The Wild Hunt » Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett

Let's Get Handfasted on Halloween!

Jason Pitzl-Waters — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:52:17 +0000

While Samhain and Halloween are holidays that honour those that have passed, a time when the veils between the seen and unseen are thin, it is also, it seems, an increasingly popular time for some to get married. For some it’s just a laugh, something to break with the traditional expectations of marriage, for others it’s an extension of a lifelong love of spooky things. Getting married on Halloween may even be a long-held family tradition. But increasingly, it is a time for modern Pagans to tie the knot on one of their most sacred days. Such is the case of Dave Dominic and Maggie Venables, who were wed in Sherwood Forest by High Priestess Beccie Morris.

“Marrying in Sherwood Forest, they observed traditions which would have been a feature of Pagan weddings thousands of years ago – including stepping over a broomstick and having their hands tied together with ribbons. Pagans like Dave and Maggie call Halloween Samhain or Samhein, pronounced Sah-Ween … “It was very poignant to us. With us both being in our fifties we have lost a few people and it’s nice to be able to celebrate with our lost ones.” Maggie said: “It was magical and fantastic. Everybody had a wonderful time. It’s so appropriate and so real, and it feels so good.” Dave, 53, has been Pagan since he was a teenager, while Maggie, 52, has been moving towards Paganism over the last few years.”

While some might have qualms about getting married during Samhain, for Dave and Maggie it accentuated their faith and their connection to those who have passed, making for a poignant ceremony. While Dave and Maggie’s ceremony seemed rather solemn and understated, that didn’t seem to be the case of Daniel Shank and Christina Dorffner, a couple in Maryland who went all-out in merging Halloween and Samhain into their interfaith nuptials.

“But perhaps the wind was meant to blow when the auburn-haired bride made her entrance, veil flying, long silk gown glinting with 1,500 garnet and citrine jewels, escorted by her father and the otherworldly strains of the theme from “Edward Scissorhands.” The black-robed high priest and priestess presiding over this sacred rite would call forth the wind, along with water, earth and fire, to consecrate the vows exchanged Saturday by Christina Dorffner and Daniel Shank, one self-described Catholic witch and one pagan.”

The Catholic witch and Pagan were not only decked out in costumes, along with all the other guests, but were married by Pagan lottery winner Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett (a friend of the couple who made the elaborate wedding fiscally possible) and were entertained at the reception by legendary horror-movie host Count Gore de Vol (aka Dick Dyszel). All of which makes me wonder if this is the start of some larger trend? Is Samhain for lovers? Considering the high-stakes world of weddings will anyone be able to top getting married by a Wiccan millionaire? I suppose we’ll have to see next year if this is truly a growing phenomenon, or if this was simply an unusually love-filled year.

A Spate of Pagan Articles, Plus: Bunky's Big Party

Jason Pitzl-Waters — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Sometimes I go weeks without seeing any direct coverage of Pagans in the mainstream media. Then, as if they can hold back no longer, a sudden torrent of stories spring forth all at once. As a result, you get the Sacramento News and Review covering a Thelemic Gnostic Mass, The Post in Ohio reporting on the growing population of Wiccans in Athens, the Marshall Parthenon (a student paper) looking at a Pagan organization on campus, and a Killeen Daily Herald story concerning local Pagans getting ready to celebrate Ostara.

“When the leaves start turning green, weather warms up and spring finally rolls around, it feels like magic is in the air; this Saturday’s Ostara Fest is ready to make things feel a whole lot more magical. A celebration of spring, the event at Club Rodeo in Harker Heights will be hosted by new-age gift shop Sisters of the Earth and Sea and will bring vendors and participants from all over the country. “You’ve heard of ‘Keep Austin Weird,’” said Laurie Roach, co-owner of Sisters of the Earth and Sea. ‘Well, we’re trying to keep Central Texas eclectic.’”

But wait! There’s still more! The University of Washington’s student newspaper explores the “highly controversial religious pathway” of Wicca, Gay Wired interviews astrologer, musician, tarot creator, out lesbian, and Goddess-worshiper Flash Silvermoon, while the Amherst Bulletin interviews Ellen Evert Hopman about Druids and her new novel “Priestess of the Forest: A Druid Journey”.

“My original intention was to write a training manual for people who wanted to follow the Druid path,” Hopman said. But, as she began to explain the first ritual, “All of a sudden, there’s this full- blown ritual,” spooling out like a movie in her mind. “The characters just took over,” she said. “I had very little control over what happened after that.”

