A People With a History

Ever since the Stonewall Uprising in the Summer of 1969 there has been a concerted backlash against the steadily encroaching legal rights demanded by the unifying Gay and Lesbian Liberation movement.  According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, they have been able to track this anti-Gay trend amid angry, older, white men who first saw women demanding equality, than African Americans, and finally Gay Americans; but, when we demanded our due a "War" was waged as they collectively drew a line in the sand and refused to yield even a single inch of progress without a fight.  One of their tactics to deny us legitimacy was to deny that Gay people have ever existed within society, even going so far as to demand that Gay people simply did not exist before 1969!  Even Maggie Gallagher, in her anti-Gay polemical crusade, has refused to acknowledge that marital couples have been far more variable than the patriarchal heteronormative variety, such as in shamanic cultures, as well as the Classical world, and amid my own Celtic ancestors!  (As most she will imply that such data is a historical aberration...an inconsequential blip on the historical radar.)  This is part of my reason for penning this blog entry; to show that we do, indeed, have a legitimate history that stretches back into the mists of the remote past.  There is a lovely book published by The University of Wisconsin Press called A Passion to Preserve: Gay Men as Keepers of Culture.  And, in many ways I believe that we are, perhaps because we are unable to procreate amidst ourselves and to sire a legacy in the world, we have put our energy, instead, into passing on history as best as we are able to. What follows is the corpus of my own personal Library on Gay History and Culture, save for a few issues of the now defunct Gay Male Pagan magazine, The Crucible.  It is a genuine worry of mine that many of our younger Gay Brothers now take our progress for granted and have no interest in our history, least of all as a source of Inspiration and Pride.  But, if they do not carry on this Torch, than whom will?

