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TWPT: For
those of our readers who may not be familiar with you
or your writings could you give us some background on
yourself and how you came to write Pagan books?
SR: My first awareness of "pagans"
was while my family was living in Arizona. In 1971 I
had a Wiccan and a neo-Satanist in my creative writing
class, and boy, was I ever confused! "A
witch and a Satanist...what sort of weird city have
we MOVED TO?" thought I!
That's where I came in contact with my first coven
- a sort of Gardnerian/Alexandrian mix, which met in
a local park. I studied with them for about a
year but didn't ask for initiation at that time. Like
many others, I went on a search for a spirituality which
fit me personally, since I was having more and more
problems with the religion of my ancestors (Judaism).
When I was 16, I had a death experience which profoundly
changed my world. Without going into too many specifics,
I can attest to the fact that the Presence which was
waiting for me on the other side was FEMALE, and not
the God of my ancestors. I'd have to say that's
when my Path shifted away from the monotheism of Judaism.
I did my M.A. in Ontario, Canada, at Carleton University,
on witches and neo-Pagans in Canada: who they are, what
they mean when they say "I'm a witch", or
"I'm a Wiccan", etc. It was hailed as
a ground-breaking piece of religious ethnography by
my examiners, studying in particular the fact that nearly
all my respondents had experienced either a major trauma,
or systematic abuse, since their childhood days. Wicca
attracts many wounded souls because it is one of the
few spiritualities which recognizes the Divine in each
of us ("Thou art God/dess").
I sort of fell into writing books on Paganism in
part because of my academic penchant (writing and researching)
and also as a colleague (Jim Lewis) was up against a
short deadline for a contract. This lead to "The
Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism",
a book I'm quite proud of (Citadel Press, 2002, 2004).
We did away with a million rehashings of witch
hunts in the reformation, and instead filled the book
with engaging articles such as the growth of Paganism
in the former Soviet Union, comparing and contrasting
neo-Paganism and neo-Satanism, etc.
TWPT:
Your latest book is called An Ye Harm None and
subtitled Magical Morality and Modern Ethics. This book
sounds like it digs under the surface of what Wicca
is about. When you were considering this topic as a
book length treatise what was your starting point for
considering the morality and the ethics of Wicca?
SR: One of my colleagues at the
University of Ottawa (where I currently teach), Lucie
DuFresne, was discussing the fact that after about the
age of 30, most pagans buy very few books. The
fact is that most of the books out there are basic texts,
and how many of them does one REALLY NEED to own?
So Meredith Macdonald, my co-author, and I discussed
what sort of book would we as pagan ADULTS, like to
see on the shelves? Well that's how we wrote about
Pagan Ethics and Morals. Grown-up stuff, as it
were.
TWPT:
Another question that comes to mind when dealing
with a community of such diversity is, is there enough
common ground for there to be an effective foundation
for morality and ethics that will be work between traditions
and belief structures?
SR: What we did was pretty textbook
anthropology actually: take the comments the community
itself makes about its world, and then look for the
imbedded world-view this expresses. So, we took
standard statements such as "An ye harm none, do
what ye will", "Magic is Alive, Goddess is
Afoot", or "Thou art God/dess". We
looked at what the witch says this means to him/her,
and then we looked at what sort of universe would contain
these aphorisms.
There is a myriad of statements imbedded in pagan
statements: a world where magic is a real force; where
the environment is important as it is "our mother";
where spirit is imbedded in all living things; where
all life in the world is equal and not on some hierarchical
pyramid structure. Most pagans I've met, and who
Meredith have met, do stick to the six or eight statements
which we used to construct our book.
TWPT:
In your book you touch on
a variety of ethical/moral topics including how we as
Wiccans relate to the environment, our relationships,
our children, money and community to name a few. Do
you see a good foundation already in place within the
Wiccan/Pagan community in regards to ethics and morality
or is there a void that currently exists between
idea and practice?
SR: I find personally that many Wiccan/Pagans default
to decisions which are "easy" or "familiar",
and do not challenge their choices. We live in
what is still primarily a Christian world, with a Christian
worldview espoused, and what is a good or correct choice
of action for a Christian may not necessarily be correct
for a Pagan or Wiccan. Because we have no
dogma or creed, it is harder to teach a young Witch
how to assess their lifestyle in a Pagan manner. This
is one reason why we wrote this book: not as a scripture,
not as a rulebook, but as guidelines to challenge our
decisions.
TWPT:
Is there an experience level in the reader (beginner,
intermediate, advanced) that you had in mind for understanding
the ideas and concepts of this book?
SR: I'd say we were thinking
for intermediate readers to embrace the ideas, and advanced
readers to perhaps use the book as a backbone for their
classes on living an ethical pagan lifestyle. Ideally
the book is to challenge the reader to think deeply
about all the choices we make.
TWPT:
You actually co-wrote this book with Meredith
Macdonald. How did the two of you work together and
share your ideas and concepts as to the direction this
book should take? Do you find this more of a challenge
than if you were working on your own and directing the
project yourself?
