Gothic Life

October is a magical time. It’s a time when the veil between the world of the living and the dead begins to thin, allowing us greater opportunity to connect with friends and loved ones who have passed beyond to the Otherworld. It’s also a time when society gears up to celebrate Halloween with its dark themes and spooky entertainment. Those of us with a preference for dark aesthetics and the macabre feel at home during this month.

A fantastic new book has been published just in time for this spooky season. Gothic Life: The Essential Guide to Macabre Style by Aurelio Voltaire. 

 

Aurelio Voltaire is a talented Dark Cabaret musician, and host of the YouTube show Gothic Homemaking. His YouTube series earned him the nickname “Martha Stewart for Macabre Homemakers” by the New York Times.

Gothic Life is full of wonderful ideas on how to turn your home or apartment into a gothic lair. You'll learn the best color pallets for a dark aesthetics as well as cool DIY projects. Plus, fun party hosting tips for Halloween or any gothic event.

It’s important to note that Voltaire includes more than just tips on home decor. For example, he gives some important piece of advice for those concerned about what others might think if one chooses to dress in a dark or gothic aesthetic, 

“Know that you have the right to be whoever you want to be. Furthermore, you are not bothering anyone by looking interesting or unique and by living your authentic self. If people have a problem with that, it’s their problem, not yours.”(Page 25)

In these few sentences, Voltaire has captured one of the core beliefs of Dark Paganism. I couldn’t have said it better myself (the gods know that I’ve tried.)

I highly recommend Gothic Life: The Essential Guide to Macabre Style. Also, check out his series Gothic Homemaking on his YouTube channel, The Lair of Voltaire. Click here to visit Aurelio Voltaire’s homepage.

Agatha All Along

This is a great time for movies and television shows about magic, sorcery, and witchcraft. Some great movies are Witches of Eastwick, The Craft, and Doctor Strange. Not to mention excellent television series such as Charmed, The Chilling Tales of Sabrina, and WandaVision, just to name a few. 

We now have a new great witch-themed miniseries titled Agatha All Along.

 

Agatha All Along is a sequel to the Disney + series WandaVision, with a nod to the movie Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. Those who haven’t seen either might be a little lost at times since it does take place within the Marvel Cinematic Universe or MCU. Therefore, while watching WandaVision and Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness is unnecessary, it can help. 

Although it’s part of the MCU, Agatha All Along isn’t a superhero series. The new miniseries takes place three years after the end of the miniseries WandaVision. Over the last three years, the witch Agatha Harkness had been trapped by a spell from the Scarlet Witch in Westview, New Jersey. In the first episode, Agatha escapes with the help of a goth teen (whom she simply calls Teen because a spell prevents him from saying his name) who wishes to face the trials of the legendary Witches’ Road. Without her magical powers, the two of them form a new coven of witches for their quest.

The new series is a loving tribute to witchcraft. The climactic scene in episode two, where the witches sing the Ballard of the Witches Road while the very frightening Salem Seven assault the house, sent chills up my spine. Not only was the scene scary, but the song was also powerful. Plus, the witchy aesthetics of the ending titles are so good.

The acting is excellent. Kathryn Hahn is a delight. She can alternate from humorous smart-mouth sarcasm to scary and threatening spookiness in a flash. Another great actor in the miniseries is the fantastic Aubrey Plaza.

Agatha All Along is already one of my favorite magic-witchcraft series. I highly recommend it.

Agatha All Along is streaming now on Disney +.

Lilith

Recently I ordered a calendar with artwork of what the publishing house called “Dark Goddesses.” I thought the artwork was nice, and I liked the theme. I showed my wife the ad (after I had placed my order), and she noticed that one of the illustrations was of a goddess named “Lilith.” She said, “But Lilith isn’t a goddess.” 

Her comment got me thinking. Who is Lilith, and is Lilith really a goddess?

Note: The book Gods, Demons, and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia by the scholars Jeremy Black and Anthony Green is my primary source in this post for the demonology of Sumer and Babylonia.

Lilith and Sumerian Demons

Before we study Lilith, we need to understand the Sumerian and Babylonian concepts of demons. The Mesopotamian people saw demons differently than we do. They believed that demons are complex and some are benevolent while still demonic.

