Pomegranate
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM
<p><em>Pomegranate</em> is the first International, peer-reviewed journal of Pagan studies. It provides a forum for papers, essays and symposia on both ancient and contemporary Pagan religious practices. <em>The Pomegranate</em> also publishes timely reviews of scholarly books in this growing field.</p>
Equinox Publishing Ltd.
en
Pomegranate
1528-0268
<p>© Equinox Publishing Ltd.</p> <p>For information regarding our Open Access policy, <a title="Open access policy." href="Full%20details of our conditions related to copyright can be found by clicking here.">click here</a>.</p>
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Introduction to the Special Issue of The Pomegranate on Paganism, Art, and Fashion
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18708
<p>This is the introduction to the special issue on Paganism Art and Fashion</p>
Articles
Pagan Studies
fashion
dress
art
Instagram
YouTube
historical fiction
BL
Pagan Studies
Caroline Jane Tully
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
141
145
10.1558/pome.40545
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Feminist Interpretations of Witches and the Witch Craze in Contemporary Art by Women
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18709
<p>This article considers feminist interpretations of the witch in contemporary art in relation to the witch craze: examples are by Georgia Horgan, Ann-Sofi Sidén, Mathilde ter Heijne, Monica Sjöö, Tania Antoshina, Helen Chadwick, Jesse Jones, and Carolee Schneemann. The argument explores the ways that the figure of the witch is analyzed in three different feminist critiques of patriarchy, and subsequently pursues how these ideas have been taken up in contemporary art by these women artists. The differences between three authors: Matilda Joslyn Gage (1893); Mary Daly (1984); and Silvia Federici (2004) are highlighted and contrasted to other historians’ analyses from the last thirty years of the fate of women accused as witches during the European Witch Hunt between the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. This was a paper given at Misogyny: Witches and Wicked Bodies, Institute of Contemporary Arts, (ICA) London in March 2015.</p>
Articles
Representation of the witch
Witch Craze
contemporary Paganism
N
Art History
Contemporary art
Katy Deepwell
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
146
171
10.1558/pome.37942
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High Glamour
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18710
<p>The iconography and visuals associated with magic are highly evocative and responsible for a major part of its appeal. The strong, often iconoclastic imagery exerts a particularly powerful draw for the artist or craftsperson because of its ability to fire the imagination, and to inspire creative work in response. Until recent times, creative interpretations of magic within mainstream fashion have mainly been on a subtle and subversive level; generally within a counter cultural context. So why is magical symbolism being appropriated within high fashion at this particular point in time?</p>
Articles
Contemporary Paganism
fashion
aesthetics
Tarot
couture
B
Religious Studies
Fashion Studies
Pagan Studies, Dress Studies
Charlotte Rodgers
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
172
185
10.1558/pome.41521
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Hashtag Heathens
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18711
<p>A rising number of young adult females use Instagram, posting pictures with hashtags which alert Instagram users to their specific interests. Heathens have also begun to use Instagram and in order to better understand this new feature of the religious movement I interviewed fifteen Instagram account owners whom I identified by three factors.</p> <p>1. Their use of three or more of the following hashtags: #norsewitch #heathengirl #seidr #volva #galdr #norsepagan #heathensofInstagram #witch #runes #viking #shamanism #witchesofInstagram<br>2. Their personal identification as Heathen, Asatru, Norse Pagan, or otherwise expressing spiritual belief in a Nordic mythology.<br>3. The account had at least 500 followers, indicating the likelihood of having an impact on Heathens, Pagans, and sympathetic individuals.</p> <p>My focus is to document the processes and dynamics of Instagram as a medium for religious communication from the point of view of producers of religious content: the alpha Instagram account owners. The data shows that these young females apply significant theological thought in their posts and most have a strong sense of responsibility to teach others about Heathenry. The data departs from previous research on Instagram and Heathenry in that the account owners appear to have altruistic motives in the first instance and an affirmative non-political epistemology in the second.</p>
Articles
Paganism
Heathenry
Norse
witch
social media
Instagram
BL435-457
HV1442-1448
GT500‑2370
HB71-74
HB801-843
Religious Studies
reception of Old Norse mythology
Ross Downing
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
186
209
10.1558/pome.40063
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Wolves Amongst the Sheep
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18712