• Adams, Barry D.  The Rise of a Gay and Lesbian Movement.  (Twayne's Social Movement Series)  Boston, Twayne Publishers, 1987.  Topics and subjects discussed include: Our mistreatment by the citizens of the Medieval era; Molly Houses and the vestigial emergence of a homosexual subculture; the facilitation of romantic love and the redefinition of marriage at the hands of a newly Capitalistic society and economy; Karl Ulrich, Uranians, and the push for rights and visibility in the pre-WWII world; Our persecution under Stalinism and the Nazi regime (little is known of early Gay life throughout what was then the "Soviet Union" due to a legal ban against our Gay and Lesbian Brothers and Sisters); McCarthyism, the Homophile movement, and the Mattachine Society; Harvey Milk and Anita Bryant; the emergence of Gay Liberation groups and their publications/ newsletters; political and evangelical animosity in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia; and finally the AIDS crisis.
• Aldhouse-Green, Miranda & Stephen.  The Quest for the Shaman: Shape-Shifters, Sorcerers and Spirit-Healers of Ancient Europe.  London: Thames & Hudson, 2005.  Highlights the place within Shamanic cultures for those whom we would identify as Gay or even Transgender.
• Allen, Robert H.  The Classical Origins of Modern Homophobia.  Jefferson: McFarland, 2006.
• Ambrose, Tom.  Heroes and Exiles: Gay Icons Through the Ages.  London: New Holland Publishers, 2010.
• Boswell, John.  Christianity, Social Tolerance, and Homosexuality: Gay People in Western Europe from the Beginning of the Christian Era to the Fourteenth Century.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1980.
• ---.  Same-Sex Unions in Premodern Europe.  New York: Villard Books, 1994.
• Bray, Alan.  Homosexuality in Renaissance England.  New York: Columbia University Press, 1982/ 1995.
• Burg, B. R., ed.  Gay Warriors: A Documentary History from the Ancient World to the Present. New York: New York University Press, 2002.
• Carter, David.  Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 2004.
• Cherici, Peter.  Celtic Sexuality: Power, Paradigms and Passion.  London: Duckworth, 1994.
• Cherry, Kittredge and Zalmon Sherwood, eds.  Equal Rites: Lesbian and Gay Worship, Ceremonies, and Celebrations.  Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995.
• Clark, David.  Between Medieval Men: Male Friendship and Desire in Early Medieval Literature.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• Conner, Randy P.  Blossom of Bone: Reclaiming the Connection Between Homoeroticism and the Sacred.  New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
• ---, David Hatfield Sparks, and Mariya Sparks.  Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit Covering Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transender Lore.  Herndon: Cassell, 1997.  This book should serve as a standard reference volume for all Gay men; it was the very first book I bought on the subject of our place in history back when Amazon.Com only supplied books and music!  The primary author would like to have a second end. published, perhaps privately, because Cassell omitted such a large swath from their original MS.
• ---.  Queering Creole Spiritual Traditions: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Participation in African-Inspired Traditions in the Americas.  Binghamton: Harrington Park Press, 2004.
• Drake, Graham N.  "Homosexuality (male)".  Medieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs.  Carl Lindahl, John McNamara, and John Lindow, eds.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002: pp. 203-04. 
• Duberman, Martin.  Stonewall.  New York: Plume, 1993.
• Evans, Arthur.  The God of Ecstasy: Sex Roles and the Madness of Dionysos.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1988.
• ---.  Witchcraft and the Gay Counterculture.  Boston: Fag Rag Books, 1978.  This is my absolute favorite text on the subject of ancient/ medieval Gay culture!  Arthur Evans was one of the leading lights and inspirational figures in the Gay Liberation Movement.   I had heard in the last decade that Evans' was working on a revised second edn, of is classic; my own attempt at varying this news was unsuccessful.  A part of me, however, is grateful that he never finished his revisions, or that his revision was never published because it is my understanding that in the years prior to his passing he became very bitter an very Conservative!  His change of  heart and personality, I feel, may only have marred an otherwise powerful and idealistic tome.
• Frantzen, Allen J.  Before the Closet: Same-Sex Love from Beowulf to Angels in America.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1998.
• Goodwin, Joseph P. and Mickey Weems.  "Gay (LGBTQ) Studies and Queer Theory".  Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art.  3 vols.  Ed. Charlie T. McCormick and Kennedy White.  Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2011.  Interestingly enough, this encyclopedia also devotes an entry to "Fag hag" extraordinaire, Margaret Cho!  We LOVE her!
• Gott, Ted (comp.) and National Gallery of Australia.  Don't Leave Me This Way: Art in the Age of AIDS.  Melbourne: Thames & Hudson, 1994.  This is really a heart-breaking read.  As I was reading this, I really became upset at the thought of what are called "Bug Chasers" (which is something that I hadn't heard of until I saw it mentioned during an episode of the American version of Queer As Folk), which is a Gay male subculture that seeks to contract HIV by exposing themselves to unsafe sex in private or at so-called "Gifting Parties"!  Somehow they have sexually fetishized a potentially lethal disease that ended up slaughtering scores of thousands of their own Brothers in the 1980s and 2990s.  While I was reading I couldn't help but feel that men that seek to become HIV positive are simply spitting on the graves of our brave Brothers who faced their own grim mortality far too soon.
• Grahn, Judy.  Another Mother Tongue: Gay Words, Gay Worlds.  Updated & Expanded Edn.  Boston: Beacon Press, 1984/ 1990.
• Harvey, Andrew, ed.  The Essential Gay Mystics.  Edison: Castle Books, 1997.
• Heger, Heinz.  The Men with the Pink Triangle.  Trans. David Fernbach.  New York: Alyson Books, 1980.  Accounts of Gay life in the Nazi death camps.
• Jay, Karla and Allen Young, eds.  Out of the Closets: Voices of Gay Liberation.  New York: New York University Press, 1977.
• Katz, Jonathan Ned. Gay American History: Lesbians & Gay Men in the U.S.A: A Documentary History.  Rev. edn.  New York: Meridian, 1976/ 1992.  I remember that I bought this book from our local Half Price Bookstore shortly after Gay Marriage was legalized here in Iowa...I think it might have been during Pride Week in June, in fact.  This book ought to be on the shelf of every Gay man!  It's both academic and heart-breaking!  Indeed, if I could recommend only one book on the subject, it would be this book.
• ---.  Love Stories: Sex Between Men Before Homosexuality.  Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2001.
• Keuls, Eva C.  The Reign of the Phallus: Sexual Politics in Ancient Athens.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 1985.
• Lamb, Myrna.  The Astrology of Great Gay Sex: The Ultimate Guide to Finding Mr. Right and Avoiding Mr. Wrong.  Charlottesville: Hampton Roads Publishing, 2008.
• Levine, Martin P.  Gay Macho: The Life and Death of the Homosexual Clone.  New York: New York University Press, 1998.
• McCubbin, Bob.  The Roots of Lesbian & Gay Oppression: A Marxist View.  3rd. edn.  New York: W W Publishers, 1976/ 1979/ 1993.  Yes, I am a member of the Democratic Socialist Party!
• Miller, Stephen G.  Ancient Greek Athletics.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004.
• Nanda, Serena.  Neither Man Nor Woman: The Hijras of India.  Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company, 1990.
• Neill, James.  The Origins and Role of Same-Sex Relations in Human Societies.  Jefferson: McFarland, 2009.
• Nissinen, Martti.  Homoeroticism in the Biblical World: A Historical Perspective.  Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1998.
• Ramer, Andrew.  Two Flutes Playing: A Spiritual Journeybook for Gay Men.  San Francisco: Alamo Square Press, 1997.
• Robb, Graham.  Strangers: Homosexual Love in the Nineteenth Century.  New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2003.
• Roscoe, Will.  Jesus and the Shamanic Tradition of Same-Sex Love.  San Francisco: Suspect Thoughts Press, 2004.
• ---.  Queer Spirits: A Gay Men's Myth Book.  Boston: Beacon Press, 1995. 
• Russell, Glenda M.  Voted Out: The Psychological Consequences of Anti-Gay Politics.  New York: New York University Press, 2000.
• Russo, Vito.  The Celluloid Closet: Homosexuality in the Movies.  2nd. edn.   New York: Harper & Row, 1987.
• Saslow, James M.  Pictures and Passions: A History of Homosexuality in the Visual Arts.  New York: Viking, 1999.
• Schulman, Sarah.  My American History: Lesbian and Gay History During the Reagan/ Bush Years.  London: Routledge, 1994.
• Shilts, Randy.  The Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk.  New York: St. Martin's Press, 1982.
• Spencer, Colin.  Homosexuality in History.  New York: Harcourt Brace & Co., 1995.
• Teal, Donn.  The Gay Militants: How Gay Liberation Began in America, 1969-1971.   New York: St. Martin's Press, 1971.  After reading this brilliant documented study I have since wondered when we stopped capitalizing the "G" in "Gay" when we referred to ourselves and our collective identity as Gay men?  To me it's almost a depreciating act similar to using a lower-case "I" in reference to oneself.
• Tin, Louis-Georges.  The Dictionary of Homophobia: A Global History of Gay & Lesbian Experience.  Trans. Marek Redburn.  Vancouver: Arsenal Pulp Press, 2008. 
• Williams, Craig A.  Roman Homosexuality: Ideologies of Masculinity in Classical Antiquity.  New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.

