Dear All,
As Don pointed out there have been a couple of discussions recently predicated on why Pagans should participate in interfaith and what we, as Pagans, get out of it. The recent article in which I am extensively quoted is actually a specific response based on an article that Chas Clifton wrote in Patheos asking that very question. I think that between Don's “larger picture” and my more practical responses we pretty much covered the gambit of reason and purpose.
Recently I posted an open letter from Chief Lyons asking the Unitarian Universalist General Assembly to speak out against the Doctrine of Discovery. The UU's are considering this move just following, though not necessarily in response to, the fact that the Executive Council of the World Council of Churches is also considering adopting a resolution to repudiate the Doctrine of Discovery. I asked if we, the Covenant, could consider educating ourselves on this topic and perhaps do something similar. Would it help?
Let me give you another concrete example of interfaith cooperation in response to a very driven Pagan organization, The Hindu American Foundation. For a small group of people this is an incredibly organized and potent organization. It recently posted a plea for all of its newsletter recipients to email the Norwegian Ambassador in Washington DC in outrage over the fact that two young children were removed from the home of Hindu immigrants because this couple fed their children with their hands and allowed them to sleep in their bed. I looked into this and indeed the Norwegian Child protective services has a habit, much like a few of our state governments, of removing immigrant and indigenous children from their homes under some pretty loose criteria. The worst of it was not that the protective services felt that the children's welfare was somehow being so threatened, that the parents were totally forbidden to have any contact with the children more than once a year. And so I clicked on the link, filled in the information, which included my name, address and some other bits, and added my voice.
I added my own voice, not that of the Covenant nor even on your behalf, just mine. Imagine my surprise to discover that I was one voice in 6000 to respond within 24 hours. Shortly after that the Ambassador was in contact with HAF representatives and word, not confirmed at this time, is that the government has agreed to release the children to an uncle who still lives in India. HAF reports:
On Monday evening, a representative from the Norwegian embassy called the HAF office and acknowledged their receipt of thousands of emails on this issue. Our Associate Director, Jay Kansara, pressed the official for additional information on the case, as there are still a number of questions left unanswered.
Jay met with Norwegian Ambassador Strommen himself. Although the Ambassador was unable to reveal the details of the case while it is still pending, he indicated that he was encouraged by the open discussions and communication between all parties involved.
The latest media reports suggest that an agreement has been reached between the Indian and Norwegian governments allowing the children to return to India and live with their uncle, Arunabhas Bhattacharya. But even as of this morning, the Norwegian Embassy is still unable to confirm such an agreement.
I am still outraged that the children must be deported and estranged from their parents in order to live with family. You are all parents. How would you feel if come social worker demanded entry into your house simply because they can, and because you had not been shopping yet for the week, or did not have enough of a particular item that they felt was somehow mandatory for a healthy child, they just gather up your children and leave. No word on when or if you will ever see your children again. This is happening on Reservations right here in the US right now in part due to the attitudes and laws that have resulted from the Doctrine of Discovery.
Now imagine that this has happened and 6000 people stand up with you and say, this is wrong and we want, we demand redress! You never met these people and they never met you, most of them don't know each other; but through the networking of interfaith, they have heard of your plight and responded; one voice 6000 times strong.
CoG and Lady Liberty League and several more of us put together don't have the clout that HAF has. In part this is due to the fact that a much larger section of that community are in professional positions that allow them to leave their work for a year or more and donate their time and MONEY to serving their community in Washington DC and other parts of the country, working tirelessly for their people. A comedian once said that there were only four acceptable professions open to a young American Hindu, Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, failure. I am often reminded of this when I attend predominantly Hindu or Hindu sponsored events. Much of the work that they and other organizations like theirs do reflects directly upon our own practices and social freedoms and bears support. Further they welcome that support and in turn are very open to sharing through the interfaith network the power of that political engine with us.
As I said in my response to Chaz, it pays to have friends. I might...could...will even say it pays to have friends in well connected, high places.
Chief Lyon's Letter
UN study - Impact on Indigenous Peoples of the international legal construct known as the Doctrine of Discovery
R Watcher, National Public Information Officer
National Interfaith Representative
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Workers' rights campaign from Unitarian Universalists
The Unitarian Universalist denomination is starting an interesting social justice campaign for workers' rights. I am posting an announcement from the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee. -M. Mueller
With the launch of our Choose Compassionate Consumption campaign this fall, UUSC supporters joined together to form a powerful block of consumer advocates.
In October, we targeted Hershey and the use of child labor in chocolate production, sending more than 1,100 letters to Hershey, along with samples of a competitor’s fair-trade chocolate. In November and December, UUSC supporters generated approximately $15,000 in sales for the Southern Agricultural Alternatives Cooperative, a socially responsible pecan-processing cooperative that creates jobs in southwest Georgia.
Now let’s use our power to make a positive difference in the lives of restaurant workers, by choosing where to eat based on how restaurants treat their employees!
The U.S. restaurant industry employs over 10 million workers nationwide and is one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. economy. But sadly, the restaurant industry also has a very high rate of workers’-rights violations.
That’s why the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United), a UUSC partner organization, has released the ROC National Diners’ Guide 2012: A Consumer Guide on the Working Conditions of American Restaurants. The guide rates restaurants throughout the country based on how they treat their workers, listing responsible restaurants where you can eat knowing that your server can afford to pay the rent and your cook isn’t working while sick.
Download the restaurant guide today --— and use it to choose compassionate consumption when you dine out!
Thanks,
Kara Smith
Associate for Grassroots Mobilization
With the launch of our Choose Compassionate Consumption campaign this fall, UUSC supporters joined together to form a powerful block of consumer advocates.
In October, we targeted Hershey and the use of child labor in chocolate production, sending more than 1,100 letters to Hershey, along with samples of a competitor’s fair-trade chocolate. In November and December, UUSC supporters generated approximately $15,000 in sales for the Southern Agricultural Alternatives Cooperative, a socially responsible pecan-processing cooperative that creates jobs in southwest Georgia.
Now let’s use our power to make a positive difference in the lives of restaurant workers, by choosing where to eat based on how restaurants treat their employees!
The U.S. restaurant industry employs over 10 million workers nationwide and is one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the U.S. economy. But sadly, the restaurant industry also has a very high rate of workers’-rights violations.
That’s why the Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROC-United), a UUSC partner organization, has released the ROC National Diners’ Guide 2012: A Consumer Guide on the Working Conditions of American Restaurants. The guide rates restaurants throughout the country based on how they treat their workers, listing responsible restaurants where you can eat knowing that your server can afford to pay the rent and your cook isn’t working while sick.
