150 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
150 lines
8.5 KiB
Plaintext
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PAGAN PORNO?
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by Pagan X
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[Editor's note: This piece probably ought to be considered at
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least partly as a publications review, but it seems to go some-
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what farther abroad than the limits of that title, and makes an
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interesting proposal, so we present it here, on its own two feet.
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-Pete]
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[Author's note: If you wish to pass over this Feminist diatribe,
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at least read the last paragraph, as it contains information of
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interest to the libidinous. Thank you. - Pagan X]
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Once, long ago and in a bed far away, a former lover said
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"If you were blonde with big breasts, you probably wouldn't be
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into this Goddess-stuff."
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A real feeling of pain, of sorrow, shot through me, from the
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top of my head to somewhere near my heart. In my own bed, in my
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own house, with someone who presumably loved me -- I was not
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safe, not good enough, not free from comparisons. Beyond my
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front door, I knew and accepted the constant battle with per-
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fection: on posters, billboards, radio ads, TV shows, magazines,
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comic books - the Barbie-body, the money, the make-up, the
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clothes. In my own bed I still was not beautiful enough, because
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I was not beautiful in the right way, and this he saw as the
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entirety of my religious impulse.
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Just as it bothered me in my own bed, I find an emphasis on
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a certain form of beauty in Pagan art disturbing. I look up to
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Pagan newsletters as my communication with co-religionists, for
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the reassurance of their company in my commitment to the Goddess.
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In a way, they are family, and while I don't always expect to
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read what I believe on an issue, I also take them curiously to
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heart. And so, I found myself responding strongly to the art in
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"The Vigil; A Graphic Journal Of Wiccaen (sic) And Earth Reli
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gions".
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Graphic is right! The cover illustration features a prone
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female nude upon the pentacle, all ready to be sacrificed, raped
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or inundated with chocolate sauce for that matter; a very passive
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and ominous figure. It was a representation of The Great Rite,
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an aspect of Wiccan iconography beloved by sensational newspaper
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columnists. The favored graphic of this 22 page production is
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the naked body of the 16 to 23 year-old caucasian female accoun-
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ted for in 22 nipples and 11 breasts behind something, that's 33
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breasts in all, distributed among 31 female faces. The male
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forms, also caucasian, ( none of which were full frontal nudes as
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were many of the women), found a mere five representations. As I
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have noted, all of them were missing something - phalli.
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I prepared to review it negatively on the grounds of the
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abysmal punctuation, spelling and folklore, which it all has. I
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still feel that anyone who publishes a newsletter and presumes to
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write should deign to use a dictionary, but I had to be honest
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with myself. I hated this newsletter for the pictures. Gerald
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Gardner couldn't spell, and was not the most critical folklorist
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of his time, so who am I to talk? I also have to concede that
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other people have different visions of Goddess, and have a right
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to these visions, even if I think they are the fantasies of an
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immature subconscious. If these people have a revelation that
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says that Hecate is the same as Persephone, is about 18 years old
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and doesn't wear any clothes, as long as they don't insist that
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it's The One True Way of Goddess Worship, I shouldn't get snotty
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about the overuse of double quotes in their newsletter. My
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religion is not defined by one man's sexual fantasies (and that
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includes Gerald Gardner), but it should be able to include them,
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perhaps in a small, dark box somewhere in the bottom of Lake
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Washington.
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Beauty is a factor in my worship of the Goddess. I don't
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want to measure up to an ideal of beauty that is false, and
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obscene because it is false. Bo Derek, the Perfect 10, had ribs
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removed to get a long waist, I'm told. I worship the Goddess
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because She is all women, and the beauty of all women, many kinds
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of beauty in many kinds of strengths and talents, and bodies
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shaped to different sports, arts, and duties: scarred from
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childbirth, rough-handed from washing dishes and diapers, myopic
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from reading in bad light. The best dancer I ever saw was an
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immense black woman, all pillowed fat; and under that fat of
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living well, highly controlled muscles. She didn't move in a
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tired, listless or cautious way, she didn't stomp or trip; she
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was completely balanced within herself and radiating the joy of a
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beautiful woman sharing her skill. I wanted to see many Goddes-
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ses and equally varied priestesses, breasts drooping from nur-
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sing, breasts unformed in childhood, with wide hips and narrow
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hips and huge hands, with veins and moles, with muscles, stan-
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ding, sitting, dancing, drawing, writing...and on top!
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I want to see the God represented in a sexually exciting
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manner! One of the five males in The Vigil is the editor's self-
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portrait, the only portraiture, I might add (in other words, the
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only other 'real' person). In other sacred literature, Jawweh
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and His angels wear bathrobes all the time, or caftans, and even
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poor Jesus has on at least a bath towel. Male figures in Pagan
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art are often choir-robed Druids; I want to see the God in no-
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thing but His fur, and not coyly behind some bush, either! I
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want to see him with an erection - it doesn't have to be large,
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just sincere. Sure, naked women are just art nouveau, but to
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many a naked man is obscenity... dare to print them! Try to mail
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it! It doesn't necessarily mean that an editor is a homosexual.
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Why should they have all the fun? (And they do. There are some
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wonderful Gods in the men's newsletters).
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I, Pagan X, am a Dread Feminist, and as a Dread Feninist
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could be expected to advocate censorship. Actually, I like
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nudes, and I like sex, and I even watch Dark Shadows in the A.M.
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daily on channel 11. Instead of censoring all the T&A publica-
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tions, I would like to see a collection of Pagan erotica. After
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all, the Goddess says, "All acts of love and pleasure are my
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rituals," and I think I am safe in assuming that a healthy in-
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terest in sex is one of the stronger lures of the Neo-pagan move-
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ments. Send me your fantasies, poems, pen and ink drawings... of
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meeting the Goddess at the campus coffee shop, and she, gently,
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joyfully divesting you of your tortured virginity (you do not
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have to be male to write this one), of encounters with tall,
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dark, urbane men, gaunt and corpse cold yet with a world of
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sorrow in their eyes, of dragon-transformations of high- school
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nerds, of elderly women, of many women, many men, or all the
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scenes that Dion Fortune glosses over in her novels. And, yes,
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if you absolutely must, drawings of firm-breasted nymphs leaning
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against a pentagram, because these will be selected by a commit-
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tee so that politics will not intrude upon the really exciting.
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We plan to put out a chapbook, or possibly even print some
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of the more reserved works in these hitherto moral pages. All
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the proceeds would go toward the Hecate Shrine land fund so that
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we can have more space to run around religiously naked in the
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great outdoors to Hecate's honor and glory. We hope that it will
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be a product that you will be proud to hide under your mattress.
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Send submissions to Pagan X, PO Box 85507, Seattle, WA., 98145.
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This is for real! I'll be waiting for YOUR submissions, (written
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only, please). - Pagan X
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~~~~~~~~~~
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Lest we forget, The Vigil is available from The Oaken Door, PO
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Box 31250, Omaha, Nebraska 68132. Sample is $2, subscription
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price is $1.50 per issue, as it is only published occasionally,
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and comes in an envelope.
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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-----------------------------------------------------------------
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SYSOP'S NOTE: I would be remiss in my duties if I failed to tell
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you that this is from PANEGYRIA volume 2, number 8, and was
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downloaded from Earthrite BBS (415-651-9496). PANEGYRIA costs $8
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per year, and their address is Box 85507, Seattle, WA 98145.
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Enjoy! - Talespinner, Sysop WeirdBase
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