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

Women offering wine before an idol of the god Dionysus. Some followers of Dionysus' cult were called maeneds ~ a term much popularized by the villain of the season two of the True Blood HBO series.

Wine in Ancient Egypt

Egyptian tomb painting depicting grape cultivation, circa 1400 BCE. Image courtesy the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Wine in Ancient Rome

A French Revolution depiction of the Ancient Roman Bacchanalia

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

I looked at this card to see what advice I can gleen from it. What has been going on in my life that really needs work on. Am I really seeing the whole picture or am I just focusing on my own issues.

The Ten of Swords is telling me to be aware of what is going on around me. Presently, I am dealing with some emotional issues that I need to work through. Is this card telling me that someone will hurt me, or am I just “playing the victim” role. Always remember-there are always to sides to every card of the tarot. I must admit, that this card really hit home to me today. It may be a lesson in ego for me.

Really look at this card. How come there are so many swords stabbing this person? Does it really take soo many swords to the damage, or can just one sword do the deed. The point here may be what I call “overkill”. Is your ego getting the best of you? Is it time to let things go? If this has to do with a person in your life-did someone hurt you? Be careful not to delve into that “Victim” role. Do you feel that someone, or that certain people may be “stabbing you in the back”?  What would this mean to you?

Remember-the Ten of Swords is a “Minor” Arcana card. This means that this is something that is most likely related to everyday situations. If the issue is about a person-do you see this person around you everyday? The presence of this card may signify the need to settle this. Where you hurt by someone? Was it taken a bit too far?

Keep your eyes open. Don’t over do anything or become paranoid. Make sure to keep a level head and not let your ego control you. Things will get better if you handle yourself with dignity and grace. There lessons to be learned from this card AND situation.

What is your take on the Ten of Swords! What would be your take on this card if you pulled this for yourself?

10 of swords-Rider-waite

Isaac facilitated ritual for us, at our Beltane festival and quickly became part of our family. He would come up just to chat with everyone. He became sort of a mentor for me. The information and lessons that both Isaac and Phaedra have given me; are priceless. Isaac also would help me as a friend. We would go and get sushi and talk for hours about family. I have 3 sons and it was nice to have Isaac’s point of view. He has his own son Arthur, so he would tell me all about his experiences as a father. He became a “rock” for me. He even had his own key to the store, and slept there once or twice. There is a rather large community here, and he would always give me advise on what to do, how to be a leader, and how NOT to go crazy at times.

We went to The Starwood Festival together (2009). I was teaching my classes on the tarot, and Isaac was teaching his class based on his wonderful book “Real Magic”. It was a wonderful time, but going home was another matter. The pop-up trailer that I had blew a tire and destroyed the rim on the way home. I think we were about 3 or hours away from Starwood at this point. My pop-up is a old one and could not find the correct rim to fit my trailer, so all of us (Isaac, my husband, me and a friend), wound up staying in a motel for the night. Nothing like a night of drinking beer and telling stories, all night long! In the morning, Isaac was already blessing the pop-up in order for us to have a safe ride home!

I noticed that Isaac wasn’t feeling that well after a while. He would fall sleep a little more then usual. There are two couches in the store and he had his favorite. He liked to take a little nap from time to time. My husband brought in a bunk bed type of mattress for Isaac to relax on. Things started to change little by little. He was uncomfortable. His stomach would bother him.

This was when I heard the news. Isaac told me about his doctors appointment. He was so optimistic and upbeat, even tho they suspected that he had cancer. Cancer is strong in my family so my heart broke when I head this news. He was put on radiation and chemotherapy. Even through all of this, he shaved his head and put it on the internet with a big smile on his face! At his point, he was not coming up as much. He was very tired and was having trouble making the drive. Isaac was in and out of the hospital, and Phaedra was working day and night, and was also having to take care of Isaac. Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone came to stay with us (to teach workshops and to facilitate this years Beltane ritual), and Isaac really wanted to spend time with them. When Isaac called to say that he was too tired to see them, it really hit me. Isaac was really having a hard time with the chemotherapy and really needed care ’round the clock. Arthur (Isaac’s son) came in to stay with them to help take care of his dad.