Download the restaurant guide today --— and use it to choose compassionate consumption when you dine out!
Thanks,
Kara Smith
Associate for Grassroots Mobilization
Monday, January 16, 2012
What do Pagans Get From Interfaith Activities?
In his recent blog Chas Clifton writes in response to several previous comments revolving around the idea of Interfaith, and Intrafaith when he asks the question “ What do Pagans Get From Interfaith Activities?” Those of us involved in Interfaith up to our...well lets just say I'm still looking for the plug to the swamp...tend to forget that not everyone is aware of what Interfaith involves or seeks to attain and I am delighted to have this opportunity to add a bit of elucidation.
Ecumenism is an interaction that takes place between members of one religious group no matter how fissured it might be. For instance right now on the “Pagans” Facebook page we are having an ecumenical discussion on the various merits (or lack thereof) of Pantheism vs. Panentheism. We are all Pagans of various ilks...er traditions. In the larger picture of religious discussion many would prefer to call this type of dialogue “Intrafaith vs. Interfaith. In this growing world of religious exchange the current popular theory is that Intrafaith is oh-so-much more difficult than Interfaith. My own experience tends to confirm this opinion; not to mention the question of whether it serves any useful purpose at all (provided the goal is not to convert). Well perhaps it answers to the pure joy of (intellectual) argument for its own sake.
A more pertinent question is “What DO Pagans get from Interfaith Activities?” (emphasis mine) The very most succinct answer that I can offer is legitimacy, respect, a place at the table. If this doesn't matter to you stop reading here...
If it does, there are three major paths to that goal: The first is the work that Chaz and others are doing in the academic arena. When we started out, Paganism was regarded as a sideshow of cultists and goddess worship at such distinguished conferences as the American Academy of Religions (this year with over 10,000 people in attendance). Now, due to the work of these intrepid academics Pagan studies has its own tract. This is Interfaith work at its most subtle and important; working with and among academics of the world's religions to earn that place at the table. Certainly the Covenant of the Goddess, a national organization of Witches, recognizes the value of this work and its place in Interfaith by supporting M. Macha NightMare as a national Interfaith representative to the AAR.
Still others are earning our silverware through their work with the Parliament of the World's Religions. People like Andras Corban-Arthen, Angie Buchanan, and Phyllis Curott, have been or are on the staff of that august body. In fact Pagans probably represent a far larger percentage of staff proportionately, than do any of the Abrahamic traditions. Working (and looking) as regular professionals doing the job of organizing one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. They are not proselytizing for our beliefs. They are simply walking their talk and making it clear in so doing that they are no different than any other professional with a set of specific religious beliefs.
Many are serving the dinner and washing the dishes at this table. I have done so for the last ten years (in many cases literally) and as a result of service was recruited for the board of the North American Interfaith Network, one of the oldest Interfaith organizations in the United States. Personal interaction is the third though hardly least path of which I spoke above. The interaction and work between and among professional clergy and other religious professionals who will form opinions and influence their own people in Intrafaith dialogue has made major inroads into bringing us into respectability and acceptance.
If you think that this does not make a difference consider a comment from one United Church of Christ minister when told that individuals from a local Interfaith organization in Las Vegas had threatened to leave if Witches (In this case a full professor at ULV) were allowed to join. He wrote to the organization and then followed up with a call that boiled down to: “if they want to quit let them. You will loose nothing and gain a group of sincere people who are always the first to arrive (to be available for set up), the last to leave (to assure that everything is clean). They are not interested in trying to convince you of how important they are. They are simply involved to serve and share.
When Lady Liberty League and others were fighting for the right of Pagan Vets to have the pentacle on their grave stones, we were shoulder to shoulder with Ministers, Priests, and other Professional clergy who wrote letters and in some cases occupied the offices of the of the Veteran's Administration. These religious leaders know who we are and respect us because of our long tradition of service. When Pagans are faced with violations of our civil rights, we are now supported, often by very well known and prestigious religious leaders. It pays to have friends.
In Her service and yours
R Watcher, National Interfaith Representative
Ecumenism is an interaction that takes place between members of one religious group no matter how fissured it might be. For instance right now on the “Pagans” Facebook page we are having an ecumenical discussion on the various merits (or lack thereof) of Pantheism vs. Panentheism. We are all Pagans of various ilks...er traditions. In the larger picture of religious discussion many would prefer to call this type of dialogue “Intrafaith vs. Interfaith. In this growing world of religious exchange the current popular theory is that Intrafaith is oh-so-much more difficult than Interfaith. My own experience tends to confirm this opinion; not to mention the question of whether it serves any useful purpose at all (provided the goal is not to convert). Well perhaps it answers to the pure joy of (intellectual) argument for its own sake.
A more pertinent question is “What DO Pagans get from Interfaith Activities?” (emphasis mine) The very most succinct answer that I can offer is legitimacy, respect, a place at the table. If this doesn't matter to you stop reading here...
If it does, there are three major paths to that goal: The first is the work that Chaz and others are doing in the academic arena. When we started out, Paganism was regarded as a sideshow of cultists and goddess worship at such distinguished conferences as the American Academy of Religions (this year with over 10,000 people in attendance). Now, due to the work of these intrepid academics Pagan studies has its own tract. This is Interfaith work at its most subtle and important; working with and among academics of the world's religions to earn that place at the table. Certainly the Covenant of the Goddess, a national organization of Witches, recognizes the value of this work and its place in Interfaith by supporting M. Macha NightMare as a national Interfaith representative to the AAR.
Still others are earning our silverware through their work with the Parliament of the World's Religions. People like Andras Corban-Arthen, Angie Buchanan, and Phyllis Curott, have been or are on the staff of that august body. In fact Pagans probably represent a far larger percentage of staff proportionately, than do any of the Abrahamic traditions. Working (and looking) as regular professionals doing the job of organizing one of the largest religious gatherings in the world. They are not proselytizing for our beliefs. They are simply walking their talk and making it clear in so doing that they are no different than any other professional with a set of specific religious beliefs.
Many are serving the dinner and washing the dishes at this table. I have done so for the last ten years (in many cases literally) and as a result of service was recruited for the board of the North American Interfaith Network, one of the oldest Interfaith organizations in the United States. Personal interaction is the third though hardly least path of which I spoke above. The interaction and work between and among professional clergy and other religious professionals who will form opinions and influence their own people in Intrafaith dialogue has made major inroads into bringing us into respectability and acceptance.
