Solstice Celebrations

Here's a nice story about the Stonehenge Solstice celebration. Kudos to the author for understanding how to capitalize.

And, here's another nice one about Icelandic Asatru and other Pagans celebrating the returning sun. Kudos again for correct capitalization.

Sadly, not everyone seems to have gotten the message:

In their quest to bring the Christian religion to the pagan people of Western Europe, the Church cleverly incorporated existing festivals and rituals into the Christian calendar. One of the many correlations between ancient winter festivals and Christianity revolves around the older Celtic name for the festival of Alban Artuan – or the “Light of Winter”. When deciding where to put the Christian celebration of Jesus’s birth, it is little wonder that they chose this festival to herald the arrival of the “Light of the World” – a human beacon of hope and light into a time of darkness.
It is thought that pagans may have been the original “tree trimmers” as they brought greenery into the house as a symbol of life through the long dark nights. The evergreen was brought in and adorned with decorations to symbolise the various stellar objects that were important to them; the sun, the moon, the stars. These also served as gifts to the pagan gods.

Dear Caledonian Mercury, If you capitalize "Christian," then you should capitalize "Pagan." If you capitalize "Christians," you should capitalize "Druids." It's not complicated.

Picture found here.

Just Stop!

Kali Fuck, Could we PLEASE stop doing media interviews where we go on about how we don't do human sacrifice and worship the xian devil?

I stay on this point for a reason.

If you start every public interaction (or allow the media to begin each of your public interactions) with your own version of Richard Nixon's "Your President is not a crook!" all that does is ensure that every damn time people think of you or hear about you, they think, "Oh, yeah, those are the people who 'say' that they don't worship Satan." Guess what image stays in their mind? As Lyndon Johnson is once supposed to have observed, "If you're explaining, you're losing."

As I've said before, your neighborhood rabbi doesn't begin the interview about the synagogue's new charity project by asserting that Jews don't make matzoh with the blood of Christian babies. Father Flannigan does not pipe up during the interview about beatification of a new saint and announce that "Lots of Catholic priests have never sexually abused a child," and there's even a genuine basis to wonder about Catholics and sex abuse.

And there's a reason why they don't discuss those things.

As Wiki explains about George Lakoff:

Lakoff further argues that one of the reasons liberals have had difficulty since the 1980s is that they have not been as aware of their own guiding metaphors . . . . Lakoff insists that liberals must cease using terms like partial birth abortion and tax relief because [those terms] are manufactured specifically to allow the possibilities of only certain types of opinions. Tax relief for example, implies explicitly that taxes are an affliction, something [from which] someone would want "relief". To use the terms of another metaphoric worldview, Lakoff insists, is to unconsciously support it.

Pagans have GOT to quit unconsciously supporting the Abrahamic terminology that controls the dominant paradigm. Instead of Lakoff's "Don't Think of an Elephant," here's Hecate's new rule: "Don't Talk About Satan." What was it about Druids in England that got them "certified" as a charity? What cool things were they doing? Which important Druidic leaders can you cite? What charitable things have Druids done? What neat bit of Druidic history can you relate?

I get that members of the press have a story they want to tell. That makes it even more (not less) important to go in understanding what story YOU want to tell. There's a world of good things that you can say about, for example, who Druids are, what Druids do, what Druids believe. Start there. If the reporter is gauche (and being gauche is pretty much a job requirement for reporters. I know; I was raised by a newspaperman) enough (as Thorn Coyle says, at the Wild Hunt, that the reporter here was), to say, "Well, do you burn people like they did in the WickerMan?" then -- and only then -- do you explain "No, and, as a recognized religion, we find questions like that pretty insulting. In fact, Druids, who worship all forms of life, are engaged in a tree-planting ministry here that . . . ." How difficult is that? Leave mischievous quips for when you're talking to your friends, not the media.

Discipline, people. It matters.

And do NOT try to carefully answer their question! Move immediately to the point that YOU want to make. Really, is this complicated? Have you not watched a thousand news interviews? Here's basic Law School 101: Judge: Isn't X, which loses the case for you, true? You: Your Honor, Y, which wins the case for me, is important for the following three reasons. First, . . . ."

When did the use of rhetoric stop being important for magicians? It didn't.