One example is the demon Pazuzu. While Pazuzu is a demon, he protects people from pestilent winds. He also protects pregnant women. Therefore, there were numerous amulets of Pazuzu for protection. Interestingly, Black and Green describes Pazuzu as a “demonic god.” 

Another interesting example is the demon Lamastu, who is a threat to pregnant women and infants. Black and Green describes Her as “a type of goddess” (pages 115-116) in that, although a demon, Her name in cuneiform is written in a manner for a goddess. Also, like goddesses, She has her own sacred animal (a donkey) and a boat that She uses to travel through the Underworld. In addition, unlike most demons who are limited to acting upon orders of gods, Lamastu has Her own agency and can act on Her own.

The Mesopotamian demon lilitu is central to the story of Lilith. According to Black and Green, the lilitu “are a family of a sort of demon. They are not gods.” These demons, which can be male or female, roams the desert and are threats to pregnant women and infants. (page 118).

Lilith of Myth and Folklore

Today, when people think of Lilith, we usually think of the Hebrew variant of the lilitu. In some translations of the Hebrew text Isaiah 34.14, the name “Lilith” is used, while “demon” or “night-hag” is used in others. As a demon, Lilith appears in various other ancient Jewish sources, such as the Dead Sea scrolls and Rabbinic writings. Like the Mesopotamian lilitu, the Hebrew Lilith resides in the desert and is a threat primarily to women and infants. 

The most famous Hebrew story of Lilith is that she was Adam’s first wife before Eve. In this story, Lilith was created from the Earth like Adam and was to be his equal. However, she considered herself more than equal to Adam and insisted on having sex on top rather than in the missionary position. When Adam refused, she became frustrated and flew out of the Garden in a rage. Lilith then swore that she would forever kill the children of Adam.

It’s important to note that this story isn’t old and is not in the Bible. The oldest recording of this story is found in the Alphabet of Ben Sira, which dates between 700 – 1000 C.E. A similar story is found in the 13th century C.E. Jewish work Zohar in which Lilith is described as “a hot fiery female who first cohabited with man.” 

There are many other stories of Lilith. A very different story is in the Gnostic-esque Treatise on the Left Emanation, another 13th-century C.E. work in which Lilith was created as one androgynous being with Samael. In this story, not only were Lilith and Samael a singular androgynous being but so were Adam and Eve. 

Lilith Reimagined

It was during the 19th-century Romantic period that we begin to see a reimagining of Lilith. In the 1883 poem Adam, Lilith, and Eve, Victorian poet Robert Browning portrayed Lilith and Eve as friends. Eve admits she never loved Adam, while Lilith says she always had. Nowhere in the poem does he describe Lilith as a demon. In addition, Charles Leland (famous for his book Aradia: Goddess of the Witches) associated Aradia with Lilith.

Lilith became a symbol of modern feminism in the early 1970s. In 1972, the Jewish Feminist Theologian Judith Plaskow wrote The Coming of Lilith. In her story, Lilith is portrayed not as a demon but as a wronged woman who was slandered by Adam and who struggles against sexism and misogyny. 

The reimagined Lilith as a feminist icon is still popular today. It sparked the short-lived music festival Lilith Fair and the still-running magazine Lilith. These, along with numerous film and television productions. 

Lilith Deified

It’s with modern Western Esotericism that Lilith achieved deification. Late 19th and early 20th-century magical orders venerated Lilith and incorporated Her into their rituals. Some early occult writers expressed special reverence for Lilith. Aleister Crowley, for example, included “Lilith” in the many middle names of his first child. 

Several Wiccan elders dramatically reimagined Lilith and turned Her into a goddess. Gerald Gardner claimed that Lilith had been continuously worshiped from ancient times. Another influential Neopagan elder, Raymond Buckland, held that Lilith is a dark moon goddess and equated Her with the Hindu goddess Kali. 

Lilith is popular today among many of the Left-Hand Path (LHP). Of course, there’s a wide variety of views among LHP practitioners about Lilith. Some see Her as a goddess. Some see Her as married to Satan. She’s a mother goddess to some and a sex goddess to others. 

Lilith Conclusion 

There is nothing that I have read to support Leland’s and Gardner’s claim that Lilith has been worshiped since antiquity under any name.

