July 14th – Brendan Myers

Dr. Brendan Myers, Ph.D. is the author of several critically acclaimed books on the subject of ethics and philosophy, environmentalism, Celtic and European mythology, folklore, society and politics, and spirituality. They have been used as inspirational and educational resources by college professors, social activist groups, interfaith groups, Celtic cultural associations, and even humanist societies, in many countries around the world. Brendan’s work has appeared in numerous magazines, podcasts, and radio shows (including America’s NPR). He is the 2008 recipient of OBOD’s prestigious Mt. Haemus Award for recent research in Druidry.

July 15th – Elysia Gallo

Elysia Gallo is an Acquisitions Editor at Llewellyn Worldwide, the oldest and largest independent New Age publisher in the United States. She acquires books for publication in such topics as Witchcraft, Wicca, Paganism, magic(k), herbalism, and the paranormal. She lives in St. Paul, MN with her husband and two cats.

July 16th – Cat Chapin-Bishop

Wiccan since the late ’80s, Cat Chapin-Bishop has also been Quaker since 2001. Cat’s essays have appeared in Laura Wildman’s “Celebrating the Pagan Soul”, “The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies”, the Covenant of the Goddess newsletter, and “Enchante: The Journal for the Urbane Pagan”. In addition to her work as a Wiccan HPs, Cat is the former Chair of Cherry Hill Seminary’s Pastoral Counseling Department, and she currently serves on the Ministry and Worship Committee of Mt. Toby Quaker meeting. Cat and her husband maintain Quaker Pagan Reflections, a blog dedicated to exploring the connections between Pagan spirituality and Quaker practice. They reside in Northampton, Massachusetts, where they attempt to live peacefully in the midst of chaos.

July 17th – Lupa

Lupa is the author of “Fang and Fur, Blood and Bone: A Primal Guide to Animal Magic” and “A Field Guide to Otherkin”. She’s also the co-author of “Kink Magic: Sex Magic Beyond Vanilla” with Taylor Ellwood, and a contributor to the “Magick on the Edge” anthology and “Manifesting Prosperity: A Wealth Magic Anthology”. Additionally, Lupa works as an associate editor, layout tech, and nonfiction publicity/promotions manager for Immanion Press/Megalithica Books. Lupa uses the term pagan for simplicity’s sake, though more accurately she describes herself as a totemist, an animist and a pantheist. She has been studying pagan religions and magical topics for twelve years and practicing for ten years. Currently she is developing and training in therioshamanism.

July 18th – John Morehead

John Morehead is a researcher, writer, and speaker in intercultural studies, new religious movements, theology and popular culture. He has an M.A. degree in intercultural studies from Salt Lake Theological Seminary which included a thesis on Burning Man Festival. He also has an avid interest in aspects of pop culture, particularly myth and archetype as well as the social, cultural and religious dimensions of fantasy, sci fi,and horror. John lives in the greater Salt Lake City area with his wife and two children. Be sure to check out his excellent TheoFantastique blog!

July 19th - Caroline Kenner

A longtime Washington D.C. activist in in feminism and environmentalism, Caroline Kenner now uses her skills to advocate for modern Pagans. In 2006 and 2007 Kenner called pan-Pagan rallies in Washington D.C. to demand religious freedom and equality. The 2007 rally was particularly auspicious as it celebrated the recently-won right to place the Pentacle, equivalent to the Cross, Star, or Crescent, on military grave markers. The event united several large Pagan organizations working to establish Pagan military chaplains and the approval of other specific Pagan symbols worn by Pagan and Heathen veterans. In addition to her activism, Caroline is a graduate of The Foundation for Shamanic Studies‘ Three Year Program in Advanced Shamanism and Shamanic Healing. Caroline also holds an A.B. from Bryn Mawr College and a M.S. from Boston University. She has practiced shamanism since 1989.

July 20th - Chas Clifton

Chas S. Clifton has been blogging since 2003, when he converted his Pagan magazine column, “Letter from Hardscrabble Creek,” into a blog. A widely published Pagan writer, he is the author of “Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America”. He also edits “The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies”.

