Andrew Chumbley

Andrew Chumbley, who died this month on what would have been his 37th birthday, pursued an individualistic form of Traditional Witchcraft, not to mention other byways of magic. Comparisons between his life and that of Austin Osman Spare are inevitable, especially when you consider Chumbley’s artwork.

Häxan

Continuing our sporadic investigation of cinematic paganism, M. and I watched Häxan (“Witches”), a 1922 silent Swedish film that is available subtitled in English as Witchcraft through the Ages.

Released just before Margaret Murray swayed English-speaking readers with her “survival of the Old Religion despite persecution” theory, this film reflects the “enlightened” outlook of the late 19th century: witchcraft was partly ecclesiastical prejudice and partly undiagnosed “hysteria.”

In its own way, its pseudo-documentary approach commits a different set of blunders than did Murray, blaming the Catholic Church for witch persecutions, when, in fact, Church courts were milder (more likely to acquit, less likely to use torture) than were secular courts–and Protestants killed as many “witches” as did Catholics, maybe more.

Parts are hilarious (the animal-demon costumes at the “sabbat”), while other parts are merely inexplicable (the two men dissecting a corpse–what was that all about?).

One online critic writes, “What makes Häxan memorable is [director/actor Benjamin] Christensen’s remarkable quasi-documentary approach, which must have been awfully sophisticated stuff in 1922.”

Maybe. Now, at best, it’s a Hallowe’en party movie.

DNA vs. the Mormons

Christianity Today, which bears no love for the Latter-day Saints, reviews a new book that undercuts a key Mormon teaching: that American Indian tribes are descended from “Lamanites” and “Nephites,” alleged ancient immigrants from Israel. LDS officials react with predictable smokescreen.

Years ago, I worked at a newspaper in a Colorado town next to a Mormon colleague. The paper was owned by a family named Lehman, so I’d occasionally make a joke based on wordplay of Lehman-ite/Lamanite. She would laugh, but with a look in her eye that said, “How do you know about that?”

Another reason for home-schooling

Pennsylvania man keeps the kids at home to protect them from neighborhood witches. Where is Professor Evans-Pritchard when we need him?

Robots in the Victorian Era

Visit this site and marvel at the ingenuity of our ancestors! Then backtrack to the home page for more exploration, after you realize that you are definitely looking at an alternative history of robotics.

Question: Could I buy items from the gift shop with Antarctica dream-dollars?

Interfaith games

In Austin, Texas, a Feri-style invocation in a Methodist Church, the Statesman reports (registration required).

“The expression [broom closet] is an example, Wiccan Gordon Fossum said, of the mix of mirth and reverence his faith embodies. Earlier that morning, Fossum had jokingly invoked the ‘Goddess Caffeina’ to get the church’s coffee maker brewing.

“Wearing a silver pentacle necklace and sipping from a Garfield mug, Fossum shrugged.

“‘If a religion can’t laugh at itself, it’s got some work to do,’ he said.”

Thanks to Doug LeBlanc at GetReligion. Apparently this was his first encounter with Wiccan humor.

Magic noir

Back to my ongoing series on literary and cinematic paganism: over the weekend M. and I watched Cast a Deadly Spell (HBO, 1991), which attempts to blend 1940s-style film noir with magic. In fact, the movie begins with the statement, “The year is 1948. Everybody uses magic.” Everyone, that is, but private eye Philip Lovecraft (the craggy-faced Fred Ward) whose character bears no resemblance to the semi-reclusive writer from Providence, R.I. Julianne Moore plays his girlfriend, a cabaret singer. I would pay to watch Julianne Moore wash dishes, but this movie is just Who Framed Roger Rabbit for occultists.

‘Spiritual, not religious’

Articles like this one from the Denver Post illustrate the difficulty in censusing non-mainstream religions. How many Pagans might answer “none” when our traditions don’t appear in the menu of choices?

Meanwhile, a friend is working on a sociological piece on the growth of Wicca and other Paganisms in English-speaking countries. He might end up reinvigorating the “Wicca is the fastest-growing religion” meme after all, which I had at one point lost faith in.

If you look at the map at the botton of the Post article, you will see that my county is one of those with the lowest percentage of “nones.” It’s not that we mirror northern New Mexico, but rather, as someone here said, the place is “too rich, too religious, too Republican.”

“Pagan” predecessors

The BBC picks up on the growing evidence for multiple ancient migrations into the Americas with this story. Meanwhile, Inappropriate Response remains a good place to keep up with the “Caucasoid” Kennewick Man squabble.

For some American Indian political leaders, this issue has a line-in-the-sand quality. They apparently fear that if Kennewick Man, for instance, is shown to be racially different (Polynesian, perhaps) that they will lose standing in aboriginal land disputes, in claims on sacred sites, and, in general, the lose moral high ground. Whether those results would necessarily follow such findings, I am not sure, but I myself have no problem with DNA studies of all our ancestors.

“Addicted” to Greek mythology

There are days when I feel like we are still intellectually in the 4th century C.E. Consider this little flap over “Classical education” and the danger of becoming “addicted to Greek mythology.”

To read the article by Christian-homeschooling celebrity Elizabeth Smith that started it, go here and scroll down past the poll results.

She writes, “Some have claimed that Classical Education is really a Christian idea that was stolen by pagans and we just need to reclaim it. However, the history of education, including Classical Education, traces its roots to the pagan Greek philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle around 500-400 B. C.”

No? Really?

“Have you ever met someone addicted to Greek mythology? I have, and I have never forgotten it. In consideration of our children’s varying temperaments, how can we tell whether or not some of this literature will be harmful to them? I am also concerned about the ‘spirit’ of Classical Education. Just as our faith has a spiritual element to it, so does humanism. We all know stories about someone who has started out on the path to God and had their faith shipwrecked.”

Didn’t the blessed emperor Julian deal with all of this about 362 with his edict on Christian schoolteachers? Smart man, Julian.

Thanks to Tolle, Blogge for the link–and for the story of the original article’s curious disappearance from the homeschooling site that originally hosted it.