5.09.2008
(Pagan) News of Note
My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.
DVD Talk reviews the documentary series "Women and Spirituality", which was recently released in the DVD format.
"There's little doubt that goddess worship has actually picked up significant cultural steam since the original release of these pieces close to 20 years ago. While they're all a little dated, they provide an earnest look into the history and continued observance of gynocentric worship practices and will be appreciated by those interested in the history of religion and especially women's movements. Recommended."
The Women and Spirituality project also maintains a blog featuring several participants from the original documentary series.
Religion Dispatches looks at the recent (somewhat controversial) appointment of a "Supreme Chief" within Haitian Vodou, and the ongoing quest for respect by practitioners.
"Voodoo suffers from a flaw built into both scholarly and popular typologies of religion, that of hierarchical thinking about religions. Beauvoir argues that Voodoo's character derives from its location as a "popular religion." But lacking a sacred text, law codes, or traditions of written commentary, Voodoo is a marginalized tradition - marked as "primitive," as if religions evolve along a given trajectory-compared to those "world religions" that come to dominate empires."
While a tiny, and until recently, officially unrecognized, religion, the article points out that Vodou has a "capacity to persist" that may allow the faith to weather the current social and political storms raging in their country.
The caretaker of a Taoist temple in Taiwan has a problem. Too many deities!
"Yang Liang, who takes care of the small Suxi Temple, said yesterday he used to tend to only five land gods, the lowest deities in folk Taoism. Last February, Yang said, he found two statues of Avalokitesvera, or the Goddess of Mercy, abandoned in front of his temple in west Suao ... Sheltering the abandoned Goddesses of Mercy probably encouraged those who wanted to get rid of their deities to dump them at the temple ... Altogether 12 statues, ranging from Avalokitesvera to Third Prince or San-tai-zhi, were left at the door of the temple Monday. "I can't take care of that many gods," Yang protested."
Yang has posted bulletins around his village imploring locals to please take their gods back, as he doesn't have the space and resources to care for them all. Perhaps he could ship them to willing polytheists outside Taiwan?
As modern Paganism continues to grow, more local journalists start to notice the Pagans in their own backyard. This coverage starts with the inevitable "meet the Pagans" piece. Here, we have a classic example of this phenomenon from Great Falls, Montana.
"...like the others [Melinda Berry] keeps her faith to herself around here. "I came from California, where no one really cares," Berry said. "In the UK they were really open and didn't care. In the military no one really cares. In Great Falls, Montana, people care." But there is a growing pagan population locally and around the state. At least five to 10 people regularly attend the monthly Great Falls Pagans meetings at Hastings. Some area gatherings have drawn upward of 40 people..."
Though "people care" if your a member of a minority faith in Great Falls, Montana, this introduction is far more friendly than the one that arose in Great Falls, South Carolina.
Following up on a story I blogged about a year ago, the Delhi High Court in India has ruled that naked paintings of Hindu goddesses aren't necessarily blasphemous.
"Maqbool Fida Husain, 92, a Muslim who has been dubbed "the Picasso of India", was served with seven private criminal complaints by Hindu groups for the painting Bharat Mata (Mother India), a work representing the nation as a nude woman. The Delhi High Court judged that the picture, for which Mr Husain has apologised, carried no religious content and could not be construed as offensive. "A painter has his own perspective of looking at things, and it cannot be the basis of initiating criminal proceedings," Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul said."
This is a big step forward for artistic freedom in India, where Hindu-nationalist "moral police" (essentially the Indian equivalent to the Religious Right in America, only more powerful) are on the constant lookout for violations against their conception of "cultural purity". These Hindu-nationalist groups vow to keep on fighting against Husain and others who transgress against their moral outlook.
That is all I have for now, have a great day!
Labels: art, goddess, Hinduism, law, M.F. Husain, Max Beauvoir, Pagan News of Note, Paganism, Taiwan, Taoism, The Goddess, Vodou, Voodoo, Women and Spirituality
3.04.2008
Pledge of the Goddess Community on Racism
A new pledge, co-written by Genevieve Vaughan (Sekhmet Temple) and Dr. Heide Goettner-Abendroth (Academy Hagia), is making the rounds within the international Goddess community. The "Pledge of the Goddess Community on Racism" urges all signatories to make a personal commitment to directly involve and honor local indigenous people and other ethnic groups in any conference or event held.
