7.18.2008
(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
The Pagan-friendly Gaea Retreat Center in Kansas, host of the annual Heartland Pagan Festival, is branching out and allowing a music festival to take place on its grounds for the first time.
"...after enduring several board meetings, Yager and his staff finally convinced the proprietors to embrace the Gaea Retreat and Music Festival, which begins at noon today. “We’ve spawned into this weird festival where it’s a mesh of cultures. We have introduced education through imagery by focusing on things like the environment, free energy, energy conservation alternatives, performing arts,” he says."
Earth Rising, Inc., the legal entity that runs Camp Gaea, is trying to move past its infamous local past (which involved a legal battle over its permit), and reputation as a haven for Pagans and nudists. Though it remains to be seen if Camp Gaea can transform a music festival into a place to "find that realm of evenness and spiritual soundness." While I fully attest to the spiritual power of live music, I'm not sure "evenness" and "spiritual soundness" is what you aim for.
The Claremont Institute reviews "Homer’s The Iliad and The Odyssey: A Biography", by Alberto Manguel, and praises it as a book written with "intelligence and curiosity".
"Manguel's intent is to show that, for over 2,500 years, countless members of the species have found "in these stories of war in time and travel in space...the experience of every human struggle and every human displacement." The Iliad and Odyssey, which can be thought to represent the two great metaphors of life, a battle and a journey, are the "books which, more than any others, have fed the imagination of the Western world." In the 8th century A.D., Byzantine schoolchildren were still expected to have much of the Iliad by heart. Six hundred years later, during the Renaissance, Homer remained the cornerstone of every ambitious library."
According to the review, Manguel does a good job of making the argument that Homer is just as relevant today as he was in antiquity, a poet who described "every secret happiness and every hidden sin." A paperback edition of the book is due out in March of 2009.
A quick update on the "Satanic Panic Alive and Well in North Carolina" story, a judge has lowered the bail amount for Joy Suzanne Johnson, after her public defender argued that the charges against her made "no sense" and that there is a complete lack of "corroborating evidence".
"The woman who is accused of aiding and abetting her husband in a sexual assault case and an alleged kidnapping and cane beating persuaded a Superior Court judge Thursday to reduce bail."
Meanwhile, things aren't looking too good for the prosecution as more and more details about the case emerge. A state assistant distract attorney said that "some if not all of the charges may need to be modified". To catch up on this story, here is part one, and part two of my ongoing coverage.
Expect your local spiritual supply store to have a run on frankincense, Israeli scientists are claiming that the resin can ease depression and anxiety (at least in mice).
"Pharmacologists in Israel have found that frankincense, a whitish resin tapped from the veins of a shrubby tree, relieves anxiety and depression, at least in mice. In an article to be published next month in the Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and elsewhere report that the active ingredient in frankincense lights up brain receptors that play a role in the perception of warmth on the skin and might help regulate emotion."
While covering this story, the New York Times visits a local occult shop, and finds that the employees aren't surprised in the least by this news.
“Any kind of magic you’re doing,” Ms. Cabral said, “frankincense would be great for any kind of happiness, or success, or attention, even.”
So if things are getting a little stressed at your circle, coven, or grove, be sure to light up (some frankincense)!
This weekend will see a dance festival in Miami to celebrate the survival of West African Yoruban culture and religion.
"This weekend, Coconut Grove will celebrate a culture created in Cuba during the slave trade. The Yoruban culture and the religion Santería, or Regla de Ocha, which was brought to Cuba by the Yorubans of West Africa, are the by-products of slavery, according to Ifé-Ilé's Artistic and Executive Director Neri Torres. With dance workshops and seminars, the Ifé-Ilé Afro-Cuban Dance & Music Festival will bring context to Miami residents. "Today, [the Yoruban culture] is still the root of Cuban culture in terms of art, music and the way we talk and gesture," said Torres, who founded Ifé-Ilé in 1996."
For more information about this event, head over to the Ifé-Ilé web site.
In a final note, The Esoteric Book Review takes a look at the recently released "Witch School 3rd Degree" by Rev. Donald Lewis-Highcorrell, and is disturbed by some of what he finds there.
