Wicked Whimsy

Archive for the ‘Paganism’ Category

The Maetreum of Cybele, a pagan temple (that also offers hospitality services for the needy), is involved in an ongoing legal battle with the town of Catskill. Why? The town of Catskill refuses to give the Maetreum tax exemption on their property despite the organization being recognized by the IRS as a 501C3 religious corporation. Jason at the Wild Hunt has posted updates throughout the battle, and the latest update included a link to a Daily Mail article (which, despite a little sensationalism in the lead, is pretty good) about the issue. I’m glad to see the story being covered in non-pagan centric places & wanted to do a post about it here, highlighting some of the things I find particularly irritating.

First off, the town’s reasoning in denying them tax exemption. Reading about it, it seems like the town can’t pick a reason and stick with it. One of the incidences involved the town officials touring the property and commenting that there didn’t seem to be much religious iconography, for the place being a temple. That, right there? Is an example of the dominant culture erasing a non-dominant culture & religion. Not cool, guys. Not cool at all.

Just  because a random person off the street doesn’t recognize it as religious iconography, doesn’t mean that it’s not. It just means that random person off the street doesn’t know it yet. Not everyone will recognize this, or this, or this as religious iconography or artwork (in order: that’s Islamic art, Odin hanging on Yggdrasil, and Shiva), and to assume that the reason you don’t recognize it is because it’s not f’reals is fundamentally insulting to adherents of that religion.

And of course, then there’s this (taken from the Daily Mail article):

During the Dec. 2 hearing, Pulver asked Smith for the precise arrears amount owed by the Maetreum, to which she responded that “the issue we are looking at isn’t so much the dollars and cents of exactly what the taxes are, which I don’t have off the top of my head, the issue is opening the floodgates. Once you relax the requirements, and if you stretch them too far, then you’re going to have just a multitude of organizations who under the spirit of the law go —”

At that moment, the official court transcript shows Smith was interrupted by Pulver, who again asked how much the amount of taxes owed was. Smith said she didn’t know and did not further qualify her statement.

Platine was present during that hearing and understood what Smith was getting at.

Of course she did. It’s not exactly subtle, is it? We wouldn’t want to “open the floodgates”, you know what that would be like.

People think they can shove adherents of pagan religions (and minority religions in general) around simply because we’re freaks, or because we don’t have the numbers and funding to cause adequate consequences. It’s an incredibly frustrating situation and something of a catch-22; because for paganism to be seen as legit by people, more organizations and temples like the Maetreum need to be built. But when the groups that do stick their neck out and create real life spaces for pagans to feel safe in face such difficulty (they were turned down by over 30 lawyers and dismissed by the NYCLU as “that witch group” – liberty union, my ass), it’s not encouraging to anyone else and just ends up furthering that helpless, second-class citizen feeling.

And it should probably not go without mentioning that the Maetreum is specifically a women’s temple and has several intersex and transgender women among its priestesses; I’m sure that the discrimination they’re facing is based in transphobia as well as religious intolerance. One more reason for the town officials to fear “opening the floodgates”.

The Maetreum of Cybele is accepting donations (which are tax deductible) through their website – as of the last update, it seems that their main struggle is having enough money to continue the legal battle, which has lasted four years so far. Spreading the word is also appreciated.

This is part three of the Sandman and American Gods series. The intro is here and part one is here. This is part two, which discusses the theme of “poor old pagan gods, nobody worships them any more”, which is repeated ad nauseam through American Gods and Sandman.

So, it’s stated numerous times throughout American Gods that these gods have no more worshipers any more. The gods make long speeches about not being remembered. The plot could have been very easily modified as “we have few worshipers, but they’re growing”, but it isn’t. It’s also said that them not being worshiped makes them weaker.

