Real Magic by Isaac Bonewits

Two book reviews tonight...

Enchanted Cat - Ellen Dugan

Your Magickal Cat - Gerina Dunwich

Clicky here for artwork :)

It never ceases to amaze me how hypocritical some--not all--pagans can be. They bitch and whine and complain about how incredibly persecuted they are by THE EVIL CHRISTIANS!!!! And then they go and brag about how, when a well-meaning person handed them a religious tract in all politeness, they literally threw it back at the person with a few choice insults.

Or, for that matter, when during this time of year I hear pagans doing their damnedest to convince Christians that their holiday is really pagan, and somehow that invalidates Christianity. So the fuck what? So Christianity drew from older religions--that's NORMAL. All religions pulled from traditions older than they. Wicca drew from ceremonialism more than it drew from any genuine Ancient Cult of Wytchcrafte. Even religions that are being reconstructed still have even older origins--no doubt the Celts, way back when, had a belief system that was hybridized from even older cultures. It's just the way it works. Older does not mean more legitimate. Just because neopaganism is, as a whole, less than 100 years old, doesn't mean it's not as legitimate as Christianity. Unfortunately, some pagans feel the need to get into a "mine's older/bigger" pissing contest to try to make themselves feel more secure in their size religion.

And, of course, there's the hypocrisy of eclecticism. I hear pagans talk about how you can't combine elements of Christianity with paganism, and then in the next breath they'll talk about various bits and parts of Native American cultures that they're ripped right out of context (never mind the protestations of the cultures being taken from). Neopaganism has taken inspiration from Hinduism, Buddhism, various indigenous cultures, and gods know what all else--but if you dare speak of Christian Wicca, suddenly pagans are up in arms! That's impossible!

And, speaking of Christianity, some pagans *love* taking certain elements of Christianity out of context, but HATE having parts of paganism treated similarly. Case in point--some pagans will talk about the parts of the Bible where YHWH is a major asshole, but ignore Jesus talking about loving thy neighbor, and use that to justify their anti-Christianity. But woe to the newspaper reporter who dares to focus a little too much on the traditional Great Rite in their article about the poor pagans!!! PERSECUTION!!!!

While we're at it, let's talk about pagan parenting. I've seen several posts on MyHell and other places from pagan parents who are abso-fucking-lutely terrified that their teenaged child is getting interested in--gasp--CHURCH! Maybe the kid has a boyfriend or girlfriend who's Christian, and wants the little pagan to go to Youth Group one night, just for the fun of it. Or maybe little Morgan or Raven has suddenly shown interest in learning more about Christianity. Holy crap! Pull out the athame and the sage smudge and the quartz crystals, honey, we have to make sure that our baby doesn't cross over to the Dark Side! Because you know what our Christian parents did to us when we started showing interest in paganism--they pulled out the Bible and the holy water and did their best to keep us away from the evils of paganism! If your child becomes Christian, s/he will surely become a fire-breathing fundamentalist who'll never speak to us again!

Now, I'm not a parent, and never will be. But it seems hypocritical as all fuck that a few pagan parents will do the exact same thing to their kids that their parents did to them, only with the religions reversed. Granted, that's not all pagan parents, but I have seen a couple of cases like this online just in the past month. Seems to me like these parents are trying to pass their own baggage on to their kids.

Regardless of whether we're parents or not, pagans have got to get over the prejudice against Christianity. There are some real hypocrites among us. I've long since lost track of how many pagans I've heard talking about how we're justified in hating Christians because of the fucking Burning Times, or Salem, or because supposedly all Christians are out to get rid of the neopagans and Congress will be outlawing us any day and Homeland Security is targeting pagans and OMGWTFBBQPERSECUTION!!!!1111!111one@!!!