<p>In this paper I investigate the meaning of “ritual robes” within the contemporary Pagan movement. Although they are a kind of cultural icon, I argue that for some Pagans they may be of minor significance. In the case of the Order of Zadruga (Northern Wolf) from Poland, I seek to demonstrate how a paramilitary uniform may become a sign of extreme right-wing Slavic Paganism. The examination of the uniform’s aesthetics leads to revealing the connection with so called Aryan ethics as well as “natural poetics.” An attempt of the naturalizing view would be a final step.</p>
Articles
Right-wing
contemporary Paganism
militarism
aesthetics
ethics
poetics
Poland
national socialism
H1-99
HS2301-2460.7
HM621-656
BL660
BH1-301
BJ1-1725
Anthropology
Religious Studies
Mariusz Filip
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
210
236
10.1558/pome.39506
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The Morrigan as a “Dark Goddess”
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18713
<p>This research examines the contemporary worship of an Irish folkloric figure, the Morrigan, as expressed on the new media platform of YouTube, and within the context of the wider concept of the Dark Goddess. While narratives of a “dark”’ Goddess existed in earlier Pagan and Goddess-focused texts, material describing a Dark Goddess archetype who enables women’s healing and empowerment developed from the 1990s alongside third-wave feminism. As the Morrigan is portrayed in the online Pagan community as a “dark goddess,” this folkloric figure is transformed or re-imagined through Dark Goddess discourse. Morrigan devotees reinterpret the Morrigan through self-narration in new media, a therapeutic process through which they recontextualise and give new meaning to autobiographical experiences. The Morrigan is reconfigured by devotees as a force which has brought about, assisted them through, and healed them from personal struggles. This discourse allows practitioners—predominantly women—to reconfigure personal narratives of struggle as transformational rites of passage. </p>
Articles
Contemporary Paganism
YouTube
Neopaganism
The Morrigan
online religion
social media
BL
Religious Studies
Áine Warren
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
237
255
10.1558/pome.37967
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“Of Divels in Sarmatia Honored”
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19468
<p>The persistence of Paganism in the Baltic region (especially Lithuania) long after its official conversion to Christianity in 1387–1413 was a matter of widespread concern in early modern Europe, including England, challenging the narrative of Christianity’s triumph in northern Europe. England had a long history of engagement in the Baltic, and early modern English authors displayed an interest in surviving Baltic Pagans, while English Jesuits labored in Lithuania to bring Pagans to Catholicism. This article examines the language used to portray Baltic Paganism by English authors and translators, arguing that Poland-Lithuania’s status as a European power meant Lithuanian Pagans received a somewhat more sympathetic treatment than other indigenous Pagans, such as the Sámi of Scandinavia and Native Americans. Early modern English responses to Lithuanian Paganism thus illuminate the complexity of European Christian attitudes to living Pagan religion in northern and eastern Europe.</p>
Articles
Baltic Paganism
Lithuanian Paganism
Lithuania
Early modern England
Sámi religion
Paganism
Baltic states
Lithuania
History
English Literature
Pagan studies
Francis Young
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-26
2023-01-26
70
95
10.1558/pome.19468
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Masks of Cernunnos
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/22067
<p>.</p> <p style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: 0.49in; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="color: #ff0000;"> <span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></span></p>
Articles
Gaul
Cernunnos
Celtic religion
Gaul
Celtic religion
Paganism
Paris
Pagan studies
Jean-Paul Savignac
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-26
2023-01-26
1
16
10.1558/pome.22067
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Reconstructing the Procession of Nerthus
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/24259
<p style="font-weight: 400;">Primary data gathering for this work included participant observation research at the procession of Nerthus at Well and Tree Gathering in May of 2018 and 2019 at Raven’s Knoll, a privately-owned campground and dedicated Pagan festival site in eastern Ontario. It draws upon a larger research project on inclusive Canadian Heathen ritual practices and environmental values. Well and Tree Gathering includes Pagans of various types, but is largely run by Heathens, and prominently features the Heathen deity Nerthus. Practitioners conduct a reconstructionist revival of the procession of Nerthus based on Tacitus’ description of such events in Germania, which included human sacrifice. Contemporary Heathens revere Nerthus as a primordial power, process her veiled figure through the campground, and give her offerings in a sacred body of water. Giving these offerings operationalizes the values of inclusion and sharing, and contributes to the formation of ecological conscience through relational ontology.</p>
Articles
Heathenry
sacrifice
offerings
Asatru
relational ontology
BL, GF, GN
Anthropology
Religious Studies
Environmental Studies
