Pub Date : 2016-11-01DOI: 10.1558/pome.v18i2.32246
R. Hutton
{"title":"Witches, pagans and historians: an extended review of Max Dashu, Witches and Pagans: Women in European Folk Religion, 700-1000","authors":"R. Hutton","doi":"10.1558/pome.v18i2.32246","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v18i2.32246","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"205-234"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67612121","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-08-07DOI: 10.1558/pome.v18i1.22349
C. Josiffe
Studies of Aleister Crowley’s followers have tended to focus on unconventional or bohemian figures. This article examines a different type of person—Neville Foreman, an insurance clerk and family man who lived in the unfashionable Clapton district of Hackney, East London. Several years’ correspondence between Foreman and Crowley sheds light on the profile of a Crowley acolyte from a more conventional background. Whilst Foreman was no bohemian, this lower-middle class office clerk was nonetheless an esoteric seeker. Dissatisfied with his previous explorations in New Thought, Theosophy and Anthroposophy, Foreman arrived at Crowley and Thelema hoping for spiritual guidance and personal development, and also seeking some resolution to his sexual difficulties.
{"title":"A Hackney Disciple of the Beast 666: A History in Letters","authors":"C. Josiffe","doi":"10.1558/pome.v18i1.22349","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v18i1.22349","url":null,"abstract":"Studies of Aleister Crowley’s followers have tended to focus on unconventional or bohemian figures. This article examines a different type of person—Neville Foreman, an insurance clerk and family man who lived in the unfashionable Clapton district of Hackney, East London. Several years’ correspondence between Foreman and Crowley sheds light on the profile of a Crowley acolyte from a more conventional background. Whilst Foreman was no bohemian, this lower-middle class office clerk was nonetheless an esoteric seeker. Dissatisfied with his previous explorations in New Thought, Theosophy and Anthroposophy, Foreman arrived at Crowley and Thelema hoping for spiritual guidance and personal development, and also seeking some resolution to his sexual difficulties.","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"5-30"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-08-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67610799","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-08-05DOI: 10.1558/pome.v18i1.27917
Gwendolyn J. Reece
This quantitative study investigates Pagans as having a concealable stigmatized identity and is based on data from a large-scale national survey of Pagans, Witches and Heathens in the United States (N=3318) that was conducted by the author. Following the thought of Goffman and his successors, this study provides a quantitative snapshot of the ways stigma affects contemporary Pagans in the following domains: personal and household relationships; the workplace; social institutions; and with the public at large. Particular attention is paid to the fear that Pagans will suffer false accusations. This study provides data about the prevalence of reported adverse events that the participants attribute to prejudice against their stigmatized Pagan identity. Participants’ perceptions of risks of negative outcomes arising from stigma are also analyzed. Individuals with a concealable stigmatized identity must make information management choices concerning whether or not to employ a “passing” strategy or to disclose their stigmatized identity, each strategy bearing different costs. This phenomenon is colloquially known within Paganism as the “broom closet.” The relationships between the “broom closet” and adverse events and perceived risk are analyzed. Numerous areas for further research are suggested.
{"title":"Contemporary Pagans and Stigmatized Identity","authors":"Gwendolyn J. Reece","doi":"10.1558/pome.v18i1.27917","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v18i1.27917","url":null,"abstract":"This quantitative study investigates Pagans as having a concealable stigmatized identity and is based on data from a large-scale national survey of Pagans, Witches and Heathens in the United States (N=3318) that was conducted by the author. Following the thought of Goffman and his successors, this study provides a quantitative snapshot of the ways stigma affects contemporary Pagans in the following domains: personal and household relationships; the workplace; social institutions; and with the public at large. Particular attention is paid to the fear that Pagans will suffer false accusations. This study provides data about the prevalence of reported adverse events that the participants attribute to prejudice against their stigmatized Pagan identity. Participants’ perceptions of risks of negative outcomes arising from stigma are also analyzed. Individuals with a concealable stigmatized identity must make information management choices concerning whether or not to employ a “passing” strategy or to disclose their stigmatized identity, each strategy bearing different costs. This phenomenon is colloquially known within Paganism as the “broom closet.” The relationships between the “broom closet” and adverse events and perceived risk are analyzed. Numerous areas for further research are suggested.","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"60-95"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-08-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67610854","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-07-21DOI: 10.1558/pome.v18i2.15424
C. Beard-Moose
{"title":"The Seduction of Avalon: The Pilgrimage to Goddess and the Affect of the Tour","authors":"C. Beard-Moose","doi":"10.1558/pome.v18i2.15424","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/pome.v18i2.15424","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"150-175"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67611520","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-07-19DOI: 10.1558/POME.V18I1.30994
C. Wise
{"title":"Christine Hoff Kraemer, Eros and Touch from a Pagan Perspective: Divided for Love’s Sake (New York: Routledge, 2014) 224 pp., $145 (cloth)","authors":"C. Wise","doi":"10.1558/POME.V18I1.30994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/POME.V18I1.30994","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"112-115"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67611242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-07-17DOI: 10.1558/POME.V18I1.30839
M. Hamner
{"title":"Alex Mar, Witches of America (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015), 276 pp., $26 (cloth).","authors":"M. Hamner","doi":"10.1558/POME.V18I1.30839","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/POME.V18I1.30839","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"96-97"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67611623","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-07-15DOI: 10.1558/POME.V18I1.30254
E. White
{"title":"Philip Heselton, Doreen Valiente: Witch (Nottingham, UK: The Doreen Valiente Foundation in association with The Centre for Pagan Studies, 2016), 357 pp., £21.99 (hardcover) £14.99 (paper)","authors":"E. White","doi":"10.1558/POME.V18I1.30254","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/POME.V18I1.30254","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"1 1","pages":"108-111"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67611499","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-07-13DOI: 10.1558/POME.V18I1.28457
E. White
As the academic study of contemporary Paganism approaches its fourth decade, it faces a variety of theoretical, methodological, and terminological challenges, some of which have faced little or no exploration to date. Here, an attempt to tackle some of the most significant will be made. First, I will examine both how academics and practicing Pagans have defined “contemporary Paganism,” criticizing many such definitions and arguing for the scholarly adoption of a classificatory approach rooted in Wittgenstein’s “family resemblance” paradigm. Second, I shall argue for the need of a much clearer definition of what “Pagan studies” actually studies, before challenging the utility of the term “Pagan studies” itself for being too closely associated with Pagan community activism. Third, I present my argument as to why our field is in such dire need of serious reform in order to establish much needed academic respectability.