A fundraiser and auction had been organized to help Phaedra and Isaac out with their mountain of medical bills. A wonderful lady named Tracey called me for information on how to organize such an event. Isaac attended this event with Phae. He looked quite frail and tired, but even then, it was good to see him. Tracey has now become a good friend. She would go to visit Isaac and Phaedra to see if everything was ok. If Isaac was in the hospital and I could not reach him, Tracey would give me the scoop. It felt good to have such good person supporting Isaac and Phae.

He slipped into a coma about two weeks ago. I visited Phae and Isaac at their home in order to say goodbye. He passed away in his sleep August 12, 2010 at 8am in the morning. I called Phaedra to find out what she needed me to do. She asked me to come the next day. My husband and I took the drive down to see what we could do. Isaac’s siblings where all there. That is when I found out about the cremation and that Phae wanted us to be there for her. It was a very small and private affair. One that I will never forget.

Isaac-thank you for the time you spent with me and my community. Thank you for all that you have done for the pagan/wiccan/druid communities. Thank you for all of your humor and laughter. Thank you for all the love that is in your heart and thank you for your friendship. You will never be forgotten-heck-it’s not possible; because I have all of those silly pirate pictures of you on the internet and at the store!

With much love Isaac-I am proud to say that I knew thee well!

Bernadette (Bernie)

Mankind has always had a special relationship with the stars. In the modern world we explore them scientifically: searching for the answers to the Big Questions regarding the origins of life and the extent of the wider universe around us. We look up at the stars through veils of ambient electric lights and smog, wishing upon them still. We escape to the countryside to truly see the stars as best we may, watching them in place of the television sets which usually fill our nightly vision.

And in so doing we are continuing a bond man and womankind has had with the stars from the very beginning. For much of the time mankind has walked the earth, we did not know the stars as we know them to be today: huge balls of plasma energy strung out in space billions of light years away. Instead, we held them on high as something else, something magickal. In ancient societies, when the sun went down, there was the vast illuminated landscape of a starry sky lurking above them: mysterious and constant. It was a distinct part of their cultural worldview; its placement in the heavens and its occasional idiosyncrasies explained as part of ancient mythologies and religions. Imagine their wonder looking up at the night sky and imagining it looking right back at them.

And bear in mind, that without electric lights to dim the view, the night sky would have been distinctly brighter and filled with finer textures and gradients of colors and lights. The Milky Way not a slightly filmier band across the sky but a broad avenue of swirling colors stretching across an upside down starscape: a fitting pathway for the gods or divine river among the cosmos.

Earth as seen from Space. You can see here just how much ambient light mankind emits to disrupt our naked eye perception of the cosmos.

Shooting stars in particular hold a special place with the cosmic mythologies of most ancient civilizations. For the falling star represents an interaction between man and the divine. It represents something moving from a heavenly cosmic plain to the mortal, earthly world. It was probably with some surprise that upon tracking the falling place of a “star” to earth, they would discover a small crater filled with a glassy rock, which, today of course, we call a meteorite. Many cultures venerated meteor rocks as powerful magickal talisman, sent from the sky gods to the denizens of earth. The ancient Greeks believed that finding one would bring you a year’s worth of good luck and a wish; and it is from them that we have ultimately inherited the idea of wishing upon a star. Native American medicine men have been known to wear them as protective amulets, passing them down through generation after generation of shaman as symbols of their power. And temples throughout the ancient Mediterranean were in possession of meteorites, likewise holding them as sacred objects. Even in the modern world, a meteorite is one of the most venerated objects in contemporary monotheistic religious practices: the Black Stone of the Ka’baa. Believed to have been sent from God to Abraham and then passed down to Mohammad, the Ka’baa stone is technically a relic of all three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam), and is the centerpiece of the holiest of holy Mosques in Mecca in modern Saudi Arabia, a former temple to the local Moon/Water God.

