2.27.2008
(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
As if sensing that the recent Pew Forum study of America's religious landscape would show that modern Paganism continues to grow, while Christianity's majority status is eroding, a growing number of anti-Pagan articles have appeared warning the faithful of our growth. One comes from Janice Crouse, a senior fellow with Concerned Women for America, who warns of the growth of Wicca and "Earth Worship" among the Christian youth.
"Janice Crouse, a senior fellow with Concerned Women for America, says it's disturbing that many young people in evangelical churches are experimenting with the Wiccan religion. Church leaders and Christian parents, she warns, must be ready to counter that growing interest among their youth. Crouse cites an article in Religion Journal which said youth pastors in the Southern Baptist Convention were worried about large numbers of evangelicals taking part in Wicca, a religion that involves nature worship, stresses moral autonomy, and includes remedies and spells ... [Crouse] says the interest in Wicca can be traced to recent books featuring witchcraft and similar topics."
Meanwhile, WorldNetDaily prints the cover story from their recent Whistleblower magazine issue dedicated to the growth of Witchcraft in America. Besides including a strange obsession with author Neale Donald Walsch, it is your typical anti-Wiccan piece, complete with the "feminism/lesbianism encourages Wicca" argument.
"In many ways, the interest in Wicca among women (at least two-thirds of Wiccans are female) parallels the growth in feminism and lesbianism – all fueled by disillusionment with and alienation from men. Indeed, sociologist Helen Berger, who spent 10 years researching and writing the authoritative book "A Community of Witches: Contemporary Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft in the United States," reports the astounding conclusion that at least 40 percent of Wiccans and neopagans are homosexual or bisexual. Clearly, Wicca has become the spiritual home for many feminists, including lesbians. It's also the most graphic, in-your-face example of a much more universal phenomenon - the increasing feminization of the Christian church and of Western culture."
Articles like these (and others) seem to point to an increasingly nervous conservative Christian population. A group of believers concerned with their looming irrelevance. A future where politicians no longer feel the need to pander to them, and where they are just another voice in diverse chorus of religious voices.
The blog Newspaper Rock links to an article put out by the United Methodist Church discussing their problems ministering to Native Americans, and the long history of (justified) distrust among Native peoples towards the Christian religion.
"No more than 6 percent of the 2.7 million Native Americans in the United States identify themselves as Christian--a statistic often blamed on mistrust of the church. Mission schools operated on Indian reservations from the late 1800s through the first half of the 20th century, many of them founded by Methodists. Children were forced to adopt Anglo-European culture, abandon their tribal languages and convert to Christianity. Today the Native American Church, an indigenous denomination that mixes elements of Christian faith with tribal sacraments, thrives in Native communities where mainline churches don't."
Newspaper Rock blogger Rob Schmidt says that there is another very good reason, aside from distrust, why Christianity has problems making inroads into Native Country.
"I suspect most Natives eschew Christianity not because they mistrust the church but because they already have perfectly good religions."
A point not often conceded by the missionary-minded.
In the wake of a woman being sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia for "witchcraft", the European Union is criticizing a draft penal code in Iran that would order death for anyone convicted of "witchcraft".
"The European Union has called on Iran to drop provisions in a draft penal code stipulating the death penalty for apostasy, heresy and witchcraft. "These articles clearly violate the Islamic Republic of Iran's commitments under the international human rights conventions," the Slovenian EU Presidency said in a statement."
Are Muslim nations ushering in a new era of witch hunts? How will the international community react once innocent women are being put to death for the "crime" of witchcraft?
Diane Slawych travels to Catemaco, Veracruz (in Mexico) and surrounding areas to witness the annual Congreso Internacional de Brujos, a convention of shamans, witches, Brujos, Santeros, and other traditional healers in the region.
"Another local tells me witches can be found in more than a dozen towns in the area and are often consulted by locals seeking a spiritual cleansing or help with various life problems. But why have all the witches congregated in the same region I wonder. One guidebook offers a possible explanation. Until the 1940s the area was dense jungle and so folk traditions survived longer here than elsewhere ... the witches festival isn't heavily promoted, though many Mexicans, who make up most of the visitors, seem to know about it. The weekend event begins this year on Friday, March 7. Ask for details of shows and other activities on arrival. And if you want to meet a practitioner of folk medicine, keep in mind you don't have to come during the festival. In the towns of Los Tuxtlas you can meet a witch at any time of year!"
Its too bad the article is written as a light piece of "spiritual tourism", instead of actually taking an interest in the indigenous and syncretic faith practices of the area.
The Interfaith Alliance has compiled a video outlining the "Top 10 Moments in the Race for Pastor-in-Chief and the unholy use of religion in the presidential campaigns."
