Paganism and Bad Writing: The Wisdom of Moonbeyme Skydancyer

Just recently an American Pagan of my acquaintance decided to write an article for the Witchvox website, which publishes essays on Wiccan and Pagan themes. She had become so appalled by the sheer volume of lousy writing that she deliberately set out to write a spoof essay, riddled with laughable ideas and ridiculous historical claims. She was curious to see if it would get published.

The result was Seeing the Fey: Feyrey Watching by that great Pagan author, Moonbeyme Skydancyer. I think we should all take a moment to appreciate the wisdom of Ms Skydancyer.

Now, some of you may be wondering at the use of the word “feyrey” as opposed to the more commonly used, “Fairy” or even, in the Wiccan community, “Faery”. I first came across the spelling when I started training with my coven in the Elusini tradition. The high-priestess has in her possession letters (which I can verify) from the late nineteenth century, exchanged between a one Charles LeDubois and someone who is only referred to as “Telone”.

Naturally, of course, there is no 'Elusini' tradition of witchcraft. Or Charles LeDubois, let alone any correspondence between him and 'Telone'. All of these are simply made-up names. However, Moonbeyme Skydancyer warns against scepticism.

I fully admit that many people have called me insane for seeing Fey, or dwarves, or claiming to befriend the unicorn in the park near my house, but I have friends who have independently verified my powers, some of whom I have helped to see these things as well, so I seriously doubt it is all in my mind or some form of “mass hallucination."

After all, who can doubt the word of a girl who's friends with the local unicorn? If you want to read her article in full, you can do so, because Witchvox went right ahead and published it. Look, here it is! You can read all about the way to invoke the Fey, and their preference for shiny objects, and for butter over margarine.

The joke is very reminiscent of the notorious “Sokal Affair”, when the physicist Alan Sokal published an article in the cultural studies journal Social Text in 1996. Sokal's article was a post-modern analysis of quantum physics, and claimed that quantum theory vindicated the literary theories of Lacan and Derrida. As with Moonbeyme Skydancyer, the article was a hoax, and was deliberately strewn with errors that would have been spotted by any first year physics student. Sokal claimed afterwards that he had created the spoof in order to highlight the lack of intellectual rigour in post-modern literary theory.

Both Sokal and Skydancyer highlight areas in which, if you write in a certain style and flatter the right prejudices, you can get any old drivel published. For one; postmodernism. For the other; Paganism. But joking aside, Ms Skydancyer does illustrate a trend in Paganism that keeps cropping up again and again. So-called “historians” with an allergy to proper research and a PhD from the University of Wishful Thinking, claiming authority they can't verify, declaring themselves to be part of a spurious 'tradition' and mangling history for their own ends. Whether it's the early modern witch trials, or Ancient Egypt, or the pre-Christian druids, or even the origins of bellydancing, somebody will shoehorn in a spurious lineage and an unprovable claim about some primordial matriarchal religion. For a really impressive piece of originality, one author has even claimed the history of beekeeping as a hidden shamanic tradition.

All of which really doesn't do anything for Paganism's credibility as a spiritual path. A while back I paid good money to attend a Wicca convention and hear a very prominent Wiccan give a lecture on “Isis: Goddess of 10,000 Names.” Unfortunately I went along with a friend who was something of an expert on the subject of Ancient Egyptian religion. Halfway through the lecture I glanced across to see him slumped, head in his hands, appalled as she repeated howling historical error after howling historical error.

In all fairness to Paganism, at least some Pagan authors have tried to redress the balance with more historically rigorous analyses. Ron Hutton deserves an honourable mention in this regard. On a rank-and-file basis, I tend to get the impression (through my highly scientific social science research method of going down to the pub and chatting with Pagans over a pint) that less and less Pagans seem willing to believe the perpetual guff about secret lineages and original matriarchal societies. I can only regard this as a good thing. A little self-awareness and self-criticism can go a long way.

After all, why does a path even have to demonstrate a “lineage” to be worthwhile? If you're a Chaos Magickian, any ritual or pathworking, if invested with sufficient belief, is likely to be effective, no matter how ridiculous its premise. So you can justifiably conduct rituals to the pre-Christian mother goddess, or to characters from Star Trek, or for that matter, to your washing machine.  Come to think of it, you could even get started on trying to summon up the Fey. All Hail Moonbeyme Skydancyer!

Comments/criticisms to zarathustraspake@yahoo.com

The author would like to gratefully acknowledge the support, assistance and spiritual guidance of Moonbeyme Skydancyer in preparing this article. May her name be exalted among the Feyrey.