"As a member of the group of human beings who honor the present and past images of female divinity, I pledge to include in Goddess conferences the indigenous people of the locality or territory where conferences are held, and to reference and honor their deities. That is, I myself will make every effort to invite speakers and participants of the people indigenous to the area and of other ethnic groups. If I am not an organizer of the event myself I will work to ensure that the organizers invite them. Given the economic injustice in our society, I will promote special stipends for speakers of color and sliding scale or free access to conferences for any participants of color or other participants who may be economically oppressed. The multiplicity of the Goddess is expressed in the variety of humanity and in the many kinds of ritual and worship. Racism dishonors the Goddess(es)."
One notable early adopter is Reclaiming co-founder Starhawk, who has endorsed the pledge on the Women and Spirituality Blog, calling it "a sensibility long overdue in the Goddess movement". Other prominent signatories include Letecia Layson, Candace Kant, Anniitra Ravenmoon, Catherine Wright, and Judy Grahn.
If widely adopted, such a pledge could go a long way towards healing rifts between the Goddess community and indigenous groups who have accused individuals within the movement of cultural appropriation. It also seems to be reaching for a solution to questions of racial diversity and class in a movement that has been depicted in the past as predominately upper-class and Caucasian. It should be interesting to see how widespread this pledge becomes, and if it truly results in changes to Goddess community events and conferences. If you are interested in signing the pledge, go here.
Labels: goddess, indigenous, Paganism, Pledge of the Goddess Community on Racism, Starhawk, The Goddess
2.21.2008
Updates on Past Stories
Thelemites Fight Pedophillia Charges: An Australian couple who posted unsubstantiated accusations of pedophilia and ritual abuse within the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) chapter in Melbourne, Australia have been sentenced to nine months in prison. The prison stay was ordered after Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine defied a court order to take down the material, and declined to appear at hearings.
"Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine posted on their website claims that an occult group, the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), was really a pedophile ring in Victoria, and that its activities included hosting parties at which naked children served as waiters and members had sex with and murdered children ... [Judge Marilyn Harbison] said the material was gross, insulting and bizarre in asserting that the OTO tortured and killed children and animals and consumed their organs in blood rituals. It also said OTO members were criminally corrupt, spoke of a culture of corruption at the highest levels of government, and identified politicians as taking part. Judge Harbison said she had to signal to the broader community that tribunal orders were not to be ignored and that breaching the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act was a serious issue."
The offending site in question was finally taken down in January by the hosting provider. Legg and Devine now have to decide if they will apologize to the judge and hope that their sentence is commuted, or if they will appeal their case to the Supreme Court.
The First Wiccan Multi-Millionaire: A local ABC News affiliate checks in with Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett, a Wiccan who won an estimated 33 million dollars in the Mega Millions drawing back in September of 2007. According to the report, Bartlett is keeping the promises he made back when he first realized he won the lottery.
"After Dundalk's Bunky Bartlett hit the Mega Millions jackpot in 2007, he said he planned to help a new age gift shop expand. He also said he would continue teaching people about his Wiccan beliefs. Bartlett has been true to his word. The Mystical Voyage store in Nottingham used to occupy 2500 square feet of space. When the expanded store opens next month, it will occupy 6500 square feet -- enough space for several new holistic healing rooms, and a large yoga studio."
Bartlett continues to teach classes on Wicca at the store, as he did before the lottery win. No further word yet about the proposed Willow Springs Sanctuary and Community Center that was announced back in November.
Wicca in India: In the past I have reported on Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, a famous adherent of Wicca in India. Chakraverti, a social activist, started a "Wiccan Brigade" to stem witchcraft killings and female infanticide through a campaign of education and re-framing the practice of "witchcraft" in India. While we have heard no reports on how successful these initiatives have been, it does look like Wicca and other western Pagan imports are gaining popularity in certain Indian cities.
"New age therapies and healing through a host of skills, including hypnosis, tarot reading, astrology and witchcraft are being accepted by a majority of people in Chandigarh, the twin capital of Punjab and Haryana ... Claiming to be India's first Shaman Witch, Renu Mathur helps remove all negative energy surrounding a person through prayer and meditation. She claims that she receives the energy from Gods and Goddesses as also from the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. 'Although this may not seem like a straight fight against superstition because what I am doing is very logical like the use of colours, use of fire, use of crystals all of which has been validated by everybody in all fields. This is just a concentrated form of using them and invocations of a Wiccan or a person like me used has a very scientific oath -'Do what will not harm anyone'. We cannot harm anyone. If we even think of doing so we lose our energies,' said Renu."
