EXPOSED: Vatican Conspiracy and Pagan Roots (Answer to Ronald Hutton)

by Golden Dawn Imperator

David Griffin

"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

Prof. Hutton clearly states in Triumph that the scope of his study is limited to Wicca in Southern England. My primary objection to Dr. Hutton's methods is the manner in which he, in later chapters of Triumph, makes sweeping and unsubstantiated generalizations about the lack of survival of elements of ancient Paganism in Continental Europe - without providing a single shred of historical data to to back up such pronouncements that completely violate the stated scope of Hutton's otherwise fine study.

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.

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:

"[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)

Max Dashu

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.

Don Frew

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.

"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) 

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)

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."

1. 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.
2. The descendants of any surviving Pagan traditions in Europe outside of Britain certainly must have gone deeply underground in order not to be killed. 
3. Any written evidence of the type admissible to historians could have meant certain death to any surviving Pagans.
4. This means that the tradition could only have survived orally and hidden in numerous places. 
5. Such oral evidence comprises anthropological rather than historical data. 
6. Thus the historical method is not the correct modality with which to interpret the data to begin with.
7. 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.

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:

"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.

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:

1. 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?
2. 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?
3. 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?

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

1. Hutton, Ronald, The Triumph of the Moon (Oxford, Oxford University Press 1999).
2. Hutton, Ronald. “Revisionism and Counter-Revisionism in Pagan History” Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies [Online], 13. 13 Dec 2012, p.251.
3. ibid., p.227.
4. 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.
5. Portone, Paolo, (1993). L’unguento magico e il volo notturno delle streghe. ARS REGIA, vol. 14; p. 15-26.
6. Portone, Paolo, (2008). La strega e il crocifisso. Radici cristiane o cristianizzate. AICURZIO (MB): Gruppo Editoriale Castel Negrino.
7. Hutton, ibid, p. 250.
8. 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.

History and Holocaust Denial: Ronald Hutton and "Peregrin Wildoak"

by David Griffin

Despite our order inviting the ENTIRE Golden Dawn community to join us in building peace and despite our offering to share new Golden Dawn teachings from the Secret Chiefs with the entire GD community at the upcoming Golden Dawn Peace and Harmony Pow Wow...

...Believe it or not -  the 20 year old Witch Hunt against our order unsurprisingly continues unabaited - with Peregrin Wildoak (who hides his real name to avoid prosecution for libel) again using "anonymous" Sock and Meat Puppets to attack our order. 

For the benefit of new readers:

"Peregrin Wildoak" is a Historical Revisionist: 

1. who never uses his real name, hiding instead behind anonymity to avoid prosecution for libel 
2. who denies that there was any Pagan Holocaust at all 
3. who disputes that there were any Pagans ever killed by the Inquisition at all, and 
4. who even disputes that there ever were any Pagan or Egyptian mysteries! 

"Peregrin," while hiding behind anonymity, has been one of the most venomous attackers of our order in the 20 year Witch Hunt waged on the Internet against the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the outer order of the Rosicrucian Order of the Alpha et Omega.

Historical Revisionist
"Peregrin Wildoak"

In a desperate and highly transparent bid to maintain strife in the Golden Dawn community, Peregrin is again using sock puppets - in a fruitless attempt to scuttle the upcoming Golden Dawn Peace and Harmony Pow Wow in order to continue the two decades old Witch Hunt against our order. Clearly, there are those who would stop at nothing to prevent peace and harmony in the Golden Dawn community!

Unsurprisingly, Peregrin's latest "anonymous" sock again sets up and knocks down the same straw man arguments we have witnessed Peregrin publish time and time again, this time misrepresenting statements I have made critical of the scholorship of Professor Ronald Hutton of Bristol University.

For the benefit of new readers, Peregrin and his various sock/meat puppets have been republishing "ad nauseum" the same tired propaganda talking points on this subject over and over for years now, yet Peregrin never addresses even one scholorly objection to his straw man arguments!

