Thomas Sheridan looks good today, despite talking about the crisis of modern paganism. The crisis has three aspects. First, "catlady pagans" or LARP-ing cosplay pagans. Sheridan believes that many of them are ex-JWs (sic) and/or "Wiccan refugees". He never liked Wicca, and believes that Gardner and Crowley created the Wiccan pseudo-religion to keep the idiots away from *real* magic and occultism, a scheme that no longer works in the age of the Internet. Ex-Wiccans have now invaded the real pagan milieu and turned it into a virtual LARP-fest.
The second problem is taking the pagan gods literally, which is especially problematic in northern European paganism, since much of the textual material was written by Christians. Sheridan believes that the "gods" are really archetypal forces and energy patterns in the cosmos.
The third crisis is political correctness. While Sheridan claims to be apolitical, he is certainly not a leftist progressive. I would place him broadly into the Alt Right/libertarian camp. To Sheridan, paganism was a realistic worldview, which accepted the darker sides of reality, including war. Not like the hypocritical Christians, who talked about turning the other cheek, and then went to war anyway! His perspective is also "tribal" rather than "inclusive" or universalist. What are politicians, American Indian pseudo-shamans or LGBTQ activists doing at Beltane celebrations? Sheridan also polemicizes against those who believe that the pagan milieu is teeming with racists.
All in all, a rather interesting contribution from a man whose content is usually *much* more extreme than this!
Interesting he chooses to *orate* from the front seat of his automobile. Either on his way to, or from, the local pub.
ReplyDeleteHow mainstream whitebread can you get! In looking up his array of published books, already at a site called Thriftbooks (or publisher leftover bins) I came across what may be a real sleeper -
Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype by Clarissa Pinkola Estés. Of course I am waaay behind the times here, but what "full blooded male" albeit slightly (?) scraggy age-wise, wouldn't want to know what That's All About!
Perhaps it is pre-Pagan indeed! Wild Women roaming the countryside with wild beasts as consorts! Does Meister Timeless have any knowledge of same? Oh and if Magick really worked, why don't the Magicians do something about Ukraine, eh?
Maybe Putin has a Rasputin? ;-)
ReplyDeleteI´m not familiar with the book you mentioned, but I never been that interested in the Wiccan/female Neo-Pagan scene (which it sounds like). Just not my thing...