Interviews – Page 6

10 Questions with Jordan Stratford

November 6, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Interviews, Magic/Occult, Religion

1. What is alchemy?
Well, obviously it’s a lot of things. But I think in essence it’s the practical and theoretic Natural Philosophy of the West, deriving from ancient Egyptian culture. The word “alchemy” means “of Khemet”, from khem meaning black – as in the black, fertile soil of the Nile Delta. This culture had a world-view that bore with it certain assumptions about the experiential universe, about meaning and the immanent divinity within the material world. Alchemy is and was about cracking open our experience of the material to discover the divine, and to discern meaning from that.

2. How is alchemy relevant in this modern era?
When we speak of modernism, that’s its own set of cultural assumptions that didn’t just emerge from itself. The roots of our world-view dig through the strata of Rome and Greece and Egypt and Sumeria, and the fossils of these cultures populate our everyday lives. The days of the week named after Woden and Thor and Freya, Saturn, Sun and Moon. Months of Janus and Juno and Mars. So understanding the past gives us a firmer footing in the present. Additionally we live in an age where science informs almost every aspect of our lives, and that science has its heritage in alchemical study. Newton called himself an alchemist.

The current dialogue and tension between science and religion strikes me as wholly artificial. Both shed light on aspects of human knowing, just as poetry and prose do not negate one another. What’s up for grabs is the role of meaning in the face of an exclusively materialist take on science which excludes meaning, or even the question of meaning. Alchemy contributes a scientific model which places meaning at its heart. We shouldn’t be so quick to get rid of that; I think we might need it later.

3. What personally drew you to study alchemy?
Jung. He empathized with the work of the alchemists in their goal of attaining understanding as a means of healing. Where their pursuit was general – healing the world, healing the human rift with God – his was particular, healing the patient through a discovery of their own archetypal landscape and the forces shaping this. Jung also identified alchemy from the late Middle Ages through the early modern era as the bridge to the Classical understanding of the universe; the NeoPlatonists, and back to the Gnostics. As a Gnostic, for me, this is tracing the breadcrumbs home.

4. How did “A Dictionary of Western Alchemy” come about?
Entirely by accident, to be honest. It began as scraps of notes I kept while wandering through these compelling, bizarre, encrypted original source texts. When a particular symbol or phrase or term would come to light, I’d jot a little note either in a Moleskin or a text file. After two decades, I’d amassed about three hundred of these, and began to organize their etymology, giving me something I could navigate more deliberately. It was only then that I realized that this was the germ of something others might find beneficial, and I spent the next few years identifying and filling in the gaps. Then of course the thing was much too big, more of an anemic encyclopedia, and I scaled it down to something concise and more easily accessible: a dictionary.

5. Traditionally alchemists shrouded their work in symbol and code. Do you feel someone using your dictionary in the course of studying alchemy is “cheating” the system?
The purpose of encryption was I think twofold: one was more pedestrian in nature, which is about protecting commercial, intellectual property. The cat’s out of the bag in that regard. If you want a process for polishing cotton so that it resembles silk – and this was one of the biggies – you can find that in seconds. Likewise was the formula for making potable gold. As to the second reason, it was to approach the subject with a sense of otherness, a sense of the sacred. But I feel this is still possible if the study of alchemy is done mindfully and with intent. So it’s not so much cheating as hacking. Here’s a tool, get in there, see what you can make of it.

6. How accurate of a portrayal of an alchemist do you feel Professor Snape from the Harry Potter series is?
Ha! I actually invoke Snape in my book’s Introduction. It’s not a bad start, actually, this image of Snape. He’s taking intangible concepts like luck or fame or fear, and making them finite, bottling and putting a stopper on them, in order to use them to solve a very real problem. The fact that he’s a literary character is a bonus; story and narrative and allegory are all vital components of alchemical Work. I think it does get to the core of it, despite all the additional stuff that goes along with him being in a children’s book.

7. You also wrote “Living Gnosticism: An Ancient Way of Knowing”. Do you find any similarities in the study of Gnosticism and the study of alchemy?
In perhaps the most famous Gnostic text, The Gospel of Thomas, Jesus says

Split a piece of wood; I am there.
Lift up the stone, and you will find me there.

So the material world isn’t in its natural root divine, but it functions as a vehicle for the divine. This subtle distinction is frequently mistaken for dualism, but it’s much richer than that, much more hopeful. And this is really the crux of alchemical thinking: there’s a plant, which will experience corruption and decay, and there’s the idea of the plant, which pre-exists the plant and will survive its material experience. Spagyrics, or plant alchemy, says that if you take away all the parts of the whole-plant-thing that’s useful while it’s experiencing material-plantness, what’s left is something pure and infinitely refined. And this is the medicine of the plant. The parts it needs for collecting sunlight and repelling predators goes away, and the soul remains. We have the ability to access that plant-soul, to respect it and learn from it and benefit from it.

Gnosticism says, hey, there’s this whole artificial world out there, a world of clocks and pay cheques and parking tickets and status, and none of that stuff is real. We made it all up, and yet we confuse that constructed world with the real world, the primordial idea of existence and how we ought to relate to each other and to the divine. So alchemy and Gnosticism share this dialectic of content and context. And both are ultimately engaged in this process of Restoration, of healing by identifying with the All.

8. You’re an ordained priest in the Apostolic Johannite Church, could you share a little bit about this particular tradition and how it varies from other Christian traditions they may be familiar with?
The Tradition begins with the community of John the Baptist, some of whom became Christians and others who, maintaining that John was Christ, spread East. Within the group of those who later followed Jesus, most took a Platonic view of the whole thing, stressing mystery and metaphor, while others took to the emerging party line of Peter and Paul. So there’s a schism, evident half-way through the Gospel of John, where these original John followers leave and take on what we eventually label a Gnostic flavour. This group’s teachings flow through various “heretical” movements; the Paulicians and Bogomils and Cathars, debating and disagreeing and pondering the whole way.

Then in 1804, Napoleon’s doctor comes across what purports to be a mediaeval text, a slightly different version of the Gospel of John wherein John and not Peter is the successor of Christ. There’s also no Resurrection narrative. So this 19th century doctor sets out to “restore” the John Tradition, the Johannite Tradition, along Masonic lines. This church wobbles around a bit, gets some validity through the bishop of Haiti, and pops up significantly at the end of the century. Many, many independent churches share this heritage through chains of ordination and consecration, but only recently has one church made it their main focus and aesthetic, and that’s the Apostolic Johannite Church. Rather than just hang this Tradition on the wall as one-among-many, this is our principal vein of inquiry and spiritual context. You can check out the website at www.johannite.org if you like.

9. Do you have any other upcoming projects that my readers will be interested in?
I hope so. I’ve committed to doing a book on Cathars for Quest (the alchemical dictionary’s publisher) as well as a follow up to my Gnosticism book. There are also some workbooks on Qabalah and Tarot in the hopper, and I just finished shooting a documentary film about Zen meditation in youth prisons.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question.
I would ask, what’s the alchemy of the site? What’s being refined here, transmuted by these conversations, and what’s your experience of the insight gained, for you personally, spiritually, creatively?

I always say that the Magical Buffet is where spirituality, politics, and pop culture collide, with hopefully entertaining and enlightening results. I know personally it has shown me that people are people. Regardless of education, spiritual or political association, gender, race, etc. at the end of the day we usually want the same things. More often than not, that involves alcohol.

About Jordan Stratford:
Born in Prince Rupert British Columbia, Jordan Stratford studied writing at the University of Victoria, where he was influenced by the fine art of the Victoria exhibition group The Limners. He found work early on in photography and in the field of digital layout and typography, and then freelanced as a writer, publisher and interactive designer until founding Arc New Media as the Creative Director in 1994.

Stratford received his Licentiate of Sacred Theology with his ordination as a priest in the Apostolic Johannite Church in 2005 and briefly studied the DMin program at Wisdom University. He is currently pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry Studies at St. Raphael the Archangel Theological Seminary. He served as the Rector of the AJC’s Regina Coeli Parish in Victoria BC from its founding until 2008. Stratford is also an outspoken local advocate for the rights of the homeless and mentally ill.

In 2006, U.S. News & World Report interviewed Stratford along with NT Wright and Dr. Marvin Meyer for a feature article on Gnosticism, and his work has also been cited in college course material and doctoral dissertations. Additionally, Stratford has regularly contributed to blogs relating to Gnosticism, Esoteric Christianity, Paganism, new religious movements and the Independent Sacramental Movement.

Stratford is also a screenwriter, independent filmmaker and artist, and has had several art shows at Michelle Frost Gallery and Rogue Art in Victoria. Currently he supports artists, writers, musicians and filmmakers as a creative coach, and has work-shopped over 30 screenplays from concept to draft. He serves on the board of directors for the Vancouver Island Film Producers’ Association and the South Island Film Commission.

In addition to “A Dictionary of Western Alchemy”, Stratford is the author of “Living Gnosticism” (Apocryphile Press 2007) ISBN 1-933993-53-7, reviewed in the Summer 2008 edition of PanGaia Magazine.

For more information visit: jordanstratford.com & on twitter @jordanstratford

10 Questions with Claude Lecouteux

October 16, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Interviews, Magic/Occult, Mythology, Religion

A little note here from me (Rebecca). Claude Lecouteux, in my opinion, is a certified bad ass. His book “The Return of the Dead: Ghosts, Ancestors, and the Transparent Veil of the Pagan Mind” became an all-time favorite of mine as soon as I read it. In the two years since of doing book reviews “The Return of the Dead” is still one of my favorites to recommend. Lecouteux’s latest book, “Phantom Armies of the Night: The Wild Hunt and Ghostly Processions of the Undead” is simply amazing. I’d say go buy it now but I want you to stick around because it was my extremely giddy honor to get to interview Claude Lecouteux and I want everyone to read that. Seriously, like every single person ever, because I got to interview Claude Lecouteux!

Crap, what did I actually set out here to say? Oh yeah. Claude Lecouteux is French and as such English is not his native language so some of the phrasing and use of language may seem “off”. Since the only French I know comes from the song “Lady Marmalade”, I was impressed at how good his answers came across.

1. With previous books such as “Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies” and “The Return of the Dead” it seems like much of your work has now culminated in your new book “The Wild Hunt and Ghostly Processions of the Undead”. Is that the case?

It is not the case. The field of my research is so large that I was constrained to go step by step. “The Return of the Dead” showed me the different facets of the believes connected with the death and the dead. This book was a first approach, the basis of my other investigations: I could not say and explain all the ramifications of the subject just in one book.

In “Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies” I found the answer to a question that bored me: what returns? A shape? A corpse? A soul in human form? The answer was the alter ego, the root of the believe in an external soul.

