Litha 1998 - EarthTides Pagan Network

Spring ThingEARTHTIDES' NEWSSpring Thing a went off with a bang (as it were). ImmanentGrove held a "Thing" ritual, the second annual Lampas to honorPan, and a wondeIfully elaborate Maypole circle. laWRENce ofthe Iseurn, formerly known as "Gimpy Mailman", is now to bereferred to as "Fleet of Foot and Beloved of Pan" for winning theLampas race. i\lugwort and Seshet drew lots to become Kingand Queen of the Maypole. Everybody supplied great food, andthe 'weather was nice to us, given the season Thanks to everybodywhowent and helped outThe Earthtides council got a lotof work done, .-\ree led a bell-ringing workshop that ""as reallycoo~ lorelei did a self-discovery workshop, and there was abarclic circle that included a number of newly crafted verses toOld Time Religion.. The M & Ms did a hearnvarming closingcircle, with a really nifty singing circle-casting to help us allreturn to mundane head-space. Such a fine time! "WERUFulI. Grde Summer FairOnce again, EPN ",'ill have abooth at 'VERU's Full Orcle SummerFair. This is a weekend fair held in Union on July 18 and 19.There are a lot of people that pass through here with craftbooths and great music all weekend We will be vending to help .cover the booth costs and help ""ith revenue for the year. Ifyouhave Pagan oriented crafts, books, etc to donate or offer oncommission, please call We also need volunteers to work in thebooth selling and answering questions. This is a fun fair toattend, and cool people to hang out withl Call 848-2850 ore-mail mugwert@ime.netEarly Gillfor CommonGroundFairEPN will again ha\"e a booth at the Common Ground Fair. TheFair has moved to Unity this year and the dates have changed,too. It will be held Sept 25-27. Our sales capabilities are somewhatlimited, but if you have donations that relate to ourreligions, please call and tell me about them. There \"ill be a talkpresented by EPN's President and ~fedia committee that can usepanel members. \Ve need people to help in the booth all threedays. This is always a fun time. To volunteer for any of it, pleasecall 848-2850,· e-mailmugwert@ime.netADVERTISING IN EPNNUNCL-\SSIFIED ADS: Here you can advertise anything you wantgoods and services, personals, etc. Non-EarthTIdes membersmay advertise for Pagan contacts here (tyfembers v.ill get theircontact listings free on the new "NETWORKING" page - see thenotice on page 3). Cost is $1.00 per 15 words., in 51.00 increments.Le. both a 16 word ad and a 30 word ad will cost 52.00.Ivfa'\imlflTI ad size will be 150 words.BUSINESS DISPL-\Y ADS: Business card size (2" x 3.5") are 55.00per issue, excepting the Mabon Issue where the fee is S10.Annual subscription (8 issues) for a business card size ad is535.00 saving you 510 and includes a business membership inthe EarthTIdes Pagan Network lNger size ads can be accommodated,write for details.Send your ad copy, along with payment to EP.N. P.O. Box 161,East Wmthrop. ME 04343. While we vvill allow great freedom ofexpression, we reseI'v"e the right to reject ads too indecorous orillegal orfor other reasons.Page4\~~;:.i·'~,,~~': ~:. ~~i5L~k;~-:·~! ~'~:~:"={.~

STARCAT.S CORNER:WOW, I can hardly believe its Midsummer already!Lately I've been thinking about employment,and how it fits in with a Pagan lifestyle. I hopeyou'll take a moment to share your thoughts by fillingout the survey below.In this culture, our personal worth is often judged bywhat we "do" for a lhing. "What do you do?" is afrequently heard question when meeting someone new.It is implied in the question that your answer won't besomething like "well, I do a lot of hiking, and I read alat." They want to know about your career, profession,or job.I've been struggling with the concept "do what you loveand the money will follow." I am certain that it works,but the timeframe is often different that we might wish.Getting your own business off the ground, if that's whatyou'd love to do, takes time and usually a financialinvestment. Some of the things we'd love to do requirea degree or further study, and that can cost quite a bitin both money and time. Some fields are difficult tobreak into, such as writing books for a living. Meanwhile,we may feel stuck in a job that is not