The Wild Hunt

Welcome 2009, or, We Need Four Billion Religions

2009-01-01T07:36:00.002-06:00

Instead of reading more 2009 predictions from a collection of local psychics, let's turn instead to the SF Gate's interview with astrologer Rob Brezsny. The "free will" astrologer takes some time to punch holes in the predictions of your neighborhood doom-sayers.

"I believe that some astrologers, not all, are like a lot of New Age prophets and right-wing fundamentalist prophets in that they gravitate toward the visions of the future that stimulate fear, because at this cultural moment fear is more entertaining than the more uplifting news, and it gives them power. It gives them power to scare somebody. I try to have a very tolerant nature towards all people, but I have to admit that it really grates on me when astrologers just fixate on the ugliest possible interpretation of any astrological aspect."

Then again, he also says the real prophets of our culture are creating a darker world.

"The more dangerous prophets are the storytellers of our culture - the journalists, the filmmakers, the writers of fiction and many musicians who are constantly besieging us with dark visions. I think about Muriel Rukeyser, the poet, who said that the universe is not made of molecules - it's made out of stories, and if the storytellers of our culture are constantly telling us that the only true thing is an ugly thing, then yes, I do think that's a problem."

Being someone who alternately styles himself a journalist and an artist, I take issue with the idea that "dark stories" are creating an "ugly" future. Art isn't just joyous inspiration, it is also catharsis and reflection. Imagine how darker things would truly be without the "dark visions" providing a safe outlet for all that "ugliness". So while I admire Brezsny's commitment to positive thinking, he seems to be stuck in a sort of "pronoic" tunnel vision of his own making on this particular issue.

But let's not end the first post of 2009 on a critical note, here is a final quote from Brezsny that should warm a few Pagan hearts.

"I subscribe to Krishnamurti's principle... he said that "we need four billion religions." Now that number is up to 6.5 billion - a religious tradition for everyone on the planet, 6.5 billion paths to God."

For more on Brezsny and Free Will Astrology, check out his web site. I'm also fond of his piece "A Prayer For You". I hope you had a great New Years, and aren't suffering too much from last night's celebrations.

A Thorny Bit of Self-Promotion

2008-12-29T06:30:00.000-06:00

I have a couple items that might be of interest to my readers. First, the new Pagan magazine Thorn has finally hit the newsstands. This compendium of "Paganism in the Silicon Age" contains a news column written by me based on articles found here at this blog.

"Thorn is a new quarterly print magazine about paganism and modern culture. Through a combination of news articles and investigative research, photographic spreads and academic essays, comic strips, original illustration and historical analysis, we hope to illuminate the joys and complications of living ancient paths in the wired era."

Cover of Thorn #1.

The first issue also features writing by Christine Hoff Kraemer, Lupa, Erynn Rowan Laurie, and an interview with Phonogram writer Kieron Gillen. It is certainly worth checking out!

Turning to a thorn of an entirely different variety, I was recently interviewed by author and Feri priestess T. Thorn Coyle for her elements-themed podcast "Elemental Castings".

"Thorn talks Air with Jason Pitzl-Waters of the Wild Hunt and a Darker Shade of Pagan. Topics include DJing, club culture, and magic on the airwaves."

To directly download the hour-long talk, click here. It was fun doing the podcast with Thorn and I hope you enjoy listening to it. Be sure to check out her other podcasts, featuring interviews/talks with Anne Hill, Sharon Knight, and several others.

Here Comes the Future

2008-12-28T09:19:00.003-06:00

As we move forward into 2009 many of us are looking warily into an uncertain economic future. It seems logical then that those who promise advance knowledge - diviners, psychics, astrologers, and prognosticators - would be enjoying something of a boom time. That's the premise of a recent CNN spotlight (HT: Klintron) on how some astrologers and psychics are doing well in this pessimistic economic climate*.

"Astrologer Randy Goldberg says he's gone from seeing two to three clients a day to as many as nine. No longer is love the top query. 'They're curious about what's going to happen to the market, what the economic future of the U.S. is looking like in the next couple of years...they want to know about the job market.'"

But is the common wisdom that psychics (and others who peer into the future) do well during hard times really accurate? After all, despite the New Age community's recent Oprah-fication, initial signs have been mixed. Trade shows have been canceled, and niche publications are often hanging on by a thread. As for the psychics themselves, they seem split on the economic future. Bay Area psychics seem to think that the "economy will turn around much sooner than economists now predict", while psychics from Colorado Springs seem a bit more pessimistic.

"The recession will bottom out on Oct. 22, 2009. During February 2010, nearly all of us will believe we are coming out of the recession."

I wonder if the real answer to the question of psychics and astrologers doing well during recessions is one of style instead of substance. That the prognosticators willing to offer reassurance and comfort will be sought out, while doom-saying Cassandras (or hard-nosed realists) will see some hard times (aside from those who wish confirmation of their own portents of decline). In this these individuals won't be too different from the entertainment industry, which will no doubt offer a steady diet of uplift, flashy action-heroes, and comedy as times get tougher (few will want to wallow in existential dread when their wallets are empty). It doesn't take a mind-reader to know that people want escape and hope when times have backed them into a corner.

* The Horoscopic Astrology Blog takes issue with CNN's conflation of psychics with astrologers, noting that most astrologers don't claim to be psychic. You might also want to check out his "Top 10 Types of Astrologers To Avoid".

New Years Celebrations? Yeah, Those Are Pagan Too.

2008-12-27T08:46:00.002-06:00

Randy Shore of the Vancouver Sun takes a somewhat lighthearted look at the origins of our New Years celebrations from pre-Christian antiquity.

"If your head really hurts on New Year's Day, you could point your finger at the Babylonians who started this new year revelry nonsense. Though the ancient Romans added the idea of alcoholic excess, or at least perfected it. Julius Caesar fixed the start of the year on Jan. 1 by letting the previous year run to 445 days rather than the traditional 365. The Roman citizenry made their winter festival Saturnalia a celebration without rules. So, let's blame the Romans. Any way you slice it, New Year's is among the very oldest and most persistent of human celebrations."

Kissing on New Years? The Romans. Baby new year? The Egyptians and Greeks. Father Time? Well... that's a bit more complicated.

"Father Time, who symbolizes the passage of time and the death of the old year, is a much more complex creature. His most ancient manifestations come from India. Yama the god of death and justice is described in the Vedas and the Upanishads, making him at least 3,500 years old and probably much older. Yama maintains order in the afterworld and assigns people their reincarnations, sometimes as a richer and more powerful person, other times a cockroach. As the ruler of death and new beginnings, Yama has profoundly influenced later precursors of Father Time such as Rome's Pluto, Chronos, the Greek god of time, and the Grim Reaper of English and northern European tradition. He is a kindly looking old fellow these days, sometimes depicted holding Baby New Year, but few mothers in the ancient world would have willingly handed their infant to such a being."