Barbara Jane Davy
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-26
2023-01-26
96
122
10.1558/pome.24259
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Actually, I’m Pagan Thanks to Music
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/24260
<p>The paper presents findings regarding the role of music in the community and teachings of the Slovak contemporary Pagan leader Žiarislav, based on ethnographic research carried out between 2016 and 2018. The paper discusses three inter-related themes: (a) the role of music in the community of Žiarislav’s followers, (b) the role of Žiarislav’s music in the process of shaping modern Pagan identity, and (c) music as an instrument for the spreading of alternative or dissenting ideas. The conclusions are based on an anthropological investigation into the lives and music-related customs of Žiarislav’s followers. The paper also explores the significance of music in Žiarislav’s spiritual teachings. Research into modern Pagan music is a thriving field, and all such research assists with an understanding of a living form of modern Slovak Paganism. It also represents an ideal research space for the study of strategies regarding the (re-)actualization of Slovak national identity among modern Pagans in Slovakia, one pillar of which is traditional Slovak folk culture, including music.</p>
Articles
music
identity
symbolic interactionism
Žiarislav
contemporary Paganism
Slovakia
Slovak national identity
BL1-2790
Religious Studies
Sociology
Anthropology
Michal Puchovský
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-26
2023-01-26
17
40
10.1558/pome.24260
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Creativity, Spirituality, and Awen
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/24261
<p>This study applies learning theory to explore bardic arts (creative practices) in the modern Druid revival movement, offering broad data from nine countries, with 266 surveys and follow-up interviews with fourteen Druids. Through this mixed-methods dataset, the research explores how different Druids take up the bardic arts as a spiritual practice, how they conceptualize “Awen” (divine or creative inspiration), and how bardic arts are central to spiritual life. The study also explores the concept of bardic community through Eisteddfodau, or bardic circles, within US contexts. These circles where bards celebrate with stories, songs, and music. A discussion of overcoming cultural challenges and talent-based mindsets, the role of community in the bardic arts, and a discussion about future possibilities for research is included.</p>
Articles
Druidry
Druid
Druidism
bard
creativity
creative practices
bardic arts, Awen
Eisteddfodau
bardic circle
learning
B-BL
religious studies
learning research
developmental research
Dana Driscoll
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-26
2023-01-26
41
69
10.1558/pome.24261
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April D. DeConick, The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/23453
<p>April D. DeConick, The Gnostic New Age: How a Countercultural Spirituality Revolutionized Religion from Antiquity to Today (New York: Columbia University Press, 2016), 380 pp., $37.00 (cloth), $28.00 (paperback).</p>
Book Reviews
Gnosticism
Ancient Egypt
New Age Spirituality
History of Christianity
Gnosticism
new religions
Biblical Studies
History, religious studies
Peter A Huff
Copyright (c) 2022 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2023-01-26
2023-01-26
123
124
10.1558/pome.23453
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Getting It Wrong
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18714
<p>This article is an examination of recent best-selling fictions and television adaptations which portray the history of witchcraft, often using outmoded historical theses, and often falsifying the known life histories of actual convicted witches. This article argues that these fictions, marked by problematically eugenicist ideas of magic, and in one case by a very uncomfortable appropriation of the Holocaust, are ultimately unhelpful to Pagans because they falsify history and deny the real needs of the contemporary Pagan communities.</p>
Articles
Witches
Contemporary Pagans
Television
Reinvention
Antisemitism
D1
History
Witchcraft
Diane Purkiss
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
256
277
10.1558/pome.39116
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S. Kelley Harrell, Runic Book of Days: A Guide to Living the Annual Cycle of Rune Magick and Nigel Pennick, Runic Lore & Legend: Wyrdstaves of Old Northumbria
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18715
Book Reviews
Runes
Astrology
Northumbria
Wheel of the Year
Contemporary Paganism
BL
Religious Studies
Contemporary Paganism
Jefferson F. Calico
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
278
280
10.1558/pome.38985
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Duncan Macrae, Legible Religion: Books, Gods, and Rituals in Roman Culture
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18716
Book Reviews
Ancient Rome
Paganism
Roman religion
BL
Ancient History
Religious Studies
Norman Simms
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
281
284
10.1558/pome.40838
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Acknowledgements
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/18718
