10.16.2008
Watching the Witches
As we get closer to Halloween, Witch-themed media becomes a more and more popular subject for television programmers. We already know about the upcoming Salem-themed episode of "Opportunity Knocks" featuring Laurie "Official Witch of Salem" Cabot, but now cable television will be getting into the act. The Biography channel will be airing a special on Witches (ancient and modern) on October 30th (part of their October "Boo-ography" promotion).
Witness the disembodied floating head of Silver! Spooky!
According to Llewellyn Worldwide publicist Jennifer Spees, the show will be "an exploration of witchcraft from medieval times through the present", and feature interviews with Christopher Penczak, Stefani "Spiral" Barner, and Silver Ravenwolf. It isn't known at this point who else the Biography team interviewed, but it has been confirmed that they visited Salem (naturally), so it wouldn't be too surprising to see Laurie Cabot or Christian Day pop up as well. I'll refrain from speculating on what the sensationalism/accuracy ratio will be.
For those wanting to see some real live Witches on the big screen, you might want to head over to the 15th Annual Chicago Underground Film Festival, and check out the Midwest premiere of the documentary "Hoopeston" (screening, coincidentally, on October 30th). The film, directed by Thomas Bender, looks at the struggling town of Hoopeston, Illinois, and the conflicts that emerged when Witch School (and the Correllian Tradition that runs it) moved in (check out my original post on this documentary).
Hoopeston - Trailer from Synydyne on Vimeo.
"Witches will come out a day early this year. "Hoopeston," a feature-length documentary about an Illinois town and its Witch School, will play in the Chicago Underground Film Festival on October 30, the night before Halloween. Produced by SYNYDYNE, "Hoopeston" tells the story of the former Sweet Corn Capital of the World through the lives of its residents: a laborer struggles to find work, a young entrepreneur buys the only motel in town, the police chief battles a drug epidemic, and the Correllian Chancellor lays plans for a vast Crystal Web. The film balances the stark beauty of rural Illinois with candid and moving interviews from a variety of subjects. It features an original score by composer Todd Mazierski."
After the Midwest premiere, Synydyne will start selling DVDs of the film. They have a mailing list you can sign up for to be notified when copies are available. As for the Witch School folks, they'll be in Salem teaching free classes through November 1st.
So whether you want to attend a movie out (in the greater Chicagoland area), or stay inside and curl up on your couch (if you have cable television), you'll be able to gage how far forward (or back) depictions of modern Pagans have come since the days of fog-machines, strobe lighting, and the morning talk-show circuit. Happy viewing!
Labels: Biography, documentaries, film, Hoopeston, Llewellyn, movies, Paganism, Reality Television, Salem, Television, Wicca, Witch, Witch School, Witchcraft
10.06.2008
Are Modern Pagan Faiths in the 80?
Last week the BBC announced a new religious series debuting in early 2009 called "Around the World In 80 Faiths". The show will feature part-time Anglican Vicar Peter Owen Jones traveling the world and participating in a variety of religious rituals.
Peter Owen Jones
"Part-time Anglican Vicar, Peter Owen Jones embarks on an epic challenge – to travel the globe and observe and take part in the most important rituals of 80 of the world's faiths. On the way he'll be exploring some of the planet's most beautiful and holy places: he'll be meeting snake handlers, Voodoo practitioners, whirling dervishes, horse-riding Sikhs, shaman and Taoist monks seeking immortality."
The show is being produced by the BBC Religion and Ethics team, and is being packaged as eight 60-minute episodes. A companion book written by Jones will also be released. Initial buzz, based on Owen-Jones' previous participation in the series "Extreme Pilgrim", seems to be quite positive.
"This may all sound a bit dull, but I urge you to watch it - knowing Peter he'll be throwing himself head-long into challenges and situations, be open to questioning his very essence and report back eloquently from some seriously gorgeous places."
I'm certainly interested in seeing this series (living in America I'll probably have to wait until it comes out on DVD), though I'm very curious as to which 80 faiths will be profiled in the series (if they do indeed profile 80 faiths). While I'm glad to see they are including indigenous faiths, I wonder if modern Pagan faiths will be explored as well. Will he hang out with Wiccans and Druids in Britain? Chat with Asatru in Iceland? Go to a Pagan festival in America? The press release does promise he'll explore "brand new cults and sects", but who knows what that means when there are hundreds (if not thousands) of NRMs to choose from.