In other words, the real question here is:

"Why is the anonymous "Peregrin Wildoak" and his sock and meat puppets so obsessed with the subject of Pagan survival since antiquity?" 

This is a highly relevant question, considering Peregrin's claim to have allegedly abandoned Paganism to become a Buddhist convert, whereas Peregrin instead consistently writes as a Christian propagandist and has even bragged about being a Christian apologist. Add to this Peregrin's utter obsession with the subject of Pagan survival since antiquity in his writings, and something begins to smell as fishy as an outdoor fish market on a hot summer's afternoon.

To avoid confusion arising from Peregrin's socks' latest propaganda, below I repeat my "actual" objections to Prof. Hutton's scholorship in "Triumph of the Moon." I might add that Hutton has never addressed these criticisms, even though he has replied to several other issues I raised here.

Demigod Professor - Ronald "Q" Hutton

Triumph of the Moon is a monumental study for which Professor Hutton deserves accolades regarding the origins of Wicca in Southern England. However, Hutton clearly states in Triumph that the scope of his study is limited to Wicca in Southern England.

My primary objection is the manner in which Hutton, in later chapters of Triumph, makes sweeping generalizatioins about the lack of survival of elements of ancient Paganism in Continental Europe without providing a single shred of historical data to to back up such unprofessional statements, which completely violate the stated scope of Hutton's study.

That Hutton disproved the origin claims in antiquity of Wicca in BRITAIN is one thing. That he makes unsubstantiated, sweeping judgements on the rest of the European continent is quite another matter, however, especially when the scope of Triumph of the Moon was limited to Wicca in southern England. The greatest problem with Hutton, in my opinion, is that, in his anglo-centered world view, Hutton conflates Wicca with Witchcraft.

Secondly, if Hutton truly discounts "oral tradition," 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 data. Hutton may be a respected historian, but he is not an anthropologist and lacks training in the rigors of the ethnographic method.

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 deserved the fauning praise it has gotten from the anonymous "Peregrin" and his various sock and meat puppets. Sadly, however, as a fatal flaw, Hutton violated several fundamental rules of academia in an otherwise fine study.

Regarding the actual survival of elements of Paganism since antiquity, Professor Paolo Portone, president of the CIRE institute of ethno-historical research, has shown in his article, "Aradia, Myth and Reality of Witchcraft," 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.

Finally, I have several times suggested that historians of ancient Paganism have been looking in the wrong place for traces of elements of Pagan survival since antiquity, as they have never yet bothered to examine in this context in the texts and rich imagery of Hermetic alchemy!

Finally, an open message to the anonymous "Peregrin":

Peregrin, 

You are not fooling anyone. EVERYONE sees through your sock and meat puppetry.
Unlike you, I have no need to to hide behind fake names or the skirt tails of "anonymous" sock puppets. Unlike you, I use my REAL name. 

If I have something to say, Peregrin, I say it to your face like I am now, and I stand behind MY words like a man. Are you not man enough to take responsibility for YOUR words under YOUR real name? 

Or are you just afraid your GD students will call you on your stirring strife in the GD community yet AGAIN? 

In any case, you and your socks are the only ones still stiring strife in the GD community today. 

Keep it up, Peregrin, and you will share the same fate as Robert Zink, with your GD students voting with their feet. 

The time for Peace and Harmony in the Golden Dawn community is NOW, whether Peregrin Wildoak and his anonymous puppets like it or not. 

- David Griffin

99% of the Golden Dawn community wants peace and harmony and an end to 20 years of internet bullshit causing strife in the our community.  Don't miss the International Golden Dawn Peace and Harmony Pow Wow, March 29 - April 9, 2013 near Las Vegas, Nevada.

EVERYONE is invited - Even the 1% still attacking our order. What a great way to put strife behind us - by all sitting down, relaxing, and sharing together as brothers and sisters!

Come share a full week of good food, good company, and new magic released especially for this occasion by the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn's Third Order! You can find complete Pow Wow details here.

We look forward to receiving you at Alpha Omega Temple.