The “Phantom Armies of the Night” explores the return of troops of dead and tries to show that we are confronted with a blend of different legends which roots are the believe in a life after the life, the dangers for the livings to meet such troops, what often involves an obligation, and a warning: don’t have an unsocial behaviour, don’t transgress the moral codex of the community.

2. For readers unfamiliar with the term, could you describe what The Wild Hunt is?

The Wild Hunt is a band of the dead whose passage over the earth at certain times of the year is accompanied by diverse phenomena. The leader of that Hunt is a giant or a devil or a warning rider. Unfortunately the Wild Hunt was confused with the legend of the Wild Hunter.

3. How does The Wild Hunt differ from other troops of the dead or phantom armies that show up in folklore and mythology?

The Wild Hunt differs from the other troops through its highly Christian character and through its message: be careful in all you act! A bad life involves the damnation, the members of the Hunt are sinners.

4. With so many versions of The Wild Hunt and associated processions of the undead how did you go about sorting through all of it to find the definitive stories?

I search first the common points, then the sources of the differences, I compare all the testimonies I have found and analyze the part the Medieval church plays in the variations. A myth is the result of all its variations.

5. One of things I find fascinating in your books is how you show the role Christianity has played in shaping and/or distorting Pagan folklore. While researching your books do you find this an interesting puzzle to work out or just a frustrating obstacle in getting to the heart of a particular legend?

I found it an interesting enigma. I am like a detective investigating for traces. One of the aims of my studies is to raise the veil of the Christian distortions.

6. You kick off “Phantom Armies of the Night” discussing “The Good Women Who Roam the Night”. Although later in the book they are sometimes associated with leading unbaptized children who have died (obviously an unpleasant thought), and of course there is the mandatory demonization by Christianity, at the heart they seem like perhaps the only group discussed that doesn’t do harm or act as a harbinger of bad things to come. Is that correct, because I may opt to see if they’ll eat at my house this year.

You are right! The good woman leading a troop of dead children is not a harbinger of bad things to come. And if the good women, three in number, visit your home and if you have done what they expected, you’ll be happy and lucky.

7. My readers may not be aware, but you are French and live in Paris. Your latest book, “Phantom Armies”, was actually published in French in 1999 under the title “Chasses fantastiques et cohorts de la nuit au moyen age”. Do you get nervous about having your work translated into other languages?

I am not nervous if I can read the translation before publication. But it’s not always the case. My books were translated in 12 languages – Chinese, Czech, etc. – so that I have no control. I just understand the west and north European languages.

8. Since your work is published in France and then America, what are some upcoming projects that my readers can look forward to in either country, or both?

Jon Graham will translate two other books of mine: my analysis of the poltergeists and my Dictionary of the magical and medicinal stones and gems.

In France the next book is entitled “The poisonous maiden”, an anthology of legends and fairy tales of the Middle Ages; this is a part of my corpus of research, like my other anthologies on Werewolves, Dwarfs, Vampires and other selections I published.

The translation of Franz Obert’s “Tales of Transylvania” (collected 1856) I made with my wife will appear soon.

My last project I began 1995 is a Dictionary of the magical words and formulas; to day 1000 entries!

9. You conclude “Phantom Armies of the Night” by saying, “As you will have guessed, an investigation such as ours here is an attempt at discovery. We cannot reach a conclusion, and to reach one would be presumptuous, as long as so many texts remain to be exhumed, so many testimonies remain to be pulled from unpublished archives that are piled on library shelves.” With the book already being 12 years-old, does this mean perhaps we can look forward to an updated edition in the future?

It depends not from me but from the editors!

Karin Ueltschi, a friend of mine, wrote her PhD on the subject; I was in the jury and I can say her book (published in 2008) can be considered as the updated edition of my study.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question.

Hi! It’s Rebecca again. I think the kind of joke of asking me a question got lost in translation, so I’ll use this space to share a few final thoughts.

1. Buy “Phantom Armies of the Night”.
2. Please Inner Traditions, hurry and publish an English version of “The Poisonous Maiden”!
3. When you do publish it (soon), for goodness sake keep the title “The Poisonous Maiden”! What a great title!
4. I get a review copy of that, right?

About Claude Lecouteux:
Claude Lecouteux is a former professor of medieval literature and civilization at the Sorbonne. He is the author of numerous books on medieval and pagan afterlife beliefs, including “The Return of the Dead”, “The Secret History of Vampires”, and “Witches, Werewolves, and Fairies”. He lives in Paris.

10 Questions with Magic the Cat

August 15, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Books, Interviews, Wiccan/Pagan

It’s hard to believe, but I met Deborah Blake virtually all the way back in September of 2008 when I interviewed her in anticipation of her book “Everyday Witch A to Z”. The rest as they say, is history.

Of course as time passed I learned that the real creative spirit, the person behind the celebrity that is “Deborah Blake”, is actually her cat Magic. After careful negotiations I’m proud to say that I’m finally able to bring you an interview with a fantastic author, and the real celebrity. That’s right, I give you 10 questions with Magic the Cat: Queen of the Universe.

1. How did you first meet Deborah Blake?
I was stuck in this stupid cage with my mom and my siblings. Deborah came to see us at the shelter and thought she was going to take just my brother home. I politely but assertively informed her she had to take me too. (And mom, of course.) So now we all live with her. What kind of a plan is it to get ONE kitten, anyway?

2. When did you realize that she needed your assistance with her writing?
When she was writing the second book, “Everyday Witch A to Z”. There was a LOT of stuff in that book; she clearly needed help. And she had “Ask Onyx” letters for her—it was obvious that someone needed to answer the “Dear Magic” letters!

3. How many books have you assisted her with so far?
That I’ve gotten credit for? Three: “Everyday Witch A to Z” (2008), “Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook” (2009), and the one we just finished writing, “50 Rituals for the Everyday Witch”. But really, I help her with everything she writes, even if my name isn’t mentioned. Somebody has to keep her on track, or none of us would get fed!

4. I’ve heard that Deborah has just sent her sixth book to Llewellyn Worldwide for review. Can you tell us a little bit about what to expect and the part you played in its creation?
Meow! I love the new book! It was my idea, in fact. She was trying to figure out what to write next, and I whispered in her ear that she should write a book of rituals for a year of magical practice. [She thinks it was her idea though, so don’t tell her.] There are 50 rituals in all, including 12 New Moons and 12 Full Moons, all 8 Sabbats, and some rituals for celebration (weddings and such) as well as the practical application of magick (you know, prosperity, love, and all that).

5. Is your writing with Deborah collaborative process or do you each work independently?
We definitely work together; she’d be lost without me! I usually sit on the top of the desk (if possible with my fuzzy butt right in front of the monitor) or on her lap. In fact, as she types this for me (my paws don’t work all that well on the keyboard) I am sitting on the desktop. You know, right on top of the notes she thought she needed to use. Snicker.

6. Do the other cats in the household ever contribute to the creative process?
No. Not at all. I’m the only creative one in the bunch. So I should get all the catnip. Just for the record.

7. Do you feel you’re a role model for other cats, and if so, how to do you handle the responsibility?
Well, yes—yes I do. And it is quite the burden. I need extra food just to keep my strength up. And treats, of course. I think all the people who read my (and Deborah’s) books should send me treats.

8. If my readers want to see and hear more from you, where can they go?
I have been trying to get Deborah to give me my own Facebook page. But for now, they will have to check me out at Deborah’s website www.deborahblakehps.com and blog http://deborahblake.blogspot.com or on her accounts on Facebook and Twitter.

9. Now that book six for Llewellyn is nearing completion, what other projects can my readers look forward to?
Well…she did just start on a new super-sekrit project…but I’m not allowed to tell what it is. Really, my lips are sealed. Unless you have treats. Oh, hey—is that a treat? Okay, it might have something to do with goddesses. But that’s all you get out of me. Unless you have another treat…

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question.
Okay. Here’s my question: do you think black cats are really bad luck? Or just so good looking that everyone is jealous of them?

Everyone is jealous of them, obviously.

About Magic the Cat and her Owner Deborah Blake:
Deborah Blake is the author of “Circle, Coven and Grove: A Year of Magickal Practice” (Llewellyn 2007), “Everyday Witch A to Z: An Amusing, Inspiring & Informative Guide to the Wonderful World of Witchcraft” (Llewellyn 2008), “The Goddess is in the Details: Wisdom for the Everyday Witch” (Llewellyn2009), “Everyday Witch A to Z Spellbook” (July 2010) and “Witchcraft on a Shoestring” (September 2010). She has published numerous articles in Pagan publications, including the Llewellyn Almanacs and her ongoing column in Witches & Pagans Magazine. Her award-winning short story, “Dead and (Mostly) Gone” is included in the Pagan Anthology of Short Fiction: 13 Prize Winning Tales (Llewellyn, 2008). She is represented by agent Elaine Spencer of The Knight Agency.

When not writing, Deborah runs The Artisans’ Guild, a cooperative shop she founded with a friend in 1999, and also works as a jewelry maker. She lives in a 100 year old farmhouse in rural upstate New York with five cats who supervise all her activities, both magickal and mundane.

Magic the Cat (full title—Magic the Cat, Queen of the Universe) is one of Deborah’s five cats, but the only familiar and writer among them. She is black, which contrary to popular belief is actually lucky. She loves seafood, fruit of all kinds (especially raspberries and blueberries), and prefers to eat off of Deborah’s plate whenever possible. She is the reincarnated spirit of an Egyptian Pharaoh’s daughter, which is why she loves fruit and doesn’t believe that ANY of the rules apply to her.

10 Questions with Paul Bartholomew

July 27, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Creatures, Interviews, Paranormal

1. With over 35 years of paranormal research, how did your focus end up being on Bigfoot?

I’ve always had an intense interest in various paranormal phenomena. Two childhood standout incidents would be the 1973 national UFO flap (in which there were many UFO sightings in the Northeast) and the August 1976 Abair Road Sasquatch outbreak. To study Sasquatch in the Pacific Northwest was fascinating, however to have “Bigfoot” in your own backyard (symbolically) was intoxicating. Most people back then ignored the New York and New England sightings. Later, I would attend Vermont’s Castleton State College and study under the late Dr. Warren L. Cook. I had contacted Cook in the 1970’s and we had exchanged information on UFO’s and cryptozoology for years. A loose network of researchers formed and interest in the topic often drew overflow crowds at lectures. Bruce Hallenbeck, a great researcher and writer from Kinderhook, N.Y., documented what became known as “The Kinderhook Creature.” Interviews with New York residents turned up many creature encounters that had been socially hidden or ignored.

So in short, our research showed that Northeastern Sasquatch reports were often overlooked and under-reported. In reality there was a long history of such sightings from Native American traditional accounts. The Iroquois, Algonquin and Abanaki referred to the “Windigo” and “Stone Giants,” or giant men of the mountains. Champlain wrote of a creature called the “Gou gou.” Sightings continued into the 1800’s of what were often called “wild men” or strange bears. And we have similar accounts right up to present day.

