Pagan chaplain Patrick McCollum,who just received the Mahatma Gandhi Award for the Advancement of Religious Pluralism, and recently participated in the 2010 International Day of Peace at the United Nations in New York, will be at the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today for oral arguments to decide if his case against the State of California’s “five faiths” policy (which limits the hiring of paid chaplains to Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, and Native American adherents) will go forward. While this case has been in litigation for five years, it has yet to be heard in court, as legal counsel for the CDCR has been arguing that McCollum doesn’t have the standing to bring the case (an assertion that is rejected by McCollum, Americans United, the ADL, and other groups). With a California federal district court ruling in early 2009 that he had no standing to bring his suit, the current appeal will ultimately decide if the case gets heard.

Rev. Patrick McCollum

Why is the CDCR working so hard to prevent this case from coming to trial? Why is the CDCR arguing standing, even though this isn’t about McCollum alone, but a class action brought by the chaplain and several Pagan inmates? It could be because the CDCR and the State of California risk some major embarrassments should the true details of this situation gain widespread attention. In a statement sent toThe Wild Hunt, McCollum tells us that lawyers for the CDCR have argued from the beginning of this long legal saga that there are two “tiers” of religion in America.

“I originally sued on behalf of myself and Pagan inmates as their chaplain, but about a year later several inmates joined the lawsuit.  Together, we claimed that it is unconstitutional for the state to deny the Pagan inmates their religious rights, their religious materials, and their religious services.

During the course of the case, the CDCR, other related defendants, and the Assistant Attorneys General who represents them have argued before the court that Pagans are not deserving of equal civil rights as are provided adherents of the preferred faiths.  In one of their first arguments to the court, the defendants said that certain “traditional” faiths are first tier faiths and that those faiths were meant to have equal rights and  protections under the United States Constitution, but that all of the other faiths were second tier faiths, and were not meant to have the same equal rights and protections under the United States Constitution as the first tier faiths.”

This somewhat nuanced “two tiers” argument was echoed by an amicus brief filed by the WallBuilders’ (rebutted by several religious organizations), which claims that modern Pagans have no expectation of Constitutional protection under the religion clauses.

“The true historic meaning of “religion” excludes paganism and witchcraft, and thus, does not compel a conclusion that McCollum has state taxpayer standing … paganism and witchcraft were never intended to receive the protections of the Religion Clauses. Thus, in the present case there can be no violation of those clauses … Should this Court conclude that McCollum has taxpayer standing … this Court should at least acknowledge that its conclusion is compelled by Supreme Court precedent, not by history or the intent of the Framers.”

Further, I was provided a copy of a document that proves the California Department of Correction’s key official and witness committed perjury before the court regarding the most key components of the state’s case against the Pagans. So you can begin to see why they are trying to derail this case on standing. Despite repeated requests from mainstream and Pagan press, the CDCR refuses to comment on these developments. For more on this case, check out this recent interview Rev. McCollum did with Anne Hill.

In anticipation for what will most likely be a very trying and challenging day, Circle Sanctuary and the Lady Liberty League is calling for the Pagan community to send spiritual support and blessings.

“Send Spiritual Support and Blessings of Strength, Protection, Eloquence, Wisdom, and Success to Circle Minister Patrick McCollum and his legal team in the Quest for Religious Freedom and Equal Rights as they return to federal court — the Federal Court of Appeals on Thursday, October 7, 2010.

Rev. Patrick McCollum is currently engaged in federal litigation in the US 9th Circuit (McCollum, et al. v. CDCR, et al., C 04-03339 CRB) challenging the California Department of Corrections’ “Five Faiths” policy which recognizes only five major world religions for inclusion in California’s prison chaplaincy program. This important Pagan Rights Quest has been going on for seven years and has covered by mainstream media sources as well as Pagan media. For more information and to send messages of support, please go to Circle Sanctuary’s Lady Liberty League Patrick McCollum support page. This site includes a photo of Patrick that can be used as a focus.”

