“Not quite, maybe, but the rise has been dramatic. The census in 2001 recorded 40,000 pagans, but the true figure may be higher … The Pagan Federation, which aims to represent all “followers of a polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshipping religion”, claims the number of adherents has trebled at least. That would mean there were 360,000 committed, practising pagans, putting them ahead of the Sikhs (329,000) and fourth behind Hindus (552,000), Muslims (1.5 million) and Christians (42 million, according to the census) … All you have to believe to be a pagan, according to the federation, is that each of us has the right to follow our own path (as long as it harms no-one else); that the higher power (or powers) exists; and that nature is to be venerated. If you asked everyone in Britain if they agreed with those three statements, millions would put their hands up. At its loosest, paganism is beginning to look like our new national faith.”

As if to validate Moreton’s thesis, the Summer Solstice gathering this year at Stonehenge was the largest ever, with an estimated 36,500 revellers making their way to Salisbury Plain.

“Despite the sun not making an appearance in an overcast sky, record numbers of people arrived to celebrate the occasion. An eccentric mix of Morris dancers, pagans dressed in their traditional robes and musicians playing guitars and drums gathered alongside visitors from across the world.”

There seems to be a certain British character that lends itself to celebrating its ancient landscape, and it affects you no matter what religion you actually adhere to. Pagan, Christian, atheist, or even Sikh.

“I think we ought to start a campaign to celebrate Midsummer in a more spectacular way. As a species we have specialised in creating tension, division and war. I am not for a moment suggesting we eschew organised religion. What I am suggesting is that we embrace our commonality. We all exist in the warmth of the sun, the light of the moon; we live by the tree and drink of the river. I suggest that we create a pantheistic precedent and have the first multi-faith celebration of the sun, of the galaxy and of the universe. I would like this event to take place in Croydon. We should, for one long day only, forget our differences and unify under the canopy of a shared sky. We will welcome the pot-smoking hippies, the groovy Bhuddists, the depression-embracing goths, the perennially troubled Christians, the ideologically-centred Sunnis and the daughters and sons of Khalsa. Food ought to be available for vegetarians, vegans, omnivores, and chocolate for the pot-heads. We should all wear differently coloured, full-length, smock-dresses that celebrate the colours of nature (no one, not even Croydon’s own Kate Moss, looks good in a smock-dress: it is a great leveller).”

So is the British soul, deep down, really a pagan soul? Or does it just seem that way around Midsummer?

“Many of the things you don’t know about Easter have to do with odd, intensely national Holy Week traditions. So why not start off with the most unexpected one — the Easter Witch. In Sweden and parts of Finland, a mini-Halloween takes place on either the Thursday or Saturday before Easter. Little girls dress up in rags and old clothes, too-big skirts and shawls and go door to door with a copper kettle looking for treats. The tradition is said to come from the old belief that witches would fly to a German mountain the Thursday before Easter to cavort with Satan. On their way back, Swedes would light fires to scare them away, a practice honored today by the bonfires and fireworks across the land in the days leading up to Sunday.”

Easter witches! You can lean more about the tradition here, and here. Between this and Italy’s Christmas witch I’m starting to wonder if there isn’t a European Christian holiday somewhere that doesn’t involve some form of witches and children getting presents.

The music plays a major part, and it is through English folk – or the English folk revival scene – that a new generation of more urbane-minded people of both sexes are finding their way to morris dancing. “1960s and 70s British folk was a cool time for music, and bands such as Steeleye Span, Fairport Convention, Jethro Tull and even Led Zeppelin took a lot of cues, sonically and visually, from British folk arts,” says music journalist and proud morris dancer Jo Kendall. As the indigenous music of England, folk has never quite been given the same respect that the traditional music of, say, the US or Jamaica is afforded. Yet morris dancing seems to be changing perceptions about the music that soundtracks it. Those songs that sing of farming, courting couples, regional folklore or other archaic topics are capable of evoking a strong sense of place. Not in a nationalistic way – blind patriotism being the last refuge of myopic idiots – but more in a “Wow, I can’t believe they still do this” kind of way.

For more on the popularity of “Morris: A Life With Bells On”, click here and here. For more on the recent resurgence of interest in folk music, check out this article on “Goth-folk”, and a great article from Zeek magazine about how the new folk and psychedelic bands encourage a pagan, immanent, spiritual outlook. You may also want to read my previous posts on the Morris, Wassailing, and folk-dancing resurgence.