Here's one thing you can count on: If you do a 20 minute interview and spend 5 seconds of that interview talking about human sacrifice in the WickerMan, how some Pagans look "weird," and how we don't worship Satan, THOSE ARE THE 5 SECONDS THAT WILL SHOW UP ON THE EVENING NEWS! That's because the evening news is about selling Viagra and SUVs, and a 3-second teaser showing a Pagan saying, "Human Sacrifice" will get more people to tune in and watch (the SUV commercial) than will a teaser showing a Pagan saying, "Tree planting ministry." Here's another clue: The press is not your friend, nor are they in the business of telling people important facts. Again, they are in the business of selling Viagra. When you deal with them, you are dealing with Viagra salespeople who want to use you to sell Viagra. You, meanwhile, want to use them (and their Viagra sponsors) to get out the truth about, say, Druids. Kali Fuck, Pagans, start to act as if you understood that fact! Quit pretending as if the reality were otherwise.

Seriously, has any Pagan group out there got a good press kit or a good training manual for dealing with the press? Cherry Hill Seminary? WitchVox? Lady Liberty League? Because this shit has just got to stop. Don't make me do this myself.

I'm sorry; I know that all the Pagans involved, week after week after week, in this practice are honorable people who are quite well-intentioned. But please, please, please JUST STOP. And even if it strokes your ego to get a press request, if you aren't prepared for dealing with the press, please decline. Get some training. Have a prepared statement. Role play before you get on tape. This shit matters.

Update: Just as you would never (I hope) walk into a circle and begin doing magic w/o a clear objective, you should never walk into the media circle and begin shooting off your mouth w/o a clear objective. (If you don't have a clear objective, refer the media to someone who does.) There are two fairly common objectives. One is: I'm going to use this interview to promote my book/class/Pagan Pride Day event, etc. That's fine. When they say, "So what about the way that movies portray Druids?" you say, "Sensationalism may sell movies, but, as I explain in my new book, Druiding the Druid Way for Druids, . . . ." Another is: I want to use this interview to communicate one important truth about Druids: That they respect all forms of life. That's fine. When they say "So what about the way that movies portray Druids?" you say, "Sensationalism may sell movies, but Druids respect all forms of life. For example, one group I worked with began planting new groves of American chestnuts . . . ." The one thing you do NOT want to do is go into the interview with the objective of answering all of the nice reporter's questions.

This is why we practice attention and presence and focus.

Don't make me come up in there.

Picture found here.

Everything Old Is New Again

England recognizes Druids! Actually, the Druid Network, which represents Druids in England, obtained official charitable status, which entitles it to tax breaks.

In its ruling on the group's application, the commission said it accepted that druidry was an "ancient pagan religion" in its own right involving the worship of nature, particularly the sun and the earth. [Could we get a capital "D" and a capital "P" please?]

Druid rituals involve "commonality of practice" across the faith including solar and fire festivals, ceremonies at various phases of the moon, seasonal festivals and rites of passage in life.

There had also been some official recognition already, it added, including a provision by Britain's Prison Service for the practice of druidry and the attendance of a pagan chaplain at services.
"The board members concluded that The Druid Network is established for exclusively charitable purposes for the advancement of religion for the public benefit," the Charity Commission said.

Druidry emerged in ancient Ireland and Britain and spread further afield during the Iron Age, especially into France, but became largely supplanted as Christianity took hold across Europe.
It has gained recent popularity because of its pantheistic nature and concern with ecology.

To reiterate my position: No religion should receive tax breaks. But as long as governments are going to subsidize the Abrahamic religions, Pagans should be getting the same treatment. And, you've just gotta love that it took England several thousand years to recognize its own indigenous religion. ;)

Picture found here.

I Mean It

You really, really, really need to go check out the Amazing Aquila ka Hecate today. No, really.

Picture found here.

Eisteddfod

Sounds like fun.

Hail and Farewell!

About a minute ago, Phaedra Bonewits posted on Facebook:

"Just
wanted to address the rumors that Isaac is back in the hospital. He is
at home as he had wished, but he is nearing the end. His brothers and
sisters are on their way to say goodbye. Please keep us all in your
thoughts and prayers."

Go on the Dark Moon, if you need to go, great Druid.

May the Goddess guard you. May you find your way to the Summerlands. May your friends and family know peace.

Picture found here.

Score One for the Druids of Wales

Nice to see a poet get due honor.

A MEMORIAL stone honouring the Welshman who founded the National Eisteddfod’s Gorsedd of the Bards has been saved after residents of a swish London district tried to get it removed.