However, while there's no evidence that Lilith was worshiped by ancients, since Lilith is part of the larger Near Eastern culture, it would help to consider their ideas about demons. As we have seen, Mesopotamian demons are much more complex than those in the Abrahamic worldview. We see this in the entities of Pazuzu and Lamastu, who blur the lines between gods and the demons.

Lilith has been reimagined numerous times over the eons. She’s gone from a Near Eastern demon to Adam’s first wife to a feminist icon. When one considers our knowledge of Mesopotamian beliefs about demons and demonic gods, it’s perfectly realistic to consider the possibility of Lilith’s newest incarnation as a goddess.

Regency

My wife and I help care for the local community cats. We and our neighbors provide the cats with food, water, and shelter. We also work with our city to have them spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and get them health care when needed.

Indeed, there are perks to caring for the cats. While some are feral and standoffish, others are loving and allow us the honor of petting them. In some ways, it’s become our own cat café. We’ve even given the cats names.

However, it’s not all fun and games. Providing food, water, and shelter isn’t always enough. Sometimes, we can catch the sick ones for treatment; other times, they elude us. Recently, one became pregnant before we could catch her to have her fixed. This isn’t surprising since many aren’t spayed or neutered.

We have accepted regency for the cats.

In the book Pagan Consent Culture, Druid priest John Beckett wrote about the concept of regency in the context of personal sovereignty. He borrowed from the traditions of Irish kings having the right to rule as long as it’s done justly and fairly. Beckett applies this tradition to individuals who have the right to rule themselves in a way they deem fit.

However, there are exceptions to self-rule. Beckett gives the example of young children who cannot exercise their personal sovereignty. Because of this, parents are responsible for properly caring for their young children. He calls this adult responsibility ‘regency.’

We can expand this to say that we also have regency for non-human animals. This regency isn’t because of the Hebrew creation myth of humans being given dominion. Instead, our regency comes from our relationship with the natural world.

While we might not notice it in our urban living, our existence is tied to the natural world. Nature gives us the food that we eat, the water we drink, and the air that we breathe. We evolved in the natural world. Our fates are one with the Earth and with all other living things. 

However, we’re different from other animals. We crafty apes have broken the natural relations we once had with the Earth and Her inhabitants. The Earth has a fever caused by human-created global warming, which results in climate change. Human activity is causing a mass extinction on a vast scale. And we’ve taken entire species and bred them into something that sometimes barely resembles their ancestors.

This brings me back to the community cats. Domestic cats have a special relationship with humans. While genetically closer to their wild ancestors than dogs are to theirs, cats have been integrated into the human world. Whether in the distant past they chose us or we chose them, humans have regency over the domestic cat.  

Each of us must individually choose whether or not to act upon our regency. There is no divine or universal mandate for us to do so. It’s a choice we each make.

We have made our choice. Our care for the community cats shows that we’ve accepted our regency.

I encourage you to do the same. 

A Maniac God

I’ve been a big fan of Stephen Fry since I first saw him in the mid-80s when my local PBS affiliate broadcasted the BBC comedy Blackadder. Fry has gone on to do so much more. He’s appeared in the hilarious comedy Jeeves and Wooster, in the theater, and in numerous films. Not to mention his fantastic books, such as Mythos and Heroes, which are wonderful retellings of Greek myths and stories. 

Stephen Fry isn’t hesitant to speak his mind. Sometimes, his opinions have ruffled a few feathers. Some of his most controversial opinions were expressed in 2015 on RTÉ, Ireland’s National Television and Radio Broadcaster. In the interview, Gay Byrne asked Fry what he would say if he came face to face with God in Heaven. Fry’s response is powerful: 

“Bone cancer in children: what’s that about? How dare you? How dare you create a world where there is such misery that’s not our fault? It’s utterly, utterly evil. Why should I respect a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world which is so full of injustice and pain?”

While Fry describes himself as an atheist, he explains why the gods of polytheism don’t share the same problem as the Abrahamic concept of God:

“If I died and it was, it was Pluto-Hades, and if it was the 12 Greek gods, then I would have more truck with it. Because the Greeks, were, they didn’t pretend not to be human in their appetites and in their capriciousness and in their unreasonableness. They didn’t present themselves as being all-seeing, all-wise, all-kind, all-beneficent. Because the God who created this universe, if it was created by God, is quite clearly a maniac, utter maniac, totally selfish maniac, totally selfish, totally. We have to spend our life on our knees thanking him; what kind of God would do that?”

