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Pagans, Feri, Black Hearts
Apr. 30th, 2017 08:08 pmAwhile ago I went off looking for religion. I pop my head up and look every so often, but I was pretty sure I was interested this time. The reasons for that are complicated.
More specifically, I found myself drawn to a simple description of Feri, which is a variety of (very) California Paganism arguably founded by Victor and Cora Anderson a few decades ago. The spelling "Feri" was to distinguish it from similarly-named branches of Paganism, and dates back to the 1990s. It mostly resembles Wicca and other branches of Paganism.
I'm increasingly sure that some parts of it are for me, and I'm increasingly sure that I can safely ignore what I need to. That's a workable combination.
So what drew me to it? I'm not sure Feri folks would say this, but it has the opposite of Original Sin. One of its exalted states is the Black Heart of Innocence -- here's what I first read on that topic:
The 'Black Heart of Innocence'. A state of being in which all souls are aligned, characterized by complete connection to the rest of reality, and liberation from all social restraints. This state is understood as primarily sexual, being likened to the untamed feral sexuality of wild animals and innocent children.
Can you see why that might appeal to me? Politically, culturally, and in the religions that surround me, one great uniter is: basic existence as a human animal is bad. Some would describe it as crude, some as inappropriate, many as unjust. But everybody agrees: your urges as a human basically make you bad. (How so? Christianity: obvious. Liberalism and Conservatism: pretty obvious, I hope. Capitalism: luxuries are high-rank, requirements are low-rank. Society: sex/food/sleep is less exalted, purely mental/spiritual is more exalted e.g. Maslow's Hierarchy.)
Here's another terse piece which convinced me to investigate more:
The Iron Pentacle. A symbolic and energetic tool that is used to help realign and purify the practitioner. The five points of the pentacle correspond to aspects of human life which Feri believes are often warped by the dominant culture, and which need to be reclaimed. The points are Sex, Pride, Self, Power, and Passion.
Those points are really interesting. Like the Black Heart of Innocence, they're a lot of respect for basic human wants and preferences. I read that and think that wanting things might be... sort of basically okay. I mean, sure, done circumspectly. The phrase goes "and it harm none, do as ye will," not just "do as ye will." But that's a big step up.
I also like the idea that these things start pure and are warped by outside expectations. Maybe true, maybe no. But definitely appealing.
I've read more about Feri in Thorn Coyle's excellent "Evolutionary Witchcraft." You can think of it as a manual of basic magic... But like Christian magic (e.g. prayer, communion), it won't astound you with the utterly impossible. It's about meditation. It's about purification. It's about unbinding yourself from ideas and feelings you don't want, and developing others you do. It's about self-strengthening through repeated exercises, usually (but not always) mental and spiritual ones. I've read enough small business books with various brainstorming and automatic writing exercises that it reads oddly like one.
Witchcraft *does* include a certain amount of implausible-sounding magic, outside that book. So does Christianity and its various relatives (e.g. exorcisms.) That's fine. But it's not really what I'm shopping for right now. Well, okay, maybe one or two unusual things.
Witchcraft also includes a certain amount of stuff which, outside a religious context, you'd cheerfully call "very silly." Again, Christianity too. I respect that on its own merits, but I also feel like I'm basically okay with accepting things conditionally. Feri in particular has a strong tradition of (to paraphrase its founder) doing the practices first, and believing second. I want the practices, I accept that a lot of the ways of referring to things are symbolic... And specifically, are symbolic in that way all language is silly if you look too close. A "chef" is from "chef d'cuisine", or "head of food," by analogy with the head of your body being in charge of managing it. The word "chief" is from the same root. We refer to rank and management by referring to a part of your body. Language is poetry and metaphor all the way down. An all-creating Goddess making a universe by making love to herself? Sure, why not?
It feels a little awkward to be following a religion of initiation and community off by myself. I'm slowly looking at other community connections. But I think first, I should be following the exercises in Evolutionary Witchcraft, or something very like them. I'm taking this relatively slowly, and that seems best.
