Category: Religion

A Leader Remembered: Isaac Bonewits 1949 – 2010

by Administrator, posted in Guest Authors, Religion, Wiccan/Pagan

by Shira Tarantino

This past Thursday, August 12, I woke up early in the morning and went
downstairs to read the newest issue of my favorite Pagan magazine, Witches & Pagans. It was around 8 AM as I casually flipped through the pages, landing on an article by Isaac Bonewits. I began reading his scholarly article attentively, but soon my thoughts turned to the author himself. My mind drifted into the ether and feelings of hope and protection came over me. I closed the pages of the magazine, having lost my urge to read, and made peace with my clouded consciousness.

On Thursday, August 12, 2010 at 8am EST, Isaac Bonewits crossed into the Summerland. I learned this several hours into the day following Phaedra Bonewits’ Facebook post announcing her beloved husband’s passing.

While I did not have the fortunate experience of ever meeting the man, in many ways, Isaac’s life’s work helped to shape my own Pagan existence. As a very public archdruid, Isaac Bonewits paved the way for many other Pagans to “come out of the broom closet.” Isaac was so many things to so many people: a spiritual leader, a teacher, a mentor, a guide. The list is deep. He was also a loving husband, a father, an author, and founder of one of the country’s first public Druid fellowships, Ar nDraiocht Fein.

Phaedra Bonewits, on her Memorials for Isaac discussion on Facebook, wrote, “I lost the love of my life last Thursday, but his life goes on in the influence he’s had on everyone.”

Isaac Bonewits’ life was celebrated at a memorial service at the First Unitarian Society of Rockland County (FUSRC) this past Saturday, August 21 in Pomona, NY. His life and works were remembered with love and fondness. If you would like to pay tribute to Isaac but were unable to attend the service in Pomona, there will be many other independent memorials across North America. You can check Isaac and Phaedra’s Facebook page to see if and when there will be one in your area. If your group or Coven is putting on a public memorial for Isaac, you can post it on the same page.

I cannot even begin to put together a comprehensive tribute as beautifully as the following people have done for Isaac, and so I have attached their links below.

Isaac, may you enter the Summerlands unbounded and experience limitless joy, peace, and love. You were a great part of us in this existence and you will continue to be a part of us in another. Your spirit lives on in the hearts and minds of those whose presence you graced, whose spirits you lifted and whose hearts you touched.

Isaac Bonewits Tributes:

Neopagan.net’s blog (the corresponding blog to Isaac and Phaedra’s website) – Obituary

NPR (National Public Radio) – Tribute by Margot Adler

The Wild Hunt – Tribute by Jason Pitzl-Waters

Religion and Politics

by Administrator, posted in Messages from Rebecca, Politics, Religion

If I ever decided to write an autobiography or some sort of memoir I always imagined I would title it, “Whatever You Do, Don’t Ask about Religion or Politics”. It’s an idea that frightens me and motivates me. It’s the seed of apprehension that somehow managed to grow into The Magical Buffet.

Where does this common piece of social wisdom come from? I don’t recall any time in my life when my parents, friends, educators, or anyone else, actually told me this cultural truism. Yet, I knew it wasn’t supposed to be done. Somehow you, me, everyone, be they friend or co-worker, know that it just isn’t done. More so now, in this era of risk management political correctness, will you intrinsically be trained by society to absolutely, under no circumstances, ask anyone about their religion or their politics. It’s a good way to lose friends and gain enemies. I can’t help but feel that this generates a climate of fear in our society. How are we supposed to become a global community and not engage in conversation about the things that could potentially divide us the most? The simple answer is, we won’t.

Here’s another societal truism, people fear what they don’t understand, and fear becomes hate, and the next thing you know I’ll start quoting “Star Wars”. It’s true of course, people fear what they don’t understand. How else is the human animal meant to survive? I don’t understand those crackling lights ripping the sky apart, I’m going to hide in my cave. Right on my primitive brother from another mother, you get your prehistoric butt into that cave and preserve the human species! Emotions like fear and hate, come as readily to us as love. Only humans can experience love or hate in precisely equal measure. It’s what we do with those most potent emotions that define an individual, their community, and their society. It’s taken the better part of my adult life to not automatically default to hate when presented with an intolerable situation. At sixteen I hated Tipper Gore and her cadre of censorship cronies. That’s right, I said it, I hated Tipper Gore. (It’s as if I hear millions of liberals cry out, and then suddenly be silenced. See, more “Star Wars”!) I even wrote a terrible, horrible, utterly embarrassing poem forever preserving my righteous hate for her that was published in my high school newspaper (Go Bombers!). How dumb was I then? So painfully naive. I was not worthy to have anyone read my writing, I was not entitled to think I could educate others. It was with time and experience that I learned hate just isn’t an option. Hate doesn’t solve problems, hate creates problems. (And if you ever watch the television show “Burn Notice” you know that guns make you stupid, but duct tape makes you smart.)

