Astral Projection: Scientifically Dubious Cultural Appropriation

I’ve written about the problems with astral projection before. As I was doing reading for a class I’m taking, though, I realized that the problems go beyond simply scientific. Astral Projection is a 19th Century, fascist-created nonsense.

First, a bit on history.

Astral projection became a thing in the UK and US during the late 19th century, continuing to be popular now.

Its origins in the 19th century are detailed here:

The astral body was regularly discussed by occult groups such as the Theosophical Society, which drew upon the concept of the subtle body in Indian yogic traditions…the idea of “exteriorizing” the astral body was later popularized through works such [as] Sylvan Muldoon’s widely read Phenomena of Astral Projection (1951).

The Church of Scientology, Hugh B. Urban (2011).

I feel like most younger neopagans don’t know what Theosophy is, but for anyone confused I’d suggest looking up something along the lines of “Blavatsky White Nationalism”. One such paper notes how Theosophy’s creator, Helena Blavatsky, is at least partially to blame for the racial superiority ideas of Nazis (Santucci). Blavatsky is also a white supremacist who created her own bullshit “religion” by appropriating other cultures.

Essentially, astral projection is a culturally appropriative, completely nonsensical idea cobbled together and repackaged for the West by a Nazi.

Sources:

Urban, Hugh B. The Church of Scientology: A History of a New Religion: 77. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2013.

Santucci, James A. “The Notion of Race in Theosophy.” Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions 11, no. 3 (2008): 37-63. doi:10.1525/nr.2008.11.3.37.

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Distances and a nostos

So as you may have noticed, I’ve been a bit inactive (moreso than usual, at least) on this blog. That’s due in part to schoolwork, but also because I felt a bit far from Hellenismos, to be honest. I became more drawn to Shinto and syncretic Japanese faith for a good while. I still have quite a bit of my heart in that area. I wonder if I should post about Shinto as well? I’d love to hear any opinions on that.

While I felt a sort of vague, overwhelming anxiety that I might not be meant for Hellenismos, or that my faith was veering in another direction than I had planned, I confided in my fellow neo-Pagan roommate. He reminded me that Ancient Greeks would practice even if they didn’t believe strongly, so I should probably do festivals and stuff even if I felt iffy about my overall practice. I have to say it really did help.

I’m still in a spiritual limbo, but I feel more of a connection back to the Theoi again. I feel as though my ability to feel them and percieve their signs was dulled while I was at my lowest point.

All this to say: I’m still here, and hope to write more articles.

Greek Pagan Basics: Hints for Studying Religious Sources

Hearthfire Handworks

When I say I’m a semi-reconstructionist, I mean to say that I draw heavily on historical, archaeological and literary sources in building my religious practice but don’t limit myself to those sources.

I’d also like to say that I by no means feel that what I do is the only proper or viable way to honor the gods–we are all different, and different things will work for different people. What works for me is a limited reliance on historical practice to inform my own. Now, a lot of the work has already been done by your co-religionists in terms of working out ritual formats and so forth. There is no pressing need to re-invent the wheel.

But if, like me, you like that sort of thing? It can be a very rewarding way to expand your spiritual life and to personalize your practice.

So, how to go about it?

Finding…

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Shinto and Sexuality: A gift of life

Living With Kami

With the recent ban on adult content on Tumblr, it has given way to a lot of discussion about adult content online and what is or isn’t acceptable. Legitimate issues were brought up in how violence is more normalized than intimacy and sexuality, and how the bans would affect sex workers and nsfw artists greatly – Tumblr, one of the last safe mainstream social media platforms that could ensure an income and audience base is now also being ripped out from under them. I feel this is not right and even a dangerous and irresponsible decision to make. Instead of relying on bots and algorithms to moderate between adult content and all-ages content, they should hire a dedicated moderation team, and proper safety features into the site to protect minors, but also while not censoring adult content creators and their adult consumers. There were ways that worked before that do…

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Remember the Titans

Hearthfire Handworks

Occasionally I am asked whether it’s all right for a Hellenic polytheist to worship the Titan deities. After all, doesn’t myth tell us that they were the enemies of the Olympian gods? Well, not necessarily.