It should be interesting to see what the continued co-mingling of Hinduism and Indian culture with modern Paganism will produce. These cross-cultural interactions seem to hint at the promise of a post-Christian future, where theological "sisters" like Hinduism and modern Paganism can enrich one another over the longer term.
Speaking of India, today is the beginning of the Pongala Mahotsavam, a ten-day festival in honor of Bhagavathi (the mother goddess of the Malayali Hindus). Held in Thiruvananthapuram, it is the largest religious gathering for women in the world.
"Women in thousands have started pouring in to participate in Friday's 'Pongala' festival at Attukal temple, famed as 'Women's Sabarimala' for attracting one of the world's biggest female congregations. The Attukal Bhagavati temple here had entered the Guinness Book two years back as a unique religious event that draws over a million women on a single day. The whole city would turn into a sea of women as sun rises on Friday with the road, pavements and by-lanes about an area of six km around being occupied by devotees with the earthen pots placed on brick hearths in front of them to prepare the 'prasadam' (sweetened pudding). The ritual consists of preparation of the prasadam of rice, jaggery, coconut and spices, to be offered to the Goddess to invoke her blessings for peace and prosperity."
An estimated 2.5 million women are expected to participate this year, breaking all previous attendance records for the festival (1.7 million in 2007, and 1.5 million in 2006).
Labels: Attukal Pongala, Australia, Ellwood "Bunky" Bartlett, goddess, Hinduism, India, Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, OTO, Thelema, Wicca, Witchcraft
2.14.2008
Interview with Tim Ward
Several years ago Tim Ward, a "spiritual journalist" and author of three books on Buddhism, had an epiphany. A moment of embrace from the goddess Kali in India that eventually prompted an epic road-trip in search of The Goddess at her holy sites throughout Europe and the Middle-East, and an even deeper exploration of his own wants, fears, and motivations concerning women. The resulting book, published in 2006, was "Savage Breast: One Man's Search for The Goddess". An unflinching portrait of the spiritual void within men, and in Western society, that has come in since the ascendancy of patriarchal monotheism. I recently had the opportunity to interview Tim about his book, his relationship with the Goddess, Buddhism, and how Pagans and Goddess worshipers have received his work.
Tim Ward
How important is it in your mind that men discover the Goddess? It was certainly a hard road for you, a journey that brought a lot of dark emotions to the surface.
Discovering the Goddess was a great source of healing for me. I think it could help many men. I found, in the course of writing Savage Breast, that I had a whole realm of unconscious reactions towards women I was completely unaware of. As a result I sabotaged relationships, acting by turns weak and vicious towards the women I loved. Becoming aware of the archetypes of the Goddess, I began to see the patterns in my behavior. Recognizing the source, I could begin to deal with these reactions consciously - and that opened the door to tremendous healing. On a deeper level, reconnecting with the Goddess as a spiritual reality is where the healing really happened. As Teresa, the woman who went through this whole experience with me put it, it helped me become the man I truly was.
Was it difficult to get a book about a man searching for the Goddess published? Did you find obstacles due to preconceived notions about who should be writing a "Goddess book"?
Yes, the book was rejected by many publishers before O Books recognized it for the work of staggering genius that it is. Strangely, many prospective publishers liked the idea of a male perspective on the Goddess, but they didn't like the fact I had included my personal experiences. To me, the personal transformation was the heart of the story.
Now that it has been some time since you wrote the book, is the Goddess a daily part of your life and practice? Have you changed further since the book was published?
I've become more and more aware of how patriarchy is woven into the fabric of our society, how much we take the dominance of men and the subjugation of women for granted. Much of it is unconscious. Just look at the irrational hatred many feel towards Hillary Clinton. I'm now committed to ending patriarchy, in my own life and relationships with all women, and in society. For example, I've begun holding circle discussions with men and women on what we can do to make this change. That for me is a practical expression of my beliefs. (anyone who would like to have me hold one in your community, please write to the address below)
Would you call yourself a "Goddess worshiper" now? If so, in what sense? How do you perceive the divine feminine?
