Archive for the ‘Sacred Mists Shoppe’ Category

INTERVIEW WITH RAVEN DIGITALIS

Bernadette: I am very interested in your tradition-Opus Aima Obscuræ, can you tell me more about it?

Raven: Certainly. We are a group of practitioners who consist of an Inner Circle (training group) and an Outer Circle (public participants). We run an intricate training structure designed to train people to be eventual Priests and Priestesses. We term our training system “disciplined eclectic” and “Eastern Hellenistic Neopaganism.” The definitions of these terms can be found on the OAO Facebook and Myspace profiles. We also perform public and private rituals that average once weekly – quite a large load! We celebrate the Full Moons, New (Dark) Moons and Sabbats, as well as what we call the “Full Suns” and “New (Dark) Suns.” These are the masculine counterparts to the feminine Full and Dark Moons; the Full Sun occurs when the Sun is at his 15-degree astrological apex in any particular sign, while the Dark or New Sun occurs when the Sun transitions zodiac signs. We also host numerous Cottage Craft or Hedgecraft events for the community, along with multicultural celebrations such as the Hindu fesival Diwali (Festival of Lights) and ten days of Ganesh Chaturthi, seeing as we all identify with Hinduism – one of the most longstanding, preserved and developed Pagan traditions in the world!

Bernadette: We spoke before about craft history. Why do you think it’s important that today’s Witches/Pagans understand about our roots?

Raven: believe that it’s vitally important for people to have a realistic and educated understanding of their historical roots. Numerous Christians, to give one example, understand very little about their religious history, including the difference between politics and religion, the evolution of Scripture, and so on, which actually serves to be a damaging and dangerous force. When objective understanding is cultivated, one gains perspective, which I believe is immensely important. For us Witches, it’s easy to accept what we’re told, namely the faerie tales concerning an ancient Age of the Goddess, or Wicca being a preserved Pagan religion of the British Isles, or the existance of “family traditions” before 1950 – these things are idealistic and untrue, but are so tempting to believe. Once a person digs a bit deeper, things come into focus a bit more, and we can more objectively see who we are as magicians and spiritual pathwalkers.

Bernadette: Why do you use the Thoth deck as opposed to any other in your tradition?

Raven: Well, OAO’s structure is based primarily upon the alignments of the Thoth deck because we realize the immense amount of study, art, channeling and brilliancy that went into creating the deck. It took years and years, and was Aleister Crowley and Lady Freda Harris’s artistic/magical magnum opus. I believe that there is no Tarot deck more perfect in the world. Its alignments are so precise that even the most unequipped person can gain accurate insight from even the simplest reading, provided they (at least) first study the small booklet(s) that accompany the deck. The deck is enchanted – quite literally – the cards are living and conscious. I’ve never interacted with a deck like this in all my life. For the longest time I avoided the deck because of its scientific and ceremonial intricacies, but now that I have chosen to delve into them, I realize how non-scary they really are. And once I began to understand simple symbolism’s (nevermind the Qabalistic, elemental and planetary alignments), my readings became clear. What a blessing! Because of these alignments and numerous others, we at OAO use it as our primary foundation for occult mysticism and the orginazation of the Wheel of the Year, as aligned to the zodiac.

Bernadette: You mention having been trained in the Georgian tradition.  Can you tell a little about it?  (I bring this up so that any newbies, who may be reading this, can learn and understand the article, in its entirety)

Raven: Sure! I was trained by Zanoni Silverknife in the Georgian tradition when I was 16 years old. Thank goodness she was there to provide me with accurate and loving training when I was blooming into the magickal arts; I am very grateful for the lessons and for the lifelong friends cultivated as a result! In order to explain Georgian Witchcraft, I think it’s easier for me to recite information found on the main website, www.georgianwicca.com, which is as follows: The Georgian Tradition was founded in 1970 by George (Pat) Patterson, Zanoni Silverknife and Tanith. It began as a small coven in Pat�s home, in Bakersfield, CA. Georgian Wicca is similar to Alexandrian and Gardnerian practice, in that it is an initiatory line and oath-bound. Many of the rituals are similar to those published in various books on what is sometimes called “British Traditional Wicca” (BTW), such as the Farrar’s Eight Sabbats for Witches and The Witches’ Way, as well as the privately distributed version of what was later published as Ed Fitch’s Grimoire of the Shadows. Georgian Wicca, however, is not a recognized member of the BTW, as it lacks an important requirement – initiatory lineage back to one of the BTW covens in England. Therefore, it is considered BTW-derived.

Bernadette: What inspired you to write “Planetary Spells & Rituals: Practicing Dark & Light Magick Aligned with the Cosmic Bodies” and what separates this work from other books on magick? I am reading this new book on my kindle!

Raven: Thanks for your readership! My main inspiration in writing that book was due to many of my readers mentioning to me the fact that I don’t include much hands-on, how-to spells or written rituals in my books (aside from meditations), so I decided to compile this collection. I aimed to include a hefty amount of alignments, and ceremonial rituals, having to do with common (and some uncommon) spellcraft needs. I personally use it as a reference book in my own life, which was another part of its written purpose! In the future, it will be followed with Zodiacal Spells & Rituals.

Bernadette: I love the fact that you also speak of history in this book, “Shadow Magick Compendium: Exploring Darker Aspects of Magickal Spirituality”. Can you explain what the “Shadow” is to you and why it is so important to understand how to work with “the Shadow” or “The Shadow self”?

Raven: The shadow is part of who we are; it’s the balance. I feel that the Craft community and magickal community is starting to reject those “everything is love and light” ideas and are replacing those perceptions with a more balanced view on the world and oneself. We must know our light and dark sides, and those of the world, in order to fully embrace Reality for the profound experience it is – and in order to influence accurate and ethical change through our experience. Witches and magicians help people; it’s our spiritual duty. In order to help others and ourselves, we must recognize all aspects of our personalities and must be able and willing to work with them in other people just the same. There is nothing strictly defined in “dark” and “light,” because the terms are highly interpretive – that’s part of the beauty of life: nothing is entirely “this” or entirely “that.”

Bernadette: In Goth Craft: The Magickal Side of Dark Culture , you speak of the convergence of the two lifestyles, Witch and Goth. I was very much a part of the Goth/Punk/Industrial/Metal scene, growing up in NYC. I saw the melding of these lifestyles early on (the 80′s and the 90′s), in dress, music, make-up and what I call “gender attitude”. How has this scene progressed over these years? I knew many pagans then, who where very much a part of this scene (I am definitely dating myself here!) I used to hang out in the village! I also see that we like a lot of the same music! Oh yea…thank the Gods for that!

Raven: That’s fantastic! I’m glad you could be part of the movement from its “roots.” Always refreshing to hear! Admittedly, I am currently jaded and dissatisfied with the “scene” aspects of those cultures, and am choosing not to fully identify with them – I love the art, but not the common attitude. I think these subcultures should be personal and emotional, artistic experiences rather than ego-based, bitter “scenes,” but it’s really a mixed bag, just like any culture, subculture or counterculture! For now, I’ll just remain on the outskirts of the “scene” and keep focused on my occultism!

Bernadette: What do you see happening in today’s pagan community? What do you think is needed? What would you like to see happen?

Raven: I would like to see a greater focus on the “bigger picture,” and an immediate cease of infighting and superficiality. At the same time, I see people yearning to grow deeper in connection to the cosmos and the earth, and I’m glad to see so many people doing the Great Work around the world, helping guide others to their individual paths. Love is the key!

Bernadette: Do you have any book tours/signing coming up? What’s on the agenda for you? Any upcoming projects?

Raven: No tours or signings as of yet, but that is subject to change! My current project is a book on Empathy and Magick, for which I am incredibly excited. It’s coming to me now, and so I must dedicate myself to catching up with my emails and fan mail (yeah right! Slacker space-cadet here!), and buckling down to write another tome. I hope you like it! Namaste.