really whatwe want to' do, or find ourselves looking for work thatwill help us "get by."In the meantime, even if you live a fairly simple life,there are always expenses involved. Everyone needs tobuy food and clothing (though itis cheaper if you grow and makeyour own), to pay for a place tolive, and usually to cover the costof transportation (and if you have ~your own vehicle, insurance and ~registration are required). Thereare expenses involved with.....111.health care, whether alternative,mainstream or some combination. If you are responsiblefor children it gets more expensive; even publiceducation and home-schooling have their costs. Most ofus have the ILLxury (considered a necessity in modemlife) of a telephone, and many folks have computerswith on-line access. Add to that the occasional lwa.iryitems you may enjoy (books, a movie, a ~night outdancing, or even bagels & coffee), and you have a prettyhefty monthly budget.How do you reconcile the need for money, which weuse in our culture to fulfill our material needs, and thedesire to do only what you love, what you feel is yourtrue work in this lifetime? And how does your work fitinto your belief system? Please take a moment to answerthe survey questions below. I'll include a summaryof responses in my next column. Thanks, andBlessed Be!-StarcatPlease return surveys to Starcat, 609 Ocean Ave. #18, Portland, ME 04103. Or you can e-mail them to nshields@mpbc.orgWhat do you do "for a liVing?" Do you work for others or for yourself?Is this your "True Work" or do you do it just to pay the bills?WhaF other types of work have you done?If you could do whatever you wanted, in terms of a job, what would it be?Are you open about your paganism at work?Do you feel your current job is compatible with your belief system?Any other comments:Your name:Do you want me to withhold your name when I publish the results?Your town:Page 5

SOLITARY VOICEAs solitaries, we might wellask ourselves, "What's thepoint of joining EarthTides?After all, it is a Pagan group,and I'm a solitary." Of course, youranswers to the question will vary,due in part to the reasons why youare solitary. As a Solitary Representativeto the EarthTides Pagan Network Council, it helpsme to know what my constituents want of the organization.So, to get the wheel turning, I will offer you a fewof my own reasons for being a member.First off, there's this fantastic newsletter which keepsme informed of Pagan affairs in Central Maine. Thereare EPN sponsored public rituals and Pagan retreats,which give me a chance to connect with fellow Pagans.Thereare coffee houses which do the same in'amore relaxed, informal setting. But in many ways, themajor benefit to me of membership in EarthTides isless easy to describe. I call it a "spill-over benefitH:theeffects of an active, public Pagan organization workingto educate the wider community about Paganism and topromote and support Pagan rights.The results of theseactivities are bound to spill over into my life whether ornot I even know that EarthTides exists. Such educational,advocational, and yes, legal actions makes it alittle easier for all Pagans throughout the state of Maineto practice our religion and be who we are.That's my list; yours may look rather different. In fact, Ihope that it does, and that you \>....ill share those differenceswith me, either through e-mail or via your ownletter or article to the newsletter. Each of us is a solitaryvoice -- that doesn't mean we can't sing in chorus onoccasion! (Usten! What's that lovely melody I hear inthe distance?)- MarilynSolitary Contacts:Marilyn, phone 873-0::>28; e-mail: mrpukkil@colby.eduJane Raeburn, PO Box 64, Portland, IvIE 04112, .. phone 885-0424 e-mail: pjane@joi..lrnalist.comKerry Robinson, 15 Mill View Rd., Jay, ME 04239phone 645-9579OTHER PAGAN PUBLICA TlONSFanhT1des Pagan Network News has subscription exchangeswith the following Pagan publications. They are all worth yourinterestVi Veteres: The Kin ofthe Old Gods Newsletter, 497 CumberlandAve. Apt 5, Portland. ME 04101Homs and Crescent P.O. Box 540622 Milieu, MA 02054Our Pagan Times New Moon New York P.o. Box 1471 IvfadisonSquar:e Station New York NY 10159PAEANP.O. Box 635 Fannington NH 03835The Northern Grove P.O. Box 