July 21st – James R. French

James R. French has been interested in Magick and Paganism since adolescence. He is an Adept of the Open Source Order of the Golden Dawn and a Reiki Master. (Mr. French wants us to understand that “Adept” and “Master” are titles within these respective lineages. They do not necessarily indicate anything beyond that.)

July 22nd – Thorn Coyle

T. Thorn Coyle is a magic worker, mystic, musician, and author of “Evolutionary Witchcraft” and “Kissing the Limitless.” She teaches internationally. Her blog can be found at yezida.livejournal.com or http://www.thorncoyle.com/musings.html.

July 23rd – Sannion

H. Jeremiah Lewis, also known by his religious name Sannion, is a Greco-Egyptian polytheist who has been actively honoring the gods since around 1993. He has lived all over the country, including Alaska, Nevada, New York, Montana, Washington and Oregon (where he currently resides), and has worked the standard assortment of odd jobs that every aspiring author needs to get by with. Mr. Lewis divides his time between an insanely intense religious practice, writing, research, helping to organize the activities of Neos Alexandria, and directing the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. There isn’t much time for anything else.

July 24th – Peg Aloi

Peg Aloi is a Pagan and a scholar who works in both the academic and popular arenas. She is a writer on Paganism and the media for Witchvox, is the co-editor with Hanna E. Johnston of the new volume “The New Generation Witches: Teenage Witchcraft in Contemporary Culture” (Ashgate, 2007), and is currently co-authoring a book with Hannah titled “The Celluloid Bough: Cinema in the Wake of the Occult Revival”.

Please give all of them a warm and hospitable welcome, I’m certain they will all contribute something special to The Wild Hunt. The gods and my new DSL service willing, I should be back to my regular posting schedule by July 25th. Make sure to keep things respectful and polite in the comments while I’m gone, the assorted hells hath no fury like a vacationing blogger who has to log in to a WiFi spot in Idaho to engage in some blog moderation.

Have you ever wondered why “The Exorcist” is scary? Why “The Wicker Man” managed to amass such a loyal following? Why even very bad horror films can sometimes affect us deeply? Then you need to read Douglas E. Cowan’s new book “Sacred Terror: Religion and Horror on the Silver Screen”.

“Sacred Terror examines the religious elements lurking in horror films. It answers a simple but profound question: When there are so many other scary things around, why is religion so often used to tell a scary story? In this lucid, provocative book, Douglas Cowan argues that horror films are opportune vehicles for externalizing the fears that lie inside our religious selves: of evil; of the flesh; of sacred places; of a change in the sacred order; of the supernatural gone out of control; of death, dying badly, or not remaining dead; of fanaticism; and of the power–and the powerlessness–of religion.”

Cowan has written an engrossing and deeply knowledgeable book analyzing the religious elements in horror films. Of particular interest to modern Pagan readers will be his exploration of the religious “other” in many of these films, particularly the way pre-Christian religion, Pagan revivals, and witchcraft (Satanic or otherwise) are treated in cinema, from “Rosemary’s Baby” to “The Craft”. An essential tome for anyone interested in the intersections between popular cinema and the sacred. A academic sequel of sorts to Stephen King’s more populist examination of horror: “Danse Macabre”. For more on this book, I highly recommend checking out the Theofantastique interviews with the author.

When I first approached Brendan Myers’ new book “A Pagan Testament: The Literary Heritage of the World’s Oldest New Religion” I thought it would be in the vein of “The Paganism Reader”, a collection of literary texts influential to the modern Pagan movement, and while that is indeed an element of the work, it takes far greater pains to contextualize and explain the philosophy behind the included sources. It also takes more time to explore the ever-evolving literary and oral traditions that have emerged from our modern festival circuit.

Originally entitled “A Wiccan Testament”, the book pays a great deal of attention to the literary history and influential texts of that religion. Which isn’t to say that non-Wiccan Pagans won’t find anything of value here, on the contrary, the book takes a sort of “Pan-Pagan” journey through history, from pre-history to the ancient Greeks, to an examination of Aleister Crowley’s influence on modern Paganism. A sequel of sorts to his thought-proving work “The Other Side of Virtue”, it envelops the more modern Pagan texts into a larger continuum of pagan thought. A map, an idea, of what modern Paganism can offer to the world.

