It’s ours, and you can’t have any

Sabina Magliocco (her last book mentioned here) has a good piece on “Indigenousness and the Politics of Spirituality” in the American Anthropological Association newsletter.

Some quotes:

Cultural tradition is a process, rather than a product; the key quality of many indigenous spiritual practices is their variability and adaptability to different contexts, depending on the needs of their practitioners. Copyrighting spiritual practices would involve freezing them in time, rendering a living tradition static, unchanging, dead and preventing its adaptation by other group members. Not only is this anathema to many practitioners; it is also not how religion works.

My emphasis. And she points a finger at anthropologists who aid and abet the process of limiting spiritual material to only the “right people,” which practice is itself a form of reverse racism.

Paganism–religion or fad? Stay tuned

‘Australia Talks Back’ tackles the question: Traditional religions continue to lose their flock to the evangelicals,but an increasing number of Australians are opting out of Christianity and turning to pre-Christian paganism, with its spells and witchcraft. Paganism may be on the rise, but is it a serious religion, or new age trend? (Real Media and Windows Media links here–scroll down)

Guests on this program:

Dr. Rachael Kohn
Producer & Presenter of Radio National’s ‘The Ark’ and ‘The Spirit of Things’

David Garland
Pagan priest and spokesman for PAN – The Pagan Awareness Network

Lynne Hume
Associate Professor of Religious Studies, University of Queeensland.
Author of Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia

Stacey Demarco
Sydney businesswoman who describes herself not only as a Pagan but also as a modern -day witch

The “Yeah, Right” department

A news release for an online witchcraft school trots out the interview that I gave to Religion Link a few months back.

Whoever wrote the release was pretty sloppy. Phyllis Curott, for instance, is a lawyer not a “researcher.” And straight-line demographic projections are generally meaningless. Then there is “visionaire.” Is that supposed to sound slicker than the usual “visionary”? I think the only vision here is “get rich quick with the World Wide Web.” Of course, if you have to divide the money among your “staff of over 300,” there will not be much cash to go around.

“Goddess of the North”

Plans are underway to create a huge goddess figure next to a northern British highway. Ironically, the material to scupt her will be the overburden (“mining spoil”) removed from an open-pit coal mine.

When is a Druid not a Druid?

Another twist in the William Melnyk affair. Jason Pitzl-Waters has the conspiracy theories.

Benedict the inquisitor

As I paid for my turkey wrap and orange juice at “La Cantina,” i.e., the student coffee shop, today, the cashier told me that a new pope had been elected. Back in my office, I went on the Web and learned that Cardinal Ratzinger was now Pope Benedict XVI.

Coincidentally, some of my colleagues and I had just been discussing Aidan Kelly’s Crafting the Art of Magic (Llewellyn Publications, 1991), which for all its flaws represents the first book-length study by a scholar of religion on Wiccan origins.

Kelly, raised Roman Catholic, turned to the Craft as a young man, but then in the early 1980s tried for a time to return to the Church, only to feel that there was no place for him in it.

At his book’s conclusion, noting how the Church never apologized for the execution of “witches” and “heretics,” he writes:

The man who holds the position of Grand Inquisitor, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, is responsible for the harassing of Fr. Charles Curran, and of Fr. Matthew Fox, whom he has accused of heresy. Why? Because Fox hired Starhawk (and Luisa Teish, a Voudun priestess) to teach at Holy Names College in Oakland, California. . . .

Let me merely extend an invitation: if you, dear reader, can no longer stomach being in communion with Cardinal Ratzinger–or whoever the Chief Son-of-a-Bitch of your particular persuasion may be–then come circle with the Witches. We offer you liberty, fraternity, and equality.

That was my first introduction to the Ratzinger-as-Inquisitor meme, back in 1991. As the analysis of the papal election rolls forth, we may hear more of it.

New classics

The Independent (UK) newspaper reports that a group of ancient, seemingly unreadable documents might contain both Classic works of literature and ancient Christian gospels.

Now, in a breakthrough described as the classical equivalent of finding the holy grail, Oxford University scientists have employed infra-red technology to open up the hoard, known as the Oxyrhynchus Papyri, and with it the prospect that hundreds of lost Greek comedies, tragedies and epic poems will soon be revealed.

In the past four days alone, Oxford’s classicists have used it to make a series of astonishing discoveries, including writing by Sophocles, Euripides, Hesiod and other literary giants of the ancient world, lost for millennia. They even believe they are likely to find lost Christian gospels, the originals of which were written around the time of the earliest books of the New Testament.

Between these documents and those at the Villa of the Papyri in Pompei, we might have some wonderful new texts. But where are the rest of Sappho’s poems? (Via Bartholomew’s Notes on Religion)

The saga of the two married Episcopal clergy who were denounced by their denomination’s conservative wing for participation in Druidry has a new twist.

After resigning his pastoral post last November, the husband, William Melnyk, has decided that Druidry is more welcoming. (Registration may be required to view article.)

W. William Melnyk, former rector of St. James’ Episcopal Church, has formed the Llynhydd Grove of the Druid Order of the Yew, which he is leading under his Druid name, OakWyse.

He told the Philadelphia Inquirer that his move was “a joyous occasion.” His wife, Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk, who kept her parish, said she supports her husband’s decision to “exercise his ministry in an interfaith context, which was not available to him strictly within the ordained ministry of the Episcopal church.”

More links and a photo at the Wildhunt blog. A copy of Melnyk’s resignation letter is in the comment section here, along with derogatory comments about “Episco-Baalians.”

I’m in Blog Heaven

This blog has been added to BeliefNet’s “Blog Heaven,” a list of blogs emphasizing religion and spirituality.

Appropriately enough, you will find “Letter from Hardscrabble Creek” in the “Other” category. I feel “Other” quite a bit of the time. Not “the Other,” just “Other.”

The button on the right side of your screen below the blogroll will take you to Blog Heaven too.

Another BeliefNet article profiles an American who became a shaman in southern Africa.

He says, “The great taboo in our [Western] culture has nothing to do with sex, drugs, or controversial theater or performance—it is that realm of ecstatic experience. We just dismiss it, close the door, just no room, no reason, in fact, we don’t even want to look at it.”

Lipstick

The case of the male Wiccan high school student in San Bernardino, Calif., suspended for wearing black lipstick is all over the Pagan Web, but the Zero Intelligence blog dissects it nicely.

That’s the crux of the issue. If his black lipstick and red eye makeup were causing a genuine distraction then the school is justified in calling him on it (although a five day suspension is huge overkill for a dress code violation). However, this is a school in California, self-styled land of self expression. It is in San Bernardino which has no lack of people expressing themselves colorfully. I strongly doubt that James got any more reaction than “there goes another goth”.

Remember, “Zero tolerance equals zero intelligence.” On the other hand, I would like to hear James Herndon articulate just how the makeup expresses “Wiccan religious beliefs.” Someone could get a conference paper out of that.