“Newcomers to Halloran’s “reik” — an alternate spelling for “reich,” or territory — are considered “thralls.” The word literally translates as “slave,” and Sancio acknowledges that it’s an “unfortunate” word, and one he didn’t want to find himself defending. Sancio describes theodish thralldom as “a period of learning, and enculturation. It’s not abusive.” Bloch says that thralls “learn humility” and engage in “menial chores, like washing the dishes.” It’s a chance, Bloch says, for the newcomer to make sure the group is a good fit. Every thrall has a mentor, and Halloran was Sancio’s during his introduction to New Normandy. The strict hierarchy has theological consequences: the group believes that “luck” falls from the Gods to their representative, Halloran, who passes it on to those who have sworn oaths to him.”

Thrasher also interviews several Pagans for the story, including Selena Fox and Margot Adler, and he gets quotes from two politically conservative Pagans, Donald Meinshausen and Rob “Red Alerts” Taylor. Taylor, as always, has some nice things to say about Wiccans.

“Wiccans and re-constructionist pagan religions engage in infighting,” he says, charging “Wicca is just smearing the competition.” Taylor initially came to paganism as a teenager via Wicca, but the young Reaganite soon turned to Odinism. Odinism’s rules and order appealed to his conservative nature, while Wicca he now describes as a “fraud” and “a leftist thing — not just Democrat, but far left politically. Theodism and heathenism are more conservative.”

All-in-all it’s a well-executed and well-researched story (he even links to my blog), but there is one troubling element, which is Thrasher’s decision to interweave controversies about racist/racialist forms of Heathen religion into the narrative. The article at several points discusses the problem of racist Heathens/Odinists in prisons, mentions a violent racist killer, and describes the “trepidation” that non-Heathen Pagans have concerning “white nationalist elements” inside Asatru/Odinism/Heathenry. What he doesn’t do is convincingly justify examining this racist minority within the context of a story about Halloran’s faith and beliefs, especially when, at almost every turn, it is pointed out that you shouldn’t automatically connect Heathen symbols and religion with the racist elements who utilize the same symbols/beliefs.

“Frank Wilson, a retired Deputy of Intelligence for the Federal Bureau of Prisons, says that he watched out for new Odinist groups at institutions because most people trying to start them “were white supremacists, and were willing to use it for nefarious reasons.” Still, he cautions that Odinism does not necessarily denote white nationalist fervor. “You can’t point to a tattoo and say ‘you’re a white supremacist,’ or point to it and say ‘you’re an Odinist,’” he says.”

It would be like profiling a Christian candidate, while interweaving discussion about the Christian Identity Movement, even though everyone you interview repeats that such people are a isolated minority and don’t represent the mainstream of that faith. Thrasher’s own article dismisses any racism, real or imagined, on the part of Halloran, but the fact that so much of the piece explores these elements joins the two story threads together in the minds of voters. That is troubling. There is plenty to write about concerning Halloran, his candidacy, and his faith, without also mixing in outside controversies concerning the growth of racist Odinist groups.

Should you be judged by your graduate thesis? That very issue is heating up the Virginia governor’s race where Republican candidate Robert F. McDonnell is fielding questions concerning a 1989 thesis he submitted to Regent University in Virginia Beach. In it, McDonnell rails against feminism, homosexuality, contraceptives, and “occult” television shows damaging children. The solution to these problems? The government must empower the (Christian) church.

“…government at all levels must help create the legal and financial conditions to unleash the power of the church to restore broken families and create the safety net of pastoral care for families … every level of government should statutorily and procedurally prefer married couples over cohabitators, homosexuals, or fornicators.”

The local Democrats are jumping all over this while McDonnell claims that he’s “moderated” his views since that “academic exercise” in 1989 and shouldn’t be judged by it. However, as Wendy Kaminer at the Atlantic explained in a recent editorial, the thesis does bring up some deeper questions about McDonnell, such as what role he now believes sectarian religious beliefs should have within government. Can non-Christians in Virginia trust that he’s “moderated” enough to treat all religions fairly once in office?

The Southern Poverty Law Center, in their Fall 2009 Intelligence Report, focuses on the growth of Odinist and Asatru prison groups in the wake of court decisions granting them “certain rights” that prisons must accommodate. This being the SPLC, the majority of their focus is on racist manifestations of Norse Paganism behind bars, though they do admit that Asatru is largely “benign” in the free world.

“As practiced by Owen and others outside prison, Odinism tends to be a benign form of paganism, tolerant of others and close to nature. Behind the walls, however, it is likely to take on a more sinister cast, and many prison wardens have long regarded Odinism as the religious arm of white supremacist prison gangs. The U.S. Supreme Court has nonetheless ruled that Odinist inmates have certain rights that prisons must recognize. So while a decade ago a pagan volunteer like Owen would have been dismissed as a kook or, at worst, a gang liaison, Odinist inmates today can wear Thor’s Hammer pendants under their jumpsuits and request visits from outside leaders.”