The Question of the Celts

Yesterday afternoon The Covenant of the Goddess (COG) posted the following video onto their FaceBook page (I am unable to embed it), which features Prof. Simon James who insists the Celts inhabiting the British Isles "never existed"....at least not before 1700 CE when archaeologists, he alleges, coined the term as a blanket ethnonym for the cultures inhabiting the districts of the Atlantic (James, pp. 17).  According to him, the Celts are a modern invention that was imposed onto the evidence by early scholars!  This view has also been adopted and brandished by Prof. John Collis who capitulates that it is academically improper to use the term "Celtic" in any sense merely because it covers scientific disciplines that cover different temporal area (he alleges, by inference, that these disciplines must remain unrelated): linguistics, Iron Age material culture, and medieval literature.  These two studies, however, have been treated as though they are mainstream and reflective of current academic thought by one other Pagan academic luminary, Prof. Ronald Hutton, who opined that, "[d]uring the 1990s historians and prehistorians have lost faith in the concept of a Celtic cultural province covering much of ancient Europe", noting that our understanding of the Celts had "been called into question during the past thirty years" (Hutton, pp. 2).  By addressing a Pagan audience in this way, Prof. Hutton comes across as directing this new narrative, even tacitly implying that it is  an accepted fact by the majority of specialists in the field of Celtic Studies and Archaeology.  However, perhaps to Hutton's chagrin, even Prof. James admits that:  "At the moment this rejection of the Celts is not generally shared by specialists in other fields, or by many archaeologists outside the United Kingdom, and is fiercely opposed by some" (James, pp. 16).  The fringe nature of these respective hypotheses must be thoroughly underscored!   When I queried Dr. Eamonn "Ned" Kelly--the Keeper of Irish Antiquities--about this fringe trend to disregard the concept of the Celts he assured me that the work of these scholars (Collis and James) is utterly worthy of dismissal because the authors are so clearly laboring under some sort of post-imperial trauma and that they evince an unashamed political bias that unquestionably taints their views!  Why Prof. Hutton would at least imply that these fringe views are mainstream remains uncertain.  Regardless, it is evident that Prof. Hutton has taken a shine to the work of two peripheral scholars and that he has grossly over-exagerated the merit and the legitimacy of their work.  However, even Prof. James ironically laments that, "'ideological bias' is obvious in the [academic] papers which do not reflect our own views" (James, pp. 44).  He also commits, throughout his poorly reasoned exegesis, some rather egregious Logical Fallacies, such as Appeal to Authority by making a claim of a respective scientific field for which he offers no corroborative citations to substantiate his vague allegations which he then infers ought to be accepted at face value alone (James, pp. 94).  When confronted with patently ridiculous narratives of this sort we must remind ourselves that there is an unfortunately concerted effort within British academia to utterly divorce England, culturally, from its ancient pagan past, particularly from its native Celtic heritage!

Sources:

• Collis, John.  The Celts: Origins, Myths & Inventions.  Gloucestershire: Tempus, 2003.
• Hutton, Ronald.  "The Festival of Lammas".  The Cauldron: Witchcraft, Paganism & Folklore.  No. 113 (August 2004): pp. 2-4.
• James, Simon.  The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or Modern Invention?.  Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1999. 
• Ó hÓgáin, Dáithí.  "Celtic Folklore and Mythology".  Folklore: An Encyclopedia of Beliefs, Customs, Tales, Music, and Art.  2nd edn.  Charlie T. McCormick and Kim White, eds.  3 vols.  Oxford: ABC-Clio, 2011: pp. 239-246.
• ---.  The Sacred Isle: The Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland.  Cork: The Collins Press, 1999.

The Witches' Trifecta!

A friend of mine on Facebook recently asked his friends what the #1 book is that they would recommend on The Craft; another friend--Wren Walker of The Witches' Voice fame--was asked to post a variety of books that had the most endearing impact on her.  I would like to offer my own contribution through the following thought-experiment: Let us imagine for a moment that The Craft was once again driven underground because of ignorant persecution.  What three nonfiction books would I (or you!) carry with me to preserve and sustain a proper understanding and practice of The Craft for current and successive generations?  (Three may seem an arbitrary number for this thought experiment, but I figure that I could comfortably carry-and-conceal them if I should have to flee!)  What follows is a brief review of the books that I have chosen from my own substantial Pagan library:

#1 on my list is Laurie Cabot's seminal classic, Power of the Witch: The Earth, The Moon, and the Magical Path to Enlightenment (Delacorte Press, 1989).  This book came to me at a time when I was desperately searching for for answers in earnest.  When I first embarked on this Path sixteen years ago the publishing market had been flooded by a "New Generation" of books on what many of us have now come to call "neo-Wicca"!  Nearly all of these latter books were frustratingly eclectic, devoid of structure, and as it turns out they were often written by novices themselves!  In one popular series that was recommended to me very early on, it took the author  the space of three large books to poorly explain what far better educated authors were able to explain within the space of a single volume.  But, I was searching for Traditional Witchcraft, not someone's poorly misinterpreted vision of it!  By the end of these books I still didn't have the slightest idea about how a Magick Circle ought to be properly cast, or how items ought to be properly charged with one's own psychic energy when casting a spell, despite the fact that the author assured the reader that that by the end of the second book in the series the reader would have reached the levels of First and Second Degree within the author's own Tradition.  (I can only say that I now have a far stricter sense of requirements for the First Degree and the Second Degree!)  Compounding my own sense of frustration was that the  author of one of these neo-Wiccan books had the audacity to say that one had to believe in spell for them to manifest, but without providing the slightest reason for their readers "to believe".

That is when Power of the Witch entered my life as the answer to an unspoken prayer.  As a practical guide to The Craft this book is exceptionally well rounded.  She discusses the legacy of the Witch in history as a benign and as a nefarious figure, the presence of our gods within pre-history, the holidays that we celebrate, but also how a Circle is properly cast, and how one may charge herbs, candles, and other ritual Tools of The Craft by underscoring the methodology and use of the Alpha state of consciousness.  More importantly, however, this book satiated the analytical side of my questing Piscean mind by achieving what no popular book had before: explaining, using recent studies in Quantum Physics, precisely how spells work by emphasizing the role that the mind plays in fashioning our perception of reality and the physical multiverse around us.  The chapters "The Science of Witchcraft" and "Alpha" is worth the cost of the book alone!  This book has had such an enduring legacy on my life as a Witch that I try to keep a copy on hand that I may give to fellow Witches as a gift if they should be facing similar hardships as I once endured; in fact, I recently went out of my way to hunt down a near-mint condition hardback copy of Laurie's book to own as a treasured keepsake.