Your Hosts,
David and Leslie Griffin

The Wrath of Q & The Return of Ronald Hutton

by David Griffin

Readers of the Golden Dawn blog, may well remember the somewhat irreverent article I wrote here last year in response to an interview here by Caroline Tully with Professor Ronald Hutton, a British historian regarded by many Pagans as embodying nearly God-like stature.

Well, guess what?

Q is back ...

Pagan Luminary, Prof. Ronald "Q" Hutton

... and in a follow-up interview here addresses several of the issues I have raised here on the Golden Dawn blog as well as on The Great Rite blog in response to his initial interview.

Having called Prof. Hutton a "maverick historian" for years, when he made disparaging remarks about the "Wiccan" who called him that, I wrote:

"As a practitioner of the Sacred Forest of Nemi Italian Shamanic tradition, I am outraged at Hutton calling me a "Wiccan," much like James T. Kirk the time Korax the klingon called Kirk "an overbearing Tin Plated Dictator with delusions of Godhood and a Denibian Slime Devil."

In the new interview, Prof. Hutton now clarifies:

"The first [matter to clear up] is that the Wiccan whom I quoted as describing me as a ‘maverick historian’ was Ben Whitmore, and no other."

Well, I am glad we finally cleared that up!

In the initial interview on Necropolis Now, Prof. Hutton wrote:

"neither Carlo [Ginsburg] nor any other reputable historian since 1980 has argued that the people accused of witchcraft in early modern Europe were practitioners of a surviving pagan religion."

Challenging this statement, I  translated into English a wonderful article by Italian Ethnohistorian, Paolo Portone  on "Witches Flying Ointment and the Night Flight of Witches" here and also translated Professor Portone's, "Aradia and the Myth or Reality of Witchcraft" that I published here.

Professor Hutton now writes:

"A classic example of the former sort who has featured in the present debate is Carlo Ginzburg, and of the latter, Paolo Portone. They are very different sorts of author, Carlo being one of the world’s great research scholars and Paolo a polemical writer who draws mostly on existing publications. I have, however, a personal affection and respect for both: Carlo, as I have written before, is a friend, and I am trying to find Paolo a translator and publisher for his book in English." 

Under normal circumstances I would be pleased to translate Prof. Portone's book, as I did with his articles. With the tidal wave of new initiatic magical practices and teachings just released by the Secret Chiefs of the Golden Dawn, however, I am presently inundated with translation work  of  initiatic and spiritual, rather than merely historical value.

I do not rule out more translation for Prof. Portone as a future possibility, however, should the Tsunami of new magic ever abate.

Hutton continues:

"This might give some pause to those who see us as in opposition to each other. Neither of them champion the idea of a surviving medieval or early modern pagan religion, separate from Christianity and in opposition to it, let alone one which survived till modern times. Both emphasise instead the importance of ancient pagan elements absorbed into medieval and later Christian culture, carried on by people who assumed that they were themselves Christian even if other kinds of Christian did not always agree. I am completely in agreement with them in doing so, the main difference between us being that I have hitherto concentrated more on the way in which the pagan elements got filtered back out of the Christian in modern times to create a set of resurrected Pagan religions."

As a Hermetic and Shamanic-Pagan initate, I am not first and foremost interested in history. However, my academic beef with Hutton still remains with the sweeping judgements he makes in "Triumph of the Moon" about initiatic traditions of which he has no real knowledge, together with his tendency to play anthropologist due to his lack of proper training in the ethnographic method, as in Triumph, where he frequently cited personal anecdote as though it were historical data. If Hutton discounts oral tradition, why does he rely so heavily on it in chapter 20 of Triumph of the Moon?

Moreover, by dismissing the initiated, Hutton cuts himself off of any true understanding of the ancient faith, because non-initiates can't keep their mouths shut about ancient truths. Hutton will never find the ancient Pagan path, because he refuses to do what is necessary to gain the actual data. Instead, he is left analyzing only the dregs that the initiatic traditions have rejected.

