New Publication: "Modern Religious Druidry: Studies in Paganism, Celtic Identity, and Nature Spirituality"

When it comes to the academic study of modern Paganism, considerable attention has been given to Wicca and related forms of modern Pagan witchcraft over the years. Several monographs and edited volumes have also looked at Heathenry, the Goddess Movement, and Pagan forms of modern Shamanism. In contrast, comparatively little research has been directed towards modern religious Druidry – this despite the fact that Druids are one of the largest groups active within the modern Pagan milieu. 

In an attempt to do something about this scholarly omission, around 2016 I decided – in tandem with the Druid-cum-anthropologist Jonathan Woolley – to assemble academics working in this area to produce the first scholarly edited volume devoted exclusively to the modern Druids. Finally, almost a decade on, our efforts have paid off. Palgrave Macmillan have just brought out our edited volume, Modern Religious Druidry: Studies in Paganism, Celtic Identity, and Nature Spirituality, as part of their Palgrave Studies in New Religions and Alternative Spiritualities series.

As well as being lucky enough to have a great international roster of scholars contributing to Modern Religious Druidry, we have also been honoured by a foreword from Ronald Hutton and an afterword from Graham Harvey. Chapters have been written by myself, Jonathan Woolley, Adam Anczyk, Thorsten Gieser, Andy Letcher, Jenny Butler, Kimberly Kirner, Nicolas Boissière, Carole M. Cusack, and Suzanne Owen. Topics covered include the use of psychedelic drugs among (a minority of) Druids, how Druids reinterpret the notion of sacrifice to exclude Iron Age concepts of blood-spilling, and the ways in which practitioners develop their ecological knowledge in environments far from Northwest Europe.

We hope that the book will be of utility not only to those actively interested in modern Druidry and modern Paganism more widely, but also people researching the place of Celtic identity in the modern world and/or the concept of nature spirituality. Like many academic volumes, Modern Religious Druidry is certainly not cheap, but hopefully individuals with institutional affiliations can ask their libraries to order in a copy, or otherwise keep an eye out for one of Palgrave Macmillan’s sales.

New Podcast: "Satan Shoes" over at Magic in the United States

Podcasts have become increasingly popular over the past few years and there are a number of really good ones out there. One of these is Heather Freeman’s “Magic in the United States” podcast, which has just completed its second season, with a third in the pipeline. As well as being consulted on an episode devoted to a Wiccan group called the Minoan Brotherhood, I was also invited to appear as a talking head on the series’ latest instalment, “Satan Shoes,” which looks at the growth of modern religious Satanism and the subsequent Satanic Panic in the United States. If this sounds like something of interest, please do check it out: https://www.magicintheunitedstates.com/s2e6.

I’ve also appeared on a few other podcasts over the past few years. I particularly enjoyed my appearance over at the Bureau of Lost Culture last summer, where I talked to Stephen Coates about the rise of modern Paganism. Take a look: https://bureauoflostculture.podbean.com/e/a-short-history-of-the-pagan/.

New Publication: "The New Witches of the West: Tradition, Liberation, and Power"

I just wanted to post a quick update to alert readers to my latest publication, The New Witches of the West: Tradition, Liberation, and Power. This short academic book is part of Cambridge University Press’ Elements in New Religious Movements series, edited by scholar Rebecca Moore, who kindly invited me to contribute. The book discusses why practitioners of various different new religions active in modern Western societies have embraced the witch as a self-identity, drawing on examples including Wicca, ‘traditional witchcraft’, LaVeyan Satanism, and African diasporic traditions like Hoodoo. To my knowledge, this is the first monograph-length academic study to really deal with these varied forms of modern religious witchcraft in tandem.

The book is available as a free download from the publisher’s website until 23rd February 2024 (here). Print copies, both in paperback and hardback, should also be available soon.

Pagans, Dressed Trees, and the Green Man: My 2022 and 2023 Roundup

Following on from my round-ups of 2019 and 2020–21, it’s probably time to share a brief overview of what I’ve been up to in 2022 and 2023. My publication output has been a little reduced compared with previous years, largely because I’ve been focusing primarily on several larger, book-length studies that will hopefully see the light of day in a few years time, but I have still tried to keep up with publications for both academic and general audiences.

Probably my most prominent publication of 2023 has been Pagans: The Visual Culture of Pagan Myths, Legends and Rituals, a richly-illustrated work published as part of Thames and Hudson’s ongoing series on different religious traditions. As well as the original English language edition, there are also translations available in French, Spanish, and Korean, with a Japanese translation in the works. This was the first time that I had written a book for a general audience, and while doing so has its challenges (it is a more collaborative process than academic writing, for instance), I really hope that Pagans finds a welcome readership. Thankfully, reviewers have tended to like it.

I’ve also had a few academic publications out. My abiding interest in the Green Man resulted in an article in a special issue of the Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and Culture – “A New God for a New Paganism: The Green Man in the Modern Pagan Milieu.” There has been a growing interest in the Green Man figure in recent years, but I think few people realise the extent to which the character’s promotion has been interwoven with modern Pagan subcultures. My interest in human interactions with plant life can also be seen in a recent book chapter, “Bedecked in Ribbons and Bows: Dressed Trees as Markers of Heritage, Hope, and Faith in the Landscapes of Southern England.” This has been published as part of Rachael Ironside and Jack Hunter’s edited volume Folklore, People and Place: International Perspectives on Tourism and Tradition in Storied Places. While Routledge hardcovers certainly aren’t cheap, we can hope for a paperback edition at some point in future.

Again writing for a more general audience, I was invited to produce a series of articles for Encyclopædia Britannica, helping them to update their coverage of culturally alternative religions. To that end, my contributions have included new articles on Paganism, Modern Paganism, Wicca, Heathenry, and Satanism, with several further entries also being due in the coming months. In addition, I have continued working with the World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP), not only as their Lead Director for interviews, but also in providing an in-depth entry on the prolific New Age author (and subsequent Evangelical convert) Doreen Virtue, a figure who has been surprisingly overlooked by previous academic writing.

Of course, I have also continued my book reviewing, doing so for journals including Folklore, Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, Time and Mind: The Journal of Archaeology, Consciousness and Culture, and the American Academy of Religion’s Reading Religion website. Topics covered in these reviews include the esoteric artist Pamela Colman Smith, the boggart lore of northern England, and the place of psychic science in American history.