<p>The editor wishes to thank the following peer reviewers for Volume 21 (2019): Barbara Jane Davy, Douglas Ezzy, Shai Feraro, Graham Harvey, Galina Krasskova, Sabina Magliocco, Scott Simpson, and Caroline Tully.</p>
Acknowledgements
Acknowledgements
BL1-50 Religion (General)
Anthropology
Sociology
History
Religious Studies
Chas Clifton
Copyright (c) 2020 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2020-08-03
2020-08-03
285
285
10.1558/pome.41962
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The Rise of the Fourfold Goddess Construct among Western Goddess Women and Feminist Witches
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19614
<p>Most contemporary writers and groups who practice forms Goddess Spirituality and Wiccan-based Paganism relate to the Divine Feminine in the form of a Threefold Goddess (Maiden, Mother, Crone)—a concept popularized during the mid-twentieth century by writers such as Robert Graves (1895–1985). This article examines the recent rise of a Fourfold Goddess concept among certain Goddess women and proponents of feminist Witchcraft. It surveys the proliferation of this view, with an emphasis on its embryonic emergence among the 1970s-1980s British matriarchal and Pagan milieus, and discusses the ways in which the concept is used by various groups and individuals (each with their own unique construct of the four aspects of the Goddess) in challenging patriarchy in general, and the perceived reduction of the Goddess (and woman) by the male gaze in particular.</p>
Articles
Paganism
Goddess Feminism
Fourfold Goddess
BL458
Religious Studies
Shai Feraro
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-03-10
2021-03-10
1
15
10.1558/pome.37570
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Contemporary Paganism in Portugal
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19615
<p>This research discusses contemporary Paganism in Portugal by the analysis of the trajectory and actual practices of the Associação Pagã (Pagan association), a local affiliate of the Pagan Federation International. The methodology was ethnographic fieldwork and interviews conducted with the leaders and members of this association. This association is engaged in public debates about laicity and religious freedom, ecological issues, gender diversity, and feminism. They also engage and promote religious rituals at archaeological sites. As a conclusion, the research discusses the role of pagan practices on creating a plural public space in a catholic country.</p>
Articles
Contemporary Paganism
Feminism
Ecology
Heritage
Identity
Portugal
Religion
Anthropology
Religious Studies
Daniela Cordovil
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-03-10
2021-03-10
16
29
10.1558/pome.37714
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Structures of Stability
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19616
<p>Drawing upon ethnographic work with a Wiccan coven, I propose an extension of Donald Black’s theoretical work to the study of conflict within small religious groups. The incidence and resolution of conflict is taken as a key predictor of longevity for small religious groups due to their heavy reliance on a committed membership. Through the micro-structural lens provided by Blackian theory, I advance a partial explanation for the marked longevity of the coven studied, which has functioned continuously for nearly twenty years. Black explains conflicts occurring due to changes in social structure, with more sudden or dramatic changes engendering greater conflict; the likely resolution to conflicts are in terms predicted by the theory on the basis of the local structural pattern of the parties to the conflict, including third parties. Both the oral history of the group and observations of the researcher over a six-month period of field study are considered in the application of Blackian theory, though the nature of an ethnographic case necessitates further testing of Black’s theoretical work, which is tentatively discussed.</p>
Articles
Wicca
Paganism
organizations
conflict
Donald Black
HM
Sociology
Jeff Patterson
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-03-10
2021-03-10
30
52
10.1558/pome.39071
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Duhovi Rastlin, Duša Stare Vere
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19617
<p>Native Faith and nature-worshiper groups in Slovenia frequently utilize “sacred” plants in their rituals. Most participants identified with the terms Rodnovera/Starovera in regards to naming their beliefs, or preferred to eschew labels. A variety of plants were used for both sacred and secular purposes, with eighty-four categories emerging when participants’ lists were combined. The most frequently mentioned were Cannabis spp., Hypericum perforatum, and Salvia spp., with the latter two also being the most commonly co-occurring plants on lists. The interviews and plants used display the integral role that plants play in the sacred ritual life of nature worship groups in Slovenia, and underline the importance of the symbolic nature of the plants, or the plant’s “spirit.” These characteristics were of greater importance than physical properties, showing the importance of symbolic relations in how the Pagan nature worshipers of Slovenia connect with their divine conceptions of nature.</p>
Articles
Ethnobotany
ritual
Rodnoveri
Native Faith
Paganism
Slovenia
sacred ecology
GN301-674
anthropology
ethnobotany
Pagan studies
sacred ecology
sacred ecologyethnobiology
Karsten Fatur