Yes, I worship the Goddess. How? By cultivating gratitude for the many blessing in my life. By seeing my work, relationships and enjoyment of life's pleasures as an offering to Her. It's Recognizing every moment of every day that the world I live in is her body, and that we are all her children. Knowing that even death is safe, for it is a return to her womb. not really very religious, but it permeates everything I do.
Since your "conversion" (awakening?), have you interacted much with men in the Pagan community?
Some men - Pagan and non-pagan - totally get this book. This includes a retired marine corps engineer I met a year ago who knew nothing about "the Goddess" as a faith. He just knew it in his life and his 30 year marriage to his wife. Often the men who impress me are older, with partners they have loved for many years.
Then there are the many men I have met within the Pagan community who worship the Goddess, but they've not yet delved into the realm of their own unconscious where animosity to the feminine resides. Believe me, the women in the Pagan community are well aware of this animosity. The advantage Pagan men have is they see the door, and there are usually women around them ready to help them open it. Truth is, it takes courage to step into the presence of the sacred feminine. Hekate and Kali are both powerful forces for this kind of transformative work, which indeed places a man right in her cauldron!
Have you had much feedback from female Goddess worshipers, and women in general, about the book? Was it supportive? Challenging?
Overwhelmingly supportive. I was expecting some women to challenge me as a man treading on sacred feminine space. But no, women are overwhelmingly saying to me "It's about time a man paid attention to this!" I've been deeply touched by women Goddess worshipers who have taken some hope from my story - that it is possible for a man to heal. There is such strong recognition by aware, conscious women that men in general have not yet taken on this task - that we have work to do if we are to embrace women as genuine equals and co-create humanity's future together.
Do you feel that your attitudes concerning women have continued to improve since the journey outlined in your book? Does your wife think you have continued to change?
Yes - and I continue to see how thick are the male blinders that I still wear. I still find it hard to really listen to what my wife (and business partner) Teresa has to say. Sometimes I will come up with a brilliant idea, and tell it to her, only to see the dismay on her face as she reminds me she is the one who told the idea to me a month ago! Then I vaguely remember...So, yeah, still a work in progress. Another area I am working on is overcoming this weird tendency of men to treat women over 40 as invisible. If we men aren't attracted to a women, of if she somehow does not command our attention, we tend to not notice them. It sounds terrible to say it. In a large part it is because our ideas of beauty have been contaminated by the porn and fashion industry which insists that only young women are worth noticing.
For all that, Teresa would say the biggest change is that I have grown really comfortable in my own skin. this includes being a much better arguer. Because we have thrashed through so many unconscious issues, now when we argue, we fight about the issue at hand, not some underlying unconscious issue. That's makes it nice and clean, no residue, no resentment. I never thought I would have a relationship so solid, where I really trusted the other 100%. She says the same about me.
You are also deeply involved in Buddhist practice, how do these two threads in your life interact?
I find the Buddhist ideas of no-self, and of reality as a field of interconnected experience fits well with my sense of the Goddess' world. And the compassion and care for all beings that arises from Buddhist insight is exactly the sense I get from seeing the world and all beings as the Goddess's living body. The Chinese have a female Bodhisattva, Kwan Yin, who has 100,000 eyes with which see sees the world's suffering and 100,000 hands with which she moves to heal that suffering. For me this is the perfect blend of Buddhism and the Goddess.
That said, many branches of Buddhism and Buddhist teaching are woefully sexist - for example in Thailand it is thought that a woman needs to first be reborn as a man in order to attain enlightenment. Even Tibetan Buddhism, which has nuns and women teachers, can be notoriously sexist in terms of the power roles in Tibetan politics. Two Tibetan scholars, a pair of sisters who are friends of mine, have done their Ph D theses on this topic. It's opened my eyes, as a big fan of Tibet, to the reality of pervasive sexism within these spiritual communities.
I am hopeful however that Buddhism in the west will become more egalitarian as issues of sexism and gender are being dealt with by intelligent and passionate men and women who dare to question the historical practices of the Sangha.
Do you think we are collectively moving beyond patriarchy? Are you hopeful about a widespread return to The Goddess?