Now that I’ve detailed two of our societies’ greatest truths: that we are not to discuss religion or politics despite their importance in many people’s lives, and that we fear what we don’t understand and that fear becomes hate, I’m here to offer a pretty obvious solution.

Fuck ’em. People who somehow send you the signal that you are never to discuss religion and politics can bite me.

That’s right folks, for the first time ever, I’ve dropped the f bomb in writing. (Those who know me personally are probably surprised it took this long!) I don’t mean to offend you, but to instead in the most graphic way possible, express my utter distaste for some of the worst ideas ever. Ever.

We know that people fear what they don’t understand and that fear can easily become hatred. For better or worse, this is coded in our DNA. No matter how loving or how enlightened an individual is, the potential for fear of the unknown other is always an option. So how about this idea, we work to make it so there is less to fear? If fear can potentially become hate, and hate is bad, why not attempt to lessen the amount of fear in the world?

But Rebecca, how on earth are we going to do that? As a start, I highly recommend asking people about their religious and political beliefs. But it makes things awkward, and potentially uncomfortable. You know what I say to that? Get over it. In my experience, if you’re polite, if you’re respectful, and if you’re honest about your lack of understanding, people will genuinely surprise you. You will find that yes, there are things you disagree on, but often you’ll also find that there are things you can agree on. (And before you say that is a cliché’, I’d like to state, for the record, that I have personally found common ground with Conservatives, Republicans, Evangelical Christians, and just about any other group you think I wouldn’t.) You learn about other perspectives, you learn about other points of view. You may not like them, you may not share the same beliefs as them, but you’ll also gain understanding about them. Those things that cause fear, those things that become hate, they become merely a differing view, from another person. Just another person.

Take notice all of you who are profiting from fear, anger, and hate. We’re not buying what you are selling anymore. I’m tired of being force fed outrage on a daily basis, and not for the “good fight”, not for “our children’s future”, but to turn a quarterly profit. We are ready to learn. We are ready to discuss. We are ready to get out there and find out for ourselves what is going on. We’re going to talk about religion and politics, and you guys are going to go find a new job.

Touched by His Noodly Appendage

by Administrator, posted in Mythology, Organizations, Religion

As you know, I have been publishing my old “Letters from the Publisher” from back when The Magical Buffet was a monthly e-zine because the letters didn’t migrate over to the new blog format. Most of my letters aren’t worth republishing. However there are a few that share some of my more personal thoughts that I wanted new readers to have access to. With that said, here is my “Letter from the Publisher” from May 2008.

What defines a religion? What is the nature of faith? Does religion require genuine faith or can it get by on a set of rituals and a community that acts in sync? Guess what? I can’t answer those questions! I think everyone has their own opinion to those sorts of questions, so I can’t, and won’t, pretend that my thoughts on such topics are answers. But what’s great is when something happens that makes people ask themselves these kinds of questions. Which brings me to the subject of this month’s Magical Buffet Mythology, the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

It’s true that the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was created out of an act of annoyance by founder Bobby Henderson. Specifically a letter of protest that he wrote to the Kansas State Board of Education, that he then also posted on the website www.venganza.org. Essentially it was a sarcastic piece explaining that he fully endorsed the idea of intelligent design being taught as a science, but if they were going to do that, he needed to stress the importance of the inclusion of the Flying Spaghetti Monster creation theory, which is certainly as valid as intelligent design. (Do yourself a favor and read it on the website, my sum up doesn’t do it justice at all.)

This has led many to say that Henderson is mocking faith, and to sum up most of the hate mail on the website, that he’s a jerk. Obviously, I don’t agree. The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and its adherents, Pastafarians, serve a vital purpose. They force people to examine their beliefs and the double standards that exist in a country that is supposed to believe in a separation of Church and State. In March 2008, Pastafarians in Crossville, Tennessee successfully won city approval to place a Flying Spaghetti Monster statue next to the Courthouse, and proceeded to do so. If it’s good enough for the Ten Commandments, then it’s good enough for the adorable Flying Spaghetti Monster. They make schools ask themselves, what is science, and what is spiritual? And, they do it all with a wonderful sense of humor and a pirate’s accent!

Is the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster a “real” religion? Well, they have a definite belief system, a rich mythology, and academic endorsements. People say they are Pastafarians, and are subject to harassment and threats, like many other religious groups. They do not have a not-for-profit status like most religions, but since many religions profit greatly from their followers anyway, I can’t hold that against the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. The American Academy of Religion hosts discussions of the Pastafarians at their annual meetings.

I can’t speak for everyone reading this, but I for one have been touched by His Noodly Appendage!

