7.09.2008
(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
We start off in Central Asia where the government of Tajikistan has banned "witchcraft" and all forms of divination at the behest of President Emomali Rakhmon. A move done supposedly for the benefit of the poor in the former Soviet-controlled country.
"The law’s sponsors said that their purpose was threefold: to eliminate a drain on the poverty-stricken population’s finances, to crack down on “un-Islamic” activity and to reduce the number of people practicing medicine without a license — since the fortunetellers often also prescribe folk remedies."
The problem is that fortune-telling is a popular profession among the very poor they hope to protect, and Tajikistan, while being Islamic, is drenched in mysticism.
"Belief in spells, soothsaying and the paranormal is widespread throughout the former Soviet sphere, where suppression of religion under Communism led to a search for other forms of spirituality ... A mystic, almost pagan, tradition also runs deep here, though the country is primarily Sunni Muslim. Mullahs in the high Pamir Mountains, which dominate the country, are believed to have extra powers to discern the future, and they are often sought out for their powers of prophecy. A good fortuneteller is considered a prize, and word circulates quickly if one is perceived to be particularly gifted."
Will this be an unenforceable law? Or will government forces try to actively suppress “un-Islamic” activity by arresting women trying to scratch out a living in the economically depressed country. We'll have to wait and see.
Author Erik Davis profiles the Heathen Metal of the Bindrune Recordings label.
"I’ve sifted through a fair amount of gothic ambient music, forest metal, and dark folk looking for this sort of sepulchral traditionalism, this sense of ancient mysteries seeping up like clammy moisture through the moss underfoot, and most of it is as corny as clove cigarettes and black nail polish. In contrast, Celestiial’s haunting and glacial Desolate North album made me feel like I was alone and paddling into a dark fjord toward some ancient whale cemetery that was way spookier than the one I vaguely remember from that Disney movie I saw as a kid. I finish listening to this record feeling cold and clean."
For those wanting an audio sample of the bands Davis discusses, head over to Bindrune's MySpace page.
A variety of (mostly conservative) Christians are teaming up and using journalism to criticize the theology of Oprah Winfrey.
"Oprah Winfrey has become a catalyst for a new journalistic project and increasing news coverage by conservative Christians questioning and criticizing her spiritual beliefs."
While this in of itself isn't surprising, I did find the comments of religion writer Marcia Nelson, who authored a book on Oprah's beliefs, interesting. Nelson contends that Oprah isn't "New Age", but a "New Thought" Christian.
"Nelson, who studied a year of Winfrey's shows, differs with those who call Winfrey's spiritual ideas "New Age." She says Winfrey would be more related to the "New Thought" movement, which is more mainstream, focusing on positive thinking as a spiritual tool rather than crystals, for example. "I absolutely regard her as a Christian but ... she's one of those capacious Christians," Nelson said."
New Thought is indeed a separate strain of belief(s) from New Age, though the differences can seem somewhat arbitrary and esoteric to the outsider looking in, and the two subcultures overlap in many places, making distinctions somewhat hard to make.
Drexel University's online publication The Smart Set features what I suppose one could call "travel writing" by Steven Wells (the punk poet formerly known as "Susan Williams"). In "Let the Sunshine In", Wells writes about a visit to Glastonbury Tor, and substitutes mean-spirited mocking cynicism for cleverness.
"All over the Anglophone world, witches and druids will be conducting (or already have conducted) similar ceremonies, despite the fact the last real druids were exterminated by the Romans in A.D. 60. And that far from being an authentic ancient tradition, Western witchcraft (or Wicca) was invented from scratch by an outrageous liar in England in 1946. And the rest of this New Age menagerie has equally sketchy and recent roots — most of them right here, in the probably non-existent King Arthur’s sacred Glastonbury, where Jesus’ uncle, Joseph of Arimathea, almost certainly didn’t hide the Holy Grail (but there are plenty who reckon he did). Mohammed and Joseph Smith and L. Ron Hubbard have nothing on the New Age ningnangnongers. Not that I think that matters. I’m guessing the original druids and witches kinda made it up as they went along as well."
For Pagans, this isn't anything you haven't heard before. Though if your looking for a low-rent H.L. Mencken to amuse you for a few minutes, I suppose Wells might be your man.
In a final note, I have a couple of pieces of book-related news. First, two Llewellyn titles have won awards from a trade organization I've never heard of until today.
"Two Llewellyn titles, The Temple of High Witchcraft by Christopher Penczak and Natural Witchery by Ellen Dugan, have been awarded prestigious awards from the Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR), with several other Llewellyn titles being noted as award finalists ... COVR is an organization formed by a unique group of businesses that deal in "Visionary Resources," and who work with and support each other as independent retailers, manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and publishers of visionary books, music, and merchandise."
