From: Joe E. Dees (jdees0@students.uwf.edu)
Date: Sun Aug 09 1998 - 12:55:38 MDT
From: DS666MHz@aol.com
Date sent: Sun, 9 Aug 1998 13:35:47 EDT
To: extropians@extropy.com
Subject: Re: lack of hot Extropian women?
Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
> I didn't feel like copying that entire conversation, and I think you've all
> set it to memory anyway, so this is my thought...
>
> I would have to agree. To my knowledge, I haven't really even met one girl
> who supports the Transhumanist way of thinking. Inversely, the majority of
> girls that I know that DO have a different philosophy are in fact Wiccan.
> This is a philosophy that is more in tune with nature, and very few Wiccans
> have a love for technology. In fact, I haven't met one that does like
> technology, and just about every Wiccan I've met (they've all been girls, by
> the way, though I do know that there are male Wiccans) abhors the basic
> transhumanist idea. Perhaps this says something about the difference in the
> thought patterns of the sexes. I am not a sexist by the way, but it is pretty
> obvious that most men and women think differently. I feel that you will all
> agree with me on this.
Gender and Nature in Contemporary
Neopaganism
By Salamantis
In recent decades, several social and political movements have had
profound impacts upon the popular Western psyche.
Collectively, they pose a powerful challenge to religiously grounded
relational paradigms which until recently have been
accepted almost without question. These movements include the
human rights trio (ethnic/racial civil rights, lesbian/gay
rights and feminism) and environmentalism.
The last two of these, feminism and environmentalism, have been
converging to the degree that a common discipline,
ecofeminism, has been born. Although some affinities exist between
these two and the others, the only solid connection
seems to be the choice by some feminists of lesbianism on
ideological grounds in spite of their personal sexual
preferences. What could the women's rights movement have in
common with the attempt to preserve and protect our
planetary ecology which the homosexual and nonwhite rights
movements do not share? To answer this question, we must
take a look at the paradigm they are all opposing, and in what ways
each of them oppose it.
A.Our Present Paradigm
This paradigm is drawn from the moral laws set down in the holy
texts of the religions comprising mainstream Western
Monotheism. These religions mainly include Judaism, Christianity,
Islam and Zoroastrianism; their texts include the Bible,
the Koran and the Zend Avesta. For purposes of simplicity and
brevity, we shall call this the JCIZ paradigm.
JCIZ postulates a single omniscient, omnipotent and relatively
benevolent male deity (Jahweh, Jehovah, God or Lord,
Allah or Ahura Mazda), who created and populated the world but is
essentially transcendent with respect to it. This deity
is opposed by another somewhat less knowing and powerful,
relatively malevolent male deity (Lucifer, the Devil, Shaitan
or Ahriman), who is also essentially supernatural. These two
opposed forces of good and evil, light and darkness, contend
with each other by intervening in our affairs. Each of us shall spend
eternity with whichever one he or she allies with; in
any case this earth is a temporary inconvenience, unimportant in
the greater order of things. It is in our interest to ally
ourselves with the "good guy", and we know how to do this because
He's thoughtfully sent us a male savior or prophet or
avatar (Moses, Jesus, Mohammed or Zarathustra) to so inform us.
We are now in a position to understand the special affinity between
feminism and environmentalism. Homosexuality is
condemned and slavery condoned in the JCIZ, but if these
tendencies were reversed, it would not compromise the
underpinnings of the theological structure; gay/lesbian rights
identical to those of straights and white/nonwhite equality are
no metaphysical threat to the integrity of the system. The religious
ramifications of feminism and environmentalism,
however, strike it to its very core. By criticizing the consequences of
following the JCIZ, they indict as immoral or unwise
the premises upon which it is based, and do so from the perspective
of an alternative paradigm which derives from many
pagan sources past and present, but which is crystallized in Wicca.
B.Feminism
In the JCIZ, all deities are male, the first human is male, and any
central prophets or saviors are male. In the cosmic play,
women are relegated to the roles of dupe, slave, rebellious whore,
broodmare and submissive saint. Mary Daly's dictum
that if God is male, the male is God has the existential corollary,
within the JCIZ, of reducing females to nothing. In order
to follow God's plan, women must submit to their husbands' rule in
particular, and to male authority in general. Men may
have to attend the school of hard knocks, but women are stuck with
their homework. They are to raise their many children
but not their voices, for fear of getting knocked about themselves.
