Today’s offering comes to us from Sprocket Wagner (she/her). Sprocket is a journalist devoted to bringing diverse and equitable coverage to topics of religion and spirituality. She’s an eclectic Pagan, a Witch, and an aspiring scholar of interfaith theology. Find her on Mastodon, or on her website, Interfaith Heathen.
My grandfather was the first person in my family to ever tell me that it was okay to be gay.
He was in the hospital, high out of his mind on high-grade painkillers. The sentiment was sandwiched between ramblings about life and speculation on the death of John F. Kennedy, yet somehow those few words stuck with me the longest. It follows that a few months later, when he passed, he was the first “ancestor” to appear to me in any sense.
I had no idea that I was gay or trans then, and I didn’t even really believe in magic, or spirits, or an afterlife. But he visited me in a dream, and while I don’t recall what was said, my eyes had been opened to a world of wider possibilities.
Unfortunately, reaching out to my other ancestors has been much less comfortable. Working my way up my family tree has led to a number of figures who might be of great value to my spiritual education – alchemists, seers, workers of age-old traditions – but many of them come from times and places that are known to be unkind to those like me. The parts of my family from the United States tend toward the Puritanical, and though I wish to learn of my family’s Appalachian roots and the folk magic that comes with them, those relatives never really let go of the Confederacy. Further back, though my Irish and Scottish ancestry has ties to Brigid, the influence of Catholicism cannot be ignored. When many of my modern-day relatives have shunned me for who I am, it can be hard to envision those in ancient times being any kinder, let alone queer themselves.
Cover to “Dreaming of the Trancestors” by FairyGothParent [courtesy]
Luckily, there is a growing number of Pagans endeavoring to reclaim the queerness of our ancestors that has been buried by time and bias. The zine “Dreaming of the Trancestors” by FairyGothParent (FGP) of HrthKvult is a fine example.
The zine is hand-made, and is cut and bound nicely. The paper is a nice quality, and the bigger art pieces have a semi-glossy quality. The text could stand to be a bit bigger, but given the wealth of information and artwork crammed within, that can be forgiven. Among these artworks are hand-drawn maps over real traced geography. (“I was scared of leaving out an island and having someone go, ‘hey, you left out my family’s village’ or something,” the author joked to me.)
My copy also came with a sticker of one of the artworks featured in the zine, this time in color.
Artwork from FairyGothParent’s zine “Dreaming of the Trancestors” [courtesy]
The zine covers a number of historical and archaeological accounts of queerness in many areas with which modern Pagans resonate and seek ancestry – Celtic, Roman, Germanic, and Norse primarily. Two of these accounts describe gods that are themselves in some way trans, be that -gender or simply -gressive. Two others speak of priesthoods, and some speak of societal roles, and some of the dead and burial. I really appreciated that instead of simply highlighting one queer aspect of history, this zine emphasizes the encompassing nature of queerness throughout time: that it is everywhere and always has been.
I asked FGP what inspired them to write this zine. “Even when the homophobia and transphobia isn’t blatant,” they said, “too many folks use narrow interpretations of history to shut LGBTQ+ Pagans out of seeing ourselves in our predecessors and in our gods. By no means do I want to pretend that the past was a haven for us, just like today isn’t – but we nonetheless have lived and contributed to the human tapestry as long as it has existed.”
The maps really help emphasize just how interconnected these ancient European cultures were, and just how thoroughly queer people are woven into that tapestry. When I hear about queerness in the past, it’s usually portrayed as isolated incidents, but these maps make clear that simply isn’t the case.
I also appreciated that while this zine is well researched, it doesn’t feel too stuffy and academic. The tone is relaxed and frequently humorous, making the content more accessible, and this was done on purpose.
“I think the tone was the easiest thing for me,” said FGP. “I wanted to keep it approachable to younger Pagans who are still getting their footing on the path, and younger Pagans are the demographic that makes up the bulk of my TikTok audience. Since I script out most of my TikToks, I essentially treated it as an extended TikTok and stuffed it with all the things I wish I could say to them on that platform without worrying about the algorithm undermining me and my message.”
Pre-orders for the second printing of “Dreaming of the Trancestors” are open until November 15th at midnight Central time. Readers can find more of FGP’s work on Instagram or TikTok.
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