“The contemporary pagan community, holding the Earth in such high regard as it does, is in a position to show the world what a spiritually aware, environmentally conscious, socially just, and artistically flourishing society looks like. The pagan community can create a social and cultural space where ancient noble ideas like ‘inspiration and honour’ are still preserved and
practiced.”

This is a bold and smart work. While Myers’ ideas may not resonate with everyone, he should be commended for being at the forefront of an effort to write better Pagan books. He, along with some other authors of note, are writing those “advanced” books we all keep saying we want (also, you might find my recent interview with Brendan Cathbad Myers to be of interest here).

The final work I’d like to discuss isn’t an academic tome, or a philosophic exploration of our Pagan beliefs, but a work of poetry and art. “The Phillupic Hymns” by P. Sufenas Virius Lupus is a collection of devotional poems and translations dedicated to the gods of Egypt, Greece, Rome, Gaul and Britain, with a special emphasis on Antinous, the deified lover of the Roman Emperor Hadrian. These poems explore the syncretism of the ancient world, the homo-erotic natures of many ancient gods and heroes, and the cultural tensions inherent when an imperial power interacts with those it has subjugated. These works seem accomplished, sincere, and passionate, but I’m no great judge of poetry, so instead of appearing foolish, let me instead share one of the shorter poems contained in this collection so you can judge for yourself.

Roma Aeterna
She was known across the continent,
in the east and in Greece
long before the pomerium was drawn
by Romulus and Remus.

The seven hills of Rome—
the Quirinal, Viminal, and Aventine,
Capitoline, Caelian, Palatine,
and Esquiline—mere Tiberian mud

when the lady first granted
her protection to mortals,
or guided Aeneas’ barque to
the shores of Latium.

She makes her home even now
in every stone of the Eternal City,
invited by Hadrian, given a dwelling
as neighbor to Venus Felix—

the mirror of amor—
reflecting the sunrise of the east
so that Roma Aeterna
may shine across the west.

In my estimation this is a worthy addition to the growing collection of titles to be found at the Bibliotheca Alexandria. A vital entry into a growing field of devotional literature within the modern Pagan movement. We can only hope that works like “The Phillupic Hymns” are only the beginning of a greater trend towards a modern Pagan artistic tradition.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/11/wild-hunts-book-picks.html/feed 3 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/interview-with-brendan-cathbad-myers.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/interview-with-brendan-cathbad-myers.html#comments Tue, 20 May 2008 12:33:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/interview-with-brendan-cathbad-myers.html Author, scholar, and modern Druid, Brendan Cathbad Myers has become an important emerging voice within the wider modern Pagan movement. Myers was a founding member of the Order of the White Oak, and the Convocation of Irish Druids (since dissolved and reformed as the Circle of Druids), in addition to receiving OBOD’s Mount Haemus Award for his research into Druidry. His most recent book, “The Other Side of Virtue: Where our virtues came from, what they really mean, and where they might be taking us”, is an in-depth examination and call for renewal of classical Virtue.

Brendan Cathbad Myers

This is a very ambitious book, what inspired you to explore the nature of virtue?

The idea for this book was born while I was living in a small town in Hessen, in Germany, in the summer of 2004. I used to enjoy walking in the forests and fields outside the village every day, and I loved visiting the cathedrals and castles and mediaeval towns of the region. I had also been living in Ireland for several years at that time. I had visited many of the actual locations where the events of Celtic mythology took place. And I was also reading Aristotle, and a few contemporary philosophers of Virtue theory, such as Rosalind Hursthouse, Alasdair MacIntyre, Phillipa Foot, Susan Wolf, and Iris Murdoch. But I think the idea to write a book about virtue came the evening after my friend and I were caught in a summer storm. In part because of that experience, the philosophical work I had been reading, and the landscapes and architecture I had been enjoying, came together in my mind. I felt as if I had discovered not only the key to understanding ancient people’s ethical world view, but that I had also discovered something primordial and universal about the human spirit. That day has become one of the most important spiritual occasions of my life.