If you think that this does not make a difference consider a comment from one United Church of Christ minister when told that individuals from a local Interfaith organization in Las Vegas had threatened to leave if Witches (In this case a full professor at ULV) were allowed to join. He wrote to the organization and then followed up with a call that boiled down to: “if they want to quit let them. You will loose nothing and gain a group of sincere people who are always the first to arrive (to be available for set up), the last to leave (to assure that everything is clean). They are not interested in trying to convince you of how important they are. They are simply involved to serve and share.
When Lady Liberty League and others were fighting for the right of Pagan Vets to have the pentacle on their grave stones, we were shoulder to shoulder with Ministers, Priests, and other Professional clergy who wrote letters and in some cases occupied the offices of the of the Veteran's Administration. These religious leaders know who we are and respect us because of our long tradition of service. When Pagans are faced with violations of our civil rights, we are now supported, often by very well known and prestigious religious leaders. It pays to have friends.
In Her service and yours
R Watcher, National Interfaith Representative
Friday, December 30, 2011
AAR Report - Michelle Mueller
I finished my first semester as a doctoral student at the Graduate Theological Union. The Unitarian Universalist church that I work for installed me as their Director of Religious Education on Dec. 18. We merged the Installation ceremony with a Winter Solstice ceremony (my idea). I collaborated with Worship Associate Christina to plan the service. Christina picked out some great Winter Solstice songs that my visiting Pagan friends loved. I had been in the position since August; an Installation is a ceremony formalizing my role as religious educator for the congregation.
Now, I have some things to report from the American Academy of Religion meeting in November. It is important to understand that the American Academy of Religion meeting is not an interfaith meeting persay. AAR is a professional organization of Religious Studies scholars and theologians. The annual meeting is where professors and graduate students share their research and academic papers in the fields of Religious Studies. There are of course people of faith present. Some faith leaders (ministers, etc. or interfaith organization directors) choose to join the AAR or attend meeting. I noticed Paul Chaffee, Emeritus Executive Director of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, present. Plus, Eboo Patel was in the program. Many Religious Studies scholars are religious or spiritual themselves. Many are secular, agnostic, or atheist. They share a genuine interest in the human capacity for religion--experience and/or beliefs. In general, Religious Studies scholars are respectful of religious experience, whether they are religious or not. There is also conjoining SBL (Society for Biblical Literature) meeting, which focuses on Biblical Christian and Hebrew scripture with a strong archaeological focus. The modern discipline of Religious Studies understands religion as a practice of humanity. Religious Studies scholars are therefore frequently friendly towards Neo-Paganism, understanding Neo-Paganism as a natural expression of this human practice of religion that is not better or worse than others. (Religion as a human practice is not exhaustive either, as there is the Animals and Religion section at AAR!) Still, there are Religious Studies scholars and theologians who are unaware of formal academic Pagan Studies or of Neo-Pagan movement. At every AAR (and I've been to quite a few), I always so some education around Paganism, NeoPaganism, and the Covenant of the Goddess. It is important for CoG members to be present for this reason.
I see the value in CoG Interfaith presence at AAR in the importance of educating the educators. AAR meeting is not, as I said, a proper interfaith conference; it is not an intentional meeting of people of many faiths. But, it is a place where CoG Witches can educate professors of Religious Studies about what Neo-Pagan practice looks like and who we are, so that they may return to their universities and colleges with information and experience. CoG presence at AAR will have a positive effect on public understanding of Witchcraft and Paganism.
Many thanks go to Robert Puckett, the Director of Meetings for AAR, and a Pagan, who offered his suite for our NCLC reception for local Pagan representative leaders and Pagan Studies scholars.
Now, I have some things to report from the American Academy of Religion meeting in November. It is important to understand that the American Academy of Religion meeting is not an interfaith meeting persay. AAR is a professional organization of Religious Studies scholars and theologians. The annual meeting is where professors and graduate students share their research and academic papers in the fields of Religious Studies. There are of course people of faith present. Some faith leaders (ministers, etc. or interfaith organization directors) choose to join the AAR or attend meeting. I noticed Paul Chaffee, Emeritus Executive Director of the Interfaith Center at the Presidio, present. Plus, Eboo Patel was in the program. Many Religious Studies scholars are religious or spiritual themselves. Many are secular, agnostic, or atheist. They share a genuine interest in the human capacity for religion--experience and/or beliefs. In general, Religious Studies scholars are respectful of religious experience, whether they are religious or not. There is also conjoining SBL (Society for Biblical Literature) meeting, which focuses on Biblical Christian and Hebrew scripture with a strong archaeological focus. The modern discipline of Religious Studies understands religion as a practice of humanity. Religious Studies scholars are therefore frequently friendly towards Neo-Paganism, understanding Neo-Paganism as a natural expression of this human practice of religion that is not better or worse than others. (Religion as a human practice is not exhaustive either, as there is the Animals and Religion section at AAR!) Still, there are Religious Studies scholars and theologians who are unaware of formal academic Pagan Studies or of Neo-Pagan movement. At every AAR (and I've been to quite a few), I always so some education around Paganism, NeoPaganism, and the Covenant of the Goddess. It is important for CoG members to be present for this reason.
I see the value in CoG Interfaith presence at AAR in the importance of educating the educators. AAR meeting is not, as I said, a proper interfaith conference; it is not an intentional meeting of people of many faiths. But, it is a place where CoG Witches can educate professors of Religious Studies about what Neo-Pagan practice looks like and who we are, so that they may return to their universities and colleges with information and experience. CoG presence at AAR will have a positive effect on public understanding of Witchcraft and Paganism.
Many thanks go to Robert Puckett, the Director of Meetings for AAR, and a Pagan, who offered his suite for our NCLC reception for local Pagan representative leaders and Pagan Studies scholars.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Dear All
On Thursday the 8th of December I received a request to please Send a Pagan speaker representing CoG to an organizational gathering in Fremont California, just an hour or less from my house. Very late notice indeed. I wrote back and requested that the person call me directly so that I might have a better idea of what the organization needed and who they were. None of us in this area had heard of this organization before. It is called “The International Center for Cultural Studies”. I love this web page. Its front page has a changing marque that states the idea of more than on way to achieve a goal and the joining together of people of diverse cultures in order to achieve a greater vision.
It focuses on wisdom from ancient roots...which means the wisdom of pagan or pre-Christian religions.
Mr. Praveen Veldanda called me almost immediately and spoke to me for a few minutes explaining that what they were having a gathering at which they were hoping to have different Pagan practices explain the ways in which they were connected. I said that I would be happy to go and because the flyer that they sent out mentioned Romuva I called Prudence Priest and asked her whether she would like to come with me. Deborah Bender allowed as how she too would like to see what we did at an interfaith gather and so also came along...talk about your Weird Sisters.