Unfortunately,  in spite of the fact that this book is an utter Game Changer, it has met with some resistance within The Craft, though chiefly on behalf of certain High Priestesses who cannot seem to tolerate the thought that their own training might not be adequate for the needs of each and every one of their students, even if they should require a far more analytical grounding--as if these women have attained a certain level of Mastery and Acclaim that precludes them from furthering their own education within the Craft.  The very implication seems to be offensive to them and their Egos!  I have personally observed some High Priestesses balk at Laurie's teachings, purely out of their own sense of Authority and Entitlement, wanting to sorely downplay the proven techniques of Laurie Cabot as if they are "boring"--maligning them as unhelpful or even insipid--in favor of their own less-than-helpful metaphysical views.  Even more, this invaluable book is seldom recommended or even stocked by local Occult Stores who seem to be biased towards the likes of Starhawk and her psychological and feminist exegesis, The Spiral Dance (HarperOne, 1979/ 1989/ 1999), as well as a number of local High Priesthoods whom are more interested in requiring their Neophytes to read the work of neo-Wiccan authors such as Scott Cunningham (1956-1993) and his latter contemporaries.

The second book on my short-list would be Stewart (1916-2000) and Janet Farrar's British Traditional Witchcraft source-book, The Witches' Way: Principles, Rituals and Beliefs of Modern Witchcraft (Phoenix Publishing, 1984).  This book contains a synthesis of both the Gardnerian and the Alexandrian Book of Shadows in collaboration with Doreen Valiente (1922-1999), as well as the authors' own ritual embellishments.  As such, it is a monumental achievement that expands upon and explains precisely how a Circle is cast, how the Quarters are called, the  use and functions of the Tool of the Art, and several Traditional and unique Rites of Passage (thereby adding to the original Book of Shadows), including a Requiem (funeral for a deceased Witch), as well as the First, Second, and the Third Degree of Initiation.

This text is a corner-stone for anyone truly sincere about The Craft, especially if they should desire to build upon it and establish their own Tradition based upon a firm foundation!  In Scott Cunningham's Living Wicca: A Further Guide for the Solitary Practitioner (Llewellyn, 1993) he devotes the third part of his book to developing one's own Tradition of Wicca, which is an admirable gesture provided that his readers follow through and seriously consider the works of the Craft Elders whom he recommended and provided within his annotated Bibliography.  Otherwise I fear that, if his readers lack these prerequisite  skills, then they will be unable to appreciate the parting legacy that Scott has left to them--the capacity to stand on their own merit.  

My third and final selection would be the somewhat undervalued exegesis, The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle (Llewellyn, 2003), by Garnderian High Priestess Deborah Lipp.  This is a brilliant book that fills in many of the gaps in the knowledge of the Pagan community by focussing not so much on the how-to as a standard Wicca 101 book might, but instead she focusses on the why of certain procedures within ritual, which is of quintessential importance; she even breaks down standard ritual procedure and thoroughly examines the Mysteries of the Tools (i.e. the Athamé, Wand, Chalice, and Pentacle), etc.  Much of it is very common sense, such as keeping a "Magick Box" prepared and filled with items for every last moment contingency during a ritual, such as two spare boxes of matches, a wine bottle opener, spare candle, and so on and so forth.  Also underscored is the development of the Coven's hive-mind by stressing that each Witch in a Coven must envision the same structure or item, such as the Magick Circle.  This book is like carrying around a High Priestess with nearly twenty years experience between its pages.  I must underscore, again, that what was so refreshing about this text is the plethora of common sense material that was included which no other book on the subject to date has bothered to address.  It remains a truly profound, engrossing, and invaluable read, as a result, and one that is suitable for both the Neophyte on the Path, as well as the self-taught or otherwise eclectic High Priest/ess because it addresses the questions that a is Priest/ess is bound to be asked by his or her students.  With these three books one will walk away with an extraordinarily profound understanding of The Craft, why we do what we do, as well as a clear insight into the duties and responsibilities of the High Priesthood as an Educator.

This being said I must also state that this is the only book by Lipp that I can, in good consciousness, recommend due to historically ideological differences as it pertains to both medieval and contemporary Witchcraft studies.  Whereas I believe that the evident pagan Indo-European shamanic substrate within the medieval period deserves to be underscored; she does not.  Rather, Lipp has gone to extraordinary lengths in personal correspondences and in her later works to mitigate the importance of such scholars as eminent micro-historian Carlo Ginzburg.  I believe that this cynical view of history may derive from collective trauma experienced by the Gardnerian Tradition because many of its members, at least within the United States, may have felt burned, or even embarrassed and shameful for accepting Gerald Gardner's account of Witchcraft as a surviving Pagan religion.  In spite of recent evidence  that proves the survival of Paganism during the Medieval era by the likes of Profs. Carlo Ginzburg, Emma Wilby, Éva Pócs, and countless others from Continental Europe, a certain faction within the Gardnerian Tradition, however, will not soon forget their own humiliation caused within the first couple of years of the New Millennium by the publication of Prof. Ronald Hutton's own now-obsolete polemic, The  Triumph of the Moon (Oxford University Press, 2001).

Of Pentacles & Pateras: A Call to Serve, Not to *Be* Served

A snapshot of my own Holy Regalia after it has been freshly polished in preparation
for a Magickal Rite: two vintage brass candlesticks, a silver-plate Chalice, and a
silver-plate Patera.