MINI BIO:

Raven Digitalis (Missoula, MT) is the author of “Planetary Spells & Rituals,” “Shadow Magick Compendium,” and “Goth Craft”, all on Llewellyn. He is a Neopagan Priest and cofounder of the “disciplined eclectic” or “Eastern Hellenistic” tradition and training coven Opus Aima Obscuræ, and is a radio and club DJ of Gothic and industrial music. Also trained in Georgian Witchcraft and Buddhist philosophy, Raven has been a Witch since 1999 and a Priest since 2003, and an Empath all of his life. Raven holds a degree in anthropology from the University of Montana and is also an animal rights activist, black-and-white photographic artist, Tarot reader, and is the co-owner of Twigs & Brews Herbs, specializing in bath salts, herbal blends, essential oils, soaps, candles and incenses. He has appeared on the cover of newWitch magazine and Spellcraft magazine (Australia) and has been featured on MTV News and CBS PsychicRadio.

An interview with Kenny Klein!

We now continue with on with our series of interviews with influential pagan authors, teachers, musicians and leaders.

Kenny Klein has been a part of our pagan community for many years now. He gives lectures, sings, plays the fiddle, a great photographer, an author, and a writer. I have had the pleasure of meeting and seeing Kenny perform a few times at the Starwood festival. It’s always a pleasure to talk to Kenny and to hear what he has to say!

Bernadette:
Kenny, congratulations on your new book “Through The Faerie Glass“, can you tell me a bit of what it’s about?

Kenny:
Well, in a nutshell, it’s an examination of how Faeries are viewed in traditional folklore, especially ages old songs from Britain and other parts of Europe. Our modern culture tends to view “fairies” as Tinker Bell, cute little flitting creatures who dance on flowers. But folklore paints a very different story. These are nasty, creepy, sexual creatures whose dealings with humans often goes very badly for the human!

Bernadette:
It’s a much “darker” aspect of fairies. What inspired you to write this book?

Kenny:
In general I’ve been singing the traditional songs and telling the stories all my life. I’ve known the presence of Faeries all that time as well. I grew up in mid-state New York, which is a very enchanted area. Washington Irving and Poe both wrote about the magic of that area, along the Hudson River and in the Palisades. It’s a creepy, eerie, spooky environment dripping with very tangible enchantment, and I do not use the word enchantment in the Disney sense!

In specific, i was at a Pagan festival in Canada a few years ago, and as part of my schedule at that festival I did a workshop on Faerie lore. A young woman approached me and said “I’ve studied Faeries all my life, and you know more than anyone I’ve ever met! You have to write a book.” I’d thought many times about writing a book, but somehow this woman saying that was the catalyst. Just a few months later I ran into Elysia Gallo from Llewellyn, and mentioned that I’d been writing this book, and she got very excited. It was the right book at the right time for the right publisher, one of those magical things that just happens.

Bernadette:
Can you tell us about “The Flowering Rod“?

The Flowering Rod is as book about the role of men in Paganism, and especially in Wicca. I wrote the book in the early ’90s, when there were many books written about women in Paganism and magick, but few to none about men. Unfortunately the publisher went out of business about a minute after the book came out, so it was out of print for years. It’s finally back in print, and available on Amazon and a few other sites.

One thing I loved about writing The Flowering Rod was that I could write rituals for groups of men or groups of men and women to perform. I’ve since seen several groups use my material in their rituals. It’s very rewarding.

Bernadette:
What projects do you have coming up?

Kenny:
Right now I’m finishing up a tour that has already taken me to ten or twelve states (of the United States—there have been many more states of mind during the tour than just that). I have about a month to go, then I head home for a while, though I plan to move to a completely different home in the next few months, so the move may be a huge project for me. I will spend the winter working on collectible dolls, recording a new CD, and continuing to write a novel based on the Faerie lore in my books. I’m also finishing my next book for Llewellyn, which is a similar treatment to Faerie Glass, but focuses on the Grimms fairy Tales. There will be a ritual or a spell for each of the tales the books looks at. That book is slated to be out in May of 2011. I’m pretty excited about it.

Bernadette:
You have contributed much to our pagan community. Can you tell us what you think of the state of our pagan community today? What differences to you see as compared to what is was in the 1980′s?

Kenny:
Oh gosh what a loaded question!!! Well certainly the Internet has had a huge impact on the Pagan community. We’re seeing two extremes because of technology: people finding it much easier to locate other Pagans than thirty years ago (in the ’80s you had to skulk around metaphysical bookstores hoping someone would notice you and invite you to join a group); and paradoxically, many more Pagans practicing “solitary.” I think there are pros and cons to both. While there are many very excellent groups out there, there are as many charlatans pretending to teach the craft as an excuse to promote their own agenda (manipulation, sex, control). So for many people joining a group is a challenge, despite the technology that makes finding groups so much easier. On the other hand, when one learns and practices alone, there is no one to fill in gaps, push one to strive for greater learning and experience, or steer one in the right direction. Self taught Pagans often have huge gaps in their knowledge of the religion and its traditions.

As a community, we have not yet arrived at anything like a happy medium. I will say that I encourage all Pagans to attend Pagan festivals (days long and week long camping events, like PSG, Free Spirit Gathering, Rites of Spring, Starwood, Sirius Rising and Wisteria Summer Solstice, all as opposed to one day events like a Pagan Pride day). these festivals expose Pagans to experienced teachers, various traditions, a wealth of ritual styles, and the sheer hedonistic joy of bonfire dancing, drumming, concerts and Pagan community and companionship. Many web sites list a multitude of Pagan festivals. they are worth investigating.

Bernadette:
I have been doing a lot of research lately into The Blue Star Tradition. Can you tell us a bit about Blue Star? Why do you think it it appealed to so many people? How has it evolved over the years? Do you still teach?

Kenny:
Blue Star is, I think, the oldest American born Wiccan tradition. Meaning, most of our traditional Wicca was born in England. Blue Star was created in Philadelphia.

Blue Star is a very traditional Wiccan path, with set rituals that vary very little from time to time (other than the specific work of that time of the year or the moon); we worship the old Gods/Goddesses of Europe (I am very staid in the notion that Wicca is European Paganism only, and if one is worshiping Egyptian, Chinese, American Indian or African deities, while it is powerful Paganism, it is not Wicca); we have a very set syllabus of teaching that involves experiential learning as well as reading and classes (most of what we teach is transmitted orally; very few books contain what we teach).

It’s serious, but fun too. We eat a lot!!!!

Bernadette:
Where do you see our pagan community going these days, as compared to when you first started?

Kenny:
Another loaded question… I think the Pagan music scene is in amazing shape compared to when I entered it. In the ’80s most Pagan music was being made by hobby musicians, who loved the Craft but had limited musical skills. Now I see bands like the Gypsy Nomads, Lunar Fore and Incus who are skilled professional musicians, and who tour the Pagan festival circuit (as I have done for three decades now…wow, I hate saying that!). Unfortunately I think these amazing Pagan musicians are under-appreciated by the community in general. Few Pagans seem to realize that there are “out” Pagans playing Pagan music for Pagans; many still refer to Stevie Nicks and Loreena McKennitt as Pagan music—both superb musicians and performers, but not “out” pagans playing music for a targeted Pagan audience.

In terms of knowledge, I think we are seeing a generation of experienced teachers fading away (we just lost a great teacher and scholar, Isaac Bonewits), and very few younger teachers of their caliber stepping into their shoes. Jason Mankey is a rising star, and a few others stand out, but there will be a sad vacuum in a few years. This concerns me deeply.

I hope to see more Pagans taking advantage of Pagan festivals and gatherings. They are great ways to connect to knowledge, experience and community. We now have several facilities that host various week-long Pagan events: the best of them are Wisteria, Brushwood, Diana’s Grove and Camp Gaia.

