What I Did On My Summer Vacation and Why This Is Important
Here I am, last but not least, in the "amazing guest star vacation week" of The Wild Hunt. Jason will return tomorrow, hopefully rested, revitalized, and ready to once again provide us with breaking news of Pagan interest.
Vacations change our consciousness by shaking up the mundane rhythm of our lives. They are, in and of themselves, magic. I am glad Jason took one, and I'm honored to be part of the shape-shifting roller coaster of this guest star week.
Jason included in my bio that I teach at Reclaiming Witchcamps. Witchcamp, vacations, and the value of taking time out, even from our own communities, is the focus of this post. Wrestling each year with whether I want to spend my vacation at a witchcamp, I've become acutely aware of the spiritual balancing act of intensity and repose. This balancing act is a challenge for many of us as individuals, but it also a challenge to the Pagan and activist communities I've been a part of. This year, I'm jumping out of the box of my past experience and doing something new. I'm not going to teach at an intensive but instead, at a restorative.
In 1986 I attended the first Reclaiming Witchcamp Intensive for my summer vacation. This week long getaway was held at Jug Handle Creek Farm on Northern California's Mendocino Coast. It was the beginning of the culture shift of the fledgling
At the time, I was in coven with Starhawk and Rose May Dance, among others; both a women's coven and one that was focused on mixing magic with activism. Due to the popularity of Starhawk’s books, there was a growing demand that we teach our particular kind of magic outside of
We've forged ahead, creating new witchcamps hither and yon, with little looking back. Reflection is not the strong suit of the Reclaiming tradition. Reclaiming is high on intensity and low on contemplation. There are a growing number of communities that have been built around witchcamps, like Spiralheart, and the one in British Columbia, that have come to value examining the “why” of what they are doing. But, getting to this has meant breaking away from some of the bad habits and community patterns inherited from the Bay Area. Here, due to the crisis based paradigm of the early days of the tradition - the world is about to end and can only be saved by our magic - there is little time for self-reflection or questioning community dynamics. Recruitment is in service of this magic, and in order to bring in people we can’t appear to be flawed. Hence, acknowledging community shadows is potently resisted, as is taking any break from action.
I've learned from my years teaching witchcamps and my many years in Reclaiming and activist circles just how important breaks from intensity are and just how important it is to slow down and take the time to envision there is time. Sometimes, pulling back from the fray of Pagan and/or activist community is the only way to stay in it.
Here in the Bay Area, some of us laughingly call ourselves more "Remaining" than "Reclaiming"; we've become a strange Greek chorus ambling in and out of local community. We utter our reflections and advice from the blogosphere, occasionally attending meetings and events. From our seasoned teaching guild we send out proposals to the wider community for things we hope will help the tradition, like policies of transparency and accountability. And then, we let go and go off and tend to other areas of our lives. We step outside the insular confines of tradition and join the greater Pagan world. When we step back in, we come back with a wider perspective that signals a vacation well spent.
This summer I will be taking a vacation from a teaching a witchcamp intensive. Instead, along with others, I'm creating an equinox restorative. It's aimed at those who feel called to a retreat that is deep, restful, and reflective. With three nights away instead of a full week, we also leave free more vacation days for other pursuits. Among us are those who are Feri and Gardnerian as well as Reclaiming. We welcome working and playing with those outside of our respective traditions.
Planning the restorative has been transformative, as it's called for us to do the very process we hope will occur at the event – reflection and review. When we first started out, we named it aptly "A Fool's Journey", as we knew we were stepping into new territory. We are sorting through our past experiences, witchcamp among them, sorting through what we want to leave behind and what we find valuable enough to gather in the Fool's sack. We've noticed that the Fool's posture is not one of rushing ahead. It's the posture of taking time to smell the roses. What’s the point in rushing to save the world and all its roses if you never take time to smell them?
We've found a retreat center in
With the spirit of the Fool as my guide, I am open to anything. The Fool's Journey could become an annual event, part of the community of witchcamps, or purely a one time thing. For all I know, next year I might search for the spirit of Elvis and end up vacationing in
guest posted by Deborah Oak of the roots down, branches up blog
Labels: A Fool's Journey, Deborah Oak, Reclaiming, witchcamp
(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
To start off, happy birthday to Rome, which was founded by the mythical twins Romulus and Remus on April 21, 753 BC. On that day a pagan festival ensues that some call the "Christmas of Rome", and hundreds dress in traditional Roman military garb.
The 'Natale di Roma' includes parades, fireworks, banquets, and gladiator shows. For more information check out this Italian web site devoted to the holiday.
The Wall Street Journal shows that gods and goddesses can indeed change over time. Representatives and mediums of anticommunist ancestor deities residing in Taiwan are softening their stance towards China as political relations thaw between the two nations.