~Rebecca

I wrote this letter for the month I decided to feature the Flying Spaghetti Monster as the deity for the Magical Buffet Mythology. I wanted to explain its inclusion, and use it as a touchstone to discuss the nature of faith. In reading this letter now, and the profile I wrote up for the Flying Spaghetti Monster, I realize I really didn’t do the FSM, or it’s church, justice. Honestly, I don’t know if I can do any better now. The thing with the Flying Spaghetti Monster is, either you get it or you don’t.

I love how the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has taken on a life of it’s own. Pastafarians challenge the idea of what makes a religion a religion, work tirelessly to uphold America’s separation of church and state, and endeavor to maintain the integrity of science. All of that awesomeness comes wrapped in an adorable little ball of spaghetti with a bunch of followers who talk like pirates.

What’s not love about this?

I still remain touched by His Noodly Appendage!

By the way, that awesome illustration of the Flying Spaghetti Monster was done by Will Hobbs back when I first published the Flying Spaghetti Monster article. It’s so adorable I couldn’t resist featuring it again here.

Reading the Gnostics

by Administrator, posted in Guest Authors, Religion

By Andrew Phillip Smith

And he [Jesus] said, “The kingdom is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea; then he drew it up from the sea, full of little fish from below. Among them he found one good large fish. So he threw all of the little fish back down into the sea without regret. Whoever has ears to listen, let him listen.”

This parable, distinctively in the voice of Jesus, is found nowhere in the New Testament. It comes from the Gospel of Thomas, the best known of the ancient writings found at Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945. The Gospel of Thomas is overwhelmingly the most famous and most read of the texts found in this cache for two reasons:- it has a good claim to contain sayings of Jesus that are as old and as authentic as those in the canonical gospels, and it is, at least superficially, easy to understand. It is one of nearly fifty different texts or tractates in the Nag Hammadi library, the bulk of which are Gnostic.

Gnosticism was a Christian-related religion that thrived in the second to fourth centuries CE, though its origins may have been a little earlier and it persisted in various forms much later. It emphasised the importance of gnosis—experiential knowledge of the divine—within a framework of myth and ritual. No two texts or Gnostic groups agreed on the details of the Gnostic myth, but it typically involves the following: the supreme, unique God emanates divine beings known as aeons. These form the Pleroma, the fullness of God. However, the youngest of these aeons, Sophia, falls from grace and in doing so creates the material world, which is ruled by her bastard offspring the demiurge, the craftsman of our world, often called Yaldabaoth. The demiurge and his minions create the soul and body of mankind but are tricked into incorporating an element of spirit in the human makeup. Thus humans contain a divine spark which may be nurtured and fanned into a flame. The subsequent history of mankind involves a struggle for the human soul, on the one side the demiurge and his archons, on the other a series of saviours or revealers who teach mankind how to attain gnosis and develop the spiritual seed within them. Abbreviated and simplified in this way, the Gnostic myth is understandable and appealing. However, the original Gnostic texts are more concerned with their individual elaborations of the myths than with clarity, and can be quite obscure.

Not all of the Nag Hammadi texts are difficult to penetrate. The Exegesis on the Soul (despite its awkward title) is a beautiful and straightforward account of the fall of the soul, personified as a young woman who drifts into prostitution and is abused by thieves and adulterers but who eventually repents and returns to her father and, in a daring use of sexual imagery, may couple with the bridegroom in the bridal chamber.

Thunder: Perfect Mind is a striking proclamation by a female voice, which includes fascinating, contrary statements —“I am the whore and the holy, I am the wife and the virgin.” Thunder has been adapted as a musical piece by David Tibet’s Current 93 band, and even into an advertisement for Prada perfume directed by Ridley and Jordan Scott.

The Nag Hammadi Library has popularly been known as the Gnostic Gospels, largely through the influence of Elaine Pagels’ popular and groundbreaking 1979 book The Gnostic Gospels. Nothing in the Nag Hammadi Library closely resembles the gospels in the New Testament, but a few of the works have ‘gospel’ in the title, and Jesus features prominently in some of the other texts. In addition to the Gospel of Thomas, we have the Gospel of Philip, the Gospel of Truth (thought the name has been deduced by scholars) and the Gospel of the Egyptians (though its preferred title is now The Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit.)

The Gospel of Thomas is the only one of these to have any claim to reflect the actual teaching or life of the historical Jesus (the study of which is a fraught endeavour in itself. The Gospel of Philip, while quite a different beast to the Gospel of Thomas, is also superficially clear and full of elegant imagery, and includes a few references to Jesus, in many of which he is a mystical or theological figure. The Gospel of Philip itself consists of a series of short section—discourses, sayings, contemplations and extended metaphors—most of which do not explicitly refer to Jesus. Among the nuggets are a statement by Philip the apostle that the cross on which Jesus was crucified was fashioned by Jesus the carpenter. Another is a mysterious miracle in which Jesus threw 72 coloured cloths into a vat at the dye-works of Levi and brought them out all white. Its greatest claim to fame, though, are two brief references to Mary Magdalene. “There were three Marys who walked with the Lord at all times: his mother and his sister and the Magdalene, who is called his companion. So his mother and sister and companion are called ‘Mary.’”