At the very least, I think we can take it on a case-by-case basis. Kronos swallowed all his children (save Zeus), that’s certainly not a friendly act. And yet the Kronia was celebrated in Athens, by Athenians who worshipped Zeus as one of their regular pantheon. Besides, not all the Titans joined with Kronos to fight against the Olympians–Oceanos, for one, stayed out of the battle (he also stayed out of Kronos’ own struggle with their father Ouranos). And other Titans–Prometheus, say–have been helpful outright to humanity.

Even taken as a whole, the Titans are not evil beings. They are not chaotic beings. They harbor no desire to destroy the world–the Titanomachy, the battle between…

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The Ethics of Pagan Childrearing

I just saw someone I follow named Althaea post this, and it was a culmination of qualms I have had with many of the older (usually cis women) pagans who choose to raise their children in the “pagan way”.

So let’s get into this post, keeping in mind that this is obviously my point of view and not something I’m going to actively enforce as if I were a dictator. I’m just pointing out a flaw and a danger here.

The first thing I’d like to get out of the way is the patently fake-seeming way the post is written. This tidbit in particular seems too convenient for me, but feel free to prove me wrong:

One of my teachers, upon hearing that we were raising our then 2 children in our ways, told me how she wished she had. She cried as she told me how it had done nothing but teach her son to always be searching, to never dare to commit, to persevere. It affected all aspects of his life. (And she was not the only of my older & elderly teachers/mentors who shared similar experiences.)

Another quote from her caption on her Instagram post:

I saw firsthand how raising your child with no spiritual/religious structure caused them serious harm.

This is unbelievably and patently privileged. Any gay or trans person could tell you that religious parentage in fact can do grave harms (see: conversion therapy). A Christian woman who forced her son into conversion therapy for his gayness now feels immense guilt at his suicide. So it’s dangerous to make that simplification – religion isn’t always benevolent!

Well, wait a minute, are kids healthier and better off with religion? There are studies being done on this, to which Slate has good responses:

“All that talk of snake-inspired subterfuge, planet-cleansing floods, and apocalyptic horsemen might hamper kids’ ability to differentiate between fantasy and reality—or even to think critically…’The problem with certain religious beliefs,’ according to Bloom, ‘isn’t that they are incredible (science is also incredible) and isn’t that they ruin children’s ability to distinguish between fantasy and reality. It’s that they are false.’ That’s the problem that undergirds pretty much every study about religion and happiness: Even if religion can make you happy, that happiness often requires us to buy into fantasies. It’s no coincidence that the most statistically significant mental health difference between religious and secular children arises between the age of 12 and 15, when nondevout kids go through the existential crises of adolescence while religious kids can dig deeper into their trench of piousness. This mental health bump disappears in adulthood, when religious people—perhaps because they’re operating in the real world—aren’t measurably happier or nicer than their secular brethren (unless they live in a country that favors believers and ostracizes atheists).”

So what exactly is she doing wrong?

Well, first off, teaching kids how to ward is forcing your definition of how the world works! Not everyone wards! I’ll get more into that in the next section. Secondly, perpetuating the non-critical acceptance that what you see is real (i.e. apparitions and spirits) is dangerous for mental health. If these kids ever hallucinate, they will think they are seeing spirits and won’t seek medical help first. Most importantly, there seems to be minimal choice for the kids who are raised under her.

The middle boy resists more strongly. But, he resists in a way that betrays his heart. He may choose to not participate in a celebration for our Lady but he will ask for help in crafting offerings for a Deity to Whom he’s been drawn since 3yo.

This is so weird, and even sounds untrue to me. This kid’s desire to worship someone else should be taken more seriously, on the one hand, but the reason why he even considered doing it in the first place is almost 100% because of the way his mom makes him and his siblings participate in rituals.

Religious indoctrination may involve free choice, but not the free choice of the kids. It is solely the free choice of the parents that determines what values the children will have as adults and how they will view the world.

What should she do instead?

