7.03.2008
The Return of the Revenge of Witches on Reality Television
Hard to believe its been nearly a year since I had to post about modern Pagans appearing in a trashy reality television program! I should have known that the siren-call of money and fame/infamy would be too much for some in our extended community to miss. This time its an Australian program entitled "The One: The Search for Australia's Most Gifted Psychic", a game show/reality television program in the vein of "America's Got Talent" or "Hell's Kitchen", only with psychics.
The host and contestants of "The One".
"English statutes against witchcraft were repealed in 1736 and public executions are no longer sanctioned as entertainment, at least not in Australia, but Channel Seven has devised an alternative ordeal - a televised quest for Australia's top psychic. Seven contestants - mediums, psychics, clairvoyants, a "medical intuitive" and a witch - undergo tests to prove their paranormal abilities. They have to find a lost boy in the bush with a bit of help from his teddy, examine memorabilia from celebrities and deduce who they belong to, and find contraband inside a shipping container."
So this spoon-bending Survivor already has one Witch as a contestant, but we get a double-dose this time around, because one of the two judges is a Witch too!
"Using the good cop-bad cop formula loved by reality TV, two judges - Richard Saunders, vice-president of the Australian Skeptics, and Stacey Demarco, a practising witch and author - decide each week who stays or goes until three contestants are left. The winner will be chosen by a public vote ... Stacey Demarco, who teaches metaphysics and has written books on how to apply witchcraft in the boardroom and the bedroom, is the believing panellist. "I'm a rational type of expert, I'm not the purple tie-dye type of witch. I just want people to come into this with a really open mind. It's not a circus act or an act of any kind. "The contestants are normal people, they've got husbands, wife, kids, pets, a house in the suburbs and they are considered weirdos, freaks, satanists just because they have these abilities." Only a couple of episodes have been shot but, Demarco says, the show lives up to its billing that it will make "hairs stand up on end"."
So who is Stacey Demarco? Well, she authored two books for Llewellyn, "Witch in the Bedroom: Proven Sensual Magic", and "Witch in the Boardroom: Proven Business Magic", was initiated as a solitary Witch (though I'm not sure what she means by that), and has a background in PR and marketing (which most likely explains how she got this gig). Demarco's role marks something of a step up for Pagans in reality television, from mere entertainment fodder to playing a role in the selection/elimination process. Of course the larger question is if modern Pagans should be participating in the vapid, soulless, and cheapening reality television market in the first place.
While shows like "Wife Swap" and its ilk have portrayed Wicca and modern Paganism as bizarre lifestyle choices (instead of, say, a serious religious faith), "The One" will most likely portray Witchcraft as an enhancement/byproduct of possessing psychic powers (though I suppose I could live in hope...). Neither of these approaches does much to broadcast an accurate picture of our family of faiths, or give insight into the fact that we worship multiple gods, have our own holidays, and are (generally speaking) rather pedestrian in our lifestyle choices and attitudes. The saddest thing is that every time our faiths get run into the ground on one of these programs, there is always another Witch or Pagan out there who thinks "I'll be different". To them I say, no one is more powerful than the video editors, those great powers who decide which of your words to emphasize, and actions to highlight.
I suppose there is always the chance that this program will be different. But I've been down this road before, and don't hold out too much hope that our faiths won't be trivialized for the sake of entertainment. To my readers in Australia, keep an eye on this show (which premieres on Tuesday) and fill me in on how it is. Who knows, maybe we'll all get lucky for a change.
Labels: Australia, Paganism, psychics, Reality Television, Stacey Demarco, Television, Witchcraft
2.29.2008
Updates on Past Stories
Psychic Wars in Livingston: It looks like a legal battle over a religiously-motivated Livingston Parish ordinance banning fortune telling will be headed to court. Despite being warned by their lawyer that they would most likely lose a lawsuit, the Parish Council decided to not address the issue at their most recent meeting, much to the dismay of some Parish residents.
