Famed ghost-hunter, paranormal investigator, and popularizer of Pagan faiths Hans Holzer passed away on Sunday at the age of 89. While most will remember him for his ghost-hunting and investigations into the Amityville house (the subject of several films), he also played a key role in the spread of Witchcraft/Wicca and other Pagan faiths in America during the 1970s. With books like “The New Pagans”, “The Truth About Witchcraft”, and “Confessions of a Witch”, Holzer responded to a need that the still nascent Pagan publishing industry couldn’t fill.

“For all their inadequacies, books such as Holzer’s … offer a snapshot of Pagan history circa 1970. It may be a blurry snapshot, but it is one of very few from the period. In addition, Holzer was correct when he suggested that his books would serve people seeking Pagan groups and teachers. Even today, in the age of e-mail and the World Wide Web, with the explosive growth of American Paganism from the low thousands in the early 1970s to estimates of close to a million in 2000 and growing rapidly, the majority are still solitary practitioners. More than one contemporary Pagan has described how important a book such as ‘The New Pagans’ could be when there was nothing else to go by.” – Chas Clifton, Her Hidden Children: The Rise of Wicca and Paganism in America (2006)

Though he participated in many Pagan groups over the years, and was made a Wiccan high priest according to the New York Times obituary, Holzer never really abandoned his Protestant Christian roots. Though his view of religion and Christianity ended up being a bit too heretical for his local pastor.

“He considers himself an Evangelical Protestant and used to attend St. Bartholomew in Manhattan twice a year – on Christmas and Easter. But he has since stopped going – he’s been at odds with the minister. “My minister at St. Bart’s, I don’t like,” he said. “And it’s mutual.” He laughed. “Why is that?” I asked. “They were running a seminar on world religions – they had a rabbi there, they had an Imam there – it was a discussion group,” he said. “Since I’m a professional lecturer, I offered to add the view of parapsychology. And he [the minister] turned it down with a note saying, ‘How can you compare that with what we’re doing?’ And I didn’t think that was very nice. You have to understand, where I’m coming from, if it weren’t for parapsychology, religion wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.”

While many modern Pagans barely know Holzer outside of his books on paranormal phenomena, he played a key role in making Wicca/Witchcraft the world religion it is today. As a writer Holzer certainly veered into sensationalist flights of fancy over the years, but he also connected hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people with Pagan teachers. Holzer also cleared a path in the publishing world that eventually allowed Pagan authors like Margot Adler to write serious examinations of what we now call the “Pagan community”. We owe him recognition and thanks for the work he did on our behalf. May his spirit enjoy his journeys on the other side.

“What potent blood hath modest May.”
- Ralph W. Emerson

Tonight and tomorrow (in the northern hemisphere) are the traditional dates for many of the major spring/summer festivals in modern Paganism. Beltane, Bealtaine, May Day, Floralia, Protomayia, and Walpurgis Night, to name just a few. This fire festival heralds the coming of summer and is a high holiday, a liminal time when the barriers between our world and the otherworld were thin. In many traditions and cultures it is a time of divine union and fertility.

Walpurgis Night bonfire, near lake Ringsjo, Sweden
Photo by David Castor

Here are some quotes from the press, and from fellow modern Pagans, on the holiday.

“It is Beltane! The Earth softens under the caress of the sun and all the world is new. We emerge from the darkness of a long, difficult winter; our eyes drink in rolling green hills budding branches and tender shoots. We breathe deeply the fresh fragrance of radiant blossoms. Merriment calls!” – Selena Fox, Circle Sanctuary

“A sex ban imposed on performers before last year’s Beltane Fire Festival has had an unexpected, and happy, consequence – a baby born exactly nine months later. Rupert Smith, who was playing the part of a Red Man, during the fiery pagan event last year, celebrated the lifting of the ban with his partner – who just happened to be May Queen Fenella Hodgson – after returning from the Calton Hill festivities. The result was son Reuben, now three months old, and, for his efforts, Rupert has now been promoted to the leading role of the Green Man – the May Queen’s betrothed – this year.” - Catherine Salmond, Edinburgh Evening News