This is, needless to say, an important case. This is about overcoming what McCollum has called an “endemic” level of religious discrimination against minority faiths in our prison system. Only by providing advocates and a voice for inmates within the prison system can there be any real change or redress. To ensure equal treatment for all faiths, not simply the ones the individual prison administrations prefer. Further, what we allow to happen to prisoners does, in the long run, affect us as well. Prisons, especially Federal and State-run prisons, can set legal precedents that can have ramifications for the “outside” world. Pagan prisoners, without any ongoing guidance or spiritual direction, can fall back into criminal behaviors. Several studies have pointed to religious programs having an affect on recidivism.  To deny minority faiths a better outcome after getting out because they aren’t a “top tier” faith is immoral and discriminatory.

I hope you’ll lend your blessings and support to McCollum and his legal team this day, and I’ll update you here at The Wild Hunt once I know more.

Delaware Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell‘s recent Hail Mary pass of a political ad, directly confronting accusations of “witchcraft” that surfaced after an old clip where she admitted to “dabbling” in the practice and having lunch on a “Satanic” altar as a teenager, isn’t having quite the intended humanizing effect on several Pagans. A growing Youtube response meme has Pagans reminding O’Donnell, and America, that “I’m you” includes Witches. Here’s a run-down of the videos posted so far.

Star Foster, Pagan Portal manager at Patheos.com, was one of the first, and her video gained the attention of USA Today religion reporter Cathy Lynn Grossman.

Right around the same time COG First Officer-elect Peter Dybing (acting as a private citizen and not as a COG representative) also posted a video response.

From there the phenomenon has seemed to take on a life of its own. There are videos from Angela from the Pagan Mom Blog, Kei Dallmer, and Rebecca Chow so far.

No doubt more videos are being made and posted as we speak.

In addition, this revival of “dabble-gate” has spurred even more coverage and interviews with modern Pagans. Time Magazine has a very good interview up now with Delaware-based Wiccan Priest Michael Smith, a member of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel, and a Cherry Hill Seminary Board member.

“There was a lot of eye rolling. It obscures the actual issues involved [in Wicca]. Who knows what she did or dabbled in when she was in high school. I doubt very seriously that she knows what it was. Certainly I do not think that she has any concept about what witchcraft, Wicca or paganism actually is. I doubt very seriously whether she has any concept of what Satanism actually is.”

Meanwhile, some mainstream media has become so over-the-top and theatrical in reporting this story that comedian Jon Stewart has to act as the voice of reason on this whole issue.

“You know, I feel like again, this woman, Christine O’Donnell, she may be qualified. She may not. I’m not all that impressed with what’s in the Senate right now. But the last thing that I would suggest is that her witchcraft or masturbation stance is what we should be even thinking about or focusing on, and I think that’s an enormous mistake that the Democrats will make.”

Again, if O’Donnell is indeed elected, what actual worrisome things about her will we miss because the media is having so much fun dressing folks up, interviewing Wiccans, and vainly trying to contain their smirks? I’m glad that Pagans are taking the initiative to use this media storm in a positive way, and I’m also glad that we are getting some more thoughtful coverage in some mainstream outlets, but I wish the mainstream media, and those who consume it, would demand more from their journalism than this ongoing spectacle.

Christopher Knowles, author of “Our Gods Wear Spandex: The Secret History of Comic Book Heroes”, proposes in his newly released book “The Secret History of Rock ‘n’ Roll” that rock n’ roll concerts and dance clubs are our modern mystery religions, and the performers are fulfilling ancient archetypal roles as gods and goddesses incarnate. Since this is a subject that I have a keen interest in, and one that I think many Pagan music-lovers might also be interested in, I decided that an interview was in order to discuss, archetypes, the birth of rock, Mystery religions, and being a fan of The Cure.

Christopher Knowles

As you point out in the book, making the connection (whether metaphorical or literal) between rock-n-roll with paganism and mystery religions isn’t new; some writers, like Bill Brewster and Frank Broughton, even postulated that the modern DJ is like the shaman of some ancient tribal societies. What led you down the path of making this connection? Was there a particular inspiration?