"Taxpayers might question the council's insistence on spending public money to fight a lawsuit on an issue that has no purpose other than to pacify a particular religious group. The council's attorney, Blayne Honeycutt, has advised that it probably would lose the Wiccan suit if it persists in defending the ordinance. When no member of the council would offer a motion to repeal the soothsaying ordinance, Honeycutt advised the council it needs to hire special counsel to handle such a case. Parish government, which has a history of being strapped for funds, could be putting that money to proper uses on roads, drainage, water and sewage rather than waging war for or against particular religious groups. Instead, the council will spend money it says is in short supply defending a lawsuit against a problem its attorney told council members apparently doesn't even exist in the parish."
The Parish is being sued by local businessman and Wiccan Cliff Eakin, who wishes to offer fortune-telling and divination services at his store, Gryphon's Nest Gifts. Eakin maintains that the ordinance is an attempt to promote Christianity over Paganism.
Thelemites Fight Pedophillia Charges: Australian couple Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine have been released from prison after apologizing to a judge for defying an order to remove material from their website that groundlessly implicated a local O.T.O. organization in an underground pedophile ring. The couple served two months of a nine-month sentence for contempt of court.
"Yesterday both apologised to Judge Harbison and the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, and undertook not to repeat, or help anyone else to publish, the vilifying material about the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO). But David Leggatt, for the OTO, complained that the vilification had a "grapevine effect". It had been removed from the pair's website, Gaiaguys.net, in December, but soon appeared on Adam Dodson's site. Simon Moglia, for Mr Devine and Ms Legg, said they had not helped the new website. He said they at first saw their non-compliance as individuals standing for their beliefs. But when they realised that resisting the tribunal encouraged others to disobey the law, they closed down their website."
While the OTO in Australia have certainly won this battle, they may find themselves pestered by dozens (if not hundreds) of conspiracy theorists who see Legg and Devine as martyrs in the quest for "the truth". The original actionable paper written by Dr Reina Michaelson inflated in importance and virally spread across the Internet.
Fighting For (Christian) Religious Expression: Arizona joins Oklahoma in trying to pass a "student religious expression" law similar to the one recently passed by Texas.
"On Wednesday, the Arizona House Education Committee narrowly approved, and sent on to the full House of Representatives, HB 2713, a bill that would prohibit public schools from discriminating against students on the basis of their religious belief or expression. It permits students to engage in prayer and religious activity on an equal basis with other activities, but does not permit the school to require participation in religious activities. It includes provisions prohibiting banning of religious attire and jewelry when similar secular items are permitted and another section that prohibits discrimination for or against a student in grading coursework in which the student expresses a religious viewpoint or religious content."
While these laws may sound innocuous enough to some, they ultimately benefit the religious majority, a point driven home by the Texas House's own research organization who stated: "the bill could serve as a tool to proselytize the majority religious view". These proposed laws claim to protect a student's freedom to express religious viewpoints, but I fear they instead encourage a hostile environment towards religious minorities, dis-empower teachers from keeping order in their classrooms, and give Christian students a sense of immunity from consequences. I encourage Pagan groups in in Arizona (and Oklahoma) to send a message to their representatives ensuring them that Pagans, Witches, and Heathens oppose this legislation, but will gladly use their new "rights" as often and as loudly as possible if it is enacted.
Labels: Arizona, Australia, Cliff Eakin, law, litigation, Livingston Parish, Oklahoma, OTO, Paganism, psychics, Religious Freedom, Texas, Thelema, Wicca
2.21.2008
Updates on Past Stories
Thelemites Fight Pedophillia Charges: An Australian couple who posted unsubstantiated accusations of pedophilia and ritual abuse within the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) chapter in Melbourne, Australia have been sentenced to nine months in prison. The prison stay was ordered after Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine defied a court order to take down the material, and declined to appear at hearings.
"Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine posted on their website claims that an occult group, the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), was really a pedophile ring in Victoria, and that its activities included hosting parties at which naked children served as waiters and members had sex with and murdered children ... [Judge Marilyn Harbison] said the material was gross, insulting and bizarre in asserting that the OTO tortured and killed children and animals and consumed their organs in blood rituals. It also said OTO members were criminally corrupt, spoke of a culture of corruption at the highest levels of government, and identified politicians as taking part. Judge Harbison said she had to signal to the broader community that tribunal orders were not to be ignored and that breaching the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act was a serious issue."