"...after being anti-China for decades, some of the gods around here are having a change of heart. At least that's what their representatives say. The keeper of the temple of Lee Kuang-chi'en, a colonel in the Nationalist army who died fighting the Chinese in the 1940s, says Mr. Lee now wants to return to his homeland in peace. Su Ai-chih, a 67-year-old retiree and spiritual medium, says a woman who was drowned by Chinese soldiers and turned into a goddess has even asked believers for help in reconnecting with her family on the mainland. 'The goddess possessed me and told me that she wanted to go home,' she adds."
This is a perfect illustration of polytheistic theology in action. Gods can change, practice can change, and those who do not change risk losing worship. There is no singular text or law holding these faiths in a static position.
"Fortunately, Chinese folk religion -- a widely practiced mix of indigenous beliefs and elements of other religions -- is remarkably forgiving. Not only does it often co-exist alongside other beliefs, its worshippers can create, discard or modify gods. That's particularly true of gods who aren't considered to be ling -- effective or powerful. As ties between China and Taiwan improved, Kinmen's anticommunist gods started to lose their ling. 'Chinese folk religion doesn't have a scripture, so everyone has his way of interpreting a god,' says Chi Chang-hui, an anthropologist on Kinmen who has studied anticommunist cults. 'And nowadays, that is less hostile to the mainland.'"
The gods and worshipers remain, but to survive in different eras, they adapt and adjust (or they fade away). A common event throughout the history of polytheism, one that can seem alien to those growing up in a culture dominated by a "religion of the book".
If you think the myth of "The Burning Times" is overblown and harmful, wait till you start to explore the Christian persecution complex. A "discursive entity", according to Professor Elizabeth A. Castelli, "impervious to critique, self-generating and self-sustaining."
"This trend mobilizes the language of religious persecution to shut down political debate and critique by characterizing any position not in alignment with this politicized version of Christianity as an example of antireligious bigotry and persecution. Moreover, it routinely deploys the archetypal figure of the martyr as a source of unquestioned religious and political authority."
The article is wide-ranging and covers a growing spiritual militarism within Christianity that is fueled by a deep-seated (though often illusory) sense of persecution. The Reveler web site offers only an excerpt, for the entire article head over to the Differences journal page, where you can download the entire piece, along with several related works.
Speaking of "The Burning Times", Christian blogger John Morehead interviews Christopher S. Mackay about his brand new translation of the infamous "Malleus Maleficarum" ("The Hammer of Witches"). A tome that is blamed for enabling the execution of thousands of innocent men and women for the crime of "witchcraft".
"I'd say that the Malleus was responsible for the acceptance of a new "paradigm" (in the sense advocated by Thomas Kuhn) about witchcraft. That is, the dissemination and widespread acceptance of the point of view (or world view) that underlay and instigated the so-called "craze" of witch hunting in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries can be attributed (ultimately) to the Malleus."
The new version, which is apparently far more coherent and readable than previous translations, gives us a means of understanding how this establishment of "diabolism" (Satanic witchcraft) still lingers in our world today, and helped inform such tragedies as the "Satanic panics" of the 80s and early 90s. An important text to have, though I think I'll wait for the soft-cover edition, since the two-volume hardcover runs for several hundred dollars.
Over at "Blog o' Gnosis", Anne Hill criticizes efforts by Reclaiming to reach out to racial minorities in order to make the group more "diverse". Hill questions why the organization should be on a diversity recruitment drive when they don't even have their own "house" in order.
"...the obsession with proselytizing, I mean bringing in new blood - no, I mean reaching out to others who could be helped by people like us. As several people at my table mentioned, other religions are not diverse, and they seem to have no problem with it. Wasn't the point of a spiritual community to give aid to its members? Why were we even discussing strategies for bringing different kinds of people in, when we were gathered for a rare opportunity to meet each other face to face? It was at this point that I had to point out the essential backwardness of our discussion topic. Reclaiming is insular. Painfully so, embarrassingly so. We really needed to be asking the opposite question: why don't we get out more? Why aren't more of us involved in interfaith activities? There's plenty of diversity there, but that would involve going to meet others rather than reeling them in to us. Why don't more folks even make the trek to San Jose for Pantheacon each year? Isn't there anything we can learn from other Pagans?"
The issue of expanding racial diversity (and similar issues) is, according to Hill, a "red herring" that prevents Reclaiming from working through deep divisions that already exist within the community. A state of affairs that has distanced several Reclaiming veterans from the tradition they helped create.
In a quick final note, a Llewellyn Journal article tells you what you really need to do.
"The only thing that we as new magickians really need to do is rely on a made-by-reputation company like Llewellyn Publications, because nothing is as easy as it seems."