Living it. I got involved with the Boston hardcore punk scene in the early 80s and it was every bit a mystery cult. It was a secret society of outcasts who had their own very specific initiations, language and symbol system. In the book I liken hardcore to the violent Mithraic cults of the Imperial Roman era, which had a very absolutist view of the world. And seeing a lot of bands from that era who had a very powerful shamanic aura about them- the Clash and the Bad Brains both come to mind. Both bands drew inspiration from Reggae and an esoteric variety of Apocalyptic spirituality- as well as from hallucinogens. Marijuana, in this case.

Christianity, or at least certain forms of Christianity, don’t come across very well in your narrative. Do you think there’s something in that religion’s DNA that fights against the “memetic currents” that you explore in your book? Also, do you think that any religious movement that tries to bottle or bury the Mysteries is doomed to fail, creating the very thing it wants to suppress through its own oppression?

Oh, I have no beef with Christianity itself. My greatest disappointment in life is that Christianity as I understood it growing up is dead. My beef is with the Church Militant, the reductive and eliminationist aspect of Fundamentalism. That’s a symptom of an intense lack of faith- and crippling doubt. To me Christianity is kind of a distillation of the Mysteries, certainly the Isis cults of Rome had almost identical liturgies and very similar theologies, strangely enough. It was all about death and resurrection, forgiveness of sins, atonement. Unfortunately the Church is over-ridden with spiritual cancer- and a lot of it comes from this need to literalize the faith. That to me is a source of so much misery in the world, though most people don’t realize it. And it certainly was in the late Roman era, when pagans and Gnostics and heterodox Christians most of all were being slaughtered in the streets.

You make the birth of rock seem like the last great product of classical paganism. A child with many parents (Yoruba, pre-Christian Celtic faiths, Masonry, and mysticism) that took hundreds of years to gestate. So in the end, were all those anti-rock preachers right? That rock-n-roll is “pagan” music?

Well, so is Gospel music and Pentecostalism, which is the only Christianity that will exist a hundred years from now. If you read descriptions of Azusa Street revival which I cover in the book it’s the same thing as the Mysteries or the Yoruba practices. It all springs from the same place in the end- the same deep spiritual and emotional source. The differences- these labels- are really nothing but political constructs. Excuses to kill your neighbors and steal their women and property, to put it bluntly.

You place various bands and musicians into the categories of Mystery archetype they embody. Apollo, Dionysis, Demeter/Eleusinian, Galloi, Isis, etc. Do you think that being a fan of these bands, of engaging with them on a deep level, replaces what the Mystery religions once transmitted/provided to the people?

Well, the thing is that this is all an unconscious process. These basic needs exist, these impulses need to be dealt with. Two thousand years ago they did it in the context of Mystery religion, today it’s done in a secular setting. In some ways it’s an evolutionary process. You have to remember that the old gods never went away- look at the Renaissance or the Neoclassical era. They have a funny habit of showing up when they’re needed, but now in the context of art. Jung would argue that’s ultimately a better place for them to express themselves, since you get all of that archetypal power without worrying about having your crops blessed or whatever.

Does my enduring love and fandom of The Cure translate into some sort of Orphic yearning or experience?

The Cure are really good at indulging that Orphic power, but at the same time they also have that sunny Apollonian energy as well. When you really study the Mysteries you see how intertwined it all it is- Orpheus was the first to promote the worship of Apollo as the sun god. The Cure also have that androgyny thing working, which came after Smith played with the Banshees, so you have that Attis/Galloi thing going as well. But by the same token Orpheus was pretty androgynous himself.

What do you think of some the modern Pagan and occult-oriented bands that are more consciously tapping into these archetypes and traditions? Did you do much research into this area for your book, which generally sticks to the more popular/mainstream bands/artists?

I’m not sure if consciously trying to revive these traditions in a literal way is the way to go in a band. The best vessels for these archetypes usually do it naturally and unconsciously, but when you dig into the history you realize that it ends up more like the original version than someone doing so intentionally. You really have to surrender yourself to these things and let them speak through you the way they want to. Trust the muses, trust the unconscious- don’t try to impose some overarching idea on music. Music is the master and everything needs to be subordinate to that.