The offending site in question was finally taken down in January by the hosting provider. Legg and Devine now have to decide if they will apologize to the judge and hope that their sentence is commuted, or if they will appeal their case to the Supreme Court.
The First Wiccan Multi-Millionaire: A local ABC News affiliate checks in with Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett, a Wiccan who won an estimated 33 million dollars in the Mega Millions drawing back in September of 2007. According to the report, Bartlett is keeping the promises he made back when he first realized he won the lottery.
"After Dundalk's Bunky Bartlett hit the Mega Millions jackpot in 2007, he said he planned to help a new age gift shop expand. He also said he would continue teaching people about his Wiccan beliefs. Bartlett has been true to his word. The Mystical Voyage store in Nottingham used to occupy 2500 square feet of space. When the expanded store opens next month, it will occupy 6500 square feet -- enough space for several new holistic healing rooms, and a large yoga studio."
Bartlett continues to teach classes on Wicca at the store, as he did before the lottery win. No further word yet about the proposed Willow Springs Sanctuary and Community Center that was announced back in November.
Wicca in India: In the past I have reported on Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, a famous adherent of Wicca in India. Chakraverti, a social activist, started a "Wiccan Brigade" to stem witchcraft killings and female infanticide through a campaign of education and re-framing the practice of "witchcraft" in India. While we have heard no reports on how successful these initiatives have been, it does look like Wicca and other western Pagan imports are gaining popularity in certain Indian cities.
"New age therapies and healing through a host of skills, including hypnosis, tarot reading, astrology and witchcraft are being accepted by a majority of people in Chandigarh, the twin capital of Punjab and Haryana ... Claiming to be India's first Shaman Witch, Renu Mathur helps remove all negative energy surrounding a person through prayer and meditation. She claims that she receives the energy from Gods and Goddesses as also from the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. 'Although this may not seem like a straight fight against superstition because what I am doing is very logical like the use of colours, use of fire, use of crystals all of which has been validated by everybody in all fields. This is just a concentrated form of using them and invocations of a Wiccan or a person like me used has a very scientific oath -'Do what will not harm anyone'. We cannot harm anyone. If we even think of doing so we lose our energies,' said Renu."
It should be interesting to see what the continued co-mingling of Hinduism and Indian culture with modern Paganism will produce. These cross-cultural interactions seem to hint at the promise of a post-Christian future, where theological "sisters" like Hinduism and modern Paganism can enrich one another over the longer term.
Speaking of India, today is the beginning of the Pongala Mahotsavam, a ten-day festival in honor of Bhagavathi (the mother goddess of the Malayali Hindus). Held in Thiruvananthapuram, it is the largest religious gathering for women in the world.
"Women in thousands have started pouring in to participate in Friday's 'Pongala' festival at Attukal temple, famed as 'Women's Sabarimala' for attracting one of the world's biggest female congregations. The Attukal Bhagavati temple here had entered the Guinness Book two years back as a unique religious event that draws over a million women on a single day. The whole city would turn into a sea of women as sun rises on Friday with the road, pavements and by-lanes about an area of six km around being occupied by devotees with the earthen pots placed on brick hearths in front of them to prepare the 'prasadam' (sweetened pudding). The ritual consists of preparation of the prasadam of rice, jaggery, coconut and spices, to be offered to the Goddess to invoke her blessings for peace and prosperity."
An estimated 2.5 million women are expected to participate this year, breaking all previous attendance records for the festival (1.7 million in 2007, and 1.5 million in 2006).
Labels: Attukal Pongala, Australia, Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett, goddess, Hinduism, India, Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, OTO, Thelema, Wicca, Witchcraft
2.19.2008
Exorcism Craze Drawing Criticism in Australia
Last week I noted a recent story about the rise in popularity of exorcisms in Europe. In the article, a Polish Catholic priest laid out the types of people ripe for such a service.
"Typical cases, he said, include people who turn away from the church and embrace New Age therapies, alternative religions or the occult. Internet addicts and yoga devotees are also at risk, he said."