This excision of the feminine from spiritual significance
and their resulting societal subservience has provoked, within many
contemporary women, a soul alienation of Marxian
proportions. Revolt against the predominance of this divine chain of
being has followed, and the guerillas have not been
exclusively female. Some men have come to feel cramped and
pigeonholed in the role of overseer on the domination
plantation and degraded and ashamed of what is expected of them
there. They have therefore joined the rebellion against
the JCIZ gender hierarchy, agreeing with Martin Luther King that
you can't hold folks down in a ditch unless you climb
down in there with them. As women and men come to the practical
conclusion that only equality of rights, responsibilities
and opportunities works, however, they also tend to come to the
spiritual conclusion that this is true because the sexes
equally approach divinity. This, however, would require deity to be
comprised of masculinity and femininity in equal
measure, which of course directly contradicts the JCIZ.
C.Environmentalism
In the JCIZ, the Creator packed a hostile and bountiful world like a
reluctant lunchbox for fallen humanity (read man) to
suffer, endure, dominate, subdue and exploit for his own benefit.
This divine license for exploitation without regard to
consequences in the name of greed has borne bitter fruit. Because
we have not held our common home in reverence, or
honored her as sacred to us, we have felt free to pollute, pillage,
rape and otherwise profane her. Yet, after fouling our
own nest, we seem surprised to find ourselves surrounded by
human filth, with the blood of extinguished comrade species
crying out inconsolably from the bleak bare ground. We are coming
painfully to the understanding that the earth is our
source and foundation, and that poisoning and impoverishing her
can only hasten our own hollow demise. However, the
grasping of the fact that we are only a part of something much older,
wiser, grander and more complex than ourselves
draws us inexorably to an experience of awe and sublimity in the
presence of the sheer marvel of it. We begin to see
ourselves as tiny threads, which, by some miracle, are able to sense
the weave of a gigantic dancing tapestry (and the
reality is much more wondrous than that). The earth becomes
hallowed for us. But this contradicts the JCIZ premise that it
is transcendent Deity which is holy, not a nature which, compared
to the supernatural, must remain substandard.
D.Forbidden Fruit
Ecological degradation may be divided into natural resource
depletion and biosphere pollution, but both have
overpopulation as a root cause. Overpopulation drives us like
lemmings to mow our global lungs for farmland, lumber
and cattle pasture, sapping species diversity in the process. It drives
us to strip-mine our eroding soil to build
skyscrapers, cars and soda cans. It drives us to burn our fossil
fuels, overheating our atmosphere and decimating our
ozone sunscreen for the sake of light, mobility, plastic containers
and air-conditioned comfort for a small percentage of
our teeming billions. It drives us to turn our over-fished oceans into
toxic cesspools when our rivers bear our pesticides,
factory byproducts and sewage to the seas. Furthermore, the
resulting competition for room and resources on a shrinking
sphere has led our infant race to nurse the barrel of the nuclear gun.
It is ecologically imperative that we control our rate of reproduction
generally, and the fundamental pillar of feminism that
women must have the right to control their own reproduction
individually. To this dovetailing of the calls of personal
freedom and global necessity, the JCIZ responds with an iron
demand frozen for thousands of years in the face of
catastrophically changing circumstances; you must be fruitful and
multiply.
E.Ecofeminism
The realization that birth control is both a feminist and an
environmental issue is one of many pattern matches which
ecofeminists have found. They follow the clue given by the phrase
'Mother Nature' to the conclusion that women and the
earth have both been victimized by the same attitudes of subjection,
rapaciousness, violation, penetration of virgin
territory, stripping, despoiling and defloration. They consider this an
unfortunate result of the separation of the sexes into
godlike, transcendent man and earthy, immanent woman, into man
as mind and woman as body, found in the JCIZ. This
partition, for ecofeminists, is based on the differing positions of the
sexes with regard to childbirth; men observe, women
participate. Women also, like the earth, produce food, and can be
planted with seed when in season; hence the ancient
occurrence of the term 'plowing' for intercourse.
Sexist theological Cartesianism, however, is untenable; the JCIZ's
gender-based spirit/flesh dichotomy has been an
injurious illusion. Self-aware parts of nature are still woven into the
web they perceive. Mind, whether abstract or
concrete, and of either gender, is a bodily based, earthly and
evolutionarily emergent phenomenon.
The main division within ecofeminism is between 'gender' and
'nature' ecofeminists. The 'gender' ecofeminists believe that
male-female relationships are the source of a domination pattern
that is generalized to apply to culture-nature
relationships, and that if we replace it with an egalitarian sexual
partnership pattern, our environmental abuse will stop.
'Nature' ecofeminists believe just the opposite; that replacing the
egocentric, exploitative and uncaring attitudes underlying
environmental abuse with valuing, consequence based stewardship
will repair male-female relationships by osmosis. I
think that the domination pattern is imprinted during child-rearing,
and that to end it, we have to embrace noncoercive
methods of socializing our young.