Number one? Mike Huckabee tells a crowd: "What we need to do is to amend the Constitution so it's in God's standards rather than try to change God's standards". With all the Christian rhetoric flying this primary season, its hard to know which candidate will really hear the concerns of minority faiths in America.
In a final note, Slate.com reports on the growing popularity of mead, a drink made from fermented honey, popular throughout the ancient world.
"...the recent interest in fermented honey has morphed it from an esoteric item that only a few bearded Dungeons & Dragons players indulged in to a small yet legitimate commercial enterprise ... Is mead, last popular around King Arthur's table, poised for a comeback?"
Sadly this interesting article is marred by the harping on the drinks "image problem" due to its popularity with SCA members and Renaissance fairs (as if this were some insurmountable obstacle). In the end, the author admits that he just doesn't like mead all that much, claiming mead is the perfect beverage for Winnie-the-Pooh should he ever take to the bottle. Perhaps next time an article of this nature could be written by someone who actually enjoys mead.
Labels: American Indian, Brujeria, Christianity, Islam, mead, Mexico, Native American, Pagan News of Note, Paganism, Presidential election, Witch Killings, Witchcraft, WorldNetDaily
10.30.2007
(Pre-Samhain) News of Note
Some last minute essays, opinions, and stories (some of it dealing with the upcoming holiday), for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
The Times reviews Emily Wilson's new book about the death of Socrates. Entitled, appropriately enough, "The Death of Socrates: Hero, villain, chatterbox, saint", the book looks at the different perspectives through history of this famous free-thought martyr.
"For some Romans, Socrates talked too much while dying a rather comfortable death. According to Plutarch, Cato the Elder called him "a big chatterbox"; the painless demise was contrasted with the hideous suicide of Cato the Younger. As an explicit act of political protest, inspired by Socrates, Cato stabbed himself till his innards extruded; after his wound had been sewn up, he tore it open again and ripped out his bowels. This scene is illustrated, along with numerous versions of Socrates' end."
The book goes on to illustrate how Socrates ended up a hero to Christians (thinking that Christ was the culmination of the philosopher's teachings), and being used as a popular character in a string of recent novels.
New DNA evidence was filed Monday in hopes of overturning the convictions of the West Memphis 3. The three teens were convicted for the murders of three children back in 1993, the case has long been criticized for using "Satanic Panic" to frame the teens, bringing up Damien Echols' interest in Wicca and Heavy Metal music, and using an "occult expert" to gain a conviction.
"Defense lawyers say two hairs -- evidence that looms large in a case long devoid of physical evidence -- link the stepfather to the crime scene where the bodies of three 8-year-old boys were found nude and hogtied in a watery ditch ... The prosecution's theory of a satanic motive was key to the convictions ... However, forensic reports offered by the defense attribute nearly all those injuries to predators -- possibly dogs or raccoons -- that fed on the bodies in the hours after the murders."
In fact, according to a report filed in July, none of the genetic material found at the scene could be trace back to the three teens. It remains to be seen if this new evidence will in fact clear the teens (now in their 30s) or save Echols from execution.
The Idaho Statesman explores the famous witch-trials in Salem through three women descended from victims and accusers at that time.
"'I lived this for about two weeks - what would he have said, what would she have done - and I literally entered her skin,' Judith Alexander said. Judith Alexander, Rebecca Bowen-Odom and Lila Hill. The three women recently portrayed their ancestors in a dramatization of the Salem witch-hunt era for Pioneer, the local chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution."
The article thinks ergot poisoning was the most likely culprit for the witch hysteria, though there are several theories out there.
Mexico's Roman Catholic Church has gone on record as saying it doesn't like Halloween.
"Those who celebrate Halloween are worshipping a culture of death that is the product of a mix of pagan customs," the Archdiocese of Mexico said in an article on its Web site yesterday. "The worst thing is that this celebration has been identified with neo-pagans, Satanism and occult worship."
No word on if this includes Dia de los Muertos celebrations as well, or if the death-haunted holiday is significantly free of "occult" influence to remain safe.
Finally, a somewhat strange attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records was attempted by a group in Somerville, MA.
"The witches were urged on by Lesley Pratt Bannatyne, the Somerville author of the new children's book Witches' Night Before Halloween and an authority on the holiday. Witches' Night (Pelican Publishing) is her fourth Halloween book, but her first for kids. Pratt Bannatyne wanted to celebrate Halloween in a new way, and Somerville -- with its eclectic festivals and "the willingness of people to come out and do something different" -- seemed like the place for the first known Guinness attempt for the 'Largest Gathering of Halloween Witches (Reciting Poetry).'"
No word on how many of the "witches" were also Witches (of the religious sort), but they did succeed in winning the record. Maybe a Pagan group can work towards 'Largest Gathering of Pagan Witches (Reciting Poetry)' sometime in the near future.
That is all I have for now, have a good holiday in the coming days!