Members of the 1,200-strong Friends of Regent’s Park and Primrose Hill branded Iolo Morganwg “a bloody criminal” when the plaque marking the site of the first meeting of the Bards in 1792 was unveiled last summer.

They claimed he was a forger, a liar and an opium addict, and his memorial stone by Welsh sculptor John Meirion Morris should be moved from its park location in upmarket Primrose Hill, home to the likes of Welsh actor Rhys Ifans and top Welsh chef Bryn Williams’ restaurant, Odettes.

But despite a campaign by its opponents, and a full review, the Royal Parks authority has ruled the memorial can stay.

. . .

Morganwg, dubbed ‘the poet of liberty’ among London’s literary elite, who included Coleridge and Wordsworth, claimed that Druid rites he first celebrated on June 21, 1792, had survived Roman times into later history and the Welsh were the direct descendants of Celtic culture and heritage.To reconnect with their ancient culture, he founded the Gorsedd of Bards of the Isle of Britain, whose members today include Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, opera singer Bryn Terfel, actor Ioan Gruffudd, England cricketer Robert Croft, and Wales rugby player Gareth Edwards, and held the first meeting on Primrose Hill 218 years ago. The Royal Parks gave permission to unveil a memorial with the inscription “truth against the world” last summer, before the storm blew up.

. . .

Welsh poet and novelist Dannie Abse, 87, hit back at the time, storming: “Morganwg was a legendary Welsh poet. He did forge poems, but he was a great, great scholar, and he fooled everybody. “I’m not sure if he was a drug addict, but he was certainly the best poet that went to Cardiff jail” – a reference to a spell he spent behind bars for bankruptcy. “Christopher Marlowe died in a pub brawl – but we celebrate him, don’t we? Lord Byron was a womaniser, but he is buried in Westminster Cathedral. So why not commemorate Iolo on Primrose Hill?”

The controversy over the memorial seems to have actually been brewing for some time. The memorial itself seems completely unobtrusive and uncontroversial. One wonders if the real concern isn't that it might bring Druids and other "undesirables" to a "swish" bit of London?

Picture found here.

What a Long, Strange Trip It's Been

Odd to think that a movement you watched birth itself is becoming the subject of so much research. And, speaking of historical research, on Facebook, Phaedra Bonewits reports that:

Isaac's personal papers will be going to the American Religions Collection at the library at University of California, Santa Barbara. So all you researchers will be able to rummage through his stuff :-)

.

What an amazing opportunity for historical and other forms of research! As Wikipedia reminds us, "Bonewits graduated from UC Berkeley in 1970 with a Bachelor of Arts in Magic, becoming the first and only person to have ever received any kind of degree in Magic from an accredited university." So it's fascinating to now see UC preparing to receive and provide access to his personal papers.

(As you may know, Isaac Bonewits is gravely ill. His contributions to modern Paganism have been groundbreaking and important.)

More on UC Santa Barbara here.

The American Religions Collection:

(ARC), much of which was assembled by J. Gordon Melton, primarily documents non-mainstream religions in America. The collection contains monographs, manuscript collections and serials. Melton's Encyclopedia of American Religions (6th ed., Gale Research, 1999) provides descriptive references to the various religious groups and, to a considerable extent, the collection is organized along the lines of the Encyclopedia.

Monographs in the American Religions Collection are cataloged in Pegasus and can be searched by author, title, subject etc.

The largest manuscript collection is the American Religions Collection (ARC Mss 1). Correspondence, newsletters, flyers, articles and clippings relating to hundreds of religious groups are contained in the collection. Other manuscript collections includes manuscipt material relating to specific religious movements or collected by other individuals.

Some serials in the American Religions Collection are cataloged in Pegasus. Many other serials in the American Religions Collection are indexed in a database.

For more detailed information on materials in ARC, contact David Tambo, Head of Special Collections (tel. 805-893-3420, fax. 805-893-5749). Dr. Melton also may be able to provide research assistance on an appointment basis; contact the Special Collections office (tel. 805-893-3062) for further details.

Picture found here.

Bad Druids! Bad!

"They ran riot down Front Street," said local resident Len Thenbredth, 64, "we we'e feared for our lives last year. They knocked down Mrs Thristlwatts rhododendron and threw a garden gnome through the butcher's window last year."

OK, it's not funny. I wouldn't like someone knocking down Mrs. Thristlwatt's rhododendron, not one bit. I say that as a woman who's never had good luck w/ rhododendrons. And as for disrespecting garden gnomes, well!