2. People generally focus on Washington state, and the Pacific Northwest in general, when they think of Bigfoot. How do they react when you start discussing the Bigfoot history of New York state?

Most people are simply unaware of Sasquatch sightings in the Northeast. That concept is getting better however. One of my major goals is to show that there is a rich history of Sasquatch sightings right here in the Northeast. Credible sightings by respectable witnesses are hard to ignore. Most people aren’t aware of such a history. You have to remember that the witnesses have everything to lose and nothing to gain by coming forward with their accounts. Many view their sightings as negative experiences– they open themselves up to ridicule. Perhaps with a better understanding of the entire Sasquatch phenomenon on a whole, one day witnesses may be able to report their encounters without fearing retribution.

3. Most of my readers don’t realize, but Whitehall, NY has an official protective habitat for Bigfoot (or Sasquatch). What was the process like to create the measure and have it passed?

Back in 2003 and 2004 I wrote a legislation and presented it to the Village and Town of Whitehall to create a “protective ordinance” for Sasquatch. It worked on various levels. It recognized and drew attention to the fact that there is a rich history of reports here and that these accounts should be embraced by the region. In that respect, it would help to create a better understanding of the Northeast Sasquatch, while promoting eco-tourism. Also, the measure was passed in honor of the late Dr. Warren L. Cook, who had done pioneering research into this.

4. After so many years of research what prompted you and your brother Robert to finally write “Bigfoot Encounters in New York and New England”?

BIGFOOT ENCOUNTERS IN NEW YORK AND NEW ENGLAND helped to establish that Sasquatch accounts are plentiful in the Northeast. With an intense public interest in this topic, our goal is to push this mystery out of the darkness of ignorance and into the light of scientific respect and scrutiny. Hopefully, witnesses will find comfort in knowing that they are not alone in their experiences. If anyone has an experience, I would love to hear from them at: bfcreature@yahoo.com

5. For my readers who may be interested in researching Bigfoot, where would you suggest they begin (besides by reading your book, obviously)?

For anyone beginning to study the Sasquatch phenomenon, I would suggest they get a copy of John Green’s “SASQUATCH: THE APES AMONG US.” This is the best book ever written on the topic. Green even included the 1976 Abair Road Whitehall, N.Y. encounter. Also, the History and Discovery Channels continually run specials and show episodes on cryptozoology.

6. What’s your favorite piece of Bigfoot evidence?

What is impressive about the Bigfoot or Sasquatch mystery is the collective case for it’s existence. The late Professor Grover Krantz (Washington State) felt that there was compelling evidence just based on footprint evidence alone. You add to this scores of respectable eyewitness encounters, hair samples that defy classification, the rich traditional history, strange recorded vocalizations– and you build a compelling scientific case. Unfortunately, a body may be the only thing that settles the issue.

7. Harry and the Hendersons, Six Million Dollar Man “The Secret of Bigfoot” episode, or Sasquatch Mountain?

I grew up on “The Six Million Dollar Man” and can remember professional wrestler “Andre The Giant” playing Sasquatch. There was also a UFO-connection in those episodes. Another from that era that should be noted as well was The Creature From Black Lake (1976). I guess I am a fan of the early 1970’s low-budget films– they are a lot of fun. Also, I can recall an episode of “Fantasy island” in which Peter Graves playing a Sasquatch hunter. This was a neat episode because it portrayed these creatures in a positive and compassionate nature. But I have to say that my all-time favorite show was “Kolchak: The Night Stalker.”

8. Obviously I’ve been focusing on your Bigfoot work, but what areas of paranormal research, as opposed to cryptozoological research, are you particularly interested in?

UFO research is what I first became fascinated in. Pioneering researchers like John Keel and Brad Steiger drew connections between the paranormal on a whole. Keel felt that these enigmas were differing manifestations from the same same source. So i am interested in the entire scope of the paranormal thanks to Ufology.

9. With all the research you’re doing, what can my readers expect to see from you next?

More research on cryptozoology, Ufology and hauntings. I have a UFO manuscript I am developing right now and hope to have it published soon. There are some documentaries pending. I hope to be able to do more lectures and am collecting new information all the time

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question.

Will the Magical Buffet be publishing manuscripts of struggling authors in the future?

It’s funny you ask. I’m continually amazed that many people think that I not only have The Magical Buffet website, but that I’m also an actual book publisher. From my experiences working with publishing companies ranging from relatively large to almost unheard of there is one common thread: publishing is HARD! It takes a lot of time and money, two things which I never seem to have.

Perhaps one day, but it seems highly unlikely unless my financial situation and time constraints change.

Of course I’m always happy to publish essays and articles on the site! I’m quite proud of the diverse collection of authors and topics that have ended up on The Magical Buffet over the years.

About Paul Bartholomew
Paul B. Bartholomew has been researching UFO’s, cryptozoology, and Paranormal Phenomena for over 35 years. In 2003 he appeared on and was the unit field coordinator for an Outdoor Life Network episode of “Mysterious Encounters: The Creature of Whitehall.” In 2005 Bartholomew served as a researcher for the History Channel’s “Giganto: The Real King Kong.” In 2008 Bartholomew appeared in an episode of the History Channel’s “Monster Quest.”

Earning a B.S. in Communications at Castleton State College (Vermont), Bartholomew studied under Dr. Warren L. Cook, Professor of History & Anthropology. Together they investigated many sightings of large unknown bi-pedal creatures in the New York and Vermont area.

In 2004 Bartholomew wrote and lobbied for legislation in Whitehall, New York, to create a protective habitat for Bigfoot or Sasquatch. The measure passed both the village and the town of Whitehall and was dedicated to the research and memory of the late Professor Warren L. Cook.

Bartholomew has given hundreds of lectures across the Northeast to libraries, museums, and schools. He has appeared on scores of radio shows and is a regular on local news programs. He has worked with researchers across the globe including Canada, Australia, France, England, and China.

In 2008 Bartholomew and his brother authored BIGFOOT ENCOUNTERS IN NY AND NEW ENGLAND (www.hancockhouse.com). In it hundreds of Bigfoot and Sasquatch encounters are documented across the Northeastern United States, from the traditional histories of the Algonquin and the Iroquois to the Abanaki. The legend of the Sasquatch is tracked from the “Wildman” encounters of the 1800’s to the Bigfoot experiences of today. The book fully documents how the phenomenon has been a consistent part of the human experience from as long as we have recorded history.

Bartholomew still, writes, researches, and investigates unexplained phenomena and has several future projects and books pending.

10 Questions with Clinton Boomer

July 17, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Books, Geek Stuff, Interviews

1. Let’s start with, can you tell my readers a little bit about your novel “The Hole Behind Midnight?”

Absolutely, and it would be a pleasure! I often describe the book to friends and/or prospective readers as a darkly-comic, postmodern urban-fantasy crime/mystery noir/pulp tale-of-suspense-and-magic-and-cursing, a rollicking thrill-ride full of nudity, violence, foul language, forgotten gods, a world-ending conspiracy, dick jokes, gunfights, cigarette smoking and one-liners, torture scenes and haunted car chases, an ex-girlfriend and on more than one occasion, a demon clown from Dimension Q with a thing for stabbing people in the throat.

This is my first novel, and I’m more proud of it than anything else I’ve ever worked on. It’s got everything I could ever want in a novel – little shards of 1940s gumshoe detective fiction mixed up with weird, sick magic and wild, strange comedy – and the review I’ve got on the cover says it all:

“Raymond Chandler meets Douglas Adams by way of a fantasy nerd’s fever dream. And it’s AWESOME.” – Daniel O’Brien, Senior Writer for Cracked.com; contributor to the New York Times bestseller You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News

Now, it’s also a weighty 550-page tome, so any summary I could come up with will probably fail to do the bugger justice. But, yeah, in general … that’s a little bit about it.

2. “The Hole Behind Midnight” is a setting where knowledge really does equal power. By being a geek about comic books, mythology, music, religion, politics, etc. your intimate knowledge of all of these things and more manifests itself as real, tangible power. Was this by design as a chance for you to indulge in some of your favorite interests?

Oh, yeah, 111%, that was my goal. I’ve got a thing for etymology and sub-pop-sub-culture, as well as everything else you listed, especially esoteric-religion & conspiracy-history, and there was certainly a part of me that wanted to make that obsession a legitimate source of super-human ability in an urban-fantasy setting; I’ve gotten so burned out by vampires and werewolves and boring old tropes about uninteresting things going dull-bump in the night that I wanted to play with how magic worked, and I think I stumbled ass-backwards into something that people really respond to.

Of course, I can’t forget to mention the huge chunks inspiration I took from Israeli fantasy-author Uri Kurlianchik, or the deep debts of genius I owe to Massachset-based novelist Ashavan Doyon and to New York game-writer Lou Agresta; each of them, and many other members of the WereCabbages Creative Guild, were instrumental to me as friends, collaborators, editors and sounding boards during the creation of this book and the shared universe it inhabits, existing as a first peek into that world. Their interests and weirdnesses influenced the novel a TON.

3. I found the way magic worked in “The Hole Behind Midnight” to be a wonderful blend of sympathetic magic and Chaos magic; a modern interpretation of folk magic. How did you decide on the magic used in your novel? And if you don’t mind, could you share a little bit with my readers about how it works in “The Hole Behind Midnight” universe?

Since I come, first and foremost, from a roleplaying-game background, one of the early things I did was write up a design-document for magic, which ended up in the final version of the novel, slightly truncated, as a series of notes from the protagonist’s mentor in Chapter 14 and later, as an interlude between chapters 19 and 20, with frequent musings on the topic by the main character throughout the rest of the book. All of it is based on conversations between various members of the WereCabbages, and it’s tied to the idea of magicians “claiming territory” of Emptied Empires, and becoming Secret Royalty to lost or fictitious lands.

One of the big elements I wanted to include is that magic, like Photoshop, can do just about anything … but that there’s no guidebook or user’s manual. The main character is sometimes in the dark about how some trick of enchantment actually works, and he’s not much of a magician, himself, which gave me some wiggle-room to play with weird questions and freaky answers.

In short, the rules of the setting are that you gain power by calling yourself nobility of a place that doesn’t exist, and that you can use the power so generated – the Dust of the Empire – to do interesting things, like break various physical laws. Most magicians can use this power all-but-instinctively to enhance their own physical strength or speed, to command the weak-willed, or to perform minor divinations, because rulership so often means having might of arms, domination over the masses, and foresight … but older Kings and Queens have figured out tricks and rituals to teleport, bind monsters, alter memories, create magical items, hide themselves in plain sight, and other, stranger stuff. And, of course, this is all against a backdrop of a secret universe which lurks behind the one we know, and the various players who move back and forth from the Waking World to the Nethertime.