At the very beginning of the book you define virture as: “the ancient idea that excellence in human affairs is the foundation of ethics, spirituality, self-knowledge, and especially the worthwhile life.” Do you think we (Pagans) have lost touch with this idea of virtue?

It’s not well known, but Virtue was originally a pagan idea. It was not only an ethical idea, but also a spiritual idea. It had to do with the way people make choices, but also with the way people ‘held’ themselves and possessed themselves. It configured how they understood their relationship to other people, the world, and the gods. To most people today it has to do with Christian qualities like humility and chastity. But its original side, which has now become its ‘other side’, has to do with the means by which a person empowers and edifies herself, and becomes a complete human being. Pagans have virtue-concepts in some of our most important and most widely shared statements of identity. The Charge of the Goddess mentions eight of them. But when most pagans think of ethics, they usually think of the the Wiccan Rede — a highly utilitarian idea which has nothing to do with virtue. I’d like to change that.

Although I say that Virtue was originally a pagan idea, yet it is an idea that belongs not just to pagans. It belongs to the world. For the questions it poses and the solutions it offers are there to be discovered by anyone. I think it’s not only Pagans who have lost touch with the original idea of Virtue. I think that the wider “Western” society in which we live has also lost touch with it. This is a shame, as mythological virtue is one of western society’s most important and powerful sources of identity and meaning. For most modern people, religious or not, express their values in utilitarian terms. Although most pagans think of themselves as belonging to a minority, professing values that others might find strange or even repugnant, nonetheless the Wiccan Rede is perfectly consistent with the widely-held modern values of individualism, utiliarianism, and rational self-interest. I suspect that Gardner and Valiente and the other early founders of Wicca promoted the Rede in order to show the rest of society that Witches are non-threatening! But I think the time of the Rede has passed. I will not prophesize what new time is coming: but I hope it will be the time of the Virtues, and I’ve written The Other Side of Virtue to help make that happen.

You have some critical things to say about relativism and the ethic of individualism in your book. Do you think our modern culture, and modern Paganism in particular, have taken these ideas to unhealthy extremes?

“Unhealthy extremism” is not what worries me about individualism and relativism. For these are both very interesting ideas in various ways. What worries me is that if all values and choices are “relative” to the “individual”, or to the individual’s culture or time and place, then it will follow that we will have little or no means to tell the difference between nobility and banality, or excellence and ordinariness. If “do what you will” is your ethic, then the choice to become a couch potato will be neither better no worse than the choice to become, say, a medical doctor, or a concert violinist. The logic of Individualism and Relativism cannot offer a substantial idea of why we live, what things are really worth having and doing, what a noble and excellent life really looks like.

I find myself strongly influenced by the philosoher Charles Taylor in this part of my thinking, especially in books of his like “The Malaise of Modernity” and “Sources of the Self”. As he explains it, Individualism offers no means to recognise values that transcend the individual, and no means to recognise the independant significance of friendship and love, history, the environment, politics or the wider society in which we all live. Yet Taylor also affirms that there is something important and profound in the individualist idea that each person is responsible for finding the meaning of her own life. My own philosophical project is similar. Here is how I describe it in the book:

“The good life involves each person finding within herself the purpose and worth of life. But this activity of self-exploration must not cut people off from sources of meaning beyond themselves… Similarly, we should assert that some values really are ‘out there’, beyond the self, and are not a matter of personal opinions and preferences. But we must find a way to assert this without falling back on old models of conformity and obedience.” (pg. 14)

I’m well aware that individualism is a value that most everyone presupposes as a normal and natural truth of human life. Many people feel personally threatened when it is called into question. And many people (not only pagans) think that the only alternative to individualism is some kind of oppressive authoritarian dogmatism. I believe that is a false dichotomy. My criticism of individualism is intended to show the way to higher, better, more spiritual ways of thinking and living.