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-03-10
2021-03-10
53
83
10.1558/pome.38510
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“As Old as Man”
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19618
<p>This paper explains the perennialist doctrines of Helena Blavatsky (1831–1891), the main theorist of Theosophy, a form of occultism whose heirs include New Age and contemporary Pagan spirituality. The analysis is restricted to her first major work, Isis Unveiled (1877). In that treatise, Blavatsky argued that a single Pagan tradition lay at the basis of all historical religions and that this ancient wisdom had been corrupted by the Catholic and Protestant churches to gain power over the blind masses. Providing a fine-grained understanding of such influential heterodox perspectives of the nineteenth century, the article contributes to a historicization of religious universalism and other ideas that have become popular in modern and post-modern times, such as the claim that a perennial “mysticism” lies at the heart of all “true spirituality,” the idea that “spirituality” is something different from “religion,” and the theory that monotheism is an inherently intolerant form of religion whereas mystical, Pagan, or polytheistic spiritualities are inherently peaceful.</p>
Articles
Theosophy
H. P. Blavatsky
Perennialism
History of Ideas
Paganism
Monotheism
D
History, religious studies
Julie Chajes
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-03-10
2021-03-10
84
116
10.1558/pome.37282
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Rina Talgam, Mosaics of Faith: Floors of Pagans, Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19619
<p>Rina Talgam, Mosaics of Faith: Floors of Pagans, Jews, Samaritans, Christians and Muslims in the Holy Land (University Park, Pa.: Penn State Press and the Yad Yitzhak Ben-Zvi Institute, 2014). 600 pp. +360 colour + 44 b+w illustrations, US $129 (hardcover).</p>
Book Reviews
Art History
Mosaics
Jerusalem
Jewish art
Muslim art
Samaritan art
DS109-109.94
History
Art History
Ancient History
Norman Simms
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-03-10
2021-03-10
117
120
10.1558/pome.40839
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Tim Whitmarsh, Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/19620
<p>Tim Whitmarsh, Battling the Gods: Atheism in the Ancient World (New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2015), x + 292 pp., US $16.95 (paper).</p>
Book Reviews
Ancient world
atheism
mythology
D51-90
Ancient History
Religious Studies
Norman Simms
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-03-10
2021-03-10
121
123
10.1558/pome.40840
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Peter Levenda, The Dark Lord: H. P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Grant, and the Typhonian Tradition in Magic, Henrik Bogdan, ed., Servants of the Star & the Snake: Essays in Honour of Kenneth and Steffi Grant
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/20007
<p>Peter Levenda, The Dark Lord: H. P. Lovecraft, Kenneth Grant, and the Typhonian Tradition in Magic (Lake Worth, Fl.: Ibis Press, 2013), 352 pp., $35 (hardcover).</p> <p>Henrik Bogdan, ed., Servants of the Star & the Snake: Essays in Honour of Kenneth and Steffi Grant (London: Starfire Publishing, 2018), 360 pp, photographs, £25 (hardcover).</p>
Book Reviews
Kenneth Grant
Aleister Crowley
Howard Philips Lovecraft
magick
Typhonian tradition
Necronomicon
Western esotericism
Kenneth Grant
Aleister Crowley
Howard Philips Lovecraft
Western esotericism
Richard Kaczynski
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-09-06
2021-09-06
253
258
10.1558/pome.20007
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Thomas Hatsis, The Witches’ Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic; Psychedelic Mystery Traditions: Spirit Plants, Magical Practices, Ecstatic States
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/20502
<p>Thomas Hatsis, The Witches’ Ointment: The Secret History of Psychedelic Magic (Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions 2015), 304 pp., $19.95 paper; Psychedelic Mystery Traditions: Spirit Plants, Magical Practices, Ecstatic States (Rochester, Vt.: Inner Traditions, 2018), 288 pp., B&W illustrations, $19.99 softcover.</p>
Book Reviews
Witchcraft
Witch Trials
History of Christianity
Psychedelic drugs
Entheogens
Psychedelia
Entheogens
History of Christianity
Witch Trials
Witchcraft
History of religion
Chas S. Clifton
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-09-06
2021-09-06
259
261
10.1558/pome.20502
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Who Is, and Who Is Not a Pagan? Struggles in Defining Contemporary Paganism
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/20922
<p>The article deals with Pagan studies’ attempts to define contemporary Paganism and claims that definition-building is not a fruitful way of getting to a better understanding of the phenomenon. The article (i) introduces the ways that Pagan studies have tacked the issue of defining contemporary Paganism, (ii) providing particular examples, and (iii) scrutinizing them with a help of classificatory and referential optics. Some scholars in the field have suggested employing family resemblance and polythetic definition for solving the definitional issues. The article (iv) analyzes these propositions and argues why these proposals are not feasible ways of conducting the inquiry. Instead, (v) it proposes a completely different research approach: to formulate a hypothesis, pick a point of reference of contemporary Paganism and test its self-representation against the hypothesis, together with scrutinizing the history of Paganism conceptualizations during the centuries to find out how much these conceptualizations influence our present inquiries and insider self-representations.</p>