And it’s more complicated than that, obviously, because Secret Royalty also have to deal with the potency of their ancient or fictional empire in mass culture, other claimants to their throne, courtly intrigue from their own friends, and rules about identifying themselves as Kings if anyone asks them. That’s on top, of course, of the Totems of each Empire and creatures from the Deep Sideways and basic stuff like having a job & paying your gas bill.

It’s a joy to play around in, honestly.

4. The protagonist in the book, Royden, is a real asshole. And yet as the book goes on you end up rooting for him. Where did the idea of a gruff, anti-authoritarian, Indian, little person come from?

Royden is the consummate outsider. That much, I knew from before the first word was written. I wanted him to be physically and emotionally remarkable – the diametric opposite of a noir/pulp antihero who can slip unobtrusively from place to place, blending into crowds, keeping his cool … and with a big-ass chip on his shoulder about that. It was a discussion with Lou Agresta, about two days into the initial free-writing, that led to Royden being a little person, and a discussion at about the same time with Uri Kulianchik which led to him very specifically being dark-skinned and ‘ethnic’-looking.

And it works. Which is really awesome.

But all of the profanity-spitting, heavy-smoking, semi-recovering-alcoholic, kleptomaniacal, poor-impulse-control, oppositional-defiant, anti-social-behavior stuff comes out of a very dark spot in the back of my brain which I usually keep tightly locked up … because if I acted like Royden, I wouldn’t have any friends. And, of course, Royden doesn’t. Still, I’m always pleased to hear that people can root for the son-of-a-bitch, because I have a soft spot in my heart for him.

5. Currently “The Hole Behind Midnight” is available as a self published title. How has the experience of publishing your own book been?

It could have been a real and terrible nightmare, honestly … but I’ve been very lucky to have incredibly supportive friends, family and collaborators, plus the amazing people at Lulu.com watching out for me and cheering me on, and that’s made a world of difference. I wouldn’t wish the anxiety and confusion and self-examination of the publishing process on my worst enemy’s dog, but it’s been worth it, 111%, every time I meet someone who liked the book and shared it with a friend.

6. Many of our readers (especially our Geek Month in Review readers) may recognize you from the work you’ve done on some role-playing games such as Pathfinder. How did you end up writing for the RPG industry?

I’ve been a gamer since 1993, with the release of Planescape, and a lot of my favorite moments and memories with the closest of my friends involve RPGs – talking about them, playing in them, or involved in events closely related to them, like the traditional post-LARP dinner or the Mountain Dew-fueled roadtrip to a convention. I’m probably best known online as the co-creator, writer and producer of the D&D PHB PSAs on YouTube, through the auspices of my channel CreativeJuices7, and that represents the first of my “game writing” in a lot of ways.

But the leap to professional writing occurred with the inaugural RPG Superstar! competition from Paizo Publishing in 2008, in which I placed in the Final Four worldwide; after that, I got the opportunity to lend my pen and my gonzo to the Ennie Award-winning Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting … and the rest has mostly been history. I’m incredibly proud of all of my projects, especially my work for 3rd-party publishers like Rite Publishing and Sean K. Reynolds Games and Open Design and Zombie Sky Press and so many others, and I hope that I get to keep doing this for the rest of my career.

7. What are some of your favorite RPGs and how do they influence your writing?

I’m all-but-obsessed with Planescape, as the Lady of Pain tattoo on my back might give away, and I have an eternal and perhaps unhealthy level of love for the Spelljammer: Shadow of the Spider Moon mini-setting created by Andy Collins and published in 2002 by Paizo in Polyhedron, which I’ve used for a number of campaigns. I still dick around with ideas for that universe in the back of my head almost a decade later – to my mind, that’s the mark of great, inventive writing.

Besides high-fantasy, high-octane, slightly-gonzo d20-based sword-&-sorcery, I also have a lot of love for modern or semi-modern settings: Call of Cthulhu, Unknown Armies, Shadowrun and various White Wolf stuff across the board – my favorites were always the Corax, the Technocracy, the Kuei-Jin and Fomori, for whatever reason. Maybe because they’re more alien, or have a bit more to unpack behind the stories.

All of this bleeds into the rest of my writing, of course – I love dialogue interplay, and trying to ground the really and absurdly fantastic into actual emotion. The real trick is to take an absurd concept like immortal, steam-powered Aztec warriors aboard a rune-scribed ice-ship heading for battle against space demons and give the characters something interesting to say.

8. You’re also a bartender, so I’m obligated to ask, what is your favorite rum drink?

Oh, rum is a beautiful liquor! I pride myself on a lot of my concoctions, from picture-perfect Long Islands to a Bloody Mary that will bring a tear to your eye, and especially on a small arsenal of clever, candy-sweet shots that will leave you wondering if there was any hooch in there at all right up until the moment your ass hits the floor … but rum is one of those alcohols that barely needs encouragement or a massage from the likes of me. Once you’ve learned how to mix a sharp Captain & Coke, your training in the arts of rum is about half over.

Of course, there’s one drink I can make with Malibu, crème de cacao, Bailey’s Irish Crème and two secret ingredients that will knock your socks off, but it’s something of a trade secret.

9. What’s next? Are you working on anything my readers should be on the lookout for?

I’ve got a whole bunch of stuff I’m working on right now, plus the ongoing book-tour, and I’m super-excited to be submitting more work to everyone I’ve worked ever worked with in addition to my just-announced gig with Clark Peterson’s all-new Legendary Games.

Right now I’m working on several novels, novellas or book-ideas, including the direct sequel to the book – ‘The Thirteenth Impossibility’ – and a project called ‘Big American Hell’ for the Hellcrashers setting. There’s also an apocalypse/cyberpunk book called ‘Flickering Degenerate Fluorescent Dystopia’ that’s struggling to get out of my head and on to paper, a very odd piece called ‘Cityskin Pariah’ that’s rattling around back there as well, and of course I can’t forget my old loves: ‘Soapscum Unlimited’ and ‘Brand-New Knockdown’ and ‘Road to Varno’.

If I live to be a million, I’ll never get half of my ideas on paper.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Buffet any one question.

Ooooh! Fun! Alright, but this isn’t a poll-question or a right-or-wrong thing. I’m just generally curious, and I find that I spend a lot of time thinking about it, myself:

Which would you prefer as an afterlife: to discover that your own existence was like a super-packed DVD, or that existence itself is like a video game?

Both of them have their upsides, in my opinion.

In the DVD version, you would get to sit down at the end and talk to the cast and crew – or, at the very least, listen to the commentaries and skip around chapter by chapter and check out what you missed on the first viewing. You could pause and rewind, afterward, and clip through to the featurettes and check out behind-the-scenes footage and audition-pieces and a music-video, and maybe see deleted scenes and alternate takes and endings. That would be really cool … and then, maybe, you could browse through all of the other lives that have ever been, watching sequels and remakes and original, experimental projects and watching stuff you’ve heard of but have never seen, before finally choosing to take on another role.

In the video game version, there’s less finality – you could go back to any save point and pick it up again, or restart as a different character on a harder setting, or try to unlock extra levels and achievements on various modes. It’s never, ever really complete because you can always make new challenges for yourself or go back and try it a different way this time.

I think about this sort of thing a lot, I guess.

I just wonder which one would be more satisfying.

Honestly, I’d go with none of the above. When this is over, I want it to be over. No reflections, no time to ponder “what might have beens”, no do overs. I’m quite looking forward to nonexistence.

About Clinton Boomer:
Clinton J. Boomer, known to his friends as ‘Booms,’ resides in the quaint, leafy, idyllic paradise of Macomb, Illinois, where he attended 4th grade through college. He began writing before the time of his own recollection, predominantly dictating stories to his ever-patient mother about fire-monsters and ice-monsters throwing children into garbage cans. He began gaming with the 1993 release of Planescape, which shaped his Jr. High years, and he was first published professionally in the Ennie Award-winning “Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting” from Paizo Publishing after placing in the Final Four of Paizo’s inaugural RPG Superstar! Competition. He currently devotes a full 99.9% of his waking hours to thinking about fantasy-adventure in general or ninjas, more specifically. Boomer is a writer, filmmaker, gamer and bartender; his short comedic films, the “D&D PHB PSAs,” have over 3900 subscribers on YouTube and and have been viewed more than a million times. A member of the WereCabbages creative guild, a frequent freelance contributor to Rite Publishing, Sean K. Reynolds Games, Paizo Publishing, Reality Deviants Press, Zombie Sky Press, Legendary Games and the Hellcrashers setting, his debut novel “The Hole Behind Midnight” was released in 2011; Daniel O’Brien, columnist for Cracked.com and contributor to the New York Times bestseller You Might Be a Zombie and Other Bad News called it “ … Raymond Chandler meets Douglas Adams by way of a fantasy nerd’s fever dream. And it’s AWESOME.” Boomer is currently the happiest he has ever been in his whole life. He can be found online at www.clintonjboomer.com

10 Questions with Alferian Gwydion MacLir

June 12, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Interviews, Magic/Occult

Just a little note. When we originally did this interview, we were under the impression that Alferian’s book “Wandlore” would not be available until the beginning of July. However if you head on over to Amazon.com you’ll see it’s available now!

1. Readers may not know this, but you were the very first interview done for The Magical Buffet. You were “10 Questions with a Druid“. Why on earth did you agree to do that interview?

Why not? It was fun and I’m always interested in talking about druidry.

2. Back in 2006 when I interviewed you I put your Bardic skills to the test by requesting you write a poem about The Magical Buffet. In response, you wrote this:

There once was a girl named Rebecca
Whose tastes ranged from London to Mecca
She offered up choices
From alchemy to oysters
In a buffet for magical trekkers.

I’m here to challenge you again and put your Bardic work to the test by asking for a second verse. Are you up to the task?

Gosh! I had totally forgotten that. Well, it’s a limerick so doesn’t have a second verse. How about free verse…

Magical Buffet
Car on a magical train
The Hogwarts Express —
The train of all desires —
Blue, and the buffet full of
Sandwitches
And apple Pythagoras
Genmai cha
Eye of newt
We eat Cornish pasties and
Drink coffee
Hot, black arts sweet,
Then go back to looking
Out the windows
As the landscape of magic
And the castles of imagination
Steam past.

3. In 2006 we also talked about the Avalon School for Druidic Studies. I was so enthusiastic about it and sad to discover the website for it is gone. Can you share with me and my readers what happened with it?