Big snag here: he puts all of the non-Christian deities (and folklore creatures, and so on) together, in the same boat. Including Kali, even though Hinduism is the third largest religion in the world (eighth in the US, both according to Adherents.com, although their info is woefully out of date so the numbers could be off). This is addressed, but only in passing and only once – towards the beginning of the book, Kali says she “does well” compared to the other gods. This is putting Hinduism in a with a group of religions that has a much smaller number of followers than it does. This could also be said for Baron Samedi or Anansi, since African diaspora religions are ranked 8th in the world.

It’s also odd because the whole point of the conflict is that it’s between old gods who are dying and new gods (including things like media, the internet, the automobile industry). That’s why Odin is able to manipulate the other deities, because they’re all afraid of being replaced and/or dying. Nevermind the fact that the number of pagans in America grew several times over between 1991 and 2001*, and has very possibly already multiplied several times again. Or the fact that Hinduism in America is definitely not under any threat of disappearing any time soon.

This is a recurring theme in Gaiman’s work, being invoked several times in Sandman as well – and not just within the confines of America. In one issue of Sandman, Bast monologues about how she wakes up cold and lonely in her temple and looks for people praying for her – there is only one worldwide, a little girl (I guess it’s supposed to be because she doesn’t know any better). That, my friends, is a total crock. Bast is an extremely popular deity, among Egyptian pagans and eclectic pagans.

One of my biggest issues with this is that, well, not only is it insulting to and an erasure of followers of non monotheist religions, but to the uninformed reader, it’s confirmation of the “fact” that nobody worships these deities any more, so they’re fair game. Someone unaware of paganism reading Gaiman’s work is less likely than someone say, reading the newspaper, but it’s very possible. And even among people who are aware of paganism, many think of us as exactly how the waitress is portrayed in American Gods – people who are incredibly uninformed and in essence, a total joke. These pagans do exist, but there are plenty of us (I would wager the majority) who aren’t like that. Many still view paganism as something not to be taken seriously as a group of religions and depictions like this – the only depiction of an actual pagan in any of Gaiman’s work – reinforce that.

Still think the portrayal isn’t necessarily all bad? Well, here’s what Wednesday/Odin says after stiffing the “pagan” waitress ten dollars & being chided by Shadow about it:

“What the hell else can I do? They don’t sacrifice rams or bulls to me. They don’t send me the souls of killers and slaves, gallows-hung and raven-picked.”

Ah yes. Because see, one of Those Pagan Gods wouldn’t care about anything except for that. No, Calvin Odin is one of the old gods! He demands sacrifice!* (transcript of comic at bottom of post)

And then we have the portrayal of pagan gods in Sandman. The Norse deities (Odin, Thor, and Loki anyways…) are the only ones featured extensively, although Bast makes several appearances. The Hindu deities make a quick appearance but have no dialog, some Shinto gods show up at a dinner party in one issue, and Anubis accompanies Bast at the same party. Lucifer is a more likable character than any of the Norse deities. Thor is portrayed as a drunken frat boy type that Dream has to reprimand because he gets drunk and relentlessly/crudely hits on Bast. At a formal event. Bast is portrayed fairly uninsultingly, at least, aside from the lonely monologue.

Plenty of other non-Christian deities don’t make an appearance in either work, but I do have to add: the Vanic deities are never featured in either work. Not. Once. I don’t even think they’re mentioned. I guess I should probably be grateful, since given all things, I would probably not be happy with the portrayal – but I sure get sick of the Vanir always being glossed over for the Aesir!

I’m certainly not saying that everyone who wants to write about non-Christian deities needs to have experienced them personally, but I wish they would remember: they are not just a storytelling device. They are living, breathing deities for hundreds of thousands of people and as such, they, and we, deserve some respect.

*Rough estimates put it at 8,000 in 1991 and 134,000 to almost 200,000 in 2001 – note that these are numbers of Wiccans & so the total pagan population might be higher.

*It has been noted within several pagan circles that the gods also enjoy sacrifices of, for example, time, whether spent on creating artwork for the deity or say, volunteering for a charity that is appropriate. Or even learning more about that deity, whether through meditation or homework. However, this is never mentioned in fiction. Go figure.