Christian taste-makers have tried to alternately ignore and sanctify January 1st, though it has stubbornly remained an almost purely pagan hodge-podge of revelry, mirth, and joyous excess. So while many Pagans celebrate the new year at different points, I can see no harm in another festival to help turn the wheel into 2009.

Polytheistic Straw Men

2008-12-26T09:16:00.003-06:00

The conservative David Horowitz-edited FrontPage Magazine features an editorial by economist Mark W. Hendrickson defending the honor of monotheism. While mainly a defense against criticisms of Christianity by atheists, Hendrickson takes special care to bad-mouth polytheism to bolster the inherent superiority of single-god worship.

"Authors who condemn monotheism seem oblivious to how much their own comfortable, free lives owe to the historical impact of monotheism. The pre-monotheistic worldview was pagan. Paganism exalted nature above all, and taught human subjection to nature. Paganism was fatalistic; it inculcated resignation to a static social order. To the pagans, individual lives were unimportant, cheap. The welfare of the collective, which in practice was the welfare of the ruling elite, was supreme. There was no theory of individual rights opposed to this arrangement. If you were born a drone, you lived the life of a drone, and if the rulers decided that your life should be forfeited to the sun god or in some military campaign to obtain booty for the rulers, then your fate was sealed."

It is fairly obvious why Hendrickson is an economist and not involved in religious studies. Any sensible scholar on pre-Christian religions would have given him a big fat "F" if he turned in that summary of polytheism as a paper. Indeed, his description of Paganism is straight from the conservative Christian party-line, a thoughtless reductionism that undermines his own defense of monotheism. A parrot of slurs that have been discredited for years. The truth is that many of the things that we take for granted, that we often falsely accredit to Christian (or Enlightenment) moral advancement actually originated within pre-Christian thought and politics. Capitalism, democracy, social welfare for the poor, and the foundations of science, medicine, and philosophy all had their genesis in pre-Christian thought and culture. While many pre-Christian cultures had a reverent and respectful approach to the natural world, it is a gross exaggeration to say their were "subjugated" to it.

This straw man argument by Hendrickson shows the intellectual dishonesty so often employed by defenders of monotheism. Only by first creating an utterly decadent and morally bankrupt paganism can they then trumpet the vibrancy and ethical superiority of their own religious preferences. The truth, of course, is far too nuanced and complicated to declare monotheism (or polytheism) the truly superior method of belief. Sadly, nuanced discussions of competing religious world-views don't make for good "red meat" rants designed to reinforce your audience's preconceived notions and values.

Hail To The Unconquered Sun!

2008-12-25T05:38:00.001-06:00

Due to family obligations I won't be blogging today, but I'll be back tomorrow with my regular daily dose of modern Pagan-related news and commentary. In the meantime I wish a very happy holiday season to you all, and a very happy birthday to Jesus of Nazareth, Mithras, Carlos Castenada, Sol Invictus, Robert Ripley, and Annie Lennox among many others.

Sol Invictus

Happy Holidays! Back tomorrow.

Watch "Hoopeston" Online For Free

2008-12-24T06:30:00.001-06:00

Thanks to Juliaki for tipping me off to the fact that you can now watch the entirety of the recent indie documentary "Hoopeston" online for free. The film, directed by Thomas Bender, looks at the struggling town of Hoopeston, Illinois, and the conflicts that emerged when Witch School (and the Correllian Tradition that runs it) moved in.

Hoopeston - Trailer from Synydyne on Vimeo.

"Because buildings are so cheap in Hoopeston, a Witch School moved there from Chicago in 2003. The directors of the school faced stiff opposition from religious conservatives (Hoopeston has over a dozen churches�its other nickname is �The Holy City�). But the Witch School is now a fixture in Hoopeston, one that forces the town to ask whether its future lies in traditional industry or internet wand sales."

For all previous coverage of this documentary, click here. You may also be interested in perusing the last couple year's worth of The Wild Hunt's Witch School coverage. Enjoy the documentary! Feel free to post reviews in the comments.

The Pagan Protest Leader

2008-12-23T08:46:00.002-06:00

If you think America has it bad right now then you haven't been paying attention to what's going on in Iceland recently. Hit particularly hard by the global recession, the country went bankrupt a couple months ago, all their major banks have failed, and inflation is skyrocketing. As the country's government scrambles to prevent a complete collapse, banks are trying to collect on debts that citizens can no longer pay, the result is a powder keg that threatens to turn the daily protests into all-out chaos. Bloomberg, reporting on the situation, interviews local protest leader Eva Hauksdottir, owner of a local Witchcraft shop.

"It was the week before Christmas in Reykjavik, and all through the town Eva Hauksdottir led a band of 60 whistle-blowing, pan-banging, shouting demonstrators. �Pay your own debts,� they yelled as they visited one bank office after another in Iceland�s capital. �Don�t make the children pay.� When she isn�t leading one of the almost daily acts of protest in this land devastated by the global financial meltdown, Hauksdottir sells good luck charms made from the claws of ptarmigans, a local bird, and voodoo dolls in the form of bankers. She says she expects to lose her home, worth less than when she bought it two years ago, after the amount she owes jumped more than 20 percent."

Hauksdottir claims that only civil disobedience can now stem the tide of evictions and the collection of debts that people can no longer pay.

"We'll use our voices, and then if we have to we�ll use our hands, and maybe axes."

Let's hope it doesn't come to axes. In the meantime, you have to wonder if American Pagan and Witch shops are also starting to sell poppets of fiscal miscreants and whether they'll be out in the streets leading protests when things get even worse.

Post-Solstice Catch-Up

2008-12-22T10:21:00.006-06:00

Here's a quick look at some stories of note that you may have missed over the Solstice weekend. First, I would like to quote author Deepak Chopra on the controversy over Barack Obama picking Rick "friendlier version of James Dobson" Warren to give the invocation at his inauguration.

"In the midst of controversy over picking Rick Warren to offer an invocation, it's been overlooked that reality is shifting in America. We are a largely secular society where the vast majority of people do not attend church. When religion enters the picture, we are a pluralistic society, not a Christian one. The right wing may posture as if Christianity deserves special privilege and pride of place. Their posturing has convinced a lot of people for the past twenty years, but it's high time we threw the whole charade out the window. Barack Obama got in trouble with Jeremiah Wright and now he's in more trouble with Rick Warren. He should take this as a lager lesson. Anyone he chooses to invoke God at his inauguration will be divisive, either overtly or covertly."