Bernadette:
Can you tell me more about your work with “Blythe” dolls? What attracted you to them and how do you customize them?

Kenny:
Blythe dolls are collectible dolls that first appeared as children’s toys in 1972, and through the efforts of a woman named Gina Garan became an iconic collectible doll (www.thisisblythe.com). I fell in love with Blythe in 2000 when I saw Gina’s photographs of her in a gallery in Los Angeles. In the last year I’ve gotten involved with the art project of creating unique customized Blythe dolls (www.kennyklein.net/dolls.html). I take commissions for custom work. I also love my girls and talk to them. I’m a little weird I guess.

Bernadette:
Music has and always will change. You had roots in the punk scene (just like I did!)-did this influence you in the music that you do today? What do you listen too? What can we expect from Kenny Klein in the future?

Kenny:
In my most active Punk years I was very excited about the British New Romantics movement, and listened to bands like Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and ska bands like Madness and the Specials. I still listen to these bands. I also bonded with my friends in the East Village: the Bad Brains (who lived in my kitchen for a while), the Cro Mags, the Undead, Agnostic Front, the Lunachicks, the Beastie Boys and Luscious Jackson. I still see some of these people from time to time.

Some of that music made its way into my playing and recording, most notably on my CD The Fairy Queen, which has a good deal of Dark Wave music on it (I did that CD with singing partner Lori Watley, who has a great Siouxsie-esque voice). But I’m also influenced by British Folk, Americana, Delta Blues and contemporary singer-songwriters like Tori Amos, Poe, Richard Thompson, Rasputina’s Melora Creager and the Ditty Bops to name a tiny few. My next recorded music project will be a follow up to my CD “Meet Me In The Shade Of The Maple Tree,” which is the world’s first CD of Pagan Bluegrass music: it will be the world’s first CD of Pagan Delta Blues and Jugband music.

The following was written by Kenny Klein for a memorial to Isaac Bonewits, in Orange County, NY.

Verses for Isaac
Kenny Klein, 8/25/10

Many see the stars above us
Few the sparkle there
Inscrib’d wi’ the spear and torc
Of mighty Gods, and fair

Those that stand to light the way
Bright lanterns in the mire
Let them be immortalized
Though time may still their fire

Here now lieth such a one
A pilgrim of the path
Whose flame that lit the mighty cliff
did many seek to grasp

Let all imbued with true desire
To know the Gods of old
Hallow he interr’d here
A heart of faith, and gold

Suggested links:

Kenny Klein
www.kennyklein.net

The Gypsy Nomads
www.thegypsynomads.com

Jason Mankey
www.panmankey.com

Gina Garan
www.thisisblythe.com

Incus
www.incus.net

Welcome! We are embarking on something new here at Sacred Mists! I will be posting a series of interviews with notable pagan authors, teachers, musicians, and historical movers and shakers. There will be many here that you may know and have heard of, and then there will be some that you may not. What I am am trying to do here is to present these interviews to everyone so that they can be used as a teaching tool. I do hope that you will enjoy reading the interviews as much as I’ve enjoyed my time in writing them for you. Please-let me know what you think and post any questions that you may have. With these questions, we can do follow-up’s with responses with answers for you direct from the source!

Bernadette: Oberon..I want to thank you for taking the time to do this. You where actually the one who inspired me to do this series of interviews. When we had our talk at Starwood, we spoke about history and who our elders are. How can we teach the next generation of pagans/witches/heathens about our history. As we all know, Isaac Bonewitz has recently crossed over. I was wondering if you would you like to say a little something about him and your experiences with knowing him?

OZ: Isaac was an amazing guy—just over-the-top brilliant, and utterly dedicated to the Goddess and the Pagan movement. He was deeply committed to all the highest Pagan causes: social justice, environmentalism, civil rights, women’s issues, and particularly, scholarship. His motto (which should be the epitaph on his tombstone) was “Why not excellence?” We corresponded from around 1971, after I read his book, Real Magic, and we first met in 1972. As editor of Gnostica News, he was at the Gnostic Aquarian Festival in Minneapolis over Mabon of 1973, where I was a keynote speaker. It was there I met Morning Glory, and at the banquet Isaac asked us when we intended to get married, and if he could perform the ceremony. The following Easter, he and our CAW High Priestess Carolyn Clark conducted our spectacular Pagan handfasting at the Gnostica Spring Witchmoot. The highlight of the ceremony was when both of them set their waist-long hair on fire from the altar candles! Later on, MG and I performed his marriage to Selene Vega, and more recently (July 23, 2004), I performed the handfasting for him and Phaedra at Starwood.

Over the years, Isaac and I shared a number of lovers, creating our own little clan of “lovers-in-law.” We attended many festivals together, hung out around many campfires, drank a lot of mead, and sang many silly songs together. We’d have these great conversations on the whichness of what, and how to unscrew the inscrutable. We always talked about writing a book together on Pagan thealogy, and just a year ago at Starwood—before he was diagnosed with cancer—he was talking about moving back to the Left Coast and joining the faculty of the Grey School . I’m really having a hard time accepting that he’s gone. But “what is remembered, lives.” And Isaac will always live in the memories of those of us who have been privileged to have known him.

In honor of Isaac, and his livelong commitment to magickal scholarship, the Grey School of Wizardry has just established an “Isaac Bonewits Memorial Scholarship” to be awarded to the youth and adult students who each year earn our two “Student of the Year” awards.

Bernadette: You have been seen the Pagan community grow over these many years. In what direction do you see the Pagan community going?

OZ: Well, of course, I see it continuing to grow, and become more and more visible in the world. Eventually, the general mainstream public will realize that we exist, and who we really are. Our values and positions on many issues (environmentalism, women’s rights, gay rights, etc.), will become more widely known and appreciated as wiser and more viable alternatives to the madness of the predominant culture, and I think many more will be drawn to join us in a “green religion” to heal and awaken our living Earth. We will acquire more and more Pagan lands, where we’ll erect stone circles and create retreat centers for festivals. I expect Pagan villages and retirement communities to start coming together on such lands. Pagan businesses will become more and more prominent and successful. Each new generation born into Paganism will deepen our traditions, celebrations, and Mysteries. I feel strongly that Paganism is truly the unifying religion and mythos that the world needs, and its re-emergence in our time heralds a grand new Renaissance of human culture on a global scale.

Bernadette: How does it compare to the “early” days?

OZ: Well, back “in the day” (the ‘60s) I could count the number of self-professed Pagans in the world on the fingers of one foot—and we all knew each other. We formed a network of friends and lovers that permeated the emerging Pagan community and connected all the early groups with each other into a genuine grassroots movement. Those were the heady days of the founding of all the various Paths and Traditions. We felt we were pretty much on our own, entirely free to make it up as we felt inspired; anything was possible! So we concentrated on creating the sorts of values, traditions, groups and institutions that suited our own needs and Visions, rather than trying to shoehorn ourselves into existing ones. We were very excited in our awareness that we were starting a major new religious movement, and we were very concerned and conscious to avoid the errors of previous such movements that led to holy wars (an oxymoron if ever there was one!), Crusades, Jihads, Inquisitions, genocides, and all the other horrors that have been inflicted upon a suffering humanity (and the natural world as well) throughout history in the name of religion. And I think we figgered it out: We had to eschew the notion of “One True Right and Only Way,” and cherish diversity as our highest value. And we had to recognize that we are all children of the same Mother—and that, as Hesiod repeated numerous times in The Theogony, “Mother Gaea loves all her children.” In this I feel we have been enormously successful. Modern Paganism is profoundly inclusive—rather than exclusive as most other religions tend to be.

Bernadette: How where you first introduced to Paganism and who influenced you in the very beginning?

