‘Where You At?
Rebecca of “What’s in Rebecca’s Pocket?” blog rediscovers the “Where You At?” bioregional information quiz, which first appeared in CoEvolution Quarterly, later known as Whole Earth Review, in 1981. I am glad to have done my part in disseminating it within the Pagan community.
(Whole Earth Review is no more, but the Web site still exists.)
Randomness
I am really too busy preparing for fall classes to blog right now, but meanwhile…
First, from CultureCat (11 August), this thought:
[Colleague who’s just starting to learn about blogs, reflecting after our lengthy discussion of public/private and the pros and cons of real name v. pseudonym in blogging] “You know, academic blogging under your real name is sort of like the intellectual equivalent of going to a nude beach.”
Second, from Dave Haxton’s blog, another attempt to outlaw a plant, or the uses thereof. You will see from the design of this blog why I’m amused.
I have been re-reading Donna Tartt’s The Secret History, the leading entry in the literary genre of “when Classics majors go bad.”
It was first published in 1992, and I did my part for her royalty payments by sending at least three hardcover copies as Christmas presents in 1993. Sales were good, Tartt’s reputation soared, and some readers apparently worshipped at her feet.
Now I think it ought to be declared one of those unintentional Pagan classics like the film The Wicker Man. (The Fortean Times interview with director Robin Hardy is here.)
The Wicker Man’s appeal lay in its portrayal of a fictional yet contemporary Pagan society, rather than its plot. The Secret History is a different sort of drug: it whispers of power and liberation in a seductive Romantic way, filtered through the mind of a 4th-century C.E. Hellenistic intellectual, the kind who would have referred to Christians as “atheists.”
Conference on Canadian Paganism?
Some tentative organizing is underway for a conference on Canadian Paganism, with preliminary information here.
Meanwhile, the second annual Pagan Studies conference held just before the American Academy of Religion annual meeting is scheduled for 19 November in San Antonio. More information here.
More on the chaplaincy issue
Terry Mattingly of the GetReligion blog has two entries (first and second on the issues raised by the Contra Costa Times that I referenced yesterday.
So if this is the case, what set of universal standards or laws might U.S. military officials cite in order to limit the religious rights of witches, druids, wizards and other pagan folk?
Yes, indeed. The bureaucratic machinery is groaning and creaking as it attempts to deal with the fact that there is more to American religion than the Abrahamic traditions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam).
In fact, even though the United States does not count religious affiliation on its census, it may prove to be the military that does, thus providing us with some way of extrapolating affiliations in the larger population. Maybe, contrary to what I wrote earlier, Wicca will turn out to be “the fastest-growing religion” after all. Right now, who can say?
Meanwhile, as a former newspaper reporter, I continue to enjoy Mattingly’s attempts to get the religion stories (and religion angles on other news stories) that the mainstream “pack journalists” miss.
Pentagon turns to Wiccan chaplain
Patrick McCollum, Wiccan chaplain in the California state prison system and advisor to Wiccan prison chaplains in several other states, is now advising the Pentagon on Wiccan soldiers’ needs, according to the Contra Costa Times in this article.
The article requires registration. Why do newspapers make it more difficult for people to read their online content? But there is a way around the registration issue: if you don’t feel like giving them your name, visit BugMeNot and pick up a generic password for that paper’s web site.
Now on to the lead paragraph:
After U.S. military personnel pelted American Wiccan servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq with bottles and rocks as they worshipped in a sacred circle, the Pentagon turned to Patrick McCollum of Moraga.
Rebuilding a temple
A UC-Berkeley news release describes the partial rebuilding of the temple of Zeus, knocked down by earthquakes and/or Christians.
Speaking of earthquakes: The use of interlocking stones dissipates a lot of energy,” said [engineering professor Nikos] Makris. “A single stone or stones connected with mortar or cement would be rigid and less able to effectively absorb the energy induced by earthquakes.
A further linguistic clue supports the seismic stability theory: The word the ancient Greeks used for the column drum, spondylos, also means vertebra. The temple columns were abiding by the same shock-absorbing principles as the human spinal column.
Passing of Joe Wilson
Joseph Wilson, one of the founders of the Pagan movement in America in the 1960s, died yesterday. He had suffered from chronic illness for many years and was on morphine for pain relief.
His new book, So You Wannabe a Shaman, Huh?, was just about to be published. That title expresses something of his personality: cantankerous but with a lot to say.
His autobiography is online, and I urge you to read it. (Thanks to Wren’s Nest.)
Back in the 1950s, the artist and occultist Rosaleen Norton was the witchcraft scene in Australia, at least according to some of the older books I have read. Her relationship with Sir Eugene Goosens, conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, was a scandal, as were her paintings, some of which were confiscated as indecent.
Now that scandal has achieved folkloric status, and Norton’s memory is a local tourist attraction, as you may read here (scroll to the bottom).
Things have changed a little.
Goosens, incidentally, worked hard for a new classical-music venue in Sydney; now the Sydney Opera House with its white “sails” is the tourism-poster icon of Australia. I think that it will be a while before there is a Rosaleen Norton retrospective exhibit in the lobby, but think of the connection.
Australian nanny state-ism?
Let’s see, we have …
1. A security guard licensed to carry a pistol, who is …
2. Supposed to protect US $21,000 at a hotel from …
3. An armed robber who who inflicts on her “ a fractured skull, a broken nose and left hand, and possible brain damage ,” so . . .
4. She shoots him (and there is no such thing as “shoot to wound” when your life is on the line), he dies, and . . . .
5. She is charged with murder.
Pretty soon I’m going to start sounding like Kim du Toit, if this keeps up. I’m glad that I live in a state where what should be the common-law right to self defense is written into the statutes.
Any Australian readers care to elucidate?