The piece also debates what percentage of incarcerated Norse Pagans/Odinists/Asatru are racists. While one Asatru chaplain (Valgard Murray of the Asatru Alliance) says the number is as low as ten percent nationally, the Texas prison system says that racists are 90% of their Odinist/Asatru population. They also touch on a case where Murray testified against incarcerated Odinists in an ongoing lawsuit, garnering the ire of other Odinist groups. On the whole, this is a fairly even-handed report for a hate-groups watchdog and they should be commended for seeking out and interviewing Asatru/Odinist prison chaplains.

The New York Times gives a rather critical review to the new travel series “Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre World” for not being all that, well, bizarre.

“He’s kept “Bizarre” in the title for branding purposes, but based on the Cuba episode, it now barely applies. In the course of an hour his most extreme activities are eating barbecued tree rat and taking part in a Santeria ceremony. The sight of his bald scalp covered in chicken blood is a bit unsettling, but he undercuts it with some all-American mugging and a big thumb’s up for the camera.”

Oooh chicken blood! Santeria! How bizarre! Nothing like exploiting a local religion to amuse your audience. The New York Times also dings Zimmern for conveniently overlooking the politics that led to all the “bizarre” idiosyncrasies of Cuban life (the fishing is great for tourists because Cubans aren’t allowed on boats, people eat tree-rats, all the cars are super-old), after all, we wouldn’t want to get too bizarre and upset the Cuban government now would we?

The Boston Globe reports on the increasing demand for hospital chaplains as patients admitted to hospitals now tend to be sicker and need spiritual guidance in dealing with life-or-death issues.

“Since 2004, requests for chaplains at the Brigham have jumped 23 percent. At Massachusetts General Hospital, requests have grown 30 percent since the hospital began tracking visits in 2006. And at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, which expanded its pastoral care program last year, monthly visits are expected to rise to at least 540 this month, a 10-fold increase over the same time last year.”

It remains unsaid in this article, but if demand for priests, ministers, rabbis and imams are growing, it stands to reason that requests for minority-religion chaplains are also increasing. This makes credible and thorough training for Pagan chaplains an increasingly important issue, one that growing organizations like Cherry Hill Seminary (disclosure: I’m on their BOD) are trying to address in their curriculum. As Paganism’s second wave hits retirement and deals with the illnesses that often come with old age, will our movement be ready to meet their spiritual needs?

In a final note, congratulations to Pagan blogger Betsy Phillips at Tiny Cat Pants and Pith in the Wind who is starting a guest-stint at the major-league feminist blog Feministe.

“I’m a heathen, though not a very formal one. I hope we can talk about that, too, why I, the daughter of a Methodist minister, left Christianity and became a polytheist. I know paganism, broadly, is loaded with feminists, and yet, it seems to me, we rarely talk openly about what we pagans believe and why to other feminists.  And for good reasons. I know I feel like a damn fool when I talk about it, but it’s important to me and a lot of the reason I left Christianity had to do with being a woman, so maybe we can just try it and see how it goes.”

You can read all of her guest-posts, here.

That’s all I have for now, have a great day!

“Collin Bentley, an Odinist, said, “Our arms are raised (in the air). So it’s easy to see how a bunch of white guys, in a park, with tattoos, could be mistaken.” With all of the complaints from the nearby community, a park ranger and two Kern County sheriff’s deputies were called out to investigate these rituals.Don Parkins, an Odinist said, “We paused, answered their questions, pointed out our artifacts, the altar, the flag, what we were doing, laid it out for them in basic. And they said, ‘OK, you’re not breaking any laws, you’re not being disruptive, so you folks have a good day now.’” But the group said the ranger came back with five more deputies, and wanted them to leave.Parkins said, “(The ranger) said, “I won’t have that (expletive) in my park ever again.’ And I said, ‘Well let’s go back to north of the river’, and he said, ‘You won’t have it in any of my parks.’”" He stepped over the line at that point. He’s gone beyond what his call of duty is,” Parkins said.”

After this story hit the news-wires Wren’s Nest picked it up, and soon it spread through various social networking sites and message boards. It is certainly obvious that the group shouldn’t have been kicked off the park, they didn’t seem to be harming or threatening anyone, and they’ll no doubt have recourse for a lawsuit should they choose to pursue it. But why the strange about-face from the park ranger? Why did he go from “have a good day” to “you won’t have it in any of my parks”? Now it is true that Bakersfield, California is no wonderland for occult and Pagan religions, they were the infamous home of a major Satanic (panic) ritual abuse case in the 1990s, and an occult shop there was harassed back in 2007, but this seems a bit different. Why the turn-around? If the ranger was a Pagan-hater I doubt he would have given them a pass the first time around.