"I was disappointed to note subtle distinctions being made which imply Correllians are better than other Wiccans and should not be surprised by the bad behaviour of non-Correllians. This smacks a bit of cultish behaviour ... the return to sniping at Wicca was a little tedious and unnecessary ... the last part of the book becomes a bit cultish and for me loses the plot..."
Sniping at other traditions of Wicca? Superior attitudes? Cultish behavior? Doesn't sound like a very positive or affirming way of running a religious tradition. Nor is this the first time such accusations have been made. It should be interesting to see if Witch School responds to the claims made in the review.
That is all I have for now, have a great day!
Labels: books, Camp Gaea, Festival, Florida, Frankincense, Homer, Kansas, North Carolina, Pagan News of Note, Paganism, Santeria, Satanic Panic, Witch School, Yoruba
6.24.2008
(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
The California Literary Review has published an excerpt from “The Last Pagan: Julian the Apostate and the Death of the Ancient World” by Adrian Murdoch. A sensitive and nuanced portrayal of the man who almost stemmed the tide of Christianity.
"It is unfair that Julian is still known to us primarily for attributed and spurious dying words. That tradition has the wounded and dying emperor filling his hand with blood, flinging it into the air and crying: “Thou hast conquered, O Galilean!” But then the history, as ever, was written by the winning side. Whether the Galilean actually won or not, it is perfectly possible to go beyond an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations and look not just at Julian’s death but, beyond that, to his life, to see how he was a product of his time. It was a narrow—one might even say lucky—victory for the Galilean, and Julian might just as easily have entered the history books as Julian the Philosopher rather than as Julian the Apostate."
I can only imagine that Julian would take great pleasure in the modern resurgence of Pagan/polytheistic religions (you could argue that he prefigured the modern Pagan faiths by generations), and would no doubt keep a blog in which to publish his criticisms of "the Galileans".
Stefani "Spiral" Barner examines the high-choice ethic of modern Paganism that allows both for a pro-military warrior culture, and pacifistic conscientious objectors.
"...the Pagan community is in a unique position. It is possible to support both the service person and the CO—to honor the sacrifices that either choice demands and to embrace the paradox that comes with loving both. Let us demonstrate to the world that it is possible to be both anti-war and pro-soldier. Let us struggle together for peace, even as we recognize and support those who are sent to war. Let us cherish the wisdom that comes from speaking truth to power, as well as the insight that is gained through willingly enduring fear and pain, sacrifice and strife. Let us hear and share the truths of both soldier and CO."
Barner also references recent court decisions that seem to support granting conscientious objector status within philosophically diverse religious communities. Allowing for CO status in religions that aren't explicitly pacifist. A situation that seems confusing for top-down organizations like the military or some Christian denominations, but one that is completely normal for the average Pagan used to dozens (if not hundreds) of unique (and valid) relationships with the divine.
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has released lots of new data in its groundbreaking U.S. Religious Landscape Survey. Including the political inclinations of Pagans (and the other "others").
You can read my previous examination of the Pew survey data, and what it means to modern Pagans, here. Also of interest might be my examination of the recently released Henry Institute survey.
ReligiousLiberty.TV points to two YouTube videos that examines Christian proselytism in India from the Hindu perspective.
"The video also proposed a “Code of Ethics” for religious conversion which includes language that it should be the result of true spiritual change, not manipulation or coercion. This is likely to increasingly become a larger issue in a global economy and information society. As this issue grows, churches will need re-evaluate their methods of spreading the gospel and seriously consider how they are being perceived in order to avoid sweeping attempts to ban all forms of proselytism."
A idea of a mutually-agreed upon code of conduct for religious conversions has been floating around for years now, and is supposed to come to fruition soon. It remains to be seen if such a document would be "toothless", as many groups see conversion as their highest priority, and have no qualms of moving in ethically questionable directions.
In a final note, scientists may have discovered when legendary king and hero Odysseus returned to Ithaca after the Trojan War.