The link is to a Calvin & Hobbes comic. The first panel is blank and says, in an old timey font, “First there was nothing…”. Second panel is a close up of an eye and says “…then there was Calvin!”. Third panel: “Calvin, the mighty god, creates the universe will pure will!” with a bearded male figure rising out of light that has his arms upraised. Fourth panel: “From utter nothingness comes swirling form! Life begins where once was void!”, with close up of a hand surrounded by planets. Fifth panel: “But Calvin is no kind and loving god! He’s one of the old gods! He demands sacrifice!” with a face close up. Sixth panel: “Yes, Calvin is a god of the underworld! And the puny inhabitants of earth displease him!” with “Calvin’s” back and the earth between his hands. Seventh panel: “The great Calvin ignores their pleas for mercy and the doomed writhe in agony!” (an explosion behind the text). Eighth panel: Calvin (a white, blonde, six year old male child) is shown in the background with his parents talking in the foreground. His dad: “Have you seen how absorbed Calvin is with those tinkertoys? He’s creating whole worlds over there!” His mom: “I’ll bet he grows up to be an architect!”.

So, if you recall the last installment, what we’re discussing today is one of the main themes in American Gods: that America is a bad land for gods/that there were no deities in America before non-indigenous people colonized America. I’m discussing them as one theme together because they go hand in hand – why weren’t there any gods before other people came to America? Because it’s a bad land for gods, that’s why!

One of my issues with this is that it seems like a totally arbitrary rule to me. And it’s not very well defined either – does “America” mean the United States? Or North America? Shadow and Odin never go outside of the continental US, but one of the “coming to America” chapters features the Vikings bringing over their deities. However, as far as we know, the Vikings never came to the continental US. This tends to point towards these statements being said about all of North America, not just the United States.

Which brings me to the other part; the “there weren’t any gods before non-indigenous people brought them over” part. Where am I getting this from? It’s implied a few times throughout the book (although Shadow talks to a buffalo headed man several times, who I’m guessing is supposed to be the embodiment of the land), but the main reason is this, which occurs towards the end of the book:

“Look,” said Whiskey Jack. “This is not a good country for gods. My people figured that out early on. There are creator spirits who found the earth or made it or shit it out, but you think about it: who’s going to worship Coyote? He made love to Porcupine Woman and got his dick shot through with more needles than a pincushion. He’d argue with rocks and rocks would win. So yeah, my people figured that maybe there’s something at the back of it all, a creator, a great spirit, and so we say thank you to it, because it’s always good to say thank you. But we never built churches. We didn’t need to. The land was the church. The land was the religion.”

Whiskey Jack is another name for Wisakedjak, who is the only Native character/god/culture hero (he refers to himself as a culture hero, but some of the things I’m finding online refer to him as a god) in the book. Actually, the definition of “culture hero” is kind of…off too (from the paragraph or two right before the above quote):

“I’m a culture hero,” he [Wisakedjak] said. “We do the same shit gods do, we just screw up more and nobody worships us. They tell stories about us, but they tell the ones that make us look bad along with the ones where we came out fairly okay.”

By that definition, there are lot of gods that are “really” culture heroes. The idea of myths portraying deities only in positive ways is kind of a weird one; there are plenty of myths throughout various cultures that don’t necessarily reflect 100% positively on the deities within.

Anyways – the whole speech about there not being gods beforehand is totally false. Some of what he says (there being a “creator spirit” and then other spirits which might or might not be considered deities) is true – for a few tribes. But Native cultures are incredibly varied. There was some degree of mixing between tribes that were close together, but Native cultures are not and never were one monolithic entity. Whiskey Jack’s speech implies otherwise.

There’s also the problem that a lot of information on different Native beliefs is written from a Christian and/or imperialist (I’m not sure if that’s the right word, but there are definite tinges of “their belief system is inferior by definition”) viewpoint, including this little gem – and I quote: “The belief system of the Iroquois was the closest a Native American civilization had come to the complex theology of Christianity.” Cue vomit.