Just because historians have not found evidence of Pagan survival does not mean that none exists. It only means that they are looking in the wrong places and are out of their depth in regard to initiatic traditions, better evaluated by the anthropologist trained in the ethnographic method.

In this regard, I recently translated a groubdbreaking article written by anthropological informant, Dianus del Bosco Sacro entitled "The Great Rite, Hermeticism, and the Shamanic Pagan Tradition of the Sacred Forest of Nemi". This article, that will appear at Beltane in The Fenris Wolf (Journal of Magical Anthropology), 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.

So, my parting words for Professor Hutton?

"If you want to catch dear, hunt in the forest, not in the city.

 If you want to find initiatic survival, then search among initiates."

And if you want to hunt Klingons, the bridge of the Enterprise is a good place to be.

The Pomegranate & The Pagan Knight (Reply to Ronald Hutton)

by David Griffin

Ronald Hutton

Regular readers of the Golden Dawn blog are aware of my mistrust of the Pagan scholarship of Prof. Ronald Hutton of Bristol university. This article will come as a surprise, as for once I actually have words of praise for Dr. Hutton.

Ronald Hutton recently published an article in the Pomegranate on-line Pagan journal that attempts to address concerns raised by Pagan scholars around the world regarding Hutton's treatment of the origins of Wicca and the subject of Pagan survival from antiquity in his monumental tome, Triumph of the Moon. The new article, entitled "Writing the History of Witchcraft: A Personal View." has received accolades from numerous bloggers, including Barrabbas Tiresius on the Talking About Ritual Magick blog. I personally do not share Frater Barrabbas' effusive belief in Hutton's vindication, although the article does answer at least some of the objections raised by independent Pagan researcher, Wiccan HP Ben Whitmore.

Max Dashu

Perhaps the most noteworthy thing about Hutton's article is that Hutton actually engages some the arguments raised in Whitmore's recent book, Trials of the Moon. This stands in stark contrast to Hutton's past dismissive attitude vis a vis independent Pagan researchers like Don Frew and Max Dashu.

Don Frew

If there is anything negative about Dr. Hutton's Pomegranate article, it would be his immodest self-portrayal as a Pagan knight jousting against an implacable Academy. Judging by Triumph, Hutton's newly self-appointed role as champion of the Pagan faith is not really merited.

Hutton does deserve kudos for attempting to rescue Wicca from an abyss left by the collapse of Wicca's foundational story. Triumph, however, attempts to bootstrap credibility for  a baseless attack on Continental Pagan origins by Hutton, using an otherwise well-researched study.

Based on the new article, it appears Hutton may have finally learned his lesson. Gone are the sweeping generalizations that pepper parts of Triumph of the Moon. Gone are the unsubstantiated judgements as well. Instead, Hutton appears to finally confine his remarks to his stated study area of Wicca in Southern England.

Even in regard to anthropology, Hutton has now become more cautious in his presentation as well. Gone is every trace of personal anecdote masquerading as ethnographic data. Nonetheless, in the new article, Hutton does claim:

"Between 1999 and 2002 I therefore read 130 studies of the subject by anthropologists working outside Europe, which included the great majority of those made and all of the most important."

This is all well and good. Reading 130 anthropological articles, however, still does not make Hutton a trained anthropologist. In discussions I had with various professionals at the annual conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness last March in Portland, I found nearly unanimous professional consensus that the greatest weakness of Triumph is Hutton's tendency to play anthropologist, although he is completely untrained in the rigors of the ethnographic method.

Judging from the Pomegranate article, it would appear that, eleven long years after Triumph first appeared, Dr. Hutton may finally have learned his lesson. In the wake of severe criticism of Triumph by scholars, it finally seems Dr. Hutton will henceforth confine his pronouncements to his actual field of expertise and that his judgements might even remain in his stated study area.

The Great Rite - Presented Before the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness

The annual conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness was held at the Edgefield McMenamins resort just outside of Portland, Oregon March 23-29, 2011. The property has an amazing natural beauty as well as magnificent hot swimming pools to soak in.