The Los Angeles Daily News profiles santero Charles Guelperin and looks at the rise of Santeria in Los Angeles, which some are now calling the “capital” of the faith in the USA.

“We do not have churches, temples or synagogues,” said Guelperin, a chain cigar smoker after his morning rituals. “My home here is my temple.”Today Santeria, a blend of Afro-Caribbean voodoo and the devotion to saints among many Latino Roman Catholics, has become so big in Los Angeles that many consider the city the Santeria capital of the country. It is a phenomenon that has occurred thanks to the influx of immigrants from Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean and court rulings making it easier to sacrifice animals for religious purposes.

The article goes on to touch on the growth of botanicas (which seem to be doing quite well so-far despite the recession), the tensions created by animal sacrifices, and how the faith is becoming more affluent and cosmopolitan as it integrates with American culture.

“One of the reasons why I’m writing the book about Charlie is because his clientele is so cosmopolitan,” said [Donald J. Cosentino, a folklore professor at the University of California, Los Angeles] “He is just down the street from Paramount Studios, and he’s got a lot of people from the film industry who come to his botanica. Sports people. He’s got businessmen. Men from West L.A. Men from Beverly Hills. He’s got foreign clients. “He is a very cosmopolitan man, a very cosmopolitan priest, and that’s what makes him so interesting.”

With the rise of Santeria on the West Coast and a popular resurgence of Vodou in Florida, we may be looking at a larger trend of younger generations turning to pre and post-Christian religions and traditions to face a challenging world and find an identity. I imagine that we’ll see some interesting cross-pollinations between these syncretic faiths and the growing modern Pagan religions in the very near future.

Is a random prayer taken out of context by a killer “consistent with Wicca”? That’s the assertion made by NBC’s Dateline and Virginia police in a special aired last night on Randall Lee Smith, a delusional loner who killed two people on the Appalachian Trail back in 1981, and attempted to kill two more in 2008.

In addition to the gun, police found a treasure trove of evidence Randall Lee Smith had hidden deep in the woods: Scott Johnston’s sunglasses, more than 20 knives, meat cleavers and other items. And they found some bizarre drawings and notes, including this “prayer:” “Hail to the guardians of the watchtower of the north. By the powers of mother and earth hear me…show me thy glory…I invoke thee oh, ancient one.” Police say the notes and symbols are consistent with a religion called Wicca — a pagan group that worships nature, and considers its leading members witches.

Dateline is hardly a bastion of level-headed reporting, but this seems a bit much. If he had scraps of Biblical verse scattered around would they be “consistent with Christianity”? Ceremonial elements and notes do not the religion make, and it was irresponsible for Dateline to report the information this way. Did they think that adding a “Witch angle” would make things more exciting for their viewers? Also,” considers its leading members witches”? So only the “leading” members then? Are we all working our way to witch-hood? As for Randall Lee Smith, we can’t ask him what his actual beliefs were since he died in custody shortly after being apprehended from injuries sustained during a crash. Yet another victory for sensationalism.

The Richmond Times Dispatch in Virginia reports on CaribFest, and speaks with Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S. about Vodou/Voodoo.

“Raymond A. Joseph, Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S., was quite conversant on the subject of voodoo. ‘When people think of voodoo, they think about the pins and the dolls. . . . That is sorcery and witchcraft,’ Joseph said. In reality, he said, ‘voodoo is a religion, like any other.’”

In a fortunate piece of kismet, the public radio program Speaking of Faith aired its “Living Vodou” episode this week, which features an interview with Vodou scholar and practitioner Patrick Bellegarde-Smith.

Tropaion reports that the National Archaeological Museum of Athens, in partnership with the Onassis Cultural Foundation in New York, will be presenting an exhibition in December that may be of great interest to modern Pagans.

“Worship, Women’s Ritual and Reality in Classical Athens, is the forthcoming exhibition by the National Museum and the Onassis Cultural Foundation in New York for the following year … The exhibition will hold 158 artifacts from the National Museum, Acropolis, Kerameikou, Thebes and others including with 29 artifacts from the British, Metropolitan, Louvre, Vatican, Berlin and other foreign Museums. The exhibition is going to be divided in four main categories / themes: goddesses, priestesses, women and ritual, festivities and women on the circle of life. The visitor will be initially introduce with the Athena Parthenou, Artemis of Brauron, Demeter and Persephone who are presented with artifacts of their temples. Then, there are the mythical priestesses like Theano, who retain the key to further discover the practical aspect of worship (sacrifices, libations and choes). The exhibition ends with the section of the cycle of life (birth, adulthood, marriage and death), which run all stages of life in relation to religion and a woman.”