For the answer, we need to do some digging into the group holding the ritual as to why things got so heated. But before we begin, I need to stress that this shouldn’t change the outcome of any potential legal case whatsoever. This group has as much a right to use public property as any other group, I’m simply trying go deeper than the rather sparse ABC affiliate news report. What the report doesn’t tell you is that this group is a conservative “folkish” Odinist group. Considering the fact that many Odinists re-appropriate symbols tainted by the Nazis, (like the Black Sun, which the group posts on its web page) perhaps the first ranger was mis-informed by the other rangers after his initial encounter that this was actually a Nazi group. Certainly it couldn’t have helped when a neighbor told rangers that “(they were) saluting Hitler with their war bird flag.” That still doesn’t justify their expulsion, but it may explain the strange change of heart that led to their eviction.

In any case, according to Raven’s Folk Kindred, a complaint is now pending, and we’ll see if this leads to litigation.

“There was a Formal Complaint made to Zach Miller of the NOR. The complaint was faxed to him the day after the call was made to the director of NOR. If NOR decides not to keep us up to date on the actions they are taking to correct the situation we are prepared to move forward with a civil suit.”

We’ll keep you posted regarding any updates.

About ten years ago, I met a practitioner of Santeria for the first time. I had already read many books about Santeria, and was very enamored of the Orishas, but he was the first actual initiate I ever met. We started comparing and contrasting our religious beliefs and practices, Wicca with Santeria.

One of the first things he asked me was how I worked with the Ancestors. Like most Wiccans, I replied “Oh, yeah, I give them a nice big feast once a year at Samhain.” He looked startled, and said, “But that’s not nearly often enough. You need to invoke the Ancestors in every ceremony, even before you invoke the deities. If you don’t acknowledge the Ancestors, and give them food and drink offerings, they won’t help you. And they are magically powerful!”

These were interesting thoughts to me: that the Ancestors should be invoked in every ceremony, and that they needed to receive offerings from me to engage their help. I remembered many mentions of “ancestor worship” in ethnologies I read as an anthropology undergraduate. I started pursuing my own connection with the Ancestors, and learning to engage the Ancestors as a force in my magical work, predominantly in my shamanic healing work.

My shamanic teacher Sandra Ingerman supported my interest in ancestral spirits. Sandra likens us—the living—to a sports team currently playing a game, and she compares the Ancestors to the audience in the stadium, watching, cheering, booing….. and sometimes interfering on their team’s behalf. Sandra invokes the Ancestors as well as the Descendants in every ceremony she leads. Sandra believes we live on a continuum of time, the currently incarnate sandwiched between the discarnate Ancestors and the discarnate Descendants. In Sandra’s opinion and practice, both the Ancestors and the Descendants are sources of healing and magical power.

As I worked with the Ancestors over the course of ten years, I began to see a big difference in the results of my shamanic healings, especially in the areas of inherited disease and multi-generational curse breaking. I came to see that Sandra Ingerman and my Santeria friend were onto something powerful: the Ancestors can provide a lot of magical potency if they are petitioned to help their living descendants. This is a practice found almost universally in religions and spiritual paths with a similar world-view to Wicca, but is absent in the modern construct that is Wicca.

My Wiccan priest and priestess in Ireland, Gavin Bone and Janet Farrar, have this to say about the role of the Ancestors within Wicca:

The idea of ‘the Ancestors’ was something that was never talked about when we first became involved in Wicca; there was no reference to ancestral worship within ritual or the Book of Shadows. This has begun to change in the last few years, as many Wiccans have realised that something intrinsic is missing in their practise. Wiccans have begun to investigate the African Diaspora religions, and genuine Native American and other tribal religions, to learn more about how to incorporate the Ancestors into Wiccan ceremonies. We, ourselves, were honoured to be recognised by the Lesotho Sangoma (traditional healers) Ancestors as Elders when we traveled to South Africa to teach Wicca. As more and more western Pagans begin to investigate the Earth aspect of our spiritualities, they are finding that it is meaningless without recognition and contact with their ancestral spirits.

My much more local Wiccan priest in Delaware, author and teacher Ivo Dominguez, Jr. writes:

Belief in the power of the ancestors is normally associated with a worldview that populates the universe with a complicated ecology of spiritual beings and spiritual forces. Each type of Spirit has its place and merits respect and treatment appropriate to its niche. It is not surprising that interest in working with the ancestors is on the rise in the Neo-Pagan community, as it is an almost inevitable descendant of this worldview. (From Spirit Speak)

So who are the Ancestors? Are the Ancestors different from the ancestors? Again, I turn to Ivo Dominguez, Jr.’s Spirit Speak for enlightenment:

Merely dying does not make you one of the Ancestors. In most traditional cultures, only those people who have led exceptional lives become available as sources for guidance and information after they have died. Exceptional means that they are exemplary, which can mean good, bad and everything in between. A really bad Ancestor makes for a really good cautionary tale. People who become the Ancestors do not fade from memory, because their stories are told and retold.

I began to realize that the Ancestors were not only the dead people in my genetic line, but included diverse dead people from various categories. In his book Spirit Allies, Christopher Penczak highlights this issue:

Ancestors unrelated by blood are kindreds, those people with a similar path, problems, or inspirations as you. They have sympathy for your life and times. Think about those in the past with whom you feel a kinship. If you are a writer, you could feel a bond with a particularly inspiring author from history.

