Guest Contributor

Teo Bishop: A Gift To Pagans From The New Apostolic Reformation

I heard today that the Emperor of Japan had sex with the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu.

Crazy, right? How did this not make the news sooner?

Apparently, the coital union has led to all sorts of trouble for the Japanese economy, not to mention the creation of a general, “atmosphere ruled by the powers of darkness.”

Ouch.

And…confusing.

Sun Goddesses typically are associated with the Sun, and the Sun gives off light. But somehow this goddess actually is responsible for darkness…

I’m sorry. This isn’t lining up right in the pagan part of my brain.

Oh, yes! That’s right. I forgot that the darkness spread by this particular Sun Goddess (and, probably all the other one’s, too) comes from Satan.

Check. Got it. Satan.

Take A Breath of Fresh Air

This real-world, modern mythology was offered up by C. Peter Wagner, the head honcho of the New Apostolic Reformation, a small but increasingly influential Christian sect, in an interview he gave on the NPR program, Fresh Air. As always, Jason at the Wild Hunt was ahead of the curve on this subject, and has written extensively about the movement’s history and development on his blog (I encourage you to pay his site a visit and read through the past posts on “Dominionism”).

What I want to contribute to this conversation is something I haven’t seen elsewhere in the Pagan blogosphere. I’ve read a lot about how frustrated we all are with Dominionism, and how threatened we all feel by the New Apostolic Reformation’s movement in political and social circles. I’ve watched as many of us organized to counter “maleficent” prayer events with coordinated, magickal workings, and I’ve been amazed at how willingly we consent to this kind of “spiritual warfare.” But I haven’t heard anyone speaking to what we Pagans and Polytheists have in common with members of the New Apostolic Reformation.

I’d like to suggest that Pagans and Polytheists pay attention to Mr. Wagner and his fellow “apostles” not because they are a threat to our well being (although they, and their political counterparts, may be), but rather because they are opening a door for conversation with the greater public about the existence of multiple, distinct, conscious, spiritual beings.

Wagner truly believes that the Japanese Sun Goddess exists. And he truly believes that she got freaky with the Emperor. His cosmological paradigm allows for the existence of deities other than the Abrahamic God. Given, he characterizes them as “demons,” and he attributes their work in the world to Satan, which doesn’t sit well with Pagans and Polytheists. We typically frown upon recontextualizing one deity through another’s pantheon. That’s just rude.

But, he believes in their existence. He believes that they are beings who literally interact with humanity.

Perhaps the question we should be asking ourselves is – do we?

Creating A Space For Dialogue

At my blog, Bishop In The Grove, I often explore the subject of interfaith dialogue between Christians and Pagans. It’s a topic of great interest to me. As some commenters on my blog have pointed out, it’s unlikely that Pagans will have what we consider to be respectful religious dialogue with people like Mr. Wagner, who view our Gods and Goddesses as “demons,” and who actively seek to convert non-Christians.

I’ll concede to that.

But Mr. Wagner has inadvertently made a case for polytheism, albeit a distorted one. There’s a chance here for Pagans and Polytheists to slip into the conversation and offer a different perspective. That is, if we actually believe that our Gods and Goddesses are real.

If we don’t, there’s little reason to be troubled my Mr. Wagner’s theology. If our Gods are but aspects of our own psyche, what harm does it do for them to be characterized as real, sentient demons by representatives of a small, Christian sect? We can easily look at their assertion and label it fantasy, or delusion.

But the point here is that Mr. Wagner is not talking about Gods and Goddesses as metaphor or archetype. He believes they’re real beings.

Now if we, too, believe that our Gods are moving and living in the world, inextricably woven into the fabric of our Earthly experiences, and that they are interacting with their devotees and affecting reality on a daily basis, then we have a responsibility to address the misinformation that Mr. Wagner is spreading. We also have to accept that Mr. Wagner, and others who believe what he believes about the spiritual world, are not outright “crazy” for what they believe. They’re just misinformed.

Preach, Pagans. Preach.

We don’t evangelize — it’s not our thing — and I’m not suggesting we start. I am, however, hoping that we might see in this whole situation with Mr. Wagner and the New Apostolic Reformation the chance to have our own witness of the spirit be heard. We can testify as good as any Christian about how the Divine moves through our lives, and we must do so with the unshakable conviction that our Pagan or Polytheist testimony is valid and worthy of being recognized.

