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Archive for the category ‘Queer’

1. Cross Bones: queering sacred space?

   “Meaning is not in things, but in between; in the iridescence, the interplay; in the interconnections; at the intersections, at the crossroads. Meaning is transitional as it is transitory; in the puns or bridges, the correspondence.”
   Norman O Brown, Love’s Body

   Whenever I exit London Bridge station, I make a brief nod in the direction of Cross Bones graveyard – its part of my recognition of London’s network of sacred spaces. I’ve been to some of the monthly vigils held at this place, but more often than not, just strolling past it – and knowing that it’s there amid the bustle of London is enough for me. Continue reading »

   April 20th 2012

   Posted by Phil Hine in History, Pagan, Queer

   Tags: reflections, sacred, space

   2 comments »

2. Shamanism and gender variance: the eighteenth century – two sexes, three genders?

   “Among the women I saw some men dressed like women, with whom they go about regularly, never joining the men. The commander called them amaricados, perhaps because the Yumas call effeminate men maricas. I asked who these men were, and they replied that they were not men like the rest, and for this reason they went around covered in this way. From this I inferred that they must be hermaphrodites but from what I learned later I understood that they were sodomites, dedicated to nefarious practices. …I conclude that in this matter of incontinence there will be much to do when the Holy Faith and the Christian religion are established among them.”Fray Pedro Font, Font’s Complete Diary of the Second Anza Expedition 1775-1776

   Continue reading »

   April 7th 2012

   Posted by Phil Hine in Gender, History, Occult, Pagan, Queer

   Tags: colonialism, eighteenth-century, shamanism

   1 comment »

3. Jottings: Queer Pagans or Queering Paganisms?

   I’ve been involved in the UK Queer Pagan scene for a number of years now, but whenever I decide to try and write about this, I find myself reflecting on what for me is a core issue – what happens when “Queer” is placed next to Pagan? Continue reading »

   March 9th 2012

   Posted by Phil Hine in Gender, Pagan, Queer

   Tags: jottings, reflections

   4 comments »

4. Jottings: On queering deity

   “The problem is not to discover in oneself the truth of one’s sex, but, rather, to use one’s sexuality henceforth to arrive at a multiplicity of relationships.”
   Michael Foucault

   I’ve been thinking a lot recently about Queer as a form of resistance to identification – a refusal to be categorised or reified into some kind of essential formation. Continue reading »

   February 10th 2012

   Posted by Phil Hine in Pagan, Queer

   Tags: jottings, reflections

   3 comments »

5. Pagan Paths for a Gay Man: Wicca or Druidry?

   I was recently asked by a young gay man if I thought Druidry or Wicca was more gay-friendly.  The answer isn’t simple, but I think it merits some discussion, so I decided to spend some time collecting my thoughts on the subject in writing. Continue reading »

   December 3rd 2011

   Posted by Brian in Gender, Pagan, Queer

   Tags: Druidry, Wicca

   9 comments »

6. Shamanism and gender variance: the eighteenth century – “torrid zones”

   “On my visit this Morning to Tynah and his Wife, I found with her a person, who altho I was certain was a Man, had great marks of effeminacy about him and created in me certain notions which I wished to find out if there were any foundations for. On asking Iddeah who he was, she without any hesitation told me he was a friend of hers, and a class of people common in Otaheite called Mahoo. That the Men had frequent connections with him and that he lived, observed the same ceremonies, and eat as the Women did. The Effeminacy of this persons speech induced me to think that he had suffered castration, and that other unnatural and shocking things were done by him, and particularly as I had myself some Idea that it was common in this sea. I was however mistaken in all my conjectures except that things equally disgusting were committed.”
   William Bligh, The Log of the Bounty, 1789

   Continue reading »

   October 7th 2011

   Posted by Phil Hine in Gender, History, Occult, Pagan, Queer

   Tags: colonialism, eighteenth-century, shamanism

   2 comments »

7. Pan: “disreputable objects of pagan licentiousness”

   “Shocking things go on here. You wouldn’t believe it! Licentiousness! Orgies! …. Even bingo. Oh yes.”
   Lurcio (Frankie Howerd), Up Pompeii

   Continue reading »

   September 5th 2011

   Posted by Phil Hine in History, Pagan, Queer

   Tags: eighteenth-century, Pan

   3 comments »

8. Multiplicious Becomings: tantric theologies of the grotesque – IV

   “Dismantling the organism has never meant killing yourself, but rather opening the body to connections that presuppose an entire assemblage, circuits, conjunctions, levels and thresholds, passages and distributions of intensity, and territories and deterritorializations measured with the craft of a surveyor.”
   Gilles Deleuze, Felix Guattari A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia

   “The Supreme Lord fashions the body and the senses, corresponding (to the sphere of) duality by the power of Maya, while through His power of knowledge He generates Mantras. Their body is the self-awareness which is the expanse (akasa) (of consciousness), and they denote the wonderful diversity of things.”
   Ksemaraja, commentary on the Spandakarika (Dyczkowski, 1992)

   For the final part of this extended essay I will focus on Sitala and her relationship with disease and possession. Continue reading »

   July 13th 2011

   Posted by Phil Hine in Deleuze, Queer, tantra

   Tags: bodies, Embodied, Sitala

   3 comments »

9. Multiplicious Becomings: tantric theologies of the grotesque – III

   “I salute You, Devi Sitala, and worship your feet. Wearing royal garments, yet You are space-clad. In Your right hand a broom, in the crook of Your left arm a water pot. You have with You pox-incense. A golden broom in Your hand, a golden pot on Your left side. Come, Ruler of Disease, accept the worship that is rightfully Yours, and offer salvation through Your unique quality.”
   Sitala Mangal Bardhaman Pala of Kavi Jagannath (Nicholas, 2003, p133)

   In the third part of this essay, I’m going to focus in on the goddess Sitala, frequently described as “the smallpox goddess” or categorised as a “disease goddess”. Continue reading »

   July 6th 2011

   Posted by Phil Hine in Deleuze, Queer, tantra

   Tags: bodies, Sitala

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10. Multiplicious Becomings: tantric theologies of the grotesque – II

    “There is something demoniacal or demonic in a line of flight. Demons are different from gods, because gods have fixed attributes, properties and functions, territories and codes: they have to do with rails, boundaries and surveys. What demons do is jump across intervals, and leap from one interval to another.”
    Gilles Deleuze, Clair Parnet Dialogues II p40

    “Busy in making themselves felt, the ganas were the comparitively infinitesmal quantities replete with the impulsion of his presence that swelled the host of the Great God. … The demonism and density of Siva’s entourage, which throbbed with the invisible and varied texture of feeling alive, was tinged with grotesque and lugubrious hues.”
    Stella Kramrisch, The Presence of Siva p395

    In the previous post, I examined Karraikal Aimmaiyar – “the woman who became a ghoul” and joined Siva’s ganas. This time, I’m going to take a closer look at Siva’s ganas – the hooligans of heaven. Continue reading »

    June 25th 2011

    Posted by Phil Hine in Deleuze, Queer, tantra

    Tags: becomings, bodies

    1 comment »

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