F.The Challenge of Neopaganism
(1)Neopaganism Generally
The Neopagan alternatives to the JCIZ paradigm trace their roots to
prehistoric Eurasian and African tribal and shamanic
nature religions, and count the Amerindian and Australian aboriginal
traditions as siblings. From them, the Craft (as many
refer to themselves) have taken their reverence for the earth and
their celebration of the more feminine principles of
divinity. They generally create sacred space by casting a circle
(which is the intersection between a sanctified sphere and
the ground), and calling the four directions, which correspond to the
four elements, and to the divisions of a day, a moon
cycle, a year and a lifetime, and much else. Their holy days fall on
the solstices and the equinoxes, on the midpoints
between them (the cross-quarters), and/or on full moons. In
addition, they honor personal rites of passage; such as birth, a
naming of the child (sometimes called wiccaning), puberty, marriage
(known as handfasting), menopause (croning), and
death. Contemporary neopagan groups include the Fellowship of
Isis, Ar n Draiocht Fein (Our Own Druidism), the
Church of all Worlds, Asatru and the Church of the Eternal Source.
(2)Wicca Specifically
All the above is true of Wicca, but when casting their circles most
also call the Earth Mother, Sky Father, and Center, this
last representing both the individual selves of the participants and
the common center they create by joining together. They
also thank and dismiss them when they open their circles upon the
conclusion of their ritual workings.
Wicca follows a gender-complementary immanent duotheism
comprised of a God and a Goddess; for Wicca, deity is
double and non-transcendent. The distinctions between them entail
neither mutual hostility nor the subservience of either
to the other, but instead require the co-presence in dynamic
symmetry of these differing yet equi-primordial principles for
circumstances to proceed. The fundamentalist belief in the actual
existence of these deities is not a prerequisite for
becoming Wiccan. In fact, many, if not most, Wiccans view the
Earth Mother and Sky Father as archetypes in the Jungian
sense, and as lenses through which to apprehend, and grasp in
concrete, human-friendly terms, a totality which is too vast
and ineffable to be circumscribed by finite minds. Wiccans
consider all Goddesses and Gods throughout history as
cultural manifestations of these principles, revel in the diversity of
expression that they find, and borrow whatever they
find that works for them. In this sense, Wicca does not enslave and
use its adherents; rather it is the case that Wicca is
made use of by them, as a spiritual tool with which to focus their
passions and intentions upon the realizations of their
plans and desires. The conceptions and attributes surrounding these
deities are not inscribed for all time in any holy text,
but are flexible, for Wicca is an evolving, pragmatic religion with little
dogmatic baggage. Its central ritual, the Great
Rite, consists of dipping a dagger in a chalice of wine in symbolic
intercourse. The Christian Communion, in contrast, is
symbolic cannibalism.
Wicca has one major law, the Law of Three (any action, whether
well or ill intentioned, is returned to its source
threefold), and one commandment, the Wiccan Rede ('if it harms
none, do what you will'). While these admonishments do
emphasize personal freedom, they link it to personal responsibility,
and the consequences of following them are a strict
self-discipline, since one is expected to strive not to harm oneself,
others, or the biosphere we share. Their more magickal
practices include a Santeria-like invocation of the masculine
principle by the priest and of the feminine principle by the
priestess (the Drawing Down of the Sun or Moon), and Raising the
Cone of Power. This practice involves an entering of
the group into a shamanic state of consciousness, usually by means
of some combination of dancing, chanting and
drumming, preparatory to attempts at divination or spellcasting.
The Earth Mother represents the foundation or substrate of change;
the matter underlying form, the being beneath
becoming. She is omnipresent, although aspects of her may
undergo periodic change. She never dies. The feminine
principle of divinity encompasses the cyclical-intuitive, synthesizing,
fecund-formative, nourishing aspect, with its
emphases on the personal and collective dream worlds, and on
relatedness.
The Sky Father represents the changes of form that must occur in
the life cycle and food chain. He withdraws and returns,
and never lingers. He is the God of the inseparability of hunter and
prey, and of the cycle of vegetation. He is born of the
Mother, grows, flowers and dies, to be reborn of his own seed the
following year. The masculine principle of divinity
encompasses the linear-logical, analyzing, fertilizing aspect, with its
emphases on ego, task and individuality.
A combination of these traits is preferable to either alone, and all
people are considered to have their own particular
ratios of these attribute sets; their own yin-yang or anima-animus
blend.