So how do these exemplary Ancestors transition from being ancestors to becoming Ancestors? Again, we can learn more about this from non-Western sources, because the rise of monotheism obliterated the rituals our genetic ancestors used in northern Europe. Malidoma Patrice Some teaches a ritual process he calls ancestralization, based on the beliefs and practices of his tribe, the Dagara of Burkina Faso:

Dagara people’s main job is to look the dead in the face, to treat their bodies not as remains but as temples of grace and beauty continuing from this world to the other. People grieve the passing of loved ones, though in this grief they stress beauty and community and continuity. The handing over of the loved one to the realm of the ancestors is what we call ancestralization. It allows for a sense of completion in the vast array of duties following the passing of a person. In this five-day event, we address this issue of fulfilling our duties toward the dead in the interest of transforming restlessness into rest, discontinuity into continuity and homelessness into homecoming.

One of my dearest friends, astrologer and Wiccan priestess Diotima Mantineia, has studied with Malidoma Some and participated in his ancestralization ceremonies. For a couple of years, I nagged her to set up an ancestor altar as part of her spirit worship. She replied that she didn’t get along with her family very well, and would prefer to exclude her ancestral line from her magical and spiritual practices, except at Samhain. Like water on a rock, I continued to nag in what I hope wasn’t an irritating way. Finally, Dio set up an ancestral altar, and some years later, was called to enroll in Malidoma’s class. Here is her description of the ancestralization ceremony:

For five days, our “village” of 25 people came together to make a remarkable ritual happen. We prepared by lovingly creating sticks and stools, physical representations of male and female ancestors, ritually enlivening them, then connecting with our ancestors in an all-night vigil, to give our ancestors the honor and the place in our lives they (and we!) deserve.

The ritual changed my life in profound ways, despite the fact that I had been working ritually with my ancestors for a number of years already. But the power of the rituals we performed during those five days broke through barriers between me and my ancestors that I was not even aware were there, and that was a great gift….

Diotima’s experience illustrates another point about the Ancestors: we Wiccans have left the spiritual path followed by our most recently departed Ancestors. How do the Ancestors feel about us becoming Pagans, and leaving the monotheistic religions of our families? Here is Christopher Penczak’s take on this issue, again quoted from his book Spirit Allies:

Practitioners also fear that the ancestor will not approve of the new spiritual path because they wouldn’t have approved in life. I’ve heard many times new witches thinking their departed loved ones are angry because they do not follow the family’s traditional faith. Once a being crosses over the veil, he or she realizes the truth to spirituality more than we could while incarnated.

This situation arose for me in an interview I did at Samhain in 2003, with a reporter from The Washington Post. The reporter asked me what my ancestors would have thought about my Pagan religion. The answer I should have given her is this: My ancestors couldn’t possibly disapprove of my Wiccan religion nearly as much as I disapprove of them owning slaves. I am the great-granddaughter of slave owners on both sides of my family, and to my shame, at least one of my ancestors was also a slave dealer.

Now, I have forgiven my ancestors for being slave owners. But still I feel a karmic debt to those slaves owned by my family in the bad old days. And I feel this debt calls for actions on my part today. I have taken actions both practical and spiritual over the years, to attempt to address my ancestors’ wrongdoing. Yet I know that nothing I can do will ever erase the stain of racism and slave-owning on my family line.

Among many other attempts at karmic remediation, I have received ceremonies in Santeria, also known as La Regla de Ocha de Lukumi. I wear the Necklaces and cherish my consecrated head of Ellegua. I proudly hold the Cauldron of the Warriors and two soperas, one for Oya and one for Obatala. I have permanent shrines to the Orishas and also some of the Haitian Vodou Lwa in my healing room. I work with Divine possession through these traditions. All of this has been a joy for me, a joy inspired in part by my family’s painful history.

Part of the Ancestors’ Wall in my altar room, Family Ladder by Katie Dell Kaufman

So, our more recent ancestors may not accord to our taste, in terms of their cultural practices, such as owning slaves and oppressing Native Americans and women, or in terms of their monotheistic religious paths. How about our ancient ancestors? Should we modern Pagans be making ritual overtures to our ancient Pagan ancestors?

My answer is a resounding YES! I have found wisdom and comfort in seeking out Ancestors who were Pagan in ancient times. In shamanism, my Upper World teacher is the last Pagan priestess in my genetic line on my father’s side. In my shamanic journeys, I have seen the tumultuous life she led in 7th century Anglo-Saxon England, when the Old Gods and the Old Ways were being abandoned in favor of the new monotheism, Christianity. Sigfritha, as my distant ancestor refers to herself, says that through our bond in shamanic reality outside of time, our family line of Pagan priestesses and priests is unbroken. Her teachings and her love are vital to my shamanic empowerment and to my magical path. In part through my ancestral connection with Sigfritha, I am a priestess of Freya.