Labels: Christianity, Halloween, I drank what?, Mexico, Pagan News of Note, poetry, Salem, Socrates, West Memphis 3, Wicca, Witch
10.18.2007
Investigating the Saint of Death
Time Magazine has a profile feature on the cult of Santa Muerte, which looks at how the controversial syncretic religion has spread from Mexico and into the United States.
"Santa Muerte began appearing in U.S. neighborhoods with large Mexican populations only in the last decade. Walk down 26th street here in Little Village, one of Chicago's largest Mexican neighborhoods, and notice the tiny shops, or botanicas, selling statues, candles and palm-sized prayer cards bearing Santa Muerte's image. Notice references to Santa Muerte in Spanish-language newspapers. Young Mexican-American men are marking their bodies with Santa Muerte tattoos to prove their devotion. Middle-class, suburban-bred Mexican-Americans are snapping up black tee-shirts bearing Santa Muerte's image to reconnect with what they perceive to be part of their heritage. Last weekend, a Chicago art gallery opened an exhibit showcasing images from Tepito - with Santa Muerte figuring prominently. And Santa Muerte may gain even more credibility: the famed Mexican actor Gael Garcia Bernal narrates Saint Death, a new documentary about the phenomenon."
Time hints that part of the popularity of Saint Death is a Catholic Church riddled with scandal and hypocrisy. One devotee in the article says outright that she worships Santa Muerte "because of everything you hear with priests". What started out as a small splinter cult mixing attributes of indigenous religion, Santeria, and Catholicism is evolving into a far more mainstream concern that is advocating for legal rights and adopting friendlier imagery for its ever-growing body of followers.
"A small religious group that worships the grim reaper and is fighting for government recognition unveiled a softer image of their so-called Death Saint on Sunday: a woman with a porcelain face, brown, shoulder-length hair and long thin fingers ... "This image is one of justice, of freedom, but above all one that reveals the face of God," Romo said. Believers say the Death Saint kills only on God's orders."
The growth of Santa Muerte shows that there are religious needs that the dominant monotheisms are no longer meeting, and that Paganism and other new religious movements aren't isolated to Europe and the "first world". Religious diversity is basic human impulse, and attempts to get everyone worshiping the same God (in the same manner) are ultimately doomed to failure as the needs and wants of individuals, groups, and societies stray from entrenched dogma and doctrine.
Labels: America, Catholicism, indigenous, Mexico, Saint Death, Santa Muerte, Santeria, Time Magazine
8.08.2007
The Spread of Witchcraft
The resurgence of European-based religious Witchcraft (or Wicca) isn't the only form of modernized folk religion to spread around the world and grow in popularity. Magical traditions and witchcraft(s) have also come to America from Mexico and the Caribbean. Two recent stories have emerged that remind us that Witchcraft is global and creating tensions within both Christian and secular society as it grows. This first concerns the town of Catemaco in southern Mexico (the Mexican equivalent to Salem) where the booming tourist trade of Brujos and shamans are spurring the Catholic Church into waging a spiritual campaign against the practitioners.
"Thanks to this bustling trade in mysticism, Catemaco is Mexico's unofficial capital of all things occult. It also presents a unique challenge for and competition to the Catholic Church. For decades, the church has waged a campaign against "brujeria," or witchcraft, in Veracruz, a state along the Gulf of Mexico. In recent years the church has issued declarations and even put a cross on the top of White Monkey Peak, a nearby hilltop used by shamans as a ceremonial center."
But despite the Church's claims of rampant fraud and extortion, the occult is becoming ever-more mainstream in the Catemaco due in part to the city's reliance on the tourist trade it brings.
"Despite these scams, the tradition of witchcraft, which predates Catholicism in Mexico, persists ... Today, while tourists are the main customers, many residents still go to shamans for routine cleansings and good-luck amulets. An even greater challenge is economics: Brujeria means big bucks. The Veracruz government dubbed the region "the Land of Witches" in a recent tourism campaign, and a massive, festive "black mass" is held each first Friday of March. The state governor often attends. "It's our way of life; there are no companies here," said Norberto Baxin Mantilla, known to customers as "the Black Unicorn." "There are hundreds of witches and shamans. It's a source of income." Baxin's work space, located in his house, is adorned with posters of skeletons and statues of "La Santa Muerte," the incarnation of death, a skeletal figure that has spawned a growing cult in Mexico in recent years. The hood of his silver Camaro also bears the grim-reaperlike image of Santa Muerte."
In the end it seems that (spiritually speaking) money talks, and since the Catholic Church can't spur tourist income for this region, the Witches, shamans, and other magical practitioners are finding mainstream acceptance (and government approval) by filling that gap. But the (sometimes shady) monetary ethics of Witchcraft in the global south don't always play well in America, as seen in a recent case of a school Principal in New York who is catching heat for hiring a Santera to "cleanse" her school.
