Magic Monday

[ecosophia]

It's getting toward midnight, so we can proceed with a new Magic Monday. Ask me anything about occultism and I'll do my best to answer it. With certain exceptions, any question received by midnight Monday Eastern time will get an answer. Please note:  Any question or comment received after then will not get an answer, and in fact will just be deleted. (I've been getting an increasing number of people trying to post after these are closed, so will have to draw a harder line than before.) If you're in a hurry, or suspect you may be the 143,916th person to ask a question, please check out the very rough version 1.0 of The Magic Monday FAQ here. Also: I will not be putting through or answering any more questions about practicing magic around children. I've answered those in simple declarative sentences in the FAQ. If you read the FAQ and don't think your question has been answered, read it again. If that doesn't help, consider remedial reading classes; yes, it really is as simple and straightforward as the FAQ says. 

The picture?  I'm working my way through photos of my lineage, focusing on the teachers whose work has influenced me and the teachers who influenced them in turn. I'm currently tracing my Martinist lineage.  That's rendered complex by the Martinist tradition that one does not name one's initiator, so we'll have to go back through less evasive routes. Last week's honoree, René Chambellant, became head of the Eglise Gnostique Universelle on the death of his teacher and consecrator, Constant Chevillon, whom I'm honoring this week. Martinist, Rosicrucian, Freemason, and Gnostic bishop, Chevillon was born in 1880, showed remarkable intellectual gifts in youth, but went to work in the banking industry while devoting his free time to occult and spiritual pursuits. He wrote seven books and many essays about Gnostic theology and practice, and his integrity and spiritual qualities won the respect not only of his fellow Gnostics but of Catholics and nonreligious people. In 1944, he and other leading citizens of Lyon were taken hostage by the Nazis in revenge for activities of the Resistance, and shot to death. He is considered a saint and martyr by most modern Gnostic churches; the day of his martyrdom, March 22, is his feast day.

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I've also had quite a few people over the years ask me where they should buy my books, and here's the answer. Bookshop.org is an alternative online bookstore that supports local bookstores and authors, which a certain gargantuan corporation doesn't, and I have a shop there, which you can check out here. Please consider patronizing it if you'd like to purchase any of my books online.

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***This Magic Monday is now closed. See you next week!***

Comments

[jruss]

This is a good reminder especially with some of the issues I'm seeing in Geek/Nerd/Otaku culture.

Forgive me if I've said this before, but I think this is part of the Asatru Folk Assembly's success. They focus totally on their own organization and the gods they worship.

[ecosophia]

Exactly. You can build your own scene or you can tear down somebody else's. You can't do both.

Asatru Folk Assembly

[ritaer]

AFA supports the cleanup of a stretch of highway near me in N. California. I noticed the signs in passing. For those who don't know, Calif. has a program for organizations to sponsor a section of highway. Individuals, organizations or businesses can sign up and either volunteer to pick up trash themselves (under safety supervision) or to pay to have it done in their name.

Rita

Re: Asatru Folk Assembly

[(Anonymous)]

Thinking back on the one Asatru adherent I knew IRL... I think it'd be the highlight of my day if I drove by while they were doing road cleanup :D

But of course, maybe they are not *all* kilt-and-combat-boot-wearing dudes with endless collections of heavy-metal band T-shirts...

[merytsobek]

In a moment of synchronicity, I was *just* talking about this with the boyfriend the other day; we were discussing how so many neo-pagan groups lack the ability to actually build anything these days, or are in a constant state of flux and conflict and never get anywhere in particular - with a notable exception being the AFA. And yes, our observation was that they simply don't engage with their rabid enemies, don't tear down others, and focus on the positive and building up their group and practice.

pagan group dynamics

[ritaer]

Another pagan group dynamic that I have noticed is a tendency to be very possessive of projects, even to the point of letting them fail rather than handing over to a new generation. Sometimes at the same time they are begging for help--"can't get the newsletter out because no help" "I could help Thursday or Saturday" "those days aren't good, we'll get back to you." . . . crickets. "Thats odd _group_ hasn't put out a newsletter since last Litha."

This is probably not unique to pagan groups. And in fairness I have seen major projects successfully transferred to new organizers and organizations, such as Covenant of the Goddess, that have lasted over 40 years.


Rita

Re: pagan group dynamics

[(Anonymous)]

I've seen this exact thing happen in churches, too. Probably happens in most organizations.

[causticus]

As far as I've seen (beyond maybe ADF if their heyday), AFA is also one of the few modern pagan groups here in the US that have a brick-and-mortar presence in many different locations. IMO, this really shows the benefits of having a constructive rather than deconstructive guiding mentality. And they've shown that old Protestant church buildings make for splendid Heathen temples. The aesthetic seems to fit like a glove.