Your exploration of virtue, is in some ways, a call for a new sense of morality in Western culture (and by extension, modern Paganism). What do you think a virtuous Pagan morality should look like? What would it include, what would it exclude?

I’d like to see a modern pagan morality in which the mythological virtues, both heroic and classical, are just as important as the Wiccan Rede – perhaps even more important than the Rede. For it is not enough to avoid what is harmful. It is also important to affirm what is joyful! We’re here on this earth-walk not just to experience life from many different angles. We’re here to lift ourselves up, to better ourselves, to find and to create a beautiful world. I think the Virtues can show us how to do that.

A new morality would have little to do with rules and laws. For the heart of the idea of virtue is the idea that ethics and spirituality is a matter of who you are, not just the rules you follow, even if you follow an unobjectionable rule like “harm none”. Indeed a fully virtuous person isn’t interested in rules at all. She’s interested in becoming a beautiful and complete human being, able to lead a fulfilling and worthwhile life.

A new morality should include lots of room for diversity and variety, and a robust idea of the good life at its centre, just as the pagan movement already does. Yet it should also offer robust models of admirable human beings and socially just communities, and it should offer values worth defending – as the modern pagan movement could do if there were fewer “witch wars” and internal conflicts.

To the best of my knowledge, there are only two other book in the pagan market that discuss ethical issues from a point of view other than the Wiccan Rede. One is Emma Restall Orr’s “Living with Honour”; the other is a single chapter in Philip Carr-Gomm’s “What do Druids Believe?” (both of which I have read, and thoroughly enjoyed, and am happy to recommend). I look forward to more books in the future which explore our ethics in greater depth, as these books (and mine) do.

You talk about “heroic” and “civilized” virtue, what differentiates these two ideas of virtue, and what aspects did they share?

The main differences between heroic and civilised virtues have to do with the kinds of cultures that they came from. Heroic virtues come mainly from chieftain-level societies like the Celts, the Norse, and the Homeric Greeks. They are concerned with the ways a person achieves fame and renown in such a society. Civilised virtues come from city-state societies like the Athenian democracy, or the Roman empire. They have to do with the use of reason to perceive the spiritual unity of the world, and to re-make one’s character in accord with that unity.

But in both cases virtue arises as a response to given problems, and enables people to handle their realities better, and transform their problems into sources of beauty. Those in Heroic societies saw fate, destiny, transience, and impermanence as the biggest problems. Those in Civilised societies thought the biggest problems in life were social and political in nature, such as warfare. But in both cases the way to handle the basic problems in life is not to draw up new laws to follow, but rather to become a certain kind of person.

When moving to the modern era, you praise J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Lord of the Rings” and J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” series (among others) for bringing forth a resurgence of virtue. In your opinion, what do these writers teach us about being virtuous?

I wrote a chapter on Tolkein and Rowling to show that the ancient idea of virtue makes re-appearances in the most surprising places. I even wrote a short chapter on the heroic virtues as they appear in Star Wars! But I decided not to include it, since I felt my point had already been made, and besides Tolkein and Rowling are better writers than George Lucas (as I’m sure even ardent Star Wars fans will agree).

I think Tolkein and Rowling teach that anyone, from any background, in any circumstance, can find it within herself to be heroic. Virtue does not belong only to those who are born to aristocratic or wealthy families, or destined for ‘greatness’, as might be implied if one took civilized and heroic virtue at face value. Tolkein shows how ordinary people, like the Hobbits, have it within them to be noble. Rowling shows how even children can be noble. I’m particularly impressed with Rowling’s use of the language of the virtues. The various moral teachings which she puts in the mouths of Harry’s mentors, like Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall, Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin, would find a ready home in any pre-christian philosophical treatise.

It might be added that none of the heroes in these books are motivated by a desire to “harm none”, or reduce the harm that is caused in the world. As a thought experiment: think of any person, living or dead, or think of any literary character, who you admire. Next, ask yourself if he or she made a personal goal of minimizing harm. The answer will almost always be “no”. What makes people praiseworthy and memorable are their virtues: the qualities of character which make them stand out, and make them capable of great things — even if such things are, in the words of Mr. Ollivander, “terrible things, but great”!

