About a week ago I reported on a case involving a disintegrating Pagan commune and accusations of possessing child pornography. Author Bernard King was accused of possession of child pornography after he left a computer he once owned in the possession of a child at the commune. Due to a witness changing testimony, the charges were dropped, but during the trial King accused commune founder (and Pagan author) Freya Aswynn of framing him.

“After his departure 5,518 pictures, some showing children having sex with adults, were found on a computer King gave to a fellow pagan’s teenage daughter. Police were called and King was arrested…King blamed Aswynn in court for downloading the porn.”

The other day, on my original post, Aswynn responded to King’s charges and gives her own side of the story.

“This is a long story, but I’ll keep it short. I categorically deny having put any child porn pictures on Bernard Kings computer or any other computer for that matter. The row referred to in the article did not erupt because of a replica gun. the subject of the row was over the ‘well being’ of a 8 year old girl named Aisha who was staying at the farm. This is a serious matter not brought up in court, suffice to say that the witness came to me with ‘a complaint’ against Bernard King which prompted me to force him out with the assistance of the police. No charges where brought as the child did not really came to any harm. After BK left pictures were indeed found on his computer, by the witness, I myself called the police. The witness named Tracy Lynn Wadman has a substantial criminal record involving her own child as a mule to transport cocaine from Jamaica to London she did six years, and I gave her a home once she was released of prison. She cooperated and supplied the police with evidence to roll up a Yardie gang in Harlesed in order to get a lighter sentence and therefore could not move back to London. She also tried to blackmail me two days before I left Stra’ven she wanted money of she would change her testimony. Anybody who want to talk about this further. my e-mail address is:aswynn@btinternet.com…Consider the possibility that both me and Bernard King have been had. He would have done better to put his hands up, now he’ll be hounded for money for ever after.”

So were both King and Aswynn set up by this witness? Considering her (alleged) past, and the changing of testimony during the trial, there is the possibility that both authors have been played. In any case, I repeat my fervent wish that this was indeed some sort of vindictive stunt and not the case of a pedophile waking free. If any further statements or developments happen in this matter I’ll keep you posted. I thank Aswynn for coming forward to make a statement on the matter.

Reports are coming out on Gary D. Bouma’s new study of religious life in Australia. The study (and book) entitled “Australian Soul: Religion and Spirituality in the 21st Century” reveals that Australia, rather than adopting Europe-style secularism or developing an American equivalent of the Religious Right/Secular Liberal divide, has forged its own religious identity.

“That a substantial majority of Australians (74.7%) continue to identify with a religious group, and spirituality is ever-increasing…Australia’s religious and spiritual life is increasingly diverse and less tied to formal organisations (those in the category ‘Other Religions’ in the 2001 census had increased by 33%)…Australia’s future seems certain to involve religion and spirituality, including both new and traditional forms.”

Specifically, modern Paganism is growing at a faster rate than any other faith grouping in the country.

“Amongst those religions on the rise are Buddhism (up 79% since 1996), Islam (up 40%), Hinduism (up 42%), Pentecostalism (up 11%), ‘nature religions’ including Paganism and Wicca/witchcraft, (up 130%), and Scientology (up 37%).”

So while some may debate as to whether or not modern Pagan faiths are the fastest growing in America, it seems certain that there isn’t any doubt in Australia. Combine this new data with the continuing rise of modern Paganism in Britain (not to mention Europe in general) and it seems clear that modern Pagan faiths have long passed the “tipping point” of being a mere fad or small cult(s) destined for the margins. As our loose grouping of faiths emerge among the world religions it should be interesting to see not only how the monotheist faiths react to us, but how we interact with other polytheist faiths in the world.

Drowned in Sound interviews Cradle Of Filth frontman Dani Filth. The heavy metal singer weighs in on the use of voodoo dolls in keeping his band together, and reveals a bit about his own personal belief system when asked if he believes in a God.

Dani Filth

“Yes I do, although it is an amalgam of all the relevant bits of other religious deities, including of course, the nasty ones. To avoid debates with so-called people-in-the-know, I get away with saying I’m a pagan.”

This includes Dani Filth in the rare company of eccentric musical artists who use the “p-word” to describe their eclectic or unorthodox religious beliefs. Other famous “pagans” include Neil Young and Bjork. Somehow, despite their individual statements of pagan identity or influence, I doubt we’ll be seeing any of the above playing a Pagan festival at any point in the near future.

