your career that you can share with us?

I am ordained pagan clergy through Sacred Well Congregation. As part of the ordination process you need to complete a one-year internship under the guidance of your mentor. The focus of my ministry is on queer-centered and queer-affirming spirituality, so I knew I wanted to build an internship experience around that.

I reached out to an organization in my area, Stone Circle Council, to see if they would be interested in partnering with me to host monthly virtual Pride Circles and they said yes. These monthly meetups were for queer/trans-identified folks from a variety of spiritual traditions to be in community together to process whatever was happening in the moment. Sometimes we would decompress about what was happening in the world, other times someone would share something they were struggling with and we would offer support or hold space for them as needed. I opened those spaces with a grounding exercise and would close with a guided meditation.

I definitely went into that internship with structured agendas for each meetup, but quickly found I needed to be more adaptable because I never knew what would come up. I learned the importance of co-creating spaces with the communities you want to serve, and that has become central to my own ministry and leadership style.

Ron, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a gay, disabled, Cuban-American hedge priest from the swamps of Florida now living in the mid-Atlantic with my husband. I have been a member of the pagan community for nearly two decades with specific interests in divination, Queer Ancestor veneration and necromancy, hedge witchery, and spiritual activism. I am the creator of White Rose Witching through which I manage a blog sharing Queer Ancestor Spotlights and rituals.

I have presented at gatherings such as the Salem Witchcraft and Folklore Festival, Hallowed Homecoming, Free Spirit Gathering, Sacred Space, various Pagan Pride Days, historic sites, and small museums on topics such as colonial witchcraft politics, spiritual activism, and queer-affirming spirituality.

I completed the Community Ministry Certificate Program through Cherry Hill Seminary. I a member of the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA), and have completed the Bardic grade through the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD). The nature-centered aspect of my practice focuses on bioregional animism, permaculture, and (sub)urban homesteading. As part of his spiritual practice, I tend to my own productive garden and support local farms when possible.

I am a co-founder and co-editor of a punk spirituality zine, ALTAR PUNK, which is an interfaith project focused on reclaiming discourse around faith and spirituality from nationalist movements, and the founder of the PaganPunk Community Grimoire project, a collection of short zines on varying pagan topics.

I have a professional background in DEIA work, and work with pagan and interfaith groups of all sizes to create more inclusive, accessible communities. I recently launched a Patreon where folks get access to other custom zines, monthly divinations, essays and videos on spiritual activism and DEIA in pagan spaces, and rituals. Supporting my Patreon allows me to offer workshops in my local community at low or no cost.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I think one of the things that has helped build my reputation is authenticity. I am very public about my values and ethics, even when that might be risky. I try as hard as possible to live into these values both personally and professionally. Sometimes this means bypassing certain opportunities that, while they might provide exposure or be lucrative, would be antithetical to the community I try to cultivate.

I think people see that and respect it. That also builds trust, and that trust has resulted in folks providing me a lot of grace when personal situations have resulted in delays on my end.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn the toxic relationship between my queer identity and spirituality. I grew up Roman Catholic and realized I was gay in my early teens – but I did not come out until my early twenties. During this time I internalized the idea that being gay and being spiritual were not compatible. Even when I answered the call to paganism I still kept my queer identity very separate.

My thirties ended up being a decade of a lot of healing. I learned about a lot of queer people and spaces of faith, like the Metropolitan Community Church and the Unnamed Path, that provided an opening for me to repair this rift within myself. It was this journey that ultimately led me to completing the Community Ministry program and pursuing ordination, with a goal of centering queer/trans spirituality in my work.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.whiterosewitching.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/white.rose.witching/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whiterosewitching
• Other: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/WhiteRoseWitching

Image Credits

Personal Photo: Credit Devon Rowland Photography