{"id":2293,"date":"2011-01-27T17:01:10","date_gmt":"2011-01-28T00:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2293"},"modified":"2011-01-31T14:36:06","modified_gmt":"2011-01-31T21:36:06","slug":"magical-religion-is-always-falling-apart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2293","title":{"rendered":"Magical Religion is Always Falling Apart"},"content":{"rendered":"

A recent post at Patheos by Thorn Coyle, “The Sundering of Feri<\/a>,” has been getting some attention, at The Wild Hunt<\/a>, for instance.<\/p>\n

She begins,<\/p>\n

It is said of late that the Feri Tradition has been broken in two, being named by folks on one side of the divide as a split between the “Mystery tradition” (taking on the old spelling of Faery) and “public religion” (Feri). While there have been splits and factions for almost as long as the tradition has been active, while the spelling of the name changed over time, and scapegoating, shouting, and long silences have abounded, I never before felt such an energetic sundering. As I write this, I can feel the mighty gates closing on what was. What will emerge, I do not know. Perhaps nothing will change, and perhaps everything will. Such are the times we live in, and various are the pronouncements of our egos trying to figure things out.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As far as “the times we live in,” I have been hearing reports of how Faerie\/Faery\/Feri ain’t what it used to be ever since the 1980s.<\/p>\n

It’s the nature of magical religion to be always splitting and changing. The only equivalent group dynamics and politics that I have seen to match it occur in martial arts schools\u2014something else that Thorn knows a little bit about.<\/p>\n

She wonders,<\/p>\n

At what point in an ecstatic, syncretic, Bardic tradition, does one’s own work cease to be of that tradition?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Given that Feri has been syncretic since whenever Victor Anderson <\/a>first read the works of Max Freedom Long<\/a>, themselves dating from the 1930s-1940s, I really don’t think that she has a problem, conceptually speaking. So why not add Gurdjieff (shudder<\/a>) and call it Feri. But she decides that she must call herself something else<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In one way, her essay points to an ongoing problem in contemporary Paganism: It’s hard to make a mass movement out of small-group mystery traditions.<\/p>\n

Yes, we need more public events: festivals, processions, theatrical events. The ancestors also went in for sacrifice-feasting events, but the theology of publicly offering life to the gods is still too scary for most Pagans. (There are exceptions<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

The trouble is, the model of “religion” available from the monotheists is just wrong. Every seven days, everyone lines up and listens to holy books or to a long sermon or bangs their heads on the floor. That just is not us.\u00a0 We are supposed to be about embodiment, ecstasy, performance, and ritual. So much is “enough” and how often do we do it?<\/p>\n

UPDATE: <\/strong>Welcome, visitors from The Wild Hunt<\/em>. Check out the rest of the blog.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent post at Patheos by Thorn Coyle, “The Sundering of Feri,” has been getting some attention, at The Wild Hunt, for instance. She begins, It is said of late that the Feri Tradition has been broken in two, being named by folks on one side of the divide as a split between the “Mystery […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-2293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-AZ","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":10239,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=10239","url_meta":{"origin":2293,"position":0},"title":"Anderson\/Feri Tradition Material Cataloged at Valdosta State University","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Victor Anderson (1917\u20132001) and Cora Anderson (1915\u20132008) founded the Feri tradition of Witchcraft (which had multiple spellings). Since their passing, their papers and home library has been divided among several recipients: the Oakland, Calif., public library, the New Alexandrian Library, and some private purchasers. A large number of their books,\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\/2019\/02\/Victor_H_Anderson.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1014,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1014","url_meta":{"origin":2293,"position":1},"title":"Cora Anderson","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 2, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Cora Anderson, co-founder of the Feri (Faerie) tradition of Witchcraft with her late husband, Victor, has left this life at the age of 93.Jason Pitzl-Waters links to some tributes to her. There is more at the Andersons' LiveJournal community and at Thorn Coyle's blog.Her book Fifty Years in the Feri\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"California\"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=california"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"http:\/\/www.assoc-amazon.com\/e\/ir?t=chascli-20&l=as2&o=1&a=B0006RMANM","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3955,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3955","url_meta":{"origin":2293,"position":2},"title":"Babies, Bathwater, and the Reclaiming Community","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"March 10, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Of all American Witchcraft traditions, Reclaiming seems to be the most prone to self-criticism. Perhaps that is because, as Anne Hill writes in her brief blog-memoir, The Baby and the Bathwater, there was always much conflict over different visions for Reclaiming. What started with one foot in the Faery\/Faerie\/Feri Witchcraft\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"blogging\"","block_context":{"text":"blogging","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=blogging"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":263,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=263","url_meta":{"origin":2293,"position":3},"title":"Interfaith games In Austin, Texas,\u2026","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 15, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"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\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12189,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12189","url_meta":{"origin":2293,"position":4},"title":"This Sounds like a Druidic Homily","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"I was reading the online version of the Pueblo (Colorado) Chieftain this afternoon and happened onto this article provided by the Pueblo Nature and Wildlife Discovery Center, formerly known more prosaically as Pueblo Mountain Park: \"Nature's Classroom: Imbolg, Time of Germination.\" The park has a long and interesting history. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Colorado\"","block_context":{"text":"Colorado","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=colorado"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/lilac-bud-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6449,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6449","url_meta":{"origin":2293,"position":5},"title":"Investigating a “Grandmother Story”","author":"Chas S. 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