Salon.com interviews B. Alan Wallace former Buddhist monk and author of “Contemplative Science: Where Buddhism and Neuroscience Converge.” Wallace sees the technologies of Buddhism as a bridge between science and faith. During the interview Wallace makes the case for the existence of both reincarnation and out-of-body experiences.

“Well, here’s the hypothesis. Your psyche emerged some time while you were in your mother’s womb. It’s continuing to evolve, and eventually it’s going to implode back into the substrate, carry on as a disembodied continuum of consciousness and then reincarnate. There’s the theory in a nutshell. Is that one testable? My short answer is yes, I think this is a testable hypothesis, and in principle it really should be able to be repudiated. But we’re also looking for positive evidence.”

Wallace turns to two University of Virginia scientists to back up his claims to the (possible) reality of both phenomena, Bruce Greyson who has done work on the near-death experience, and Ian Stevenson, the founder of scientific research on reincarnation. While Greyson hasn’t released any results of his studies, Stevenson has published two academic studies of possible proofs of reincarnation.

“Ian Stevenson is now retired from the psych department. He’s not a Buddhist, he wasn’t a Hindu, and he didn’t believe in reincarnation. Forty years ago he heard anecdotes of children maintaining that this wasn’t their first life and giving detailed accounts of their alleged memories of past life experiences. So he started studying it. On a shoestring budget, he and a team of researchers did this for about 40 years…He scanned thousands of accounts of children, throwing out most of them because they were either false or the child could have heard about it from parents, relatives, television and so forth. He then selected 20 cases where the accounts given by the child wound up being true when they were subjected to objective corroboration. He couldn’t see any way the child could have known this information…And then he did another 20 years of research and wrote another book..It showed the empirical findings of more cases of children giving these very detailed accounts of past life experiences. And usually they were not glorified, like I was Cleopatra or Einstein or somebody spectacular. No, [it was like,] I was a philanderer, and one of the husbands of the wives I had sex with shot me dead because I cuckolded him. So that’s not very glamorous, but that was the recollection of one of these children. This is empirical evidence. It should be scrutinized rigorously, but not thrown out dogmatically.”

Wallace dreams of a well-funded 20-year study on the matter. Though I don’t think his only problem would be with the “dogmatic atheists” he worries about. There are plenty of monotheists out there who don’t want to hear about proofs of phenomena outside their theology. Wallace also falls into the trap of equating “religion” with “monotheism” in his description of how Buddhism is different.

“It’s not just a religion. It’s not theistic. It doesn’t posit the existence of God as standing outside of creation, governing it, ruling it, punishing the wicked and rewarding the virtuous. It doesn’t have any of that.”

Which is to say *his* Buddhism isn’t theistic. Many practitioners of Buddhism (including the Buddha himself) haven’t been shy about claiming the existence of gods and spirits. Non-theism in the Eastern mind is a different concept than in the Western (often Christian) mind. For many Buddhists non-theism means there isn’t an all-powerful creator who punishes and controls, not that gods don’t exist. Many modern Pagans could easily fit into a Buddhist cosmology. What Wallace means to say is that Buddhism isn’t like the dominant monotheisms, but I think most of us already knew that. What Wallace calls for is for is a more polytheistic view of truth and the universe, something modern Pagans (and Buddhists) can surely get behind.

It looks like The Independent wanted a second opinion of Richard Rudgley’s new book “Pagan Resurrection” after it was thoroughly drubbed by David V Barrett back in October. Rudgley’s psuedo-Jungian meditation on the spirit of “Odin” in our modern age and how it empowers racist groups (even Christian racist groups) was labeled the worst kind of scholarship in the original review.

“…he is committing the ultimate sin of any anthropologist or historian, back-projecting from highly selective examples of unpleasantness today and photo-fitting them to a distorted image from the mythological past…a catalogue of racist individuals and organisations whose only connection with Odin, through very dubious links, is by assertion rather than argument.”

But the second review by Gary Lachman glosses over these criticisms and spends quite a lot of time talking about the smallest portion of the book, the 45 pages that detail the (potential) positive impacts of modern Paganism.