Yes, we are moving beyond patriarchy. The big external changes have taken place in the west - unthinkable 150 years ago. What's different? Women can go to university. Women can own property. Women can vote, Women can get a divorce. Women can hold public office. Women can choose to get an abortion. It's hard to imagine this was not the case in the 19th century. What remains is the tough stuff - the internal patriarchy, the old-boy networks of male privilege. The sanctioned abuse and degradation of women. The Internet, such a potent force for transformation, has exploded with pornography which I find deeply distressing. So many men still want the experience of woman as sex object - without having to deal with the whole rest of the woman as a real human being. So, much work still to do, for all of us.
The Environmental movement, the Gaia hypothesis, and all ways of engaging with the earth as a being in whom we live -- these all dovetail with the return of the Goddess. I think She gives us a metaphor of our world that brings us back to our senses. This could be transformative on a massive scale, and for the first time in many thousands of years it could give us a spiritual connection with all of life that heals the split caused by monotheism. The cult of the sky god told us we are not of "the world." The Goddess says, "the world is my body...you are home right here, right now, in my arms"
Do you think you'll write any further books about the Goddess or related topics, or do you feel you have said what you needed to say?
Yes, I am starting work on a Da Vinci Code style thriller set at the time of the Council of Ephesus, 431 AD. This was a time when the pagan temples were being outlawed and destroyed. This church council declared Mary the "Mother of God" - and it opened the door for the worship of the sacred feminine within the newly established power of the official church. I want to explore this crucial and violent transition. Add in a dangerous love affair between a bishop and a priestess and a chase scene across the aqueducts of Ephesus, and I hope it will make a good movie!
Afterward: In addition to Tim Ward's forthcoming fiction book, he has also contributed an essay on the god Dionysos for a recent collection of devotional writings entitled: "Written in Wine - contemporary experiences of Dionysos". For anyone wanting to find out more about "Savage Breast", you can write to Tim Ward at timwardsbooks@aol.com.
Previous Wild Hunt interviews: Lupa, J.C. Hallman, Margot Adler.
Labels: goddess, interview, Paganism, The Goddess, Tim Ward
1.06.2008
Interfaith Tensions in Malaysia
Tensions are building in Malaysia between Muslims and Taoists over the erection of a statue depicting Mazu, goddess of the sea.
Mazu
"The construction of the world's tallest Taoist Goddess of the Sea statue has set off the latest row over religious freedom in Malaysia. The 36-metre (108-foot) statue of Mazu, known as Tin Hau in Hong Kong, should be erected in the fishing village of Kudat on Borneo Island. So far only the platform has been set; the statue itself is waiting some 200 km away in the port town of Kota Kinabalu. Local authorities had approved construction in December 2005 but Sabah state authorities stopped construction saying that the statue was 'offensive to Muslim sensitivities.'"
Apparently the statue is deemed "offensive to Islam" because it is "too close" to a mosque. A Taoist official has resigned in protest, and religious minorities are voicing fears of "Islamisation". Local Taoists are puzzled by the sudden hostility towards one of their most beloved goddesses.
"All we want is for Mazu Goddess to protect us when we are at sea and our Muslim countrymen have nothing against"
Malaysia's official State religion is Islam, and the country has strict rules concerning the 'propagation' of religions other than Islam. In addition to the blocking of the Mazu statue, Hindu activists have been jailed after a mass-rally protesting discrimination against ethnic Indians, and the government temporarily banned a Catholic newspaper from using the term "Allah".
Articles like these starkly show the problems of establishing a state (or "official") religion. When a single religious viewpoint dominates politically (especially if that religion claims to be the only true path), there is always the risk of the government being overrun by extremists. One hopes these growing tensions in Malaysia will not degrade into all-out violence, but the country's Muslims seem hesitant to enter into any sort of interfaith compromise. As for Mazu, there is legal action pending, and it remains to be seen if the statue will ever be installed.
Labels: goddess, Islam, Malaysia, Matsu, Mazu, Religious Freedom, Taoism
10.01.2007
How to Study a Goddess
The Taipei Times reports that an international conference sponsored by the Academia Sinica (the national academy for Taiwan) will be held to look into belief in the Taoist sea goddess Matsu.
A shrine to Matsu in Taiwan.
