Here’s something I thought I’d never have to confront at The Wild Hunt, writing about the high-profile mental meltdown of a famous television and film actor. Yet, here we are. Charlie “Tiger Blood” Sheen is having his Britney moment, and the gossip bloggers, mainstream press, artists, and various musicians are having field day. But like all good/bad things in the press, there are diminishing returns, people get bored of the cries for attention, and the ever-hungry celebrity press must constantly look for new angles to keep their latest hot mess story suitably warm until the next controversy explodes. Enter the Warlock. Celebrity gossip super-site TMZ has zeroed in on Salem’s Witchy impresario Christian Day, who has been on a recent kick to reclaim the term “Warlock”, and is offended by Sheen’s cavalier usage of the term in his semi-coherent ramblings.
Salem’s Coven of the Raven Moon in Salem, Massachusetts told us he’s “fuming” over the statement because it’s a “blatant offense against our ways.” The warlock — named Christian Day tells us he plans to take action against the actor … not legal action — but magical action. Day explains, “I am going to magically bind Mr. Sheen, not to harm him, but to simply prevent him from using this word in such a negative manner in the future.”
As goes TMZ, so goes the Boston Herald, the Daily Telegraph (in Australia), and host of smaller blogs and news outlets. Star Foster at Patheos.com immediately recognizes why Day might pick this moment to be offended, even if it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of other Pagans.
“So why is Christian upset? Because his going to TMZ in a state of indignation resembles the type of publicity stunts that have caused many of us to distance ourselves from folks like Kevin Carlyon. His story in TMZ does our community no good. We derive no benefit from it. This story hurts the Pagan community while increasing Christian’s flash and pizazz. Maybe Christian wants to be Occult Advisor to the Stars! Yet he’s effectively alienated a large number of folks who would have supported him prior to this shenanigan.”
But while Star invokes the wearer of the red bathrobe, Day’s particular media pedigree is far closer to (his) home. Salem’s own Laurie Cabot, who once engaged in many of the media-grabbing activities that Day now does. Now that Laurie is semi-retired, it seems natural that someone would choose to fill that void. I have little doubt that Christian is having the time of his life.
However, if we’re really looking for something to be offended by in Charlie Sheen’s recent behavior, should it really be him nattering on about being a “Vatican assassin warlock”, or is it something that has (literally) been paraded right in front of our eyes for weeks now? Jo Piazza at PopEater offers an op-ed about Sheen’s “goddesses”, the two young women who now share the star’s house and bed.
“Watch any of Sheen’s live interviews in his posh Hollywood estate and you will see one of his two goddesses, Natty, a bikini model, and Rach (also known as Bree, her porn name) [...] Sheen refers to these ladies as his goddesses, often with a sly smirk. [...] On ‘The Howard Stern Show’ Tuesday morning, Sheen revealed the sleeping arrangement he has worked out with the goddesses, whereby they each sleep in their own beds in the same room. When he is ready to retire, Charlie enters the room like a monarch and chooses between the two. We wonder which one sighs in relief. Particularly insulting in this entire scenario is the use of the term goddess, a typically sacred title used to refer to a woman who is treated with special reverence.”
Piazza also quotes Cooper Lawrence, author of ‘Cult of Celebrity’, who notes that Sheen treats women like interchangeable sexual objects, while calling them “goddesses”, inverting “a term that women use to embrace power.” If we Pagans really want to be upset at Charlie Sheen, if we feel some great urging to jump into the celebrity news grinder, I’d much rather it be over his degradation of that word than of “warlock.” For any family of faiths that see the divine as feminine, a man who has spent years violently abusing women should not be seen as a joke, or an opportunity to gain the spotlight. We should instead point out that these are the fruits of substance abuse mixed with unchained patriarchal power. That, in my mind, is the most offensive thing about Sheen’s meltdown.
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