“The ecological and cultural aspects of the new paganism, Rudgely hopes, will promote a “global awareness”, which is different from “globalisation”, which he sees as the dark side of the web, threatening to reduce the world’s complexity to a bland uniformity. The jury is still out on that, but if our second Odin experiment isn’t to end like the first, then books like this will certainly be a help.”

Why these two very different opinions? A look at the authors of the two pieces will shed some light. The negative reviewer, David V Barrett, is a former teacher of Religious Studies and wrote a book on new religious movements. He is looking at this work as an academic, specifically an academic with an interest in modern Paganism. The generally positive review was by Gary Lachman, a former member of Blondie turned sensationalist writer on the occult. His most famous work is “Turn Off Your Mind” a look into the “dark” side of the occult in the 1960s.

So who to believe? While I don’t want to cast aspersions on Lachman or his work, I think it is telling that a negative review of his book makes this specific critique.

“Lachman further engages in questionable practices when it comes to trying to weave some of this together. He tries to connect various figures and ideas, but his links are tenuous, and he often engages in simple, reprehensible, guilty by association.”

Which sounds a lot like the criticism Barrett made of “Pagan Resurrection”. So while the Independent is willing to give us a second opinion, I think my opinion of this book will remain the same as when Barrett’s review came out.

“Rudgley has created and released a work that is sure to be avidly read by Christian apologists looking to erase the taint of racism from their own faith, and by pundits and public intellectuals looking to discredit the wider modern Paganism movement. A book to be avoided, or at best, read to better discredit its arguments.”

So remember to always check where an opinion is coming from, and when looking at books on modern Paganism written by outsiders, buyer beware!

The Santa Cruz Sentinel profiles the struggle with uterine cancer of author, songwriter, and elder in the Goddess spirituality movement Shekinah Mountainwater.

Shekinah Mountainwater
Photographer Peter Hughes

“Mountainwater is a key figure in the history of Santa Cruz’s alternative spiritual culture. She’s a musician and songwriter who emerged early on as a leading proponent of Goddess worship, a parallel discipline of paganism centered on an archetypal feminine world view. She’s the author of “Ariadne’s Thread: A Workbook of Goddess Magic,” and she’s led classes and workshops and conducted rituals and tarot-card readings.”

The local community is gathering to hold a benefit for her treatment on December 1st and 2nd at Motion Pacific in Santa Cruz.

“On Dec. 1 and 2, a community of performers and artists are coming together in a show called “Viva Shekhinah,” a variety show aimed celebrating the guest of honor. Among the performers will be Miranda Janeschild and her dance company Mir & A Company, singer/songwriter Molly Hartwell, fellow healer and singer Copperwoman, and acclaimed dancer and choreographer Frey Faust, who happens to be Shekhinah Mountainwater’s son.”

For Mountainwater, this has been a deeply “revelatory” experience, and has lead her to reconnect with the Santa Cruz Goddess community.

“It’s been hard, but it’s also been wonderful. It’s the most amazing experience, to have a life-threatening disease. The support, the community around cancer is phenomenal. There’s so much love and compassion to people with cancer.”

I hope that Mountainwater experiences a full recovery from her cancer, and lives on to be an elder to her community for many years to come.

The New York Times takes a closer look at the most famous literary creation of P. L. Travers, Mary Poppins. The article is quick to point out that the Disney version we all know is a far cry from the real personality of Ms. Poppins. In the books, Poppins is strict, acerbic, and averse to being touched. But as the Times points out, this outer appearance was necessary to house the magic contained within.

“She is a caricature of the most authoritarian form of adulthood; she is outraged by any suggestion that things might be otherwise. Eventually the children learn that “Appearances are Deceptive.” They learn, that is, that there is a split between the inner life and outward appearance, between the magic of Mary Poppins and her thoroughly adult facade. This is not a reflection of hypocrisy. Both realms are necessary. Authority, order, precision – mocked in the film and on Broadway – are intertwined with her magic. In part this reveals how children perceive adulthood. Children are asked to submit to formal restrictions they don’t fully grasp; they see exaggerated manifestations of responsibility and authority. Yet underneath the adult exterior they also sense strange, half-threatening and half-alluring forces that promise a realm of magical freedom. Travers captured that double vision – that confusion and melding of realms – that makes childhood so powerful.”