OZ: I was introduced to Paganism as a child—my first readings were children’s versions of the Greek myths (with Roman names) in the Childcraft book, Myths and Legends of the World. I fell in love with mythology, the stories, the deities, Goddesses, heroes, magick—all of it. After that I couldn’t get enough of reading mythology, and I branched out into fantasy and science fiction, where I encountered the juvenile novels of Robert A. Heinlein as he was writing them—and as I was the age of his protagonists. And in my first year of college (1961), the next book in the series was Stranger in a Strange Land, which inspired the creation of the real-life Church of All Worlds and a polyamorous lifestyle that I have continued ever since.

In 1970, I was introduced to the Goddess by Robert Graves’ The White Goddess and Erich Neumann’s The Great Mother. That same year, I began training in Witchcraft under Deborah Letter (now Deborah Bourbon). She opened the first occult shop (The Cauldron) in St Louis in 1969, and started offering classes in the Craft and Ceremonial Magick in 1970. I was among her first students, and she still mentions this on the website of her current store, Pathways.

Isaac Bonewits’ Real Magic (1971) was extremely helpful, making enough sense that I could become a serious magickal practitioner. There was Carolyn Clark, High Priestess of CAW in the early ‘70s, who taught me a bit of Appalachian Witchcraft and Hoodoo. And Mama Julie Tower of the Tower Family, who continued my magickal training in the late ‘70s with lessons on immersing myself into the each of the Four Elements.

Bernadette: You have contributed so very much to the community. I would like to hear about the contributions that you are most proud of.

OZ: Hmm. Well, first, of course, there’s the Church of All Worlds , which Lance Chris tie and I inaugurated by sharing water on April 7, 1962. Then there’s the self-identification with the word “Pagan” in 1967—which began a movement. And Green Egg magazine, which I started at Ostara of 1968, and which got everyone talking together and sorting out what we all believed, and where we wanted to go with it. Co-founding various Pagan networks, coalitions and alliances (Atl, Council of Themis, Council of Earth Religions, Covenant of the Goddess, Universal Federation of Pagans, Papal Apology Project). There’s the “Gaia Thesis,” which came to me in a transformative vision on Sept. 6, 1970, giving us a universal thealogical mythos. Bringing genuine living Unicorns back to the world in 1980 was pretty major, restoring a sense of wonder and a realization that if Unicorns could be real, than anything was possible. I’m proud of my artwork—book and magazine illos and covers, posters, T-shirts, figurines, jewelry, etc.—especially my masterwork, the Millennial Gaia figurine (1998). I’m pleased that my books have been so successful—particularly Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard (2004). And now, my crowning achievement to date, there’s the Grey School of Wizardry, opened on Lughnasadh of 2004.

Bernadette: I grew up reading Green Egg. It is now an online magazine. Why the transition to the internet?

OZ: Throughout its 42-year history, Green Egg has always been at the cutting edge of what was possible to do with an essentially amateur publication. Beginning at Spring Equinox, 1968, the first 18 monthly issues were run off on a ditto machine! Then we graduated to mimeograph (with an electronic stencil cutter), then to a little Rex Rotary desktop offset printer, and eventually to a big Multilith. For page layout, we went from manual to IBM Selectric typewriters. All this was in the late ‘60s-‘70s—back in St Louis. When we resurrected GE in California in the ‘80s, we went straight to professional shop printing, utilizing the first Macintosh computers with PageMaker for layouts. We were the first Pagan publication to do split-fountain color covers, to use soybean inks and recycled paper, to go to 4-color glossy covers, and every other innovation we could utilize. So when it became possible to dispense with paper printing and mailing altogether, and create downloadable PDF files, naturally we were right on top of it!

The new online version is in full-color throughout, which is really cool. There is no limit to the number of pages that each issue can contain. And it is downloadable, so it can be printed out as hard copy. We save the enormous costs and logistical troubles of having to have a printing company, buying paper, and mailing copies to subscribers and distributors (as well as billing them). We don’t have to worry about unsold back issues (of which I still have boxes in my garage!). We don’t need to rent an office building and hire a large staff, as everything can now be done from everyone’s personal computers at home.

The Internet is the wave of the future, and I feel strongly that Green Egg will continue to thrive and flourish in this new virtual venue, finding its own special niche as it has done before, with pretty much the same goals, Vision and Mission: “To boldly go where no Pagan publication has gone before!” And we will stay at the leading edge of publishing possibilities as we get more interactive, with animation, and eventually virtual reality… Green Egg’s current motto is: “Legends Never Die.” And the current Editor, Ariel, has just proclaimed it free of charge to all subscribers!

Bernadette: What are your goals?

OZ: Well, my personal Mission Statement hasn’t changed since college: “To be a catalyst for the coalescence of consciousness.” I am working to aid, abet, and foster the evolution of consciousness into the next quantum leap: the Awakening of planetary consciousness—of Gaea Herself. Everything I do in my life is directed in service towards this great ultimate Purpose. Founding a church and fostering an entire religious movement; publishing the vanguard journal of that movement for more than 40 years; creating and participating in numerous ecumenical and interfaith councils; creating sacred art and iconography (temple posters, altar statues, jewelry, ritual clothing…); writing books of magickal lore and teachings; and most recently, founding a School of Wizardry.

I have major plans for the next phase of the Church of All Worlds , which will center on bringing our current website up to the same state-of-the-art level of complexity and interactivity that we have with the Grey School . I want it to become a vital resource and support system not only for our own members, but for the entire Pagan community—providing training programs towards self-actualization, liturgical materials (rituals, chants, invocations, etc.), and a library of writings on all aspects of Pagan culture, politics, theology, wisdom, lifestyles, and personalities. Fortunately, talented people are already working on this …

With the CAW on a firm foundation, I hope to return to my most ambitious ecumenical project: the Universal Federation of Pagans (UFP), in which all Pagan organizations would be able to participate. I started this out 20 years ago, and we incorporated in 1990 with more than 100 member groups. We even got our 501(c)(3). But other circumstances involving the CAW and Green Egg drew my attention elsewhere, and I had to leave it in the hands of others, where it has languished.

I’d like to travel with Morning Glory to visit a few more places in the world we haven’t gotten to yet: Egypt , Thailand , Bali , Cambodia , South Africa (a safari!), New Zealand , Ireland , Stonehenge , India , Japan , Malta , Turkey … I want to go to all these places with Morning Glory, and also take her to Paris , England , Italy , and Greece (where we’ve each been separately).

I’d like to experience sky-diving, parafoil sailing, hang-gliding, hot-air ballooning, water-ski kiting, a ride on the “vomit comet,” and a trip into space…

And by the time I’ve finished doing all these things, I’ll have even more ideas. I never run out of inspiration and ideas for projects—far more than can possibly be accomplished in a single lifetime—so I’ll just have to keep coming back time and time again!

Most immediately, however, we are trying to generate enough money to purchase the home we are living in. A 10.7-acre farm, it is currently up for sale, and we really don’t want to have to move again! This (or someplace even better) would also provide a physical campus for the Grey School of Wizardry, where Morning Glory’s and my life, work, library and museum collections would find a permanent home and become a legacy to future generations. I might like to raise Unicorns again, maybe breed a Phoenix; have a “funny animal” farm and petting zoo, with kangaroos, emus, alpacas, wombats, fruit bats, possums, draco volens…

Bernadette: Can you tell us more about “Green Egg Omelet?

OZ: It’s a really cool anthology representing some of the best articles, poetry, fiction, cartoons, etc. published in Green Egg over a 40-year span, when GE was the vanguard journal of the entire Pagan movement. Chas Clifton helped me select pieces to include from among the vast number we’ve published over those decades, and he wrote introductions for each of the 12 sections. I’m really proud of the selection.