In other words, Pagans need exorcisms! Sadly, it seems this trend towards spiritual warfare isn't isolated to Catholic strongholds in Europe. A Catholic news service reports a sharp increase of exorcisms in Australia, and it looks like they are rounding up the usual (demonically possessed) suspects.
"One priest who asked not to be identified said he presently carried out exorcisms at least once every two weeks. 'Being possessed by a demon is terrifying in one's mental and emotional life,' he said to the Courier Mail. 'Some of these manifestations are extremely powerful, causing people to be plagued by disturbances. They hear voices and see hideous creatures in their sleep. There has been a recruitment of pagan practices, and it's sheer poison ... We are not very plentiful and certainly need more of us to cope with the big occult following that is emerging today,' he said."
But Australia's Pagans don't seem to be taking these slurs laying down. Australia's Pagan Awareness Network has released a statement blasting the Catholic Church for attempting to create a "moral panic" regarding Pagan religion.
"'A pagan ritual is no more dangerous than going to a church, a temple, or a mosque,' says PAN president David Garland. 'The Catholic Church is once again trying to create a moral panic about devil-worship and the occult. This kind of fear-mongering belongs in the Middle Ages, not in the 21st century. Exorcisms endanger lives and physical safety. Anyone worried that they might be possessed by spirits should seek referral to a psychiatrist or other mental health expert, not a witch-doctor in a priest's collar. The Catholic Church should ban this barbaric practice ... Mr Garland said that according to 2006 Census, there were more than 40,000 Pagans of different denominations across Australia, 'all remarkably unaffected by demonic possession'."
The Australian manifestation of this exorcism trend should be understood from the perspective of demographics. According to census data, Christianity is in the decline, and could lose its statistical superiority in the next 30-40 years. So it is only natural that some denominations will start to resort to more extreme measures of adherent retention. As numbers continue to decline, and some churches resort to spiritual "scorched earth" strategies, you can expect more belligerence and hostility to emerge from religious minorities.
Labels: Australia, Catholicism, Christianity, exorcisms, New Age, occult, Paganism
12.03.2007
Update: Thelemites Fight Pedophillia Charges
A year ago I blogged about a legal battle involving the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) chapter in Melbourne, Australia and a paper written by Dr Reina Michaelson, founder of the Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Program. Michaelson had written a paper in which she implicated the O.T.O. as part of a Satanic child-abusing underground network. The O.T.O. took her to court and eventually reached a settlement in which Michaelson agreed to withdraw the paper and all false claims concerning the organization (check out the disclaimer at the bottom of this page).
"Phillips Fox ultimately succeeded in showing the document had no factual basis, with CSAPP and the original author being forced to formerly withdraw their allegations. Lovett said both PILCH and the client were very pleased with the settlement, arrived at in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, human rights division last week."
But the troubles didn't end here. The Michaelson paper, along with loads of conspiratorial rantings concerning the O.T.O. and child abuse made it onto the web site of Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine. The Melbourne O.T.O. took them to court as well, and in July a judge ordered them to take the material down. They refused, and contempt proceedings went forward.
"On 27 July 2007 Legg and Devine were found guilty of religious vilification and ordered to remove the offensive materials from their website. They failed to do this and contempt proceedings were initiated. To ensure their appearance before the Tribunal four police officers from Victoria travelled more than 1500 kilometres to New South Wales where Legg and Devine live, and brought them to Melbourne. Released on bail overnight with orders to appear the next day, they failed to take the opportunity provided by VCAT to comply with the Tribunal's orders and on the morning of Wednesday 28 November 2007 Judge Harbison found that their contempt was deliberate. She sentenced Legg and Devine to nine months imprisonment with no minimum period."
Both of these cases were heard under the Religious and Racial Tolerance Act of 2001, a somewhat controversial measure that outlaws "vilification" of religious (and racial) groups (it should be noted that Australian law concerning the concept of "Free Speech" is entirely different than in the U.S.). Most of the controversy of this new act lays within the definitions of "vilification" versus criticism or "telling the truth". While this has tripped up previous high-profile cases brought under this act, in this case, the writings concerned show unrestrained vilification and outright fabricataions concerning a religious order.