The board of governors and I closed it down mainly because I did not feel I had the time or skills to keep on herding cats. As many people have said, it was an idea ahead of its time. What is needed, as I’ve always said, is a physical location. Sort of, if you build it they will come. Some of those involved in the project thought online learning would draw students, but at the present moment druids are spread rather thinly and most of them haven’t any money. My thought was to present druidic ideas in a formal way, but entirely open, so you did not need to belong to an order to study it. No “secrets.” But you do need money, competent administrative staff, and time to draw students.

There are a number of other folks out there running magical schools of one sort or another, and I really have respect for them. Last year I tried teaching at the Grey School of Wizardry and was very impressed with the administration and the teachers. I enjoyed the students too, and was sorry to leave, but I need to focus my energies on my writing. In fact, what happened after I closed Avalon Center was that I began writing a novel that is set at a druid university. It starts as a “school days” novel, as so many have, and follows the heroine as she grows up. It is meant to be a series. Although it is somewhat the same idea as the “Harry Potter” books, it is not intended to be a fantasy about magic. Rather, it is intended to present real magic as the subject of study in the schools. This gives me a chance to develop my idea of a magical school, without the hard work of manifesting using real people. Much easier if you can just create the people you need. The first novel in the series is titled “Emily Glass and the Alchemist’s Secret” and it is a bit steampunk, though not dystopian, nor set in Victorian England. I won’t say any more. You will just have to read it.

4. Enough about the past, you’ve got a wonderful book, “Wandlore: The Art of Crafting the Ultimate Magical Tool”, that is coming out in July! Let’s first talk about how you started making wands?

It was 1998 or so that I made my first wand, when I was studying in the Ovate grade of OBOD (the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids). The grade work includes a good deal of work with the trees and ogham signary, so I was talking to a lot of trees. The oghams are a system of signs used by the Irish bards of old. Among other things, each signifies a different tree. I’ve always talked to trees so far as I can remember but in this case I was getting to know the character of each type of tree in a more methodical way. An oak dryad is different from an elm dryad, and both of those are very different from a poplar or birch. So, the study of the old bardic lore of the trees and their correspondences quite naturally led me to my calling as a Wandmaker. It definitely was a calling too. My spiritual guides told me that part of my purpose was to reintroduce the art of wandmaking into the present magical culture.

That along with my fiction writing is what I feel called to do with my life – principally. Obviously there is a lot else. Steampunk for instance.

5. And then how did the book “Wandlore” come about?

I accumulated a lot of the lore on my website – the Bardwood Wandry – and at some point a druid friend of mine told me that I really should write a book on the subject. After about five years, here it is. Writing “Wandlore” helped me to articulate a lot of the ideas I have had over the years – things that I accepted intuitively and had never tried to explain to others. The elemental structure of the four principal parts of a wand for example. Those parts are, the point, the shaft, the handle, and the pommel. They correspond respectively to fire, air, earth, and water. Why? Well, let me tell you why.

The pommel which is often set with a stone or a large rounded shape, is used as the reservoir of spiritual energy or prana within the wand. It is elementally water and yin, while the point is the opposite – fire, the energy of will, and yang. The handle which contacts the wizard’s hand is earth because it draws on the immediate physical and material control of the user. The shaft is air due to its role as the conducting medium of prana. Magic is cast through the air, as it were, both in the literal sense of material air uniting and connecting all things on earth, and in a psychological sense in which it is the thoughts of the wizard that conduct the will, the non-verbal power of desire.

6. The amount of detail and just raw piles of information in the book is staggering. How long did it take to do all the research?

Several lifetimes. I drew upon the work of many others, as you probably noticed if you read the bibliography. The book collects a lot of information that has been scattered around in magical circles for a generation or more. Everything from tree lore, to stone lore, and the mysteries of magical beasts. One of the techniques I adopted from the famous Mr. Nitrogenous P. Ollivander is the use of magical cores in my wands. I had to do a lot of research on that subject with my Elven sources. I have three Elvish friends who very kindly made their own knowledge available to me. Some of it was general knowledge of how magic works, and some was particular lore about wands. They advise me in all my magical work, and confirmed that the use of spiritual inclusions from astral beasts was a long-established practice, not just the stuff of fiction.

Anyway, magical cores. The use of phoenix feather, unicorn hair, griffin feather, etc. etc. has a perfectly good basis in real magic, quite apart from the “Harry Potter” books. In the fictional world of J. K. Rowling, one is led to believe that the wand’s magic comes from the unicorn hair or phoenix feather. This is only partly true. The magic in a magic wand comes from the mage using it. It does not bestow magical power on the wizard, as seems to be the case to some extent in the Harry Potter books. But the inclusion of bodily ephemera of mythical beasts adds their character to the wand. A wand of wood with an animal core and a stone reservoir in the pommel unites all three of the major kingdoms: animal, vegetable, and mineral. The parts used, however, are a bit off in the fictional world of Ms. Rowling. She, for example, has Ollivander using “dragon’s heartstrings” which is a horrible idea. If there is one thing you must not do when taking body parts from a magical animal it is to kill it or dissect it. Heart muscle, which I presume is what she means, would be nothing but trouble. That’s the sort of thing you would use to create a cursed object. It is the scales of the dragon that are used in wands. Dragons shed their skin like snakes and the scales can be harvested by a wandmaker or general apothecary of magical ingredients. I know a very nice shop in the netherworld where I get mine. Saves a lot of time.

The aspects of druidry that enter into my practice, in the process of enchantment and in the work with tree spirits (dryads) come from the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids and my studies within the order. Druidry forms the framework of my magical practices, and I have also adopted a few ideas and ritual forms from the Hermetic tradition.

So, there was some original research and there was a lot of comparing of older sources and testing them. The actual writing of the book took about four years I think, including the better part of a year to revise the whole thing after Elysia Gallo, the Llewellyn editor and her colleagues gave me feedback. I’m very grateful for that help because it is really the editor that makes a good book a great book.

7. Now that your book “Wandlore” is about to release, have you been flooded with requests from people looking to have you craft a wand for them?

Ha! Ha! Ha! No. I doubt if anyone who has seen the book on offer knows about my website. They would have to search for my name I think. I’ve put the web address of Bardwood.com in the book, so when people actually come to read it, the word might get out. Bardwood Wandry is, at present, just me. I would like to engage an apprentice or two, but I’ve been too busy to advertise. My clients have to be very patient. It usually takes me months to turn an order around. I always have something in the works. I’ve been making a fire staff from one of my druid brothers just lately and the dental work on the dragon head at the top is taking far, far longer than I ever imagined it would. Teeth. Teeth!

8. Um, ahem (cough), err, um….any chance you would craft me a magical wand?

Why not? All you need to do is go to the web shop and come up with a design you like. You can choose from the ones in the photos there, or you can come up with your own design in consultation with me. Bespoke wands are my specialty. I’ve priced them in three ranges – pocket wands, regular length wands, and extra long wands. There is an additional charge for making them “fancy” which means elaborate carving, animals, goddesses etc. I will generally throw in a few leaves and spirals and an inscription without counting it as fancy. And I do make staves, but that’s a different story. Much more laborious than a wand, and as such, considerably more expensive.

9. So what do you say, want to do another interview 5 years from now?

Absolutely. You don’t need to wait that long! Perhaps when “Emily Glass” comes out we can do it again.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question.

Okay, tell me what you would like in a wand: wood, length, core, stone (if any), carving, symbols, inscription. Design your own wand!

I definitely like the more “traditional” (and by my air quoted traditional, I mean as portrayed in popular culture) style wands. So, a standard size and straight. Since I don’t have a magical practice, I don’t know after that! Relatively simple with perhaps some carving along and around it. Not being very magical myself, I generally leave magical intuition to the crafts people who make things for me. Thus far, they’ve done better at it than if I suggested something myself!

About Alferian Gwydion MacLir:
Dr. Alferian Gwydion MacLir was born in a zeppelin over the south of France in 1830 — in his most recent incarnation that is. Like most time lords, he tends to change his appearance from time to time. Living with one foot in the Netherworld, Dr. MacLir sometimes forgets where or when he is and is chronically absentminded and distracted. He cannot abide doing nothing but always has to be creating something. Even when reading for pleasure, he is taking mental notes for his books. He has been a wand maker for eleven centuries and a Druid since about the 3rd century B.C.E. He is a card-carrying member of the Order of Bards, Ovates, and Druids (OBOD) a traditional British Druid order. He might be a Freemason, but if he were, he wouldn’t tell you because it’s a secret. He might also be a secret agent but there again, you wouldn’t know.

Presently he lives, writes, makes wands, and builds steampunk mods at his home, Bardwood Lodge, a small and hardly noticeable place in the Lake District of Terre des Lacs in the northern oak savannahs of upper-middle North America — approximately 44.92° N Latitude and 93.3° W Longitude. He has a lovable cat named Minerva and a large collection of extraordinary hats. The doctor travels often and spends the Winters at the MacLir family castle Llyranwyddllyneth in Gorias, mainly because it is always summer there. Certainly not for the plumbing. When he doesn’t have his nose in a book or his clothes covered in wood chips, he is probably at a cafe writing, girl-watching, or asleep in his hammock.

10 Questions with Sasha Graham

June 1, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Interviews, Magic/Occult, Psychic

1. What got you started in learning about tarot?

I was born on Halloween. My Iowa grandmother always called me her good witch of the east. I thought since I was a Halloween baby, reading tarot should be my automatic skill or some sort of birthright. Buying my first deck at age 12, I was completely overwhelmed. Part of the reason I wrote Tarot Diva was to hopefully make tarot more accessible to people. Easier for them to grasp.

2. Can you tell my readers what a Tarot Diva is? How is it different from being a tarot reader?

A tarot diva is anyone, male or female, who uses a deck of tarot to illuminate, inspire and empower his or her lives. A tarot diva knows that ultimate knowledge, be it self-knowledge, spiritual knowledge or creative knowledge ultimately resides inside herself. Knowing this lies within, she uses tarot to help her access this divine knowledge.

A tarot reader becomes a tarot diva when she uses tarot to empower herself. A tarot diva puts herself to the test by being as good a reader for herself as she is for her clients. There are loads of tarot diva’s walking around out there!

3. Can the philosophy and perspective of the Tarot Diva be followed by a man, or is being a Tarot Diva just for women?

Men can totally use Tarot Diva! I call them Tarot Devos. Every single sentence in my book can apply to a man. The simple fact of the matter is statically, more women than men read tarot. I attend an annual tarot conference of about 200 tarot practitioners. Something like 98 percent of attendees are women. Tarot is a field dominated by women!

I had no problem writing from a female perspective to a mostly female audience. I adore Hemmingway. Do I let the fact he’s writing from a macho, male point of view keep me from enjoying his work? No way. I trust my male audience enough to understand this as well. Any male reader who is curious enough will open my book and have fun with it.

4. In your book “Tarot Diva” you use images from many different tarot decks, and in the book you talk about exploring the variety of decks that are available. What are some of your favorite tarot decks?