And

“And the companion of the saviour is Mary Magdalene. The Lord loved Mary more than the other disciples and kissed her often on her [mouth].75 The rest of them saw him loving Mary and said to him, “Why do you love her more than us?”76 The saviour replied, “Why do I not love you as I do her? When a blind man and one who can see are both in the dark, they are the same as one another.” These indirectly inspired Dan Brown’s novel The Da Vinci Code, and it is a pity that the work isn’t better known in its entirety.

The Gospel of Truth is a beautiful and highly metaphorical homily quite possibly written by the Gnostic leader Valentinus. The Gospel of the Egyptians, or the Holy Book of the Great Invisible Spirit, is a thoroughly Gnostic myth, full of the complex cosmology so central to Gnosticism. A classic example of what is known as “Sethian Gnosticism”, it is Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, who is the primary figure of salvation; he is actually “clothed” with Jesus, making Jesus more or less an incarnation of Seth. It is also notable for a sequence of mystical vowels which were chanted by Gnostics.

In other Nag Hammadi texts, Jesus is seen post-resurrection as a bringer of knowledge. In the Secret Book of John, the Saviour gives John the son of Zebedee a revelation which consists of an extensive cosmology. In the Secret Book of James, the disciples are trying to recall what Jesus had taught them and receive a further visitation from Jesus 550 days after the resurrection, Jesus has a similar role in other writings.

Outside of the Nag Hammadi Library, though often included in modern collections, we have the Gospel of Mary and the Gospel of Judas (there are many other apocryphal gospels, such as the Gospel of Peter or the Gospel of Hebrews, which are not actually Gnostic, plus the little-known Gnostic Gospel of the Saviour, which is very fragmentary and owes its title to modern scholars.)

The Gospel of Mary is distinctive in the attention it gives to Mary (probably Magdalene) who has received the most secret teachings of Jesus. The focus on Mary Magdalens’s supposed role as the wife of Jesus has led many to see her as “Mrs Jesus”, but Gnostics saw her as an important figure in her own right, as the disciple who understood Jesus better than any of the others. The recently published Gospel of Judas is unusual in that its story takes place during the lifetime of Jesus, rather than post-resurrection, yet it is typical in its emphasis on the Gnostic myth that Jesus teaches to Judas. Although there are traces of a more positive view of Judas among Gnostics in the writings of the second-century heresy-hunting church father Irenaeus, recent examination of the Gospel of Judas shows that Judas is no hero, but shares the faults of the other apostles and sacrifices Jesus to the false God, Sakla. There are many other references to Jesus in the Nag Hammadi Library, which is a goldmine of alternative early Christianity. The Nag Hammadi Library gives us a different view of Jesus, one whose teaching is more important than his crucifixion. In the Second Treatise of the Great Seth, Simon of Cyrenea is actually crucified in the place of Jesus.

The treasures of the Nag Hammadi Library are extensive, but they must be dug out. In addition to the legions of obscure angelic and demonic names, many Gnostic terms are typically left untranslated from the Greek—words like pleroma, (“fullness,” the divine realm), archons (“petty rulers”, demonic assistants to the demiurge ) or pneumatics (not air-driven Gnostics, but those who have spiritual attainment.) To prevent others from encountering the problems I had in my study of the Gnostics, I put together the first ever Gnostic dictionary. Explore these mystical and fascinating works with A Dictionary of Gnosticism by your side.

About the Author:
Andrew Phillip Smith was born and grew up in Penarth in south Wales in the United Kingdom and took his degree in computer science at the University College of Wales, Swansea. From 1987, Andrew worked in computing in London, including a two-year stint providing technical support for the publishers Harcourt Brace. From 1997-2007 Andrew lived in Northern California near the Sierra Nevada mountain range, where he began his writing career. In his time he has busked on the streets of London playing a small harp, delivered leaflets, worked as a security guard, as a letterpress printer and as a librarian to a private library. He now lives in Dublin, Ireland, with his wife Tessa Finn and his son Dylan.

Andrew is the author of over a dozen books and articles on Gnosticism, early Christianity, and esoterica, including The Gnostics: History, Tradition, Scriptures, Influence and several books in Skylight Paths’ annotated and explained series: The Lost Sayings of Jesus, The Gospel of Philip, and Gnostic Writings on the Soul. In addition to writing, Andrew edits The Gnostic, a small press magazine devoted to Gnosticism in all its forms, and runs Bardic Press, which publishes reprints and niche works in the areas of Gnosticism and early Christianity, Celtic interest, Gurdjieff/Fourth Way, and Sufi poetry.