ADDENDUM: It looks like he does visit some Pagans:
"As the main ritual came to a close, the ecstatic dancing ensued and Peter threw himself into it enthusiastically and unapologetically. He seemed entranced by the fire in the cauldron and was dumbfounded when the cone of power appeared, sending the flame spiralling high above the dancing Witches' heads to excited shouts of 'Kiss the Serpent'."
That is a report from an eclectic Pagan group in Australia. Thanks to Frozen In Honey for passing that along to me.
Labels: Around the World in 80 Faiths, BBC, documentaries, New Religious Movements, Paganism, Religion, Television
9.27.2008
Harry Potter Haters
MTV reports on the upcoming documentary about Harry Potter fan culture "We Are Wizards". Among the threads in this interesting-looking film is the opposition to Harry Potter by Christian conservatives, and the film features far-right conspiracy theorist Carol Matriciana as their voice.
"The fans’ fight not just with Warner Bros. but also the religious right is also included, via occult researcher Carol Matriciana, who had made an anti-Potter film called “Witchcraft Repackaged.” “Her work has inspired a lot of Christian activists,” Koury said. “If doesn’t help anyone’s case if you’re going to show someone who rants and raves on either side, so I wanted her because she can make a sound argument.”"
If Matriciana is the "reasonable" voice of Christian opposition to Harry Potter, then it just shows you how far out of the mainstream these people are
"This video explains how Scholastic Inc., the largest publisher of children's books in the world, is supplying Harry Potter materials to millions of schoolchildren. Scholastic Inc. is using its unrivaled position in the educational system to flood classrooms and libraries with wizardry, repackaged as 'children's fantasy literature.'"
In addition to falsely equating fantasy depictions of magic with the religious practice of modern Pagans, Matriciana also takes time out to spread slurs about Hinduism as well and is apparently a "ex-New-Ager" turned to Jesus.
"But years ago Chuck Smith and Carol Matriciana who had been in new age for years did a video on Hinduism, and in that exposure of an ashram up in Washington or Northwest somewhere, you saw people chanting demon names, then getting possessed, and writhing on the floor as demons entered them."
Sadly, people like Matriciana aren't some fringe element, but merely the "dark" side of anti-Harry Potter arguments by Christians. The flip side of a coin. Even "nice" Christians seem to lose their cool when discussing the boy wizard and his successful books.
"There were a few things in the book that I found problematic - the authors start on a tirade about the Harry Potter series… and while I do hold issue with the Harry Potter series, I do not think its the singular cause of the rise in Wicca in our country. First of all, it was on the rise well before the series came out and second of …well even the book goes into more details as to the rise of Wicca, but at first the book feels like its a condemnation of all things Potter… and they never quite make a conclusion, which is bothersome…"
The fact is that, despite attempts by some elements to ban Harry Potter, it has become a cultural phenomenon that will resonate for generations to come. Not a phenomenon of occult recruitment, but one of a shared story, a unifying world of fantasy and possibility that has united people across cultural, economic, and racial lines. I think the real problem for Christians is that Harry Potter, despite being written by a Christian, espouses a secular-based harmony at odds with the "safe" Biblical allegory (or "supposals") of C.S. Lewis. It isn't that Harry Potter makes Pagans, its that Harry Potter doesn't exclude or demonize Pagans, allowing them to fully insert themselves into the story alongside the Christian readers.
“We Are Wizards,” opens in New York on November 14.
* Check out "Hogwarts Professor" for a pro-Harry Christian perspective.
Labels: Carol Matriciana, Christianity, documentaries, film, Harry Potter, Jack T. Chick, occult, Paganism, Satanic Panic, We Are Wizards
3.27.2008
Hoopeston Documentary Premieres at NYUFF
The upcoming 15th (and final) annual New York Underground Film Festival will be hosting the international premiere of the documentary "Hoopeston". The film looks at a formerly prosperous Illinois town as it deals with a declining economy, drugs, and the controversy caused by Witch School (and the Correllian Tradition that runs it) moving in.
Hoopeston - Trailer from Synydyne on Vimeo.
"Two and a half hours south of Chicago near the Illinois- Indiana border, once the global capital of sweet corn production, Hoopeston, according to residents, went from a town of "overachievers to underachievers in the span of just ten to fifteen years." Church. Meth. Republicans. That's about what's left when town officials, hoping to create jobs, start offering to give away prominent downtown buildings to anyone with a business plan ... but - whoops - guess who's coming to dinner: a displaced Wiccan sect shopping downmarket for a good spot to open the "nation's first witch school," Witch School. A beads industry mover and shaker from Virginia Beach; a pagan CEO with a checkered romantic past; the Orson Welles-esque leader of the Corellian Tradition, since age thirteen... take a trip with these egos to the dork side."
