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Julian Cope presents Head Heritage

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antiquarianism vs archaeology
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Moon Cat
9577 posts

Re: Hutton and stuff!
Oct 25, 2002, 19:44
His book "Triumph of The Moon" is a must for anyone with even the vaguest interest in pagan or neo-pagan stuff. In fact I would say it's all the more important for those thinking of treading that particular path. ( I use the word 'pagan' here kind of generically for want of scrabbling round for a better phrase)
Although in many ways it's primarily a debunker of the modern interpretations of paganism espoused by the Gardnerian and Alexandrian (and the like..) schools of thought, what he does do...and this is important...is strike the balance between the recieved facts and the personal experiences of the pagan folk he encountered in his researches.
Whether it was a diplomacy of sorts or what, far from ridiculing and poo pooing some of the modern pagan ideas, he admires the adaption and strength of beliefs that some of the modern pagans have "inherited". He kind of takes the view that the peoples experiences he came across were prefectly "valid" and "real" for them and should be accorded a similar respect you'd would expect given to ones own belief systems.
I absolutley agree that there is a huge industry of new age clap trap caught up in all this and that's unfortunate. However I guess that's nothing new. There's always been money made and commercial angles taken on any belief. You ever seen some of the tat in a hard core catholic house? It's like walking into a Woolworths for Jesus.
It's a pretty good read if you're into that sort of thing.

As to the whole sun and moon thing going on here. In my readings there's usually been a sun/male, moon/female aspect to pagan beliefs, as well as the notion of and earth/mother. It's this male/female sun moon stuff that informs the notion of balance and harmony prevalent in many modern interpretations of "Pagan" ideas. Thing is this whole interpretation thing can round and round like a record baby...hmmm round

Anyhoo...what with all the ground rumblin' n' tremors going on up here at the moment, I'm givin the gods, old, new and in a shop near you, loads of respect at the moment ;-)
In reply to:
Re: New Age Bollocks (Rhiannon)
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