Whispers from the Myth Teller

After jumping through a few hoops, I found myself invited to speak on a panel at Can-Con in Ottawa this past weekend. The panel wasn't exactly what I expected, especially since the topic of it had changed from what I had originally agreed to speak on to a topic I knew virtually nothing about. Rather than bolting, I figured I could wing it just by listening and eventually adding my own two cents, although I had the distinct impression I was flashbacking to my CEGEP days in Seminar class when I hadn't read the material that was to be discussed.

So the topic had changed from "Paganism in Canada Today" to "Pagan influences on Speculative Literature". I know... quite the shift in focus, eh? The panel was to discuss how pagan culture and themes had influenced modern sci-fi and fantasy literature. Of course, we had to spend a good 20 minutes defining paganism, which if we had not reigned it in, could've taken over the entire hour and maybe even part of the next day. The worst part of that panel was when on of the panelists turned to me to ask "So Hobbes... who are your favorite pagan fiction authors?" To this, I completely blanked (although I was tempted to say Gerald Gardner and Aleister Crowley, just for the shock value) and babbled that I didn't read fiction based on the religion of the authors or if the book had pagan themes in it. I could see the audience questioning what the hell I was doing on this panel in the first place, which at that moment was an excellent question.

But as the discussion moved on, I did get some insight on the topic which allowed me to disagree with the other panelists. It was unfortunate that it took almost 40 minutes of this hour-long panel to figure this out, so just as we were getting into the meat of it, the next panel was chomping at the bit to get their talk started.

Personally, I don't think that the modern pagan culture influences mainstream fiction in the slightest. Our community is still too much on the fringe to have that much impact on the mainstreamers, as much as our collective egos would enjoy it.

That's not to say that sci-fi/fantasy literature doesn't employ pagan themes, but I don't think they come from our us. Unlike many other religions that have a central doctrine that radiates outward, pagan culture is de-centred, constantly in flux, and reflects the concerns of the generation. It employs a healthy amount of cultural appropriation which allows its practitioners to explore and incorporate themes, symbols, and traditions from a culture they cannot call their own.

If there are any pagan themes in modern sci-fi/fantasy literature (and there are most definitely), they come from other ethnic cultures and philosophies that are centrally defined by geography, race, and environment. Modern sci-fi/fantasy literature and modern pagan culture both borrow (and at times grave-rob) from these established ethnic cultures and philosophies to define and explore their topics and ideas.

While a pagan can read a book and recognize themes that are common within pagan community culture, those ideas are not coming from a modern, North American, neo-pagan culture, but rather from the same source that the pagan himself is either cherry-picking directly or indirectly from other pagan authors.

I finally finished the Half-Blood Prince and it's totally made up for the Order of the Phoenix (if I had been her editor, 1/3rd of that book would've been cut out). Again, most of my theories proved to be incorrect (I am thankful that they were).

I'm just glad it's done. Not because I didn't enjoy the read, but one person's off-the-cuff remark revealed to me the Half-Blood Prince's identity, so that was a let down. I lived in fear that I might be in a cafe or bar somewhere and hear someone exclaim "I had no idea Aunt Petunia was Voldemort all this time!"

No court in the land would convict me, I swear.