How does the ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” provide us with the key to developing excellence and virtue?

This aphorism is an interesting one. It’s phrased in the form of a moral imperative: it tells us what to do. Yet what it demands is not obedience to a dogmatic authority. It calls for a process of mature and honest soul-searching which, if done right, produces a heroic and civilised human being. “Knowing Yourself” is not the same as accepting yourself as you are, accepting your flaws, accepting your habits and desires. “Knowing Yourself” requires “the deepest committment, the most serious mind.” As I describe it in the book, to know yourself means to know the reaches and the limits of your powers and potentials. it is to know what you are capable of. Yet the only certain way to learn this is to put your powers and potentials to the test. On such occasions, we often find that those powers and potentials are greater, or lesser, than we originally believed them to be. This is not a process of accepting yourself ‘as is’. Rather, it is a process of changing, discovering, improving, and transforming yourself into a better person. For self-discovery is also three out of five parts self-creation.

Through the Delphic motto, “Know Yourself”, individualism makes an important appearance in my text. Yet that individualism is connected to sources of value from beyond the self. For it usually takes an event or experience from outside the self to initiate the quest for self knowledge.

My book addresses existential and universal themes such as these. It is written not only for pagans, but for everyone. In that sense, it can be thought of as a book with pagan ideas in it, not a pagan book. I recently noted that it was put on the “recommended reading” list of a humanist society in Italy. Yet I hope that it will be of interest to pagans. Modern Asatruars and Heathens, Hellenic Revivalists, Druids, and Pagan Celts have been working with lists of virtues for many years now. Indeed I think that the pagan community is well positioned to show the world what a heroic, and civilised, and mythological, yet completely modern ethical idea, looks like in practice — and why it can help us respond effectively to the largest problems of our time, such as global warming, religious fundamentalism, economic corruption, racism, sexism, poverty, apathy, and nihilism.

What is “The Immensity”, and how does it connect to the idea of virtue?

While studying the myths and legends in which the ancient idea of Virtue appears, it quickly became clear to me that no one can revive that ancient notion of Virtue “as is”. The Celts, for instance, were headhunters. The civilised societies I studied, such as Rome, were imperialist societies that kept slaves. And some of the wisdom-texts I studied are profoundly mysogynist. I had to create a philosophical account that that sheds light on the logical foundation of virtue, and explains its universal power, without endorsing old pagan customs that have no place in today’s world. The Immensity is that philosophical account.

In its essence, the Immensity is an event or experience which every thinking and feeling human being must inevitably face, every once in a while, in the course of her life. In the book I describe three of them: the Earth, and other people, and death. No one can live without meeting these three things once in a while. And there might be more Immensities than just these three. I explain how the Immensity has many of the features regularly attributed to God, such as timelessness and authority. Yet its power is not that of a paternal or heirarchical kind of lawgiver. Its power is more like that of a friend who tugs your sleeve and says, “Here, look at this rainbow, look at this flower, look at this curiously shaped stone”–and then doesn’t stop tugging until you look. Then when you finally look, you feel as if an itch you didn’t know was scratched, but now that you think about it, well yes, it did itch, didn’t it?

In the last three or four years, the study of the Immensity has become my life’s work. I’m presently preparing another book which will explore this idea on the social, political, and environmental planes.

Finally, what advice would you give to someone who wants to start living a virtuous life?

Well as you might expect, I would recommend that such a person should read my book. But more seriously: ask yourself what are the Immensities in your life, and examine how you have responded to them. In the final chapter I describe a thought experiment which is designed to help get the process started. I don’t want to give it away here, but I’ll say this much. To live a virtuous life, in the original, heroic and civilised sense of the word, teach yourself to recognise the Immensities when they appear, acknowledge them as you would acknowledge a messenger from the gods, and offer in response the choice which will help transform you into the person which you wish to be.

Previous Wild Hunt interviews: Rita Moran, Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone, Phyllis Curott, Tim Ward, Lupa, J.C. Hallman, Margot Adler.
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