I think that Obama the pragmatic centrist may have outsmarted himself this time around. For some specifically Pagan responses to the Warren pick, check out Medusa Coils, Thudfactor, Radical Goddess Thealogy, On Holladay, and The Pagan Sphinx.

What happens when your religion doesn't have a goddess? Does it try to create one? The Boston Globe interviews Miri Rubin, author of "Mother of God: A History of the Virgin Mary", who reveals some interesting tidbits about the development of Mary in the Christian Church.

"There developed a representation of Mary, a little statue, that when the statue was opened up, almost like a Russian doll, you found inside a representation of the Trinity, and this is to say that within Mary was everything, and it's all englobed and so on. And theologians say this is absolutely abhorrent, this is not historical, this is totally ridiculous."

Sounds awfully like a Mother Goddess to me. But then, to me, some corners of present-day global Mariolotry seem little more than a sanctified Christian manifestation of a goddess religion.

A paper in northwest Florida looks back at a year of suspicious goat decapitations, and interviews Dee Thompson, director of animal services for PAWS (Okaloosa County's Panhandle Animal Welfare Society), about the killings. Thompson, who previously conjectured the killings might be connected to Palo Mayombe (which they described as a "dark" branch of Santeria) doesn't seem so sure of the religious angle now.

"It was a long, strange year of cases for PAWS, Fort Walton Beach police and Okaloosa sheriff's deputies. Between Aug. 26, 2007, and Aug. 6, 2008, nine goats turned up headless. None of them were traceable. After the ninth incident, Thompson had begun to wonder if it was personal. In 2007, Thompson was tasked with collecting a rape kit from a mutilated dead goat in Mossy Head in Walton County. Bacteria destroyed her DNA sample, but not before investigators determined it was human. As gruesome as the incident was, that goat became a running joke in town. And because Thompson was the one who tested it, she suspected someone might be toying with her."

So it might have been a sick twisted joke at her expense and not some sort of dark religious spectacle? Too bad the press was so reluctant to give more time and space to theories that didn't involve "the occult" or Santeria.

The Wisconsin State Journal sits down for a drink with Circle Sanctuary's Selena Fox and talks about the Winter Solstice, legal issues affecting Pagans, and how Circle is faring during the economic downturn.

"I think there's general stress, so it's really important as we go into the solstice time to not only cherish what we have, but to really strengthen our connection with family and friends � our support network. Just as I encourage people to kindle light to brighten their solstice, I think it's also a good idea to remember that life as a journey has rough spots and smooth spots. It's important to look at challenges as opportunities to move in new and better directions."

Fox says that 2009 will see them focus on developing a green cemetery for Pagans, and a possible trip to Australia for the Parliament of the World's Religions.

In a final note, Dispatches From the Culture Wars notes the passing of the notoriously anti-Pagan bigot (and co-founder of the Heritage Foundation) Paul Weyrich.

"One wonders what principle he was refusing to bend upon and what "moral courage" Weyrich was showing when, in 1999, he launched a campaign to get Christians to boycott joining the military until Wiccans were banned from joining the armed services. The only "principles" at work there were bigotry and discrimination ... this is a man ... who hated the very notion that anyone he doesn't approve of had religious freedom."

The blog post reprints one of Weyrich's anti-Pagan rants, in which he calls Wicca "evil" and claims that allowing Pagans into the military will cause God to withdraw his protection from American troops (this is a guy who thought Pat Robertson was too liberal). For more on Weyrich's nuttery, click here. He is no doubt in heaven with Jerry Falwell, where they can commiserate about the wickedness of Pagans until the end of time.

That's all I have for now, have a great day!

A Blessed Solstice

2008-12-21T06:04:00.001-06:00

Today* is the Winter Solstice, the longest night and shortest day of the year.

Sun Halo at Winter Solstice

This time of year is held sacred by many modern Pagan and Heathen traditions, and has a rich history in ancient pagan religion.

The solstice time was marked as special by pre-historic peoples in both Ireland and England. While there is scant evidence of specific celebrations, it is generally thought that the pagan Celts did mark the solstice time.

Germanic pagans and modern Heathens celebrate Yule at this time. During this holiday the god Freyr was honored. Several traditions we associate with Christmas (eating a ham, hanging holly, mistletoe) come from Yule.

The ancient pagan Romans celebrated Saturnalia which typically ran from December 17th through the 23rd. The festival honored the god Saturn and featured lavish parties and role-reversals. From Saturnalia we can see the traditions of exchanging gifts and decorating evergreen trees indoors that would be adopted as Christmas traditions. Following Saturnalia were the birth celebrations in honor of Sol Invictus (the unconquered sun) and Mithras both held on December 25th.

Many modern Pagans, including Wiccans, Witches, several Druidic traditions, and their many off-shoots hold this time as one of the eight Sabbats/holy days. Usually called Winter Solstice or Yule. It is a time when many of these traditions celebrate the re-birth of the god by the mother goddess.

Here are some recent press quotes on our winter observances.

"Our Christian friends are often quite surprised at how enthusiastically we Pagans celebrate the �Christmas� season. Even though we prefer to use the word �Yule�, and our celebrations may peak a few days before the twenty-fifth, we nonetheless follow many of the traditional customs of the season: decorated trees, caroling, presents, Yule logs, and mistletoe. We might even go so far as putting up a �Nativity set�, though for us the three central characters are likely to be interpreted as Mother Nature, Father Time, and the baby Sun God. None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who knows the true history of the holiday, of course." - Mike Nichols, The Witches' Sabbats

"Some solstice celebrations were jolly and some were fearful, but all involved using fire to entice the sun to return instead of continuing to retreat day after day until it didn�t come up at all and everybody would die. Prematurely. So every winter Solstice, I invoke my inner Druid, and celebrate by lighting the house with only candles (including dimmed candle bulbs in chandeliers) and fires in the fireplaces, invite family over and serve a really good meal (just in case it�s our last.)" - Carol King, The Day (Connecticut)

"Pagans adorn their sacred spaces and homes with evergreens. We bring holly for protection, ivy for the faithful promise that life endures, and mistletoe for fertility. The candles we light to rekindle the fires of Sol, also symbolize our desire to rekindle our inner Sun -- "As above, so below." An old saying is: "A bayberry candle burned to the socket, brings food to the larder and gold to the pocket." Placing candles or lights on the Yule Tree ensures that the household will have a year of plenty, warmth, and light. We feast to lighten our hearts and share the fellowship of others to warm ourselves from within when all seems bleak. The origin of the Christmas Ham is from the Norse ritual of slaughtering the best boar for the Yule feast." - Terry Smith, The Town Talk