I'm not going to deny that shit happens. I've seen custody cases where paganism was a major issue. I'm well aware of the situation with Tempest Smith, the girl who committed suicide a few years ago because she was tired of being teased about being, among other things, Wiccan. And I know people who have had really crappy experiences being raised Christian--hell, when Taylor lived with his mom, she found out he was into magic from one of his friend's parents and made Taylor burn all his magical books. And while my parents accept that I'm pagan and know that I'm an author, my mother still guilts me about going back to church. Additionally, some people choose to remain closeted at work or school or elsewhere because it makes them feel safer--I see no problem with that.

But this is no excuse to paint all Christians with a broad brush. Yes, there are Christians who are real assholes out there. Yes, there are PARTS of the religion that get misinterpreted to justify everything from hating nonChristians, to queer-bashing, to abuse of women. Yes, there Catholic priests and other clergy who molest children. Yes, there are Christian bosses who make excuses to get rid of pagan employees.

But that's not the whole of the religion of Christianity. It's not even the majority. No more than teenaged "elders" talking about using belladonna, or racists misusing Asatru, or plastic shamans, or "coven leaders" who entice people into "sex magic" for their own lustful purposes, are examples of paganism as a whole. The idiots and the assholes are the ones you generally hear the most about, because they're some of the ones making the most noise!

We have got to get over the persecution complex as a subculture. Christianity isn't the problem--bigots, regardless of flavor, are. Look at the current situation with getting pentacles on the graves of Wiccan soldiers killed in the line of duty--the majority of Christian voices you hear are in *support* of the pagan effort! And I remember back a few years when the pagan group at Ft. Hood was in the news, the Army Times ran six letters one week in response to an article on the group. Five of the six were in favor, and four of those five--were from Christians.

Christianity isn't our enemy. We aren't the enemy of Christians. Intolerance, ignorance, bigotry--THOSE are the common enemies, regardless of what religious garb they wear.

Happy holidays, regardless of what you celebrate.

Ancient Rites and Ceremonies - Grace A. Murray

Hi again!

First off, I'm excited about the new thing I'm doing with my pagan/occult book reviews!

Second, check out Rending the Veil, a new occult-related ezine that's been created by and for magicians, including Thelemites and other ceremonialists, Chaos magicians, experimental magicians, and so forth. There's also some material more towards the pagan/shamanic end of things; I've got an article in there on multilayered totemism. So go check it out and see what you think!

Check out this post to see my latest artwork--lots and lots of handmade pouches!

My husband Taylor usually leaves the Otherkin writing for me. However, he edited "A Field Guide to Otherkin" for me, and he formulated some of his thoughts on the community in general into an essay that ended up on Otherkin.net.

So here it is

The second issue of the Graveyard Press is out!

This is a new ezine dedicated to vampirism, Otherkin, occultism and related topics. There's a nice mix of articles, interviews and other readables. They've asked me to write for their Otherkin section, so here's my own offering for this month.

Hi folks :)

Just a reminder, the Pagan Potluck will be a week from tomorrow! It'll be Sunday, December 10, 2006 from 2:00pm - 4:30pm at the Edge of the Circle, 701 E. Pike St., Seattle. Bring something good to share (and a list of ingredients so those with dietary restrictions know what's safe). This is a free social event--come hang out, talk shop, and have a good meal with fellow pagans in the Seattle area!

Thanks :)

By now most of us are familiar with the idea that totemism is not synonymous with therianthropy. A totem is an external animal, either archetype or spirit, that guides a person throughout hir life, or at least a certain portion of it. Therianthrope, on the other hand, describes a person who is the animal, spiritually, psychologically or otherwise.

Admittedly, for some people therianthropy is a decidedly non-magical/non-mystical phenomenon. For others, therianthropy and totemism may be two separate parts of their lives. However, this doesn't mean there is no connection between the two whatsoever. People who work with both therianthropy and totemism in tandem understand the differences, but also see some similarities.

Although not all therians who have totems have matching animals internally and externally, others do. And some of them make a connection between the two. I'll use myself as an example. I am a wolf therian, and Wolf is also my primary totem; it's been that way as long as I can remember, even when I didn't have the terminology to describe it. I work quite a bit of totemic magic in my practice, and I call on Wolf every time I create any type of ritual. I have found that pretty much every time I evoke Wolf the totem, I simultaneously invoke my internal wolf and go through a spiritual shift for the duration of the ritual.