"From everything that I have been told by Mick, the cult appears to be the Order Templis Orientus (Illuminati), operating in Australia ... As a child Mick was forced to attend blood-rituals, where animals and small children were sacrificed and their blood and organs consumed. Mick was required to clean up the blood after these rituals. The children and babies were street children or were taken from orphanages, so that they could not be traced and no-one would know, or care, if they went missing. The rituals were spoken in Latin and were clearly satanic. The rituals took place at various locations, including Goldtown. Mick and other children would be driven to the rituals in the boots of cars."
Though the American-hosted site remains up, this is a clear win for the O.T.O. in Australia. It remains to be seen if the site will ultimately be taken down (to avoid further jail time for contempt), or if Legg and Devine will try to set themselves up as martyrs in their cause. At the very least it has surely given pause to the practitioners of Satanic Panic, who routinely slander and vilify new religious movements as "fronts" for their imaginary baby-killing cults.
Labels: Australia, Children, OTO, Satanic Panic, Thelema
7.15.2007
Is Paganism's Growth Leveling Off?
One of the pervasive beliefs about modern Paganism is that we are growing at an explosive rate. Several studies (often by conservative Christian polling groups) exclaim excitedly of how teens are picking up "occult" and Pagan practices in huge numbers, or how the vast majority of Americans believe in "the paranormal" to one extent or another. Recently, an Australian study of religion claimed that modern Pagan faiths were the fastest growing in that country.
"Amongst those religions on the rise are Buddhism (up 79% since 1996), Islam (up 40%), Hinduism (up 42%), Pentecostalism (up 11%), 'nature religions' including Paganism and Wicca/witchcraft, (up 130%), and Scientology (up 37%)."
But is our collective explosive growth now leveling off? While we still have no firm data on America's Pagan population, new data from Australia's 2006 census has just been released that sheds some new light on Pagan growth rates. Sociologist (and Pagan) Douglas Ezzy reveals that Pagan growth rates seem to be slowing down
"We just heard the figures for the Australian 2006 Census. They are: Paganism 16,000 (11,000 in 2001), Witchcraft/Wicca 8,000 (9,000 in 2001), Other Nature Religion: 2,000 (3,000 in 2001). That makes a change from a total of 23,000 (0.12%) in 2001 to 26,000 (0.13%) in 2006 ... so, basically, the number of Pagans recorded on the Australian Census in 2006 is around 0.13 to 0.14% of the population and has grown in size by about 13% since the 2001 Census. Not bad, but nothing like the growth the movement had earlier."
While Paganism is still on the rise, it is no longer the news-making "boom" that grabbed so much attention in the 1990s, and spurred a large-scale invasion of Pagan-friendly products into the mainstream. Since Australia's census takes place every five years it can perhaps give an quicker (and more accurate?) snapshot of our collective growth rates. But any claims of a overall slowing of Pagan growth will most likely have to wait until the United Kingdom's next census in 2011 (like Australia, the UK also reported "explosive" growth in Pagan numbers in its 2001 census). American statistics will have to, as always, rely on the more inexact nature of polls and surveys to get a feeling for our growth rates.
* Could this be yet another sign that our era's occult renaissance is about to end, just as Louis T. Culling predicted?
Labels: Australia, census, Paganism, population
3.09.2007
(Pagan ) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
The Windy City Times interviews author Dominique Mainon about her new book "The Modern Amazons: Warrior Women on Screen". During the interview, Mainon discusses how modern Paganism and lesbianism have often gone hand in hand when portraying the "warrior woman" archetype.
"Neopagan religions and alternative relationships have infiltrated the average household through media now. It certainly has developed as a common stereotype. It's interesting to note Barbara Creed's opinions about witches and vampires as "menstrual monsters" in her book The Monstrous-Feminine. I am very interested in the way witches and vampires are portrayed now the protagonists in many cases these days, rather than their more monstrous counterparts of past. I speak about this phenomenon much more extensively in chapter five - 'Haunted and Hunted Monster Killers.'"
John J. Anderson, who is charged with the murder of fellow teenager Natasha Miller, wants to have his hours-long confession thrown out of court over claims that he was denied legal counsel and coerced.