Your book ends on a hopeful, yet uncertain, note about where music is going in the future, and if it is still tapping into the same vital archetypes it once did at rock’s height. Do think that in a time when modern Paganism, mysticism, and occult practices are more popular than ever, and less persecuted, the role of rock as an (often unwitting) vehicle for the ancient mysteries has served its purpose?

No, because I think rock music is an extremely powerful way of putting across these very ancient energies and archetypes- this raw experience. I’ve been at concerts where I’ve left my body, I’ve been at concerts where I forgot who I was and where I was, I’ve been at concerts where that pure cartharsis hit me like a freight train. And part of the reason is that it was about the pure experience, not about a liturgy or a banishing ritual or something like that. Meaning I wasn’t imposing some kind of narrative on it, I was surrendering to its power. I haven’t experienced that kind of transcendence at a concert in quite a while, which is one of the reasons I wrote the book. The last time I really had that kind of transcendent experience at a concert was seeing Joe Strummer in New York right after 9/11.

In addition to your book, there’s a recently published British book by Rob Young, “Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music”, that explores the “esoteric impulses” of Britain’s ever-renewing folk scene. Do you think that the phenomenon you describe within rock repeats and renews itself in different genres and styles as they are co-opted and exploited by commercial/corporate interests?

Well, maybe not now with the recording industry focused on the real lowest-common-denominator pop crap. I don’t think the industry cares about rock music anymore, I don’t think they have the patience for it. They want a parade of puppets – mannequins, really- who’ll do exactly what they’re told and sing what’s handed to them by the producers. Rock musicians are too difficult to deal with, and the industry figures rock fans will just download the music anyway. The concert end still very much cares about rock, since the top-grossing concert acts are usually rock bands. Which is kind of interesting in the context of that experience thing. And it has to be said most of what is called country is just 70s rock with a twang, really.

You’ve tackled Pagan and occult archetypes in comic books, and now music, what’s next for you? Is this a subject that you think you’ll continue to explore for years to come, or are you nearing the end of what you wanted to say concerning these religious/spiritual/occult trends?

Oh no, I still have a lot more to say on all of this. My real passion is sci-fi so I still need to rewrite this enormous manuscript on sci-fi movies I wrote. I also have some screenplay ideas kicking around, including one that kind of puts all of this into practice- the narrative and the mystical elements.

Finally, where do you stand personally on all this? Do you consider yourself a Pagan? An initiate to the Mysteries? Something else?

Yeah, I consider myself a Gnostic, essentially. In the truest sense, not in any kind of sectarian or dogmatic context. Knowledge is my path, putting all of the pieces together. What you see on the blog and in these books is my practice. This is what I do. Symbolism and synchronicity are my tools, as well as really using the Internet as the Gnostic sacrament it was created to be. It’s a life of standing outside in many ways, but that’s the card I’ve been dealt.

—

You can find out more about Knowles’ work at the official blog for the new book.

Committing one of the classic blunders in politics (right up there with starting a land war in Asia), embattled Tea Party candidate Christine O’Donnell repeats the “dabbling” charges against her in a brand new campaign ad.

“…if you’re Christine O’Donnell, you turn to an advertising guru called Fred Davis, a veteran of many past Republican races, and you get him to make you a 30-second TV advert. The new slot has O’Donnell speaking to camera with a large, homely smile on her face. “I’m not a witch,” she says, which as an opening line to a political advert is pretty grabby. “I’m nothing you’ve heard. I’m you.” A tinkling piano plays in the background and the lighting is soft and welcoming. It has the feel of one of those washing-up liquid ads from the 1970s.”

Since O’Donnell’s  ”dabbling” comment came to light it has virtually dominated all coverage of her campaign, including a high-profile SNL skit. But is beginning a new campaign ad with “I’m not a witch, I’m nothing you’ve heard. I’m you” really a good idea? If she’s positioning herself afresh as an everywoman candidate, is starting off by excluding what “you” means going just cause her more trouble? After all, Delaware Pagans and their allies aren’t too thrilled with her already.

