by Golden Dawn Imperator
David Griffin
"Our lives begin to end ...
... the day we become silent about things that matter!"
"Our lives begin to end ...
... the day we become silent about things that matter!"
- Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
Triumph of the Moon (1) is a monumental study for which Professor Ronald Hutton deserves accolades regarding the origins of Wicca in Southern England. In this well-researched work, tenured historian Dr. Hutton presents a rather convincing argument that Wicca is a synthetic religion pieced together from bits of Gerald Gardner's personal experiences in India with Goddess worship, anthropological data from Dr. Margaret Murray, Sir James Frazier and Charles G. Leland, and the Golden Dawn, with membership drawn in part from the Naturist (Nudist) movement in England. |
| Dr. Ronald Hutton |
That Hutton apparently disproved the origin claims of the antiquity of WICCA in BRITAIN is one thing. That he makes unsubstantiated, sweeping judgements about the rest of the European continent outside his study area is quite another matter.
Another significant problem with Hutton's conclusions, in my opinion, is Hutton's overly anglo-centered world view. Put most simply, Prof. Hutton's writing all too often conflates Wicca in Britain with Witchcraft and Paganism in the rest of the world.
Another significant problem with Hutton's conclusions, in my opinion, is Hutton's overly anglo-centered world view. Put most simply, Prof. Hutton's writing all too often conflates Wicca in Britain with Witchcraft and Paganism in the rest of the world.
Thirdly, if Hutton truly discounts "oral tradition" as he has repeatedly stated, why does he rely so heavily on it in Chapter 20 of Triumph?
Finally, my most important objection to Triumph is the way that Hutton cites personal anecdote as though it were anthropological data. Hutton may be a respected historian, but he is not an anthropologist and lacks training in the rigors of the ethnographic method. Hutton's attempt at the anthropological method is clearly outside his field of expertise.
Had Hutton not violated the stated scope of "Triumph of the Moon" and had he not tried to play anthropologist by presenting personal anecdote and conjecture as though it were data, Triumph might have completely deserved the fauning praise it has gotten over the years. Sadly, however, as a fatal flaw, Hutton violated several fundamental rules of academia in an otherwise fine study.
I have repeatedly raised these and other objections to Professor Hutton's methods and conclusions on numerous previous occasions (for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). It is noteworthy that Professor Hutton even today fails to properly address objections to his methods and conclusions according to established academic protocols, instead derisively disparaging his critics with remarks like:
Such remarks are by no means unusual from Dr. Hutton in relating to his critics. Hutton's disparaging behavior toward independent Pagan researchers like, for example, Max Dashu and Don Frew is well known throughout the Pagan community.
Instead of actually addressing objections to his methods and conclusions, Hutton instead has merely made the same sweeping and unsubstantiated pronouncements over and over like a broken record. While such methods are stock and staple of the rough and tumble world of political propaganda, they have no place in legitimate academic discourse.
For example, Dr. Hutton just published a "free" article in the latest issue of the Pomegranate Pagan journal, entitled "Revisionism and Counter-Revisionism in Pagan History." In this article, Hutton writes:
Regarding actual evidence in the early witch trials of survival of elements of Paganism since antiquity, Professor Paolo Portone, president of the CIRE institute of ethno-historical research, has made some relevant points in his article, "Aradia, Myth and Reality of Witchcraft" (4), which I translated into English and you can read here.
This article presents evidence, contrary to Hutton's above statement, regarding how the myth of the "evil witch" was made up by the Inquisition out of whole cloth from the remnants in Italy of the Pagan cult of Diana, the Lady of the Game, or Domina Ludi. Portone's argument is compelling, taken directly from the trials of Sibilla and Pierina before the Inquisitor of Milan, first in 1384 and then again in 1390.
