Amarfa has been studying the occult, wicca, and paganism for 17 years and counting. She has been a musician since age 5, studying first guitar, then accordion for 10 years, placing 2nd in her division in the 1995 ATARI/ATAM New England Regional Competition, and has been studying voice for 9. She has directed small early music ensembles, performed publicly, and starred in local theatre works, particularly the World Premiere of Nightsong, a musical theatre piece with direction and book by Jon Brennan and music by Kari Tieger and Kevin Campbell, as well as composing a musical of her own and writing music in her spare time.
I just had a thought-vampire stories involve a woman falling in love with a competent, but dangerous, man. Dracula came out in 1897, when the women's movement was strong, soon to result in women's suffrage. Vampire stories often involve a woman giving up her independence and competency to be with a man. She's hypnotized, can't look away, and he by turn, wants her lifeblood-that which keeps her alive and functioning. Is this a perspective on the rights of women? Is it possible that there is fear that a man will take a woman's right to live away from her? If not by force, than by stealth? That even so, a woman's nature isn't strong enough to resist? Are vampire stories in general just reinforcements of patristic ideas?
Have you ever wondered who the high priestess of Artemis was? it was Atalanta; a virgin huntress who could outrun just about everyone she met and protected the MEN she was with! According to Theoi.com, Atalanta was also a cross-dresser and her story carries overtones of transgendered and homosexual identity.
Now that I've given a brief synopsis of the Afternoon of a Faun and you've no doubt listened to or watched the video, I'd like to detour for a moment into a discussion about what makes music "Pagan or Not Pagan."
What would make a certain kind of music Pagan or not Pagan? There are two things that can be considered when it comes to subject matter in music: Textual references (such as lyrics, song titles, and instructions within the score) and secondly, the intent of the composer (as expressed through historical research of that composer and his or her colleagues). Of those two things, it is now to determine whether or not the evidence suggests that the intention of the composer could have been to disseminate his or her ideas about Paganism, or to capitalize on a popular trend.
Those of us who are deeply in love with classical music are already aware of the hot male sexuality that pervades these pieces. Is this a sexuality pure and untainted, as though man were meant to hunt for woman, or is it forcibly imposed because he came upon them asleep?
Erin Lale
Fellow faculty at Harvard Divinity School posted an open letter to Wolpe in response to his article. It's available on this page, below the call for p...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. The Wild Hunt has a roundup of numerous responses on its site, but it carried this one as a separate article. It is an accoun...
Erin Lale
Here's another response. This one is by a scholar of paganism. It's unfortunately a Facebook post so this link goes to Facebook. She posted the text o...
Erin Lale
Here's another link to a pagan response to the Atlantic article. I would have included this one in my story too if I had seen it before I published it...