“May Day roots go back a long way. For Gaelic peoples it was celebrated as Beltane. Germanic tribes observed it as Walpurgisnacht. In the Middle Ages, the English would erect maypoles and hold “Morris” dances. Some typical ways May Day is celebrated is by crowning a May Queen, putting up a maypole and making May Day baskets and leaving them on the doors of your neighbors, friends and family members. In the late 19th century, May Day became a symbol of the achievements of the labor movement (which brought you the two-day weekend, the eight-hour work day and a minimum wage), and was celebrated as “Labor Day.” Cold War politics rescheduled America’s Labor Day. It is interesting to note Beltane and Walpurgisnacht both use bonfires as part of the celebration. Fires protected the people from spirits and purified the land for a good growing season. It reminds me a bit of prairie burning.” – Regina Murphy, The Emporia Gazette

“I will be back to celebrate the dawn on May 1, arriving well before dawn at Berkeley’s Inspiration Point in Tilden Park.  There, every year, in no matter what the weather, Berkeley Morris performs Morris dances to ‘bring up the sun’ and honor the day.  I have always felt something almost primordially right about this way of celebrating the dawn and the beginning of this season. I remember one year during a ferocious downpour they danced in the puddles and a decent crowd of us stood under umbrellas to honor them and the date.  More often they dance as the light gradually grows until the sun breaks through on the far eastern horizon, bathing us in its gentle light.  When the weather is decent, and it usually is, hundreds show up.  Not all are Pagans, but they are certainly Pagans at heart, honoring the turning of wheel, the sacredness of this day, and the warmth of community.” – Gus diZerega, A Pagan’s Blog

“Despite its modern links to Christianity, Valborgsmässoafton, which has been celebrated in Sweden since the Middle Ages, is one of two Swedish holidays which still resemble their pre-Christian merrymaking. The other is Midsummer. The original pagan festival heralded the onset of the growth season. It attempted to ward off evil, ensure fertility and cleanse the land of the dried and dead of winter. Today, it is still the accepted gateway to long and warmer days.” – Elizabeth Dacey-Fondelius, The Local

“Long before it was a code word for distress or a major holiday of the Soviet Bloc, May Day was a pagan ritual celebrating the arrival of spring. That primal, earth-mother definition drives the Phillips neighborhood’s May Day parade, one of the Twin Cities’ most visually spectacular festivals and a kickoff to Minnesota’s all-too-short warm-weather months. The parade’s most striking feature is the gigantic puppets built by local kids and neighborhood groups…” – Decider Twin Cities

“There are four great festivals of the Pagan Celtic year and the modern Witches’ calendar, as well. The two greatest of these are Halloween (the beginning of winter) and May Day (the beginning of summer). Being opposite each other on the wheel of the year, they separate the year into halves. Halloween (also called Samhain) is the Celtic New Year and is generally considered the more important of the two, though May Day runs a close second. Indeed, in some areas—notably Wales—it is considered “the great holiday”. “ – Mike Nichols, The Witches’ Sabbats

May you all be especially blessed this evening and tomorrow.

The DesMoines Register does a great job illustrating why legalizing same-sex marriage isn’t only about gay rights, but the rights of religious minorities as well. The paper profiles Toni Heard and Michelle McBride, a Nebraskan couple who were handfasted in a Wiccan ceremony two years ago, but are now hoping to gain legal recognition thanks to the Iowa state Supreme Court.

“Kelly McBride’s eyes filled with tears. Both her daughter and Heard had been victims of crimes as youngsters and only started healing when they found each other, she said. “They found love – and then the state told them they couldn’t show their love,” Kelly McBride said. “Now they can.” The couple live with Kelly McBride and her son, Kegan, 18, who was also in tow as a witness Monday. Heard, 26, and Michelle McBride met on school bus No. 2 11 years ago. They both sang in the high school chorus. Heard was in foster care. When she aged out of the system, she moved into the McBride home. In 2007, Heard and Michelle McBride were married in the Wiccan religion but wanted to marry in Iowa for legal reasons. The marriage isn’t recognized in Nebraska, however.”

The words “religious freedom” get thrown around a lot. Opponents of same-sex marriage like to scare people into believing that allowing gays to marry will somehow limit theirs, even though no real proof of that has emerged. Meanwhile, religious groups who do bless, honor, and perform same-sex unions are told that their rites aren’t legally valid. Now a lack of legal recognition might not make the rite any less blessed or valid in the eyes of their co-religionists, but it does complicate things if they want our government on the state or national level to also acknowledge that they are a joined couple and deserving of the same legal privileges afforded opposite-sex unions. That couple from Nebraska, married in a neighboring state, will most likely have to go to court if they want their own union recognized. Just think, thousands of dollars in lawyers fees just to ensure hospital visitation or inheritance, and considering Nebraska’s attitudes towards gays in the past there’s no guarantee of success.