Additional evidence is presented in Prof. Portone's article entitled Magical Ointment and the Night Flight of Witches (Hypothesis on the Presence of Shamanic Rituals in Medieval and Modern Europe), (5) which I translated into English and you can read here. Professor Portone has presented important additional evidence regarding Pagan survival from antiquity from the witch trials in his new book which I am presently translating for him entitled La Strega e il Crocifisso. (6)
Thus, Hutton and other historical revisionists may be technically correct, but only if we accept their extraordinarily limited definition of what constitutes "evidence." In fact, I have no doubt that Professor Hutton's claim that "No evidence was found in Europe of a self-conscious Pagan religion surviving the formal conversion of a state to Christianity", certainly DOES represent the wishful thinking of the Vatican, which has done everything possible for centuries to ensure that such "evidence" does not continue to exist. Nonetheless, Hutton's statement above proves nothing more than that the relevant data falls outside the purview of the historical method.
Hutton continues:
I have repeatedly raised these and other objections to Professor Hutton's methods and conclusions on numerous previous occasions (for example, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here). It is noteworthy that Professor Hutton even today fails to properly address objections to his methods and conclusions according to established academic protocols, instead derisively disparaging his critics with remarks like:
"[It is remarkable that] counter-revisionism is represented most prominently by men, who often employ a very testosterone- rich language of swagger and taunt." (2)
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| Max Dashu |
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| Don Frew |
"If the service is free, you are not the customer.
You are the product!" - Internet meme
For example, Dr. Hutton just published a "free" article in the latest issue of the Pomegranate Pagan journal, entitled "Revisionism and Counter-Revisionism in Pagan History." In this article, Hutton writes:
"No evidence was found in Europe of a self-conscious Pagan religion surviving the formal conversion of a state to Christianity. A large number of meticulously researched local studies of the early modern witch trials found no solid evidence that its members had been practitioners of such a religion." (3)
This article presents evidence, contrary to Hutton's above statement, regarding how the myth of the "evil witch" was made up by the Inquisition out of whole cloth from the remnants in Italy of the Pagan cult of Diana, the Lady of the Game, or Domina Ludi. Portone's argument is compelling, taken directly from the trials of Sibilla and Pierina before the Inquisitor of Milan, first in 1384 and then again in 1390.
Additional evidence is presented in Prof. Portone's article entitled Magical Ointment and the Night Flight of Witches (Hypothesis on the Presence of Shamanic Rituals in Medieval and Modern Europe), (5) which I translated into English and you can read here. Professor Portone has presented important additional evidence regarding Pagan survival from antiquity from the witch trials in his new book which I am presently translating for him entitled La Strega e il Crocifisso. (6)
Merely because Dr. Hutton and the revisionist historical camp have failed to find "evidence" of Pagan survival in continental Europe, this certainly does not mean that such evidence never existed nor that it does not continue to exist even today. There are several major problems with such narrowly defined "evidence."
- The evidence Hutton claims does not exist was supressed and actively destroyed by the Catholic church for many centuries and continues to be so destroyed even today.
- The descendants of any surviving Pagan traditions in Europe outside of Britain certainly must have gone deeply underground in order not to be killed.
- Any written evidence of the type admissible to historians could have meant certain death to any surviving Pagans.
- This means that the tradition could only have survived orally and hidden in numerous places.
- Such oral evidence comprises anthropological rather than historical data.
- Thus the historical method is not the correct modality with which to interpret the data to begin with.
- Historians like Dr. Hutton have been looking for the wrong kind of data in the wrong places. Were I to look for fish in the sand rather than in the sea, I could, using Dr. Hutton's methods, likewise claim that no evidence of fish had been found, and suggest even that fish appear to have become extinct, when in reality I have been looking in the wrong place and using incorrect methods all along.