"I say we celebrate the return of the sun. Let us return to our primitive roots. Sing in the streets or on the beach this Winter Solstice. Uncork that special bottle of wine or open that forty ounce bottle of Country Club malt liquor. Dust off your dancing shoes. Days will grow longer, hallelujah. The cold days and nights will become memories, the birds will migrate to Canada, the flowers will blossom, the glaciers will continue to melt and greed will return to Wall Street. (Well, we can deal with global warming and the Depression next year) It�ll soon be the shortest day of the year so hurry on down. Grab the cell phone and call your friends and family. Buy tickets and climb aboard the love train. It�ll be pulling into the station any time now. We can join hands if we want to." - 'Operadoc', The Florida Union-Times

"Traditionally the log that celebrated Yule � a name that some scholars believe may have been derived from an old word for wheel, as the wheel of the year turned � was big enough to light 12 days of feasting. A fragment would be saved to light next year's log, symbolizing continuity and rebirth. Many of us continue to light our homes and neighborhoods in an effort to bring cheer against the gathering gloom of deepest winter. But, again, Tuesday brings us the turn around, and we move slowly but steadily toward that next great celestial event � the vernal equinox. But for now, Mother Earth sleeps and replenishes herself and her creatures and her people. And there is a long draft of holiday cheer. Drink deep." - Michael Babcock, Great Falls Tribune

"I'm not so much celebrating Christmas as acknowledging Yule � the old Germanic and Norse mid-winter festival supplanted over a millennium ago by early Christian missionaries and to which we owe most of the seasonal fun, including the Christmas tree, the lights, holly, mistletoe and the ham. It's no wonder that Christmas and Yule have become synonymous in the West." - Ian Vince, The Telegraph

No matter what your religion or tradition, may this year's winter celebrations and observances bring you peace and joy!

* The Winter Solstice happens on December 21st at 12:04 UTC. Which means that it happened at approximately 06:04 AM CST for me. You can calculate the time for your own neck of the woods, here.

Celebrating the Livingston Parish Win

2008-12-20T09:19:00.002-06:00

Back in the beginning of October I reported that Wiccan Cliff Eakin had been successful in his efforts to have a local anti-fortune telling ordinance overturned in Livingston Parish, LA. Now MagickTV has produced a four-part series that features interviews with Eakin and his lawyer, and includes footage of the party held for the official signing of the settlement papers (and featuring Raymond Buckland as an official witness).

Here are links to all four episodes: part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4. Kudos to the MagickTV crew for doing this important primary-source journalism and creating a document of this win for the broader Pagan community.

Update: Christian-Pagan Dialogue and Pessimism

2008-12-19T10:44:00.003-06:00

My recent post on skepticism and pessimism regarding Pagan-Christian dialogue has spurred some thoughtful responses from Pagan and Christian bloggers. First, Erynn Rowan Laurie (author of "Ogam: Weaving Word Wisdom") says that a certain amount of skepticism is only natural in exchanges between Christians and Pagans.

"...an underlying theme of much specifically Christian-Pagan dialogue is a general Christian desire to spread the faith. I know a lot of Christians and they're good folks and they don't give me any trouble about being Pagan nor do they try to convert me. But the fact remains that motives in Christian interfaith dialogue often tend to boil down to learning about other faiths so that arguments can be prepared for use in attempts at conversion ... Given this attitude, I think it's only natural and right that Pagans should approach such dialogue with a certain amount of skepticism and even cynicism. I am by no means saying that we should not have these discussions. I do think they're vitally necessary in reducing inter-religious tensions and fostering understandings between communities. Yet I believe we need to go into these discussions with our eyes open, understanding that there are some very likely ulterior motives in many who would engage with us."

Meanwhile John Morehead, editor of the book "Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue", weighs in with his own thoughts on the issue and disagrees with the notion that Christians don't "get" modern Paganism.

"I respectfully disagree with the sentiments expressed by Chas Clifton in his comments on Strange Onion Peeling. There are Christians who are making a good effort at understanding Paganism, including the aspects he specifically mentions. Therefore, we do "get it," even though we have a long way to go in our understanding. And we are not attempting to understand just enough of Paganism to combine it with a nicer approach in order to convert people. Yes, we feel an obligation to be obedient to Jesus' command to "make disciples," and in so doing share the pathway of Jesus when it is appropriate and desired, but we do not view people as mere objects for evangelism. There is a far broader agenda at work here. To assume otherwise perpetuates the stereotypes we desperately need to move beyond."

Morehead has suggested holding a "public Pagan-Christian dialogue at an educational institution in the near future" in order to discuss some of these issues and ideally move beyond some of the inherent skepticism found in these dialogues. I think such a move could be a good step forward, depending on the participants involved. For more conversation on this issue, check out the comments section of my original post, and the comments on the Strange Onion Peelings blog.

When We Worshiped Women

2008-12-19T05:44:00.001-06:00

The New York Times has posted a review of the newly opened exhibition �Worshiping Women: Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens� at the Onassis Cultural Center. According the the article, a main goal of the show is to correct the misconception that women led a passive existence in Athenian society.

"It is true that they lived with restrictions modern Westerners would find intolerable. Technically they were not citizens. In terms of civil rights, their status differed little from that of slaves. Marriages were arranged; girls were expected to have children in their midteens. Yet, the show argues, the assumption that women lived in a state of purdah, completely removed from public life, is contradicted by the depictions of them in art ... it is using art to survey where, within a system of institutionalized restriction, areas of freedom for women lay."

Where were these areas of freedom? According to the show's literature, from within a religion that honored goddesses.

"...the exhibition brings together 155 rare and extraordinary archaeological objects in order to re-examine preconceptions about the exclusion of women from public life in ancient Athens. The story told by these objects, and experienced in the galleries, presents a more nuanced picture than is often seen, showing how women�s participation in cults and festivals contributed not only to personal fulfillment in Classical Greece but also to civic identity."

The show is divided into three sections: �Goddesses and Heroines�, �Women and Ritual�, and �Women and the Cycle of Life�, each presenting a different vantage point to consider women's roles, both divine and mortal, in the Athenian context. The show runs through May 9th, 2009. If you're in the New York, New York area, it certainly seems worth a look. One can only imagine how differently Western culture would have developed if, in the gradual arc towards women's liberation and equality, we had kept the goddesses around.

ADDENDUM: As if by synchronicity, shortly after writing this, I came across a listing for another goddess-themed art exhibition in nearby Brooklyn.

"Nine extraordinary ancient female figures are the focus of the third Herstory Gallery exhibition in the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art. The Fertile Goddess explores these objects that served as a source of inspiration for the depiction of the Fertile Goddess at The Dinner Party by Judy Chicago, on view in the adjacent gallery. The exhibition, which will be on view December 19, 2008, through May 31, 2009, includes both the oldest sculpture in the Brooklyn Museum�s vast collection, made by people living in Mesopotamia in the late fifth millennium b.c.e., and a ceramic figure made by Judy Chicago in 1977."