Articles
Contemporary Paganism
religion definition
theology
polytheism
animism
BL1-2790
Religious Studies
Anthropology
Pagan Studies
Pavel Horák
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-09-06
2021-09-06
125
145
10.1558/pome.39673
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Where Are There Sacred Mountains and What Makes Them Magical? A Material Religion Perspective
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/20923
<p>The persistent notion of the holy mountain, both as a special place infused with divinity and as a pilgrimage or tourist destination, is to be included among the physicalistic foci of material religion as an emerging study. The mountain is not only a feature of the natural world but also a material object that intersects with worship throughout the world’s diverse religious and spiritual traditions. It also is increasingly becoming a concern of the environmental movement in terms of both ethical arguments and considerations of embodied enchantment. Among the selected axes mundi surveyed in the present article are those found in the Himalayas, North America, Australia, New Zealand, the Middle East, Greece, and Japan. What constitutes a mountain’s alleged sacredness, where are such mountains to be found, what awe and wonder associations might they have with earlier religious understandings as well as present-day spiritual beliefs, and what are some of the social consequences of mountain veneration in terms of today’s ecological awareness? These questions belong to the remit of material religion as it examines the interface of corporality and divinity.</p>
Articles
material religion
mountains
religion and ecology
B
Paganism
Sacred Geography
Sociology
Michael York
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-09-06
2021-09-06
146
173
10.1558/pome.39052
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The Native Faith Group Veles
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/20924
<p>The Slovenian Rodnovery (Native Faith) group Veles blends contemporary Pagan influences from outside Slovenia with elements of more native Slavic Paganism or “Old Faith,” including elements that have supposedly survived in western Slovenia until the middle of the twentieth century. Our analysis is based on a survey questionnaire administered to members of the group as well as a field survey and participant observation conducted on holy days.</p>
Articles
Rodnovery
Slovenian Native Faith
Slavic Neopaganism
Contemporary Paganism
Slovenia
CLASS H - SOCIAL SCIENCES
Religious Studies
Anthropology
Nejc Petric
Mirjana Borenović
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-09-06
2021-09-06
174
195
10.1558/pome.41141
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Hellenismos
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/20925
<p>The article explores worship of ancient Greek gods among three contemporary Pagan groups in North America. The main focus is on how the groups use texts, both ancient and modern, in their theology and rituals. The groups’ approaches are explored through interviews, analyses of websites, and the texts referred to. How do the groups approaches differ from each other and what can we learn from their different reconstruction strategies?</p>
Articles
Contemporary Paganism
Hellenismos
B.Religion
BL1-2790
Religious Studies
Pagan Studies
Stian Sundell Torjussen
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-09-06
2021-09-06
196
220
10.1558/pome.40056
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The Shaymaran
http://journal.equinoxpub.com/POM/article/view/20926
<p>This article analyzes the myth of Shaymaran, represented as a half-human and half-serpent. The significance of this representation is, I argue, two-fold: it is significant for her recognition as a goddess, and it is an important testament to the existence of polytheistic religious traditions of goddess-worship among the people of Kurdistan. I analyze the content of such myth that supplies us with important non-material archaeological evidence, particularly relating to the ideology and practice of goddess-worship. By deconstructing this representation and analyzing the content of this myth using a comparative approach vis-à-vis the Abrahamic genesis, I offer important information on the often-overlooked parts of unwritten history of goddess worship, which is continuously sustained through the circulation of this myth and the image. The myth of Shaymaran can therefore also be considered as a counter-narrative, one forged by the oppressed, to a post-colonial dominant monotheistic history and philosophy.</p>
Articles
Shahmaran
Shaymaran
monotheism
goddess worship
Kurdish religion
Kurdistan
snake goddess
serpent
gender and religion
myths and religion
Goddess studies
gender
Mythology of Kurdistan
Anthropology
mythology
gender studies
history
religious studies
Kurdish studies
Goddess studies
Paganic Studies
Iranian Studies
Dilşa Deniz
Copyright (c) 2021 Equinox Publishing Ltd.
2021-09-06
2021-09-06
221
248
10.1558/pome.38409