Additionally, I have found that working with totems and other animal spirits is incredibly easy for me compared to most other forms of magic; I attribute this at least partially to my therianthropy. Because I am, spiritually, animal myself, I find it easier to relate to and communicate with spiritual animals.

I have also known a few therians who (depending on your beliefs about therianthropy) either were "given", or had "Awakened" in them, their theriosides by a particular totem of the same type of animal. Granted, this didn't necessarily mean that they became uber-therians overnight. Any sort of change takes time, even if that change involves something that was already there. I've heard it said in the vampire community that someone who has supposedly been "turned" into a vampire in reality was simply Awakened to that inherent part of hirself. Perhaps it's the same way with therians who are made aware of being animal through the guidance of an external totem.

Totems may also be psychological symbol sets that help the therian understand hirself. I have found that, just as with ancient pantheons of deities, the totems that I work with comprise the enire spectrum of the human psyche and are a map to myself. For instance, Wolf is my ego/primary self, while Fox is the Magician/Creator of Change, Bear the Warrior/Healer, and so forth. By working with certain totems I can access lesser-used aspects of myself and bring them to the fore. While I consider myself to be only a wolf therian (at least at this point--I am ever in evolution) I have had similar relationships with totems other than Wolf that had led to extremely therian-like experiences, including cameo shifts.

However, I prefer to see the animals as both microcosmic and macrocosmic. I do not believe in firm lines between all things; I believe there is a lot more interplay between us and our environment than we often assume. "As Above, So Below" also means "As Within, So Without", and in my beliefs we are all miniature models of the Multiverse. There is an illusion of duality, that if you are X, then you are automatically not Y. However, the very fact that we as therians proclaim ourselves to be something other than what we most obviously are says otherwise to me. If I was to walk up to the average person and say "Am I a wolf or a human?" they'd say "You are not a wolf--you are a human". Yet I know that I am both, despite evidence to the contrary. So it is that while Fox, Horse, Badger, and other totems I work with are all Out There somewhere, they are also In Here, inside me.

What this brings to therianthropy are possibilities for those who work magic, particularly totemism. Because we are animals ourselves, we may find it easier to deal with animal spirits because share a certain level of understanding not defined by flesh. A shift is already an invocation of sorts; the invocation of a particular part of the self. But because I am already used to seeing through animal eyes, I have found that it's easier to invoke and thereby see things through the eyes of totems other than Wolf. By using the headspace that therianthropy has given me, I can create stronger bonds with my totems, both internally and externally. It won't automatically make every totem I work with into a therioside, though who knows what may Awaken as a result? But what it has done is enriched my relationships with the animal spirits that I work with on a regular basis, and aided me in learned that which they want to teach me, and teaching them what it is they want to learn about me and my world. Theriosides aren't totems, but therianthropy can definitely aid in communication with these animal beings.

I posted this in response to a thread on a pagan community I'm on adn figured I'd share:

I'm a fan of irreverence, but that's because I don't believe in supporting dogma. Dogma is what makes religions and philosophies stagnate, whereas a healthy dose of irreverence helps rejuvenate the thought patterns and traditions. And every religion falls prey to dogma sooner or later in its lifespan, even pagan religions. Otherwise we wouldn't *need* new ones.

I think there's too much fear of hubris sometimes. We have it bred into us that we have to fear the retribution of the Divine if we don't treat its manifestations just so. But what about when we feel we're not being well-treated in return? IMO, the Multiverse is more of a level playing field than we often assume; we are all sacred beings who each carry a reflection of the entire Multiverse within ourselves, and therefore I think we all owe each other respect. So I think it's perfectly acceptable for someone to show anger to the Divine when they feel it's warranted. And sure, the Divine can be pissy right back. But we can have fights in ALL of our relationships, and still find ways to make them up, if we try.

But this is simply my way of viewing The Way Things Are, and you can take it as you will.