Hutton continues:
"The present fuss over revisionism in Pagan history is not a debate in the normal sense, because the counter-revisionists have not invited supporters of revisionism to a discussion: rather, they have sought instead to persuade other Pagans to stop believing those supporters. It is not clear what they are supposed to believe instead, because no counter-revisionist history has been developed: the implication of the attacks is that the traditional story is somehow correct after all, but it is never explained exactly how." (7)
The above statement is not entirely accurate, unless Hutton is deliberately excluding anthropological data from his "discussion." A new body of anthropological evidence in support of Pagan survival has recently emerged through Italian anthropological informants, Diana and Dianus del Bosco Sacro, presently being vetted by independent anthropological researcher, Leslie McQuade, to be presented for peer review before the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness.
A glimpse into this fresh data was recently published by Dianus del Bosco Sacro in the article entitled "The Great Rite, Hermeticism, and the Shamanic-Pagan Tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi." (6)
As I translated this article for publication in the latest journal of the Institute of Comparative Magico-Anthropology, I am reproducing the translator's introduction below due to its high relevance to the in refiuting Dr. Hutton's revisionist historical position.
A glimpse into this fresh data was recently published by Dianus del Bosco Sacro in the article entitled "The Great Rite, Hermeticism, and the Shamanic-Pagan Tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi." (6)
As I translated this article for publication in the latest journal of the Institute of Comparative Magico-Anthropology, I am reproducing the translator's introduction below due to its high relevance to the in refiuting Dr. Hutton's revisionist historical position.
The Great Rite, Hermeticism, and the
Shamanic-Pagan Tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi
as revealed by
Dianus del Bosco Sacro
Grand Conservator of the Sacred Forest Tradition
as authorized by
Diana del Bosco Sacro di Nemi e Benevento
38th Arch Priestess of the Sacred Forest Tradition
translated and Introduced by
David Griffin
Guardian of the Mysteries of the Sacred Forest
Translator’s Introduction
Dr. Ronald Hutton's historical tome, "Triumph of the Moon," examined the modern origins of Wicca in the British Isles, demolishing the belief of most Neo-Pagans in any substantial Pagan survival from antiquity. The unexpected reemergence from Italy last year of the previously occulted Shamanic-Pagan tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi, therefore understandably generated a certain amount controversy in the Neo-Pagan community.The present article, written by Dianus del Bosco Sacro, details for the first time how Hermetic alchemists, from a hidden Partenopean initiatic center, secretly preserved essential elements of ancient Paganism from the Inquisition during the dark age of Christianity. During the course of Dianus’ exposition, we shall witness how the sexual mysteries of The Geat Rite comprise an unexpected and omnipresent Ariadne’s thread, demonstrating the continuity of Pagan elements from the most ancient times until today.Throughout history, we encounter the same, sublime sexual mysteries again and again, albeit clothed in ever changing symbols: from the rites of Dionysos, Diana, and Janus to sexual mysteries depicted in the frescoes the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii and their impact on Gerald Gardner and the Great Rite of Wicca – from the rich symbolism of Hermetic alchemy to the sexual mysteries encoded in Charles Godfrey Leland’s “Aradia, the Gospel of the Witches.”According to the lore of the Shamanic-Pagan tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi, The Great Rite first arose with the ancient shamanism and sacerdotal lineages of the Great Mother Goddess in Continental Europe. While these primordial sexual mysteries were preserved along Matriarchal lines in Europe, they also spread to Sumeria, Babylon, and Egypt, where over time they evolved into the Royal Art of Alchemy.Following the conquest of Egypt, the sexual mysteries of alchemy were carried to Rome by Priests of Isis. Arriving along the Partenopean coast in Naples, Cuma, and Pompei, this masculine Priesthood encountered the great Pagan Matriarchs. These Patriarchal- alchemical and Matriarchal-sacerdotal-shamanic lineages immediately recognized their sexual mysteries to be so similar, they could only have arisen from a common source.Thus began the intimate collaboration between Pagan Matriarchs and Hermetic Masters, which would endure occulted for many Centuries. So it came to pass that, when the Pagan Matriarchs faced eradication at the hands of the Roman Catholic Church, they found sanctuary in the Parthenopean initiatic school of Hermetic Masters.Most historians and anthropologists, it turns out, have been looking in the wrong places for evidence of Pagan survival since antiquity. For the real evidence lies not amongst folk magic and cunning folk, but masked in the symbols of Hermetic alchemy.