I’m a book collector (tarot, fiction and cookbooks) but not much of a tarot deck collector.

My favorite all time deck is – no surprise – The Halloween Deck by Kippling West. Loves! J’adore! Bowing to it!

Usually, I read with the Rider Waite. Plus, I focused so much on Rider Waite while writing Tarot Diva, it is as if we’ve been glued/fused together.

I’ll examine deeper subconscious issues with Patrick Valenza’s genius Deviant Moon or sometimes when I’m feeling “moody.”

5. Being a Tarot Diva is definitely more than a hobby, it’s like a lifestyle. In your book you suggest recipes for foods that you feel reflect certain cards and aspects of the tarot. What’s your favorite recipe from the book?

Ohhhhh, that’s such a hard question because I really put in recipes I love and cook all the time!!!

In the fall, when I’m entertaining a small groups, I love to serve Strength’s Warm Garlic, Brie and Chutney. It works great for like 4 – 6 people.

I serve the Empress Goat Cheese and Cherry Salad for lunch for girlfriends all the time – any season it is purrrrrrfection!

My husband and I worked for years (we are still tinkering) to perfect our Lover’s French Onion Soup. We both love it so much and the smell of caramelized onions is soooooooo divine! We use chicken stock in the summer for a lighter version and beef stock in the winter for a heartier feel.

The Fool’s Croque Madame is my Sunday morning special when I really feel like indulging myself and pretending I’m at a café in Paris.

Gee, can you tell I love to eat??

6. Your book has all kinds of wonderful quotes from women in it. Who are some of your favorite divas, tarot or otherwise?

Madonna all the way! I think the moment my first teenage hormone popped was the second Borderline was released. I can mark every moment of my life by her songs.

Now that Madge is slowing down, I live for Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Beyonce. Give me a strong woman in a pair of stilettos, false eyelashes and a poppy song and she’ll have me dancing around the living room in no time.

I adore all the Broadway Diva’s like Pattie LuPone and Julie Andrews.

Fierce female writers like Toni Morrison and Jeanette Winterson.

My personal tarot diva’s include the phenomenal Rachel Pollack and the amazing Corrine Kenner. I idolize them both.

I searched for quotes from Madeline Albright cause I think she is one hell of a diva. Sadly, I couldn’t find any that would apply to the book.

Such an honor to quote these amazing women!!!

7. What are your thoughts on the rise in popularity of the “oracle deck” (decks designed for intuitive or psychic work that do not necessarily follow the traditional tarot template)?

Interesting question. Any device that increases psychic or intuitive work is a good thing. I just adore the history, occult and otherwise, attached to tarot decks. The Trumps who sprang to life in the Renaissance really float my boat.

8. What do you feel is the best advice you can offer to someone considering learning tarot?

Don’t be afraid to read the card. Trust yourself and your first instinct. Allow yourself to weave stories about what you see. Don’t be indecisive. Take risks.

Then take this exact same advice for cards and apply it to your life.

9. With your book “Tarot Diva” now out for public consumption, have you considered doing a “Tarot Diva” tarot deck?

You know, I’ve been asked this question. Unless a seriously gifted artist came knocking at my door, I don’t know this is something I’d pursue. There are so many amazing decks out there. What would I really have to add? The power of tarot comes when it takes shape in your subconscious. I have no idea how I could put that on a card. It would be like painting a dream . . .

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question.

Okay, I’ve got a good one. Where do you think Tarot is going? What direction is it moving in?

It’s hard to say because my perspective is skewed. I get loads of emails from readers, authors, and publishers about tarot, so in my mind, tarot seems to be on an upward trend. However, I’m not sure outside of my warm, wonderful, Buffet bubble. If me and my blog achieved global domination (and it is on the “to do” list), I would definitely make certain that tarot had every opportunity to achieve “market saturation” (as the ad execs would say).

About Sasha Graham:
Sasha Graham was born in Saranac Lake, NY, to a free spirited hippie mother and moved 27 times during her childhood. Settling in Manhattan in the late 80’s, Sasha acted in B-horror films, received a BA in Literature at Hunter College and began working with Tarot. Sasha now organizes tarot events, teaches tarot classes and provides tarot outreach to young people all over NYC. You can learn more at www.sashagraham.com

Attention Albany, NY area readers! Sasha Graham will be at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza on Saturday June 4, 2011 at 3pm signing books and doing one card tarot readings! For more information, visit The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza website!

10 Questions with Megan Don

May 12, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Christianity/Catholicism, Interviews, Religion

1. For readers who aren’t familiar with her, can you tell my readers a little bit about Teresa of Avila?

Teresa of Avila was a 16th century Spanish mystic and Carmelite nun, who was renowned for her astute insight into the workings of the human soul and who came into her realized self after many years of following her spiritual path. Do not be fooled by her outer nun role, she was a powerful woman who spoke her mind, and who engaged in the fullness of her passionate heart. She was guided to a vocation of reform, that is, reforming the Carmelite Order, for both women and men, returning it to the original intention of “tending to the garden of the soul.” She established seventeen new monasteries along the length and breadth of Spain, which included buying and selling real estate, fundraising to pay for the properties, and ensuring that each monastery had an income so they were self supporting. She was a dynamic powerhouse of energy and manifestation, and at the same time nurtured a deeply spiritual connection with her Inner Beloved. She says, that the only way she achieved so much was through the absolute reliance upon the divine. She is the perfect example for us today as we align ourselves with both our inner and outer world and all that needs to be tended to in order to live upon this earth in a wholesome way.

2. What made you decide to focus your research on her?

I did not decide. I think she or the Beloved did, or both. One evening being awoken from sleep, I was given a vision of Teresa’s life. I knew it was her, I knew the stones of the monastery walls I was seeing, and in the morning I knew I had to visit Avila, Spain and also to study her writings. Within six months I was in Avila, and while there I was making some notes about my experiences. It was then I realized that I would be writing a book on her. Not being a writer, this was a little perplexing, so I said if a book was to be written then the Spirit needed to write it, as I had no idea what to do. I therefore, see this book as a gift I was given and which I gift onwards and outwards to the world. It has been an extraordinary journey, for which I am very grateful.

3. Your book “Meditations with Teresa of Avila: A Journey into the Sacred” contains hundreds of quotes attributed to Teresa of Avila. Do you have a particular favorite?

I think I will need to extend this to two favorites:

I can find nothing to compare with the great beauty of a soul and its infinite capacity…the soul is nothing but a paradise in which the Beloved takes delight.

We have not been taught self-love in our culture, and here Teresa is pointing to an inner beauty so profound and so infinite that I think there are very few who can touch this or believe it. While meditating at her birthplace in Avila, I was given the experience of this quote, of knowing how infinitely we are loved, and that is, the whole of our being. There is no distinction between ego and the divine self, we are loved completely exactly as we are. After many years, it still touches my soul deeply when I revisit this experience, and it is something that I wish every soul on earth could know and experience.

Outside this castle neither security nor peace will be found…[the soul] should avoid going about to strange houses since its own is so filled with blessings.

Teresa described the soul as being like a luminous crystal castle, and here she reiterates the need for us all to draw deep within our own beings. It is within that we will find we have everything and more than what we need. We are so filled with blessings and yet we still seek to be blessed and loved from the outside of ourselves. It is interesting that our true source of happiness lies within and yet we prefer to experience unhappiness through a constant seeking without.

4. What do you hope readers take away from your book?

The book has been written so that it can be experienced, that is, there are quotes from Teresa’s work, then a short exposition relating her wisdom to our contemporary living, and then a meditation in order that we can experience and embody the teachings given. My hope is that the book will provide a transformational experience for the readers, that it will relate to, and open their lives to the greater reality that they are, and most of all, that they will come to know the Inner Beloved and the love of self.

5. In your book you discuss how it can be read for group study. Have you heard from readers who have done this? What were their experiences?

Yes, the response has been wonderful. Groups (and individuals) have been most grateful for the accessibility to Teresa’s teachings. Her original writings can be a little laborious at times, and they are also ensconced in 16th century terminology that is not so appealing to the modern mind. People were aware that Teresa held a key for their spiritual path but were previously unable to access her, so being able to enter her wisdom in a very practical way, relating it to their everyday living has been appreciated.

There has also been a lot of appreciation to know of Teresa’s struggles in her life, as these struggles are still ones we face today. Teresa fought her way through a quagmire of fear and self-doubt (for many years), and she struggled with belief in her self and her spiritual experiences. She had to release old friends who no longer supported her life and she had to stand up in the face of much criticism by colleagues and fellow spirit travelers. Many of us have also experienced these same challenges and to read of her story and her overcoming these things brings hope to us all. Teresa was a woman of great courage, though she is quick to say, it was the Spirit who gave her the courage. And this is what the readers have relayed, that they were given a newfound courage to step out on their pathway and to follow their inner guidance.

6. “Meditations with Teresa of Avila” is divided into seven “dwellings”. What is the significance of the “seven dwelling places”?

The seven dwellings are places in which the soul travels as it makes its journey back to the Beloved. As said above, Teresa saw the soul as a luminous crystal castle, and within this castle there are the seven dwellings and within the dwellings there are rooms upon rooms. As we enter each dwelling we come closer and closer to the Inner Beloved and the center of the soul. These dwellings are pathways or a spiritual map, if you like, taking you through different stages upon your journey. We enter the dwelling of Awakening, The Return, Self Knowledge, Interior Recollection, Surrender, Betrothal, and finally The Sacred Marriage. Though it is important to note that the journey is not linear. We enter different dwellings at different times according to the needs of our soul. For instance, the Awakening is not a one-time visit, but something that happens over and over again, and as our journey continues the experiences become more subtle and more refined. So it is more like a circular journey into the infinity of our being, a journey that never ends. As Teresa said, I think God too is on a journey.

7. On your website, www.mysticpeace.com, I see you have pilgrimages planned for Assisi, Italy in May, Ireland in June, Ireland again in July, and Avila, Spain in September! What kind of work goes into putting together all these trips?

A lot of work, and I love it. Of course, there are the very practical details to work out, such as schedules, where and when we will stay, eat, and take ferry rides and so on. Plus tending to everyone’s practical needs and questions before and during the pilgrimage. And then there is the very spiritual nature of the journey to attend to; being led to the places that are spiritually powerful and have a resonance that is alive and living; and opening to the wisdom contained therein and how it may relate to our own souls and journeys. There are also themes for every pilgrimage, for instance, the upcoming pilgrimage to Assisi, Italy, is “Remembering Your Sacred Work,” and one of the pilgrimages to Ireland is “Living as an Elder,” so I also do much preparation around these themes and recommend reading prior to journeying so everyone can have a full experience. Fortunately, I have been granted the gifts of administrator and the ability to tend to details, as well as the ability to open to the mystic wisdoms.