For more information on this exhibit, click here. You may also want to check out my blog entry on Judy Chicago's "The Dinner Party". Looks like the beginning of 2009 is shaping up to be pretty friendly to the feminine divine (at least in the art world).

Update: University of Nebraska is Anti-Pagan?

2008-12-18T17:05:00.003-06:00

A new small piece of information has trickled out concerning the alleged discriminatory firing of a University of Nebraska employee for being a Witch. According to an AP article run by WNCT in North Carolina, the woman identifies as part of Reclaiming.

"The lawsuit, filed by a plaintiff identified as Jane Doe, states that she was hired in February 2007 and was satisfactory in her performance. But once her employer discovered she was a witch, the lawsuit says the �plaintiff was terminated from her position, and was replaced by a non-witch.� The woman says in the lawsuit that she�s using a pseudonym to protect herself and her family from potential discrimination from the public or other employers. The lawsuit says, 'Reclaiming Tradition of Witchcraft is her religion.'"

As I said in my initial post on this matter, this looks like a legit grievance. The Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission has ruled that Ms Doe's rights were violated, and I can't imagine them backing her claims lightly. I'll post more on this issue as it develops.

Christian-Pagan Dialogue and Pessimism

2008-12-18T06:27:00.000-06:00

I've positively mentioned the book "Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue" before on this blog, and have actively engaged with Christians involved with the project. While I think that creating better relations between Christianity and the modern Pagan religions is important work, I can also deeply relate to the skepticism and pessimism conveyed by fellow Pagan blogger James R. French concerning the project (and others like it).

"It boils down to the question of what �religious pluralism� really means. From where I sit, it should mean that we acknowledge that many systems of belief are valid. Not that they �contain truth� as [Beyond the Burning Times reviewer Gerald R.] McDermott says. That is a dodge. It sounds something like �well, they�re heathen, but they have some good points." True pluralism means that each system is valid on its own terms. This is something that Pagans can accord Evangelicals that Evangelicals cannot accord Pagans. It is almost a tautology to say that the only way to gain the soteriological benefit of Christianity is through Christ. A Pagan simply does not wish to gain this benefit. She has no reason to object to others doing so. It�s simply not her Path. An Evangelical cannot, by the very nature of their beliefs, have such an attitude toward Pagans. To do so would redefine what it means to �witness� so drastically that it would not be accepted among most adherents. Hence my pessimism. While part of me is hopeful when I see at least a few Evangelical Christians recognizing that Pagans are humans and not either devil worshippers or morons, I find the prospect that much will come of this fairly slim. The �softer� approach appears too elitist to appeal to most mainstream Evangelical Conservatives. Too �liberal.� Especially in America, where Dominionist eliminationism gets most of the airtime."

The progressive and open-minded missiology of folks like Matt Stone, John Morehead, John Smulo, Lainie Petersen, and others, while refreshingly different from the hellfire-throwers, are an admittedly tiny minority of the larger global Christian mission. They, sadly, cannot be typified as representing the mainstream of typical Pagan-Christian dialogues. A far larger contingent are still stuck in the same ruts of filtered and impaired communication or outright hostility. In this environment it is all too easy to become cynical and pessimistic concerning truly better relations.

Which isn't to say that books like "Beyond the Burning Times" aren't important, they are, but both sides must acknowledge the large hurdles to overcome before we reach something that resembles mutual respect and trust. We need to get to a point where Pagans don't feel that efforts at dialogue from missional Christians aren't "an attempt at domination", and Christians don't think Pagans are asking them to "give up the centrality of Christ". Monotheism and polytheism have had throughout history at best an uneasy truce, and at worst, attempts to eradicate the other. It may take decades of "baby steps" before we reach a point of mutual understanding and a general sense of improved relations.

(Pagan) News of Note

2008-12-17T08:48:00.005-06:00

My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

At Canada's National Post, commentator Barbara Kay learns the downsides to introducing compulsory religious education into public schools.

"Since September all Quebec students from primary school entry to high school graduation, whether enrolled in public or non-funded private schools, must attend Quebec�s new Ethics and Religious Culture course (ERC). And teachers, regardless of their beliefs, must teach it ... Paganism and cults are offered equal status with Christianity. Witches �are women like any other in daily life;� ... And considering that of the 80,000 ethnic aboriginals in Quebec only 700 self-identify with aboriginal spirituality (the vast majority of ethnic aboriginals are Christian), aboriginal spirituality (falsely equated with environmentalism) is accorded hugely disproportionate space and reverence."

Consider this a warning to those in America who keep insisting that the Bible and "Christian thought" be given equal time in schools. The contortions to make such desires legal in a pluralistic society may bring you down a road you don't want to follow. We wouldn't want anyone thinking Pagans are equal to Christians would we?

Teresa Nielsen Hayden at the Making Light blog compares Iraqi journalist Muntadar Zaidi (you know, the guy who threw his shoes at President Bush recently) with the archetype of the Holy Fool and predicts unhappy things for those who don't allow him to go free.

"Clearly, Muntadar Zaidi is manifesting some aspect of Holy Fool. Granting him mercy and tolerance is guaranteed to make you look good, and is generally the Right Thing to Do. Oppressing him will at absolute minimum make you look bad, and it�ll be the kind of bad that sticks. Furthermore, if I believed in magic, which I don�t, I�d say that with both the turn of the year and a change in leadership coming up, this is no time to go oppressing Holy Fools. Do you have any idea what that can do to your luck? ... will someone please tell George that he has two choices? He can either grab a moment�s grace in the midst of the sorry spectacle that is the end of his administration, or he can have people sending shoes in his direction for the rest of his life."

While Americans play video games based on the event, Zaidi has been reportedly beaten and denied due process of law over an event that Bush reportedly has "no hard feelings" about. Remember, the fool is also the trickster, and they can do all sorts of crazy things if not appeased.

I'm not sure if the reviewer in question is simply exaggerating, but apparently one of the extras for Joss Whedon's DVD release of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" has a decidedly Pagan twist.

"Plenty of subtitles to cover a healthy chunk of world viewers (the DVD is region free): English, Spanish, French, German, Wiccan, Japanese, Chinese. Notably missing: Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish."

This feature isn't verified in the Amazon listing, but that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't true. If it is, I'm curious exactly what "Wiccan" subtitles would look like. Theban script maybe? For a completely unbiased review of the upcoming DVD, click here.