Indeed, nothing is as easy as it seems.
That is all I have for now, have a great day!
Labels: China, Christianity, John Morehead, Llewellyn, Pagan News of Note, Paganism, Polytheism, Reclaiming, Rome, Satanic Panic, Taiwan, The Burning Times, Witch
Passages
Alan Miller (aka Dr Christopher Hyatt) 1943 - 2008
Author, occultist, and founder of the The Extreme Individual Institute. Alan Miller was well-known in metaphysical circles as a former student of famed occultist Israel Regardie, and a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis, and the Thelemic Order of the Golden Dawn. In addition to his occult pursuits, Miller was a practicing psychotherapist for many years. Miller passed away on February 9th, after a long struggle with cancer. You can read full obituaries at Lashatal, and at Dr. Hyatt's web site..Susan Grace Falkenrath (aka Susan Wolf) 1954 - 2008
A longtime member and teacher within the Reclaiming community, Susan Falkenrath is perhaps best known as a writer and singer of songs. Her best known work within the Pagan community is the haunting lament entitled "Spirits", about a woman being consigned to the stake, which appeared on the "Best of Pagan Song" compilation from Serpentine Music. Falkenrath passed on January 12th from breast cancer. You can read moving tributes to Susan Falkenrath from Anne Hill, and M. Macha NightMare.
Brenda Henson (pictured on the right) 2008
Longtime feminist and GLBT-rights activist, Brenda Henson was a champion of equality and human rights. She, along with her partner of 24 years Wanda Henson, founded Camp Sister Spirit in 1991. Their subsequent battle against harassment and discrimination made national news, and prompted the direct involvement of the Clinton administration into the matter. In addition to hosting gatherings and classes aimed at women and lesbians, Camp Sister Spirit has also hosted numerous Pagan gatherings, and has become a pillar of support for the Pagan community in Mississippi. Henson passed away on February 8th due to complications from liver cancer. You can read a short obituary, here.
May they all rest in the arms of the Goddess.
Labels: Brenda Henson, Dr Christopher Hyatt, occult, Paganism, Passings, Reclaiming, Susan Grace Falkenrath, The Goddess, Thelema
Two Coasts, Two Conceptions, One Samhain
Two recent stories discuss upcoming Pagan-run events for the Samhain season. The first comes from Starhawk's most recent entry on The Washington Post's "On Faith" blog. In the essay Starhawk discusses her views on death and dying, and mentions Reclaiming's annual Spiral Dance held around Samhain in San Francisco.
"At this time of year, as we move toward Samhain or Halloween, the ancient festival of the ancestors, we say 'the veil is thin' that divides the world of the living from the realm of the dead. The ancestors return to visit us - and that is the origin of our Halloween customs of setting candles out in jack-o-lanterns to light their way to our doors, of giving offerings (once harvest offerings, now candy) to children, who are the ancestors returning. In our Samhain rituals, like the large, public Spiral Dance ritual that Reclaiming creates every year right before Halloween, we often take an imaginative journey to the Isle, to meet and talk with our beloved dead, to receive help and guidance, to finish what is unfinished, to offer our love. I have many times had visions and a deep sense of connection with my loved ones who have passed on. The meaning is often very personal, a message of hope or approval or advice."
Meanwhile The Salem News gives us a "dummies guide" to the variety of Witch-related Halloween happenings in the "Witch City" of Salem. Of particular interest is the competing "official" Salem Witches Balls from two different generations of Witches.
"...two witches balls, both advertised as the "official" Salem witches ball and both at the historic Hawthorne Hotel. The first, on Friday, Oct. 26, is run by local witch Christian Day and features Fiona Horne, an Australian rock star billed as "the world's most famous witch." The other, on Halloween night, is being staged by Laurie Cabot, who also is "the world's most famous witch." Cabot, of course, is the official witch of Salem, a title bestowed upon her three decades ago by Gov. Michael Dukakis ... It could be argued that Day, 37, and Cabot, 74, are the new and old guard of Salem witchcraft. They have loyal followings, are occasionally controversial and unabashedly entrepreneurial."
You can find information for Day's ball, here, and Cabot's, here. These Samhain events, held on different coasts, help illustrate the diversity of attitudes and approach within modern Paganism (specifically religious Witchcraft) while preserving essential elements of the holiday (honoring the ancestors, acknowledging those who have died, celebrating life through feasting and dance, connecting with divinity). To a certain extent, a shared practice (praxis) binds these Witches together far more than any shared theology or ideology. A point that often escapes those looking to pigeonhole "what Witches (or Pagans) believe".
Labels: Christian Day, Laurie Cabot, On Faith, Paganism, Reclaiming, Salem, Starhawk, Wicca, Witch, Witchcraft