Plus, if you act now, you can read an interesting profile of Orisa priestess Chief Fama in the California Press-Enterprise.

You would think that heady rush of journalistic exercise would drain the well for a few months (or at least until the Spring Equinox hits), but it looks like Wiccan multi-millionaire Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett just might grace the local headlines again. The newly expanded Mystickal Voyage shop celebrates its Bunky-funded grand re-opening in a impressively large 6500 square foot space this weekend.

“Our Grand Opening is set for the weekend of March 14th. The festivities will begin Friday at 1:00 with opening speeches and a ribbon cutting ceremony with special guests including Rev. Bunky Bartlett, Ginny Robertson from the On Purpose Women’s Network, Steve Rouse [a local radio personality], and more! During the weekend, we will have guest workshops with Amber K, Azrael Arynn K, and Ann Moura.”

In addition, the shop will be featuring a (sold out) acoustic performance from Rockstar: Supernova finalist Dilana Robichaux. I can’t imagine an event like this not drawing reporters like moths to a flame.

All this media attention is just further proof that modern Paganism is becoming the “designated Other” in American (and British, and Australian) religious life. So we better get used to the increasing amount of press (and scholarly) attention.

A Spate of Pagan Articles, Plus: Bunky’s Big Party

Jason Pitzl-Waters — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Plus, if you act now, you can read an interesting profile of Orisa priestess Chief Fama in the California Press-Enterprise.

Updates on Past Stories

Jason Pitzl-Waters — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:08:00 +0000

Thelemites Fight Pedophillia Charges: An Australian couple who posted unsubstantiated accusations of pedophilia and ritual abuse within the Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) chapter in Melbourne, Australia have been sentenced to nine months in prison. The prison stay was ordered after Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine defied a court order to take down the material, and declined to appear at hearings.

“Vivienne Legg and Dyson Devine posted on their website claims that an occult group, the Ordo Templi Orientis (OTO), was really a pedophile ring in Victoria, and that its activities included hosting parties at which naked children served as waiters and members had sex with and murdered children … [Judge Marilyn Harbison] said the material was gross, insulting and bizarre in asserting that the OTO tortured and killed children and animals and consumed their organs in blood rituals. It also said OTO members were criminally corrupt, spoke of a culture of corruption at the highest levels of government, and identified politicians as taking part. Judge Harbison said she had to signal to the broader community that tribunal orders were not to be ignored and that breaching the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act was a serious issue.”

The offending site in question was finally taken down in January by the hosting provider. Legg and Devine now have to decide if they will apologize to the judge and hope that their sentence is commuted, or if they will appeal their case to the Supreme Court.

The First Wiccan Multi-Millionaire: A local ABC News affiliate checks in with Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett, a Wiccan who won an estimated 33 million dollars in the Mega Millions drawing back in September of 2007. According to the report, Bartlett is keeping the promises he made back when he first realized he won the lottery.

“After Dundalk’s Bunky Bartlett hit the Mega Millions jackpot in 2007, he said he planned to help a new age gift shop expand. He also said he would continue teaching people about his Wiccan beliefs. Bartlett has been true to his word. The Mystical Voyage store in Nottingham used to occupy 2500 square feet of space. When the expanded store opens next month, it will occupy 6500 square feet — enough space for several new holistic healing rooms, and a large yoga studio.”

Bartlett continues to teach classes on Wicca at the store, as he did before the lottery win. No further word yet about the proposed Willow Springs Sanctuary and Community Center that was announced back in November.

Wicca in India: In the past I have reported on Ipsita Roy Chakraverti, a famous adherent of Wicca in India. Chakraverti, a social activist, started a “Wiccan Brigade” to stem witchcraft killings and female infanticide through a campaign of education and re-framing the practice of “witchcraft” in India. While we have heard no reports on how successful these initiatives have been, it does look like Wicca and other western Pagan imports are gaining popularity in certain Indian cities.

“New age therapies and healing through a host of skills, including hypnosis, tarot reading, astrology and witchcraft are being accepted by a majority of people in Chandigarh, the twin capital of Punjab and Haryana … Claiming to be India’s first Shaman Witch, Renu Mathur helps remove all negative energy surrounding a person through prayer and meditation. She claims that she receives the energy from Gods and Goddesses as also from the four elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water. ‘Although this may not seem like a straight fight against superstition because what I am doing is very logical like the use of colours, use of fire, use of crystals all of which has been validated by everybody in all fields. This is just a concentrated form of using them and invocations of a Wiccan or a person like me used has a very scientific oath -’Do what will not harm anyone’. We cannot harm anyone. If we even think of doing so we lose our energies,’ said Renu.”