"Academia Sinica is organizing an international conference next month to discuss belief in the goddess Matsu and her connection with the Matsu Islands, officials with the Lienchiang County Government's Cultural Affairs Bureau said yesterday. The officials said that Academia Sinica's Institute of Ethnology would invite 40 academics from Taiwan and abroad to participate in the conference on Oct. 17 and Oct. 18 at the Matsu Folklore Culture Museum in Nangan, one of five major islands in the Matsu archipelago ... Today, Matsu has become the most widely worshipped deity in Taiwan, with temples dedicated to her seen in almost every township and city."
Matsu ("Mother-Ancestor") is a deified human once known as Lin Moniang. According to the stories, Lin Moniang was the daughter of a fisherman who used her affinity with the sea to help people in her village, at the age of 28 she was taken to heaven and became a goddess (though other stories say she drowned, then became a goddess). As the article mentions, Matsu is the most popular deity in Taiwan.
Reading this story you can almost envision a world where European paganism never diminished, and international conferences at Cambridge or Harvard would be called to discuss belief in Brigantia or Athena.
Labels: academia, Academia Sinica, goddess, Matsu, Paganism, Taiwan, Taoism
5.25.2007
Pirates and Goddesses
NOTE: This post will be discussing possible spoilers for the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" film "At World's End", so read at your own risk.
So the third installment of the hugely successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" films "At World's End" opened last night, and it seems that Disney has decided that the Pirates live in a world where pre-Christian goddesses roam the earth. The third film reveals that the Voodoo-practicing witch known as Tia Dalma is secretly a sea goddess.
Naomie Harris as the witch/goddess Tia Dalma
It seem that the "nine pirate lords" imprisoned a sea goddess by the name of Calypso for some reason or another, and she is freed from her human form at the climax of the film.
"Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris), a voodoo priestess who, it turns out, happens to be the sea goddess Calypso in human form, hence her power to revive the dead. She was once the lover of Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), captain of the Flying Dutchman, who, pursuant to some unspecified betrayal, has been cursed to wear a rubber octopus face that obscures what a good actor Bill Nighy actually is."
In Greek mythology Calypso was either a naiad (water/sea nymph), a daughter of the titan Atlas most famous for delaying Odysseus for seven years and bearing him a son, or she was one of three thousand Oceanids born by the sea titans Oceanus and Tethys. In either case she certainly is tied to the sea and is divine (and Odysseus was certainly something of a pirate).
Detail of Calypso from "Odysseus und Kalypso" by Arnold Bocklin
This is an interesting twist since the historical pirates we most associate with the popular image of piracy lived in a thoroughly Christian age. Considering the vogue for all things pirate-y (including a reality television show) it should be interesting to see if sea deities start creeping into the lore and popular notions of swashbuckling pirates. Certainly products tying in with the Tia Dalma/Calypso character are already appearing, all we need now is a book claiming that pirates were secret pagans (no doubt already being written by somebody) and a new nautical-themed strain of modern Paganism could pop up before you know it.
So while film critics are equally split on whether the third "Pirates" film is any good, what isn't in doubt is the heavy influence this film will have on the popular culture. Like it or not, Captain Jack Sparrow and the rest of the pirates acknowledge the existence of pagan gods, and aren't shy in asking for their help (making them technical polytheists). All thats left is to see how many shrines to Calypso emerge from it.
Labels: Calypso, goddess, Paganism, Pirates of the Caribbean, Polytheism, Tia Dalma
5.11.2007
The Naked Art Controversy
Is it blasphemous to paint nude deities? That is the center of a widening controversy concerning painter Maqbool Fida Husain, currently India's most (in)famous artist. Husain, long one of India's most celebrated painters (including receiving honors from the government), began to find himself deeply controversial after a book of his work published in the mid-nineties pictured Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude. This ongoing issue reached a head recently when a painting he submitted for a benefit auction picturing a nude Bharat Mata (the personification of India as a mother goddess) raised the ire of Hindu nationalists.
A detail from "Mother India" by M F Hussain
Recently, litigation brought against Hussain by a hardline Hindutva group resulted in the seizure of his home and property after he refused to return to India to face trial.
"Leading painter Maqbool Fida Husain is losing his home and other properties after failing to appear before a court trying him for hurting religious sentiments by painting "Mother India" as a naked woman. Husain's paintings have often depicted revered Hindu gods and goddesses in the nude, sparking criticism from nationalist parties and activists. A decade ago, radicals even attacked his Mumbai home."
Husain, who lives in self-imposed exile due to death-threats and harassing litigation (there are over 900 cases registered against him), was able to get the Indian Supreme Court to overturn the lower court's seizure and it looks like the case against him will be moved to Delhi where there is less moral fervor against the artist.