"A principal at a high school in Lower Manhattan had heard the jokes about using a "sage," or spiritual guru, to perform a "cleansing" of the building to counteract misbehaving students. The principal took the jokes seriously - performing a Santeria ceremony during the school's midwinter break in 2006, according to a report released today by the special commissioner of investigation for the New York City public schools. One day last winter, the principal, Martiza Tamayo, told an assistant principal, Melody Crooks-Simpson, that she had a friend who could do just that. Ms. Tamayo promised that the friend "could burn sage and incense in the school and it would calm the students down," according to the report."
The ritual (which included the sprinkling of chicken blood on the building) apparently went fine until the principal convinced the reluctant assistant principal that she must come to a follow-up ritual and then demanded $900 for "her share" of the fees. That and a general misappropriation of funds involving the Santera (which included paying her as a private driver for some students) has caused the local Department of Education to remove Martiza Tamayo from her position. There is no word on if the fiscal misdealing was all Tamayo's doing, or if the Santera was directly involved as well.
While neither of these stories are going to be heralded as PR coups for Santeria or Brujeria, both stories illustrate the slow mainstreaming of these traditions and practices. One wonders how this will affect Wicca and other European-based forms of Witchcraft as they start to interact and co-exist in greater numbers. Eventually the maxim that "not all Witches are Wiccans" will be all but unavoidable.
Labels: Brujeria, Catemaco, Catholicism, Magic, Mexico, Santeria, Wicca, Witchcraft
12.12.2006
The Goddess of Mexico
"...the Virgin of Guadalupe is the rubber band that binds this disparate nation into a whole. She is the common denominator of this land, it is she giving Mexicans a sense of Nationalism, and Patriotism. Their brotherhood comes from the strength of intense faith rooted in indigenous attributes, images, symbols, magic and myth. The focus of this intense faith revolves around Our Lady, La Virgen Maria de Guadalupe, the mother of God who appeared in Mexico in 1531." - Judy King
Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is said that on this day the Mother of God appeared to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (the first indigenous American saint in the Catholic Church) at the Hill of Tepeyac and told him to build an abbey. Since then, Our Lady of Guadalupe has become the "Empress of the Americas" and her feast day is one of the largest religious celebrations in the world, millions gather at the place of her appearance do devotions, pray, and celebrate their goddess.
Etching of St. Juan Diego by Jose Guadalupe Posada.
No doubt some devout Catholics may object to my use of the term "goddess", but many believe that Our Lady of Guadalupe is merely a Christianized version of the Aztec moon goddess Tonantzin. This view is shared by scholars, curanderos/eras, and even Franciscan missionary to the Aztecs Bernardino de Sahagun who was concerned over how the natives called the virgin the by the goddess's name. The abbey that was built for Our Lady of Guadalupe (now the Basilica of Guadalupe) sits on the former site of Tonantzin's pyramid.
"Her appearance was seen as a sign of acceptance, telling the newly-converted Christians how to worship her in her own way; a fusion of the two cultures." - Andy Anderson
"[I]t is important to remember the semiotic richness of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexican/Catholic culture, productive of both religious and nationalist meanings. In her syncretic fusion of the Catholic Virgin Mother and the preconquest fertility deity Tonantzin, Guadalupe signifies the racial construction of Mexican national identity as the mestizo or hybrid product of the sexual union of Indian woman and male Spaniard." - Yvonne Yarbro-Bejarano
But perhaps the most telling evidence is how Our Lady of Guadalupe dominates the religious psyche of Mexico and its many peoples. A vision and figure more stirring than the male redeemer of Christianity or his faceless father.
"A nation hit by historic catastrophes, such as the one occurred to the indigenous in the 16th Century - the weapons, the persecution of their culture as a Diabolic thing, the slavery, the hard labor and epidemics -, begins the great heroic feat of survival. It invents, with a prodigious recover of its collective culture, a way of saving the past, the millenary, the persecuted, the forbidden, through a new form, accepted by the new religion. It invents a mother, a goddess, a place in the Universe, a promise of redemption, a hopes and love system: behind the saint, the idol; under the Christian temple, the pyramid; behind the gentleness of the Child Virgin, the radical strength of the antique millenary mothers. Not in vain, during the indigenous oppression centuries, and precisely in the places where people suffer the most, several helping Virgins and Christs began to appear, in Chiapas or in Tlaxcala, in what today we know the State of Hidalgo or Mexico." - Jose Joaquin Blanco
"The Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery" - Octavio Paz
So today I give all honor to the patron goddess of Mexico, the moon goddess who survived to help her people and bind a nation together. Certainly she is the goddess who receives the most praise and devotion in the Americas.
Labels: Christianity, goddess, Mexico, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Paganism