Every shamanic healing ceremony I perform begins with the Ancestors. The Ancestors who come to the ceremonies vary a great deal. Each client brings their own set of Ancestors, and more recently deceased ancestors, to attend the healing ceremony. And then my own Ancestors come to all of my healing ceremonies. They are a motley array of genetic, shamanic, personal, past life and wildly eclectic Ancestors unique to me, a Washington Witchdoctor.

Of all the northern European Pagan paths currently active, the Asatru are taking their connection with their Ancestors most seriously. Here is a nice quote from Steve McNallen of the Asatru Folk Assembly:

Someday we will be dead, whatever that means. Hopefully we have left sons and daughters – and grandsons and granddaughters! – to tell our stories and to pour libations on our graves. As the Havamal says – “Seldom are [memorial] stones erected on the wayside, save by kinsmen for kinsmen.” How will you be remembered? Did you do deeds of worth? Were you true? Did you love much? Did you fight for what was right? Were you Awake, or did you live your life in trivialities? If we lead good lives here in Midgard, we will be good ancestors.

I got a chance to talk about the Ancestors with Steve in July 2007. He told me that he believes we disappoint our ancestors if we depart from the spiritual path they followed in their lifetimes. Obviously, with my extreme eclecticism, I don’t agree with him. But here is a wonderful paradox about working with the Ancestors: one can find ancestral support for Steve’s view, my view, and any other viewpoint as well. The Ancestors are not unitary in their beliefs and loyalties, but various and many. Both Steve and I are working closely and authentically with Ancestors who support our different points of view. Thus, we are not working with the same set of Ancestors. And it’s all good.

Currently, the dismissive way most of us treat our Ancestors in Wicca is all too similar to the way most of us treat our Elders. My esteemed colleague Brendan Myers wrote eloquently about the Elders on The Wild Hunt earlier this week, including how we Pagans can learn from indigenous practices honoring the Elders. We come from a culture that tends not to respect the elderly. We often institutionalize our Elders to keep their needs from intruding on our busy lives. We are missing out on an incredible source of wisdom and knowledge as the generation that won World War II is passing!

Having read this far, you will not be surprised to learn that I spent twenty years taking care of my elderly parents, including six years caring for a parent with Alzheimer’s disease. It was one of the most rigorous tests of my lifetime so far, and one of the most rewarding. And trust me on this one: if you can’t behave lovingly to your Elders while they are still here on this material plane, you are probably unsuited to working closely with the Ancestors.

At this point, I believe that Ancestor veneration is so important that it amounts to a missing cornerstone in Wicca. And since Wicca is constantly evolving, I suggest that now is a great time for us to begin including the Ancestors in our ceremonies all year round. We really shouldn’t wait until Samhain comes around once a year to invoke them, celebrate them and feast them. I will close with the words to the song I use to invoke the Ancestors at the beginning of every shamanic healing session I perform:

Ancestors, Blessed Ancestors, we’re calling you today for healing. We thank you for the strength you showed while you were here, the sufferings you endured and the love you gave to your children. And now we call to you: we are your sons and daughters, sons and daughters calling to you. Through the mists of time, we stretch out our hands to greet you with joy and ask for your help today, in a healing way. Blessed Ancestors, please help us, heal us, guide us, lead us on our paths into the future, where we will meet the Descendants yet to come, those as yet unmanifest, waiting to arrive, waiting to be alive, we call to you. Blessed Ancestors from the past, blessed Descendants yet to come, look on us with compassion here, and make this moment a time of true healing, a gift from the past, a gift from the future, to heal us now. We welcome you!

All Hail the Ancestors, the Mighty Dead! May we bless our Ancestors, and ask for their blessing often, and not just once a year at Samhain! So Mote It Be!

“A documentary film crew from the BBC attended two weddings, two naming ceremonies and one coming-of-age ceremony undertaken by Asatruarfelagid, the pagan society in Iceland, which honors the Norse gods, at Thingvellir national park on Thursday.”

Sadly, we don’t know much else. Is it a documentary about Iceland? About religion? Paganism? This would have been a great time for a follow-up question or two. I suppose we’ll just have to scour BBC press releases until we find out. In the meantime, here’s a NextTV special on Asatru in Iceland.

Donna “Darkwolf” Vos will be meeting the South African Air Force in court over claims that they unfairly dismissed her from chaplaincy work due to her religion.

“I applied (for the SAAF job), got it and worked for two weeks. My focus was to be on HIV and Aids, the problem of Satanism among the youth, and drugs and sex among the youth,” Vos said. She was due to undergo training in military routines in Pretoria, but was first called to a meeting with the official, a colonel. “I was told the meeting with this guy was a formality.” He was initially impressed by her qualifications, Vos said. But the conversation soured when she told him she was a pagan. “He was quite taken aback…I gave him a copy of my book (a guide to paganism in a South African context) and he said, ‘We can’t unleash you on 8 000 men’.” The colonel stopped their interview, Vos said, and promised to contact her within two weeks. But instead of phoning her, she said he sent her an e-mail in which he described paganism as ‘a cult’.”