It should be interesting to see what the continued co-mingling of Hinduism and Indian culture with modern Paganism will produce. These cross-cultural interactions seem to hint at the promise of a post-Christian future, where theological “sisters” like Hinduism and modern Paganism can enrich one another over the longer term.

Speaking of India, today is the beginning of the Pongala Mahotsavam, a ten-day festival in honor of Bhagavathi (the mother goddess of the Malayali Hindus). Held in Thiruvananthapuram, it is the largest religious gathering for women in the world.

“Women in thousands have started pouring in to participate in Friday’s ‘Pongala’ festival at Attukal temple, famed as ‘Women’s Sabarimala’ for attracting one of the world’s biggest female congregations. The Attukal Bhagavati temple here had entered the Guinness Book two years back as a unique religious event that draws over a million women on a single day. The whole city would turn into a sea of women as sun rises on Friday with the road, pavements and by-lanes about an area of six km around being occupied by devotees with the earthen pots placed on brick hearths in front of them to prepare the ‘prasadam’ (sweetened pudding). The ritual consists of preparation of the prasadam of rice, jaggery, coconut and spices, to be offered to the Goddess to invoke her blessings for peace and prosperity.”

An estimated 2.5 million women are expected to participate this year, breaking all previous attendance records for the festival (1.7 million in 2007, and 1.5 million in 2006).

Top Ten Pagan Stories of 2007 (Part One)

Jason Pitzl-Waters — Sun, 30 Dec 2007 11:55:00 +0000

As we reach the close of 2007, it is time to stop for a moment and take stock of the previous year. When you look at (and for) news stories regarding modern Paganism (and related topics) every day of the year, you can sometimes lose focus on the larger picture. So it can be a helpful thing to look at the broad strokes, the bigger themes, the events and developments that will have lasting impact on the modern Pagan movement. What follows are my picks for the top ten stories from this past year involving or affecting modern Pagans.

10. Important passages within the Pagan and occult communities: 2007 saw the passing of some highly influential and respected members of our extended community, the most notable being the visionary philosopher, author, and mystic, Robert Anton Wilson.

Robert Anton Wilson

Wilson is perhaps best-known for his work on “The Illuminatus! Trilogy” with co-author Robert Shea. The books incorporated elements of Discordianism, conspiracy theory, magick, and various 60s counterculture references to create a “fairytale for paranoids”. Since then Wilson published several books exploring philosophy, science, and religion. Most notably his “Cosmic Trigger” series. But RAW was hardly the only notable passing in 2007, we also saw key Goddess spirituality movement figure Shekhinah Mountainwater (author of “Ariadne’s Thread: A Workbook of Goddess Magic”) cross the veil after a long struggle with cancer, and Tim Sebastion, chief of the Secular Order of Druids, who died after a long illness.

Other notable passages include artist Lady Jaye Breyer P-Orridge (partner to Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, and member of Psychic TV), influential Salem Witch and event organizer Shawn Poirier, and Starwood organizer, musician, and SubGenius, Chas Smith.

09. Witch School in the News: This past year saw quite a lot of coverage for the (in)famous Internet-based Witch School. The year began with news that the SCI FI Channel was planning a reality television series set in the school’s campus (then located in Hoopeston, IL), but this development seemed to fall apart when Ed Hubbard announced he was selling the school through E-Bay.

“Imagine, if you could buy Harry Potter’s Hogwarts? Well, the world’s first and largest public school of Wiccan and Witches has become available for sale. Starting Tuesday, April 10th, WitchSchool.com will be auctioned off to the highest bidder during an eBay Auction. If you ever wanted to have your very own cyber school of magick and witchcraft, this is the auction for you. So you can own and run your very own Academy for Magick and Witchcraft. If you would love to become the next Dumbledore, this is your chance to do so.”