Its time once again to play... Santeria or Deranged Teens! Yes, that's right, local authorities in Philadelphia have found a decapitated goat and two chickens lying in a cemetery. Even though experts in Afro-Caribbean religions have stated that such treatment of animals isn't a part of any mainstream practice of Santeria, local animal cruelty agents know better!

"'Tis the season for - animal sacrifice. So says a local animal-cruelty agent who believes that the Afro-Caribbean practice of Santeria is responsible for the sacrifice of a beheaded goat and two chickens found in Greenmount Cemetery within the past several days. The dead animals were slaughtered in the cemetery using a makeshift altar surrounded by candles and pennies, said George Bengal, director of investigations for the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. "This is the time of year," in the weeks around Christmas, "for a lot of religious sacrifices," including satanic rituals, Bengal said. Muslims also practice animal sacrifice this time of year, he said."

Our contestant has picked Santeria! Unless it was Satanists or Muslims. But it certainly wasn't deranged teenagers getting their kicks (we all know that never happens). Join us next time as we continue to allow uneducated guesswork and bias to enter into journalistic accounts of a crime on .... Santeria or Deranged Teens!

In a final note, the Aegisub editor blog compares programming languages with different religions.

"Ruby would be Neo-Paganism - A mixture of different languages and ideas that was beaten together into something that might be identified as a language. Its adherents are growing fast, and although most people look at them suspiciously, they are mostly well-meaning people with no intention of harming anyone."

He also compares Wicca with the programming language Lua, and Ancient Paganism with COBOL. I'll allow the more programming-savvy readers of my blog to pass judgment on how accurate his comparisons are.

That's all I have for now, have a great day!

The Wind in the Willows Turns 100

2008-12-16T09:37:00.003-06:00

At Salon.com, Gary Kamiya writes an appreciation of Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows" on its 100th anniversary. Kamiya writes about how Grahame, unhappily married and working in a job he hated, found release from his personal problems in the lives of these talking animals.

"In his quiet extremis, by a kind of miraculous fictional alchemy, Grahame was able to take everything that had gone into his half-century of life, painful and pleasurable, comic and tragic, and turn it into gold. There are the four animals, each a part of Grahame: Mole the Everyman, Rat the artist, Toad the rebel, Badger the recluse. There is the indolent rural life Grahame knew never existed, but which he etched in perfect strokes. There are the loud and terrifying motor cars that poop-poop their way through the book and send Toad's canary-colored cart, a doomed artifact from an earlier age, crashing into a ditch. (The speed limit for motor cars was raised to 20 mph in 1905, three years before "The Wind in the Willows" was published.) There are the villainous stoats and weasels, slithering representatives of the lower orders and social transformation that Grahame feared."

For modern Paganism, the most famous chapter in Grahame's book is its seventh, "The Piper at the Gates of Dawn," a detour from the main narrative in which Rat and Mole encounter the great god Pan. A manifestation, in Kamiya's view, of his "Edwardian pagan aestheticism". A chapter of unapologetically mythic poetry that has resonated down generations.

"Perhaps he would never have dared to raise his eyes, but that, though the piping was now hushed, the call and the summons seemed still dominant and imperious. He might not refuse, were Death himself waiting to strike him instantly, once he had looked with mortal eye on things rightly kept hidden. Trembling he obeyed, and raised his humble head; and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fulness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, he looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered. 'Rat!' he found breath to whisper, shaking. 'Are you afraid?' 'Afraid?' murmured the Rat, his eyes shining with unutterable love. 'Afraid! Of Him? O, never, never! And yet� and yet� O, Mole, I am afraid!' Then the two animals, crouching to the earth, bowed their heads and did worship."

Grahame's portrayal of Pan was instrumental in the slow establishment of this horned god (and other horned gods to come) in the minds and hearts of his British readers. His Pan, like the Pan of fellow authors Maurice Hewlett, Eden Phillpott, and Lord Dunsany was a sort of "Green Jesus", a savior of the natural world. A figure who would save humanity from destructive progress, and free them from outdated and restrictive moral codes. As for Grahame himself, scholar Ronald Hutton in his book "Triumph of the Moon" points out that the author did indeed reject Christianity and replaced it with a vague "nature worship" (a collection of his essays was entitled "Pagan Papers"), and that his wife Elspeth took this impulse farther than Grahame felt comfortable with.

"Ironically, it was his wife, born Elspeth Thomas, who was initially the more actively 'pagan' of the two and tried to practice the nature-worship that he was preaching. At first she refused a wedding ring, thinking it a hallmark of convention, and it was he who insisted on her acceptance of one. The ceremony took place (in 1899) in the equally conventional setting of the parish church at Fowey, on the south Cornish coast, and Elspeth made on final gesture of rebellion. To demonstrate her communion with nature, she appeared before the altar wearing an old muslin dress which she had soaked in the dew of that morning and a chain of daisies around her neck which she had woven herself."

Such was the influence of "The Wind in the Willows" that is was included as an essential proto-revival text by Chas Clifton and Graham Harvey in their book "The Paganism Reader". While many regard Grahame's work as simply a classic children's story, it also sent signals of a shift in England's poetic and mythic thinking, a re-imagining of the countryside (and the powers that resided in it) that slowly led to the flowering of modern Paganism.

Outside Perspectives (and Gay Marriage)

2008-12-15T09:43:00.004-06:00

The Sacred Tribes Journal, a predominately Christian study of New Religious Movements, has posted its latest issue online. The journal, which was initially formed to provide a different approach to Christian missiology than the old-school anti-cult apologetics, can offer some interesting outsider perspectives of Pagan religions. In this latest installment you can read an examination of "vampire religion", and two reviews of the Pagan-Christian dialogue book "Beyond the Burning Times" (check out my interview with the Pagan participant Gus diZerega). In particular, I would like to examine a portion of Gerald R. McDermott's review of "Beyond the Burning Times".

"I hope this is not the last book on Pagan-Christian dialogue. For the best inter-religious dialogue is based on deep respect, which means exploring the deepest differences in an atmosphere of civility. While this book does get at some of those deep differences such as monotheism, fallenness, transcendence and the uniqueness of Jesus it gives short shrift to others. For example, God's relationship to gender is touched on but largely skirted. While diZerega says the divine is feminine, and Johnson replies that the Christian God includes the feminine, there is no concerted attention given to why the Bible presents God in largely male terms. Or why Pagans deny the normativity of heterosexuality and Christians affirm it. The underlying assumption in diZerega and even in (Christian) Petersen's response is that sexual differences are either arbitrary or irrelevant yet Christianity has a long tradition saying quite the opposite. In an era when sexuality's relationship to the divine is so pressing, this discussion between Pagans and Christians needs to begin."