Somehow, I suspect these half-solstice Druids must be an offshoot branch.

Picture found here.

Burying Druids

I admit that I love cemeteries, not only for the interesting "feel" of most of them, but also for the art and the history. Here's an interesting article by the caretaker of Tulocay Cemetery in Napa Valley, California. (Who gets to live on the grounds. Sounds like fun!)

OK, now about those Druids. The United Ancient Order of Druids peaked at about 30,000 members in the 1920s. Northern California, especially Marin County, was a hotbed of Druid activity.

At one time, Napa had two “Groves,” the name for local chapters. Seems the ancient Druid priests met in groves of large trees. Which brings up an important point; many of these groups had what I call a “mythic” history that was very distinct from their empirically based history. A groups’ “mythic” history was the source of their values, practices, rituals, etc. The U.A.O.D. did not directly descend from the Druids. They simply drew their culture from this group-myth of ancient Celtic priests.
Many societies conveniently conflated their “mythic” and empirically history and would have the outsider believe they’re the same. They’re not. There’s still an active Druid “grove” in Novato. Tulocay has it’s own designated Druid section, the William Tell Grove, No. 77. Tulocay is home to 10-12 definitively marked Druid graves.

He might be surprised how many Druids there really are in Northern California these days.

Of course, some Pagans want their remains to rest (often as ashes) in a garden, a grove, the Sea. And some may choose an explicitly Pagan cemetery. We've seen Wiccan headstones at Arlington and there are movements to allow headstones for a number of other Pagan denominations at Arlington, as well. But it's fascinating to consider that there's a long history of allowing Pagan-themed headstones in private cemeteries. One wonders what the reaction would be today to a family wanting to place a headstone with a pentacle and the three-headed Goddess Hecate, for example, upon their loved one's grave.

Picture found here.

Spells For Democracy

A sad note from Phaedra Bonewits to the Spells for Democracy group:

As you all know (or I hope you know), this group was founded by Isaac Bonewits as a way of coordinating major spellcastings in the service of the democratic process.

As you also all know (or I hope you know), Isaac is now gravely ill. He is no longer online, nor is he likely to be again.

As of July 13, 2010, Phaedra is converting the Spells for Democracy list to "read only"; current members may set up a new group with a similar name.

Isaac has been such an important force in modern Paganism. May his final days be a blessing.

All The Senses, And The Extra Sacred Thing

Caledonia Is Calling Me

Someone ought to lead a tour.

Picture found here.

An Update On Isaac Bonewits

Isaac is not doing well. He's been in the hospital since I took him to the emergency room last Wednesday. He had a colostomy Sunday morning, but they are unable to do surgery on the tumors themselves. We're not sure when he's coming home from the hospital, but it may be in a day or two.

The best place I can refer you to right now is this blog post by our friend Bill Seligman. http://crytolos.livejournal.com/22678.html

I post a lot of updates on our FaceBook page. You don't have to belong to FB to view the page: http://www.facebook.com/isaac.phaedra.bonewits

Phaedra Bonewits
www.neopagan.net

A Woman Clad With The Sky

Here's a fascinating article about religious and political uses of nakedness throughout the ages. The interview, with Druid Philip Carr Gomm includes an interesting discussion about the Pagan practice of worshipping skyclad.

Speaking of angels, nakedness has been put to many uses in religion. You’re an expert in English magic, including Druidism and Wicca. How do these interests overlap?

In Wicca, and to a lesser extent in Druidism, worshiping "skyclad" (i.e. clothed only with the sky) is used as a way of getting closer to Nature and to Deity. One might think that conventional religion, in contrast to these modern pagan approaches, would shun nakedness. But in reality there are numerous examples of religious leaders using nakedness to engender mystical states or get closer to God. The first third of my book focusses on this largely unknown history: looking in particular at the way nakedness has been used not only in classical Paganism and its modern revivals, but also in Hinduism, Jainism, and most remarkable of all, Christianity. I finish this part of the book with a quotation from Dolly Parton which nicely unites Pantheistic and Christian themes: “Sometimes I like to run naked in the moonlight and the wind, on a little trail behind our house, when the honeysuckle blooms. It's a feeling of freedom, so close to God and nature.”

The skyclad rituals that I've done have been some of the lovliest and most intense ones that I've experienced. IANAFP (I am not a festival Pagan) so maybe my experience is not the norm. Do you worship skyclad? In a group or alone? Only for certain workings or certain times of year?

Picture found here.

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