Updated every Friday.
October 15: It's still Friday1 I'm still on time!
First, in addition to the new strip, I have some new art up, as well. It's called Eve. There are several levels of wordplay with the title; the most obvious is that the image is during the evening. The next is the idea of Eve, the first woman in Abrahamic myth; but, of course, this is no coy maiden in a fig leaf with an apple. Ins tead og the apple, she reaches for the moon, wondering. To me, it is this primal wondering, this looking up at the sky, seeing the mystery, and wondering, "Why?" that defines humanity.
On a less philosophical note, a comment I made last week seems to have stirred a tempest in a teacup. I got an email from a guy identifying hemself as 'Paul' and complimenting the strip & the site. But, he informed me, the Correllians are older than the Star Wars reference I made. Then, he made some kind of incoherent statement along the lines of, "Anyone can get in the public eye unnecessarily, and while that can be dangerous anywhere, small mind follow hate filled leaders."
I've been kind of flakey about email recently, but something about this one struck me as odd, so I responded, politely but firmly: The research I have seen does not support the contentions of historicity made by the Correllians. More seriously, my experience with those who have attended WitchSchool does not lead me to believe they are learning very much. Further, the idea of teaching an initiatory mystery religion such as Wicca by open book, multiple choice tests is, I believe, inherently flawed. The last statement Paul had made smelled like a very circuitous troll to me, but since it was incomprehensible in any reational sense, I simply said, "I'm not quite sure what you're getting at, so I'll nod & smile. ;)"
A day or so later, someone informed my that my email was being circulated around the Correllian e-lists, and I was being roundly denounced by the High Poo-Bah Don Lewis. Apparently, I'm "sadly typical" and "not usually open to accepting or accomodating other people's ideas." Don must be pretty clever to get all that from one email ... sent to someone else and then reprinted without prior permission. Not only that ... I'm part "of the Pagan community which defines itself according to what it IS NOT, rather than trying to define what it IS."
What's really hilarious about this is not merely that I'm not a member of that subset of the Pagan communities, but that I agree wholeheartedly with Don's criticism of negative definition.
I've said for years that one of the greatest hindrances to creating a healthy Pagan identity is the tendency to live by negative self or group definition, and, relatedly, to be Wiccan (or whatever) simply to rebel. Of course, Don couldn't know that. Certainly not from one illegally circulated missive obtained by dishonest means.
The individual, Paul, who had emailed me, was, in fact, Paul Lee, or the Rev. Badger Ravenmoon ... a self-identified member of the Correllian clergy. Although I cannot verify it beyond all shadow of a doubt, the events point to an attempted troll, followed by an character defamation and libel; Don suggested, based on his presumptions and demonizations, that the Correllians should boycott my CD, hence attempting to deprive me of income by propogating falsehoods.
But the most telling statement that Don made was this:
I often have occasions when I disagree with how someone is doing something. My ordinary response is to discuss what SHOULD be done, rather than criticise what the other person or group is doing.
See, I look at things a little differently. The first step in solving a problem is recognizing its existence, and then clearly identifying it. When it comes to larger, systemic problems, this can be a major undertaking in and of itself, particularly when those systems feel any change will have a deleterious effect on the status quo. That's the job of journalists ... and satirists.
You can't grow a garden without preparing the land, and you can't keep a garden unless you weed and practice some form of pest control. 9LMM is pest control. The rest of this site is my garden.
Of course, critique is unimportant if one's aim is to impose one's own will upon others, either overtly or through suasion, honestly or deceitfully. Indeed, the critical process is a direct threat to blind obedience.
If this brief interlude is indicative of the conduct expected of and acceptable in Correllian clergy, then it does not speak highly, to say the least, of their ethics, and further reinforces my opinion that such dishonesty is endemic to the Correllian tradition, from its claimed (but unverfied) history to its current practices.
The newest PanGaia magazine has an article by yours truly on Pagan music, and a handful of articles (one on rangoli, one on Pagan fiction, and I think a few reviews/columns) by my lovely & talented wife, Barbara Fisher. So, go buy it & stuff. And if you already have, and you're here because of it...welcome!
If you're interested in my new CD, "Journey to the West," featuring Native American flute, guitar, and more, you can find it here. I'm hoping to work on some new music in the near future, so stay tuned.
Zak
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