There are many more Green Egg anthologies I could put together, focusing on different themes—I’m thinking Green Egg Sunny-Side Up (fiction & humor); Green Egg Hard-Boiled (history, power & politics); Green Egg Soft-Boiled (thealogy & philosophy); Green Egg and Ham (kids & families); Green Egg Poached (ecosophy & environmentalism); Green Egg Easy Over (feminism & sacred sexuality); Green Egg Benedict (Paganism & comparative religions); Green Egg Fried (psychedelics & consciousness); and Green Egg Scrambled (miscellaneous)..Ham. These would be released in an appropriate sequence yet to be determined…

I could put together an entire book just of my editorials, essays, columns, interviews and opinions on all manner of subjects…but what to title it?

Bernadette: Can you tell us about the Grey School of Wizardry?

OZ: Sure. From my earliest years in college, I always had a dream to create a school that would teach the magickal arts and wisdom of the ages to gifted students. I was inspired by real-life experimental schools, such as Summerhill, Montessori, and the Walden schools—as well as “Professor Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters” in the X-Men comics. So I studied education and developmental psychology, earned a teaching certificate, and taught public school for several years. But my other Great Work, which at the time seemed more urgently necessary, was creating a Pagan Church and fostering a nascent Pagan Movement, so that commanded pretty much all my attention for four decades.

When I was writing the Grimoire for the Apprentice Wizard, I thought I’d provide the basic information, and then refer readers to some online schools of magick where they could continue their studies. But I quickly discovered that there weren’t any. All the schools of magick out there were religious (invariably Wiccan), and none of them admitted minors. But Wizardry isn’t a religion—any more than philosophy, science, or medicine. And I didn’t want to be recruiting the kids who read my book into some funny religion—even if it is my own. So I realized that this was one of those “Assignments from the Goddess” that I get periodically: if I see a need for a thing that doesn’t exist, I know I have to create it myself.

So once I’d completed the Grimoire and sent it off to New Page, I turned my attention to conceptualizing and creating the School for which the Grimoire would become the foundational textbook. This meant locating and recruiting phenomenal and dedicated website designers, teachers, administrators, and a brilliant Pagan attorney with expertise in non-profit organizations. We incorporated in California on March 14, 2004, and obtained our Federal 501(c)(3) as a nonprofit educational institution. We opened our virtual doors to our first incoming students at Lughnasadh of 2004.

The motto of the Grey School is: Omnia vivunt, omnia inter se conexa (“Everything is alive; everything is interconnected”— Cicero ). We have 16 color-coded “Departments” for Majors, offering more than 350 classes, at seven levels. Graduates are certified as “Journeyman Wizards.”

Besides the academic focus, Grey School students and faculty provide a thriving interactive magickal community. Youth students are sorted into Elemental “Houses” based on their Sun sign, while adults are likewise directed into Elemental “Lodges.” These compete via academic credits and merit points for the “House Hat” and the “Lodge Cup,” which are awarded semi-annually at the Equinoxes.

Clubs are available to students who wish to delve deeper into specific focus areas. Special forums provide everything from an online Bardic Circle , Healers, Defensors, All-School Challenges, to the latest edition of the student-produced school newspaper, Whispering Grey Matters.

Regional outdoor summer camps called “Conclaves” bring local students and faculty together for up to a week of classes, hikes, campfires, and more. A few of our 40 faculty members also offer hands-on internships. The long-term Vision for the Grey School includes acquiring a physical campus, such as a castle, a monastery, or a retreat center—with residential facilities for both students and teachers. To this end, we are seeking substantial grants and other donations.

¾ of the students enrolled in GSW are adults—some into their 70s. This was totally unanticipated; we’d designed the Grey school for teenage apprentices. But it seems that people of all ages who have been drawn to the magickal path have wanted for their whole lives the teachings that we are providing. And so we have adapted our format accordingly, with both youth and adult tracks—including a new “Magister” program that allows adult students to take classes in all Departments at all levels.

Like the fictional “Hogwarts” of the Harry Potter stories, the present Grey School is equivalent in grade level to middle school through high school (seven years). This is our Apprenticeship program, and it culminates with a Certificate of Journeyman Wizard in your particular Major. A few years from now we intend to develop the next level: a program of Journeyman studies equivalent to a four-year college, culminating in a Master’s Degree. And after that, a University-level program of Master studies for an Adeptus Degree (equivalent to a PhD). So there’ll be plenty of more adult-oriented studies to come!

We are intentionally training future leaders—not only for the Pagan community, but also for the larger world (the Grey School is not a religious school—we welcome and have students of all religions here). We have a strong and effective program of leadership training in the School, which includes student Prefects and Captains for our eight Houses and Lodges. Also, of course, many people who are already leaders in their communities have been enrolling in the Grey School to receive our unique training, and they are naturally going to be taking that back to their own communities as well. We are very visionary with what we have in mind—Wizards in every walk of life, advising, counseling, teaching; shaping the future with the Wisdom of the Ancients.

Bernadette: For those who are not familiar, can you give us an explanation of Gaian Thealogy?

OZ: Sure. “The Gaea Thesis,” as I like to call it, is, quite simply, the premise that all life on Earth, us included, comprises a single vast living organism, in whose body we are the equivalent of cells. This is not just a metaphor; all creatures on Earth are literally descended from a single original cell fertilized into replication at the time of the “Cambrian Explosion,” 544 million years ago. And, just as with the cells in our own bodies, the same DNA runs throughout all creatures on Earth. This planetary being has been acknowledged by all cultures from the dawn of time as “Mother Earth” or “Mother Nature.” The ancient Greek name for Her was “Ge,” or “Gaea,” from whom we derive the names of all the Earth sciences and studies, such as geology, geography, geochemistry, geodesy, geophysics, etc.

And, like any living organism at any scale, it is implicit that She has Her own sentience, consciousness, awareness, Spirit. This we have always known, and called “Goddess.” Our Goddess is the very Soul of Nature! And our vision of the future evolution of this life-stream includes what Dane Rudyar has called “the planetarization of consciousness,” and Teilhard de Chardin terms “the Omega Point.” This implies the linking up of all sentients into a “global brain” wherein a vast single consciousness emerges, just as we ourselves individually attain such consciousness sometime during our first year of life. Thus will Gaia come fully into wakefulness, where now She but slumbers (and dreams…).

All this came to me in a profound revelatory vision on Sept. 7, 1970…

Bernadette: What projects do you and Morning Glory have coming up?

MG is now into the second year of offering a monthly series of weekend Goddess Retreats at our rural home, RavenHaven, using her collection of 300 votive Goddess figurines from around the world and throughout history. Each of these retreats focuses on a different category of Goddesses—such as Goddesses of Love, Healing, Prosperity, Darkness, Motherhood, Animals, etc. The plan is to eventually develop these retreats into a series of 13 books: “Golden Goddess Guides.”

As for me, I have a number of books in the works. Morning Glory and I have completed our life story so far, which will be published by Llewellyn in the fall of 2011. Its title is The Witch and the Wizard OZ. I’m currently working on a long-overdue book to be titled, GaeaGenesis: Conception and Birth of the Living Earth and also the Grimoire for the Journeyman Wizard. After that may come another Companion. And eventually, of course, a Grimoire for the Master Wizard.

I’m also working on an encyclopedic Wizards of the World, in conjunction with Natasha “Solaris” Kirby, one of our Grey School faculty members.

Future books I want to write after these include: A Wizard’s Guide to Girls; A Wizard’s Guide to Women; A Wizard’s Guide to Life; Legendary Journeys (journal entries and color photos from Morning Glory’s and my travels to sacred sites around the world); Children of the Lesser Gods (a companion to A Wizard’s Bestiary, about mythical peoples rather than animals); History’s Mysteries; Unicorns in Our Garden (a coffee-table book of color photos, news clippings, and writings about our living Unicorns) and The Gospel of Gaea (a narrative story of the history of life on Earth, written in the style of Genesis). Maybe even a book on the Church of All Worlds , titled Never Thirst, or Water Shared is Life Shared…and one on the Pagan Movement, titled Green Religion. And an anthology of stories by ex- Chris tian clergy who have come over to Paganism, titled Goodbye, Jesus; I’ve gone home to Mother. I have folders full of material for each of these.