The 2009 Perseid Shower over Sussex, England. Image Courtesy the Daily Telegraph UK

Falling stars have traditionally had a myriad of metaphysical and spiritual meanings behind them as well.
Stars are, in particular, frequently associated with the idea of the human soul. In the Teutonic mythology of central Europe, it was believed that every person was represented by a star which was attached to the ceiling of the sky by the threads of fate. And when Fate ended your story on earth, she would snip the thread attaching your star and it would fall, presaging your death. In Romania, there is a belief that the stars are candles lit by the gods (and later the saints) in honor of each person’s birth and that the brighter the star the greater the person. The falling star represents the soul’s final journey to the afterlife as it is being blown out and across the sky by the divine candle keepers. In these and other cultures, falling stars and meteor showers were celebrated ~ they honored the ancestors who had come before them, and in particular the newly deceased who were joining the ranks of the highly venerated generations who had come before.

Even in the Middle Ages after the triumph of Christianity, the pagan equation between shooting stars and the movement of souls could not be snuffed out entirely. And so it was vilified; the shooting stars were cast as the souls of evil and impious men being cast out of heaven and down into the bowels of the earth.

Shooting stars have and always will hold a special amazement to those viewing them. For their beauty alone they are worth staying up for. And if you’re ready for the long haul tonight or tomorrow night (August 12th and 13th respectively) and you live in the Northern Hemisphere~ you’re in luck! It’s the peak of the Perseid Meteor Shower. Every year between August 9th and 14th, the Earth bumbles through the trail of rocky and icy debris left behind by the comet Swift-Tuttle: creating one of the most dependable and spectacular arrays of shooting stars on earth. It has, undoubtedly, been witnessed by man for millennia; though the first recorded instance of it did not occur until 36 AD in China; with the first official scientific description of the shower occurring almost 2000 years later in Belgium in 1835.

The Constellation Perseus as drawn by early astronomer Johannes Hevelius circa 1690.

The Perseid meteor shower is named after its seeming origination in the nightsky from the constellation Perseus, itself named after the Greek hero of the same name. The stars which make up the constellation of Perseus have their own elaborate mythologies. In particular the star Algol; which, due to its variable eclipsing nature and unpredictable level of brightness was known first as the Gorgon’s Head after Perseus’ arch-nemesis the Gorgon Medusa, and then the Demon’s Head until it was simply just the Demon Star or the Ghoul Star (algol= al-ghoul). The shower was also later referred to in a more saintly manner. In medieval times they were called the Tears of St.
Lawrence in consideration of the fact that they would fall around his feast day on August 10th.

So if you can ~ go out late tonight or tomorrow night and watch the Perseids. Watch them and remember all those who have come before you to watch them down through the millennia. Watch them in honor of the souls they were said to represent. Watch them simply for the thrill of watching something so beautiful and cosmic and so beyond the human ken. Make some wishes. Catch one in your mind’s eye and never let it go.

Bibliography

Burke, J.G. 1986. Cosmic Debris: Meteorites in History. University of California Press.

Perseus Constellation: Myths, Stars, Deep Sky Objects, & Comets
Perseids: The Legendary Shower

Native American Landscapes at Lake Tahoe

In North American it is easy to forget how long mankind has been wandering around its sprawling landscape. History here seems to start post-conquest and often ignores the thousands upon thousands of years during which Native American groups initially crisscrossed the continent.

