• Is your religion playing secrecy games? Anne Hill asks, “Does Your Religion Pass the Briefcase Test?” This concept was explored in the magical religion of Candomblé in Paul Christopher Johnson’s Secrets, Gossip, and Gods. Read Johnson’s book and see how much seems familiar.
• Sannion rants about bad ritual:
As annoying as all of this was, the thing that I found utterly intolerable was the high priestess’ choice in ritual tools. Her default images of The Lord and Lady were a pair of black velvet paintings of a shirtless Fabio-faced Indian Brave and his equally improbable and extremely busty Indian Princess paramour. Next to these was the ubiquitous cheap wolf statue and more crystals and feathers than you could shake an athame at.
• If you missed my earlier brief reference to it, read Peg Aloi’s “The History of Pagans in the Media: A Cautionary Tale.”
Pagans who want media attention are nothing new. Look at Aleister Crowley; he was a public sensation and scandalous topic of conversation throughout society in the days before Facebook, before television, before radio. His desire for fame and fortune certainly marred what might have been a respectable career as a talented poet and brilliant occultist and author. Well, maybe also the drug addiction, unpaid debts and sexual enslavement of women held him back just a teeny bit.
I think that, if you’re going to follow a Pagan path these days, you’ve got to take the “bad” rituals alongside the “good.” And the same is true of the fashions. And the iconography. And the rest.
Myself, I like it that there’s plenty of the DIY spirit running through today’s Paganism. Folks get to express their own devotions using their own efforts, fashion choices, and taste in art/decorative items. Sure, it may be exaperating sometimes. But isn’t alittle exaperation good for the jaunty spirit?
One person’s “kitsch” is another person’s “crap”, one person’s “artsy” is another person’s “godawful”. While I confess my utter inability to keep a straight face when I met a New Age shop employee who styled herself “Princess Manyrainbows” (I *swear* I am not making it up), I really try not to judge others for their choice in ritual robes, idols, or accessories. They may be hampered by budget, inexperience, or…they just might have different tastes than I do.
And who knows, they may well be looking at me and wondering what possessed me to wear my outfit. ::shrug::
I would have posted on Peg Aloi’s original, but I suppose comments are not allowed. I couldn’t comment, anyway.
I do not care what anyone thinks about me. I don’t know why anyone would care.
But as for “sexual enslavement of women”- I would like a citation on that, considering all the evidence I have read points to the contrary. Crowley wrote only of the independence of women- he said he did not want a slave for a woman. If, however, he actually owned a slave, I would like to see the evidence.