A Review of Three Perspectives (part two)
This is part two of a three-part series of reviews of recent books on magic(k)al theory and practice. In part one I took a brief look at Taylor Ellwood’s “Space/Time Magic” and “Pop Culture Magick”. You can read Taylor’s rebuttal to my review (and my subsequent comments) in the comments of that entry. Today I will focus on Lupa’s book “Fang and Fur Blood and Bone: A Primal Guide to Animal Magic”, but before I begin I would like to point out that all three authors being reviewed in this series have written thought-provoking books. If I didn’t think so I wouldn’t be reviewing them in the first place. Critical comments that I convey shouldn’t be seen as any sort of judgment on their talent as writers (or magicians).
Let me begin this second review by saying that I liked Lupa’s book the best of all three I will be reviewing. “Fang and Fur” is a very bare-bones (no pun intended) and sensible look at animal magic. She has a clear writing style and conveys her ideas well. She tackles some thorny issues with care and wit, and I think it may be one of the better books on this subject written for a modern Pagan audience. While not every idea there was my personal cup of tea, all in all I think it is a very successful first book. So instead of simply listing off its good points I would like to discuss two particularly controversial issues within the book: animal sacrifice and Otherkin.
First off, Otherkin. For those who don’t know what I’m talking about, Otherkin (as defined by Wikipedia) are people who “consider themselves non-human or having a connection to a mythical archetype in some way, usually believing to be mythological or legendary creatures.” I wrote an in-depth post on the subject of Otherkin within modern Paganism last year. I wondered at the time if the Otherkin being “stranger” than your average Pagan or Heathen would eventually draw the press in the same manner that the plastic-caped Witches of Salem do.
“…as our faith(s) grow and gain the spotlight we know that it is “interesting” cases that get attention by the media. Journalists have a hard time writing stories about “normal religion”. So we get a lot of coverage of the black-clad flamboyant Salem Witches, and not so much of the average practitioner living in the Midwest raising a family. Which would a reporter on a deadline prefer? A story concentrating on a local Heathen group throwing a charity event or a profile of someone who thinks they are a dragon?”
Some Otherkin felt I was being judgmental towards them, but I do think that the growing number of ‘Kin in our ranks will eventually be noticed by outsiders and have to be explained in a clear sensible manner as part of a spectrum of belief within our faiths. Which brings me to Lupa’s book. I felt that she tackled the issue of Otherkinism in a very diplomatic and reasoned manner that should be emulated. She makes it quite clear that there is a distinct possibility that these “inhuman” feelings could merely be constructed within her mind. She talks of totemic imprinting, the use of imagination, and even that she might be crazy (though no more crazy than the rest of the world) in addition to the theory that her soul is non-human (in her case lupine).
This is a refreshing thing to read. It is this kind of attitude that will succeed in explaining this phenomena to the general public. The fact that she is also writing a “field guide” to this subculture seems to show a growing maturity among Otherkin (a maturity I have had trouble finding when I went looking at online communities).
The second controversial topic is animal sacrifice. Again she writes a clear chapter on the merits of animal sacrifice without shying away from issues of animal abuse and factory farming. I have some pretty strong feelings on the subject, I have been a Vegan for several years (and perfectly healthy if you must know), and have a strong spiritual commitment to that choice. So it may surprise some people to know that I have no problem with compassionate sacrifice for holy rights, or slaughtering your own meat for sustenance (though neither of those paths are mine). I think that our culture has lost all perspective involving the eating of meat, and I share the horror and dread of the factory farm industry (and government’s blind eye to the abuses committed) that any sensible small farmer already holds. Any action that can shock people into reawakening to where that burger comes from can only be a good thing. We have to move beyond being “thankful” for the animals we eat and move towards truly honoring the animals before they wind up processed in the grocery.
Lupa has managed to write a book that includes animal sacrifice and Otherkin that even a Pagan who has no affinity for either can enjoy. In the process she shows a way forward from contrived appropriations from Native cultures, and silly impractical ideas about animals and magic. I dare say this book comes closest to my personal practice (such as it is).
Tomorrow I will write about the third book in this series, Ross G.H. Shott’s “The Dark Arts of Immortality: Transformation Through War, Sex, & Magic”.
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