I myself was once guilty of this thinking. When I started my academic career I very pointedly steered myself towards classical Mediterranean subjects; explicitly ignoring the archaeology of my own American backyard. Older now, I recognize the error of my ways and the sublime interest and importance of all anthropological topics. I also recognize the primary reason why North American Indian topics are so easily overlooked by the education system and the media: lack of archaeological and anthropological evidence, and particularly lack of spectacular archaeological evidence. Alas, there will be no equivalent of Tut’s tomb in North America. But there is a rich and varied tapestry of ritual and mythology that belies this lack of archaeological evidence, perhaps making it all the more magickal for its mystery.

I recently had a chance to visit one of the most gorgeous natural wonders of North America, one which despite a loaded ancient past, is often ignored as a site of Native American importance: Lake Tahoe. Nestled in the Sierra Nevada mountains of northern California and Nevada, Lake Tahoe and its surrounding smaller lakes were created through a combination of fault line activity between the geological plates of the earth’s crust and the eruption of the nearby and now extinct Mount Pluto, which dammed up a large portion of the northern end of Lake Tahoe, resulting in the Lake’s particularly unique size and depth for the region. It is, in fact, the sixteenth deepest lake in the world, and the second deepest in North America.

Lake Tahoe is surrounded by ridiculously majestic mountains and strands upon strands of alpine trees. It is a place both of great beauty and abundant resources. It is no wonder that when mankind first migrated across the northern icy land bridges and into what is now the continental USA; many of them lingered by Lake Tahoe, refusing to follow their brethren farther south and east across the wider North American plains as indicated by the antiquity of the local dialect and its unique place within the linguistic branches of Native American culture. Classified in antiquity variously as the Martis complex and then the Kings Beach complex; when white settlers arrived in Lake Tahoe approximately 300 years ago, the local people called themselves the waashiw, which means ‘the people from here.’ A fitting term for a group who had indeed been ‘here’ as long as being there was humanly possible. Waashiw in turn was transliterated into the modern name for the group: the Washoe. The Washoe furthermore divided themselves up, not into tribes, for they did not consider themselves a tribe or to have smaller tribes within itself, but rather family units who associated themselves specifically with a particular side of the Lake. In my exploration of Lake Tahoe, I particularly explored the sacred sites round the south end of the Lake, the sites of the Washoe who called themselves Hanalelti.

Ritual Landscapes

Looking down the Lower cascade of Eagle Falls to Emerald Cove at Lake Tahoe

The southern end of the lake encompasses both rocky cliffs dropping steeply into the freshwater below on its western side; narrow, boulder strewn beaches on its eastern, and gentle plains descending into the water between. It is a varied place. One minute you can be strolling through the forest with only trees ahead and the next you’re overlooking the lake in all its glory or below a pulsing waterfall. It is a place of natural wonder. And if it still conjures up images of a magickal landscape to modern eyes, one can be sure it did the same for ancient orbits. One of the widest trends in the majority of Native American mythology is its use of the local landscape to define itself. A tree is not simply a tree nor a mountain a mountain. They are ideas of a mythic place set in the mundane human world. They are portals into the Platonic realm of the otherworld where the divine shapes are kept. This tree is the tree of Ta-iw, the god of the sky; that rock is where the Star Wives fell to earth. Places were not simply places, they were a part of a cosmic mythos themselves.

Washoe rituals reflected this idea of space. The Washoe spent their summers up on the mountain slopes overlooking the lake, and their snowy winters and springs along the more congenial lake shore. This annual migration is reflected in what little is known of their rituals and where they were held. In September, when the pine-nuts, a Washoe staple food, were plentiful, they would hold the pine-nut dance, the Tlagum-las: a processional ceremony begun by the dance, culminated in the movement from the mountain slopes to the lake valleys as they harvested pine nuts along the way and ending again with the dance in their new encampment. They likewise had a similar acorn dance, the Mallun-las performed higher up the mountains at the elevations where the oak trees live and a Peleu-las, the jack-rabbit dance, performed in the forests to ensure a good hunt. As you can tell by the types of the festivals held, the Washoe were very interested in keeping their food supply bountiful, not surprising given the harshness their mountain winters.