Even more interesting is that Mary Poppins (now the subject of an award-winning musical) was a product of the same era in Britain that produced Wicca. Travers had many similar interests to the founders of Wicca. This included a fierce devotion to the poet and mystic William Butler Yeats (a member of the Golden Dawn), and becoming a student of the mystic G. I. Gurdjieff*. These influences (among others) blended to help create her unique version of a magical woman.

“With Mary Poppins, though, she turned that mystical conception into a domestic one, and actually made it more compelling. Mary Poppins regularly opens a door into dimensions outside ordinary space and time for the benefit of her charges: a star from the Pleiades constellation comes to Earth in the form of a girl, a statue of a Greek god comes to life to play with Jane and Michael, an ancient crone grows fingers made of barley-sugar. Mary Poppins herself seems a creature of the heavens temporarily brought to Earth.”

It is easy to imagine that if these influences had been a shifted a bit, Mary Poppins could easily have been an adherent of the “old religion” of Pagan Witchcraft. Travers, only ten years younger that Gerald Gardner, and traveling in some of the same mystical subcultures could easily have gone that direction. For more on the mystical (and poetical) subcultures percolating at that time, Ronald Hutton’s “Triumph of the Moon” is a decent place to start. Imagine how close we came to a Pagan Poppins!

* Fun fact: Both Gurdjieff and Yeats shared an extreme dislike of Aleister Crowley. Read about Gurdjieff’s account, here, and an account of Crowley’s and Yeats’ mutual dislike can be read, here.

While for many today is a day of Thanksgiving and celebration (and eating too much turkey and watching televised sports), there are others who see this time as a time for mourning.

Since 1970, indigenous American activists have gathered on Coles Hill in Plymouth to draw attention to the ongoing discrimination, revisionist history, and inequities visited towards Native peoples in America. On this day I offer some indigenous (and indigenous-friendly) voices in the news. Consider it a counter-balance of sorts to the consumerist status-quo.

“It’s been said that the winners get to write history. Not that Mashpee Wampanoag consider themselves losers. They don’t – especially now that the tribe is on the cusp of being granted federal recognition…Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council Chairman Glenn Marshall said that while he has plans to have a “regular” Thanksgiving meal with his family, he can’t help but feel torn about the holiday. “I have a meal with my family like everybody else, but it’s still a day of mourning for me. I compare it to 9/11 – an attack on a way of life and a loss of innocence. That’s how Wampanoags felt,” said the Vietnam War combat veteran.” – Sean Gonslaves, Cape Cod Times

“While millions of Americans sit down to turkey dinners or watch the big football game, nearly 1,000 American Indians will gather in Plymouth for their National Day of Mourning…”We want people to know the truth about Thanksgiving,” James said. “Plymouth Rock is nothing more than a monument to racism and genocide.” But James said he’s not “anti-Thanksgiving.” “I think people should give thanks 365 days a year,” he said. “This is also a day of celebration for us. We remember our ancestors. We celebrate the fact that we’re still around.” The Day of Mourning is scheduled to begin at noon Thursday at the statue of Massasoit on Cole’s Hill, Plymouth.” – Gerry Tuoti, The Taunton Gazette

“When we dare to stand up for our rights, we are considered unreasonable. When we speak the truth about the history of the European invasion, we are often told to “go back where we came from.” But we came from right here, our roots are here. They do not extend across any ocean.” – Moonanum James and Mahtowin Munro, Z Magazine

“History does matter, which is why people in power put so much energy into controlling it. The United States is hardly the only society that has created such mythology. While some historians in Great Britain continue to talk about the benefits that the empire brought to India, political movements in India want to make the mythology of Hindutva into historical fact. Abuses of history go on in the former empire and the former colony. History can be one of the many ways we create and impose hierarchy, or it can be part of a process of liberation. The truth won’t set us free, but the telling of truth at least opens the possibility of freedom. As Americans sit down on Thanksgiving Day to gorge themselves on the bounty of empire, many will worry about the expansive effects of overeating on their waistlines. We would be better to think about the constricting effects on the day’s mythology on our minds.” – Robert Jensen, Austin American-Statesman

“Traditional people dedicate their harvest to the gods or their people. Each has a different thing: ‘I’m thanking the creator,’ and ‘Appreciate what you have and spread your wealth, rather than hoarding and selling everything.’ In tribal beliefs, it’s almost a socialist type of society. No one is richer or poorer than anyone else.” – Sundust Teocuauhtli Martinez, New American Media

I hope all of you enjoy a day of both reflection and thanksgiving.