Vos is hoping her complaint will force the South African military to change their “unconstitutional religious policies”, making it safe for Pagans in the military to be open about their faith. However, one strange twist in the case is that it happened in 2003, she didn’t file her complaint until 2006, and then “left the matter dormant” until 2008 according to the Bellville Equality Court. In fact, the current trial is to see if the Equality Court even has jurisdiction to hear this case, so it remains to be seen if things progress in Vos’s favor.

Art critic Jonathan Jones wonders if today’s spandex-wearing superheroes are equivalent to the gods and heroes of ancient myth.

“Is there any difference between the modern pantheon of superheroes and the myths of the Greeks or the Vikings? The sheer richness and resonance we find in these fabulous beings – the darkness of Batman, the sensitivity of Spiderman, the purity of Superman – resembles the richness of interpretation and portrayal that has made the Greek myths survive into modern times … The point is, these modern myths do resemble true myths – they have taken on the endurance of the great legends, they rival Robin Hood and King Arthur. What does this say about modern culture? Probably that it is far more in touch with its ancient, primal roots that either fans or detractors of modernity tend to admit.”

The “superheroes = gods of ancient myth” meme isn’t a new one. Artists and writers have been mining this territory for some time now. It is an idea that first gestated in the mind of Kirby and subsequently explored by modern comic-writers like Morrison and Moore. The question now is what does that mean? Should we approach these pop-culture figures as distinct entities of power, or see them as the result of a natural polytheism denied? Perhaps both?

To reiterate something I have said before: Witchcraft isn’t a warning sign! Sadly, a glowing piece on Florida’s early-intervention youth centers uncritically peddles the “alternative religion as mental health warning sign” meme.

“The Cookseys’ relationship with Amanda had deteriorated in the two years since they had adopted her at 15. (Her birth mother, already struggling, sustained a brain injury and could not provide adequate care.) The girl was defiant, lying and even dabbling in witchcraft, Ms. Cooksey said. After their fight in February, Amanda ran back to her biological mother’s house. The policeman who picked her up said he could take her home to the Cookseys or to the Capital City shelter.”

This is dangerous. Involvement in Wicca, Paganism, or some other non-Christian faith, shouldn’t be a check-box on some list of bad behavior. For someone who is truly troubled, clinging to Witchcraft or Paganism might be the only empowering thing in an otherwise unmoored life. For older foster kids, their religious individuality could be quashed or seen as illness/bad behavior if they are placed with a Christian household (and the chances of that are quite high). Will we end up with social services that promise stability for troubled youth only so long as they toe a certain religious line?

It looks like the Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman’s fifteen minutes haven’t quite run out yet. The local Norwich Bulletin seems quite intent on following Freeman after his discrimination claims were marred by his being arrested for harassment.

“Rusty Freeman, also known as the Rev. Rapid Cabot Freeman and the “Witch of Baltic,” entered a not guilty plea Wednesday to a second-degree harassment charge in Norwich Superior Court. Freemen, a Wiccan who hosts a public access show, gained attention recently when he accused the town of Sprague of religious discrimination when he was denied use of a public building to hold a witchcraft demonstration on Halloween. Town officials said they rejected the request based on procedural problems. His arrest by Norwich police was based on allegations that he made repeated unwanted calls to a Norwich woman this summer, according to an arrest warrant affidavit in the case. Freeman told police he was trying to contact the woman to attend his divorce proceedings.”

The drama continues in court on December 31st, bring popcorn.

In a final note, Asatru in Iceland celebrated their country’s sovereignty on Monday by honoring the land’s protective spirits.

“Members of AsatrUarfelagid, a religious association which honors the old Norse gods, celebrated Iceland’s Sovereignty Day on Monday by honoring the country’s protective spirits, the landvaettir as described in Snorri Sturluson’s Heimskringla. According to Heimskringla, the landvaettir thwart a sorcerer disguised as a whale from swimming ashore and thus prevent him from spying on the Icelandic people for the Danish king. During the ceremony, high chieftain of AsatrUarfelagid Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson said these guardian spirits are still protecting the Icelandic country and nation…”

The ceremony took place in five ritually significant points in the country, one of which burned a picture Prime Minister Geir H. Haarde. The story doesn’t say if this was a measure of protection, or one of antagonism against the politician. Considering the recent fiscal woes there, I can’t think it’s a good sign.

That is all I have for now, have a great day!
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/12/pagan-news-of-note.html/feed 0 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/pagan-news-of-note.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/pagan-news-of-note.html#comments Sat, 02 Aug 2008 13:56:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/pagan-news-of-note-66.html My semi-regular round-up of articles, essays, and opinions of note for discerning Pagans and Heathens.

We’ll start off with the shameless plug department of The Wild Hunt, head over to John Morehead’s blog to read an interview with me concerning issues in Pagan-Christian dialog.

“I’m a big believer that Pagans shouldn’t isolate themselves. While we are growing quickly, we are still a tiny, and often misunderstood, minority. What Christians do and think can have serious ramifications on us, and we would be foolish to ignore that. Not to mention the fact that the million-plus Pagans in America alone have millions of Christian relatives, friends, and co-workers. A rational and peaceful dialog is the only way forward from the tensions that produce “Satanic Panics”, bitter custody fights, lost jobs, broken friendships, and isolated families. We don’t have to agree, but we do need to find away to get along.”