No matter how Democrats treat the issue, it seems unlikely that Wiccans will turn out for O’Donnell at the polls. “Her inability to separate anything non-Christian from Satanic is going to be an issue not just with her potential pagan constituents but with any other non-Christians or Christians of a flavor that does not match hers,” said Michael Smith, the Wiccan IT analyst who hosted the meet-and-greet the governor visited. “A couple of my local politician friends say she’s losing the Wiccan vote,” said [Ivo] Dominguez. “Well, I said she never had the pagan vote for the most part to begin with.”

Distancing herself from witchcraft isn’t too shocking, but I wonder what Tea Party-aligned and conservative Pagans will make of this new direction for O’Donnell.

“If this witchcraft admission affects her or not depends on how she handles it. I would like her to come out and explain what happened, not denigrate witchcraft, and then move on. If it was some guy who wanted to get into her pants, that’s what I think happened, she should say so. Ideally she would talk about the difference between Paganism and 1980?s and 90?s style Plagans. I doubt that will happen. A mage can dream, right?”

According to recent polls O’Donnell  is trailing badly, so a risky ad might just work in her favor. It’s also likely that the stream of mockery against her could backfire, and she could end up ahead. Several pundits have noted that it isn’t outside the realm of possibility for her to win. If that happens, we’ll suddenly be confronted with several new questions about O’Donnell, questions that could affect modern Pagans in Delaware and across the country. Questions like: Is she a believer in Satanic Ritual Abuse? There’s growing suspicion that she might be, but there’s no way we’ll be able to separate fact from fiction in the media circus that has developed since “dabble-gate” and the other kooky things she’s said that has been leaked to the press. The feeding frenzy of media around Pagans may be over in this story, but this may not be the last time we’ll have to confront O’Donnell’s legacy.

Back in mid-August I alerted you to a new survey concerning Pagan health being conducted by Kimberly Hedrick of the TriWinds Institute; the results of which is to be presented at the annual meeting of The American Public Health Association (APHA) in November.

“As both a Pagan and cultural anthropologist, I felt it was vitally important that we help policy-makers and service providers understand our needs and beliefs. This will help us to meet the health care needs of our community and build public understanding of our religious and spiritual traditions. I designed the Pagan Health Survey to help people better understand us and our views on health. The results will be combined with what I have gained by being within the Pagan community and sitting in on healing panel discussions, workshops, and so forth, as well as interviews with Pagan clergy and health care practitioners. This research is being funded through my grassroots nonprofit, TriWinds Institute through donations.”

While Hedrick tells me that response to the survey so far has been good, allowing them to reach a confidence level of 95% with a confidence interval of +/- 4%, they’d like to hear from 400-500 more individuals to make their data even more accurate. They are also looking for  (tax-deductible) donations to offset the cost of the research and presentation.

“The Pagan Health Survey is currently underway.  This project is designed to help the health care community understand the beliefs, practices, choices, and needs of Pagans and Heathens as they relate to health and wellness.  If you are a Pagan or Heathen, please take the survey and share with your friends.  Let the voices of the Pagan community be heard!

If you are a member of the Pagan community or care about this cause, please consider making a donation to fund this research, which will be presented at the American Public Health Association meeting in Denver, CO on November 9.  This research project’s budget is $1500.  Please help us reach that goal!”

You can access the survey, here. A donation link can be found on their web site. This is some ground-breaking work that could really provide data that helps our communities in the long-term. If you haven’t already, I encourage you to take the survey, and share the link with your friends. I’ll be following up with Kimberly Hedrick concerning the results, and her experiences at the APHA’s annual meeting, in the near future.

Pagan author and teacher T. Thorn Coyle and some local Druids, including PNC-Sacramento coordinator David Shorey, from Sacramento Grove of the Oak, were interviewed in California by a local Fox affiliate concerning The Druid Network in the UK gaining charitable status, an event that has seen a surprisingly large amount of mainstream coverage.

Sadly, it looks like they didn’t use David’s footage, since I don’t see him in that clip, but on the whole it’s a rather unsensationalistic piece of local network television. Kudos to the local Pagans for handling the experience in a professional manner. Has your local paper or television station decided to go Druid hunting? If so, do share it in the comments.