After a flurry of controversy, mixed-signals, and announcements concerning them leaving their physical campus in Hoopeston (due to the alleged unfriendliness of the town) Witch School was sold to a coalition of buyers from the Correllian Nativist Tradition with Don Lewis at the head. I thought that would be the last we head from the school in 2007, but Witch School ended up gaining national press attention after the tiny troubled town of Rossville, IL went on the offensive following the school’s relocation there. While tensions have since eased up, it was certainly a PR coup for the Internet business. It remains to be seen if Witch School will manage to gain the publics attention in 2008, or if they will return to relative obscurity sans tales of persecution. But they certainly made a mark on Pagan-related news in 2007.

08. “Bunky” the Multi-Millionaire: The media became positively entranced when Wiccan Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett won over 30 million dollars in the Maryland State Lottery “Mega Millions” drawing. This encouraged witty bon mots like “Dude, talk about blessed be” and “Christians who pray for lucky lottery tickets but never win might consider switching over to Wicca.” Of course the press soon wanted to know how he was going to spend his newly-won loot, and Bunky announced that he plans to build a Pagan-run seminary. While there have certainly been rich or well-off Pagans before (though they are most-often “in the broom closet”), Bartlett is the first to gain a high-profile, and will certainly continue to gain press attention if (or when) he starts spending that money to benefit his religion.

07. Pagans in Prison (and the books they can read): Incarcerated Pagans and Heathens made the news in increasingly large numbers this past year. I personally blogged eight such stories, and I know for a fact that more occurred that I never got a chance to report on. Virtually all the claims regarded the issue of religious free exercise and what materials a Pagan prisoner should/would be allowed. But while those legal struggles mainly happened on the journalistic sidelines, Pagans, prisons, and their religious rights hit center stage when the Federal Bureau of Prisons enacted a controversial new policy that purged every religious book in Federal Prison libraries that wasn’t on a then-secret list (in order to inhibit “extremism”).

“Government does have a legitimate interest to screen out things that tend to incite violence in prisons,” Mr. [Douglas] Laycock [professor of law at the University of Michigan Law School] said. “But once they say, ‘We’re going to pick 150 good books for your religion, and that’s all you get,’ the criteria has become more than just inciting violence. They’re picking out what is accessible religious teaching for prisoners, and the government can’t do that without a compelling justification. Here the justification is, the government is too busy to look at all the books, so they’re going to make their own preferred list to save a little time, a little money.”

Massive controversy ensued amongst religious groups both liberal and conservative, which only in
tensified when the amazingly flawed lists leaked to the public. The BOP soon reversed their actions and restored the pulled books, but the policy has only been postponed, and come early 2008 we could be faced yet again with the majority of books for (Federal) Pagan prisoners being pulled, and an approved list made by unnamed “experts” put in its place. So expect the rights of Pagan prisoners to continue to make the news in 2008.

06. Paganism (Ancient and Modern) Continues to Influence Pop-Culture: Pagan and occult themes continued to make headway into popular culture in 2008. The television series “Rome” (which had one of the most accurate portrayals of Roman polytheism to date) aired its second (and final) season, the masterful adult fairytale “Pan’s Labyrinth” took home three Academy Awards, while films like “300″, and “Beowulf” looked to a pre-Christian era to find its heroes (while a certain Pirate franchise invoked a goddess to help wrap up their story). 2007 also saw the release of documentaries concerning notorious occultist Aleister Crowley, and cultural appropriation within New Age communities, and a new-found emphasis on occult and supernatural themes in television.

“The prevalence of supernatural plots ‘is reflective of increasing anxiety – personal, economic and national’ that pervades the American mood, said Mr. Rash, who was in New York last week to attend the networks’ presentations … Most of the coming new shows ‘are playing to viewers’ desire to be in fantasyland,’ said Shari Anne Brill, senior vice president and director of programming at Carat USA in New York, part of the Carat division of the Aegis Group, adding, ‘The real world has become such a horrendous place that people are looking for magic to avoid the tragic.’”

Pagans continued to make appearances on reality television, and exploitive daytime talk-shows, while a film full of Scottish myths and folktales (shot entirely in Gaelic) gained rave critical reviews. In addition, production news surfaced about a feature film concerning Aleister Crowley, a re-envisioning of the classic cult-film “The Wicker Man”, and a possible television show starring Greek gods. Meanwhile, Walden Media learned that if you cut the pagan elements out of a classic story, the movie will flop.

This has been a great year for Pagan-themed music, from Wyrd-folk compilations to Bjork and Tori Amos. Loads of great Pagan and occult books came out this year as well. Oh, and the last Harry Potter book came out, but didn’t you hear it was all a Christian allegory? But in any case, popular culture continues to become increasingly Pagan-friendly, and I don’t see the trend slowing down any time soon.

