The Washington Post’s “On Faith” blog asks its panelists to weigh in on if presidential candidate Barack Obama elicits “religious fervor” among his followers. Pagan author and activist Starhawk’s response is that Obama is casting a “good and needed spell”.

“If politicians hired Witches or magicians as consultants, we’d tell them that your deep mind responds to positive words and images, and doesn’t get ‘no’ … Magically speaking, then, Obama is casting a good spell. Whether he wins or loses, he’s filling the psychic and emotional atmosphere with words like ‘healing’ and ‘hope’. The effect is like a clean breeze blowing through a morass of stinking, noxious fumes. People want to believe, because they like the way he makes them feel about themselves … Obama evokes some powerfully appealing archetypes. Think of all those myths and fairy tales about the humble-seeming outsider who turns out to be the true king, throwing out the corrupt rulers and restoring health and healing. We’re a contradictory people – we love underdogs, while we despise losers – but there’s nothing we love more than the little guy who comes from behind and beats all the odds to win the pennant.”

Starhawk also takes some time to advise Hillary Clinton to drop the experienced “responsible mom” meme she has been spreading as part of her campaign, stop attacking Obama on issues of “faith and trust”, and go the route of the visionary instead.

“In the contest of archetypes, women are at a disadvantage, facing a deep, unconscious sexism that limits our collective imagination … if I were Hillary Clinton’s campaign advisor, I’d tell her, stay away from that archetype. Responsible Mom is not going to win over Aragorn the Exiled King. Instead, I would urge, be Joan of Arc. Find your vision, and be so passionately driven by it that you would stand forth and challenge kings and armies. Show us your courage, which we know you have. Tell us ‘I stood forth and went into realms where few women dared to go, because I care so deeply about the welfare of all of us.’”

As the March 4th primaries approach, it remains to be seen if Obama’s “magic spell” will hold out, or if Clinton will be able to break through with her own visionary message. But win or lose, it seems apparent that Obama’s “good and needed spell” will continue to resonate, and like all primal archetypal magic, may change the Democratic party, and America, more deeply than we may realize now.

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

The National Post discusses the “trouble with Mary” (specifically her virgin birth), and archetypes of belief that collectively influence us.

“Christ is born at the darkest time of the year. That’s not an accident. There are a lot of extremely complex ideas behind that. So here’s one: the redeeming hero emerges when the need is greatest. The hero is born not only when things are darkest but also when tyranny has reached new heights. There are dozens of examples like that which underlie the way these stories are constructed; they are stunningly profound and people relive them all the time.”

That quote, from psychologist Prof. Jordan Peterson, ties into his theory that belief is as “necessary as air and water” (and also echoes a point Pagans have been making during this time of year for ages). That everyone, no matter their philosophic orientation, holds onto core beliefs (because the universe “is far more complicated than we are smart”) to steer them through life.

American Indian columnist Dorreen Yellow Bird weighs in on the recent “Lakota Freedom” movement, and admits it is a good idea, but a good idea come too late.

“Means and his group have some points – perhaps 200 years too late, but they do have some points … We have, however, gone beyond those years. We have taken on the federal government as our government, too. That means the government also provides us funding and supplies for programs such as Head Start, housing, social services and so on – just like it does for the rest of the country … Finally, there the treaties. For the Three Affiliated Tribes, the Fort Laramie treaties of 1851 and 1886 provided land. True, the U.S. government took some of that land rather surreptitiously, but we were able to hold the line because of that legal document – a treaty. Those documents are important, shouldn’t be abrogated and should be taken seriously. Means and his group are seemingly out of step, but they remind us of our tragic history.”

The Baltimore Chronicle & Sentinel has printed an editorial from Jason Leopold that paints a chilling picture of Christian indoctrination at basic training camps.

“The Christian right has been successful in spreading its fundamentalist agenda at US military installations around the world for decades. But the movement’s meteoric rise in the US military came in large part after 9/11 and immediately after the US invaded Iraq in March of 2003. At a time when the United States is encouraging greater religious freedom in Muslim nations, soldiers on the battlefield have told disturbing stories of being force-fed fundamentalist Christianity by highly controversial, apocalyptic “End Times” evangelists, who have infiltrated US military installations throughout the world with the blessing of high-level officials at the Pentagon. Proselytizing among military personnel has been conducted openly, in violation of the basic tenets of the United States Constitution.”

Leopold says that much of the military evangelism is carried out by Military Ministry, who have gained unprecedented access to places like Fort Jackson Army base in Columbia, South Carolina. The question remains on how safe our Pagan solidiers (and other religious minorities) will be if this increasingly Christian military is left unchecked.

Coming back to the Green Bay Pentacle wreath controversy, Muskego Mayor John Johnson explains why his city won’t be dealing with the problems Green Bay now has.

“You have to be respectful of all religions and if you start putting one display up, you have to put up displays for everybody,” Muskego Mayor John Johnson said. “If you put up a Nativity scene and then a group asks you to put up a Hanukkah display or a display for the Muslim holiday, do you tell them no? You can’t.”

Always refreshing to hear from someone in Wisconsin who understands how to manage a Constitutional holiday display. In related news, you can now download the NPR program Here On Earth featuring interviews with Circle Sanctuary’s Selena Fox (who put up the Pentacle wreath in Green Bay) and Graham Harvey, professor of Religious Studies at the Open University, UK, discussing the Winter Solstice.

“This hour on Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, Lori Skelton and her guests celebrate winter solstice, the longest night of a year with stories from different religions and cultures around the world.”

You can download the show, here (mp3 link).

That is all I have for now, may your celebrations of the returning sun be festive tomorrow.

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.