You can read more from this Greek paper. A formal press release hasn’t been issued, but once it is, I’ll provide a link.

Speaking of exhibitions in New York, the Museum of Biblical Art in Manhattan is currently hosting a traveling exhibit of 106 Albrecht Dürer prints. The famous German painter and print-maker, while devoting much of his work to Christian themes, also explored Greco-Roman myth, and did several witch-themed works. Reflecting the the growing concern (and eventual panic) that would engulf his homeland.

Excerpt from “The Four Witches” 1497

The Washington Post does a profile on the Hex signs of the Pennsylvania Dutch, and interviews Don Yoder, co-author of “Hex Signs: Pennsylvania Dutch Barn Symbols & Their Meaning”, artist Eric Claypoole, and Patrick J. Donmoyer, a student at Kutztown University who studies hex paintings.

“Some of the symbols, he said, date to Norse, and even pagan, art. And it is no coincidence that the hub of hex sign activity is in Pennsylvania rather than, say, New York or New Jersey. “There was freedom of religion in Pennsylvania,” he said. “People were afraid of so many things. Even ‘witches’ were protected here.” The argument that hex signs couldn’t have mystical meanings because they’re so public and out there for the world to see is misleading, Donmoyer said.”

Pennsylvania Dutch “Pow-Wow” folk practice and magic has gained popularity among some modern Pagans (to varying degrees of authenticity and success). So a thoughtful exploration of one aspect of this culture is welcome.

Druid leader King Arthur Pendragon’s protest at Stonehenge has entered its second month.

“Demonstrating on behalf of the Council of British Druid Orders, King Arthur Pendragon has vowed to remain at the site, living in his caravan, until the historic site is opened fully to the public … Pendragon, 54, has been camping close to the World Heritage Site since the Summer Solstice on June 21 and is hoping his protests will encourage the Government to remove the fences around the monument, build a tunnel under the A303 and grass over the A344.”

It is unclear if Pendragon’s protest, or the ongoing public consultation, will produce much needed changes in time for the 2012 Olympics.

In a final note, it looks fairly certain that Natalie Portman will be starring in a remake of Dario Argento’s occult-horror masterpiece “Suspiria” (featuring an evil coven of witches).

“Handsome Charlie Films, which is headed by Natalie Portman (pictured inside) and Annette Savitch, will be producing the remake of Dario Argento’s Suspiria. In addition, word has it Portman will topline the film that David Gordon Green is attached to direct. Green’s PINEAPPLE EXPRESS hits theaters tomorrow.”

Another addition to the large pile of horrid horror remakes (think “The Wicker Man”), or new classic for a new generation? I suppose only time will tell.

That is all I have for now, have a great day!
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/08/pagan-news-of-note_10.html/feed 0 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/07/two-pagan-friendly-music-sources-close.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/07/two-pagan-friendly-music-sources-close.html#comments Tue, 15 Jul 2008 14:27:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/07/two-pagan-friendly-music-sources-close.html This past few weeks has seen announcements from two Pagan-friendly music labels/distributors that they are closing up shop. First, at the end of June, the online folk music resource Woven Wheat Whispers called it quits.

“We didn’t have to close WWW, it was paying it’s way and no money was lost. It was just a decision about the future taken calmly at a point where we had time to think… It was meant to be fun and would have turned into slog at some point in the near future … We could have continued and would have done alright, but with Myspace starting to sell downloads, Amazon coming in and iTunes level of market dominance, there was little point. Even CDBaby now sell downloads alongside the CD. Exiting in a positive way seemed the best thing to do at the right time. WWW didn’t collapse, we have all the money needed. It was a decision taken about how far to push what was a small home operation delivered in my spare time.”

I mentioned Woven Wheat Whispers on this blog last year when they released (with Cold Spring Records) the amazing “John Barleycorn Reborn” compilation. Woven Wheat Whispers introduced me to some great artists, including The Owl Service, Cunnan, Arrowwood, Novemthree, Sharron Kraus, and The Horses of The Gods. It at times felt like the label/service was especially created for fans of The Wicker Man soundtrack (a high compliment in my book). Needless to say, WWW artists got, and continue to get, at lot of airplay on my podcast/streaming radio show.

Meanwhile, just yesterday, Dancing Ferret/Noir Records founder Patrick Rodgers announced that his popular goth/darkwave label would be closing down in November.