–

Tomorrow I will post the top five Pagan stories for 2007. In the meantime, I invite you to check out the top religion stories from some different perspectives. Time magazine’s top ten religion stories, the 2007 Top Religion Stories as selected by Religion Newswriters, the Barna group’s four “mega-themes” from their 2007 research, Christianity Today’s top stories of 2007, and Terry Mattingly gives us his vote for 2007′s top religious story.

Bunky Not Going the Witch School Route

Jason Pitzl-Waters — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:04:00 +0000

The media has remained fascinated with Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett, a Wiccan who won a 33 million dollar jackpot in September. Last week a story hit the wires that Bartlett was going to open a “real-life Hogwarts” school for Witches, leading some to think the newly-rich-Witch was going to follow in the footsteps of online establishments like Don Lewis’s Witch School or Oberon Zell-Ravenheart’s Grey School of Wizardry. Today, Bartlett appears in the papers again, to clarify what his post-lottery Pagan plans are.

“Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett … would like to clear up a few misconceptions about his plans for a “witch school.” Yes, he’d like to start a pagan seminary. But no, it’s not going to be some sort of Hogwarts-on-the-Patapsco, with precocious adolescents running around in wizard hats and casting spells. Bartlett instead envisions the place as sort of a yeshiva for all faiths, a “church” that’s less about God – or gods, if you prefer – and more about spirituality, nature and healing. The future Willow Springs Sanctuary and Community Center … will teach classes about all religions, offer technology courses for those seeking better jobs and counseling for those seeking to make sense of their lives.”

The article also talks briefly about the dearth of Pagan-oriented options for a formal religious education. A situation that often results in a sort of hodge-podge attempt at a well-rounded and relevant curriculum.

“Folks who have wanted to serve in a leadership capacity have managed to cobble together an education through Christian divinity schools, counseling programs, and the Unitarian Church,” said [Sherry] Marts, a practicing witch and spokeswoman for the Open Hearth Foundation, a pagan community center in the Washington area. “It’s been kind of a piecemeal. It would be great to have a pagan seminary.”

Strangely, the reporter tracks down Witch School founder Ed Hubbard to talk about the development of a Pagan seminary, but not a single direct mention or interview with anyone from Cherry Hill Seminary, one of the few serious attempts at building a comprehensive and professional Pagan-focused ministry education. One wonders if Hubbard is consulting Bartlett on his sanctuary/community center, or if that was the only relevant source the journalist could find on short notice?

In any event, it is good to know that Bartlett is trying to build something of lasting value to the wider community, and is attempting to engage in interfaith activities. I wish him every success, though after winning the lottery I’m sure his gods are looking out for him already. Plus, as Bunky asserts in the article, he has no worries about deflecting any misfortunes relating to how he manages his new-found wealth: “I have the ability to deflect the curses that come my way.”

Tucker the Theologian

Jason Pitzl-Waters — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:49:00 +0000

That lighthouse of religious tolerance Tucker Carlson, conservative pundit and host of “Tucker” on MSNBC, has shared his theological views on modern Pagans once again. This time he has described the religion of Wiccan lottery winner Ellwood “Bunky” Bartlett as “Satanic”.

“You’re saying basically the U.S. government is subsidizing some kind of devil worshiper, Satanism … That’s perfect.”

For those with long memories, you may recall that Tucker’s disdain for Wicca is nothing new. Back in 2005 he had Christian author Catherine Sanders on to discuss her book “Wicca’s Charm”.

“According to a 1986 ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals, they are in the eyes of the First Amendment anyway practicing a real religion … it [Wicca] sounds kind of – sounds kind of flaky to me … Doesn’t sound like there’s a lot of charm there…”

So we can say with some certainty that Tucker doesn’t like Wicca much. But should we care what a second-string political commentator thinks about our faith? Angry letters will only fuel him to find more ways to mock modern Pagans, and are unlikely to change his mind on the subject. The only way we can really fight two-bit theologians of Tucker’s stripe is to make his ramblings as culturally irrelevant as a crazy corner brimstone preacher.

A first step is to continue supporting and building our own media and journalistic outlets. Pagan magazines, blogs, radio, and podcasts are a big part of that. By maturing and nurturing our own voice, we can help shape the discussion of our faiths, instead of leaving the commentary to guys who were upstaged by John Stewart.