Larry Cornett started along his Pagan path as a civil rights activist in the early 1960's. Rejecting the idea of an all knowing, all powerful, all good, one and only God, only one true religion, and the simultaneous existence of evil, he went on to study Physics in search of deeper truth.  At Purdue University, he practiced a blend of Shamanism, ritual, and counterculture social and anti-war activism -- with a metaphysics blending quantum mechanics, psychedelic and Oriental mysticism, Unitarianism, and love of Mother Earth http://www.lcorncalen.com/QUANTM4P.htm. He was also initiated into the Reformed Druids of North America in 1968.

 

He went on from his BS in Physics and some Graduate level Astrophysics, to work for the Vietnam Moratorium Committee and to get an MS in Civil and Environmental Engineering in 1972 from the University of Cincinnati.  He worked as a full-time professional in environmental monitoring, risk assessment, regulation, pollution control, and project and program management until March 1994. -- when he was fired from a Department of Energy (DOE) Contractor after he documented the major dangers to public health associated with DOE sites, actions and plans, along with attempts to cover-up.  Since then, he has been working mostly part time on such matters (often as an unpaid volunteer).

 

In the 1970's, he shared water with CAW at anti-war conferences and helped found the Chameleon Club in the  1970s (which founded ACE.),

 

He apprenticed with Circle in the early 1980s and was initiated in Amaranth Energies (a Dayton, Ohio NROOGD Coven that relocated to San Francisco, CA),  and later in Coven Marasmius, a New York City NROOGD Coven led by Sally Eaton and Isaac Bonewits.  While in New York City, he was also active and initiatiated into a Cherokee Medicine Society, was a member of the original ADF Mother Grove, and, in 1982, started publishing his International Calendar of Events <http://members.aol.com/lcorncalen/CALENDAR.htm>. The international calendar is continued until the year 2000 and helped the number of Pagan Festivals double every 4.5 years.

 

He moved to Birmingham Alabama in 1985, where he organized Pagan Web (an Earth Religion Rights and networking organization) and a Wiccan Shamanic Coven. 

 

In 1986, a new job sent him to the Washington DC area, where he lived in Fairfax Virginia, and later in Vienna, Virginia.  In Washington DC area, he founded VisionWeavers Coven in 1986<http://www.lcorncalen.com/VISTHEME-Ohio.htm>  and later was a founding member of the CAW Triskelion Nest, along with the Earth Religions Legal Assistance Network (http://www.erlan.org) and Earth Chalice (a Unitarian Pagan group in Arlington VA), along with the former with the Coalition for Pagan Religious Rights.

 

He blew the lid of a cover-up of the impact of US Department of Energy nuclear and hazardous waste sites and actions; and, with help from the Loa, Ganesha, Project Law and the Government Accountability Project, collected money owed to him after DOE issued a judgment ordering back-pay and legal expenses <http://www.oha.doe.gov/cases/whistle/vwa0008.htm>.  He collected a few hours after he was ridden by Damballah at a Voodoo ritual at Starwood, when the Government Accountability Project garnished the CIA account that was paying my former employer (who refused to pay directly). Details about the attempted cover-up appeared on the first Page of the February 15, 1996 USA Today in an expose titled "Tragedy of Errors Engulfs Toxic Material", and in editions of Inside Energy and the Engineering News. See http://www.oha.doe.gov/cases/whistle/vwa0008.htm for the final DOE decision and order in his favor.

 

In 1997, he moved back to the Cleveland, Ohio area, where he started the Northeast Ohio Earth Religions Assistance Association (NEO-ERAA), Gaia Rising <http://www.erlan.org/GaiaRising.htm>, and the Ohio Pagan Confederation, networks of Earth Religion Rights and information activists that helped deal with dozens of religious discrimination cases in Ohio.  These Ohio organizations evolved into networks of contacts with national links rather than ongoing Ohio organizations as the frequency of cases decreased <http://www.erlan.org/DecreasingLegalCases-pub.htm>.

 

Larry is known for detailed political, environmental, and mystical articles and posts on the Internet, similar discussions in person, a sick sense of humor, his Calendar of Events (now a links page at http://lcorncalen.com/CALENDAR.htm) and an Ohio Calendar at http://lcorncalen.com/CAL-OHIO.htm, the Earth Religions Legal Assistance network (http://www.erlan.org). He is also known for powerful Pagan rituals and workshops, organizing occasional parties, camp-outs and gatherings, recording Pagan workshops and music, and helping with major festivals. He founded the Cleveland Area Pagan Pride Project in 2010.

 

Some of his magical and Pagan writing is in a self-published Amaranth Anthology, and he is currently working on a book combining the VisionWeavers' Book of Shadows with his own blend of science, mysticism, Unitarianism, Tibetan Buddhism, philosophy and activism.   He had a regular column, "Event Horizons", in The Green Egg (listing Pagan Festivals), and wrote a section of The Green Egg Omelette on working with Nature Spirits.  He publishes articles from time to time in various Pagan publications.

 

Since returning to Cleveland, he continued his Wiccan and shamanic practice, mostly as a solitary or with a few friends who have been actively involved in Wiccan, Faerie and/or Pagan magic and traditions for at least 15 years.  He also participates in and helps organize large public rituals. .

 

He also formed and coordinated the Collinwood Environmental Taskforce (a coalition of business and community groups which successfully lobbied the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to shut down and order the decontamination of a nuke site on London Road in Cleveland). He also provided detailed technical comments on the proposed "gasifier" for Cleveland's municipal waste, documenting that it was an incinerator and that the proposed permit to install was invalid. US EPA agreed. He is an active member of the Industrial Workers of the World http://www.iww.org/ and Move to Amend https://movetoamend.org/oh-cleveland, and actively studying and opposing fracking.

 

Since 2010, he has been studying and practicing Tibetan Buddhism with Jewel Heart Cleveland, while continuing his Pagan, environmental, economic, political, and human rights activism.

 

Larry presents workshops at festivals, universities, stores and gatherings on:

*  Science Consciousness and Magic  

*  Earth Healing Magic

*  Working with Nature Spirits http://www.lcorncalen.com/NATURESPIRIT.htm

*  Modern Paganism (with video tapes of Pagan rituals from many paths)

*  Earth Religion Rights

*  True Tales of the Occult (a sharing of funny true stories by participants)

For more details, see http://www.lcorncalen.com/WORKSHOP.htm.

 

He also organizes Magickal Forum and Practicum, a series of workshops in which practitioners of many paths share and practice various techniques related to aspects of magical ritual (purification, centering, casting circles, divination, etc.).  The forums start out with a session on ethics before the practical sessions.  Generally, by the time the forums get past invocation, participating magical groups are recruiting members from among the participants; and some participants form new magical groups.  Both advanced practitioners and novices find the forums very worthwhile. 

 

Larry may be contacted at (216) 583-0007 hugnome42@yahoo.com.  His professional resume is at http://cornettenv.org/resume.htm. For his general Pagan websites, see http://www.lcorncalen.com, and for his Pagan Religious Rights websites see http://www.erlan.org.