His interests include Welsh and other Celtic mythology, the Fourth Way, graphic novels, and poetry. He is learning to play the uilleann pipes, Irish bagpipes.

For more information visit: andrewphillipsmith.com & bardic-press.com
Find Andrew Phillip Smith on Twitter @bardicpress and on Facebook

The Hero’s Journey: A Solid Kick to the Groin

by Administrator, posted in Messages from Rebecca, Mythology, Religion

Last month I published one of my old “Letters from the Publisher” from back when The Magical Buffet was a monthly e-zine because the letters didn’t migrate over to the new blog format. As I said then, most of my letters aren’t worth republishing. However there were a few that shared some of my more personal thoughts that I wanted new readers to have access to. With that said, here is my “Letter from the Publisher” from August 2007.

In folklore, mythology, history, and religion you will find instances of the “hero’s journey”. Much like Jung’s archetypes, the hero’s journey is universal regardless of culture. The basic, bare bones telling of the hero’s journey is as follows:

A member of a tribe, through fate or choice, becomes exiled by their fellow tribesmen, thrown out, or leaves the tribe. Thus begins the hero’s journey, where the hero learns of a different purpose separate of the tribe, has their purpose tested, and inevitably they return where they are welcomed back as one who has gifts to share with the tribe.

Does that sound familiar to you now? How about, an independent blind girl in an isolated village in old Pennsylvania suddenly must leave her family and village to travel through a dark alien forest inhabited by horrible monsters to get medicine for her dying true love? Yes, that’s the plot for the film “The Village”, and it is a marvelous example of the hero’s journey.

It sounds so brave, so noble, the hero’s journey. Down right epic. Doesn’t it just seem like everything should just fall into place? You know your purpose, you’re to lead the Jews out of Egypt, you’re to find the shard (do you know what that one is from?), you’re to do whatever “it” is. It just seems like once the hero steps on the path, each step is surely predestined to land exactly where it should be. On the surface, it would appear to be a place where there is no doubt or fear.

Of course, life has the tendency to kick you in the groin. Heroes suffer, physically and I am sure, emotionally. To paraphrase a thought from Carolyn Myss’s book “Sacred Contracts”, if Buddha could occasionally wonder if he’s on the right path, well then EVERYBODY has got to wonder from time to time, no matter how certain the path seems. There you are, certain that this is it, the path to take. Each of your steps fall exactly as you feel fate would have it. But just as every hero on the journey encounters obstacles that make them wonder, life kicks us average Joes square in the groin, and let’s face it, that makes anyone wonder.

We don’t all have epic hero’s journeys to take, but all of us want to find a path to follow. I consider these to be “average Joe” journeys. None of us want to start our own religion or feel we’re going to end up in circumstances where the fate of the known world is in our hands. “Average Joes” want to know they’re doing right for themselves, their families, and their communities. Just because we’re “average”, doesn’t make our “average” journeys any less scary, painful, or difficult. As I have said, and will say again, life will sometimes just kick you in the groin. Occasionally, while you’re crunched in the fetal position, rolling around on the floor, life will gut kick you, just to make sure you felt it. The thing that makes the journey heroic is when you get back up and start on the path again.

This month’s issue features lots of wonderful people who in my opinion are undertaking extraordinary journeys: Lisa McSherry, who is helping us explore nature based spirituality online; the editorial staff of Hinduism Today, that helps hopeless bumblers like me understand what Hinduism is; and the folks at Pagan Troop Support, that insure that Pagan and Wiccan soldiers are supplied with the tools necessary to practice their faith. I’d be comfortable knowing that the fate of the world was in their hands.

~Rebecca

This one resonates with me more today than it did a few years back. At the time I wrote this, the extent of my “Average Joe” journey was working on my Bachelors in Metaphysics and figuring out how to make The Magical Buffet work. As I’ve alluded to a few times, I’ve been having prolonged health issues. These have made everything harder, much harder. Although I rarely find it the case, my husband assures me that despite what I think I handle my unpredictable health and bevy of doctors and appointments well. Honestly, I don’t see it. However, in looking this old letter over, I see it staring right at me. “The thing that makes the journey heroic is when you get back up and start on the path again.”

It’s true that no matter how many times I’ve been given false hope, how many times I’ve exhausted the limits of allegedly the greatest health care system in the world, the plans that I’ve had to cancel, and the times I’ve tried to play through the pain only to fail, despite every time I want to just drop out and let life happen around me, my body refuses to stop and I get up the next day and do it all over again. And before you think, oh how heroic, trust me, it’s not. It’s ugly and trying and essentially devoid of any triumph. That said, I can perhaps now see, from the outside looking in, how it might not be heroic, but it could certainly be an “Average Joe” journey.