Edgefield McMenamins Resort

The conference itself was a highly interesting experience. These are not your run of the mill, ivory tower anthropologists who eek out a living holed up in the backwaters of a small university - boring their students to death. Nope. These guys are the real deal.

These are the anthropologists who fly off to the Amazon at a moment's notice just to try for themselves - and to document - the latest entheogen just emerged from the jungle with a hitherto untouched pocket of native American civilization. In short, these are the Indiana Joneses of Cultural Anthropology.

I was invited to participate in the conference as an anthropological informant (as a Master Alchemist of the Egyptian-Neopolitan alchemical tradition) for Leslie McQuade's workshop on The Great Rite. 

Master Alchemist - David Griffin

I fully expected this to be a tough audience, but to my surprise they were congenial, convivial, and truly open to the revelation of Hermetic alchemy as a lost Western variant of Eastern Tantra filtered through an Egyptian lineage, and an amazing science of the energetics of the human body.

I was a bit nervous in the beginning as, despite 30 years experience with public speaking, this was my first experience with an audience filled with anthropologists. 

Thankfully, Ms. McQuade broke the ice for me with a joke:

"Meet my informant, Og. Never mind that he forgot the bone in his nose at home this morning."

I lectured for the Society on the history of Western spiritual sexuality, its origin in the shamanic tradition of the Great Mother Goddess, how it became internal alchemy in Egypt, before being reimported to Europe with the Greeks and Romans following their conquest of Egypt. I spoke also on the true nature of Internal Alchemy as a science of energetic evolution and immortality, and how this is symbolized by mummies and the way artifacts are gathered in the tombs of Egyptian nobles. I also mentioned how Western spiritual sexuality survived the Inquisition safely hidden behind the symbols and images of Hermetic alchemy.

The information was extremely well received, but it was the physical demonstration that left these anthropologists salivating for more. I used a very elementary, non-sexual alchemical technique, using a simple manipulation of the physical body to raise the sexual energy out of the genetal area and into the upper regions of the body, thus profoundly altering consciousness. 

Numerous of the anthropologists present were astonished. One commented that he had never before experienced such a profound shift in consciousness, except with the aid of a powerful entheogen.

The following day Ms. McQuade presented new anthropological evidence documenting the survival of essential elements of the pre-Pagan shamanic tradition of l'Arte Eccelsa (The Sublime Art) into modern times. Her lecture mentioned how the ancient shamanic spiritual sexual tradition had been preserved in the Rites of Dionysos and how Gerald Gardner had been influenced by these spritual sexual mysteries during his visit to the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii. The question naturally arises how profoundly the Dionysian mysteries influenced what later became The Great Rite in Wicca. 

Anthropologist - High Priestess - Leslie McQuade

Ms. McQuade additionally presented evidence for Pagan survival from antiquity deriving from interviews with her anthropological informant, Lady Diana, 38th Arch Priestess of the del Bosco Sacro lineage of l'Arte Eccelsa (a reigning matriarch of a surviving shamanic-Pagan lineage in Italy). Ms. McQuade finished by presenting evidence for the continuation of this shamanic tradition through the dark age of the Inquisition, as documented by the Inquisition itself in the use by the alleged "Witches" (shamanic practitioners of l'Arte Eccelsa) of powerful entheogenic substances including belladona and datura in what was docuemtned as "Witches' Flying Ointment."

All in all, the annual conference of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness was a highly enjoyable experience. I am proud to have participated in it, especially as a living representative of the Italian alchemical tradition, which not only survived the inquisition, but kept our Western spiritual sexual tradition alive during the centuries when the shamanic branch of Western spiritual sexuality (l'Arte Eccelsa) had been forced deeply underground where it was preserved exclusively along family lines.

I look very much forward to reading Ms. McQuade's paper, which will be published shortly in the Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Consciousness, published by the American Anthropological Association. I find it significant that, based on her presentations, Ms. McQuade received three academic publishing offers during the conference, which is remarkable for an independent researcher.