With the article introduced above, an important new track supporting the notion of ancient Pagan survival has emerged, presented by vetted anthropological informants. This is, however, a line of research that will require objective and dispassionate follow up in pursuit of truth, as this new information requires, to properly evaluate the data, a mastery of the secret alchemical "language of the birds," the symbolical language which reveals the deepest secrets of Hermetic alchemy only to the eyes of the initiate.
In conclusion, I must ask:
In conclusion, I must ask:
- Are Professor Hutton and the historical raevisionist camp actually interested in historical truth regarding Pagan survival since antiquity - or do some of them have a hidden agenda?
- Is it mere coincidence that the positions of Professor Hutton's revisionist camp so perfectly support the long term interests of the Vatican - that no evidence of Pagan survival from antiquity should have survived?
- What IS then the actual bias of Dr. Hutton and the other revisionist historians?
I personally think that Pagans lose an extremely precious aspect of their religious faith when they are deprived of the historical roots of their religion in the ancient past, especially since vetted anthropological informants now state that this includes a still surviving INITIATIC Pagan heritage.
If historical roots are unimportant, then why does Catholic Christian doctrine cling so tenaciously to a myth of the historicity of the life of Jesus Christ, despite the absence of any substantial concrete historical evidence?
Indeed, if historical roots are unimportant, then why has the Vatican over the centuries gone to such lengths to destroy all evidence of survival of any remnants of ancient Paganism?
Finally, who stands to benefit most from a popular belief among contemporary Pagans that they have but a newly invented religion without any surviving, substantial historical roots in antiquity?
After all, does a tree deprived of its roots not quickly die?
Are we to allow our Pagan roots in antiquity to become mere dead objects of historical curiosity, hidden away to collect dust in some Vatican museum?
Are we to allow our Pagan roots in antiquity to become mere dead objects of historical curiosity, hidden away to collect dust in some Vatican museum?
It is important to understand that research is NEVER written without bias. It is not an intentional bias; it is just a fact that our perception of the world damages our ability to examine it from any other perspective. References to this fact are given below.
Creswell, J. W. (2009). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods applications. London: Sage.
Booth, W. C., Colomb, G. G., & Williams, J. M. (2008). The craft of research (3rd ed.). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Van de Ven, A. H. (2007). Engaged Scholarship: A Guide for Organizational and Social Research: Oxford University Press.
Bedeian, A. G. (2004). Peer review and the social construction of knowledge in the management discipline. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 3(2), 198-216.
Endnotes
- Hutton, Ronald, The Triumph of the Moon (Oxford, Oxford University Press 1999).
- Hutton, Ronald. “Revisionism and Counter-Revisionism in Pagan History” Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies [Online], 13. 13 Dec 2012, p.251.
- ibid., p.227.
- Portone, Paolo, (2002). Aradia, mito e realtà della stregoneria in una ballata toscana dell’Ottocento , STORIA, ANTROPOLOGIA E SCIENZE DEL LINGUAGGIO, vol. 3; p. 115-120, ISSN: 0394-7963.
- Portone, Paolo, (1993). L’unguento magico e il volo notturno delle streghe. ARS REGIA, vol. 14; p. 15-26.
- Portone, Paolo, (2008). La strega e il crocifisso. Radici cristiane o cristianizzate. AICURZIO (MB): Gruppo Editoriale Castel Negrino.
- Hutton, ibid, p. 250.
- Del Bosco Sacro, Dianus “The Great Rite, Hermeticism, and the Shamanic-Pagan Tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi” The Fenris Wolf: The Institute of Comparitive Magico-Anthropology, 5 (Edda Publishing: 2012, pp. 53-76.