McDermott's critique gets right to the heart of an issue I've been bringing up quite a bit in the last year, the religious dimensions of the gay civil rights struggle, specifically gay marriage. Too often the debate around gay marriage is portrayed as a conservative monotheist vs secularist/liberal monotheist battle (what I affectionately call "Lefty Jesus vs Righty Jesus"), when in fact the issue is far more complex. There are faiths that have a completely different theology concerning the matter, and their voices are being drowned out amidst the shouting. Perhaps if Mr. McDermott can see that this is a conversation worth having, other Christians too will realize that their are moralities and worldviews on this issue outside of their own. Such a discussion could change how we approach the issue of marriage.

As for McDermott's contention that Pagans "reject" heteronormativity, I must respectfully disagree. A Pagan outlook isn't built on the binary of "either-or", it instead embraces an ethic of "and-and". Just as we accept the existence (and more importantly the co-existence) of numerous possible divine powers/entities, so too do we accept that there is a valid heterosexual "normalcy" and a homosexual "normalcy" (and a variety of other possible "normals"). An individual Pagan may personally dislike or disagree with homosexual marriage, but unlike the dominant monotheisms that attitude isn't one that is founded on a core scriptural truth that all Pagans must believe in, he or she has no mandate to enforce a ban (legal or spiritual) on someone else's marriage or belief system.

The often unsaid adjective in arguments concerning the "breakdown of the family" is "Christian" (or "Mormon", or "Muslim", or sometimes "Jewish"). It isn't so much a fear that heteronormativity will be destroyed (and the "family" along with it), but the idea of a "Christonormativity" losing prominence as other faiths, ideas, and philosophies grow in stature. Clinging to their appeals to tradition or "natural law" (which, of course, ignores nature when convenient) these groups fight to reinforce their own consensus reality by denying us ours. Such an action seems madness to the polytheist, who knows that wildly different religious and cultural ideas can and should co-exist (and even borrow and blend amongst themselves over time). We can only hope that the dialogue started by "Beyond the Burning Times" (and advocated by McDermott in Sacred Tribes) spreads beyond its small group of Christian and Pagan supporters and takes on the challenge of peaceful co-existence and mutual respect.

University of Nebraska is Anti-Pagan?

2008-12-14T07:51:00.004-06:00

Looks like the University of Nebraska is going to be facing some bad publicity in the coming months. A resident of Lincoln Nebraska has filed a lawsuit against the university for allegedly firing her for being a Pagan.

"The lawsuit was filed earlier this month by a plaintiff identified as Jane Doe. The filing says the woman, who practices witchcraft as her religion, was hired by the university in February 2007 to direct a youth program. She was fired when it was discovered that she was a witch."

Obviously some are going to be skeptical, what if she was simply fired for poor performance or incompetence? But according to the scant information provided so far, it looks like "Jane Doe" may have a substantial case here.

"The woman has already filed a complaint with the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission, which ruled that her rights were violated because of religion discrimination."

If the NEOC says she has a case, then I very much doubt this is a frivolous action. Now if only we could get some more information. If any Nebraskan Pagans know any background information on this case (that doesn't compromise the identity of "Jane Doe"), feel free to send me an e-mail or leave a comment on this post.

Pagans Have a Winter Holiday, You Can Celebrate it Too!

2008-12-13T09:13:00.002-06:00

The Montreal Gazette sends reporter Al Kratina to cover a Yule Fair presented by the Montreal Pagan Resource Centre. What did he learn? That Pagans didn't conform to his pop-culture associations and had their own winter religious observances!

"...paganism, it seems, involves neither Griselda the Witch from the Hilarious House of Frightenstein or minor key guitar solos on Viking metal records, as I had believed. "The word pagan is very generally used," explained Robyn Stroll, a manager at occult shop Le M�lange Magique, which hosted the fair. "One can use 'pagan' to refer to anyone who follows a non-traditional religion, but more specifically it's people who have a religion based in ... a balance with nature." This balance often includes a celebration of the Dec. 21 solstice."

While the article on the whole is friendly, I still get hives when reporters try to be funny by cracking wise about some pop-culture witch or wizard while writing about Pagans. I can only imagine how a story about a local Catholic parish that repeatedly referenced "Father Ted" would be received by the faithful. But why settle for a fair and pageant when you can directly participate in a carefully secularized Winter Solstice celebration out in nature? That's what's on offer at Wisconsin's Aldo Leopold Nature Center on December 19th.

"On Friday Dec. 19, the non-profit environmental education group Nature Net will hold the 8th annual Winter Solstice Celebration at the Aldo Leopold Nature Center in Monona. Under the night sky, participants will take part in a nighttime hike through the preserve, enjoy Yule log cake and hot cocoa and gather around a Yule log fire to learn about Solstice traditions from around the world, many of which have been celebrated for more than a millennium ... While the norm during the winter season is to stay indoors and warm up on the couch, not being outside means missing out on some of the wonderful aspects of the season � including the other activities planned by Nature Net, including making Green Man masks (another legendary figure of the return of spring, growth and vitality), the Wassail Ceremony (drinking wassail "brew" and blessing the apple tree) and the Candlelight Ceremony (voicing gratitude for the good things in our lives during the past year and expressing our hopes for the new year)."

That actually sounds more robust and better planned than some explicitly Pagan celebrations I've attended! Looks like the nature center decided to graft in a little nature religion. Is this increased attention to pre-Christian traditions and Pagan groups during the winter a sign of our growth and inevitable mainstreaming? A secular yearning for tradition without the baggage and dogma of organized religion? A natural by-product of our increasingly post-Christian world? Perhaps it is a mixture of all these things. Next thing you know Italy's La Befana will start replacing St. Nick!

"I Believe" These License Plates Are Now Subject to an Injunction

2008-12-12T09:06:00.005-06:00

Yesterday U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie issued a preliminary injunction halting the issuing of the Christianity-endorsing "I Believe" license plates in South Carolina. The matter will now have to be resolved in court before the plates can adorn the cars of Christian believers. The move was hailed by Americans United head the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, whose organization is sponsoring the pending litigation.

I don't see why non-Christians would have a problem with this.

"'The �I Believe� license plate is a clear example of government favoritism toward one religion,' said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United. 'The court drove home an important point: South Carolina officials have no business meddling in religious matters.' ... Americans United brought the Summers v. Adams legal challenge on behalf of four local clergy the Rev. Dr. Thomas A. Summers, Rabbi Sanford T. Marcus, the Rev. Dr. Robert M. Knight and the Rev. Dr. Neal Jones as well as the Hindu American Foundation and the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee."

Supporters of the cross-emblazoned plates have argued that they are legal since any religious group can sponsor similarly biased tags, an argument that quickly falls apart when you speak to local officials about what exactly counts as a religion.