What any pagan parent should do does not differ from what any parent should do. Acceptance of the child as they are is a place to start, instead of trying to mold them into images of yourself. Furthermore, it is a good rule of thumb to teach children to be accepting of different cultures’ beliefs. I again emphasize the need to let the children decide for themselves. Gender and religion are both incredibly intimate, individualized aspects of identity that parents should not be meddling with.It concerns me that I can already see how these children will be messed up after being raised like this, and as a fellow pagan I feel it imperative to call out this behavior. I have already met a few people raised by hippie-era Wiccans who are going off the rails with their practices and UPGs. Can we please avoid continuing that cycle?

Let them be independent, learn, and grow, gods damn it. Giving your kids space to be themselves helps them exist better in the world. I

 

The Inherent Problems with Wicca

This is an ongoing thought of mine. Full disclosure, I was a secular Wiccan years ago and then drifted towards eclecticism and then Hellenic paganism.

Historical inaccuracy

The Burning Times are most often held up by Wiccans. I think there is a general trend, emphasized amongst neo-Wiccans, to not do any research or reading outside of Llewelyn (which is widely known as being inaccurate). Another problem is the assertion that Wicca is an ancient religion when Gerald Gardner created it in the 1950s.

Traditional Wicca vs. Neo-Wicca

There is also the issue of Wicca being an initiatory, secretive religion which has become warped and watered down into an appropriative mess. I will get more into that later, but due to this there are a lot of differences between ‘trad’ Wiccans and neo-Wiccans in theology and attitude, in my experience. This post will mostly be about neo-Wicca since that is what I was (and therefore am most familiar with) and the discourse that dominates the online pagan/witch communities.

All-too-common Racism

The distinction between ‘white’ and ‘black’ magic is racist, or eurocentric at best. The concept of black as a color being evil, dark and scary is a very culture-specific idea. I argue that the distinction between ‘harmful’ and ‘positive’ magic is nonexistent.

The more oft-discussed, obvious example of Wiccan racism is in micro- or macro-aggressions and violence, as well as cultural appropriation. Soft polytheism (seeing all Gods as facets or manifestations of the god or goddess) is harmful to marginalized communities because it devalues and deprioritizes their beliefs. Context becomes meaningless, history is negated and the Western, white theology becomes the only acceptable way to view reality (as opposed to accepting that some theologies or views are inherently harmful).

Inherent Misogyny

This is one I think about often and wish more people would critique. Wiccans and Wiccan-authored correspondences in magic tend to have very archaic sexist notions of gender. ‘Feminine’ crystals are receptive, emotional, nurturing. ‘Masculine’ crystals are active, aggressive, passionate. The harm in perpetuating these stereotypes in any other medium is shunned for good reason, so why continue it in Wicca? Or any magic, for that matter? Another part of this is the Blessed Be/fivefold kiss, and general Wiccan focus on fertility and birth, as well as the (artificially created!) roles of the goddess. Women do not exist to make babies – as many point out, often women can’t or don’t want to have children. Being able to have children does not make anyone a woman either. The focus on emotion and fertility is something that most Wiccans should want to veer away from (given how many feminist Wiccans I’ve seen), but for most it passes over their heads. For those who argue Wicca can be conducted without this — I posit that is difficult, if not impossible. The great rite and such are mired in misogyny and womb-worship such that it is hard to imagine a Wiccan without an athame (even if they don’t conduct ritual sex, there’s simulated hetero-sex!). I don’t think it is surprising given that a cishet man made the religion. He is rather obviously a creep who is obsessed with uteruses and sex, as can be seen in the Great Rite and so forth.

Inherent Transphobia/Homophobia

This one is a little less obvious. The founder of Wicca, Gardner, was a homophobe (google it!) and the emphasis on the womb and fertility is very exclusive to trans and gay people. Obviously the community itself has issues as well (see: Dianic Wicca).

 

Conclusion: I can’t tell people to stop practicing Wicca (although sometimes I wish I could) since it is a popular religion after all. But there needs to be serious research and reflection done by those who are Wiccan or are looking into it. Perhaps this way some more theological dialogue can happen as well.