Something so magically potent occurs when on a pilgrimage. For me, it is the body connecting with the body of the land you are walking on, praying with, and listening to. I have many people return and participate in different pilgrimages with me each year. We form an inner bond that is very sacred. These same people are also often in Spiritual Direction with me, so the experiences together are exquisitely rich. There are no words to describe the deep transformations that people experience – it is deeply humbling to be a sacred witness.

8. You have another book called “Sacred Companions, Sacred Community: Reflections with Clare of Assisi”. Who was Clare of Assisi, and what can we learn from her?

Clare of Assisi was Francis of Assisi’s spiritual companion. Perhaps the most understated enlightened woman of our Christian heritage. As Richard Rohr speaks in the foreword of my book (and I paraphrase here), it is a travesty that she has been so overshadowed by Francis and the male order of Franciscans, and he calls for a return to the feminine wisdom of Clare and her sisters as a way to bring back a fragment of sanity and calm to our world.

Clare was extremely masterful at creating community, and if she had had her way, the Franciscan community would have been one of both women and men, and not segregated. Francis unfortunately bailed on this idea, as I believe, his attraction to Clare was so great that he didn’t know what to do with all his passion and feelings, and therefore, best to separate and be safe. Clare was not at all happy about this, but Francis was a stubborn and willful man and so a different history was created.

I speak of Clare as being the first propagator of Non-Violent Communication. For her, kindness of speech was imperative in creating a harmonious community, and also compassion of the heart. Her writings give great wisdom into community harmony and living. She also writes profoundly about her mystical world and her relationship with the divine love. She writes, Place your mind before the mirror of eternity, place your soul in the brilliance of glory, place your heart in the figure of the divine substance, and through contemplation, transform your entire being into the image of the Godhead itself. Her own commitment to her contemplative and prayer time raised her consciousness and image into the light body of love. This divine love affair and her great love for Francis I cannot separate – they were one and the same – yet she had a pathway of needing to release attachment to Francis over and over again, even to the point of his death.

I cannot emphasize enough the quiet power of this woman. It is my joy to bring her wisdom forward and to lead people to her home in Assisi – there she is readily felt and known, as is her companion and love, Francis.

9. What’s next? Do you have any upcoming projects my readers can look forward to?

Ah yes, it is indeed a wonderful journey. I have been studying the Gnostic Gospels and other related Gnostic texts, unveiling the great wisdom of the early Christian communities, along with the mysteries of Mary Magdalene and the feminine teachings. Joining with this, my Celtic heritage has re-emerged and my childhood gifts of working with the animal and tree spirits and elemental beings. I am finding these traditions so effortlessly join together, and when we remember Mary Magdalene’s many years of teaching and living in Southern France and the great Celtic and Druid presence throughout France, it makes sense for this re-emergence and re-union if you will. So I envision another book revealing this work and my experiences, and pilgrimages to these areas also.

I also have a great interest in community, and opening the way as a house of hospitality for people to come and enter into their sacred self even more deeply, for varying lengths of time, and drawing on the work and themes as reiterated above. So readers may watch for something of this nature being created in the future.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Buffet any one question.

The first question that came to me was, “Can we create a special Magical Buffet Pilgrimage, where readers can come and journey together into these sacred wisdoms?”

Just a thought. Can you imagine the logistics of that – even first off deciding the place? Next year I head to Glastonbury in May/June and then Chartres Cathedral and Mont St. Michel in France in September. Perhaps a Magical Buffet contingent can descend and then ascend together?

By the way, love what you are doing at Magical Buffet – brava!

See, I think you give me too much credit. I see The Magical Buffet Pilgrimage going to Puerto Rico for the religious for me experience of the Taste of Rum Festival, or maybe going across town to a friend’s house for an action movie marathon. I’m not a very exciting lady!

About Megan Don:
Megan Don is the author of “Meditations with Teresa of Avila”. She is a spiritual counselor and teacher of “The Pathway of the Mystic.” She leads pilgrimages to Avila, Spain and other sacred sites in Europe. Megan devotes herself to awakening the mystic within humanity and teaches an embodied spirituality that honors all traditions. She divides her time between the United States and Europe. Visit her online at www.mysticpeace.com.

10 Questions with Emily Carlin

April 10, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Books, Interviews, Magic/Occult, Wiccan/Pagan

1. What led you to specialize in the study of dark and protective magicks?

I’ve experienced paranormal phenomena pretty much my whole life. I can remember seeing ghosts when I was as young as four or five. When you see these things you can either ignore them, go nuts, or learn how to protect yourself and take charge of the situation. I tried and failed to ignore them and I refused to let myself go crazy, so I had to learn more about the magick and the paranormal so that I could be in control of my experiences. I talked to anyone who would answer my questions and voraciously read every book on the subject that I could get my hands on and eventually became something of an expert.

2. How did you end up teaching for the Grey School of Wizardry and acting as their Dean of Dark Arts?

I learned about the Grey School back when if first opened in 2004 and joined the school as a student. I loved the fact that it allowed me to work at my own pace and to learn such a tremendous variety of subject. Unfortunately, at the time there wasn’t much in terms of advanced material. I realized that I knew just as much, or more, about the dark arts in general and protective magicks in particular than some of the faculty and decided to apply to teach. I was accepted as a teacher and quickly began writing classes on creatures of the night and defensive magick. When the then dean of the department decided to step down I immediately expressed interest in taking the wheel and the administration deemed me ready to do so. The department now offers 28 classes across 7 levels, with more on the way!

3. What is it like to be one of your students at the Grey School of Wizardry? For example, is it all done online, how structured is it, etc.?

The Grey School in an entirely online, work at your own pace, non-denominational magickal school. When a student enters the school they take a few required introductory classes and then they can select up to six classes of their level at a time from any of our 16 departments. We offer classes in everything from lore, to wortcunning, to alchemy, to dark arts. When a student signs up for a class they must be approved by the professor. Once approved they have access to all of the class lessons on the school site. Each class has a number of assignments that must be completed in order and are graded by the professor. The average class takes 2-6 weeks to complete depending on the diligence of the student and the number of assignments.

All students also have access to extensive school forums, one of our richest resources. Any question a student may have about any kind of magick can be asked in the forums and will generally get multiple responses within a day.

For more information on the Grey School just go to www.greyschool.com.

4. What made you decide that it was time to write your new book “Defense Against the Dark: A Field Guide to Protecting Yourself From Predatory Spirits, Energy Vampires, and Malevolent Magick”?

At the time that I started writing the book I had spend around ten years researching the paranormal and ways of protection oneself from it. Much of the material had crystallized in the form of Grey School classes, but there was still a lot more to be done. The catalyst for finally getting everything together into a book was actually my Grey School practicum. When you finish the 7 level course of study at the Grey School you do a large final project: the practicum. For most students this would be performing a ritual or writing a long paper. For me it was to pour the contents of my brain into my laptop and three months later I had a 75 page paper that my poor adviser had to grade. From there it was another month or so to flesh it out to book length and voila, Defense Against the Dark was born.

5. In your book you discuss a classic protective substance, holy water. However, you also mention “war water”, which I had never heard of before. Where did you learn about war water and can you tell my readers a little bit about it?

War water is basically the dirty, angry cousin to holy water. Holy water repels negative forces and cleanses; war water will actually harm negative forces – it fights back. I first learned about war water many years ago at a Pagan Pride Day workshop. It was mentioned briefly in a few of the books on psychic protection that I had, but I had a difficult time finding more information. Then, several years later, I found The Element Encyclopedia of 5,000 Spells by Judika Illes and that book had several recipes and directions on how to use it. I make my war water using iron nails, sulfur, several kinds of peppers, blood, salt, and just about any other noxious substance I can get my hands on. I almost always have a vial or two on me, just in case.

6. Your book covers a wide range of malevolent and subversive spirits and creatures. Do you have a particular favorite?

My favorite creature tends to shift day to day, but at the moment it has to be The Wild Hunt. There’s something about the image of a great mass of spectral hunters riding through the night that I find rather thrilling. There are a lot of different theories as to what The Hunt really is, anything from ghosts to faeries or even gods, but I prefer the stories where they are a mass of spirits that hunt down evildoers and drag them to their just rewards. I’d like to think that there’s some force out there that makes sure that wrongdoers get what they deserve.

7. Since these people are attempting to seek out things that you write about how to protect yourself from, what are your thoughts on the ever increasing interest in paranormal investigations and ghost hunting?

I think paranormal investigations and ghost hunting is great. I’m glad that more and more people are becoming curious about the unknown and are actually looking for concrete answers rather than just telling each other stories. However, this trend also worries me because there are more and more people going to places where negative entities tend to hand out and they have no idea how to protect themselves. The vast majority of paranormal entities out there are not going to hurt anyone, probably 99.95%. Unfortunately, if enough people go out looking for the paranormal often enough, eventually someone’s going to run into that 0.05% of very bad things and I just hope that those folks have taken the care to protect themselves. It’s for those seekers of the unknown that I’ve written this book, so that they can be ready if they become one of the unlucky few to run into something really nasty.

8. What challenges do you see facing the Pagan/Wiccan/Witch community? How can the community resolve those issues?

Golly, no small question that one. One of the biggest problems I see facing the community right now is a lack of unity. The Pagan/Wiccan/Witch/Heathen/etc. community prides itself on individuality and allowing everyone to do their own thing. That’s one of the best things about our community – everyone can be what they are – it’s also one of our biggest weaknesses because it’s incredibly difficult to get such individualistic people to come together and actually get anything done. When everyone’s voice gets equal weight it’s very difficult to come to a decision. This is something the community really has to work on if we want to receive the respect and legitimacy that we deserve.

9. Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, or Gilderoy Lockhart?

From the books, Remus Lupin because he’s intelligent and courageous. From the movies, Severus Snape because Alan Rickman is awesome.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question?

I’ve got a question for you. I’m already hard at work on the follow up book to Defense Against the Dark and it’s going to be a book on advanced magickal defense. What sort of things would your readers most want to see in such a book?

I’m honestly not sure, your current book has so much information packed into it! Being kind of a magic nerd, I wouldn’t mind more history and information as to how certain magical defenses came about. Sort of like the information you gave to my war water question. I like seeing how something came to be included in someone’s book or magical arsenal. But that’s just me, let’s see if any Magical Buffet readers have any thoughts on the matter. If you have a suggestion for Emily, just post it in the comments section, it would be nice see what you guys think.

About Emily Carlin:
Emily Carlin has been a magickal practitioner for more than a decade. She is the Grey School of Wizardry’s Dean of Dark Arts, specializing in defensive magick and creatures of the night, teaching magickal protection to people of all ages and skill levels. Emily also holds a BA in philosophy from Wellesley College and a JD from Seattle University School of Law, and is a member of the Washington State Bar. Carlin is a lifelong resident of Seattle, Washington.