Who says there are no Pagan survivors?

Trials of the Moon Book Review: A New Witch War?

We in the Golden Dawn community are no strangers to flame war. The decade long periodical eruption of Golden Dawn flame war has gone far to destroy the reputation of our venerable tradition in the greater magical community.

Thankfully, this situation has improved greatly in our community, thanks to fine bloggers like VH Frater SR, H Frater AIT, and VH Soror FSO, whose fine and frequently well researched articles have raised the tone of scholarly discourse in our community to a level never witnessed before.

Sadly, events of the past week have shown that the Pagan community is not immune to flame war either, where the sort of propaganda war that we have witnessed being waged against one Golden Dawn order or the other, is now being waged clandestinely against Pagan scholar, Ben Whitmore.

For over a decade, Professor Ronald Hutton's study on the history of Wicca, Triumph of the Moon, has been considered by most Pagan scholars to have closed the book on the issue of the survival of elements of Paganism from Pagan antiquity. This has led to most Pagans defining themselves as "Neo"-Pagan, and the pervasive belief that the entire modern Pagan movement is based on mere reconstruction.

A new book has recently appeared, Trials of the Moon, by Ben Whitmore, that has reopened the case. Subsequent buzz in the blogosphere has made it clear that many Pagans are highly sensitive to these issues, and that even respected scholars are not immune to resorting to flame war tactics when cherished beliefs are called into question.

On The Witching Hour blog, for example, blogger "Peg" recently pretended to write a scholarly review of "Trials of the Moon", using flame war techniques to attempt to undermine Whitmore's credibility as an author. While completely ignoring the quite copious and well documented evidence that Whitmore presents, Peg writes:

"Whitmore is not an historian, nor even an academic. And this shows in his failure to observe the most rudimentary rules of objectivity and neutrality of stance."

I responded, commenting on her blog, exposing the flame war rhetorical tactics she was using and outlining my own objections to certain holes in Hutton's scholarship. Predictably, my comment was censored, underscoring that The Witching Hour review is not a serious critique of Whitmore's study, but merely the opening salvo in flame war designed to undermine Whitmore's credibility as an author and thereby suppress uncomfortable revelations about the holes in Professor Hutton's scholarship in "The Triumph of the Moon." 

This new-born flame war further escalated when respected Pagan scholar, Chas Clifton, quoted from "The Witching Hour" article, then added:

"Another example of [Unverifiable Personal Gnosis] UPG-fueld writing appears to be a book called Trials of the Moon, which purports to challenge Ronald Hutton’s historical books on Paganism without, y’know, actually having to do the depth of research that he does.

It’s sort of like wanting to bat against the San Francisco Giant Tim Lincecum’s pitching but demanding that you get to keep swinging and swinging until you hit one over the fence—none of that “three strikes and you’re out” stuff.

Some people like it even while admitting that it “offers no alternate theory or proposes any possible history” for Wicca."

One might consider Clifton's remarks as based merely on ignorance of the actual contents of Whitmore's study. It is, in any case, clear that Clifton has not actually read "Trials of he Moon." Whitmore is quite transparent that he is not an academic, but the evidence he presents clearly demonstrates nonetheless how Professor Hutton reached unsupported conclusions in "The Triumph of the Moon" and frequently even misquoted and misrepresented his sources. 

No, Whitmore does not present an alternative history, nor does he even try to. What he does do - is to conclusively demonstrate that the case for the survival of elements of Paganism from antiquity is far from closed, and that Professor Hutton has not at all closed the book on this as Pagan scholars have believed for nearly a decade. Moreover, contrary to what is misstated on both The Witching Hour and Chas Clifton's blogs, Whitmore clearly has done (and well documented) his research.