I did explain that we are clearly a new religious movement trying to create a religion based on what our ancestors practiced but tailored for today's culture. While our wisdom was a ancient as we could determine, our practices were not. He said that he thought that this was fine and assured me that he wanted to hear from us. I painstakingly wrote a twenty minute talk on possible reasons why we are the fastest growing religion in Canada and the United States among the eighteen to thirty year old demographic and how we connected with other Pagan practices then, after consultation with a couple of other Interfaith Reps, left it at home.
This turns out to have been not such a bad thing since I was very late in the speaking order and was, instead of a prepared speech able to simply speak a bit to our growth and the reasons for it and then respond point by point to other speakers and our similarities to their own practices.
Prudence was delighted to discover that these folks knew Jonas Trinkunas and his wife Inija and they equally delighted to discover that she knew them. When I introduced her as Ms. Priest they immediately assumed, and in this case correctly that she was a Priestess of Romuva and asked her to be one of the four Priests/esses for the Hindu fire ceremony. Way better her than me as the entire thing was in a foreign language and she was familiar with the ceremony as a similar ceremony is conducted in Romuva.
It was an interesting atmosphere as the three of us were the only women in attendance. I wish that I could say that I was a smashing success. People did listen attentively. Deborah assures me that I did not make a fool of myself, and they have invited me back to speak to larger groups. Otherwise I cannot gauge my success in communication as everyone sat with a polite closed look and no questions were forth coming.
Prudence and I were both invited, nay urged to participate in an international gathering in March and I have been further encouraged on many sides to go. Unfortunately the gathering is in Delhi India and finances are questionable. They have assured us that all we have to do is get to the airport in India and they will cover all further expenses including board, housing, and conference registration costs. Now this actually sounds like a group used to dealing with Pagans.
Over all they were a very nice group of folks who were well educated, and appeared to be sincere in their stated goals to bring the Pagan world together around ancient wisdom from many sources. I will continue to work with them and perhaps Prudence and I will go to India in March. Funding remains a critical consideration. I will certainly continue to keep you appraised of developments. In the meantime I would highly recommend that you check out their website where they list First Nations of Canada and the United States, right along with Pagans and Druids; fun if nothing else.
In her service,
R Watcher
On Thursday the 8th of December I received a request to please Send a Pagan speaker representing CoG to an organizational gathering in Fremont California, just an hour or less from my house. Very late notice indeed. I wrote back and requested that the person call me directly so that I might have a better idea of what the organization needed and who they were. None of us in this area had heard of this organization before. It is called “The International Center for Cultural Studies”. I love this web page. Its front page has a changing marque that states the idea of more than on way to achieve a goal and the joining together of people of diverse cultures in order to achieve a greater vision.
It focuses on wisdom from ancient roots...which means the wisdom of pagan or pre-Christian religions.
Mr. Praveen Veldanda called me almost immediately and spoke to me for a few minutes explaining that what they were having a gathering at which they were hoping to have different Pagan practices explain the ways in which they were connected. I said that I would be happy to go and because the flyer that they sent out mentioned Romuva I called Prudence Priest and asked her whether she would like to come with me. Deborah Bender allowed as how she too would like to see what we did at an interfaith gather and so also came along...talk about your Weird Sisters.
I did explain that we are clearly a new religious movement trying to create a religion based on what our ancestors practiced but tailored for today's culture. While our wisdom was a ancient as we could determine, our practices were not. He said that he thought that this was fine and assured me that he wanted to hear from us. I painstakingly wrote a twenty minute talk on possible reasons why we are the fastest growing religion in Canada and the United States among the eighteen to thirty year old demographic and how we connected with other Pagan practices then, after consultation with a couple of other Interfaith Reps, left it at home.
This turns out to have been not such a bad thing since I was very late in the speaking order and was, instead of a prepared speech able to simply speak a bit to our growth and the reasons for it and then respond point by point to other speakers and our similarities to their own practices.
Prudence was delighted to discover that these folks knew Jonas Trinkunas and his wife Inija and they equally delighted to discover that she knew them. When I introduced her as Ms. Priest they immediately assumed, and in this case correctly that she was a Priestess of Romuva and asked her to be one of the four Priests/esses for the Hindu fire ceremony. Way better her than me as the entire thing was in a foreign language and she was familiar with the ceremony as a similar ceremony is conducted in Romuva.
It was an interesting atmosphere as the three of us were the only women in attendance. I wish that I could say that I was a smashing success. People did listen attentively. Deborah assures me that I did not make a fool of myself, and they have invited me back to speak to larger groups. Otherwise I cannot gauge my success in communication as everyone sat with a polite closed look and no questions were forth coming.
Prudence and I were both invited, nay urged to participate in an international gathering in March and I have been further encouraged on many sides to go. Unfortunately the gathering is in Delhi India and finances are questionable. They have assured us that all we have to do is get to the airport in India and they will cover all further expenses including board, housing, and conference registration costs. Now this actually sounds like a group used to dealing with Pagans.
Over all they were a very nice group of folks who were well educated, and appeared to be sincere in their stated goals to bring the Pagan world together around ancient wisdom from many sources. I will continue to work with them and perhaps Prudence and I will go to India in March. Funding remains a critical consideration. I will certainly continue to keep you appraised of developments. In the meantime I would highly recommend that you check out their website where they list First Nations of Canada and the United States, right along with Pagans and Druids; fun if nothing else.
In her service,
R Watcher
Monday, December 12, 2011
AAR Annual Meeting, Part V
Shawn Arthur of Appalachian State University presided over the Contemporary Pagan Studies session on Pagan Analysis and Critique of "Religion on Monday afternoon.
Suzanne Owen's paper described "Definitions, Decisions, and Druids: Presenting Druidry as a Religion." In England, where they do not have separation between church and state, residents are asked to state their religions on census forms. For religious groups other than those of the state religion to thrive, they must be sanctioned or approved or in some way officially recognized by the government. In recent years Druids have sought, and eventually received, such recognition. Dr. Owens' paper detailed their efforts. During Q&A, Patrick McCollum noted that this case in England has been useful in efforts here in the U.S. for inmates who are Druids (and other Pagan inmates) to assemble as a group in prison chapels for worship and ceremony.
Dr. Christine Kraemer, Cherry Hill Seminary, delivered an excellent paper on "Perceptions of Scholarship in Contemporary Paganism." Of course, since Christine is Chair of CHS' Department of Theology and Religious History, I'm confident that she's knowledgeable and current on such matters. She offers several examples of Pagan critiques of Pagan scholars and their responses -- Ronald Hutton, Ben Whitmore, Aidan Kelly, Don Frew, et al. While confirming the value of these critiques, she also cites Richard Hofstader's contentions, propounded in his book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life , that this attitude is "historically rooted in deeply held American values such as egalitarianism and democracy." He claims that nineteenth-century evangelical religions have influenced American thought so that it expresses "more heart-centered than head-centered values," and that this attitude is found among modern amateur Pagans as well.