"They say the epic poem appears to confirm that the return of Odysseus to the island of Ithaca coincided with a solar eclipse on April 16, 1178BC. In the Odyssey, the moment when Odysseus kills the suitors who have been courting Penelope, his wife, during his absence after the Trojan War, is marked by the Sun being “blotted from the sky”. "
Of course this calculation rests on Homer being accurate centuries after the fact, and not taking too much poetic license. So take this date with a grain of salt.
That is all I have for now, have a great day!
Labels: conversions, Homer, Julian, Military, Pagan News of Note, Paganism, Pew Forum, U.S. Religious Landscape Survey
3.29.2008
Robert Fagles 1933 - 2008
Professor, poet, and academic Robert Fagles passed on Wednesday, March 29th, from prostate cancer. Fagles is best known for his masterful translations of Homer's epics the Iliad and the Odyssey.
Robert Fagles
"He was a quiet man, diligent and decorous, yet one who was unexpectedly equal to the swagger and savagery of Homer's 'Iliad' and 'Odyssey' in a way no one had managed before him," - Princeton humanities professor and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Paul Muldoon
Robert Fagles' contribution to translations of Greek and Roman classic literature and poetry can't be understated. His translations of Homer sold over 4 million copies worldwide, and helped re-introduce the greatness of pre-Christian epic poetry to a new generation.
"Homer gave me new modes of expression, but I wanted to capture as much of him as I could, making him available and, with luck, compelling to a modern audience. I set the same task for myself when I translated Aeschylus and Sophocles."
His most recent translation was Virgil's Aeneid, released in 2006, a project he wasn't sure he would be able to finish due to his cancer. When released, Fagles called it "unexpectedly timely and relevant".
"It says that if you depart from the civilized, then you become a murderer ... The price of empire is very steep, but Virgil shows how it is to be earned, if it's to be earned at all. The poem can be read as an exhortation for us to behave ourselves, which is a horse of relevance that ought to be ridden."
For any Pagan who has taken inspiration from the classics, Fagles performed a great service. May his virtuous soul find rest and joy on the Elysian fields.
Labels: classics, Greece, Homer, Passings, Robert Fagles, Rome
12.13.2006
Was Homer a Woman?
Slate reviews a new book by Andrew Dalby that reexamines the origins of the great epics the Iliad and the Odyssey by Homer. The book, entitled "Rediscovering Homer: Inside the Origins of the Epic", makes the "bold" hypothesis that "Homer" may have been a woman.
"But Dalby deploys a much stronger set of arguments for female authorship, based on comparative anthropological analysis of how women preserve songs, stories, and folk tales. Women are often the ones who retain linguistic and literary traditions for the longest time. Certainly, there is no evidence whatsoever of female epic poets in archaic Greece. When poets are described or alluded to in the Homeric poems themselves, they are always men. This fact alone makes Dalby's hypothesis implausible. On the other hand, there certainly were female lyric poets—Sappho, for example. We cannot know for sure how distinct the genres of lyric and heroic poetry would have been. Dalby acknowledges that there is no way to prove his hypothesis. It is only a theory, and I don't really buy it, though I'd like to. But the notion is not necessarily a silly one, if it can act as a reminder of how little we really know about the person or people who made these poems."
How much would our conceptions of the Iliad and the Odyssey change if we knew for sure that the author was a woman? Would we interpret the text differently? Would we reexamine the place of women in the society that produced these epics? I could certainly see a female epic poet relishing the triumph of Athena over Ares in the Iliad.
"You fool, still so ignorant of how much stronger I can claim to be than you, when you seek to match my power."
One a related note, while we may never know the gender of "Homer", there are some women writers doing some wonderful things with the old myths. Specifically, "The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus" by Margaret Atwood (now out in paperback) and "Weight: The Myth of Atlas and Heracles" by Jeanette Winterson (also out in paperback) are both amazing reimaginings of the old stories. They could make a good Yule gift for the myth and story lover in your family.
Labels: Andrew Dalby, Homer, Jeanette Winterson, Margaret Atwood, Myth, Paganism, The Iliad, The Odyssey
