{"id":8543,"date":"2017-05-03T21:13:26","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T03:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8543"},"modified":"2017-05-03T21:17:30","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T03:17:30","slug":"i-lived-in-magic-a-video-biography-of-oberon-zell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=8543","title":{"rendered":"I Lived in Magic: A Video Biography of Oberon Zell"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"width: 625px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-8543-1\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/The-Wizard-Oz.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/The-Wizard-Oz.mp4\">https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/The-Wizard-Oz.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<p>Produced and directed by Danny Yourd (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.animalstudio.com\/\">Animal Studio<\/a>), this meditative interview with Oberon Zell (co-founder of the Church of All Worlds and the man who put &#8220;Neo-Pagan&#8221; into the American religious vocabulary in the 1970s) is a valuable piece of American Pagan history. (<a href=\"https:\/\/vimeo.com\/215849774\">It can also be viewed at the Vimeo site<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>Interspersed with video clips from the 1970s, 1980s, and on to the present \u2014 including the quixotic New Guinea mermaid quest \u2014 it pivots on his relationship with his life partner, the late Morning Glory Zell. (Their lives are also examined in John Sulak&#8217;s\u00a0 <em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/0738714828\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0738714828&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=soutrocknatub-20&amp;linkId=f4cc3d1cc8c879f605026fe3a01efb5e\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The Wizard and the Witch: Seven Decades of Counterculture, Magick &amp; Paganism, <\/a><\/em>which might be the best inside look at the American Pagan scene ever written.)<\/p>\n<p>Oberon reflects on his life, on his loss of Morning Glory, but he is not giving up. &#8220;Don&#8217;t let it die,&#8221; were among her last words, and so the grey-haired wizard carries on. I know that he will do so until he is gone, and something like the mythic cry of Merlin is heard in the redwoods of California.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"rzodvyfpntaqwvxfrvwv\" style=\"border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;\" src=\"\/\/ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/e\/ir?t=soutrocknatub-20&amp;l=am2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0738714828\" alt=\"\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" border=\"0\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Produced and directed by Danny Yourd (Animal Studio), this meditative interview with Oberon Zell (co-founder of the Church of All Worlds and the man who put &#8220;Neo-Pagan&#8221; into the American religious vocabulary in the 1970s) is a valuable piece of American Pagan history. (It can also be viewed at the Vimeo site.) Interspersed with video [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":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":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[10,75,36,5],"class_list":["post-8543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-religion","tag-california","tag-movies","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-2dN","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13518,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13518","url_meta":{"origin":8543,"position":0},"title":"The Pagans, the Unicorns, and the Serial Killer","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"December 15, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"I have complained before about the relative lack of good American Pagan biography and autobiography. John Sulak's biography of Oberon Zell (b. 1942) and his partner Morning Glory (1948\u20132014), The Wizard and the Witch was one of the exceptions.((Yes, Morning Glory either invented or co-invented the term \"polyamory,\" and she\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animals\"","block_context":{"text":"animals","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animals"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/witzard-and-witch-vol-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/witzard-and-witch-vol-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/witzard-and-witch-vol-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6280,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6280","url_meta":{"origin":8543,"position":1},"title":"Quick Review: The Wizard and the Witch","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"One of my earliest entries on this blog, clear back in 2003, was a complaint about the lack of biographical and autobiographical writing in American Wicca \u2014 and I would extend that to all types of new Paganism generally. That entry did mention Margot Adler's Heretic's Heart (1997), but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"wizard and witch","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/wizard-and-witch.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3774,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=3774","url_meta":{"origin":8543,"position":2},"title":"Being a Wizard Today","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"February 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"This link will take you to six-minute video wherein Oberon Zell of the Church of All Worlds and the Grey School of Wizardry discusses the school and role of the wizard in the modern world, with cameo appearances by two of the students. There is also brief mention of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"California\"","block_context":{"text":"California","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=california"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1757,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1757","url_meta":{"origin":8543,"position":3},"title":"P.E.I. Bonewits 1949-2010","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"All around the Pagan blogosphere, tributes are being written today for Isaac Bonewits, who died today. Here is a chronology of his life and tribute by Ian Corrigan. I can add only that he was one of the most prolific and visible figures of the Pagan revival from the 1970s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"American religion\"","block_context":{"text":"American religion","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=american-religion"},"img":{"alt_text":"Isaac Bonewits (2nd from left) at the Greenfield Ranch tree planting, Jan. 1978","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/08\/isaac1.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4374,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=4374","url_meta":{"origin":8543,"position":4},"title":"The Wizard and the &#8220;Reality&#8221; Ghosthunters","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"July 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Oberon Zell, co-founder of the Church of All Worlds and headmaster of the Grey School of Wizardry, looks to have a bit part in a reality TV series, Ghost Girls. Its Facebook page calls it \"an off-beat Supernatural\/Reality Based TV show pilot about three 'Real' claravoyant [sic], beautiful women, who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"ghosts\"","block_context":{"text":"ghosts","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=ghosts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6487,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=6487","url_meta":{"origin":8543,"position":5},"title":"The Zells&#8217; Biographer on &#8220;Living Your Myth&#8221;","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"May 21, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"John Sulak, who co-wrote Modern Pagans for RE\/Search and worked for a decade on The Wizard and the Witch, the new biography of Oberon and Morning Glory Zell, gives interviewer Anne Hill his own take on the Zells, the writing process, the Church of All Worlds, and others in their\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543","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=8543"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8549,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8543\/revisions\/8549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}