Defining god vs. powerful not-god entity can be a tricky matter anyways, but if you’re factoring in “a long history of persecution and suppression by government and missionaries…misimpressions that Indian religions are quaint curiosities, exotic, strange, or even nonexistent” (1), it becomes particularly complicated, especially for someone outside the belief system who doesn’t entirely grasp all of its nuances. Either way, there were definitely deities being worshiped in North America before non-indigenous peoples moved in, and all of these factors make me wonder where the idea that there weren’t any gods here before originated from.

Another related message/theme/what-have-you is that the gods are different in America than they are in other places. At the end of the book, Shadow goes to Iceland and sees Odin. He basically tells Odin he’s an ass (which, after the events in the book? understandable), and that Odin replies that “He was me, yes. But I am not him.”. However, earlier in the novel when Shadow is talking to Jacquel/Anubis, Anubis says “So yeah, Jesus does pretty good over here. But I met a guy who said he saw him hitchhiking by the side of the road in Afghanistan and nobody was stopping to give him a ride. You know? It all depends on where you are.”. If the gods aren’t the same in different places, that wouldn’t be the same Jesus. (And wouldn’t Jesus be stronger in the middle east, the area from which he came?)

Stay tuned for next week’s post, where I’ll tackle what I see as the second theme of American Gods, also reiterated several times in Sandman, the “oh, poor old forgotten gods, nobody worships them any more” one. I know you’re excited! As always, I look forward to your comments.

1 – quote taken from Encyclopedia of Native American Religions

I know people get really touchy when you talk about their favorite artists, so let me say ahead of time: I like Gaiman’s work, for the most part. I think he’s a good writer. However, after doing a lot of thinking about it, I also think there are issues in some of his work that I haven’t seen explored anywhere and so I’d like to take that opportunity to put on a miner’s cap and explore them myself!

This will be a three part series, with spoilers for American Gods and Sandman throughout – so feel free to avoid if you haven’t read them. This post serves as an intro to the series (as you may have guessed by the title!). The next post will be about what I consider one of the main themes of American Gods – that there were no deities in America before non-indigenous people moved here/that America is a bad land for gods. The third post will deal with another theme of American Gods that’s also recurring in Sandman; that nobody worships the old forgotten gods any more and that not being worshiped makes them weak.

One of the reasons I want to talk about this is because Neil Gaiman has a huge pagan fanbase (well, given the size of the community, anyways – I’ve seen American Gods referred to as required pagan reading). Aside from the fact that he writes dark fantasy, I can’t really figure out why this is so. Non-Christian deities make frequent appearances in his work, but they are often not treated very respectfully. As far as I’m aware, the only times pagans have been depicted in his work weren’t exactly positive – there’s a character in Sandman who mentions she “dabbled” in Wicca, as opposed to another character that has real power and is taken seriously. There’s also a waitress in American Gods who identifies as pagan, but when asked who Eostre is, says she doesn’t do that Christian stuff. Which is a pretty insulting – knowing the pagan origins of Easter is a fairly 101 topic. When the topic came up in the comments of a recent Juggler post, another commenter, Hamish, said:

I’m stunned more of you aren’t offended. You guys do realize that the empty-headed Pagan woman at the cafe who’s never heard of Ostara was meant to stand in for *us,* right – to suggest we have no idea who the gods are, and that our worship is empty and useless?

Gaiman clearly at some point in the novel’s conception realized that the existence of modern Pagans put a crimp in his meticulously-built world. Rather than modify his premise, he tried a lazier approach as an author. By mocking us with an atrocious straw Pagan, he preserved the integrity of his world by attacking us.

Obviously, I can’t say that that’s exactly how it went down – but I think it’s an interesting thing to think about. Of course, Wednesday/Odin later reveals that the waitress literally killed a kitten because she wanted to “bury something”, so the waitress as an example of paganism is…not a great one.

So – now you’ve got an idea of what the next few posts will be like and what they’ll cover. Look out for the next installment later this week or next week. Hope you enjoy!