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May 28, 2005
Witchery on the Rise
The Democratic Party has been going through some hard times lately, but at least the base of hard-core moonbats from which they draw voters is holding steady. According to today's New York Times, paganism — defined as "the umbrella term for nature-based belief systems" — is actually on the rise.
Last Thursday 300 of them met in the woods in Massachusetts for a Rites of Spring ceremony. They included not only witches, but also "self-described Druids, faeries, Dianics, Wiccans, Asatru and ceremonial magicians." I believe Dianics have something to do with Diana from Roman mythology, although a connection with Lady Di shouldn't be ruled out. No word on whether Prophet Yahweh was in attendance.
The Times claims that unnamed academics put the number of practicing pagans in the USA as high as 700,000. But according to Sabina Magliocco, who teaches at California State University, "Some people are reluctant to identify as pagans because there is a lot of very real persecution."
This very real persecution actually existed as recently as just a few centuries ago. The maypole dancers showed some courage by meeting in Massachusetts, home of the Salem witch trials.
But I'm sure the risk was worth it for the fun they must have had:
Moira Ashleigh, the witch leading the ceremony, asked participants to divide themselves into the "pole people," who, singing a West African chant, fetched the 30-foot trunk of a birch tree festooned earlier with colorful ribbons, and the "hole people," who then planted it in the ground, chanting, "Back to the river, back to the sea, back to the ocean, home to me."
Then they danced around the pole, weaving the ribbons. There were no reports of Satan having been conjured, though rustling in the forest might have been caused by He Who Walks Behind the Rows.
Afterwards, one participant announced to her colleagues that she was organizing Earth Day celebrations with "ritual content" for her city next year. "These people don't even know they are pagans," she crowed.
Margot Adler, National Public Radio correspondent and "recognized witch," indicates why paganism could be the perfect "religion" for believers in moral relativism:
You don't have to get it whittled down to one answer, one god, one way of being, one form of society, one philosophy.
The philosophy is quite inclusive. So long as it's kooky, it's all good.
Posted by Van Helsing at May 28, 2005 12:51 PM
Comments
Uh, I like your blog, but not all pagans are Democrats, or even liberals. As with the Xtians, it's the most annoying ones who give the rest a bad name.
As for "oppression," while it's not going on the way it did centuries ago, there are still ignorami out there who think that pagans should nto be allowed to teach their beliefs to their own kids, and I sure as heck wouldn't want to be a pagan in the Air Force these days.
Posted by: Reginleif at May 28, 2005 2:42 PM
I'd say that these folks have a fairly good grasp on reality, judging by my limited browsings of their forum.
Posted by: Reginleif at May 28, 2005 2:43 PM
Actually, my guess is pretty much all pagans are democrats...or maybe just left-wing flakes...
Posted by: Makrothumeo at May 28, 2005 3:13 PM
Good greif! Wicca, as in the version practised in the United Kingdom and many in the United States does recognize right and wrong. Sybil Leek of the United Kingdom in her book 'Diary of a Witch' recounts what a White Wiccan is called to do versus her cousin Alistair Crowley who was something of a Black Wiccan. He also summarized the viewpoint these psuedo-Wiccans of the Democratic party are espousing, the importance of the self. From Crowley's 'Book of Law': "With the God & the Adorer I am nothing: they do not see me. They are as upon the earth; I am Heaven, and there is no other God than me, and my lord Hadit."
Please do not lump those of pagan beliefs who also strive to bring good things to the world, recognize whom is the true enemy of all that is good instead and strive to nullify their baneful influence.
Posted by: Anna at May 28, 2005 5:01 PM
How could I forget this money quote from 'The Book of Law:' "Who calls us Thelemites will do no wrong, if he look but close into the word. For there are therein Three Grades, the Hermit, and the Lover, and the man of Earth. Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."
Remember that: do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law. In other words, what I desire is what rules supreme according to Crowley. Epicurianism or hedonism, take your pick. Or perhaps Bacchinal to be exact.
Posted by: Anna at May 28, 2005 5:07 PM
re Anna's comment: Crowley's "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law" is, of course, a serious moral distortion of the old creed, "An [if] ye harm none, do as ye will."
Makrothumeo: Again, not all pagans are "left-wing flakes." Admittedly, I don't know any who are conservatives. However, I know quite a few who are libertarians: in favor of guns and free markets; some of them pro-military.
Posted by: Reginleif at May 28, 2005 10:27 PM
Good God......West Africa is turning to the Truth of Christ and here in Western Civilization were turning to the demonic in the guise of paganism!!
Very tragic indeed!
Posted by: Albertanator at May 29, 2005 9:04 AM
Did somebody turn the Autorantic Virtual Moonbat loose in here?
Posted by: Makrothumeo at May 30, 2005 2:41 PM
Good God......West Africa is turning to the Truth of Christ...
One truth among many, Albertanator. Christ may be "the Truth" for you, but not for everyone. If you cannot countenance this, all I can say is that I am glad you do not run the world.
Did somebody turn the Autorantic Virtual Moonbat loose in here?
I don't see anything "rant"-like in either my comments or Anna's — in fact, I think both of us have been quite respectful. I'm sorry that you consider any approval of non-Abrahamic/non-monotheistic religion to be "moonbattery."
Posted by: Reginleif at May 31, 2005 9:25 AM
You can feel as sorry as you want...you're still a pair of loonytunes...
Posted by: Makrothumeo at May 31, 2005 12:31 PM
Apologies to people I might have annoyed with this post. All I know about paganism, I learned from watching cheap horror movies. Reginleif and Anna prove that you don't have to be a kook to take an interest in this subject. Just as we never want to lose our sense of humor, we never want to lose our open minds.
Posted by: Van Helsing at May 31, 2005 1:21 PM
I say Makrothumeo we have hardly been introduced and already thou art casting aspersions upon me.
Cease fire I say. Ever heard of comparative religion studies?
Sheesh.
Posted by: Anna at May 31, 2005 3:44 PM