Modern Wicca publicly began in 1949 when Gerald Gardner
published "High Magic's Aid", a book of Wiccan ritual
disguised as historical fiction. He then, in collaboration with Doreen
Valiente, published "Witchcraft Today" in 1954 and
"The Meaning of Witchcraft" in 1959. Although other Wiccan forms
exist, Gardnerian Wicca and an offshoot
(Alexandrian Wicca, after its founder Alex Sanders) remain the core
Wiccan traditions. Other important Wiccan theorists
include Janet and Stewart Farrar, Starhawk and Z Budapest; other
significant Wiccan organizations include the Covenant
of the Goddess and the Aquarian Tabernacle Church.
G.Wiccan Theo/alogy and the
Foundations of Feminism and Environmentalism
In a religion in which the God and the Goddess are equi-potential
(possess complementary and equal status), gender
equality is mandated rather than forbidden. Freedom of societally
and planetarily responsible choice belongs to all. In a
religion that urges its adherents to love the earth as a mother, rather
than resenting and coveting her as a rich, conquerable
hostile kingdom, children would be raised from birth to treat her with
restraint and respect, and to pass her on to their
children in as pristine a condition as possible. There is, in fact, a
kind of Wiccan Eden myth; a vision of a prehistoric
peaceful eco-friendly agrarian matriarchy which was overthrown by
males banished for violence, who banded together to
conquer and enslave their former society and pillage its lands. This
Edenic vision is more admired than believed. Most
Wiccans desire a 'return' to this Eden, even if humanity has never in
reality been there.
Feminists and environmentalists, particularly ecofeminists and deep
ecologists, share this vision for the future; it is what
they strive for. It is therefore to be expected that many of them
would appropriate a belief system possessing sensibilities
so in harmony with their hopes, goals, desires and dreams. If the
Wiccan Utopia is theirs also, adoption seems eminently
reasonable. In fact, these movements receive both support and
guidance from Wicca, and give both in return.
H.Wicca and Science
Wicca's attitude toward science is one of intense interest and
positive regard, for Wicca's perspective of pragmatic
self-conscious evolution and its anti-dogmatic character resemble
scientific ideals. Science, for Wicca, is attempting to
reveal the underlying nature of immanent divinity, and as such is
performing a sacred service. In addition, Lovelock's
Gaia hypothesis, that the entire biosphere is an evolving, self-
regulating totality, appears to be to Wiccans the beginning of
the confirmation of their ecological suspicions, and the recent
comparisons of gender, brain structure and cognitive style
bolster the validity of their chosen deity attributes. They for the most
part accept that humanity creates divinity in its own
image, and feel flattered that science is indicating that they in
particular are doing it rather well.
I.Difficulties
Wicca's deities form a heterosexual couple, and sex with one's
significant other is regarded as a sacrament. This has
caused gays and lesbians to sometimes feel uneasy with the energy
in the circle. For this reason, some gay men have
formed Faerie circles and some lesbians have embraced Dianic
Wicca. Straight women will also meet in full moon
circles, or esbats, and straight men in wild man groups. Although
there are some differences, for instance in the deity or
deities invoked, the thaumaturgy, or ritual structure, remains similar
throughout. General meetings are held on the sabbats
eight times a year, and networking is constant. Wicca and
Neopaganism remain far more gay-friendly than JCIZ.
Although racial diversity endures as an ideal in Wicca, it is sadly
lacking in reality. This failure to rainbow the Craft is
deeply disturbing to its members. It is almost certain that the reason
for the phenomenon of whitebread Wicca is that, for
racial minorities, the intensity and immediacy of their oppressed
condition drives gender and ecological concerns to the
periphery if their awareness. Also, it only stands to reason that they
would feel uncomfortable participating in ritual as the
token minority, or at best as one of the few. It is very likely that,
despite the best intentions of the other participants, such
an experience serves to reinforce, rather than relieve, the
awkwardness and sense of difference for which racial
minorities would seek religious comfort. Wiccans, having
experienced discrimination themselves on the religious front,
understand these impediments, and continue to remain open and
hopeful.
Lastly, the Wiccan division of deity has inadvertently had the
corollary of evolving lists of masculine and feminine gender
attributes that seem disturbingly similar to those of the JCIZ, only
wrapped in positive-regard packaging. Also, in some
cases, the Wiccan backlash against patriarchy has swung the
pendulum too far in the opposite direction, subjecting men to
the same ridicule and discrimination that the phallocentrists
previously reserved for women. Wiccans must be on guard
that they do not pigeonhole individuals into these archetypes, and
thus descend the slippery slope into the very bigotry and
gender expectations that many have joined Wicca to escape.
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