Congratulations to Llewellyn, if you say the COVR awards are prestigious, I'll take your word on it. Secondly, calling all horned-god fanatics, Avalonia Books announces the forthcoming release of "Horns of Power, Manifestations of the Horned God".
"This anthology is the first of its kind to be focussed on the horned gods of our ancestors and includes both scholarly essays, bardic retellings of stories such as that of Herne the Hunter and a number of experiential essays. Invocations and meditation journeys are also included."
Sounds interesting! But then we here at The Wild Hunt are a little biased. For a similar Pagan anthology of note, be sure to also check out "Written in Wine", an anthology of writings concerning Dionysos.
That is all I have for now, have a great day!
Labels: books, Christianity, Erik Davis, Glastonbury, law, music, New Age, Oprah, Pagan News of Note, Paganism, psychics, Tajikistan, UK
6.22.2007
Glastonbury Festival and Faith
The Glastonbury Festival in England, operating since 1970, is one of the largest outdoor festivals in the world. The last festival in 2005 (they took a year off in 2006) drew around 150,000 people (though gate-crashers have inflated these numbers to nearly double that at previous festivals), and it is considered by many to be the yearly high-point for alternative culture in the UK. Since the festival was founded during the hippie era, counter-cultural views and a generally open view of spirituality has been encouraged. One of the staples of the festival is the "healing area" where tarot readings, shamanic journeys, meditation areas, and chanting exercises are provided.
"Within the peaceful atmosphere of the Healing Area, there is an exciting blend of healing arts and spiritual/therapeutic orientations as well as fiery celebrations and play. The area is designed as an elemental mandala of Fire, Air, Earth and Water. Each of these circles express a distinct quality of healing which you can experience as you move through the field. Within each circle there is a beautiful garden and sacred space, and all workshops and events are free."
The Healing Area is just one small part of the larger "Green Fields" where environmental attractions, crafts, and political concerns comprise the "soul" of the rock festival. As you can imagine, this has drawn the attention of Christians concerned about the spiritual effects of such "New Age" dabbling. While some have tried to engender a friendly co-existence with the festival, including "Celtic" eucharists and a Christian-themed "art group", other Christians aren't so sanguine about these "creative" outreach efforts.
"Celtic Spirituality is a cousin to the German Faith Movement ginned up by the Nazi "theorist" Alfred Rosenberg. The Deutsche Glaubensbewegung folks went in for horns and pelts instead of hazel-framed coracles and ivy in the hair, but whether it's neo-druidism or neo-goddess worship or the Revd Adrian Prior-Sankey waving a wet reed, the point is the same: the feel of the wind in your face is the true voice of god and Catholic moral doctrine ain't. All attempts to recover a pre-Christian mythology are based on resentments targeted at universal ecclesial authority, and all of them, without exception, promise emancipation from irksome moral strictures. Today's Gaelic beech-huggers may protest that they have nothing in common with the Nazi neo-Norsemen, but their differences are superficial and unimportant. At bottom, each "recovered religion" wants to throw off the yoke of universally binding norms in order to indulge sinful liberties. Ever known a wiccan or a four-winds cultist who gave it up because the ascetical demands were too stiff? Nope. Neo-pagans fast about as often as Elks."
The Catholic World News may have just set a new land-speed record for invoking Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies. So I guess if anyone thought the "Nazis are Pagans (not Christians)" meme wasn't going to spread to modern Pagans can stand corrected. This seems to denote a growing split among Christians on how to deal with Pagans and other new religious movements. One camp wants to understand and build trust in hope for better relations (and eventually conversions), the other seems to be taking an increasingly adversarial stance that can erupt into abuse, threats, and intimidation (and outright violence eventually, one might assume).
But Christians aren't the only ones with mixed emotions about the Glastonbury Festival. Some Pagans are growing ever-more alarmed at how the festival is ruining their sacred solstice rites at Stonehenge.
"I have written to the English Heritage for the second year running to complain about the disgraceful behavior of the open access for the celebration of Litha. It is a travesty that a sacred monument can be treated in this way ... Not only where people yet again standing on the stones and trying to take a little home with them...But the binge drinking of party goers and the foul language ruined it to a degree, people would not even go in the stone circle ... The stewards where trying their best to keep people from the stones, but there was not enough stewards around the stones to be able to protect them ... Even after speaking to many druids and Wiccan's there, many of them had been insulted and ask why they where there dressed in costume as its a party for glastonbury NOT what in fact the English heritage had allowed access for all those years ago."
This paints a very different picture from the mainstream news reports that claimed the solstice event (which took place the day before the Glastonbury Festival) was peaceful. Could a Pagan-led campaign to have more restrictive rules concerning Stonehenge (after years of campaigning for open access) come to be? It would certainly be interesting if modern Pagans develop the same sort of ambivalence towards this "Pagan-friendly" festival that Christian groups already harbor.
Labels: Christianity, Glastonbury, Paganism, Stonehenge, The Glastonbury Festival, UK