I’m sure I’ll keep coming up with more book ideas as I go along…

I also want to get back to sculpting more plaques and figurines, whenever we can manage to set up another art studio. I have several entire pantheons leaning over my shoulder, demanding “me next!” and plenty of available models.

When I get some time to do something frivolous (i.e. not marketable), I have an intricate kit for a four-foot-wingspan working model of Leonardo da Vinci’s ornithopter that I’ve been dying to assemble! But that’s a month-long project, at least, and would cover the entire dining room table—and I just don’t have that kind of time and space these days.

Bernadette: How is the research into ancient lore and legend coming? I imagine that this is a life-long project.

OZ: It is indeed! See my book, A Wizard’s Bestiary. The full stories of our Living Unicorn Project and Mermaid Expedition are included therein. As I mentioned above, there are still many places in the world that MG and I wish to visit and learn about firsthand. And we are seriously talking about bringing back Unicorns again…contingent upon our buying this farm.

Many people hear about polyamory but really have no clear cut understanding of it. Can you explain what polyamory is to you? Where so you see the polyamory movement going? What may be the positive and the negative aspects of polyamory. Is it for everyone?

Polyamory (a term coined by Morning Glory in 1990) simply means “The practice, state or ability of having more than one sexual loving relationship at the same time, with the full knowledge and consent of all partners involved.” This is distinct from polygamy, which means marrying several people. As for numbers, we recently saw a short documentary on the History Channel which claimed that there are currently more than 500,000 people in the US practicing polyamory, so it looks like MG started a real movement with that term!

As for the positive aspects, these are legion: always having backup when one partner isn’t available for some reason; a mediator when any two people get at loggerheads; a team to handle larger projects; companionship; never having to be lonely. With multiple partners, more needs can be met than one person can possibly fulfill, so one can explore and develop more aspects of one’s potential.

As for the negative aspects…well, try as I might, I just can’t think of any! But I do think the worst thing about monamory is that no one ever gets to sleep in the middle.

But polyamory definitely isn’t for everyone! One has to be truly inclined in that orientation (as with being gay) to make it work—and also, of course, one has to find partners who share that essential nature. MG and I have come to believe that the most common natural relationship pattern for most people may very well be serial monogamy: exclusive devotion to one person at a time—for several years, perhaps—and then moving on to another. This is not polyamory, which is about having several significant relationships simultaneously.

As to the future of polyamory, I believe that the first syllable of the word polyamory, “poly,” is a post-modern paradigm of great value; and that “polyamory” is one expression of it. We live in a POLYmorphous POLYverse, in which even many scientists seem to understand that our world emerges out of chaos and the order we perceive feeds and thrives on the chaos that is beyond our understanding. Where one linear idea once lived in human culture, a diversity of notions have grown.

I believe that polyamory is a very important new relationship option whose time seems to have arrived. Where once we thought every family should consist of a monogamous man and woman with their 2.5 kids, we now consider a family to be any small group of bonded people who claim that connection with one another. Most families no longer fit the conventional description. The much-lamented “breakdown of the American family,” and the need to reclaim “traditional family values,” are manifestations of the 20th Century’s transition from village life and extended families to the modern “nuclear family” units, which often reduce down to a single mother trying to raise and support children she hardly even interacts with.

A century ago, the typical American family consisted of three generations (parents, children and grandparents) living together in a large house, along with lateral relatives such as Uncles and Aunts, and even at least one unrelated live-in “servant,” such as a nanny, butler, cook or housekeeper. The “Traditional American Family,” in fact, looked pretty much like “The Addams Family!”

With each generation of the last century, we have become increasingly isolated and alienated. Ever-increasing numbers of American children are growing up with no brothers or sisters, hardly any parental interactions, and no adult role models for parenting or other relationships. Their interactions with other children occur in hostile environments, such as schools and the street, where they are subject to ever-rising levels of teasing, harassment, bullying and violence. They retreat to the world of television, video games, and the Internet—none of which provide real-life interaction with actual flesh-and-blood human beings.

But deep within each of us is our genetic ancestral memory of the Tribe, the Clan, the extended Family. Such rich relationships nurtured and sustained our ancestors from the dawn of time, and it was within that context that we became fully human. We require and crave such connections and relationships in our deepest heart-of-hearts, and we seek them in clubs, gangs, fraternities, cliques, parties, pubs, communes, churches, nests, covens, and circles of close friends.

And for an increasing number of us, we are learning how to create such complex and deep bonding relationships through extended networks of multiple lovers and expanded families. “Polyamory,” implying multiple lovers, is both a new paradigm for relationships and a vision for healing the pathological alienation of individuals in modern society.

We now know that the biodiversity we value in nature, as the biologist Bruce Bagemihl points out, is valuable in sexual and bonding behavior also. And although Dr. Bagamihl is talking about animals, we are also animals and this applies equally to us. Polyamory is not “the answer.” Diversity and choice are the answers—and polyamory is one of the strands in the decentralized network of diversity and choice with regard to human bonding, intimacy, and family.

Oberon Zell and Morning Glory Zell Websites:

My personal site: http://www.OberonZell.com

MG’s and my artwork, books, statuary, jewelry: http://www.MythicImages.com

Church of All Worlds: http://www.CAW.com

Green Egg magazine online: http://www.GreenEggZine.com

Grey School of Wizardry: http://www.GreySchool.com

Blessings Oz!

Bernadette: I would like to encourage readers to post questions here, either for me or for Oberon. We will be sure to get you an answer here on the Sacred Mists Blog!

On behalf of Sacred Mists, we want to thank you for the time you’ve shared with us in doing this interview and for everything you have given to the pagan community as a whole. Many blessings to both you and Morning Glory!

Today’s tarot card is the 2 of swords. Look at the imagery of this card. In this particular deck (The Sacred Circle), we see that there are two swords. One facing up and one facing down. There are sacred images in the background (a stone monolith) and green fields all around.
What might this mean to you? I am looking at this card and I get a “gut” feeling. What or who is opposing me? Are there conflicting thoughts? Am I having an internal conflict or having a hard time making a decision?
The whole “feeling” of this card is actually quite serene looking. In order to make the correct decisions, I need to be calm and serene. The number two is also a call for balance in one’s life. Have you achieved that? Do you need to find some balance in order to make the important decisions that you need to make. Remember-when you are emotional, it is hard to make an informed decision. It’s easy to let our emotions get away from us and slip up.  This may be a time of indecision, trouble may be ahead, in need of finding direction in your life.

This card is also a minor arcana card.  The Minor Arcana  indicates; that this is an issue that can be handled fairly easily!  Take a look around you.  Is this something that really doesn’t matter much to you?  Stay in control of your feelings and center yourself.

Please post any questions that you may have!  What is your take on this and how would this apply to you!

Wine has been a dietary staple of mankind for millennia upon millennia. Since the creation of the first ritual vessel over 9,000 years ago it has been possible for men and women to create a wine like substance of fermented fruit. Fruits gathered as ancient hominid nomads first roamed the valleys and mountains of the world, exploring its marvels and magick for the first time. And stored in the hopes of keeping the delicate treat for a harsher season: and voila ~ wine was born!

From these earliest times up to the modern day, wine has held a special place among the drinks of men. Sometimes merely a staple beverage, sometimes taken purely for its intoxicating powers, but more often than not, the popularity of wine has been due to its ritual significance in culture after culture that discovered this remarkable indulgence.

The Origins of Wine

Wine, as we most commonly know it today in aisle 17 of the supermarket, is made from fermented grapes. As such, it first appeared approximately 7,000 years ago in the mountains of the Middle East, specifically at two known archaeological sites: Shulaveri, the late Neolithic typesite of the Shulaveri-Shomu culture in Georgia and Hajji Firuz Tepe, a slightly later (5400-5000 BCE) Neolithic village in the Zagros mountains of Iran. The earliest grape presses, used to mass produce larger quantities of wine, date to the 3rd millennium, and have been found at sites in Turkey, northern Greece, and on the plains of central Mesopotamia. The domestication of the grape and widespread viniculture likewise appears to stem from this same timeframe.