“After November, Dancing Ferret Discs (and Noir Records) will stop releasing new material. Of course this does NOT mean that our wonderful artists are hanging up their hats, nor that their albums will disappear. It also does NOT mean that anything will happen to Nocturne, Dracula’s Ball, Digital Ferret or IsoTank. It simply means that in the future, new albums by the DFD bands that you love will be released by other labels (or in some cases, by the artists themselves).”

DFD/Noir, aside from representing popular darkwave acts like The Cruxshadows, also introduced America to great European neo-medieval, ethereal, Pagan-folk, and darkwave bands like Corvus Corax, Irfan, The Dreamside, Faun, and Omnia.

Both of these labels/services have been instrumental in helping to expand the idea of a “Pagan music” beyond the New Age mediocrities and sub-par folk that many assumed was the norm. It showed that there were new generations of musicians across America, the UK, and Europe, that were making challenging and exciting music that dealt with themes near and dear to the Pagan soul. To say that the exit of Woven Wheat Whispers and Dancing Ferret/Noir leaves a hole is an understatement. So I raise my glass in toast to both of them, they have enriched us more than most will ever know.

You can expect tributes to both Woven Wheat Whispers and Dancing Ferret/Noir in upcoming episodes of my A Darker Shade of Pagan podcast.
]]> http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/07/two-pagan-friendly-music-sources-close.html/feed 2 http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/old-traditions-new-directions.html http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/old-traditions-new-directions.html#comments Sun, 11 May 2008 13:52:00 +0000 Jason http://wildhunt.org/blog/2008/05/old-traditions-new-directions.html The Independent has a feature up on the tradition of Morris Dancing, specifically how two troupes are bringing a decidedly modern aesthetic to these venerable folk traditions.

The Hunters Moon Morris

The Wolf’s Head and Vixen Morris.

“One reason for the recent growth of Border morris is that it is easier to learn (while more spectacular) than other forms. Another is an increase in the number of British neo-pagans, many of whom are drawn to it. “We quite consciously work with ideas of shamanism,” says [Wolfshead founder Philip] Kane. “It’s a form of ritual theatre, a magical space embracing both dancers and audience.” There are radical politics at work too: he sees the dance, and “neo-pagan carnivals” such as the Rochester Sweeps, as a way of resisting the “complacent nostalgia” of Englishness “founded on the detritus of imperialism, Christianity, racism and xenophobia”. His England has more primitive, inclusive roots, and for him the morris is a way of expressing that.”

Of course there are still several traditional Morris “sides” (albeit aging rapidly) performing in England. Unlike the Pagan and goth troupes, they see what they are doing as safely within the bounds of their Christian faith, and downplay any esoteric aspects connected to Morris dancing by folklorists in the past.

“So, what do they think they’re up to? Norman Hopson, the 56-year-old squire, is a technical manager for BT but has the no-nonsense manner of a bluff countryman. “Some say the handkerchiefs are there to frighten away spirits, and the same for the bells,” he says. “We say they are there to accentuate the movements.” Nor is there anything mystical about his experience of dancing: “I see myself as a street entertainer.” … Hopson doesn’t see it as a symbol of fertility, or anything else, thank you. “The Long Man is a local landmark,” he says. “It’s just a carving on a hill. I don’t think it has any further significance.” The side’s bagman, Alan Vaughan, puts it more strongly: “We would go against that pagan idea,” he says. ‘Traditionally, morris dancing has been connected with the church. I personally have danced in Durham Cathedral.’”

Of course the pagan and esoteric undertones to modern Morris dancing (true or not) are irrevocably wrapped into it thanks to folklorists like Cecil Sharp, who felt that folk-traditions were cultural fossils of England’s primitive past (what Ronald Hutton calls the “geological model” of human culture). This notion of pagan survivals helped pave the way for the emergence of modern Pagan religion, and still casts a long shadow in the public mind when considering Morris dances and other folk traditions.

“The folk singers of today … are the last of a long line that stretches back into the mists of far-off days.” – Cecil Sharp, English Folk Song: Some Conclusions, 1907

Nor is England the only place where Pagans and other subcultural groups are staking their own claims to the Morris legacy. Pagans in America, most notably in California, have started up their own Morris traditions. Before long, the Victorian folklorists may turn out to be prophets, as more and more Morris troupes embrace a Pagan aesthetic.

PS – Speaking of traditions, today is Mother’s Day. Check out my post concerning the holiday from last year, I think it says all I want to say about the subject.
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