While the NYUFF description is somewhat mocking, the filmmakers seem quite sincere in wanting to impartially tell the story of the conflicts that emerged between Witch School and the heavily Christian town.
"The directors of the school faced stiff opposition from religious conservatives (Hoopeston has over a dozen churches - its other nickname is "The Holy City"). But the Witch School is now a fixture in Hoopeston, one that forces the town to ask whether its future lies in traditional industry or internet wand sales. Hoopeston tells the story of the former Sweet Corn Capital through the lives of its residents. A laborer struggles to find work, a young entrepreneur buys the only motel in town, the police chief battles a drug epidemic, and the Correllian Chancellor lays plans for a vast Crystal Web."
The Hoopeston story doesn't have a happy ending for Witch School. Due to a number of factors, including the ongoing lack of acceptance by locals, the school (and the Correllians) moved to the even smaller town of Rossville, Illinois to make a new start of building a "Salem of the Midwest" (a plan that seems increasingly unlikely, as Rossville seems even less enthusiastic than Hoopeston at Witch School's presence). "Hoopeston" should be an interesting exploration of what happens when religious cultures clash outside the (mostly) tolerant (and secular) urban areas most Pagans flock to.
The New York Underground Film Festival runs from April 2nd through the 8th at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City's East Village. "Hoopeston" is scheduled to screen on April 3 at 8:45 PM, with a repeat showing on April 8 at 9:30 PM. No word yet on other festival appearances or a DVD release.
Labels: Correllian Wicca, documentaries, Don Lewis, Ed Hubbard, Hoopeston, New York, Paganism, Witch School
9.13.2007
Documentaries of Note
There are two new documentaries being released that should be of special interest to my reading audience. The first is a documentary concerning the legendary occultist Aleister Crowley. The film, "In Search Of The Great Beast 666", purports to reveal the "shocking facts" about one of the most influential Britons of all time.
Surprisingly, it seems that despite the melodramatic press copy, the film is actually pretty decent according to a review at Lashtal (home of the Aleister Crowley Society).
"So, what of the film itself? Well, the narration is provided with typical workmanlike skill by Joss Ackland. Rather than following the usual dry format, the time flies past as a result of some really rather impressive reconstructed period interview: actors playing some of the most significant parts. This is so much more watchable than the usual voiceover extracts and works rather well ... Especially good is the account of the events leading up to the reception of Liber AL and the attempted ascents of K2 and Kangchenjunga."
The film is available for purchase in Britain now, no word yet on an American release
The second film covers the thorny subject of cultural appropriation. "Spirits For Sale", tells the tale of a Swedish woman who receives an eagle feather from a Native American visiting her country. Feeling that perhaps the item shouldn't belong to her, she journeys to different Indian communities in the Americas and explores how the growing popularity of "Native American spirituality" within New Age communities in Europe is actually a form of cultural theft and exploitation.
Image from the "Spirits for Sale" web site.
"The information in Europe about Native Americans and Native Canadians is most often full of fantasies and lies. People in general know very little about American Indians and their general view is based on stereotypes, mascots and film cliches. In some cases the belief is that 'Indians do not exist.' Europe has also seen a growing interest in so called Native American spirituality. Ceremonies and rituals together with sacred objects are being sold on websites and in papers. Cults and organisations offer people to become 'an Indian shaman' or a medicine man during a weekend course. Seldom or never do Native voices get heard and because of the lack of information, con-men make a considerable amount of money while they violate the spirituality of mostly Plains Indians. This film will address the issue of spiritual exploiters and the harm they do towards Native cultures but also to followers who, in many cases, 'don't have a clue'."
The film is having its American debut at the South Dakota Film Festival on September 22 2007. No word yet on further American showings, or when a DVD will be released. Thanks to Kathryn Price NicDhana for tipping me off about this documentary.
* Also of note is the fact that prog-rocker turned evangelical Christian Rick Wakeman provided the soundtrack, which merited a bit of controversy for the now-devout keyboardist.
Labels: Aleister Crowley, American Indian, documentaries, film, In Search Of The Great Beast 666, indigenous, Lashtal, Native American, occult, Spirits for Sale, Sweden, UK
