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A Literary Mystery

He's arguably the 20^th century's most famous Phoenician: Phlebas, the uncrowned Fisher King of T. S. Eliot's monumental 1929 poem The Wasteland.

IV. Death by Water

Phlebas the Phoenician, a fortnight dead,

Forgot the cry of gulls, and the deep sea swell

And the profit and the loss.

A current under sea

Picked his bones in whispers. As he rose and fell

He passed the stages of his age and youth

Entering the whirlpool.

Gentile or Jew

O you who turn the wheel and look to windward,

Consider Phlebas, who was once handsome and tall as you.

“Death by Water” has haunted me since first I committed it to memory as a graduate student years ago.

Perhaps because the lament for Phlebas is the lone entirely comprehensible section in Eliot's ruined city of a poem, it has gone oddly undiscussed by critics. Apparently, it has never occurred to even a single commentator to ask about the name itself.

In fact, it has much to tell us.

Frequently Asked Question: Why do some people say Asatru is a religion and some say it's a folkway? What's the difference and who is right?

My answer: There are heathens who practice only the religion, heathens who practice only the folkway, and heathens who practice both. There are also xians and secular communities who practice various of the folkways we heathens claim as heathen, and some pagans who practice them too, for example maypole customs. Whichever way you want to do your heathenry is fine.

I was going to write an article about the Pleiades in Minoan spirituality and culture for today’s blog, but the research time for that got pre-empted by the fact that my husband was hospitalized and then had major surgery. I promise to write about the Pleiades later. But the whole surgery-and-hospital thing got me thinking about the role of the deities in our lives and how that has changed—or hasn’t—since ancient times.

My husband just had surgery for a problem he’s had for a couple of years now. Just a century ago, before antibiotics were available, the first bout of it would have killed him. But with antibiotics and modern medicine, he managed to out-wrangle the condition and may have kicked it for good.

Brazil struggles with its ongoing political crisis. Another incident illuminates the ongoing problem of Islamophobic violence. But things might not be as bad as they seem if one takes the long view. It's Fiery Tuesday, our weekly segment on political and societal news from around the globe! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!