5363 Portland ME 04101Page 6BOOKREVIEWThe Rotting Goddess: the Origin of the Witch in ClassicalAntiquity, by Jacob Rabinowitz, Autonomedia Press,New York, 153 pages.My main interest in religiOUS reading has beenwith Greek mythology and related material fora couple of years now, and I've reached adefinition for a "good book on Greek myth": It has tohave a narrO\\' focus, on one deity, one festival, oneclassical source, or one site. It must have a solidbibliography, \\-ith plenty of good additional books forme to add to my "to read" list if I want to explorefurther, and must be footnoted professionally, eveninterestingly. Finally, it must somehow answer myquestion, "So what?" This book does all these things,and while I feel that the conclusion has some holes init, it absolutely provides a gooq lens through which to.iew Hekate and Witches (both classical and medieval).Rabinowitz begins by surveying early depictions ofHekate before She appears in the literature, and thentraces the changes in classical literature's treatment ofHekate, from Hesiod's glowing hymn to Hekate in theTheogony and in the Hymn to Demeter through to theGreek Magical Papyri (guess how quickly that wasadded to my "to read" list), Postulating the the classical\Vitch (narrowly defined here as those private femalepractitioners of Hekate magic mentioned in classicalte.....'ts) was an invention of the writers, and graduallytook on the attributes of an increasingly demonizedHekate, he then traces this long transition. He showsthat the central and positive attributes of Hesiod'sHekate were all gradually turned to show their darkestaspect, and ,~'ere attributed to the Witches themselves'as the goddess became ever more attenuated.Finally RabinO\...itz concludes that the reason for thiswhole process (very much simplified here) is that there,,,'as an elemental stratification in Greek society betweenthe "indigenous-Mediterranean and Indo-Aryaninvader cultures...cthonic popular worship, and...thearistocratic-ouranian cultus." (p. 116) The author comparesthe resulting demonization of the earlier earthydeity to several similar cases, notably the Witch ofEndor/Ashtoreth and the Elder Edda's Gullveig. While Idon't see any glaring problems with Rabinowitz's conclusions,he seems to have missed a primary factor inhis stratification theory, namely that women and femaledeities seem to be predominant on the losingside of the process, while men and to some extentmale deities often come out the winners.Written in a scholarly yet accessibly chatty style, and generallyspare while still presenting plenty of supporting material, thisbook is at once entertaining and enlightening. Rabinowitzpro.ldes much detail, e.xtends his conclusions well into "thereal world" (speculating, for example, about his subject matter'seffect on the Witches of the inquisition as discussed byGinzberg), and isn't afraid to go against accepted theory or thebig guns of classical thought I recommend it to anyone interestedin the roots of witchcraft as we know it today, and toanyone who has an interest in the Greek gods.- Harper Meader

THE HERO FOOLThe Hero and the fool have a close relationshipthat we do not always acknowledge. In many waysthe Hero is simply a fool. In sacrificing his owninterest for the sake of the common good he goesagainst the bulk of common wisdom. He risks or evengives his life for others. He doesn't take advantage of rusposition or fame to advance his own interest. ErrolFlynn gives the sword back to the Basil Rathbone ratherthan hack dO\,vn the unarmed opponent. To the jadedand worldly the fool is a dreamer and idealist and asimpleton (Le. fool).The Key to the fool is that he is "not all there". He is apermanent resident of that gray area between thisworld and the next, the boundary that he may ahvaysleap over or straddle at will or at random. Uke a jesterin Shakespeare he might rebut another character with"and you speak in blank verse" or like Count Menenshuashe might save himself from a fall bygrabbing hishair and picking himself up. In the same way the hero,larger than life is in fact playing outside the rules ofreality, "superhero" is indeed just a modem redundancythe very nature of the hero is that s/he is more thannormal.We