Also, I still stand by referencing “The Village”. I liked that movie, okay? Sure, the “big reveal” may not have been that shocking, or whatever else people seem to like to grouse about, but I liked it. If you have a heart in your chest how could you not have loved at least 85% of that movie? Was it “Unbreakable”? No. Was it “The Sixth Sense”? People, get over that, you can’t make “The Sixth Sense” twice. Could I have used “Alice in Wonderland” or “The Wizard of Oz” as examples? Yes, but by my calculations it would have made this post 75% less cool. Although if I were to write this one again today, I probably would drop “The Village” in favor of a “Kathy Griffin’s My Life on the D-List” reference. The same calculations show this would have made the post 120% cooler.

Religion and Mythology

by Administrator, posted in Messages from Rebecca, Mythology, Religion

For those of you who are new to The Magical Buffet, you may not be aware that in October 2006, when we launched The Magical Buffet, it was actually a monthly e-zine. Once a month our subscribers would have all the content emailed to them. Since it was trying to follow a magazine-like format, I decided there should be a letter from the publisher, like most magazines have.

When we relaunched The Magical Buffet into it’s new blog format, all of the old e-zine articles migrated over. This means even if you’re new, with a little time you could read all the content you may have missed from the “old days”. However my opening letters to my readers did not make it over to the new blog. I didn’t worry about it because they’re “just letters”, they’re not “real writing”. But as time passed I started to wonder, was something missing by them not being here on the blog?

So recently I started to read them again. In truth, as a new reader you’re probably not missing out on too much. The letters were generally just filled with gratitude. Thank you letters of the most earnest kind, published in response to the surprising outpouring of support and faith that I received, and continue to receive today. I’ve always prided myself on loyalty, and it made me happy to see that many of the people who I thanked in those letters are people and organizations that I still interact with today. It felt good to think that maybe I’ve done all right after all.

That said, there were a few letters that stood out. These were letters that I found offered up a piece of who I am and what I believe to my readers. Things that I thought I would like anyone who reads The Magical Buffet at any point to know about me, the person behind the keyboard.

This is one of those letters……

“Religion without myth not only fails to work, it also fails to offer man the promise of unity with the transpersonal and eternal.” C.G. Jung

“BETHANY (rubbing her temples): Two thirds of me wants to forget about this and go home. You know, yesterday I wasn’t sure God even existed. And now I’m up to my ass in Christian Mythology.

RUFUS: Let me let you in on a little inside info. God hates it when it’s referred to as mythology.” Kevin Smith’s film Dogma

What is religion? What is mythology? Is there a difference? Not to me. They say history is written by the winners and it’s safe to say that Judeo Christian beliefs won over let’s say for example the pantheonic beliefs of the ancient Romans. That which is generally considered mythology, at one point was fervently believed in as religion, as much as Christianity or Judaism is today. Is it fair to say that just because a mythological deity isn’t actively worshipped in the mainstream that it’s mythology, while the epic stories of The Bible are most assuredly religion? Absolutely not, and I reckon that there are some Goddess worshippers reading this that will tell you that straight up! An individual’s faith and belief are what makes a group of mythological tales a religion. It’s in the stories of a faith that its tenants are demonstrated. A religion that is a rule book doesn’t work. It has to incorporate stories, myths if you will, to transform a set of rules into a living breathing creation.

So what is “Magical Buffet Mythology”? It’s where I retell some of the definitive stories of various deities, and perhaps events, etc. Last month was Artemis, this month is Kuan Yin. For most, Artemis is considered myth, for over half the global population Kuan Yin is considered religion. Both are called “Magical Buffet Mythology”. Why? Because for one, it’s safe to say that my particular interpretations shouldn’t be considered the definitive versions of these tales! I’m a sarcastic person and it’s in these columns that I let my snarky flag fly! Also, a myth is just one believer away from a religion in my book. Who am I to decide which one is which?

I hope that everyone continues to enjoy the “Magical Buffet Mythology” columns. I certainly enjoy doing them. I also hope that everyone keeps an open mind about religion verses mythology and that no one takes offense to my personal views on the topic. After all, it’s just one opinionated dish along the buffet line.

Until next month,
Rebecca Elson
Publisher, The Magical Buffet

This was the second letter from the publisher that I wrote. Everything was new, and much like l am in real life, I just wanted everyone to like me. I feared that a column known as “Magical Buffet Mythology” that I was planning on using to discuss all kinds of noteworthy and little known deities had the potential of insulting someone about their personal beliefs. That would be the exact opposite of what I was hoping to do with my newly founded e-zine. When I decided to follow up my Artemis article with an article about Kuan Yin, a personal favorite of mine and a deity actively prayed to by probably half the global population, I grew concerned. This letter was written to express my personal views on mythology and religion. Since I didn’t lose any subscribers, it must have done the trick. Or perhaps even better, my readers didn’t have those kinds of hang ups.