Historically, viniculture spread out from the mountains of the Near East. And with the rise of complex cultures in the Middle East and the Mediterranean, wine gained an even greater foothold ~ burrowing its way into the meals and the sacred religious traditions of the peoples it came into wider contact with. Traditions we are aware of courtesy of ancient art, early texts, and of course, classical myth.

Before we begin our exploration of the magickal history of wine, viniculture, and viticulture, there are three intriguing facts that bear remembering throughout the article: Firstly, that most wine in the ancient world was red wine according to modern chemical analyses of the remaining vessels that have been uncovered. Few samples of white wine have been found, the majority of which have come from the same source: none other than the famous King Tutankhamun’s tomb.

Secondly, that wine was typically consumed in a diluted format: mixed with water, other fruit juices, honey, etc. Ancient man would pretty much be appalled at the sheer strength of modern wine, which to their palate and alcoholic endurance would be entirely unsuitable. In other words, wine was not always drunk just to be, well, drunk, to use the other meaning of the word. Intoxication was not always what wine was consumed for. In a world where water wasn’t safe to drink alone, other things, like wine and beer substituted as the daily go-to drink when it was readily available. And when it was not readily available it was highly prized for its scarcity.

And thirdly, when archaeologists say they have found wine at a site, with the rare exception of some thick sludge at the bottom of an ancient amphorae; more often what they have found is the dried remnants of a wine compound on broken or whole vessels. Using complex and exciting modern technologies like infra-red spectrometry and liquid chromatography, scientists can identify the specific chemical compounds of what was once contained by vessels. In the case of wine, scientists are looking for large quantities of calcium salt from tartaric acid (something that occurs in such quantities only when grapes ferment) and some type of preservative signifying that what was held in the vessel was not simply just grape juice. In the case of Hajji Firuz Tepe’s wine, for instance, the resin of the terebinth tree, a natural preservative, was identified alongside calcium salt indicating that the grape juice was intentionally fermented to make wine.

Wine in Ancient Greece

Wine hit Greece and the islands of the Mediterranean circa 6,300 years ago as it flowed out of the Middle East. And it was the Greeks who would later import wine to Egypt and much later to their Greek colonies in Italy, and therefore eventually the Romans.

Greek religion is dominated by the idea of the cycle of life, death, and re-birth ~ of the flowing of the seasons from the bountiful spring through to the desiccated winter. And viniculture easily permeated this ever present interest in the magick of nature. Grapevines bud in the spring, burst forth their fruit in the summer and fall, and lie dormant in the winter, waiting until spring will wake them up again, drawing them forth from the afterlife. The Greek god of wine, Dionysus, was a dying god ~ who like his beloved grapes was ritually killed each winter only to be reborn in the spring.

A variety of wine rituals existed throughout ancient Greece, in its two precursor cultures the Minoan and the Mycenaean, as well as during the classical Greek period of the first millennium. Throughout the Minoan island empire, wine was a popular offering for their mysterious mother goddess Potnia ~ who required bloodless offerings unlike some of her divine counterparts and accepted wine as a suitable substitute in her rituals (she also, incidentally, accepted wool, cheese, honey, fennel, and coriander). Poseidon, a much older god than mainstream mythology gives him credit for, likewise favored wine as an offering ~ if statistical analyses of known offerings to him are correct. On the prehistoric mainland, where Mycenaean culture thrived, the Feast of New Wine (the me-tu-wo-ne-wo) was a popular ritual for the Mater Theia, an early mother goddess, rather than Dionysus, despite his already contemporary role as a dying god of wine. Feminist anthropologists suggest that this transfer of the normally male role was part and parcel of the fertility dynamic of the ‘new wine.’ Whether this ‘new wine’ was the first bud of the season in the vineyard or the first open bottle of the season (societal parallels would suggest the former) ~ posterity may never officially know, as the Pylos Text, our source for the Feast of New Wine is decidedly vague.

In classical Athens, the year was filled with festivals devoted to wine, vineyards, and their chthonic patron god Dionysus. In April, around what the Greeks considered their new year, was the Anethesteria~ the Festival of the Vine Flower: three days of celebrations in honor of the opening of the wine jugs from the previous successful crop. It also featured a sacred marriage between the god Dionysus (in the form of one of his priests) and a high ranking wife of local society ~ similar to the sacred marriage between the dying god and the goddess in several other earlier and contemporary Mediterranean cultures. Wine was celebrated likewise at each stage of its production. For the ancient Greeks it was not just the final product that was of importance, but the sacred site of the vineyard and the process whereby wine was created from the earth. The Greater Dionysia in late spring celebrated wine’s and Dionysus’ powers of inspiration and creative merriment with sexy parades through the city of the god’s image, theatrical performances, and yep, you guessed it ~ lots of wine drinking. The Lenaea festival in winter celebrated the birth of one of the forms of the god Dionysus in conjunction with the successful completion of the fermentation of the previous season’s wine. It, like the Dionysia, featured theatrical performances albeit of a much more somber, tragic nature. The Lesser Dionysia, meandering over the summer, took the Greater Dionysia on the road: brining the festival and its performances to the outlying villages. And the Argionia, another country festival, was part revelry and part Mystery Cult: re-enacting a mythic nighttime hunt for the god through the forest by his slightly drunken revelers.

Wine in Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt had a love-hate relationship with wine. Given Egypt’s minimal capability to grow grapes, with only a few sections of Egypt (like the Nile Delta) capable of cultivating such a crop, most wine was imported into Egypt. Thus for much of ancient Egyptian history both local and foreign wines were considered elite, and were therefore used only for ritual purposes or drunk by the uber elite and royal family (who, along with the temples owned most of the vineyards); with the exception of festivals like that of Hathor in Bubastis, where it was common for all people to be given free wine courtesy of temple lands. With wider trade routes and greater technological expansion, by the middle of the first millennia BCE however, wine had spread from temple and elite consumption to the wider masses and was, of course, wildly popular.

Wine was a popular grave good among the wealthy echelons of Egyptian society because it was, of course, something they wanted to take with them to drink and be merry with in the afterlife. Most wine in ancient Egyptian society was red wine, which was known as irep. A sweetened red wine, used more often for ritual purposes and drunk by the Pharaoh was called shedeh. With the discovery of white wine in King Tut’s tomb it is believed that it, too, was popular in the religious efforts of Egyptian high society, particularly for ritual purposes and as a grave good. Prior to the discovery of white wine in King Tutankamun tomb, white wine was not believed to have been around in Egypt until the first century BC, when vineyards producing whites are mentioned near Alexandria by Roman authors. If white wine was around for the two thousand or so years prior to their written inclusion and only appear the once on behalf of King Tut, it would appear that it must have held a particularly elite role within Egyptian society, perhaps even being a sacred wine of the temples which was rarely released to even the highest stratum of society.

The similarity of appearance between red wine and blood in particular disturbed the Egyptians and added to its mythical power within their society. To drink it was to drink the blood of the earth. Early cults among the Delta, dedicated to deities later known more commonly as Osiris, Isis and Seti, most likely used wine in their ceremonies and offerings, believing their gods to be rather vampiric in nature and that the wine might stand in for human sacrifices (a concept Anne Rice explores rather marvelously as the origin myth for her literary Vampires). Wine continued to be an offering to the gods of the earth in later, brighter periods of Egyptian culture and was, particularly associated with the blessing of crops and, Catch-22 style ~vineyards.

In the Moralia the later Roman author Plutarch mentions a particularly intriguing period of Egyptian history circa 60 BCE when the superstition regarding wine as blood had become so fervent among the Egyptian people that even the royal family ceased its consumption, believing it to be not just the blood of the earth, but the blood of the enemies of the gods whose bodies had swallowed by the grave. Naughty blood nobody wanted to drink and have be a part of them.

