{"id":1123,"date":"2009-02-21T16:20:00","date_gmt":"2009-02-21T16:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1123"},"modified":"2009-02-21T16:20:00","modified_gmt":"2009-02-21T16:20:00","slug":"thorn-and-pagan-magazine-publishing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1123","title":{"rendered":"Thorn and Pagan Magazine Publishing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I like magazines. I have worked for three, owned one (still going), and sold freelance articles to a bunch of others. I taught university classes in magazine-writing and production.<\/p>\n

So when Vol. 1, No. 1 of Thorn<\/em><\/a>, subtitled Paganism in the Silicon Age<\/em>, hit my mailbox, I was eager to read it.<\/p>\n

Having made various cynical comments in the past about “Wicca as fashion statement<\/a>,” I was a little amused to see two fashion layouts in the magazine. One, “Creation Myth: Intelligent Designs from the Descendants of the Sun Gods,” showcased Peruvian textiles. The models looked like models, and I am not sure where the photos came from. (Ex-editor that I am, I always look closely at credits, trying to determine what was in-house content and what was not.)<\/p>\n

More fashion. The magazine’s centerspread, “Phos: Primal Wear in the Forest,” shows two designer\/models looking sullen and “alternative” in their own designs. No word on where to buy them–or if you can–whereas the Peruvian clothes were at Saks.<\/p>\n

Don’t get me wrong. I like Thorn<\/span><\/a>. It’s a generational thing\u2014in the publishing sense.<\/p>\n

Having worked much of last summer on Green Egg Omelette: An Anthology of Art and Articles from the Legendary Pagan Journal<\/a><\/em>, I had plenty of time to reflect on its content. Green Egg<\/em> was — and is — about visions of Pagan spirituality and culture, much of it speculative.<\/p>\n

Thorn<\/em><\/a>, however, takes Pagan culture for granted. As far as I can tell, that is a Good Thing. Not that such culture is a finished product, no way. And it is still minuscule in the overall picture. But it exists.<\/p>\n

The magazine has good writers, a wide range of articles, and most of all, the opportunity to help define what Pagan culture is. Blogs like this one are fast but fragmented. Books can take a long-range thoughtful look at what has happened and what might happen. Magazines, meanwhile, have enough lead time to get thoughtful articles but come out frequently enough to be more or less current.<\/p>\n

From a media point of view, I think there should be a place for Thorn\u2014<\/a>and for its competitors, such as PanGaia, <\/a>newWitch<\/a>, and, yes, Green Egg<\/span><\/a>.<\/p>\n

I like the fact that you can subscribe with PayPal, but being conservative about these things, I would include a blow-in or bind-in card for people who want to use other payment methods.<\/p>\n

Since Thorn is published quarterly, it is alternating print issues with online issues–the February 2009 issue is now available, with a report from PantheaConm, an interview with paranormal-romance author Sherrilyn Kenyon, and a thoughtful piece on the threat from racial-supremacists to the Pagan movement.<\/p>\n

I have mixed feelings about this approach. Magazine-guru Samir Husni<\/a>, a journalism professor who studies the industry, pans the whole e-zine concept:<\/a> “So it is beyond me to understand why people, very creative people, spend so much time to create what they call \u201ce-zines\u201d that do nothing but imitate ink on paper.”<\/p>\n

He wants the Web to do what it does well\u2014short prose, sound, video\u2014and print to do what it does well.<\/p>\n

Green Egg<\/span> <\/a>has switched to sending subscribers a PDF file of the print magazine\u2014you print it yourself. Switch email addresses, though, and you’re in trouble.<\/p>\n

I want there to be a place for print magazines with good artwork and articles that you can curl up with, so I subscribed to Thorn <\/span>and wish it well.<\/p>\n

A publisher friend of mine says that Sunset<\/span> magazine <\/a>helped define “Southern California” for a generation. We need the Pagan magazines to do the same for Pagan culture generally.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I like magazines. I have worked for three, owned one (still going), and sold freelance articles to a bunch of others. I taught university classes in magazine-writing and production. So when Vol. 1, No. 1 of Thorn, subtitled Paganism in the Silicon Age, hit my mailbox, I was eager to read it. Having made various […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[5,7],"class_list":["post-1123","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-paganism","tag-publishing"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-i7","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1284,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1284","url_meta":{"origin":1123,"position":0},"title":"Too Much Pagan Writing is Too Bland","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I wish Pagan writers would stop giving advice and writing bland how-to articles. A lot of what makes Pagan magazine publishing is its bias towards advice-giving. That and poor graphic design, in some cases.Look at Circle magazine, for example. Circle reminds me too much of the bland publications of cookie-cutter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10725,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10725","url_meta":{"origin":1123,"position":1},"title":"Caroline Tully on Pagan Art and Fashion","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Caroline Tully is an Australian scholar of Classics, archaeology, and esotericism with a background in fine arts: I am an Honorary Fellow in the School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art from Monash University, Graduate and Postgraduate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"art\"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11623,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=11623","url_meta":{"origin":1123,"position":2},"title":"The “Paganism, Art, and Fashion” Issue of The Pomegranate","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"A new issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies devoted to Paganism, art, and fashion has been published online (print to follow) and is currently available as \"open acess,\" in other words, free downloads. It is guest-edited by Caroline Tully (University of Melbourne), who writes in her\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"art\"","block_context":{"text":"art","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/08\/Figure-1-Gareth-Pugh-.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":810,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=810","url_meta":{"origin":1123,"position":3},"title":"The Invisible College online magazine","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 6, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Bridging the gap between the print Pagan magazines of a few years back (Green Egg, anyone?) and Websites that you lose interest in, what with the flaming pentagrams and white-on-black type, The Invisible College is a downloadable magazine in PDF format. Entheogens, trances, shamanism, art . . . In fact,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1281,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1281","url_meta":{"origin":1123,"position":4},"title":"Some Newish Online Pagan-Related Magazines","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"\u2022 The new Pagan Edge offers \"lifestyles and passions of the modern Pagan.\" The special subscription price is good until January 10th.\u2022 Penton has been published in South Africa for a while. They are up to issue 45 and have a nice, straightforward navigation system.\u2022 Sannion links to a possibly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":9676,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=9676","url_meta":{"origin":1123,"position":5},"title":"Call for Papers: A Special Issue of The Pomegranate on Pagan Art and Fashion","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 22, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"From Caroline Tully (University of Melbourne, Australia), guest editor of an upcoming issue of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies devoted to Pagan art and fashion. A beautiful young woman drapes her long auburn hair over a human skull, pressing it close to her face like a lover.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"academia\"","block_context":{"text":"academia","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=academia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/pomegranate-cover.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1123\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}