With the new blog format you see that I do in fact have a category for religion and for mythology. To be honest, I’m sure how what I call mythology or religion these days. Most of the time, I categorize the articles as both. However, when I write about a deity, even in this new format, I still title every one “Magical Buffet Mythology”. And hopefully my new readers also don’t have those kinds of hang ups.

Magical Buffet Mythology: Santa Muerte

by Administrator, posted in Christianity/Catholicism, Religion

By Rebecca
Illustration by Will Hobbs

I stumbled across Santa Muerte on the internet, in a beautiful photo journalistic piece on the Global Post website. Santa Muerte, as most of you can guess translates to Saint Death. I wanted to learn more and found out there had been a documentary in 2007 about this very topic.

Who is Santa Muerte? In Eva S. Aridjis’ film “La Santa Muerte” she lays out the closest thing to a known origin of this saint. A statue was discovered in a church that was associated with Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, a medieval French saint. Since the Saint was portrayed as a skeleton, the Mexican people viewed it as an image of death. They began to venerate it as a female instead of a male saint, since the pre-Columbian goddesses of death, Mictecacihuatl and Coatlicue, were feminine figures. When the priests realized that the people were worshipping the image as Saint Death, the image was moved to a private dwelling. The Catholic Church does not recognize Santa Muerte as a saint, so people must worship her at home or at public altars.

Santa Muerte is always portrayed as a skeleton, often times looking like the grim reaper, complete with scythe and scales. However, just a quick poke around the internet and you learn that she can take on many looks. Santa Muerte is always a skeleton, but sometimes she is dressed like a queen, or in robes, or as a bride, and just about any other thing you can imagine.

Who worships Santa Muerte? Anyone obviously, but primarily she is worshipped in Mexican communities, with Her stronghold being the most violent parts of Mexico and prisons. Places where people feel death pressing down on them take comfort in knowing that Saint Death is there for them. By showing devotion, in a ritual mix of Catholic worship and what I’m surmising is a throwback to ancient sacrificial offerings (it looked a lot like Voodoo to me), Santa Muerte protects them, provides for them, and when the worshipper’s time is over, She comes for them. Her followers bring Her gifts, such as cigarettes and tequila, burn candles, and say prayers to Her. In the documentary, some had conversations with Her, like you would a mother or confidant. Others would perform a mass.

The Catholic church may not like Her, and the Mexican government may call her followers a “cult”, but I like Santa Muerte. She’s an everyman’s kind of deity. Rich or poor, man or woman, good or evil, we all die. And if Santa Muerte brings comfort to people, especially those living closer to death than myself, more power to Her.

I Told You So

by Administrator, posted in Religion

Yes, I realize this is old news. In the land of Facebook and Twitter, in a universe with awesome websites like The Wild Hunt, I am, and probably forever will be a day late and a dollar short. However, since the December 2009 Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s latest offering “Many Americans Mix Multiple Faiths” confirms the founding ideals of The Magical Buffet I feel obliged to offer up my two cents. (Man, there are a lot of money references in this paragraph. Must be the recession.)

As the oldest, loyalest, bestest readers will tell you, The Magical Buffet wasn’t always “Where Spirituality, Politics, and Pop Culture Collide.” Back in 2006 it was where you would “Take What You Want, and Leave the Rest.” As you can read in our “About Us” section I address our original philosophy, “For those of you that missed it, my original philosophy explained that by watching the movie ‘Big Trouble in Little China’ I realized that all modes of belief are valid on some level and that a lot could be gained by offering up articles introducing our readers to as many different ideas as possible, enabling them to “Take What They Want, and Leave the Rest”. This is part of a line from the character Egg Shen in the movie, and our original tag line for the site.” Since I essentially practice a hodge podge of religious philosophies, I assumed that there were other religious DIYers that would like to learn more about beliefs and practices they could fold into their already existent spirituality. I was right. (A thank you to all my Wiccan/Pagan peeps, the most adaptable spiritual bunch I’ve encountered! Love you!)

Now as we all are aware, The Magical Buffet is no longer entirely devoted to religion and spirituality because there were other fantastic communities of people out there that I wanted to try to bring together with my already awesome original Buffet subscribers. I always suspected that Gamers/Wiccans/Music Lovers/New Agers/Action Movie Fans/Spiritualists/Comic Book Geeks would be my key demographic. However I still absolutely believe in my original Buffet philosophy, and if this latest survey from Pew is to be believed, I’ve been right along.