see modem renditions of Hercules as being not onlystrong but intelligent, yet to the Greeks he was anembarrassing imbecile. It ,vas part of the joke thatalmost unconquerable strength was welded in goodnatured but often reckless hands.. Hercules ,vas. knO\\'llto threaten to shoot arrows at the sun when he was toohot and constantly break things (often heads) by accident.Even before Hercules there was Vikram, the HinduKing Arthur and Hero of the Beatal-Pachisi (25 tales ofthe beateljvampire). In this tale (which was the basis ofboth The Golden Ass and the Arabian Nights) Themighty Vikram, Raja, grandson of Indra and blessedwith the strength of a thousand male elephants istricked into serving for one night his O\\'ll worse enemy.His first task is to fetch a body which conveniently isinhabited by a beatel. The rather good natured bat likecreature submits to Vikram persistency but then proceedsto make a fool of him. He tells tales, each one asksa question, Vikram must stifle his pride and refuse toaswer, remain silent or the creature will escape forcingVikram to begin again having to go back and capturehim once more. (note the title, the 25 tales is a longnight for our hero).The Vampire points out that Vikram is to proud andvain, he is one who could not be taught what he didn'tlearn as a child. To him what is true is not new andwhat is new is not true. He is a strict patriarch, a strictruler a strict parent. The proud Vikram is to dull torealize the extent to which the vampire plays with him,slipping from his grasp at "vill, invulnerable to his mostpowerful blows, yet Vikram still thinks it is he who isthe captor and constantly tries to dictate and discipline .the creature, perhaps never realizing the creatures goal.For this Beate! is not just sp'ending the night tauntingthe powerful king but he is training him in how he mayovercome his opponent. At the end Vikram has swallowedhis pride and will play the fool before the enemyhe has promised to serve. Vikram approachesthe alter of Kali of the cemeteryas a potential sacrifice, but proclaimshis ignorance of hmv to performthe eight point reverence beforeher (touching knees, hands templesnose and chin to the ground).\Veli we have all seen howPunch outwits Jack the hangman in the old puppetshow and with the same sell the Mighty Vikram outwitshis cunning adversary.So Vikram plays the fool involuntarily until he learns toplay one intentionally. In so doing he like Herculesends human sacrifice by sacrificing the sacrificer (acommon theme in Hercules dramas). The Vampire disappearsinto the night free to follow his O\\'ll ends.DRAGON FLAMESCircles can take strange paths. I! discovered one of those surprisingcircles while readingJackal's Notes From The Underworld,in the BeItane issue.Praising FollyRobin \'1'hitethornJackal claims that he began to identify with his Paganpath after finding What Witches Do in my personallibrary. The strangeness comes when I consider that Ifirst began my pagan identification after attending aritual at the Circle of Trianon with Jackal. I didn't reador know the book was there until sometime after that.We follow many paths. Yet almost all of us, can admit tohave a power animal, totem, fetish figure, familiar, orother ally. I would like to share some thoughts andideas found in many readings.After acquiring an ally you need to get to know it. Whatis it's natural life? How and, when does it move,' eat oract? \\That are the spiritual powers that it will bring toyour life? Once you have figured this out, live with yourfriend.. As we continue to work 'vith our allies, there is a needto have representations of them. Some of these imagescome to us as gifts, feathers in our path, stones or bitsof wood of the right shape, or gifts from others. All myBison images came from friends, who had had a feelingthat I needed them. Draw or model them. A very easyand inex'Pensive medium for carving is a bar of Ivorysoap. You will rarely need to buy, but if something callsto you, go ahead.For more reading on the power of our allies, locatebooks and articles by Hal Zina Bennett, and Ted Andrews.See also the art of the late Susan Seddon Boulet.Mind the flame.KeltPage 7

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