Helen Berger, Brandeis University, delivered a paper called "Fifteen Years of Continuity and Change within the American Pagan Community" that follows up on her earlier studies. She noted that religions either die or change.1 Among the changes she found in her follow-up studies are:
Caroline Tully, University of Melbourne, delivered the final paper, "Researching the Past as a Foreign Country: Cognitive Dissonance as a Response by Practitioner Pagans to Academic Research on the History of Pagan Religions." Caroline is someone many of us have known for some years online, but on this, her first trip to the U.S., we had the good fortune to meet her and hang out. Her paper reminded me once again of a phenomenon in Paganism that I call a "yearning for authenticity." Many people, not just Pagans -- Christians are a fine example -- seem to require evidence of antiquity or of a long unbroken (or broken and reclaimed, revived, reconstructed) tradition to cite as a claim of authenticity, to claim credibility. I am not among them. On the contrary, I see much syncreticism in almost every religion of which I have some knowledge. I don't think a religion is more or less authentic because of its alleged antiquity. I think it's authentic if it speaks to its practitioners' spiritual needs, if the practice of its forms offers meaning and comfort,
Later I attended the Comparative Studies in Religion Section session on Noncanonical/Nationalist Reinventions of Religions' Narratives of Origin, Christopher Patrick Parr, Webster University, presiding. Chris, who teaches religious studies and I had encountered one another at other sessions and we had a friendly chat before the meeting began. The subject intrigued me. Pagans have many stories of their origins. All religions and ethnicities and groups of people seeking to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world, or seeking to define themselves, and seeking a sense of group solidarity and cohesion, have narratives of origin. We Pagans have a few ourselves.
I apologize ahead of time for confusion about which speaker was speaking about what, since the program only listed their names and not the titles of their papers.
The first speaker said that there were numerous neopagan nationalist groups in Russia who posit an advanced Russian civilization before St. Cyril, and that they claim a conspiracy of silence on the part of monks and others to suppress knowledge of this earlier time. These groups are more bookish than outdoorsy and do not perform outdoor rituals. They claim a mysterious Russian or Cyrillic or "planetary" alphabets comprised of 147 characters, and that the monks' theft of this alphabet paved the way for aliens and alien culture to proliferate in Russia. Slavs had an autochthonous alphabet and writing before Cyril.
To me, the most interesting paper was about Buddha Shakyamuni and Mother Earth, or Mae Thoranee. Mae Thoranee is a Thai and Laotian Earth mother figure found beneath the Buddha in statues and paintings. The fingers of the Buddha's right hand touches the earth. A tiny image of Mae Thoranee appears underneath the larger image of the Buddha. This Mae Thoranee foundation upon which the Buddha rests reminds me of the appellation of Mary as Mother of God found in Catholic prayer.
Mae Thoranee, protrectress of the land and its fertility, exists in localized versions. She is both animist and Buddhist; the soil is her spirit and the trees are her children. Merit is stored in the water in her hair. She is shown wringing water from her hair, pouring the waters of merit to redistribute it among any wandering spirits. One of the slides showed a statue of Mae Thoranee in the act of wringing water from her air on the grounds in front of a civic building.
Another paper was about Takeuchi Kiyomaro (1874-1965), a priest of the Shinto sect known as "Takeuchi-bunsho," dating from the 3rd-4th centuries CE. The speaker told of how this sect, and others, asserted the superiority of the Japanese people.
Tuesday morning, the last half-day, and which session to savor? I was interested in:
"Utopian Settlements, Californian Vedanta, Huxley, Isherwood, and Friends," presented by Smitri Srinivas of UC-Davis, described places and people I've heard of or encountered in my years in California. It was interesting to hear these times spoken of from a historical and analytical perspective when one has some awareness of how they have influenced one's life. I say that as a person who lived in the heart of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the 1960s.
"The Reception of Kundalini Yoga in California and Its Relation to Sikh Dharma/3HO," was presented by Michael Stoeber, himself a practitioner of kundalini yoga.
"California Hinduism: The Shiva Lingam of Golden Gate Park, 1989-1994," by Eliza Kent, Colgate University, related to a new audience a story I like to cite when the topic of sacred images and sites comes up. I remember when this occurred; it's a wonderful tale.
Jeffrey J. Kripal of Rice University and Shana Sippy, Carleton College offered thoughtful responses. I'm familiar with Dr. Kripal from my readings about my matron, Kali Ma. He wrote Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna as well as other writings on Kali.
I enjoyed comments from people of a certain age, myself included, during the Q&A session at the end of the session.
As I was leaving the room, I was pleased to encounter Samir Kaira, a friend from the Hindu American Foundation. I had expected to run into others from that organization over the course of the Annual Meeting, but other than seeing Dr. Mihir Meghani at the Pagan studies reception on Saturday night, I saw no one. No doubt this is because there were so many intriguing sessions and they probably focused on the Hindu related ones while I focused on the Pagan ones.
This concludes my reports on the 2012 AAR Annual Meeting.
In service to Coventina,
M. Macha NightMare
~~~~~~~~~~
1. Interestingly, it is our survival, and the changes necessary to ensure it, that motivate my work.
2. She did not, to my knowledge, make a distinction between the terms Paganism and Witchcraft.
3. Please see my survey on Survey Monkey Note that this survey has been extended to January 15, 2012, so if you haven't already participated, I invite you to do so now.
Suzanne Owen's paper described "Definitions, Decisions, and Druids: Presenting Druidry as a Religion." In England, where they do not have separation between church and state, residents are asked to state their religions on census forms. For religious groups other than those of the state religion to thrive, they must be sanctioned or approved or in some way officially recognized by the government. In recent years Druids have sought, and eventually received, such recognition. Dr. Owens' paper detailed their efforts. During Q&A, Patrick McCollum noted that this case in England has been useful in efforts here in the U.S. for inmates who are Druids (and other Pagan inmates) to assemble as a group in prison chapels for worship and ceremony.