This discussion is just one of many to be spurred by the new book “Beyond the Burning Times: A Pagan and Christian in Dialogue”. Expect interviews with the two main participants of “Beyond the Burning Times”, Philip Johnson and Gus diZerega, on this blog in the near future.

Christian prayer or Pagan spells, which will prevail!? We may soon find out. Focus on the Family’s Stuart Shepard is imploring Christians to pray for “umbrellas-aint-gonna-help-you” amounts of rain to fall on Barack Obama’s outdoor acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

“Cast a revelation spell around your least-favorite candidate, to expose any aspects of their history or personality that would make them unfit for office.”

Wouldn’t it be interesting if Obama gets rained on, while McCain get embroiled in a major ethical scandal? Would we be left with a celestial stalemate? The theological implications are boggling.

Racist idiots are garnering more bad press for Asatru. A skinhead in Arizona was arrested after threatening a group of Hispanic people (who were quietly mourning the death of a loved one) with a shovel and a knife.

“Peters then yelled that he wanted his step-daughter and raised a shovel saying he was a skinhead and would kill someone, court records say. Peters realized he was outnumbered and backed down from the confrontation. He was arrested nearby, court records say. Court records said Peters told police he was looking for his step-daughter and said he was a skinhead and wanted to intimidate the group of Hispanic people. He also told Mesa police he pulled out a knife, court records say.”

Once in custody, Kelley Peters thought it was a good idea to tell the court that he had Hitler tattoos and that he was an adherent of Asatru (which the article claims is “a common practice in the Skinhead culture”). Another moron without honor sullying a religion he probably has no deep understanding of.

The Ashland Daily Tidings reports on the formation of a new Pagan preschool by Rowan Tree Pagan Ministries.

“Rowan Tree Director of Children’s Programs Selyna Faola’n plans to offer Rowan Academy, a preschool and kindergarten program for children ages 3 to 5, starting Sept. 22. The program can proceed if it meets an enrollment minimum of 10 students, but Faola’n said she could go ahead with as few as seven. Rowan Tree Pagan Ministries is an organization that offers programs and resources for the Southern Oregon pagan community. The group received its nonprofit certificate this week. The Rowan Tree Pagan Art and Ritual Supply Shop, which serves as a community hub, is located in the Underground Marketplace downtown.”

The article, unfortunately, has attracted some anonymous trolls who begin to find any weak points (real or imagined) in which to mock the subjects of the piece. A sadly common event now proving John Gabriel’s Greater Internet F*****d Theory, and calling into question the utility of appending the ability to comment to everything on the web. Luckily, I’m blessed with a thoughtful and intelligent bunch of commenters here, and have never had to entertain abandoning the ongoing dialog with my readers.

In the wake of tragedy, Unitarian-Universalists keep the faith.

“Across the country, as well as in the Washington area, hundreds of Unitarian Universalist congregations held services and candlelight vigils this week after a deadly rampage at a Knoxville, Tenn., church to show support for their denomination’s long-standing progressive tradition … At the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax in Oakton, about 60 people from five UU congregations in Northern Virginia came together for a service Monday evening. Bill Welch, the congregation’s minister for programs, talked about how isolating it can be to be a liberal in today’s world of right-wing talk radio and conservative Christians “that talk about liberals as if we are bad people.” “In our prayers, we should remember that we’re not alone, that there are people who share our beliefs, that we are part of a larger body,” Welch said.”

The article notes the Unitarian-Universalism’s post-Christian identity, and that modern Pagans are included and welcomed within the denomination.

In a final note, Canada’s National Press pays tribute to the “riches of ancient Greece”, and raises some interesting questions about the goddess Nike.

“Nike, goddess of victory, has emerged in our time as the greatest celebrity among all the Greek divinities. On the streets of every city, sweaty worshippers proclaim their love on T-shirts and shoes. Nike was always impressive: Look at her as the Winged Victory of Samothrace, a don’t-miss-this stop for every tourist in Paris who gets to the Louvre. Still, she was hardly in the top rank. She was an attendant of Zeus, the chief god, and now she’s eclipsed him in every gym in the world. Zeus doesn’t even have a line of underwear named after him. She’s made him an also ran.”

Is Zeus still the king? Perhaps we should consult Tom Stone, who recently published a biography of the great thunderer.

That is all I have for now, have a great day!
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/pagan-news-of-note.html/feed 0 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/06/you-cant-ban-odinism-in-prison.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/06/you-cant-ban-odinism-in-prison.html#comments Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:55:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/06/you-cant-ban-odinism-in-prison.html The Indiana federal district court has conclusively ruled that prisons can’t ban a faith because of hypothetical problems. In this instance, Odinism and the various white supremacist groups that infiltrate and exploit the faith.