10 Questions with Brad Warner

March 27, 2011 by Administrator, posted in Buddhism, Interviews

1. In October 2010 I interviewed Grace Schireson, author of “Zen Women”. I asked her to explain the difference between Zen Buddhism and other branches of Buddhism. Her response was:

“What isn’t Zen? It is the branch of Buddhism that emerged after Buddhism wed Taoism in China. It is said that Zen is not dependent on words or scriptures (as many other Buddhist practices are), and that it is a direct pointing to Buddha as one’s own life. The word Zen actually means meditation. The basis of all Zen practices is meditation rather than studying Buddhist scripture or belief in a system. In Zen you are expected to meditate and just get it with little explanation of what the ‘it’ is.”

In order to provide my readers with as complete a picture of Zen as possible, I’d like to ask you if you agree with her description or have anything to add to it.

Like she says, Zen means meditation. I usually explain it as a reform movement that began as a response to the way Buddhism was becoming more like a religion with a focus on ritual and dogma. The originators of Zen stripped it down to just the meditation practice.

Later on a huge body of Zen literature developed. But even the Zen literature isn’t about dogma or belief. It consists mainly of attempts by Zen teachers to express their experience of meditation in writing. A certain amount of ritual exists in Zen. But even Zen ritual is in the service of the meditation practice.

2. What made you decide to write about your experiences in studying and practicing Zen Buddhism?

I had been a wanna-be writer since junior high school. I used to write science fiction stories and make comic books. I was also a songwriter. I worked for a film and TV production company in Japan and I wrote a number of scripts and things. They were all rejected. But some of the ideas in them found their way into our movies and TV shows, un-credited.

I also wrote several novels, which I was never able to get published. So I wrote about my Zen experience mostly out of frustration. I didn’t want to quit writing. So I just wrote about Zen to keep myself in practice. I never really intended the book that became Hardcore Zen for publication. I thought I would give it to my nephew who was 14 at the time and very interested in philosophy. I only sent it out to publishers because I knew how to do that by then. I never thought anyone would want to publish a book about punk rock, monster movies and Zen.

3. In your books, you share a lot about your own life, but your 2009 book “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate” is incredibly intimate. You discuss your mother’s passing, your job ending, the unraveling of your marriage, and more. Was it hard to share so much of yourself? Did you ever look at the screen and think, “Should I really be talking about this with the anonymous public?”

It was very hard. The ending of the book was especially brutal. I was between apartments at the time and the people at the San Francisco Zen Center were kind enough to provide me a room for a few weeks while I had nowhere to live. I remember sitting in that room typing and re-typing and re-re-typing the last chapter. I had headaches and all sorts of stuff over that one.

I felt that it was necessary to really turn myself inside out for that book. I had to get at everything, expose everything. I still feel that was really an important book. I hate being grandiose. But I think it’s not just important to me, but important to the history of Buddhism. No Buddhist teacher has ever written a book that intimate.

People think all those books with wildly imaginative descriptions of some guy’s supposed enlightened state are really important. But those books are just science fiction novels for people who don’t like reading about space ships. Zen Wrapped in Karma is about what it’s really, actually like to be a Zen teacher.

4. I haven’t gotten to read it yet, but your latest book is ” Sex, Sin, and Zen: A Buddhist Exploration of Sex from Celibacy to Polyamory and Everything in Between”. Speaking of incredibly intimate, how did you feel tackling the subject of sexuality in a culture that is pretty obsessed with it in one way or another?

It felt good, mostly. I think that book was really necessary. People are really hung-up about sex. The Buddhist view says that sex is important and should be taken seriously. But it also says that washing the dishes is important and should be taken seriously. We have a really unbalanced view of sex. We focus on it to the point that we lose focus on everything else. And we still make a mess of our sex lives.

I think the Zen approach can help. You take a vow not to misuse sexuality. But that’s a very open thing. Nobody tells you what constitutes misuse of sexuality. You have to figure that out for yourself, because everybody’s actual experience is different. So you are the only one who can determine what is or is not a misuse of sexuality in your specific case.

5. On my Facebook page one day I said that I found reading books about Zen very relaxing, but found meditation very stressful. A bunch of people “liked” that status. Are my friends and I freaks (totally not out of the question), or is this something you hear from other people?

Meditation can seem stressful and books about meditation can seem relaxing. That’s because lots of books about meditation are kind of like fantasy novels. They provide you with a kind of escapist dream.

The problem is that that dream is actually taxing your brain. It feels relaxing at the moment. But it’s exciting you, stimulating you. The act of reading itself is relaxing. But the material is creating a kind of tension.

Meditation, on the other hand, exposes you to yourself. You become acutely aware of the stress you have. I don’t think meditation produces stress, except perhaps if you’re really ambitious about having some kind of mystical experience. That can be stressful! But when you simply sit and allow yourself to be as you are, you start seeing stuff you’ve ignored. Some of that is stress.

In becoming aware of this stress, you simultaneously begin to see what you can do about it. Sometimes you resist. I know I do. For example, you might come to realize that some activity you had thought was harmless was actually doing damage. You’ll realize that you have to stop doing that thing. But if you’re like me, you often don’t want to stop. So a certain degree of stree appears right there. But it’s a very useful type of stress.

6. Obviously I’m not expert on Zen, but it seems to place a lot of focus on the here and now, this moment, and now this moment, and this one. How contentment can be found in exactly this moment. So how do Zen Buddhists approach issues that make this moment obviously less than content? For instance I have my personal hang up with the situation in Zimbabwe, where a president has run amok and gone from liberator to oppressor (complete with the beatings and torture and all that the job of oppressor entails). How would a Zen Buddhist in Zimbabwe behave? Should they be content in the moment? Does Zen mean passive acceptance of the status quo?

I don’t know how a Zen Buddhist in Zimbabwe should behave because I’m not a Zen Buddhist in Zimbabwe. The only thing I could do would be to speculate. But that kind of speculation would be useless. I don’t even know enough about the superficial details of the situation, let alone what it really feels like to live in it.

The question for me would be more along the lines of, what can I do about the situation in Zimbabwe? What concrete things can I do that might have some effect? If there are things I can do, I would do them. Once I had done those things, I would try to set the matter aside. It doesn’t do any real good to worry about things I can’t change. I can sit and think about concrete ways that I might be able to change those things. And that does some good. Maybe a lot of good. But just fretting about it doesn’t help anything.

When it comes to your own stressful situations, that’s what I try to focus on. Getting worried about other people’s troubles in far away places is a kind of abstraction. If you can do something for those people, do it. We place a lot of value in our culture on “being concerned.” But most of what constitutes “being concerned” is a lot like the way some people are “concerned” over their favorite soap operas. We watch it and fret about it. But we don’t really do much of anything.

7. Your books are filled with amusing footnotes. I’m prone to inserting odd thoughts parenthetically into my articles (You know, like this.) What was New World Library’s reaction when they first saw your wise cracking footnotes?

I think New World Library liked the footnotes. Some people think they’re funny. Some people hate them. I have fun with them. But I’m trying to get away from it because everyone is doing footnotes now.

8. For my readers who aren’t familiar with you or your work, they may not realize that you’re also a big fan of Japanese giant monster movies, even having worked for Tsuburaya Productions (home of the original Godzilla). I have to ask, in your opinion, what is the best giant monster movie of all time? (Thank you in advance for potentially making my holiday shopping much easier!)

I have to correct you there. Tsuburaya Productions didn’t make Godzilla. But even people in Japan think they did. Eiji Tsuburaya, who founded the company, directed the special effects on all the classic Godzilla movies. But he did that while working for another company called Toho. The stuff Tsuburaya Productions makes is a lot like Godzilla. Their big character is Ultraman, a superhero who is as big as Godzilla and fights Godzilla type monsters.

My favorite Japanese monster movie used to be called “Monster Zero”. That’s how I knew it as a kid. Then they released it to video as “Godzilla Vs Monster Zero”. And now they have put it out on DVD as “Invasion of Astro Monster”. It’s so confusing! It’s about aliens from Planet X who use mind control to make Godzilla and Rodan attack Tokyo and send their own monster Ghidorah the three-headed monster to help them out. The star of the film is Nick Adams, who was a hot up and coming actor in the fifties who had fallen on hard times by 1965 when the film was made. So he traveled to Japan and did a few monster films there. That story is really interesting in itself.

9. Given your punk rock background, comfort with using curse words in your writing, your honesty about your personal life, and general disdain for many of the Zen groups to be found in the United States, would you say you get a lot of angry letters and emails, or an epic amount of angry letters and emails?

I get a few. Not as many as you might imagine. I tend to focus on the angry ones and make a big deal out of some of them because they’re often from people who would like to consider themselves unflappable serene Buddhists. They’re sort of funny.

Ever since I started the blog, though, most of the angry people just leave comments. I get an epic amount of angry comments on my blog. There was even an article in Tricycle magazine about the comments on my blog. People just vent on there like crazy. Some of it is really petty and insulting. At the moment I’m not even reading my comments section because it got really nasty.

Certain things tend to set people off. It’s a blog on the Internet, so if I say anything about people being on the Internet too much, the commenters get angry about that. If I say things that seem to go against the prevailing notion that all Buddhists should accept anything that anyone claims is Buddhism, people get upset about that too. Like when I’ve been critical of some of the stuff that strikes me as abuses of Buddhism, using words like “Buddhism” and “Zen” to sell things that have nothing to do with Buddhism or Zen, people get angry about that.

10. Parting shot! Ask us here at The Magical Buffet any one question.

Why “Magic Buffet?” Is that like “Magic Bullet?”

I guess the question is, “Magic Bullet” like the infomercial blender or “Magic Bullet”, like the bullet which struck President Kennedy in the back and exited through his throat? Actually, it doesn’t matter. It’s not like either of those things. At least I hope….

About Brad Warner:
Brad Warner is a Zen priest, filmmaker, blogger, and Japanese monster-movie marketer. He’s the author of “Hardcore Zen”, “Sit Down & Shut Up”, “Zen Wrapped in Karma Dipped in Chocolate” and most recently “Sex, Sin & Zen”. His writing appears in media ranging from Tricycle and Shambhala Sun to Suicidegirls.com. Visit him online at www.hardcorezen.blogspot.com.

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Category: Interviews

10 Questions with Jordan Stratford

10 Questions with Claude Lecouteux

10 Questions with Magic the Cat

10 Questions with Paul Bartholomew

10 Questions with Clinton Boomer

10 Questions with Alferian Gwydion MacLir

10 Questions with Sasha Graham

10 Questions with Megan Don

10 Questions with Emily Carlin

10 Questions with Brad Warner