The Literary Heritage of the World's Oldest New Religion
Pagans often claim that their spiritual inspiration comes not from a written scripture
but from personal experience and original creativity. While this is true, there are also
many written works which constitute its "testament", or its central literary expressions
of spiritual identity. Some of them are thousands of years old, such as the Descent of
Ishtar, and the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Others are more recent, such as the Charge of
the Goddess. These written works have not been brought together, in the same book, since
the movement began.
"A Pagan Testament" collects these original works, along with the poetry and prose that
inspired the founders of Wicca when it all began. It also includes the largest collection
of circle songs and wisdom teachings ever published: over 100 wisdom-teachings
and 130 circle songs, contributed by almost two thousand people, from twelve different
countries around the world! These together form something like
the Pagan equivalent of the Biblical books of Psalms and Proverbs. They show that
Paganism is continually growing and being
contributed to. Finally, the book includes an original and valuable philosophical
commentary and interpretation.
Some Endorsements:
"Brendan Myers is one of the most important Neopagan voices now alive."
Isaac Bonewits,
Author of "Real Magic",
founder of Arn Draoicht Fein, America's largest Druidic association
"This is a terrible book. I wouldn't use it's paper to wipe myself,
in case it gave me piles!"
Janet Farrar and Gavin Bone,
Authors of "
Progressive Witchcraft",
which is an excellent book, but my books are better.
About that folklore survey...
Here's what I say about it in the book:
"From the summer of 2006 to the autumn of 2007 I brought a
folklore survey to pagan gatherings, festivals, private meetings,
pub moots, conferences, and just about every pagan event within
my reach. I got friends of mine in other countries to distribute the
survey at their local events. I also posted it on the internet, using
popular web sites, email list-groups, chat rooms, and the like. In
this survey, I asked people to share with me their favourite ritual
chants, circle songs, wisdom teachings, proverbs, mottos, sayings,
and ceremonial expressions. I received replies from people in five
Canadian provinces, sixteen American states, and ten other
countries around the world. In total, almost two thousand people
answered my questions. Finally I also sought out my local
community's 'Elders': some of whom are event organizers, some
are spiritual councilors and teachers, some are leaders of groups
both large and small, and some are known as prominent eccentric
'personalities'. All of them have widespread reputations for great
spiritual and practical knowledge spanning thirty years or more.
And without them the community would be a very different, a
less inviting and less magical place."
(A Pagan Testament, page 6.)
What's not printed in the book itself is the demographic information. So here it is:
Total informants: 1,892
United States
Canada
United Kingdom
France
Australia
Germany
Russia
Argentina
Afghanistan (British army)
Ireland
Turkey
India
1,120
583
126
11
33
8
1
1
1
6
1
1
Using the terms that my informants themselves used, here's the breakdown of what spiritual paths
my informants claimed to be following. Note that the numbers might not add up, because some
people reported belonging to more than one path at the same time.
Wicca, British trad
Witchcraft, Eclectic Wicca
Asatru, Heathen
Ceremonial Magick
Kemeticism, Sufism, or Near Eastern
Hellenic, Greek
Druidry, Celtic
Aboriginal (North America)
Germanic
Pagan (otherwise undefined)
Reclaiming
Feminist, Dianic, Womynspirit
Warrior path
"Earth Based"
Discordian, Erisian, Chaos Magick
"Left Hand Path"
Tantra
Freemasonry
"Not a pagan, but a Lightworker!"
(Didn't say)
The most popular circle-chant, by far, with around 100 informants mentioning it, and in three different languages, was
"We are a circle, within a circle, with no beginning, and never ending". (by Rick Hamouris).
The second most popular circle-chant was Kore's Chant, by Starhawk: "She changes everything she touches, and everything she touches changes."
And the third was an elemental chant by Andreas Corben Arthen: "Air I am, Fire I am, Water Earth and Spirit I Am."
Of wisdom-teachings: the most popular were those which appear in the Charge of the Goddess, by Doreen Valiente.
The most common of these, mentioned by almost everyone who claimed a Wiccan path, was "All acts of Love and Pleasure are My rituals".
But there were seven teachings in particular that tended to appear together: two or three of them, if not all seven, from each informant that mentioned them.
Although some of them, according to some informants, were part of a formal Wiccan training program, they were often reported by informants who did not
claim to be Wiccan. In the text of my book, I gathered them together into a kind of "discourse", which I named
"The Seven Teachings of the Mystery". In the book itself, these seven teachings are spread among the 130 other
teachings, but some readers might wish to see them all together. Here they are:
Thou Art Goddess! Thou Art God!
What a great miracle is Man!
As man is now, so the gods once were; as the gods are now, so man may some day become.
There is no part of you that is not of the gods.
If that which you seek you find not within, you will never find without.
Goddess is alive! Magick is afoot!
I am the Earth, and the Earth is me.
I also identified several other discourses of pagan teachings like this,
such as the Laws of the Craft, the Laws of Magic, a discourse on "the Path",
a discourse on "Fortune and Peace", a few teachings from Aboriginal people in Canada and the USA,
and many more. Chapter 10 of "A Pagan Testament" discusses them all in more detail.
I am a philosopher, not a sociologist (although I did study folklore at Memorial University of Newfoundland),
so my survey might not meed the standards required of professional sociological research. But I was more interested in the
content of the teachings, not so much in their popularity or distribution. In this book, I offer them to the community
as meditations on who we are and what values we stand for, not just as pagans but as human beings.