The solutions are simple. Either grant same-sex couples the same legal marriage rites as opposite-sex couples, or completely remove “marriage” from the purview of governmental oversight. Create a one-size-fits-all civil union and let the individual churches, synagogues, circles, groves, and fellowships decide who can or can’t marry within their tradition. Either way, opponents of same-sex marriage are on the losing side of history. They can spend decades raging at a changing world, spreading fear and misinformation, or they can accept that imposing their uniform morality on others isn’t just or merciful. In the meantime, Pagan clergy all across this nation will continue to bless same-sex marriages, and hope for a day when the entire nation will give our rites the same consideration that other religions already receive.

The Telegraph, Guardian, BBC, Salisbury Journal, and Daily Mail all report that Druid leader King Arthur Pendragon (no, not that Arthur Pendragon) has been given notice by authorities to vacate his position in front of Stonehenge by May 3rd or face prosecution for trespassing. Pendragon (the Druid formerly know as John Rothwell) has been living in a camper at the edge of the site for the last 10 months protesting issues of access, lack of upkeep, and long-promised improvements.

“[King Arthur Pendragon] believes visitors should be allowed to walk close to the stones and touch them rather than being confined to a visitor centre and a pathway well away from the monument. Pendragon also believes the fence designed to keep visitors out has a damaging impact on the stone circle itself, holding it “in a stranglehold like a snared animal”. Wiltshire county council launched legal proceedings to force Pendragon to move away. Salisbury crown court granted a possession order, in effect giving him until Sunday to pack up and leave. But outside court, bearded Pendragon, who was flanked by supporters in white robes, said he would not be budging.”

Pendragon has already vowed to fight the issue in court and to stay in his camp despite threat of arrest. The Druid leader also claims to have the full support of the Council of British Druid Orders (though it is unknown how much support among modern Druidry that really entails). There are certainly British Pagans who do not support the idea of allowing unfettered access to Stonehenge, especially considering the damges that were inflicted on the site leading up to imposed restrictions in the 1970s. Meanwhile, while Pendragon kept his vigil, British beuracracy continued to slowly trawl forward in finding a solution to Stonehenge’s issues. Specifically the now-published and approved proposal from the Future of Stonehenge Public Consultation.

“Although the Government decided that the A303 road improvements were unaffordable, it has made a commitment in December 2007 to review the Management Plan as the overarching strategic document for the Site, and to complete environmental improvements at Stonehenge, including new visitor facilities, in time for the 2012 Olympics. This work includes examination of the case for closing the A303/ A344 junction to improve the setting of Stonehenge. A new Stonehenge Project Board, chaired by the Ministers for Culture and for Transport, has been set up to oversee this work.”

While Pendragon’s stance may be noble and heroic, it is far more likely that the impending 2012 Olympics will finally spur the government to make the needed improvements in order to avoid international embarrasment over the state of a World Heritage Site. Still, you simply can’t buy the kind of publicity that gets you listed in all the major British newspapers, so I suppose this is something of a PR coup for Pendragon and his followers. Whether anything constructive will come of this limelight remains to be seen, but having raised the stakes it’s jail or go home now.

As an addendum of sorts to my previous post, I thought I’d envision what a Pagan-themed Florida license plate would look like. Here’s what I came up with…

Tasteful isn’t it? Now, obviously this would never get Sen. Larcenia Bullard’s vote since it’s a figure with “horns on each side”, but a guy can dream can’t he? I challenge my readers to come up with their own Pagan license plates, and maybe the next time this issue comes up in Florida or South Carolina (or any state) we can send them in and demand that our plates come next!

After failing to bring the matter up for a vote last year, the Florida legislature is doubling down this year and pushing to get two Christian-centric license plates approved.

No Church-State problems here!

“If you want Jesus on your license plate, the Florida Senate is looking out for you. Because why worry about a budget impasse or property insurance when you can spend more than an hour talking about Jesus, the devil and license plates? Religious specialty plates offered by Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, and Sen. Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, made it onto a bill Friday even though many members had not seen images of those plates and none was produced for the debate.”

The Jesus plate pictured above is joined by the infamous “I Believe” cross plate that failed to get traction last year (and is currently being litigated in South Carolina). Also, lest you think this plate would open the doors for any number of religious-themed plates, Sen. Larcenia Bullard made clear that gods (and devils) with horns would be right out!