"At first, the Wixom resident insisted he had nothing to do with her death. Eventually, he admitted the killing, saying it was an accident, police said. Then for hours he talked about religion, origins of the universe, the Torah, the Quran, the Bible, and his life as a druid -- part of an ancient pagan Celtic religion. He placed Miller's body in the river, he said, for religious reasons, to reunite her with the spirit of water."
Happily, the local police aren't trying to paint Anderson as representative of the local Pagan community.
"Oakland County Sheriff's Detective Christopher Miller said Tuesday outside the courtroom that there is no indication Miller was involved in witchcraft. Miller said Anderson's contention that he placed the body in the water as part of a druid ritual was unlikely. "This is a guy who has a very rich fantasy life," Miller said. 'He needed the druid thing as an excuse for what he did. He's a very troubled individual.'"
Legendary British music critic Mick Mercer reviews a BBC special concerning the mysterious death of occultist and parish councillor Peter Solheim.
"Apparently Solheim's house was a veritable arsenal of occult material, most of it harmless, and he had a famous book on how to perform harmful magic, which is mainly compete bollocks. (Ever noticed how magicians supposedly capable of summoning up great power, and who actively seek dominion over others, either die early, can't effect a decent change in their appearance and can't ably demonstrate anything the way a stage magician can?) He also had a side interest in illegal firearms and pornography, which another diligent reconstruction seemed to suggest included a 17th century replica flintlock, which I suspect was a novelty brass cigarette lighter, plus some vintage issues of Club International! It was getting funnier by the minute."
Australian Pagans in Sydney are trying to establish a sacred site.
"Sydney's pagans have been meeting at Rotaract Hill near Seven Hills railway station for 10 years and want to formalise their attachment by establishing it as a sacred site. The Pagan Awareness Network wants to apply for a grant to erect four stones representing the four points of the compass at the hill's pinnacle. If approved, the stone circle would become the first official place of pagan worship in Sydney."
Did you know that Isaac Brock, frontman for the band Modest Mouse, has a Wiccan mother?
"Brock was raised within the Grace gospel church - which was affiliated to David Koresh's doomed Waco Branch Davidians. He says his family were young at the time, and at least they got out of it. Nevertheless, when he was six he was expected to speak in tongues for the benefit of the church. "I didn't feel the spirit of the fucking Lord rushing through me," he says. "I definitely felt awkward. I thought. 'What's the best way to make this stop?' So I ripped off some words from Mary Poppins and said them fast, and the deacons are going, 'Yeah, all right!'" These days, his mother is a Wiccan. "She meets women, they cast spells," he says offhandedly."
Terry Mattingly (who also blogs at "Get Religion"), discusses "Evangophobia" (the fear of the cultural rise of evangelical Christianity) with writer Robert Lanham (author of "A Sinner's Guide to the Evangelical Right").
"The panic may strike in the shelter of a Starbucks, when a customer realizes that a quote from evangelical superstar Rick "The Purpose Driven Life" Warren is printed on some of coffee cups. This would cause any latte-sipping liberal to mutter "Oh my goddess" and worry about legions of Focus on the Family donors invading Wiccan book clubs in Unitarian sanctuaries from sea to shining sea."
Finally, Chicago Public Radio interviews Krista Tippett, host of the syndicated radio show "Speaking of Faith", about her new book (also called "Speaking of Faith").
"Early risers on Sunday Mornings who tune in to Chicago Public Radio can hear conversations about religion, ethics and spirituality on the program Speaking of Faith. Host Krista Tippett tackles subjects as diverse as "The Soul in Depression", "Modern Paganism", and religious understandings of tragedy, such as the Asian tsunami. Religion and politics has also been a recurring theme. Now, Tippett has written a book reflecting on those conversations: what they've meant to her and to her listeners."
Tippett did an excellent program on modern Paganism not too long ago, and there is a good chance she discusses our religious movement in her new book. Definitely worth checking out.
That is all I have for now, have a good day!
Labels: Australia, Dominique Mainon, John J. Anderson, Krista Tippett, Mick Mercer, Modest Mouse, Paganism, Peter Solheim, Robert Lanham, Sydney, Terry Mattingly, Wicca