“…an Indiana federal district court has ruled that the Indiana Department of Correction’s policy banning all group worship for Odinists violates RLUIPA. In Hummel v. Donahue, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 47534 (SD IN, June 19, 2008), the court held that while the interest in maintaining safety and security is compelling, prison officials must do more than speculate that a religious practice will lead to problems. Here officials were concerned that white supremacists would claim to practice Odinism, but presented no concrete evidence to support this. Secondly, there were less restrictive alternatives than totally banning group worship. These included pre-approved scripts for worship services, increased training for correctional officers, pre-approved volunteers from outside to lead services, and research into solutions found by other prison systems.”

As the court hinted, one very easy way to stem the tide of racist Odinist groups is to invite more Pagan/Heathen chaplains in. Currently, the prison system is completely skewed towards Christian modes of belief, and as a result non-Christian prisoners are treated to widespread discrimination and hostility. However, some prison systems are slowly coming to the realization that allowing Pagan chaplains in can help reduce recidivism and create a healthier support network for Pagan inmates susceptible to the overtures of racist gangs masquerading as religion.

“Bolstered by President Bush’s recent signing of the Second Chance Act, which promises more money for faith-based programs to help rehabilitate prisoners, corrections officials and religious volunteers are testing the largely unproven theory that faith can not only salvage criminals, but — in the long run — make the rest of us safer, too … In Colorado, a volunteer network of chaplains offers 216 programs and the Department of Corrections recognizes 36 faiths … those traditions range from Asatru, a polytheistic Norse religion, to Native American rituals to nature-based Wicca … Credible research on the effectiveness of faith-based programs remains sparse and inconclusive. But corrections experts and volunteers agree that such efforts, coupled with education, counseling and other therapies, could be part of the solution.”

Pagan-friendly corrections departments in places like Colorado and Washington are leading the way into the future. A future where Christianity isn’t the only religious remedy for the troubled and violent soul. A future that Indiana will now be forced to at least partially embrace in the next sixty days. Let’s hope they embrace the change mandated by the courts, and adopt some of the more progressive methods of quelling racist strains of Pagan religion. No doubt the Odinist/Asatru community in Indiana would look forward to more openness and cooperation from prison officials.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/06/you-cant-ban-odinism-in-prison.html/feed 0 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/06/racism-odinism-and-custody-battles.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/06/racism-odinism-and-custody-battles.html#comments Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:54:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/06/racism-odinism-and-custody-battles.html The Winnipeg Free Press reports on a woman working to get custody of her two children back after her daughter arrived at school with a swastika drawn on her arm. The woman, an Odinist, claims to be “tolerant of all people” despite the fact that she is married to an admitted white supremacist, and admits to being a “white nationalist” who wears swastika-etched jewelry*.

“The day her seven-year-old daughter went to school in March with a swastika drawn on her arm, her mother said she tried to wash it off with nail polish remover but the marking stayed put. Her daughter forgot her sweater a mother gave her to cover her arm. When her mother arrived to collect her child from school, police were waiting for her. “The only thing that matters to me is my children. It’s not about politics, it’s not about anything else… it’s about what’s best for them … I’ve never forced my beliefs on my children.” The woman’s seven-year-old daughter and two-year-old son were seized by Manitoba Child and Family Services this spring due to concerns their father — an admitted white supremacist — was filling their minds with hate and marking one child’s body with racist graffiti. The children are now staying with relatives..”

One could reasonably argue that if her children have “pro-Hitler” markings on their bodies then she has done a poor job of “not forcing” the beliefs of the parents onto the children. Further, while the lines between being a merely “folkish” Germanic Heathen, and being a racist white supremacist Odinist may seem blurry and vague to some unfamiliar to the religious culture, it seems rather obvious that a line was crossed from mere Eurocentricity into neo-Nazi gutter-philosophy. Harboring a stay-at-home husband who she classifies as “flamboyantly bigoted”, and allowing Nazi-related markings to be made on her children (self-directed or not), speaks of a fundamental failure to insulate her children from toxic racism.

Now split from her husband after reading the Child and Family Service reports, the woman still entertains notions that the pro-Hitler markings were entirely self-directed, and refuses to admit any failings as a parent.

“The mother, who refused to comment on where the swastika marking came from, suggested her daughter may be responsible for other pro-Hitler markings CFS said they found on her body. “It’s entirely possible she could have drawn it on herself,” she said”

In this case, the references to “Odinism” by the mother and the press seem to be a red herring. This isn’t about religious discrimination, this is about her children being raised by a toxic racist with a criminal record who either drew or encouraged the children to draw pro-Hitler markings on their bodies. Removing them from his presence and placing them with relatives seems prudent. What do you think? Where is the line between intellectual freedom and abusive indoctrination drawn? What would you have done if you were CFS official responding to a concerned teacher’s report?

* I realize that there are some who want to reclaim the swastika from its racist/fascist connotations, but you can’t un-ring a bell. So long as the memory of Hitler, and idiots who seek to glorify him, persist, the immediate connotations of the symbol will be with racism and fascism.
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