"In South Carolina, Baptists wanted the tag on cars here and pitched the idea to Republican South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer's chief of staff. State Sen. Yancey McGill, a Kingstree Democrat, got the bill passed in a couple of days without even having a public hearing or debate. "It's a great idea," McGill said Tuesday, calling it an opportunity to express beliefs. "People don't have to buy them. But it affords them that opportunity. I welcome any religion tags." What about Wicca, commonly referred to as witchcraft? "Well, that's not what I consider to be a religion," McGill said."

That sentiment doesn't just apply to Wiccans of course, Muslims are right out too.

"Asked by a reporter if he would support a license plate for Islam, Rep. Bill Sandifer replied, 'Absolutely and positively no... I would not because of my personal belief, and because I believe that wouldn�t be the wish of the majority of the constituency in this house district.'"

Judge Cameron McGowan Currie, who is expected to release a written opinion concerning the injunction on Monday, is no stranger to protecting the rights of minority religions. In 2003 the judge ruled in favor of Darla Kaye Wynne, a Wiccan, who was battling against exclusively Christian invocations in the town of Great Falls. There is no word if Currie will also be overseeing the actual trial (though we can all hope). Whomever presides, this case will most likely be litigated for quite some time. South Carolina has become a "hot zone" for battles over church and state issues, and things are just getting warmed up.

Invoking Brock's Law and Wicca's Almighty Creator

2008-12-11T10:24:00.002-06:00

It's somewhat rare to see Witch/Wiccan profiles during the winter, a time usually reserved for explorations of Christian and Jewish themes, but two papers have done just that. While most of these "meet the Witch" articles are exactly what you'd expect (We don't eat babies or wear pointy hats!), you can often accidentally learn some interesting things about what prominent Pagans believe. For instance, the Great Lakes Advocate interviews author and reality television star Stacey Demarco (who, for the record, doesn't like me all that much). In the piece Ms. Demarco invokes Brock's Law and claims that us Pagans had it far worse than the Jews did.

"Witches have had a bad PR day for thousands of years. There were more people killed in the inquisitions than the holocaust."

That is a sentence that needs some unpacking. First off, the different Inquisitions that spanned different eras mostly targeted Jews, and if she was mistakenly referencing the witch hunts of Early Modern Europe (aka "The Burning Times") the modern scholarly estimates for deaths are far lower than the much-touted "9 million" (think 100,000 tops) of early feminist/Pagan lore. Add in the fact that the "barbarian conversions" of Europe were far more peaceful and gradual than most people think, and the myth of a "Pagan holocaust" becomes self-serving and pernicious. It is a meme that needs to be stamped out, and serves no purpose to the thriving modern Paganisms of today.

Turning from Ms. Demarco's interview, we head to Miami and a profile of Sandra Cheryl Richardson, manager of Celestial Treasures Network in Coconut Grove and "Grand Elder High Priestess" of the Circle of Isis Rising. Richardson's profile isn't all that controversial or outside the norm for this kind of piece, but I did think one of her comments was worth taking note of.

"Richardson describes Wicca as a nature-based religion honoring seven holy powers, including an almighty Creator, gods and goddesses and the four elements."

While Gerald Gardner did acknowledge a "Prime Mover", he also said such an entity was "unknowable" and of "little concern" to the Witches, who preferred their "tribal" God and Goddess. An "almighty Creator" figure isn't something I've encountered much in modern Wicca, which seems increasingly polytheistic in orientation and outlook. Perhaps Richardson was merely talking about her particular tradition and not for Wicca as a whole? That could be likely. Subtle theological distinctions can often get lost in journalistic translation. It does make me curious to know which Wiccan and Pagan traditions acknowledge a "Prime Mover"/"Unknown God"/"Almighty Creator" in their rites. Feel free to weigh in on this subject in our comments section.

As always, journalists don't often get religion, and this goes double for faiths outside the mainstream. It is imperative that modern Pagans are as clear and accurate as possible. A throwaway line or passing thought could be misinterpreted as a central truth of your faith. Remember to keep it simple, steer clear of controversy (unless that's your thing, then hey, go for it), and (if you can) vet the reporter asking for an interview before sitting down with them.

An Ethical Lapse of the Online Pagan Community?

2008-12-10T08:24:00.004-06:00

Reading through the news today, I noticed an odd story that ends up painting at least one corner of the online Pagan world as lacking in ethical common sense. It regards a woman, Spokane resident Gypsy Lawson, who was convicted of smuggling a rhesus macaque monkey from Thailand.

"Gypsy Lawson took the rhesus macaque monkey on a flight from Thailand to Los Angeles in the United States. The 29-year-old drugged it with sleeping pills and hid it under her blouse during the trip. A month later she bragged about the monkey she called Apoo to a shop assistant who then called police."

Seems pretty cut and dried, but there was an interesting wrinkle to the story. Seems that Ms. Lawson is a Pagan and turned to a local Pagan e-list for magical/energetic "help" in smuggling the monkey out of Thailand.

"On their way back, Ogren reportedly emailed an online witches and pagan community asking for "last-minute energy" to help them smuggle the animal."

Doing some more digging, I found a Spokesman Review article from July that gives a bit more detail regarding this online request.

"The following day, the indictment alleges, Ogren sent an e-mail to "NE Washington Witches and Pagans" at a Yahoo account "and asked for last-minute energy" to help them safely smuggle the monkey into the United States. "The Witches group replied by e-mail 'consider it done,' " the indictment says."

I can't seem to find the list at Yahoogroups any longer, so perhaps the negative publicity forced it to close down, but a serious question remains: why didn't these Pagans realize an illegal act was taking place and report it? Indeed, why did Witches and Pagans offer spiritual aid to enable this foolish woman to smuggle an animal into the country? Leaving aside the serious legal issues involved here, there are also moral and health-related issues involved in keeping primates as pets.

"If you try to keep them as pets you're creating a mentally disturbed animal in 99.9 percent of the cases," said Wright, director of conservation, science and sanctuary at the zoo. "The animal will never be able to fit in any other home. Never learn how to get along with other monkeys. And, more often than not, will end up with a lot of behavioral traits that are self-destructive."

The article about Lawson's conviction should have read "she bragged about the monkey she called Apoo to a local Pagan list, many members of that group then called the police"*, that it didn't should cause us to examine why members of the Pagan community were enablers in this drama rather than heroes. As for "Apoo" the monkey, he is now safe at a primate rescue center in Oregon.

* This isn't to say we should all become informants for any perceived or suspected violation of law, there is a range of justifiable opinion on certain ordinances, and such a thing as unjust laws, but the ethical course here was rather plain and obvious.