Cave Rock: A Site of Shamanic Dreaming

Cave Rock as seen from the National Park below

Cave Rock as part of US Highway 50

The Mythic Origins of the Tahoe Landscape

But it was not just individual spots which held mythological and ritual significance to the Washoe. Local legend attributes the entire creation of the surrounding landscape to magick and myth. The following was recorded by local colonists attempting to document the fascinating anthropology and mythology of their Native American counterparts at the turn of the last century.

Legend has it that once upon a time, The Good Indian tried to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains. But he was being chased by an Evil Spirit who did not want him to reach his destination on the western side, so he beseeched the spirits of the earth and sky and a Good Spirit heard him and gave him a magickal branch. The Good Spirit informed the Good Indian that whenever he plucked a bit from the branch and dropped it on the earth, it would create a body of water behind him to slow the Evil Spirit down long enough for the Good Indian to get away. For the Evil Spirit could not cross water and would have to detour around it. The Good Indian continued along his way and when next the Evil Spirit caught up with him, the Good Indian attempted to use the magickal branch. But in his haste to use the magickal branch the first time; he snapped off a huge piece of it and tossed it to the ground, thus creating Lake Tahoe, Tahoe meaning ‘big water’ or ‘big lake’.

Lake Tahoe & Surrounding Lakes as made by the Good Indian's Magick Branch. Image courtesy Google Earth.

Bibliography

E. S. Curtis, 1907-1930. The North American Indian Courtesy Northwestern University Digital Library
G. W. James, 1917. The Lake of the Sky, Lake Tahoe, in the High Sierras of California.
Include link to Cave Rock website
Sacred Land Film Project: Cave Rock
Site Materials, assorted

Each year on the seventh day of the seventh month, the stars Vega and Altair are allowed to cross the Milky Way and spend the night together: the original, and literal “star-crossed lovers.” It’s not astronomy however, its mythology. Of the oldest, most romantic, and well celebrated kind.

In Japan, it is commemorated with a festival called Tanabata (“Evening of the Seventh”). In Vietnam, it is Ngày mưa Ngâu, aka ‘Continual Rain Day.’ And in China, it is called the Qixi festival, (“The Night of Sevens”). And though the fetes do not share nomenclature and have varying forms of celebration in the modern world, they share the myth around which the festival is based, and potentially a common ancient origin therein.

At the heart of story, which has over 20 variations, there is a cowherd who falls in love with a weaver. In some versions they are faeries, in some they are gods, but more often than not they are humans who become entangled in the affairs of the divine. For their is love is tragically not to be. And they are kept apart by malevolent parental units (or local lords or gods) for political reasons or else to keep them productive because being together has caused both of them to falter at their assigned tasks.

And to divide them, they are set in the sky; separated by the expanse of the Milky Way for all but one night a year: July 7th. For on this one night, (if the skies are clear of rain) the gods and faeries relent, and all the magpies of the world unite to create a bridge across the Milky Way for the lovers to reunite upon. The names and level of divinity of the main characters changes regionally, as does the particulars of the sub-characters, for instance sometimes the weaver has a collection of faerie sisters, or sometimes they have children who likewise are put up in the sky alongside their father and like him are only united with their mother on the one night a year. In China the most popular names for the celestial Romeo and Juliet are occupational: Niulang and Zhinu, the ‘cowherd’ and the ‘weaver-girl.’ While in Japan, they most frequently retain their starry titles of Orihime and Hikoboshi, the local names for the stars the western world calls Vega and Altair which represent the figures literally in the heavens above.

Despite the extreme variations between versions of the story, the sheer antiquity of the tale is evident in terms of its explanation of potential astronomical phenomenon, but more so in its use of the characters very specific occupations. The cowherding young lad is representative of the rise of the domestication of animals and the subsequent restructuring of society that most likely occurred following its discovery. Those without land and farms of their own would have suddenly been able to eke out a living raising animals, allowing them greater social mobility and the potential to find mates higher up the societal ladder. Weaving, likewise would have been an innovative practice which created a major shift in society; and allowed women, particularly unmarried women, a skill of their own to ply.

