Having been working (for a long time) on a novel about the same alternative universe as in my Goddess Murder, I have been looking for books on Mary Magdalene, the Gnostics, and suchlike. Recently I found Secrets of Mary Magdalene. Don’t be put off by the title. It is a well-balanced anthology of interviews with and essays by the leading scholars, largely women, of Gnosticism, early Christianity, and related fields, and by women novelists, not the hack writers whose forgettable... Read more
Canon 15. Innocence: The Sorceress Blake told you and told you: you never heard. There’s only the single speechless word. It verberates your wordy skies, It multiplies your bawdy ground. As sound is unified with word, The Lord is unified with sound. I am She who dances on the face Of the waters, ignorant of light. Over, ever, harrowing your rock, I dance the clothless customs of the air. I swing my heels in demption’s tree, I toss... Read more
[For an overview of this poem and its complete title, please see the previous blog.] Second Theme 7. Sunlight When the whirled is all inhuman Flower, what can I say To the angel flaming Flower-spectrumed in Eden? Shall I ask this angel Who’s got my mind in hock, Who burns my eyeballs green, Who strips the gears of my soul Naked, for wisdom? No, It’s the always instant Of knowing nakedness That makes us men. When self Begins to speak... Read more
In December 1963 I had a spontaneous series of altered states that lasted for about three weeks. In the center of it was an ecstatic conversion experience much like what had happened to me at age 14. Most people have no idea that such an experience is even possible. Those who do know about it think that it is always a conversion from one set of beliefs or faith community to another. In my case, and I think in many... Read more
[I apologize to my dedicated readers. It has been rough. I plan to resume posting something almost every day.] Tim Zell’s discussions with the groups he had visited in California in August 1972 established the basis for dividing the Council of Themis into two separate organizations; hence various groups formed the new Council of Earth Religions on August 31, 1972. COER represented a continuation of the effort to find a way to create a national networking organization for Pagan religions.... Read more
In the beginning there is no beginning. / There is only the Goddess and her name / Is Everything-All-the-Same and Fullness. Read more
I have unfortunately seen some people argue that, “Since the Christian God is infinite, our Pagan Gods must be finite.” Um, no. I don’t want to be snarky, but that is just REALLY bad theology. Read more
As described in previous blogs, the attempt to create an umbrella, church-like organization for Pagans was begun by Michael Kinghorn in Los Angeles in 1967. His work led to the creation of the Council of Themis, which, after being founded in 1969, acquired an international membership steadily until 1972. Rather than just list the members, I’ll discuss the important groupings. By 1972, according to various lists and announcements in Green Egg, the Council’s members included the following. The covens... Read more
During the decade from the late 1960s to the late 1970s, at least half the Craft activity in America occurred in California or had direct ties to California, for reasons that might perhaps be transparent to sociologists. I will tell that story next, but first I need to cover developments in the Heartland, many of which tie into that story, especially since one comment has asked why I seem to be ignoring everything in between New York and California. I’m... Read more
More modern Craft history: Fred and Martha Adler, the Psychedelic Venus Church, the Church of the Eternal Source, and Budapest Dianics. Read more
Aidan Kelly: Including Paganism
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