I would like to address two of the most seldom used and misunderstood ritual items to be housed on a Witch's Altar, if at all: 

The Pentacle (sometimes called a peyton or a paten) ought to be one of the first Ritual Items bought by a Witch for his or her Altar because it is used so frequently and practically when an item needs to be consecrated or "charged"--as we say--with a Witch's own psychic energy.  Items are typically placed atop the Pentacle, rather than within an otherwise atypical saucer, in preparation for consecration or blessing by the Witch.  These may include ritual jewelry to serve as an amulet or a talisman, candles for spells and rituals and, more importantly, the Sabbat Cakes that we sacrifice to the Old Gods.  The Sabbat Cakes should always be offered to the Old Ones, first, before being distributed individually to the assembled Coven, even if it is a loose gathering of fellow Witches in celebration of the Sabbats or a monthly Esbat at the Covenstead.  It is because of this feature--holding the Sabbat Cakes, as the Chalice holds the Sabbat Wine--that the Pentacle is considered both masculine and feminine; indeed, the Pentacle teaches us the crucial Mystery that the masculine may also be receptive and feminine.  Although, according to the Gardnerian Book of Shadows the Pentacle is presented to the First Degree Witch, along with any other primary "working tools", who may use it when Evoking "the appropriate spirits" during a Ritual.  It is used for this purpose today by Witches who hold it aloft at each Quarter when Conjuring the Elements,  the Elementals, or even a Power Animal.  Another general use for the Pentacle, which is seldom underscored in the vast majority of occult literature, is that the presence and use of the Pentacle upon the Altar serves to both control and focus the forces raised within a Magickal Rite, whether psychic or Otherworldly.  It is also for this reason that the Pentacle is drawn into the air during a Rite of Evocation when one casts a Magick Circle.  Unfortunately, far too many untrained and ill-educated lay-Witches realize the significance of this tool other than as a mere bauble or decoration that signifies that they are, indeed, a "real Witch" with the Pentacle to prove it!  It is far more than that and deserves far more respect and awe as a significant Tool of the Art.

The Patera, however, serves a far more prosaic function as an offering vessel into which a splash of Sabbat Wine and one or two Sabbat Cakes may be solemnly placed for the Old Ones before being removed from the Temple, after a Magickal Rite, and returned to the Elements and the Earth from which the offerings came.  It is one of the most ancient ritual tools that featured on every Altar in antiquity, and one of the most seldom used by contemporary Witches.  It is also far too frequent within American Witchcraft for the Ceremony of Cakes & Ale to be treated as either a banal "Grounding & Centering" procedure at the close of a Rite, or at best, it has devolved into a generic platitude by asking that each assembled Witch "may...never hunger...[and] may...never thirst" (as if the blessing were given directly by the High Priest/ess himself or herself, instead of from the gods),  after which the gods are ironically forgotten almost entirely!  This places mankind's needs above those of the gods who are to be Invoked as our Honored Guests at each Sabbat  and Esbat ritual.  It is the gods whom we have gathered to celebrate and to worship, not our own sense of entitlement or Ego; yes, I have seen a fair number of Witches who believe that if one does not seem grateful enough or if they have not been personally thanked, then the "offending" Witch/es are either never invited to another public ritual, or the event is canceled altogether in order to "punish" an ungrateful Pagan community.  What these members of the Craft have forgotten is that the role of the High Priesthood is a thankless job in which we serve the gods first-and-foremost, but also our community!  But, even if an Initiate of the High Priesthood was not directly and personally thanked, they ought to be grateful that anyone took the time out of their day to attend and to rejoice in the Mysteries of the gods in kind.  This is the nature of hospitality!  Moreover, this is also the Mystery embodied by the Chalice that symbolizes the Goddess, for it transmits blessings hand-to-hand; ergo the purpose of the Chalice is to bless each individual Witch, but also (and primarily) to receive and to share the blessings of the Goddess to each other without demand or request, and certainly without refusal and reprisal.  To behave otherwise will only serve to alienate the community that one proclaims to serve, it is also a betrayal of the gods and the Mysteries embodied by the Tools that we have consecrated.  In other words individuals such as these have inverted the Pentacle and they have placed their own petty emotions above their call--no, their duty--to service!  The Degree of the High Priesthood is not  a goal worth seeking as though the process is little more than a standard education or a quest for Mastery and Achievement within the Craft.  It is not for those that relish Power and Authority.  An "Authentic Initiation"--as I have termed it--is a psychologically jarring process, a Spiritual Transformation, that cannot be conferred by the hands of man, alone.  Indeed, most people that have experienced it report that they have endured a Question of Faith, or a "Dark Night of the Soul".  You see, each point of the Pentacle represents the Elements of the physical world as well as human desire poised in balance below the Sacred (the Fifth Element), not over Them.  The Ego can be a misleading ally in the Path of Service.  It is for this reason that The Devil card within the Major Arcana of the Tarot serves as a formidable warning against allowing our human vices--whether it is the Ego, selfishness, a desire for financial gain, relish for Power, and materialism--to tether us, and preventing us from achieving true Spiritual Enlightenment, dedication, and service within the Craft.  It worries me to observe how many of my fellow Pagan Brothers and Sisters obstinately turn their nose up at the thought of donating their time in the capacity of a humble volunteer, unless it gains them further Glory and renown.  Socrates, moreover, expressed this crucial gift of service and humility in his own humble prayer:

O beloved Pan and all ye other gods of this place, 

grant to me that I be made beautiful in my soul within,

and that all external possessions be in harmony with my inner man.

May I consider the wise man rich;

and may I have such wealth as only the self-restrained man can bear or endure.

For me that is prayer enough. 

Select Resources:

• Eliade, Mircea.  Shamanism: Archaic Techniques of Ecstasy.  Trans. W. R. Trask.  Princeton University Press: Princeton, 1964.
• Kelly, Aidan A.  Crafting the Art of Magic, Book I: A History of Modern Witchcraft, 1939-1964.  Llewelyn Publications: St. Paul, 1991.
• Leek, Sybil.  The Complete Art of Witchcraft: Penetrating the Mystery Behind Magic Power.  Signet: New York, 1971.
• Lipp, Deborah.  The Elements of Ritual: Air, Fire, Water & Earth in the Wiccan Circle.  Llewellyn Publications: St. Paul, 2003. 
• Rabinovitch, Shelley and James Lewis, eds.  "Tools of the Art".  The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft & Neo-Paganism.  Citadel Press: New York, 2002: pp. 273-74.
• Valiente, Doreen.  An ABC of Witchcraft Past & Present.  St. Martin's Press: New York, 1973. 
• ---.  Charge of the Goddess: The Mother of Modern Witchcraft.  Hexagon Hoopix: Brighton, 2000.