Tanzaku & Streamers hanging from street lanterns at Tanabata

1. Never jump to conclusions.
2. Always give the benefit of the doubt.
3. Make constructive criticism the only criticism you will give.
4. Always give a second chance.
5. Find forgiveness in your heart, no matter the issue.
6. Recognize that everyone makes mistakes, even yourself.
7. Always treat others how you wish to be treated.
8. Never forget to place yourself in the other person’s shoes, even if just for a moment.
9. Recognize that we all carry baggage. Don’t make yours someone else’s.
10. Recognize that we have all come to Mother Earth to learn our life lessons. You can choose to help those who are learning, or reject them when their lessons become hard to deal with.
11. Always give importance to yourself in every situation, but not so much that it removes compassion and understanding.
12. Open yourself to the love and harmony that is offered within your spiritual path.
13. Remove yourself from any place or person where you find yourself incapable of being loving and nurturing, but always recognize that it is your issue and not their own.
14. No one can do anything to you that you do not allow them to do, consciously or subconsciously.
15. We are all complete with perfection and faults that balance us into imperfect beings.
16. To dislike, hate, or otherwise reject one whom you feel wronged by is to reject your own ability to learn lessons that are being presented to you.
17. Be a positive influence.
18. The old adage, “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” holds true in all group settings, at a minimum. Create a “safe haven” experience wherever you are. Be a part of holding that philosophy in every interaction.
19. Love. Simply love. Yourself, and others.
20. Be the change you want to see in the world.

My personal favorite types of archaeological sites are those that have been built up over the ages: used, reused, redefined by new times and adapted by new generations. Those in my class will recognize this as a vague version of my archaeological byword the “palimpsest.” These layered sites and landscapes are all the more exciting and intriguing when they involve ritual sites, particularly ones which are still in use in the modern world. It speaks of a strong continuation of belief and power. And even when the original tenets of primordial worship and elements of esoteric ceremony have been long forgotten, the use of the site as a ritual focus lingers on: imbuing the landscape with the collective power of human faith.


Northern Mexico’s Tamtoc is one such site which has recently been propelled into the limelight by Archaeology magazine’s July/August 2010 article highlighting its recent finds and ongoing anthropological studies.

The earliest levels of Tamtoc are easily 2,500 years old and date to an early pre-Hispanic culture about which little is known. The people of this earliest layer of occupation, circa 400 BCE, lived in a tightly packed, small urban center; what Tamtoc’s lead archaeologist, Guillermoc Cordova, refers to as an “urban embryo,” centered round a group of springs just off a bend in the Tampaon River. “Tamtoc” means ‘Place of the Deep Black Water’ in the later local Teenek dialect. And as one might suspect, based on what we’ve covered so far, Tamtoc was rich in water cults.

Archaeological evidence suggests that the city’s early focus was on its collection of springs. One spring features evidence of a small temple or sweat lodge built on an elevated platform hovering over its water, while its periphery features more utilitarian platforms most likely utilized by the local populace to access the water in the springs for consumption. These more practical platforms are, however decorated with the swirls, hooks, and furrows which characterize the decorative themes of the period on the city’s monumental stones. A second spring features carved depictions of a pair of flamingoes and a pair of running legs.

The ritual slab in its ceremonial context above the sacred spring.

Drawing of the ritual slab

The Tamtoc Venus compared to a more typical sculpture of the period in Archaeology Magazine

A skyviewing mound in Tamtoc

Further Reading

Check out the Archaeology article that inspired this one: Cities upon Cities by Tom Gidwitz
And further articles at the Instituto Nacional de Anthropologia e Historia (INAH) which has several devoted to the specifics of Tamtoc.