SR: Actually Meredith and I have
known each other for some years, and it was an easy
pairing for us. She's got more knowledge than
I do about money issues and children, and I have a stronger
background in community and culture. We brainstormed
about what we thought should be in the book, and then
divvied up the writing based on our personal specializations
and interests.
TWPT:
It seems like there are almost an unlimited amount
of choices that we have to make each and every day in
regards to how we should live ethically in our world
how is a Wiccan supposed to put these ideas and concepts
into a framework that will be practical in their day
to day experience in the world?
SR: I think it will become second
nature as we start to consciously embrace the subconscious
worldview we embrace when we self-identify as Pagans
and Wiccans. The first time it might be hard to
look at a shirt and decide if it is "paganly"
ethical to buy it (material, sweat shop, cost to value,
etc. etc.), but as people recognize WHY they choose
some of the things they choose, I believe it will become
a much easier task to live an ethical Pagan lifestyle.
TWPT:
How much research goes into making a book like
this happen and how is it that you know that you have
enough understanding of an issue to be able to communicate
it effectively?
SR: Some if it was definitely
harder to write than others. Meredith is very
financially savvy and I had to keep stopping her while
she wrote and say "OK: I don't know what that MEANS.
Explain it to me as you would explain it to your
kid." So we had to spell things out which
might have been "clear" to us. Between
us we've been involved in the Craft for about 50 years,
so we have a lot of experience to draw on as well. And
then there was a lot of research to back up what we
would say: I learnt a LOT about fabric fabrication and
construction by working on this book, let me tell you!
TWPT:
As an author does each successive book that you
write become easier because of the experience that you
gained from the previous books?
SR: Only slightly. I have
the huge advantage of having been a professional journalist
for about 15 years of my life before returning to university
for graduate work, so I write quickly and in a very
conversational tone of "voice". (It
causes me trouble as an academic, because I don't use
enough "high falutin' words" when I write.)
Ideally I'd like to be writing books on enough
diverse topics related to paganism that it won't become
too easy.
TWPT:
Did the writing of An Ye Harm None give you pause
to reevaluate any of your own ideas as to the
practical application of ethics and morality in your
own life?
SR: Not really, thankfully. I
make the decisions I do about my life based on what
I can financially afford, what I can ethically afford,
and what I feel I must do. I have chosen to work
my volunteer time with the Red Cross as I find this
a very nurturing organization with many values in keeping
with my own, for example.
TWPT:
The proof of the pudding is in the tasting as
they say so what kind of feedback have you been
receiving from readers and reviewers about An Ye Harm
None?
SR: It's only been on the shelves
since just before Yule, but we're receiving magnificent
feedback so far. The reviews on amazon.com have
been positive, and I've even received emails from total
strangers who may be on the same e-list as I am, telling
me how much they're enjoying the book. It's been
selling like hotcakes at every book signing I've done
as well, so I think we really did find a niche which
needed to be filled with this book.
TWPT:
At the very least is there a main point that you
would like a reader to walk away from An Ye Harm None
with? How would you like to see readers use your book
in creating their own ethical and moral response to
the Wiccan path?
SR: I guess if I had to highlight
one main point, it would be "THINK!". For
those who are poor pagans, they need to respect the
fact that their choices might not be the best for the
environment but they are the best ones FOR THEM at this
time. Some folks can make small changes in how
they live, such as buying their coffee from fair trade
vendors, or buy one pound out of four from a fair trade
vendor at least.
Ideally I'd like to see readers use our book as a
springboard to their own ethical framework. It
doesn't have to agree with what Meredith and I have
to say, as long as it's well thought out and agrees
with what that individual feels is their pagan path.
That's why we pose questions at the end of the
chapters, rather than giving rules.
TWPT:
Are you going to be out on the road promoting
this book during 2005? Where might readers meet you
or attend a conference that you will be teaching at
during the coming year?
SR: At the moment I haven't been
contacted except by the Toronto Pagan Conference (which
will be held early in February of 06) as a guest author.
I believe there will also be some sort of pagan gathering
around November of this year in Ottawa which I will
be at, and I'll be at Gaia Gathering (Edmonton, Alberta)
this mid-May giving a paper on paganism from the academic
angle as well as selling and signing copies of the books.
I'm certainly open to any additional festivals
or conferences which might want to bring me in as a
guest. I've traditionally not been much into the
pagan festival/conference circuit.
TWPT:
Most interviewers usually miss something that
the author would like to talk about so I like to throw
in a catch all question at the end like this. Is there
anything else about the creation of or hopes for your
new book that you would like to bring out to our readers?
SR: Not too much actually. I'm
an academic, a writer, a poet and musician (I've performed
my pagan works only once, at a Starwood forever and
a day ago, in Ohio). I have a pretty good idea
for a new book and I've been doing the research on it
for about the last six months: it'll have to do with
a very simple spell system which I've never seen anyone
write about so far. But I don't want to let the
cat too far out of that bag, so let us say that I have
more ideas still to come.
TWPT:
Well thanks for taking the time to answer a few
questions about your new book An Ye Harm None and I
wish you a lot of success with this title.
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