My Spiritual Journey with Sylvia Browne

This week, the world witnessed the passing of a "Major Metaphysical Celebrity" on Wednesday morning: self-proclaimed "psychic" Sylvia Browne.  Her cause of death is being held close to the vest by her family; but it is quite possible that she died resulting from heart failure.  While she was attending a speaking engagement in Honolulu, Hawaii on Sunday, 20 March, 2011 she was hospitalized after she suffered a significant heart attack.  Of course, this shall remain mere speculation until these details are released.  It should be noted, however, that she died eleven years before she predicted she would on an episode of Larry King Live:  When Larry asked her if she knew when she was going to die, she responded, "Yes, when I'm eight-eight".  Of course, anyone who's familiar with her writings and some of her media appearances knows that she has long been adamant about her view that she is unable to glean any psychic insights about her own life, and how her life might end.  Where she came up with that number we may only guess.

I freely admit that I have long been one of Sylvia Browne's detractors within the Pagan community, but that wasn't always the case...I was also one of her most ardent admirers!  She first entered my life, as I'm confident she did with many people, each Wednesday afternoon on the Montel Williams Show.  I was at first skeptical of her "ability", but I gave her the benefit of the doubt because I rather enjoy paranormal-themed programming.  But, the more I sat and watched, the more I was astounded by her apparent accuracy!  I was to discover, much later, that I had been the victim of slick editing!

It was several years after my initial introduction to Ms. Browne that I came across a well-meaning website by skeptic, Robert Lancaster called StopSylvia.Com.  To my questing mind, however, I was able to dismiss a fair amount of his criticisms over her accuracy because no one is correct 100% of the time in every reading!  (This was before I was aware of the slick televised editing that gave the impression that she was far more accurate than she really was.)  But, it was not until I began to observe how she  infamously mistreats her staff and the people closest to her, when the cameras were off, that my perception significantly changed for the worse.  Some of her ministers call this realization, getting to know "the real Sylvia"!

One of the most spiritually heart-wrenching testimonies was given on behalf of a former member of Sylvia's church, the Society of Novus Spiritus (SNS), when he or she attended the week-long Accelerated Minister in Training program back in 2004.  During the first seminar Sylvia made it abundantly clear that each individual "satellite" church, as she called them, was not only expected to send monthly  $20 membership dues from each church member and 10% of any donations received back to Sylvia's headquarter, but that they were also expected to be financial autonomous.  This grossly contradicts what Sylvia has expressed during her many media appearances and lectures wherein she directly states that she uses the money from her extravagantly expensive readings (more than $800.00) to financially support her ministers and their collective mission.  In fact, Browne told her ministers for several years that the collected dues, donations, and book sales would lead to the foundation and construction of nursing homes, day care facilities, and soup kitchens, etc...none of which ever came to fruition.  This minister-in-training also described how each of the thirty-three invitees had brought heart-felt gifts with them: "These gifts were all from the heart, and meant to convey to Sylvia the love and appreciation we felt for her in our belief that she was the herald of a spiritual path that had changed our lives, one that promised to boost the spirituality and joy of all humanity."  Many of these gifts were handmade and held a great deal of sentimental value.  However, not only did Sylvia refuse to acknowledge the gifts, when the author and several of the other attendees returned from lunch they found that Sylvia's staff were picking over, critiquing, and walking off with the gifts.  No one was ever thanked for their generosity.  Indeed, the author was "shocked by this behavior [and]...by the apparent disregard for the feelings of those that had brought the gifts".

Another former minister recounted to Robert Lancaster of his own unscrupulous and equally heart-wrenching dealings with Ms. Browne.  Sylvia had brokered an arrangement with her satellite church from Delaware to vend a booth during a few of her speaking engagements throughout the north-east, with the understanding that all the money raised--save for a last minute "donation" of 25% sent to Sylvia's headquarters in California--would be kept by the local church for their support and financial needs.  As he and his fellow ministers followed Browne from state-to-state he began to observe the true face of Browne and her staff as the mask began to slip.  During the event in Philadelphia, PA. the members from the Delaware church were told that they would be allowed to have an informal meet-and-greet with Browne at the conclusion of the day's events.  As Browne was being escorted to her dressing room she was politely stopped by a senior staff member, which incensed the "psychic", at which point she was informed that her church members wanted a precious moment of her time.  This probably meant the world to the Delaware church members!  However, one of the minister's overheard Browne say, "Let's get this over with!"  As he [the minister] stood in the hallway with one of Sylvia's sons, Paul Dufresne, and her assistant--watching the Delaware church members present Sylvia with a card, a photo album from their church, and a specially made pin named after Sylvia's own granddaughter, Angelia--he heard them make the disparaging comment to each other, "These freaks only come out at night!"  Sylvia, herself, showed no interest in her gifts and pushed them to the side before handing them dismissively to an assistant.  As she was escorted out of the building, she was heard saying, "Get me the Hell out of here!"

At one point, during an engagement in Atlantic City, NJ. this minister became acquainted with Browne's driver, who is an Asian-American, and learned that in her career she was once shot at!   During another rare private moment with Browne her minister mentioned to her the travails of her driver, at which she barked, "I wanted to shoot her myself because she was a stupid bitch who couldn't find the right convention center!"  Then she and her son, Paul, made some racist comments about their driver "no speak English" because she has a pronounced accent, that she was too stupid to drive, and Browne herself made the remark that the driver "probably couldn't find her way around because her eyes were too squinty!"  The following day, however, it was announced that Browne would be taking all of the money and credit card receipts that the Delaware church had raised back with her to California, but with the understanding that they would be sent their cut of the proceeds when they had been calculated.  The church's cut would have been well over $1000, and they never did receive one penny of the funds that they had raised.  When speaking with another minister over the phone he discovered that it was not uncommon for her staff and ministers to heft luggage filled with cash to the airport after these engagements, and also that  Browne is frequently hostile and abusive to her staff, ministers, and even to her own children.  Indeed, he likened her to the fictitious character "Miranda Priestly" from the film, The Devil Wear's Prada!