Dr. Christine Kraemer, Cherry Hill Seminary, delivered an excellent paper on "Perceptions of Scholarship in Contemporary Paganism." Of course, since Christine is Chair of CHS' Department of Theology and Religious History, I'm confident that she's knowledgeable and current on such matters. She offers several examples of Pagan critiques of Pagan scholars and their responses -- Ronald Hutton, Ben Whitmore, Aidan Kelly, Don Frew, et al. While confirming the value of these critiques, she also cites Richard Hofstader's contentions, propounded in his book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life , that this attitude is "historically rooted in deeply held American values such as egalitarianism and democracy." He claims that nineteenth-century evangelical religions have influenced American thought so that it expresses "more heart-centered than head-centered values," and that this attitude is found among modern amateur Pagans as well.
Helen Berger, Brandeis University, delivered a paper called "Fifteen Years of Continuity and Change within the American Pagan Community" that follows up on her earlier studies. She noted that religions either die or change.1 Among the changes she found in her follow-up studies are:
- The population of American Witches and Pagans2 who are female has increased from 65% to 71%.
- Pagans are geographically more evenly spread, pointing towards "normalization."
- Pagans are more educated than most Americans; 98% have high school diplomas compared to 87% for the rest of the population.
- There are fewer "older" Pagans. I don't recall that Helen specified what age would be considered "older," but it appears that more of her respondents were "younger." This fact, coupled with the fact that religions either change or die, reinforces the need for us to explore the notion of eldership, as I've been doing.3
- Seventy-eight percent of those surveyed claim to be solitary; 86% of "younger" people consider themselves to be solitaries.
Caroline Tully, University of Melbourne, delivered the final paper, "Researching the Past as a Foreign Country: Cognitive Dissonance as a Response by Practitioner Pagans to Academic Research on the History of Pagan Religions." Caroline is someone many of us have known for some years online, but on this, her first trip to the U.S., we had the good fortune to meet her and hang out. Her paper reminded me once again of a phenomenon in Paganism that I call a "yearning for authenticity." Many people, not just Pagans -- Christians are a fine example -- seem to require evidence of antiquity or of a long unbroken (or broken and reclaimed, revived, reconstructed) tradition to cite as a claim of authenticity, to claim credibility. I am not among them. On the contrary, I see much syncreticism in almost every religion of which I have some knowledge. I don't think a religion is more or less authentic because of its alleged antiquity. I think it's authentic if it speaks to its practitioners' spiritual needs, if the practice of its forms offers meaning and comfort,
Later I attended the Comparative Studies in Religion Section session on Noncanonical/Nationalist Reinventions of Religions' Narratives of Origin, Christopher Patrick Parr, Webster University, presiding. Chris, who teaches religious studies and I had encountered one another at other sessions and we had a friendly chat before the meeting began. The subject intrigued me. Pagans have many stories of their origins. All religions and ethnicities and groups of people seeking to distinguish themselves from the rest of the world, or seeking to define themselves, and seeking a sense of group solidarity and cohesion, have narratives of origin. We Pagans have a few ourselves.
I apologize ahead of time for confusion about which speaker was speaking about what, since the program only listed their names and not the titles of their papers.
The first speaker said that there were numerous neopagan nationalist groups in Russia who posit an advanced Russian civilization before St. Cyril, and that they claim a conspiracy of silence on the part of monks and others to suppress knowledge of this earlier time. These groups are more bookish than outdoorsy and do not perform outdoor rituals. They claim a mysterious Russian or Cyrillic or "planetary" alphabets comprised of 147 characters, and that the monks' theft of this alphabet paved the way for aliens and alien culture to proliferate in Russia. Slavs had an autochthonous alphabet and writing before Cyril.
Mae Thoranee, protrectress of the land and its fertility, exists in localized versions. She is both animist and Buddhist; the soil is her spirit and the trees are her children. Merit is stored in the water in her hair. She is shown wringing water from her hair, pouring the waters of merit to redistribute it among any wandering spirits. One of the slides showed a statue of Mae Thoranee in the act of wringing water from her air on the grounds in front of a civic building.
Another paper was about Takeuchi Kiyomaro (1874-1965), a priest of the Shinto sect known as "Takeuchi-bunsho," dating from the 3rd-4th centuries CE. The speaker told of how this sect, and others, asserted the superiority of the Japanese people.
* * * * *
- Ethics Section, Economic Ethics and Political Reform, in particular, "Whole Foods or Whole People?: The Madness of Neoliberalism and the Paradoxical Political Economy of Hunger" and "Reforming Economic Excess: Towards a Solidarity Economy." I don't know how much effect a bunch of academics talking about these topics might have to influence economic change or to fill empty stomachs.
- North American Religions Section, Industrial Effervescence: Manufacturing Economic Selves and Producing Religious Collectivity in American History, in particular, "Gilded Age Railroad Brotherhoods as Industrial Religion" and "Parts of a Whole: Ecological Consumerism in a Global Age." I find the whole culture of railroads fascinating, and know little about it. I'm also intrigued by brotherhoods, lodges, and other "in-group" organizations. I suspect we could learn more about creating group cohesion, group identity, group solidarity from studying these phenomena.
- Women and Religion Section. Performing Gender and Identify through Song in South Asia, "Dancing with the Goddess, Singing for Ourselves."
"Utopian Settlements, Californian Vedanta, Huxley, Isherwood, and Friends," presented by Smitri Srinivas of UC-Davis, described places and people I've heard of or encountered in my years in California. It was interesting to hear these times spoken of from a historical and analytical perspective when one has some awareness of how they have influenced one's life. I say that as a person who lived in the heart of San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury during the 1960s.
"The Reception of Kundalini Yoga in California and Its Relation to Sikh Dharma/3HO," was presented by Michael Stoeber, himself a practitioner of kundalini yoga.
"California Hinduism: The Shiva Lingam of Golden Gate Park, 1989-1994," by Eliza Kent, Colgate University, related to a new audience a story I like to cite when the topic of sacred images and sites comes up. I remember when this occurred; it's a wonderful tale.
Jeffrey J. Kripal of Rice University and Shana Sippy, Carleton College offered thoughtful responses. I'm familiar with Dr. Kripal from my readings about my matron, Kali Ma. He wrote Kali’s Child: The Mystical and the Erotic in the Life and Teachings of Ramakrishna as well as other writings on Kali.
I enjoyed comments from people of a certain age, myself included, during the Q&A session at the end of the session.
As I was leaving the room, I was pleased to encounter Samir Kaira, a friend from the Hindu American Foundation. I had expected to run into others from that organization over the course of the Annual Meeting, but other than seeing Dr. Mihir Meghani at the Pagan studies reception on Saturday night, I saw no one. No doubt this is because there were so many intriguing sessions and they probably focused on the Hindu related ones while I focused on the Pagan ones.
This concludes my reports on the 2012 AAR Annual Meeting.