"The Bench also issued notice to Shrivastava on Hussain's petition seeking transfer of his case from Uttarakhand to Delhi, where four other criminal cases lodged against him in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat had already been transferred by the apex court. He has sought transfer of his case to Patiala House Courts here in view of "hostile environment" prevailing in Uttarakhand...In July 2000, the apex court had ordered the transfer of similar cases filed against him in Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar to the court of an additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate in New Delhi and later the Delhi High Court quashed the complaints."
In the wake of these developments the Indian artistic community has risen up in support of Husain's artistic freedom, and has condemned the ongoing campaign of harassing litigation against the painter.
"Reacting to the turn of events, the artist community has strongly condemned the campaigns against Hussain. "It's not just Hussain's but the entire artist community's lives which are at stake. Anybody and everybody can file a case against us now. Anyone can infringe upon our lives," said an upset Krishan Khanna, Hussain's contemporary ... Equally upset and enraged at the "vicious campaigns" against Hussain, other members of the community like filmmaker Syed Mirza, social activist Nafisa Ali, theatre personality M. K. Raina and a host of other artistes, art critics and art gallery owners came together yesterday afternoon and expressed their support for the maestro."
Even more to the point, Suhas Roya, prominent Indian artist, points out that nudity and eroticism has long been a part of Hindu art.
"Nudes are everywhere in our country - they are part of our history and culture. Khajuraho and Konarak are full of examples of eroticism. But we should be aware that emotions do run high in our country and fanatics do exist. I have done series of nudes myself, but there's been little publicity. Maybe because Husain said his depictions were of gods and goddesses. Everything Husain does gets a lot of media attention. And sometimes people feel nudes are used as gimmicks to get attention."
Reading about this case reminds me of our country's culture-wars over controversial religiously-themed art. From the "Piss Christ" to the chocolate Jesus. But instead of a gallery show getting canceled or funding pulled, the artists are hounded and made to fear for their lives, freedom, and property. It shows what far-right religious ideologues are willing to do when given enough cultural and political power.
Personally, I think blasphemy is a matter between divinity and the individual, not an arbitrary line to be used against those who have different thoughts and opinions. Not to mention that a large percentage of goddess art through many different ages and cultures was never afraid to show life-giving attributes. I'm not the only one to see this controversy as somewhat out of character for Hinduism, the Hindu blog wonders if an unhealthy influence from Abrahamic faiths are to blame.
"The naked body is not something to be ashamed of, in fact it is the temple of the Divine in Hindu theology. It is the Abrahamic religions that preach distaste and hate towards the physical body and therefore require their monastic orders to cover their bodies from head to toe. It will do a lot of good if the Hindu groups realize their folly in following traditions alien to their own."
Whatever the underlying reason for this storm, one hopes that the courts will drop these charges against MF Husain, and that he will be able to safely return to his home country once more.
Labels: art, goddess, Hinduism, India, law, M.F. Husain, Polytheism
4.26.2007
The Dinner Party
Mia Fineman at Slate takes a look at feminist artist Judy Chicago's famous installation piece "The Dinner Party" on the occasion of it taking up permanent residence at the Brooklyn Museum as the centerpiece of the new Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
"Chicago began working on The Dinner Party in 1974; it took five years and the labor of 400 volunteers to complete. The installation consists of a massive banquet table in the shape of an equilateral triangle-an emblem of equality. Along each side are 13 place settings, a reference to Christ and his 12 disciples at the Last Supper. Chicago said she wanted to reinterpret 'that all-male event from the point of view of those who had traditionally been expected to prepare the food, then silently disappear from the picture.'"
"The Dinner Party" at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art.
One third of the table is dedicated to place-settings for pre-Christian goddesses and important women from antiquity. This includes a place setting for the primordial goddess, Ishtar, Kali, the poet Sappho, and the Celtic queen Boudica. Fineman wonders if the work (originally displayed in 1979) can still be effective and moving in our cynical and irony-laden present, but finds that there is power to the installation that shines through.