As if this was not salacious enough, shorty after the publication of her book Secrets and Mysteries of the World (Hay House, 2005), she was discovered to have plagiarized a significant portion of it from--ironically enough--an article by Joe Nickell featured in the magazine, Skeptical Inquirer from the July/ August, 1998 edition!  In a review of Browne's book, Nickell writes:

...it is Browne's ideas on the Shroud of Turin (the reputed burial cloth of Jesus) that interests me most.  She shows some admirable skepticism, concluding: "I believe that the Shroud is a representation and not a true relic--but I don't think that should put a dent in our Christian faith" (199).  Citing a fourteenth-century bishop's report that the image was painted, Browne writes (196):

"If the Shroud were in fact painted, it would explain some image flaws that have always raised questions.  For example, the hair hangs as for a standing rather than a reclining figure; the physique is unnaturally elongated (like figures in Gothic art); and the 'blood' flows are unrealistically neat (instead of matting the hair, for instance, they run in rivulets on the outside of the locks).  You see, real blood soaks into cloth and spreads in all directions rather than leaving picturelike images." (sic.)

I found that passage intriguing since I had written:

"That the Shroud is indeed the work of a medieval artist would explain numerous image flaws.  For example, the physique is unnaturally elongated (like figures in Gothic art).  Also the hair hangs for a standing rather than recumbent figure...everywhere the 'blood' flows are unrealistically neat.  Instead of matting the hair, for instance, they run in rivulets on the outside of the locks...In addition, real blood soaks into cloth and spreads in all directions, rather than leaving picturelike images." (sic.)

Now the shared phrasing between Browne's passage and mine may give new meaning to the term ghost-written.  Considering the book's lack of any reference to my article, one may wonder: Has Francine stooped to plagiarism?

I am fairly certain that this level of depravity is not what Z. Budapest had in mind when she fought to repeal the statute criminalizing the practice of fortune-telling in Browne's home state of California.  In fact, the symbol for Browne's church is a pyramid with three interlocking rings.  Each bar of the pyramid is inscribed with one of the following words that crystalize the core values of SNS: Gratitude, Loyalty, Commitment.  While these are certainly laudable, I cannot see how Sylvia Browne embodied them in any meaningful way considering the events that I have described!  She has unfortunately shown herself to be ungrateful, uncommitted to anyone but her own financial desires (she owned more than one multi-million dollar home!), and she appeared less than loyal to anyone save for herself.  Since her passing I have been asked why I seem to be so harsh with her?  And, in all honesty, I am continuing to speak out against her so that her unfortunate legacy is never forgotten.

I sympathize deeply for her friends and her family; but not for her.  By the end of her life she was making millions of dollars by lying to the innocent and the grief-stricken, as well as exploiting her ministers and their churches.  What has always worried me is that people might judge us as frauds because of people like her.  But, I am not so naive that I am not aware of another factions within the Pagan community that insists it is a "sin" to question Browne--and probably any "Celebrity Psychic"--because, to them, it is an acknowledgment of a lack of faith in psychic ability itself (a self-depreciating act) to the world at large.  On the other hand, however, it is my faith in psychic ability that has led me to speak out against the fraudulent "mediums" when I encounter them, because they cause just as much damage to us and our image by association.  As a servant of the Old Gods, I consider it a Sacred Charge to expose these frauds when I encounter one!  Browne once said of her believers, to her first husband, "Screw 'em.  Anybody who believes this stuff ought to get taken."  I consider this mistreatment by Browne and her staff to be a Social Injustice, and my Piscean heart cannot abide that behavior.  I must speak out against it.  Am I happy that she is dead?  Of course not.  Will I mourn her passing?  No.  She does not deserve my grief.  That is reserved for those whom she has exploited, bullied, manipulated, and lied to all in the name of faith and religion.  Indeed, to use someone's faith as a tool for manipulation, and as a weapon, is utterly deplorable and inexcusable!  It saddens me to know that many of her supporters, including some Pagans, will turn a blind eye to anyone that writes a detraction of the late Ms. Browne, despite the fact that the people whom they ought to be heeding are those that knew her best: her former ministers and staff members.

What else can I say of Sylvia Browne, other than that she was once a very minor stepping stone in my own individual spiritual journey as I explored the spiritual world and made my own mistakes along the way, but finally arriving with a steadfast resolve to worship the gods of old?  And so, for that saving grace, I wish her a bittersweet adieu.  Good bye my former friend and part-time adversary!  I pray that the Mysteries you once encouraged your readers to seek out for themselves are finally at your own infamous fingertips...even if you did not believe in them.

Vision Night

For the past month-and-a-half I have been sleeping in extremely late to the point that I have been waking up in the afternoon, and this erratic pattern of sleep has devolved into me almost being entirely unable to catch even a moment of sleep at all during the evening!  Unfortunately, last night was no reprieve from my seeming insomnia as I shut everything down several hours early and lay in bed with my eyes closed for what seemed like hours, and still sleep would not come.  Eventually I thought I would try to lower my brain waves down into an Alpha State of Consciousness, which has usually worked in the past without fail.  But, while it did not result in any restful sleep for me, in the middle of the process of "deepening" my Alpha-state, I ended up having not one, but two, very brief visionary experiences before my Conscious Mind could realize what it was observing:

In the first vision I found myself standing on a carpet of soft green grass in the midst an ancient Neolithic stone circle.  Then, I saw a rather large Raven--the epiphany of the Goddess whom I serve, The Morrighan--who carried a long black coiled silk chord in Her beak that was punctuated along its length by a series of white, almost translucent, spherical beads.  She flew in a pattern of three concentric circles within the perimeter of the Stone Circle before flying away as ordinary Consciousness eventual grasped hold and escorted me from my vision.  I believe that the Goddess wants me to craft for Her a strand of Prayer Beads for use in both worship and spell-work.  Traditionally, a Prayer Chord is employed for Devotional work with a spirit of a Deity; while a Witch's Ladder--within contemporary Traditional Witchcraft--is typically employed to keep track the number of chants in a spell when necessary so as not to interfere with the work of the Mind.  In Folk-Lore, however, a Witch's Ladder is what we would imagine to be a "Witch Chord" or "Spell Chord" that has a chiefly Magickal function and operates to make some change to our own or another's reality.  We usual tie Objects of Power in them, affirming the spell with each knot we fashion.  In antiquity, however, Witch's Ladder's were believed to be Magickal Charms of Great Power.  Each knot could contain wind or storms, with a greater effect for each knot that was untied.  Sailors may have kept such a chord on their ships, purchased from the village Wise Woman or Cunning Man, as a safe guard when out at sea during a time when ships were propelled by their sails instead of by a motorize convention.  But, a Witch's Ladder could just as easily be modified for use in acquiring a lover or wealth.

My second and final vision of the night involved me standing in the heart of a very small Medieval village somewhere in Europe as a large brown bear was attacking, having wandered into the Village Square from the forest, presumably in search of food.  From what I remember, there was a woman in her early twenties and a child standing on opposite sides of the street, with the bear in the between them.  I am unsure if I was supposed to be the young woman or the child, but the woman screamed for the child to run who was frozen in fear.  The bear, however, hearing the woman scream behind it turned and took her life with one swipe from its massive claw before giving chase to the young girl.  It seems relatively certain to me that I may have experience the final moments of a past life.  I do not feel that the woman and the girl were related, but they were clearly very familiar with each other as one might expect in a village of this size.

After these two visions, sleep still did not come as I tossed in bed for what seemed like hours before my mind finally managed to quiet down and give me some precious rest.  Over the coming months I shall keep my readers informed of the progress on the design and creation of my Pagan Prayer Beads for An Morrighan.

In Her Service,

Wade MacMorrighan

Samhain Reflections on The Horned God

"Of course I'll hurt you.  Of course you'll hurt me.  Of course we'll hurt each other.  But this is the condition of existence.  To become Spring means accepting the risk of Winter.  To become presence means accepting the risk of absence."

~The Little Prince

With Samhain upon us, it is the God of the Witches whose presence is all too often forgotten in cult and in ritual as a mere ancillary character who does little but reign over the denizens of the Otherworld as God of the Dead.  However, to The Covenant of Morrighan, and to the ancient Celts, the primary male deity of cult and of worship, The Daghda, is a horned and ithyphallic bull-god of life, death, fertility, the sun, storm, and the seasons.  In spring his cleansing showers inseminate the Earth-Mother, The Morrighan, for the bounty of the Midsummer and Harvest Home.  But even at Samhain, as archaeologist Barry Cunliffe illustrates, their annual mating is more than mere physiological gratification and release as some contemporary Pagans have interpreted our Lady's desire for sexual conquest to be, such as once-Pagan-turned-Christian Carl McColman, who wrote in his book, The Magic of the Celtic Gods and Goddesses (New Page Books, 2005) identifying The Morrighan as a clinically psychopathic serial killer!  Rather, to quote Prof. Cunliffe, "...in Irish tradition, the tribal god Dagda mated with the earth mother goddess Morrigan, their successful union ensuring universal fertility and general well-being in the year to come" (pp. 102).  Unlike Traditional Witchcraft, our God is Eternal rather than cyclical and reborn at the Winter Solstice Sabbat of Yule.   As the All-Father sun-god of the Celts He descends into the Underworld daily riding his magnificent chariot of white horses with the setting sun where He resides in the Isle of the Blessed that is sometimes known as "Avalon" until the Gates of Dawn are cast open.  He is an indelibly pan-Celtic god who was worshipped throughout Gaul (ancient France) where the same typology aligning him and his Thunder-Weapon with the fertile Earth-Mother, such as Sucellus ("The Good Striker") and  the raven-accompanied goddess of hearth, fertility, and the earth, Nantosuelta ("She of the Sun-Drenched Valley").  The ubiquitous nature of Celtic religious belief and practice should not be too hard to accept because they do not have a pantheon in the same sense of the Romans and ancient Greeks, and other Indo-European cultures.  Their cults were more pervasive and centered on agriculture and the passage of time as reflected by tribal Earth-Mother Goddess and an All-Father God of sun and storm, respectively.  Images of the Daghdha are few and far between, but they are believed to be found, most frequently, in the Gallo-Romanic Jupiter Columns (pictured above) that dot the French landscape as the god--a Classical "Muscle Daddy"--surmounts the heavens in his horse-drawn chariot atop His axis mundi-like column.  The principal sun-deity drawn across the heavens in a chariot pulled by white horses, in particular, is a ubiquitous Indo-European motif.  However, even the primary Epic of Ireland, The Tain, has been identified as being preserved in Gaullish material culture known as The Gundestrup Cauldron, according to Prof. Garret S. Olmsted's phenomenal study thus assuring us on another level of the Gallic identity of The Daghdha.

Select References:

• Cunliffe, Barry.  Iron Age Britain.  London: B T Batsford, 2004.
• Ó hÓgáin, Dáithi.  The Lore of Ireland: An Encyclopedia of Myth, Legend and Romance.  Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 2006.
• Ó hÓgáin, Dáithi.  The Sacred Isle: Belief and Religion in Pre-Christian Ireland.  Wilton: The Collins Press, 1999.
• Olmsted, Garret S.  The Gods of the Celts and the Indo-Europeans.  Budapest: Archaeolingua Alapítvány, 1994.
• Olmsted, Garret S.  The Gundestrup Cauldron: It's Archaeological Context, the Style and Iconography of its Portrayed Motifs, and their Narration of a Gaulish Version of Táin Bó Cúailnge.  Bruxelles: Latomus Revue D'Etudes Latines, 1979.
• West, M. L.  Indo-European Poetry & Myth.  Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007.