Sadly, I must also mention that on his blog, Chas Clifton likewise censored my rather innocuous defense of Whitmore's study in response to Clifton's rather uninformed remarks and having given "The Witching Hour" hack job undue attention. Thus, I can only conclude that we now have a full scale Witch War on our hands, where even well-respected Pagan scholars are stooping to flame war tactics (like cherry picking comments that represent only one side of a discussion) in order not to deal with uncomfortable new developments in Pagan scholarship.

In conclusion, my own criticism of Professor Hutton's study lies not in that it some sort of "evil" attack on cherished Pagan myths, but rather that Hutton's study is fatally flawed. Far too frequently, Dr. Hutton plays anthropologist, although he is not trained as an anthropologist nor does he even attempt to use the ethnographic method. Moreover, as Mr. Whitmore has demonstrated, Hutton frequently misquotes and misrepresents his sources. Finally, Professor Hutton makes sweeping, speculative generalizations completely outside of the stated geographic region of his study as, for example, in Hutton's completely unqualified remarks about C.G. Leland and the origins of Stregheria in Italy.

The Roots of Modern Paganism Debate II

This new article continues the debate regarding the antiquity of the roots of modern Paganism from the comments section of my previous article. I am replying to Peregrin with this new article as the issues raised by Peregrin require a somewhat lengthy reply.

Peregrin writes:

Hello again,

Sorry if I do not have the energy or time to really go into this. I have done all this before and do not wish to go over it too much. Some stuff is on MOTO, most was years back and not on-line. This is why I ask folk to do their own research.

Just a few points then.

As Pallas says (thank you) I am referring to some not all.

Of course Pagan does not equal Wicca. However, there is no physical EVIDENCE to suggest paganism remained a viable RELIGIOUS path in Europe up to the 20th century.

Of course there were and are pagan survivals; customs, deity prayers, conflation with Christian saints etc. No one disputes this. What I am saying is that there is no evidence that these survivals existed as a religious alternative to Christianity as a full religious tradition. Sadly Christianity subsumed or killed most of these traditions. Folk magical practices, awareness of deities at wells etc do not a religion make, especially when most of the folk doing this named themselves Christians and would attend Christian churches.

Hutton never asserts beyond England and I speculate based on physical evidence.

The leaders of most neo-pagan traditions that became visible in the 60s and 70s had some contact or training with Wicca. Whilst not Wiccan, many from that time drew from Wicca. It is only from the 80s and 90s that we see Pagan reconstructionism consciously forming itself apart from (and sometimes in opposition to) Wicca.

As for your suggestion that unknown pagan activity may have been happening, it really matters little. We can only judge by the evidence. There may have been a secret cult of the Easter Bunny or the Intestine of Judas…if we cannot see evidence of it, we do not know.

To assert or believe something without evidence requires a level of base faith. This I think is inappropriate in mature religion and certainly has no place, to my mind, in the esoteric traditions. We do not accept literal interpretations of scripture without evidence. I see no reason to accept interpretations of Europe’s pagan past without evidence also.

And while my ego appreciates being described as a Christian apologetic, this is really beyond my field of expertise.

Thanks :)

I frankly don't see how this discussion can continue with any seriousness as long as Peregrin  merely ignores all presented evidence (like about Hutton's proclamations on Leland and Italy covered in my previous comments) and instead merely repeats his talking points over and over, propaganda style. Peregrin's new assertion that "Hutton never asserts beyond England" is so factually inaccurate as to beg the question whether Peregrin has actually even read Hutton himself.

Admittedly, Hutton's evidence is rather convincing that today’s Wicca is largely a reinvention. Numerous of Hutton’s subsidiary claims are not nearly as convincing, however. This may suit true Neopagans, who feel no strong ties to the past, but it disenfranchises many other Pagans who feel kinship and connection with antiquity.

Peregrin writes:

"What I am saying is that there is no evidence that these survivals existed as a religious alternative to Christianity as a full religious tradition. Sadly Christianity subsumed or killed most of these traditions. Folk magical practices, awareness of deities at wells etc do not a religion make, especially when most of the folk doing this named themselves Christians and would attend Christian churches."

