(Pagan) News of Note

My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

Terry Jones (of Monty Python fame) defends the honor of barbarians everywhere, and takes the wind out of a few Roman sails.

“Seen through the eyes of people who possessed trained soldiers to fight for them, they were easily portrayed as simple savages. But that was far from the truth. The fact that we still think of the Celts, the Huns, the Vandals, the Goths and so on as “barbarians” means that we have all fallen hook, line and sinker for Roman propaganda. We actually owe far more to the so-called “barbarians” than we do to the men in togas…Western society’s enthusiasm since the renaissance for all things Roman has persuaded us to see much of the past through Roman eyes, even when contrary evidence stares us in the face. Once we turn the picture upside-down and look at history from a non-Roman point of view, things start to look very, very different.”

Lacey Nadeau, writing for the San Diego Union-Tribune, profiles a local Beltane gathering and does a fairly decent job of covering Wicca.

“In ancient tradition, people who lived closely connected to the land recognized only two seasons: growing and non-growing. Modern-day Wiccans joke that it’s pretty much the same in San Diego: Summer and not summer. Under overcast skies, local Wiccans recently celebrated the changing of seasons during Beltane, one of their major holidays, which ushers in the arrival of a period of life, warmth and growth.”

The Post Online profiles the Rev. KC DaiKai WarEagle, a former fundamentalist Christian, then Pagan, and now practitioner of Zen Buddhism.

“Paganism didn’t satisfy her search for religion. She enrolled in Southwestern Community College in Sylva, N.C., a few years later to pursue a degree in computer forensics. There she met a man in her class one day playing with a mala, a set of 108 beads used to recite mantras with. She asked him about the beads and he told her that he was a Buddhist, she said…Shortly after, she found a teacher in Asheville, N.C., and within a week decided that she wanted to become a monk, synonymous for a priest or a nun in the religion. WarEagle did not want to be called a nun, because of the sexist label.”

Against the senseless drilling in ANWR? Rabbi Aryeh Spero says that you are a…(wait for it)..dirty anti-Christian Pagan!

“What political debate more than any other today tests one’s belief in God and the Bible? Reciting “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance? No. The display of nativity scenes during Christmas season? Still, no. It is our drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska. For this issue boils down to whether we place real human needs over the lifestyle patterns of animals, in this case, the caribou. It revolves around the fundamental biblical assertion of where God placed human in His cosmic design…It’s not about oil. It’s about neo-paganism, stupid! I suppose, then, the ACLU will demand no drilling as a means of guaranteeing a “separation of church and state,” since drilling implies an acquiescence to the biblical view that man’s needs take precedence over the lifestyle patterns of animals.”

Is Starhawk one of the great recruiters for anarchism? Some anarchists seem to think so.

“Anarchism needs to become reflexive. But how? On one level the answer seems obvious. One should not lecture, not dictate, not even necessarily think of oneself as a teacher, but must listen, explore and discover. To tease out and make explicit the tacit logic already underlying new forms of radical practice. To put oneself at the service of activists by providing information, or exposing the interests of the dominant elite carefully hidden behind supposedly objective, authoritative discourses, rather than trying to impose a new version of the same thing. How to move from ethnography to utopian visions-ideally, as many utopian visions as possible? It is hardly a coincidence that some of the greatest recruiters for anarchism in countries like the United States have been feminist science fiction writers like Starhawk or Ursula K. LeGuin.”

Finally, Deborah Oak presents a wonderful meditation on magic, prayer, and if we should ask for big things or little things.

“Another friend has repeatedly said that she thought Reclaiming was about teaching magic aimed at changing the world, but found out it really was about learning how to get good parking spaces. I’m wondering if that might actually be a nobler goal, the simple art of interacting with the world in the moment, of asking for help inserting ourselves into it in a comfortable and easy way. Annie Lamott said there’s two prayers; help me, help me, and thank you, thank you. I’ve found this to be true, and my “spellwork” in most recent years involves them both. It’s been ages since I embarked on a big spell to change the world, having lost confidence in these awhile back. Bringing down the fortress most likely will mean that we’ll all end up being the first with bricks on our heads. Throwing yarn about to weave a new world looks to the objective eye like creating a chaotic pattern to get tangled in. For me, at the moment, I feel much more comfortable with requesting a nice restaurant to materialize around the corner when I’m beat tired, and then offering up my thanks when it appears.”

Whether you wish for big things or little things, may you have a good day.

Tags: Paganism