In service to Coventina,
M. Macha NightMare
~~~~~~~~~~
1. Interestingly, it is our survival, and the changes necessary to ensure it, that motivate my work.
2. She did not, to my knowledge, make a distinction between the terms Paganism and Witchcraft.
3. Please see my survey on Survey Monkey Note that this survey has been extended to January 15, 2012, so if you haven't already participated, I invite you to do so now.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
AAR Annual Meeting, Part IV
On Monday morning I attended the New Religious Movements Group on Religious Appropriation of Secular Culture. All five papers interested me from a nascent-culture perspective. First was "Haunted Ground: Nature's Nation form the American Metaphysical Perspective," followed by "Summer Camp and New Paradigms of Sacred Space in New Religious Movements," by Ann Duncan, Goucher College. In past posts on this blog, I've commented about Reclaiming's Teen Earth Magic, a summer camp for adolescents. Many of these teens are alumni of the annual Witchlets in the Woods family camp. Summer camps have been a part of American religious life since at least the early 19th Century, if not earlier. I attended both Girl Scout and Methodist Church summer camps in the 1950s.
"From HippieCrits an' Jesus Freaks to the Twelve Tribes: the Integration and Reinterpretation of Vietnam Era Pop-culture into a Fundamentalist Communitarian Movement's Ideology" had great potential, but I think this was the first paper the two young scholars, Bryan Barkley and C.A. Burriss, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, had ever presented because they fumbled a lot when their Power Point Presentation didn't respond as they'd planned, and as a result they lost time and had to abbreviate their talk. It dealt with a Christian camp created by counterculture boomers, presuming to appeal to younger seekers, but the reality turns out to be that there's a lot of transiency. People come but don't stay long. I think only six people have been there any length of time.
I'm only minimally knowledgeable of the many Pagan attempts at creating Utopian communities, but I do know that it is a desire for, a yearning for, a belief in the possibility of a "better" world that motivates many Pagans. "Better" means different things to different people, but one might reasonably assume "better" would include plenty of nourishing food, warm, comfortable shelter, clothing, loving family and community, the pursuit of "right livelihood," education, music, art, all in an atmosphere of safety, mutual love and trust, a spirit of cooperation, working together for the common good.
Shannon Harvey spoke on "'Eat Your Way Back to the Godhead': Reducing Karma and Calorie-intake Using International Society of Krishna Consciousness Cookbooks."
But it was the final paper that I found most intriguing, "Hoop Spiritualities: The Hula-Hoop and Embodied Spiritual Practice," presented by Martha Smith Roberts and Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand, both from UC Santa Barbara. Both scholars are hoopers themselves. They undertook this study because anecdotally they learned that hoopers underwent spiritual experiences when they got "in the zone," and they themselves had had similar experiences. They surveyed many hoopers from around the country. Hooping appeals more to women than to men, although among the men there are charismatic teachers. Some hoopers spin for many hours a day. Respondents described their experiences as being meditative, offering a sense of oneness with the universe, a sense of peace. Hooping rebalanced them from the stresses of their daily lives. It created an altered state of consciousness in the hoopers. The sense of being a part of the world both increased and decreased with this sense of wellness. It increased a feeling of interconnectedness yet allowed hoopers to let go of worldly concerns.
As Roberts and Gray-Hildenbrand described their findings, I was struck by all the parallels I was seeing between hula hooping and Pagan religious practices. First, hoopers are literally working within a circle; most Pagans construct sacred space in a circular form. Hoopers have no guru and neither do Pagans, although we do have organizers, ritualists, writers, and leaders among our illustrious co-religionists. Hooping has no doctrine. We call the space we create one that is "between the worlds." Hoopers feel suspended between the worlds. Respondents described individual spiritual experiences in the course of hooping, as Pagans do of experiences in ritual, and their experience/learning is embodied. More women practice Pagan religions, as more women spin hula hoops "religiously." I spoke to Ms. Gray-Hildenbrand after the session, since any Q&A time had been eaten by delays of one kind or another. She agreed with the similarities I had observed, and said that as it happened, a large percentage of their survey respondents identified as Pagan.
While I attended the NRM session described above, I forewent a Wildcard Session on Gods and Monsters of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Imagination. The session addressed ideological and material exchange among Greco-Roman, Anatolian, Mesopotamian and Levantine cultures in the form of shared religious and mythological themes from the Bronze Age to late Roman civilizations. The five papers were "Hearing the Chaoskampf in Iliad 21," Further Parallels in Greco-Anatolian Disappearing God Rituals: the Hittite Kursa Hunting Bag and the Dios Koidion (Fleece of Zeus)," Syncresis and the Cult of Isis in the Greco-Roman World," The Greek Gigantomachy and the Israelite Gigantomachy: Giants as Chaosmacht in Israel and the Iron Age Aegean," and "The God Aion in a Mosaic from Paphos and Helleno-Semitic Cosmogenies in the Roman East." Don't they sound juicy?
Monday afternoon I was tempted by several sessions. In particular, the
Please check this blog in a few days for more about the rest of Monday and Tuesday morning.
In service to Coventina,
M. Macha NightMare
~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Sisters may be confused with nuns. Nuns live cloistered lives. Sisters live and work in the public world.
"From HippieCrits an' Jesus Freaks to the Twelve Tribes: the Integration and Reinterpretation of Vietnam Era Pop-culture into a Fundamentalist Communitarian Movement's Ideology" had great potential, but I think this was the first paper the two young scholars, Bryan Barkley and C.A. Burriss, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, had ever presented because they fumbled a lot when their Power Point Presentation didn't respond as they'd planned, and as a result they lost time and had to abbreviate their talk. It dealt with a Christian camp created by counterculture boomers, presuming to appeal to younger seekers, but the reality turns out to be that there's a lot of transiency. People come but don't stay long. I think only six people have been there any length of time.
I'm only minimally knowledgeable of the many Pagan attempts at creating Utopian communities, but I do know that it is a desire for, a yearning for, a belief in the possibility of a "better" world that motivates many Pagans. "Better" means different things to different people, but one might reasonably assume "better" would include plenty of nourishing food, warm, comfortable shelter, clothing, loving family and community, the pursuit of "right livelihood," education, music, art, all in an atmosphere of safety, mutual love and trust, a spirit of cooperation, working together for the common good.
Shannon Harvey spoke on "'Eat Your Way Back to the Godhead': Reducing Karma and Calorie-intake Using International Society of Krishna Consciousness Cookbooks."