In this assertion, Peregrin yet once again parrots Hutton. For Hutton, "these people had signalled their conversion to Christianity by the adoption of Christian worship and customs, and Hutton maintains that in so doing, they necessarily abandoned the old gods: one cannot be both Christian and Pagan. Such an assumption of mutual exclusivity is a very important one, as it underpins many of Hutton's arguments and effectively circumvents whole areas of inquiry. It is also a simplistic idea locked in a monotheistic mindset: from a more polytheistic and syncretic paradigm such as that of our European ancestors it was quite feasible to accommodate the new Christian God into an existing pantheon without invalidating the older deities."

Peregrin follows Hutton as well here in defining "religion" in such a narrow manner as to render any possible evidence as moot, although neither Peregrin nor Hutton provide any real evidence to the contrary either. I am not claiming the existence of a massive, organized Pagan resistance movement like Margaret Murray suggested. But for Peregrin and Hutton to deny the existence of ANY evidence of the survival of pagan religious practice is a much bolder claim not born out by the relevant facts.

On the contrary:

"the survival of pre-Christian belief systems and their contribution to the diabolized stereotype of witchcraft in the Early Modern era has become widely accepted in the field of witchcraft history. It has been amply demonstrated by a whole school of well respected historians, including Éva Pócs, Gustav Henningsen, Carlo Ginzburg, Gábor Klaniczay, Wolfgang Behringer and Juhan Kahk (studying witchcraft in Hungary, Sicily, Italy, Eastern Europe, Bavaria and Estonia, respectively), and other luminaries. What these authors have established is that beliefs about magic followed remarkably consistent, well-developed patterns throughout Europe, and that while they operated within the social framework of Christianity they were anything but Christian in origin."

Moreover, Ethnologist João de Pina-Cabral has also examined the problem of Pagan religious survival in detail and concluded that certain ancient Pagan beliefs and practices have had an “uncanny capacity for survival.” The survival of ancient Pagan beliefs and practices are additionally substantiated in Carlo Ginzburg’s Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath.

In an earlier comment, I questioned what the underlying, personal motivations could possibly for Dr. Ronald Hutton to go to such extremes. Large sections of Triumph of the Moon — entire chapters, even — are one-sided, misleading, or plain wrong. Many of Hutton's sources are misrepresented, and for a surprising number of his claims he provides no evidence at all.

Dr. Ronald Hutton

Ronald Hutton was born at Ootacamund in India to a colonial family of Russian ancestry. His mother considered herself to be a "Pagan." Could it be that the vehemence with which Hutton approaches the roots of Paganism in antiquity arises from little more than Hutton's misplaced feelings about his Mother and her religion?

Peregrin next argues that occulted Pagan activity "does not matter," since we can only judge by evidence we can see. This argument betrays the inappropriateness of applying historical method to matters occult or esoteric, wherein the only admissible evidence is the extremely limited written information available to the profane historian - themselves not privy to the initiatic mysteries. By this narrow definition, no initiatic tradition nor secret mystery school may today even be said to exist, due to their very nature as rooted in secrecy!

According to such narrow standards, the esoteric teachings of the Cromlech temple, for example, could not have been said to exist as long as they remained occulted behind initiatic secrecy.

Peregrin's Act of Desecration

Peregrin himself changed this, however, by personally desecrating the Aura papers of the Golden Dawn spin-off, Cromlech Temple's Sun Order, by publishing them without the permission of the surviving Chiefs of that temple.

It is therefore unsurprising to witness Peregrin today apply this same "profanation standard" to initiatic mysteries of Pagan religion as well!

I am certainly not an advocate of blind faith, as Peregrin would like to paint me as. I do however, believe that neither Pagans nor Neo-Pagans should allow academic historians to define our faith for us, especially in light of the depth of lack of academic integrity we have already witnessed ...

... And certainly we should not desecrate initiatic mysteries, merely to satisfy demands for evidence in arenas in which the only evidence acceptable to the historical method is by its very nature precluded for the profane historian as well as for the desecrator of mysteries.

- David Griffin