The York Daily Record reports on a interfaith meeting that took place this week to talk about the lessons from the horrific Amish school shooting that left five girls and the shooter dead. All there spoke about the forgiveness of the Amish, and how forgiveness manifested in their own lives. This included local Pagan Nancy Worley, who’s husband was a victim of Lebanese terrorists.

Nancy Worley, right, talks with Rabbi Irwin Goldenberg
(Bil Bowden – YDR)

“Nancy Worley, a representative of the Pagan community, said that, after more than 20 years, it was time to share her feelings about the impact hate had on her life and family after the death of her husband at the hands of terrorists during the conflict in Lebanon. She was left a young widow, with two young sons. ‘I was so deeply affected by the senseless- ness of it,’ she said. ‘It was the kind of thing that you can’t run away from, can’t hide from. I wished for peace, and the only way I could get that was through total forgiveness.’ Allowing the wound to fester, she said, would have prevented her from dealing with the grief. It would have ‘killed me. I never could have moved on.’”

While most likely not planned by the reporter, this honest expression of Pagan faith is a strong reminder that ideas of forgiveness or grace are not exclusive to the dominant monotheisms. Thanks to Nancy Worley for telling her story, and thanks to Jeffrey Roth of the York Daily Record for letting that voice be heard.

Considering yesterday’s Thelema and Crowley related news piece, I decided to see what else was going on in the world of the “great beast”. It seems Crowley’s influence (or at least his reputation for wickedness) is as great as it ever was among artists.

On Halloween (of course) the Syndey Morning Herald reviewed a book by “Rosa Mundi” (thought to be a pseudonym of British author Fay Weldon) entitled “Vocational Girl”. The book follows the life of a part-time sexual escort who gets wrapped up in a Crowley-inspired world of ritualistic sex.

“At Alden’s house, she is soon corseted and cuffed to a custom-made bondage bed. So far, so titillating, so trite. But Alden’s purpose is not merely sex: he is an adept of Aleister Crowley’s early 20th-century occult faith of Thelema; and part of his research for a musical composition with which he hopes to attain enlightenment (and success on Radio 3) is based on recording Joan’s physiological responses to sexual torture.”

While the Herald’s reviewer ultimately enjoyed the book, the Guardian wasn’t so kind.

“It may all sound like the makings of a comic cult classic, but though I love Dennis Wheatley and Anne Rice as much as the next pagan, Vocational Girl has none of their panache or conviction.”

No word yet from the Thelemites on what they think of the book.

From books to a movie in the UK entitled “Puritan” where Crowley’s influence pops up once again. Derek Malcolm of the Evening Standard gives the film a generally positive review (even though he thinks the production is a bit uneven).

“The killing comes as no real surprise, since it transpires that Aleister (The Beast) Crowley once lived in Puritan’s house and was said to have summoned up the Devil there. Hadi Hajaig produced, directed, wrote and helped to edit this weird and sometimes rather wonderful film which is original, if pretty uneven. He’s distributing it himself, and you have to wish him luck.”

Adding to the spookiness of a “Satanic” Crowley are allusions to Whitechapel and the architecture of Nicholas Hawksmoor. No word yet on when we’ll see it here in America.

Finally, due to some gig listings on Google News, I discovered the existence of an avant-garde orchestral trio called the “Thelema Trio”.

“All great artists in the history of music had the privilege to work with the composers of their time. They used their talents to meet the new challenges and in this way the new music was introduced to the audience. Inspired by this tradition Thelema was formed in August 2002. The opportunity to work with composers themselves adds an extra and important dimension to our performance and our mentality. This is what our trio stands for. We are always open to new ideas and hope to expand our technical and musical skills. We want to inspire composers to write for this ensemble and to experiment beyond the frontiers of composition and instrumental technique. As it was also the idea of the abbeye of Thelema on other subjects in the early 20th century.”

Proving, perhaps, that the influence of Crowley and Thelema can indeed be sublime and not merely tawdry or wicked. You can find sound samples from the group on their web site.