Worry

These are worrisome times. 

There are numerous worldwide issues causing anxiety. Wars in Europe and the Middle East. Concern about international conflicts spinning out of control. The effects of climate change. The renewed political power of bigotry and the threat of authoritarianism.

It’s not limited to just global concerns but also domestic. Low unemployment numbers mask the problem that many people need more than one job to make ends meet. The cost of rent is skyrocketing, while it’s more difficult to acquire a mortgage due to interest rates. Inflation has dropped, but the cost of key products, such as food, remains high. There’s a sense that crime has become dramatically worse. There’s also concern about the impact of advances in AI and robotics on jobs in the near term and existential dread in the future.

 

For some, anxiety rises to the point that it interferes with the quality of life. It may even lead to thoughts of self-harm or suicide. If this is true for you or someone you know, there is help. Consider talking with your primary physician. In the US, the National Suicide Hotline is 988. Also, some organizations may be able to help. I recommend the following source for hotlines.

However, for many, anxiety doesn’t rise to the point of the need for professional help. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t address it. There are a variety of steps one can take. Healthline.com has several recommendations: getting more physical activity, eating a balanced diet, minimizing phone use and screen time, and more. 

As a Dark Pagan, I recommend additional steps.

There are several schools of thought in Western philosophy that can help. Stoicism is a powerful tool for handling stress and anxiety. I highly recommend the book Stoicism For Inner Peace: Ancient Philosophy for Everyday Life by Einzelganger. I also find the school of Epicurus to be very helpful. Unfortunately, most of the stuff written about his views are rather academic. I recommend the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy website for a good summary. 

If Eastern philosophy is more your speed, I recommend Taoism. Taoism teaches us to live within the flow of life. It embodies its philosophy through practices such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, and acupuncture. There are a lot of books and resources about Taoism. For the purpose of this topic, I recommend The Tao of Inner Peace by Diane Dreher.

Finally, there’s magick. This includes theurgy (or religious magic), such as prayers and offerings to gods, spirits, and ancestors. There’s also thaumaturgy, which includes spell casting, divination, and more.  

Self-love is one of the Nine Dark Pagan principles. Take care of yourself.

Hanging Together

I recently joined an organization that I’ve known of for a while. I’ve long been impressed by its charitable work and advocacy. In addition, I knew their fundamental tenets fit well with Dark Paganism:

I One should strive to act with compassion and empathy toward all creatures in accordance with reason. 

II The struggle for justice is an ongoing and necessary pursuit that should prevail over laws and institutions.

III One’s body is inviolable, subject to one’s own will alone.

IV The freedoms of others should be respected, including the freedom to offend. To willfully and unjustly encroach upon the freedoms of another is to forgo one’s own.

V Beliefs should conform to one’s best scientific understanding of the world. One should take care never to distort scientific facts to fit one’s beliefs.

VI People are fallible. If one makes a mistake, one should do one’s best to rectify it and resolve any harm that might have been caused.

VII Every tenet is a guiding principle designed to inspire nobility in action and thought. The spirit of compassion, wisdom, and justice should always prevail over the written or spoken word.

You might be surprised to learn that some hate this organization despite its fundamental tenets. Some have gone so far as to try to firebomb their headquarters. Maybe it’s something to do with their name:

The Satanic Temple. 

I’m sure their name doesn’t help with their lack of popularity. It’s not called The Virtue Temple, so their agenda isn’t readily apparent. Plus, the word “Satan” conjures up an image of evil in the minds of many people, especially Christian Fundamentalists.

 

However, I suspect that the hatred The Satanic Temple (TST) faces has less to do with their name and more with the fact that they walk the walk when it comes to their stated values. Along with collecting goods for those in need, they actively work on hot-button issues such as reproductive rights, separation of church and state, and religious liberty. Not only do they actively live their values, but they’re also very vocal and have successfully defended them in the courts. 

In these times when our civil liberties are at risk, I decided I needed to step up and join TST in solidarity. To quote Benjamin Franklin, “We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.”

Visit The Satanic Temple website for more information.