But those options would come too late for Friday’s debate in the Senate, where Sen. Larcenia Bullard, D-Miami, invoked the devil to make her point: “What if someone comes next year and decides to vote on something that has the devil on it, and horns, horns on each side. I know that people are called the devil, but if the symbol of a devil is on it, I would not vote for that.”

Luckily for people who like their spiritual guides to have “horns on each side”, the ACLU and ADL mobilized after the news broke and managed to get a similar-worded proposal removed from House legislation (preventing, I assume, the plates from seeing the light of day). Meanwhile, some Florida senators are trying to solve the issue by pushing for the removal of all specialty plates in exchange for specialty stickers that would serve the same charitable purpose. Such compromise measures most likely won’t please co-sponsor Sen. Gary Siplin (Democrat) who compared putting Jesus on the plate with other states putting animals on theirs.

For his part, Siplin said FAMU has a snake on its plate and the University of Miami has “a duck or something on their license plate so I think we should have an opportunity for every citizen around the state to be able to purchase a license plate of their choice.”

Christianity, it’s a lot like a duck, or something. Good to know that lawmakers in Florida are so untroubled by our nation’s current ills that they can spend time trying to blur the line between church and state. Oh, and thanks to Pax for originally tipping me off to this story.

The “God Squad” column in yesterday’s Buffalo News tackles the problem of minority faiths being harassed by Christians. In this instance a Wiccan asks for advice from Rabbi Marc Gellman on how to deal with Christians who yell and say she’s hell-bound. Rabbi Gellman starts off with some very good and empathetic advice.

“Wiccans are not Satanists, so you’re right to be frustrated by the prejudice of your tormentors. I know what it feels like to be told by Christians that I’m going to hell because I don’t accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. It can sting. When I am castigated, I first try to understand that what seems to me to be a denial of my right to make my own religious choices is to my critics a way of sharing the gospel (lit: Good News) of the risen Christ. I also remind myself that most of those who attack my faith don’t really know it, know me, or have Jewish friends. Their condemnations arise from some cartoon fantasy of Judaism, just as condemnation of your religion stems from the common belief that Wiccans are a bunch of witches (true) and that witches are green-faced hags who ride brooms and control armies of flying monkeys (false).”

But sadly, Rabbi Gellman then feels the need to be “balanced” by defending confused/ignorant Christians and  pointing out how very, very, similar Wicca and Satanism are.

“However, you must admit that the lines between Satanism and Wicca can appear blurry even to objective outside observers. For example, both Satanists and Wiccans use a pentagram with a circle around (the pentacle) as their symbol— for Wiccans, the upright pentagram with the single point up, and for the Satanists, the inverted pentagram with the single point of the star is down. Both have similar moral maxims. According to Aleister Crowley, the Satanist behavioral code is, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.” The Wiccan code (called the Wiccan Rede) is similar but clearly better: “And it harm none, do what thou wilt.” Satanists perform black magic and Wiccans white magic, but both perform magic. Magic is the assumption that God’s powers can become a person’s powers through incantations and rituals. Wiccans worship a goddess and a god. Satanists view Satan as a pre-Christian nature force and not as the nasty biblical tormentor. From the perspective of Judaism, Christianity and Islam Wicca is a limited religious idea because it limits the divine to nature. God in the Abrahamic faiths is distinct from nature, and in fact, created the natural world. Therefore, Wicca is seen as a type of pantheism, or in biblical terms, idolatry. It’s specifically rejected in Deuteronomy 18:10.”

Oh my, where to begin. Let’s see, despite popular Christian claims, Aleister Crowley wasn’t a Satanist, “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law” is a truncated and often misunderstood maxim (and isn’t some sort of universal Satanic moral maxim), and large portions of modern Satanic thought aren’t theistic. Further, it would be far more accurate to say that a larger number of Wiccans are panentheistic rather than pantheistic, a subtle but important difference. Finally, it is somewhat strange to see a Rabbi lecturing a Wiccan looking for advice as to what her religion is and isn’t.

I’m not saying that modern Satanism doesn’t share some superficial similarities with Wicca, only that the two are different enough that only the truly/willfully ignorant could accurately conflate the two. I’m very glad that Rabbi Gellman was empathetic and kind to the Wiccan who wrote in looking for advice, but I’m sad that the Rabbi couldn’t resist the impulse to defend his fellow monotheists instead of rightly condemning their impolite and harassing behavior.