But it was the final paper that I found most intriguing, "Hoop Spiritualities: The Hula-Hoop and Embodied Spiritual Practice," presented by Martha Smith Roberts and Jenna Gray-Hildenbrand, both from UC Santa Barbara. Both scholars are hoopers themselves. They undertook this study because anecdotally they learned that hoopers underwent spiritual experiences when they got "in the zone," and they themselves had had similar experiences. They surveyed many hoopers from around the country. Hooping appeals more to women than to men, although among the men there are charismatic teachers. Some hoopers spin for many hours a day. Respondents described their experiences as being meditative, offering a sense of oneness with the universe, a sense of peace. Hooping rebalanced them from the stresses of their daily lives. It created an altered state of consciousness in the hoopers. The sense of being a part of the world both increased and decreased with this sense of wellness. It increased a feeling of interconnectedness yet allowed hoopers to let go of worldly concerns.
As Roberts and Gray-Hildenbrand described their findings, I was struck by all the parallels I was seeing between hula hooping and Pagan religious practices. First, hoopers are literally working within a circle; most Pagans construct sacred space in a circular form. Hoopers have no guru and neither do Pagans, although we do have organizers, ritualists, writers, and leaders among our illustrious co-religionists. Hooping has no doctrine. We call the space we create one that is "between the worlds." Hoopers feel suspended between the worlds. Respondents described individual spiritual experiences in the course of hooping, as Pagans do of experiences in ritual, and their experience/learning is embodied. More women practice Pagan religions, as more women spin hula hoops "religiously." I spoke to Ms. Gray-Hildenbrand after the session, since any Q&A time had been eaten by delays of one kind or another. She agreed with the similarities I had observed, and said that as it happened, a large percentage of their survey respondents identified as Pagan.
While I attended the NRM session described above, I forewent a Wildcard Session on Gods and Monsters of the Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Imagination. The session addressed ideological and material exchange among Greco-Roman, Anatolian, Mesopotamian and Levantine cultures in the form of shared religious and mythological themes from the Bronze Age to late Roman civilizations. The five papers were "Hearing the Chaoskampf in Iliad 21," Further Parallels in Greco-Anatolian Disappearing God Rituals: the Hittite Kursa Hunting Bag and the Dios Koidion (Fleece of Zeus)," Syncresis and the Cult of Isis in the Greco-Roman World," The Greek Gigantomachy and the Israelite Gigantomachy: Giants as Chaosmacht in Israel and the Iron Age Aegean," and "The God Aion in a Mosaic from Paphos and Helleno-Semitic Cosmogenies in the Roman East." Don't they sound juicy?
Monday afternoon I was tempted by several sessions. In particular, the
- Native Traditions of the Americas Group, Resilience and Revitalization in Indigenous California. "Asumpa (To Flow): Native American Language and Cultural Revitalization through Hip-Hop," Melissa Leal, UC Davis. This whole session sounded intriguing.
- North American Hinduism and Yoga in Theory and Practice Consultations, panel on Mother India Meets the Golden State: California Gurus and West Coast Yoga.
- Religion in Europe and the Mediterranean World, 500-1650 CE Consultation on the theme of Mapping Medieval Boundaries: Textual, Physical, and Institutional, two of four papers, "The Anachronistic Crone: Margery Kempe and the Hands the (Re/Un)Wrote Her Theology of History" and "From Dominican to Benedictine, form Benedictine to Dominican: Religious Women and Reform in Late Medieval Italy." The second paper interested me because I have formed friendships with two Dominican sisters1 in MIC, and I have heard them speak of the powerful feeling they experience when they consider that they have 800 years of tradition behind their work. I don't quite understand how Catholic religious orders work, but I understand that the Dominican Order includes friars, nuns, and congregations of sisters and lay members. I also know that Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, Dominicans both, wrote the Malleus Malifacarum (Hammer of the Witches) that was so cruelly employed during the Inquisition against segments of the populace I identify with. Regardless, the Dominican sisters I know are wonderful, caring women.
- Religion in South Asia Section and Hinduism Group, Mughal Bhakti: Devotees, Sufis, Yogis, and Literati in Early Modern North India. Paper entitled "Bitten By the Snake of Love: Jogis, Tantra, and Mantra in the Poetry of the Bhakti Saints." The San Francisco Asian Art Museum's current exhibit, "Maharaja: The Splendor of India's Royal Courts" compliments this session.
- Indigenous Religious Traditions Group, Sacred Mountains in Indigenous Traditions. Of the five papers, two interested me: "Places with Personality: Sacred Mountains, Sacred Geography" and "Returning to Foretop's Father: A Sunrise Ceremony in Wyoming."
- Mysticism Group and Music and Religion Consultation, Music, Mysticism, and Religion. What can I say? Isn't that a lot of what we are about? The four papers that most appealed to me: "The Musical Self: A Nonemotive Reinterpretation of Schleiermacher's Aesthetics of Feeling," "'Drumming' Ritual Identity in Santeria," "From Breath to Dance: Music as a Language of Experience in an American Sufi," and "What the 'Strange Trip' of the Deadhead Community can Teach Us about Religion." Well, duh!
- Religion and Disability Studies Group, Metaphor, Language, and Corporeality, in particular "Of Gimps and Gods: Disability as Embodiment of the Divine in Yoruba and Diasporic Religions," by Amy Ifátólú Gardner, UC Berkeley.
- Western Esotericism Group, Western Esotericism and Material Culture. Five papers. Egil Asprem of the University of Amsterdam, who spoke first on "Technofetishism, Instrumentation, and the Materiality of Esoteric Knowledge, had joined us on our pilgrimage to Isis Oasis, et al. on Friday. "The Use of Tracing Boards and Other Art Objects as Physical Aids of Symbolic Communication in the Rituals and Practices of Freemasonry," by Shawn Eyer of nearby JFK University. (I'm fairly certain that Shawn's path has crossed with mine somewhere along the line, but I cannot place him at the moment.) I had chatted with the next presenter, Stephen Wehmeyer, at the NCLC-CoG reception on Saturday night, but missed his talk on "Conjurational Contraptions: 'Techno-gnosis,' Mechanical Wizardry, and the Material Culture of African American Folk Magic." Henrik Bogdan of the University of Gothenburg's paper was ""'Objets d'Art Noir,' Magical Engines, and Gateways to Other Dimensions: Understanding Hierophanies in Contemporary Occultism." If I'm not mistaken, Bogdan published a book about Asatru a few years ago that caused a stir. The final paper was "Storming the Citadel for Knowledge, Aesthetics, and Profit: The Dreammachine in Twentieth Century Esotericism."
Please check this blog in a few days for more about the rest of Monday and Tuesday morning.
In service to Coventina,
M. Macha NightMare
~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Sisters may be confused with nuns. Nuns live cloistered lives. Sisters live and work in the public world.
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