Those with a keen
interest in the academic study of modern Paganism should be very familiar with The
Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, the foremost (and
indeed, only) peer-reviewed scholarly journal devoted to the field. Always on
the lookout for new submissions, The Pomegranate has recently issued a
number of CfPs for special themed issues, each edited by a particular editor:
Traditionalism is a
philosophical school which has significantly impacted religious communities and
political movements in the twentieth and twenty first centuries, yet it remains
virtually unknown among scholars and the general public. Yet when Steve Bannon cited Réne Guénon and
Julius Evola as key influences in formulating his political positions, this
inspired new interest in the history and ideas informing the growing Alt Right.
However, both Guénon and Evola have been known within Pagan and occult
communities for decades as esoteric theorists. Overall, the tenets of
Traditionalism, which include Perennialism, the cultivation of an initiated
elite, the notion of cyclical time, a past golden age and anti-modern
sentiments, have increasingly impacted Pagan and occult communities, as some of
these ideas are complementary to Pagan and occult aesthetics, values and
practices.
This special volume of The
Pomegranate would feature articles examining the ways in which
Traditionalism has influenced Pagan and occult subcultures. Topics could include:
· Traditionalism and Pagan or esoteric
publishing.
· The intersection of Traditionalist ideas
with Pagan values and ethics.
· Neofolk music.
· Traditionalism and Polytheism,
Reconstructionism and Heathenry.
· Pagan and occult themes in
Traditionalist theory.
· The impact of Traditionalist debates in
various orders, such as the O.T.O.
· The impact of Traditionalism on historic
individuals relevant to Paganism, for example W.B. Yeats or Kathleen Raine.
Please note that while
papers may reflect the impact of Traditionalism on the Alt Right or New Right
in relationship to these topics, that we would like to ensure that we focus on
relevant philosophies and frameworks explicitly inspired by Traditionalism.
If you would like to contribute to this issue
of The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies edited by
Amy Hale, please submit an abstract of 300-500 words to amyhale93@gmail.com by
April 1, 2019. Final Submissions of
5000-8000 words will be due August 1, 2019.
Potential topics may
include, but are not limited to Pagan and/or Occult intersections with mobile
technologies, game design, programming, hacking, social bots, trolls, sock
puppets; spellcasting in OSNs (on-line social networks); on-line covens;
software as spell crafting; virtual familiars, fetches, and spirit homes;
blogging and Craft community ; digital spaces and virtual collectives of
marginalized witches; young Millennial and GenZ Pagans in on-line spaces; Pagan
generational gaps and the ‘digital divide’; digital chaos magick, both historic
and contemporary; ritual magick in virtual spaces or with digital tools;
challenges in the ‘Nature vs. Technology’ binary.
What is the current
interplay between digital technologies and Pagan and Occult practice? Many
deliberately distance their Craft from new media technologies, seeing
screen-based mediation as antithetical to a nature-based practice. Yet many Millennial and GenZ Pagans and
Occultists embrace these new tools. While earlier generations of Pagans used
sites like Witchvox.com to find fellow practitioners, the rapid development of
commerical on-line social networks, such as Facebook, present new avenues for
Pagans and Occultists to pursue community.
Digital spaces have created myriad new tools
and opportunities for magickal practice, from Phantasmaphile’s WitchEmojis to
the mass binding spell on President Donald Trump. Online magickal practices,
tools, and actions leverage the power of vast social networks, making normally
hidden and secretive acts highly public — sometimes as a side-effect, sometimes
deliberately. Millennial and GenZ Pagans appear to use sites such as Facebook,
Tumblr, Instagram, Reddit, and Twitter for their practice in a radically
different way from older users. But is this actually the case? And if it is,
are Millennial and GenZ beliefs and practices also different? Indeed, numerous
blog posts on Patheos - Pagan have consider this question, with discussions
ranging from ‘validity’ to a consideration of how digital natives adopt new
technologies for magical practices. But are these new trends in on-line magical
practice also new religions? Do Millennial and GenZ Pagans and Occultists have
a different relationship to the gods and spirits and, if so, is this because of
digital technology? Is there really an on-line schism between GenZ magical
practitioners and older generations, or does it just appear that way on
Instagram?
But these publicly
available and searchable Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr feeds are only the
most forward facing manifestations of Digital Paganism. What of ‘back end’
digital magick? On-line social networks are rich with (or polluted by,
depending on your perspective) social bots, trolls, and sock puppets, which are
software and account behaviors used to skew the appearance of popularity and
therefore algorithmic rankings. Chaos magicians used software code in their
operations from the 1990s onwards, yet there has been little written about this
practice since the explosion of social media technologies in the last decade.
MySpace, which is arguably the first widely adopted social media platform, come
out in 2006; the first iPhone in 2007; the incredibly rapid development and
adoption of these information technologies is astounding. It seems obvious that
Pagan programmers would adopt these new technologies towards their practices,
but where are they? What are they doing, and why has this become so hidden,
even as so-called “aesthetic witchcraft” has become so popular? There are
certainly Pagans and Occultists building divination and astrology apps, but are
they also discrete apps as spells? Or are their spells entirely backend? How do
digital technologies (including OSNs, video games, mobile apps, AR, and VR, and
other forms) present new ways for Pagans and Occultists to Know, to Will, to
Dare, and to Be Silent? What are the roles of gender, race, age, class, and
global location in the adoption and manipulation of digital media technologies
for the pursuit of Hidden Knowledge?
And if there is a
generational schism growing between GenZ and older generations of magickal
practitioners, what might this mean for the future of Paganism in an
increasingly networked and connected global society?
If you are interested in
contributing to this special issue of The Pomegranate: The International
Journal of Pagan Studies Please, email an abstract (200 – 400 words) to
Heather D. Freeman (heatherfreeman@uncc.edu). Heather D. Freeman is Professor
of Art – Digital Media at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and
Director/Producer of the feature documentary Familiar Shapes: The Story of
Social Bots, Early Modern Witches, and How Information Technologies Reveal Them.
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