People, we’re such a bizarre contrary bunch, it’s why I love humanity so. Ask a Catholic if they hold any Hindu beliefs, they’ll say no. Ask a Catholic if they believe in reincarnation (a biggie in the Hindu faith) and 28% will say yes. Ask a Protestant if they believe in any New Age philosophies, they’ll say no. Ask them if they believe that spiritual energy can be found in physical things, like mountains, trees, and crystals, 20% will say yes. I understand that these aren’t ludicrously high numbers, but I think it shows that more people than we might suspect are taking what they want and leaving the rest. More encouraging still the report states “One-third of Americans (35%) say they regularly (9%) or occasionally (26%) attend religious services at more than one place, and most of these (24% of the public overall) indicate that they sometimes attend religious services of a faith different from their own. Among those who attend religious services at least once a week, nearly four-in-ten (39%) say they attend at multiple places and nearly three-in-ten (28%) go to services outside their own faith.” Americans are definitely experiencing and learning more about religious practices outside of their own, and I find that cause to celebrate.

Why? Because nothing makes a woman happier than being able to say, “I told you so.”

Big Buffet Thumbs Up for the Hampshire Police

by Administrator, posted in Religion, Wiccan/Pagan

I hate to write about what essentially is a non-news story, but I was just so delighted when I read the December 4, 2009 Daily Echo article “Horses’ tails chopped off in Kings Somborne” I had to share.

According to Daily Echo there is a bout of “what appears to be ritualistic chopping of horses tails” taking place across Hampshire. Now how one determines that a horse’s tail has been ritualistically removed as opposed to just cut off, I would not know. I am not a law enforcement professional.

What I read next made my WTF radar go off. “One theory being looked into by officers is that it is part of a strange ritual by pagans in the lead up to the Winter Solstice later this month.” As I said, WTF? However I was rewarded by next reading that “last night both lines of inquiry (the other theory being that people were looking for authentic hair for making rocking horses) were ruled out by experts.”

That’s right folks. Instead of continuing on a path of, what I could only believe the technical term is, dumb assedness, the police spoke with Catherine Hosen, a spokeswoman for the Pagan Federation of Wessex. She is quoted in the Daily Echo article as saying, “It’s certainly not any ritual that I’m aware of. Any day in the year you could say it’s close to some pagan ritual because the calendar is pretty full of them. Pagans have a strong respect for anything to do with nature. They would ask permission before removing a branch from a tree, let alone do anything to a horse.” Thank goodness they got that nonsense cleared up.

For completeness, let me share that they ruled out the rocking horse theory by speaking to Chris Ward, who restores and creates rocking horses, and has restored rocking horses for the Royal family. Nice to call in the professionals, thumbs up.

If you would all indulge me for a moment, in honor of the USA Network series “Monk” ending this past Friday, I’d like the opportunity to say, “Here’s what happened.”

What we have is a baffling case of horses’ tails being cut. However, the article also says, “In a separate twist other horses across Hampshire have been discovered by shocked owners with their mane hair plaited.” Maybe I’m talking crazy, but it’s seems to me some sort of childish pranking would be suspected motive number one; certainly before “strange Pagan ritual” and “rocking horse creators”. That said, I am just glad that for once I read a news story like this and found out that instead of continuing to stumble around in ignorance, the police took the 10 minutes to contact experts for their opinions. And then, they listened.

Russian Magic

by Administrator, posted in Books, Mythology, Religion, Reviews

It’s not that I never think of Russia, except that honestly I don’t really think about Russia. Nothing against the country, just for some reason, they never really cross my mind. That’s why I was thrilled to be given the opportunity to review “Russian Magic: Living Folk Traditions of an Enchanted Landscape” by Cherry Gilchrist. I was hoping that I would come away with a refreshing understanding of a country that I had obviously overlooked. I was right.

“Russian Magic” is everything a book of its type should be, potential authors of folkloric books take note. The book is engaging and covers a surprisingly large swath of Russian traditions, religious practices, folklore traditions, and more. It is well researched but also filled with first hand accounts from the author brushing up against these practices.

There were the “standards” such as Baba Yaga and Matrioshka (those adorable nesting dolls). However I was also introduced to a colorful cast of characters like Father Frost, Mokosh (Damp Earth Mother), and Perun (Lord of Thunder). I learned about various divination practices, dates of unique celebrations, the landscapes, and even the significance of the architecture of the traditional village house! Better still, whereas most books of this type would only look at these things from the perspective of their significance in the past, the author takes all of that history and shows you its influence on modern society in Russia.

I also need to tell you that I couldn’t help but be pleased when the domavoi made an appearance. Some readers may remember that WAY back in 2006 I wrote an article about these helpful and potentially harmful house guests. What I didn’t know then, but do now (thanks to “Russian Magic”) is that the domavoi’s birthday is February 10th! If you have one of these guys in your home, that’s the day to really kiss up to him! And now you know.

And if you’re looking to know more, I highly suggest picking up this entertaining and enlightening book.