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.