{"title":"Theoretical, Terminological, and Taxonomic Trouble in the Academic Study of Contemporary Paganism: A Case for Reform","authors":"E. White","doi":"10.1558/POME.V18I1.28457","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/POME.V18I1.28457","url":null,"abstract":"As the academic study of contemporary Paganism approaches its fourth decade, it faces a variety of theoretical, methodological, and terminological challenges, some of which have faced little or no exploration to date. Here, an attempt to tackle some of the most significant will be made. First, I will examine both how academics and practicing Pagans have defined “contemporary Paganism,” criticizing many such definitions and arguing for the scholarly adoption of a classificatory approach rooted in Wittgenstein’s “family resemblance” paradigm. Second, I shall argue for the need of a much clearer definition of what “Pagan studies” actually studies, before challenging the utility of the term “Pagan studies” itself for being too closely associated with Pagan community activism. Third, I present my argument as to why our field is in such dire need of serious reform in order to establish much needed academic respectability.","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"31-59"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67611279","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2016-06-12DOI: 10.1558/POME.V18I2.31664
P. Horák
This article argues that the concept of “paganism,” though originally theological in nature, came to be used in the Enlightenment and its secular thought as a term for non-Abrahamic religions. Discussions on paganism were conducted in an environment where concerns about religious plurality had become central. As such, these discussions, and their subject—paganism, also served as a means to find solutions for concerns about religious plurality. This article will focus on three components of the discussion on paganism: (i) the origin of idolatry, (ii) the nature of gods, and (iii) the nature of pagan worship. This article argues that purportedly secular concerns regarding paganism expressed by Deist and Enlightenment scholars were in fact rooted in Christian theology. This article is divided into four sections. The first section gives a general account of relevant discussions taking place in the seventeenth century. The second section discusses the father of English deism, Herbert of Cherbury, and his notion of paganism. The third section discusses Herbert’s successors. The fourth section discusses David Hume and his work on paganism. The article argues that internal theological concerns in the seventeenth and eighteenth century gave rise to a specific conceptual language used in thinking about and discussing paganism. This language was later adopted by contemporary Pagans in the twentieth and twenty first century. As such, the article argues, in any study of the phenomenon referred to as “paganism” the present framework inevitably leads one to theological questions and answers. As a result, while the discussion on paganism continues to be a theological one, the phenomenon being studied remains inaccessible.
{"title":"The Image of Paganism in the Age of Reason: From Idolatry towards a Secular Concept of Polytheism","authors":"P. Horák","doi":"10.1558/POME.V18I2.31664","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1558/POME.V18I2.31664","url":null,"abstract":"This article argues that the concept of “paganism,” though originally theological in nature, came to be used in the Enlightenment and its secular thought as a term for non-Abrahamic religions. Discussions on paganism were conducted in an environment where concerns about religious plurality had become central. As such, these discussions, and their subject—paganism, also served as a means to find solutions for concerns about religious plurality. This article will focus on three components of the discussion on paganism: (i) the origin of idolatry, (ii) the nature of gods, and (iii) the nature of pagan worship. This article argues that purportedly secular concerns regarding paganism expressed by Deist and Enlightenment scholars were in fact rooted in Christian theology. This article is divided into four sections. The first section gives a general account of relevant discussions taking place in the seventeenth century. The second section discusses the father of English deism, Herbert of Cherbury, and his notion of paganism. The third section discusses Herbert’s successors. The fourth section discusses David Hume and his work on paganism. The article argues that internal theological concerns in the seventeenth and eighteenth century gave rise to a specific conceptual language used in thinking about and discussing paganism. This language was later adopted by contemporary Pagans in the twentieth and twenty first century. As such, the article argues, in any study of the phenomenon referred to as “paganism” the present framework inevitably leads one to theological questions and answers. As a result, while the discussion on paganism continues to be a theological one, the phenomenon being studied remains inaccessible.","PeriodicalId":41407,"journal":{"name":"Pomegranate","volume":"18 1","pages":"125-149"},"PeriodicalIF":0.2,"publicationDate":"2016-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"67611184","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}