As the increasingly grim and tragic suicide numbers continue to climb, as children suspected of being gay have their arms broken, and upstanding gay college students are bizarrely singled out by city officials, we inevitably have to ask, again, where is all this hate and fear coming from? Why do we have to start a campaign to remind young people that there will come a time when the hell and torments of their youth will end? Why is our culture killing these kids? Baptist minister Cody J. Sanders thinks he has the answer, the root of this hateful and tragic crop.

“Anti-gay bullying is a theological issue because it has a theological base. I find it difficult to believe that even those among us with a vibrant imagination can muster the creative energy to picture a reality in which anti-gay violence and bullying exist without the anti-gay religious messages that support them.

These messages come in many forms, degrees of virulence, and volumes of expression. The most insidious forms, however, are not those from groups like Westboro Baptist Church. Most people quickly dismiss this fanaticism as the red-faced ranting of a fringe religious leader and his small band of followers.

More difficult to address are the myriad ways in which everyday churches that do a lot of good in the world also perpetuate theologies that undergird and legitimate instrumental violence. The simplistic, black and white lines that are drawn between conceptions of good and evil make it all-too-easy to apply these dualisms to groups of people. When theologies leave no room for ambiguity, mystery and uncertainty, it becomes very easy to identify an “us” (good, heterosexual) versus a “them” (evil, gay).”

In the end, it comes down to theology. Not, as Sanders points out, the easily defeated cartoon hatred of Westboro, but the more subtle belief systems that make even “accepted” GLBTQ individuals the “other”. A theology that, even if unspoken, privileges a certain kind of person over another.

“Additionally, hierarchical conceptions of value and worth are implicit in many of our theological notions. Needless to say, value and worth are not distributed equally in these hierarchies. God is at the top, (white, heterosexual) men come soon after and all those less valued by the culture (women, children, LGBT people, the poor, racial minorities, etc.) fall somewhere down below. And it all makes perfect sense if you support it with a few appropriately (mis)quoted verses from the Bible.

With dualistic conceptions of good and evil and hierarchical notions of value and worth, it becomes easy to know who it is okay to hate or to bully or, seemingly more benignly, to ignore. And no institutions have done more to create and perpetuate the public disapproval of gay and lesbian people than churches.”

If you create no space in our most primal belief systems for nuance, for difference, for multiple understandings of sacred, you end up creating classes of people who are lesser, who are ripe for torments and persecution. While defenders of these theologies talk of tradition and incremental change, more die, and are harassed, every day. It is for this reason, among many others, that I think we not only have to reassure kids that “it gets better”, but we also have to reject theologies that empower hatreds of this kind and replace them with something else.

“I don’t think it takes Sherlock Holmes to parse out why all of these things are taking place. It is because certain religions not only tolerate these negative opinions of LGBTQ people, they propagate them; they enshrine them in their sacred texts (even though some of those texts can be interpreted in other ways); they preach them from their pulpits.” - P. Sufenas Virius Lupus, founder of the Ekklesía Antínoou

My “something else” is the modern Pagan movement, but it isn’t the only “something else” out there. These alternatives to a norm that pushes “others” to the margins, despite how small they are, are seen as a threat to the stability of the dominant faiths. Which is why the fringes of those dominant faiths are so obsessed with the supposed evils we commit.

“While the lukewarm and ignorant think of these customs as “just harmless fun,” the vortexes of hell are releasing new assignments against souls. Witches take pride in laughing at the ignorance of natural men (those who ignore the spirit realm).”

The faiths that are more refined simply mock us, though even they are showing signs of concern at our growth and acceptance. Despite these obstacles, it is more important than ever for us to make it known that our alternatives exist. To be visible and to make common cause with those who are told to hate themselves by the dominant faith lens. For no other reason than, in the word of Harvey Milk, to “give ‘em hope”.

The culture of suicide and self-hate has to end. The culture of violence and oppression towards an imagined other has to end. It must. Those who oppose the dismantling of these theologies, of these understandings, can’t be allowed to enable the bullies, the ostracization, the enshrining of prejudice into law. When Matthew Shephard happened, we all vowed never again, yet here we are, with Matthew’s mother once more calling for the deaths to stop. We, as Pagans, must work harder than ever to change culture, and stop this senseless death in the name of enforcing the boundaries of tradition.