"So, is The Dinner Party great art? Well, not by the standards of today's art world. It's too middlebrow, too literal, and its earnestness is out of step with today's endlessly self-ironizing sensibility. And its pudendal imagery, once radical, looks silly and heavy-handed today. But as an emphatically populist work with a clear set of political and educational imperatives, The Dinner Party has held its ground. It's nervy, ambitious, uncompromising, and-unlike most recent art, feminist or otherwise-truly original."
You can see a short interview with Judy Chicago from the opening of the permanent installation, here. For more photos of the installation check out Flickr. One wonders that if "The Dinner Party", now that it has a permanent home, will become a place of pilgrimage for goddess worshipers? It certainly stands out as one of the most famous works of modern art that has been influenced by feminist strains of modern Paganism.
Labels: art, goddess, Judy Chicago, Paganism, The Dinner Party, The Goddess
4.05.2007
Goddess Doll Posse
It seem that Bjork isn't the only popular artist to tap into Pagan-friendly themes lately. According to MTV News, Tori Amos is utilizing goddess archetypes for her new CD "American Doll Posse" (due out May 1st) to help get her message across.
"...in order to make her political statement, Amos called on "Isabel," one of the four archetypes she developed for the disc. Each of these archetypes symbolizes a particular side of her musical personality, and each is based on one of the female constituents of the Greek pantheon. Isabel, Amos explained, is a photographer and a reflection of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. Clyde, who was inspired by Persephone, the goddess of the underworld, embodies the singer's emotional and idealistic side. There's also Pip, the confrontational "warrior woman" based on Athena, and Santa, the sensual side of the artist, who was inspired by Aphrodite."
Tori Amos along with her inner goddesses.
Amos is planning to manifest these aspects on her new tour, where she will begin each show as one of the archetypes before becoming "Tori" again part-way through. But this isn't just creative dress-up for the singer-songwriter.
"It's not just, 'I'm going to wake up and play dress-up today,' " she said. "I think it's fair to say that all women are a different percentage of these archetypes, and each culture has different versions of these if you're a rich culture. And if you were around before the monotheistic authority, [when] God came and then suppressed the power of the mother gods, these women at one time were powerful and autonomous and part of the pantheon as well as the male gods. Now, of course, there's just one guy, and the women are subservient to him. I find this incredibly myopic. We have access to this rich culture as women, and we need to open ourselves up."
This isn't the first time Amos has exhibited pagan-influenced ideas, her autobiographical "Piece by Piece" (co-authored with Ann Powers) also dipped heavily into goddess archetypes, and her album "Boys for Pele" was partially influenced by the aforementioned volcano goddess. It should be interesting to see what arises at these concerts, though many of her fans already count them as a religious experience.
Labels: archetypes, goddess, music, Paganism, Tori Amos
3.04.2007
The Largest Mother Goddess Gathering
Today is the close of a 10-day annual festival in honor of Bhagavathi (the mother goddess of the Malayali Hindus). The Attukal Pongala is celebrated every year at the Attukal Bhagavathy temple in Thiruvananthapuram, and is the largest woman-only gathering in the world (around 1.5 million in 2006 and expected to grow this year).
Devotees offering pongala at the Attukal Bhagavathy
temple in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
Photo: S. Gopakumar
"A sea of women on Saturday made holy offerings of freshly cooked rice, coconut and jaggery to a Hindu deity in what the Guinness Book of World Records says is the largest gathering of women on earth. Millions of women devout prayed to Attukal Devi, the reigning deity of the Bhagawathy Temple here, to fulfill their wishes. "I have been coming for consecutive years and this is due to the blessings of Amma (Mother Goddess). I have also vowed to come here and offer prayers for the years to come," said Chippi, a Malayalam film actress."
The world "Pongala" means "to boil over" and aptly describes the tens of thousands of cooking pots offering up boiled rice and other delicacies to the goddess. The climax of the ritual on the ninth day is the ceremonial lighting of hearths for these offerings.
"At 10.45 a.m., the temple priests lit the ceremonial hearth in front of the temple amid chanting of devotional hymns, fireworks, Panchavadyam and chendamelam. This provided a signal for thousands of devotees right across the city to light up their hearths to prepare various kinds of naivedyam, the offering to the deity. Public address systems also relayed the cue to the pilgrims. A huge pall of smoke rose over the city."
The festival ends tonight after a statue of the goddess returns from a procession to the the Sree Dharma Sastha temple at Manacaud.
Labels: Attukal Pongala, Bhagavathi, goddess, Hinduism, India
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