Wine in Ancient Rome

Rome was ultimately responsible for the spread of wine throughout Europe, and in particular for bringing the grape to France~ the modern world capital of viticulture. Technological progress in wine production and a sound infrastructure meant that Rome could make large quantities of wine wherever they wandered. By the start of the Roman Empire in the first century AD, wine was a staple of the Mediterranean diet: from commoner to elite. They, like their preceding and contemporary cultures, were enamored of vino and incorporated it in offerings to their household gods, state deities, and ancestors. But they likewise were cautious of the effects of over-drinking and sought to curb ritual activities that encouraged drunkenness. The Greek god Dionysus was sometimes called Acratophorus ‘ the giver of unmixed wine’ for his patronage of drunkenness, the frenzy called the bakcheia , a term that lent itself to Dionysus’ Roman name Bacchus, and his principal Roman festival the Bacchanalia (sometimes also called the Liberalia, in honor of the local god of Rome Liber, a figure often very similar to Bacchus). In 186 BCE, one of the earliest extant decrees of the Roman Republic sought to restrain the traditional widespread merriment of the Bacchanalia, which typically consisted of a night and day of feasting and initiation rites conducted by women on the outskirts of Rome around March 16th and 17th. While curtailed for the next several hundred years, the prohibition against indulgence only solidified the festival and the god’s power among the Roman people, particularly women ~ who found freedom in Bacchus’ cult and were allowed to hold high ranking position within.

Incidentally, the Romans were also very keen on the idea space having significant meaning and sacred symbolism, kind of like a Mediterranean feng shui. With regards to wine, they believed that a room for storing wine should be built with its doorway leading out to the north, because the north was not as subject to constant changes and cosmic turmoil which might disrupt the harmonious creation of good wine (Vitruvius, De Architectura 1.4.2).

The Rise and Fall (and the Rise again!) of Wine around the World

With the decline of the Roman Empire, the infrastructure which had encouraged the widespread production and trading of wine faltered. Western Europe descended into a brief bit of chaos known as the Dark Ages, and when it recovered, it had a new master: the Catholic Church. Fortunately for wine, the Catholic Church had early on incorporated wine into one of its most sacred ceremonies: the Eucharist aka Holy Communion. In this ritual, wine and bread/wafer cookies are consumed before a priest, representing the blood and flesh of Jesus Christ. It is a brief melding of the supplicant with his/her god. Intriguingly, just as the Egyptians and other cultures viewed wine as a metaphor for blood, so too does the modern world, where the Eucharist is still taken every Sunday by the Catholic Church’s resilient parishioners. It seems some perceptions of the world around us are too deeply ingrained to etch out: wine=blood being one of them. Lucky for wine though, because it was through the Church that wine survived the next thousand plus years and spread across the world. It was personally introduced to the Americas by no less than the Spanish conquistadors and their accompanying priests.

Today, wine is of course, one of the most popular alcoholic beverages on the market, merrily consumed by many a responsible adult of legal drinking age. But even in the secular modern world, the rituals of the grape lie lurking just around the corner.

In Eastern Europe for instance, there is the Trifon Zarezan quietly practiced every spring by Eastern Orthodox Communities. On February 1st, on the feast day of St. Trifon, grapevine branches are ritually trimmed to provide for new growth. The vineyards are blessed, and special bread is baked amidst lots of singing and merriment in anticipation of spring. St. Trifon is, by the way, the patron of wine-growers, wine-producers, and pub owners and is basically the modern, politically correct-local version of dear old Dionysus himself.

And on subtler levels, the vineyard too has come back into its own in the contemporary times. Once the site of blessings, rituals for growth and prosperity, and a site that connected the people to his gods; this connection with the natural world and with the movement of the cycles of the seasons so well respected in ancient times, was forgotten in the medieval period. Stodgy seeming monks and nuns controlled the vineyards of the dark Middle Ages, working to make the wine but not ritualizing the process of creation itself like the ancients did. Growing, and pressing, and preserving the grapes: but not enjoying the merriment that was to be had from the resulting product themselves. The rise of vineyards as a tourist destination is proof positive of a revitalized, maybe even subconscious, recognition of the sacred symbolism they represents. Life, death, rebirth. Merriment, inspiration, and the hard knocks of the hangover. Growing grapes and drinking wine is a microcosmic metaphor of life and living. The soil round the grapes absorbs the subtle flavors of its environment, the vines respond to the tending care of its keepers, and who knows, maybe the vineyards still provide a romping ground for the ancient gods themselves.

Honored through the ages for the natural magick it represents, wine and its vineyards are magickal elements woven into the everyday tapestry of life. Given this, it’s no wonder that Sacred Mists chose Napa Valley at its headquarters and as the location of its first real live store. Like the grapes growing in the valley, it too draws in the ambience of the marvelous and magickal nature surrounding it and people involved with it. The Shoppe opens tomorrow, Friday the 27th. Be there in person if you can. But if for whatever reason, you can only be there in spirit: then why not raise a glass of wine in toast of the Sacred Mists and of yourselves. And take a sip of a little bit of magick.

Bibliography

Berkowitx, M. 1996. World’s Earliest Wine Archaeology Vol. 49(5).
Burkert, W., 1985. Greek Religion Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
McGovern, P.E., 2003. Ancient Wine: The Search for the Origins of Viniculture. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Vergano, D., 2006. “White wine turns up in King Tutankhamun’s Tomb. USA Today

What is intuition? How can I develop my own intuition and how can it help me with reading the tarot?

I wanted to start this article on something that might surprise you! YOU can learn to read the tarot, both for yourself and for others! If you learn to open up your 3rd eye/Brow chakra and learn to trust your own intuition, then YOU will be a good tarot reader! It’s a matter of learning how to pay attention to your feelings and how to interpret the symbols that are in the cards!
 

Let’s take a look at this particular card.  It’s the Temperance card from the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. This might be the most known tarot deck that there is out there.  The imagery is clean and easy to interpret.  Here we see and Angel pouring water from one cup to the other.  Both the cups and water represent emotions.  Think of this, when we are emotional, we tend to cry, whether or not we are happy or sad.

Temperance is almost invariably depicted as a person pouring liquid from one receptacle into another. Historically, this was a standard symbol of the virtue temperance, one of the cardinal virtues, representing the dilution of wine with water. In many decks, the person is a winged person/angel, usually female or androgynous, and stands with one foot on water and one foot on land.

I look at this card and the advice that I see that is this:  Everything in moderation.  The angel that is depicted here is pouring wine into a cup or chalice of water, thereby diluting it.  Learn to temper your emotions.  Maybe you have a tendency to overdue things.  If there is an emotional issue here, learn to cool it!  Take a step back and think before you react.  Notice that the angel has one foot on land and the other foot on the water.  This indicates a need for balance.  Maybe there is a need for you to ground yourself. Take notice of other aspects of this card.  There are a lot of “opposites” to be seen here.  We already mentioned that there is one foot on the water and the other on land, but look deeper and you will see more.  There is a Sun in the background which represents life, but there are also lilies which represent death.  The symbol of an Angel is of a being/deity that can transcend death, rise above death.

Take a peek at the colors of this card.  Do the colors excite you or do they seem to calm you down?  What about the imagery?  Does the angel seem to comfort you or does the angel seem intimidating to you?   This where intuition comes in. One way to describe intuition is “the knowing without a particular reason why.”  Every like or dislike someone right away?   Trust any feelings that you get when you look at this card.  Jot everything down in a journal that you have set aside for just your tarot readings.  Do not second guess anything!  When you have done this, come up with your own description of this card.  There are NO wrong answers for this exercise!

I would LOVE to see what you have come up with!  Contact me here at Sacred Mists and let me know what your results are!