When what we hold sacred is mischaracterized, we are being given a gift; an opportunity to spread our own good news about the mystical, magical, God and Goddess-filled world in which we live.

Don’t pass up on that opportunity.

Teo Bishop blogs over at Bishop In The Grove here at Patheos.

M. Macha NightMare: Bone Blossom Channels Spiderwoman | Season of the Witch

Guest post by M. Macha NightMare for our Season of the Witch series, recounting the stories of Witches.

My late friend Bone Blossom had a huge loom in her living room upon which she wove all manner of wonderful cloth. For the direct action at Lawrence Livermore Labs, at which there was a large contingent of Reclaiming Witches and other Earth-loving Pagans — I recall this as being at Brigit of 1982 — she created an open weaving for demonstrators to interweave flowers and feathers, photographs and other small objects.

We gathered in the early morning hours to meet on a road outside the lab where a cyclone fence enclosing the grounds of the lab ran along one side. Bone unrolled her big weaving. We began to chant “We are the flow, we are the ebb, we are the weavers, we are the web,” by the late Shekinah Mountainwater, over and over again, as we attached our many tokens of love, beauty, and harmony with Nature, with our magical intent.

Our singing and dancing and joyous solidarity attracted a group of motorcycle cops, who came roaring towards us up the country road to where we were assembled.

By the time they arrived, we had stretched our beautiful creation like a web across the road surrounding the lab. Although they were full of bravado, the policemen seemed bewildered. Their first approach was to use direct force to try to destroy our web by driving through it. Well, you know how strong webs are. Instead of rending the web, the cops became entangled in it. Our late friend Sequoia approached the officers and, with profuse apologies, tried to disentangle the cops, and their guns, from the weaving. Now, initiating physical contact with law enforcement officers in the line of duty in a charged situation when you are doing civil disobedience is not the most prudent thing to do. But with some delicacy, atypical for Sequoia, and a deft hand, she managed to remove all the threads and ribbons caught on pistols, holsters, badges, and other accoutrements.

Eventually we managed to toss the weaving over the fence separating lab property from the rest of Livermore, where it was charged to do its work.

For a Midsummer action at Livermore later that same year, Bone and I came to the park where the direct activists were camping. We both had young children at home so we weren’t planning to be arrested. We came to share in the magic making outside lab property and to support those who risked arrest.

That night we burned a glorious wicker man. I especially remember Sequoia and me stripped to the waist, sweating, chanting Starhawk’s “Rise with the Fire” for all we were worth, and dancing up the fire that was baking the sacred loaf.[1] When the structure began to crumble, we removed the aluminum foil-wrapped bread and passed the steaming loaf around so that everyone might share in the nourishment it provided.

Bone and I had brought lots of food that we put out on a linen-covered picnic table. We brewed some nice hot designer coffee for those who liked to start their day with caffeine. We wanted to be sure the activists were well fed before they risked arrest. Who knew how long before they saw another meal?

Bone Blossom circa 1990's

[1] It was at that point that Sequoia finally recognized me as a Witch and not just a legal secretary, so she told me.

The wicker man contained bread, wrapped in aluminum foil, inside his body, where it rose and baked.

M. Macha NightMare, P&W, is an internationally published author, ritualist and all-round Pagan webweaver. A member of the American Academy of Religion, the Marin Interfaith Council, the Nature Religion Scholars Network, the Covenant of the Goddess (CoG), and the Advisory Councils of PEARL (Pagan Eldercare and Resource League) and Sacred Dying Foundation, Macha speaks on behalf of Paganism to news media and academic researchers, and presents at colleges, universities and seminaries, and teaches on the broomstick circuit. Also known by her mundane name, Aline O’Brien, Macha currently serves on the Board of Directors of Cherry Hill Seminary, the first and only seminary serving the Neopagan community. www.machanightmare.com Blog at www.besom.blogspot.com

She is the author, Witchcraft and the Web, and Pagan Pride: Honoring the Craft and Culture of Earth and Goddess, and, with Starhawk, The Pagan Book of Living and Dying (with Starhawk), voted #1 advanced Pagan book by reviewers of PanGaia Magazine.