More specifically, I found myself drawn to a simple description of Feri, which is a variety of (very) California Paganism arguably founded by Victor and Cora Anderson a few decades ago. The spelling "Feri" was to distinguish it from similarly-named branches of Paganism, and dates back to the 1990s. It mostly resembles Wicca and other branches of Paganism.
I'm increasingly sure that some parts of it are for me, and I'm increasingly sure that I can safely ignore what I need to. That's a workable combination.
So what drew me to it? I'm not sure Feri folks would say this, but it has the opposite of Original Sin. One of its exalted states is the Black Heart of Innocence -- here's what I first read on that topic:
The 'Black Heart of Innocence'. A state of being in which all souls are aligned, characterized by complete connection to the rest of reality, and liberation from all social restraints. This state is understood as primarily sexual, being likened to the untamed feral sexuality of wild animals and innocent children.
Can you see why that might appeal to me? Politically, culturally, and in the religions that surround me, one great uniter is: basic existence as a human animal is bad. Some would describe it as crude, some as inappropriate, many as unjust. But everybody agrees: your urges as a human basically make you bad. (How so? Christianity: obvious. Liberalism and Conservatism: pretty obvious, I hope. Capitalism: luxuries are high-rank, requirements are low-rank. Society: sex/food/sleep is less exalted, purely mental/spiritual is more exalted e.g. Maslow's Hierarchy.)
Here's another terse piece which convinced me to investigate more:
The Iron Pentacle. A symbolic and energetic tool that is used to help realign and purify the practitioner. The five points of the pentacle correspond to aspects of human life which Feri believes are often warped by the dominant culture, and which need to be reclaimed. The points are Sex, Pride, Self, Power, and Passion.
Those points are really interesting. Like the Black Heart of Innocence, they're a lot of respect for basic human wants and preferences. I read that and think that wanting things might be... sort of basically okay. I mean, sure, done circumspectly. The phrase goes "and it harm none, do as ye will," not just "do as ye will." But that's a big step up.
I also like the idea that these things start pure and are warped by outside expectations. Maybe true, maybe no. But definitely appealing.
I've read more about Feri in Thorn Coyle's excellent "Evolutionary Witchcraft." You can think of it as a manual of basic magic... But like Christian magic (e.g. prayer, communion), it won't astound you with the utterly impossible. It's about meditation. It's about purification. It's about unbinding yourself from ideas and feelings you don't want, and developing others you do. It's about self-strengthening through repeated exercises, usually (but not always) mental and spiritual ones. I've read enough small business books with various brainstorming and automatic writing exercises that it reads oddly like one.
Witchcraft *does* include a certain amount of implausible-sounding magic, outside that book. So does Christianity and its various relatives (e.g. exorcisms.) That's fine. But it's not really what I'm shopping for right now. Well, okay, maybe one or two unusual things.
Witchcraft also includes a certain amount of stuff which, outside a religious context, you'd cheerfully call "very silly." Again, Christianity too. I respect that on its own merits, but I also feel like I'm basically okay with accepting things conditionally. Feri in particular has a strong tradition of (to paraphrase its founder) doing the practices first, and believing second. I want the practices, I accept that a lot of the ways of referring to things are symbolic... And specifically, are symbolic in that way all language is silly if you look too close. A "chef" is from "chef d'cuisine", or "head of food," by analogy with the head of your body being in charge of managing it. The word "chief" is from the same root. We refer to rank and management by referring to a part of your body. Language is poetry and metaphor all the way down. An all-creating Goddess making a universe by making love to herself? Sure, why not?
It feels a little awkward to be following a religion of initiation and community off by myself. I'm slowly looking at other community connections. But I think first, I should be following the exercises in Evolutionary Witchcraft, or something very like them. I'm taking this relatively slowly, and that seems best.
