Music of the Neopagan Movement: Idenity, Creativity and Commodity

Music of the Neopagan Movement:
Identity, Creativity and Commodity

I dance at the Sabbat when you dance out the Spell
I dance and sing that everyone be well
And when the dancing's over do not think that I am gone
To live is to Dance! So I dance on, and on!
~ from Lord of the Dance


An important part of constructing an unique identity for a new religious movement is creating ritual and music that is differentiated from other religions while not alienating new possible adherents. Music can be a strong factor in whether someone joins a religious movement. As a fairly new religious movement, Neopaganism is an ideal case study in how religions use music to define themselves. Defining what is Neopagan music is not always easy as Neopagan is a term that at times escapes definition itself. Issac Bonewits defines Neopaganism as, “polytheistic (or conditional monotheistic) nature religions that are based upon the older or Paleopagan religions; concentrating upon an attempt to retain the humanistic, ecological and creative aspects of these old belief systems while discarding their occasional brutal or repressive developments” (Bonewits). Sabina Magliocco refines this definition with stating Neopagan values: “a strong participatory ethic, resistance to certain forms of hierarchical esoterism and an emphasis on spontaneity, variation and creativity” (Magliocco, 101). The question that arises is how a religious movement can keep the spontaneity, variation and creativity going while creating a lasting community and religion, especially in regards to music? A brief overview of Neopagan music will help put the question in historical perspective, then the focus will examine identity and community building, creativity, and commodity in the movement.

At the beginning of religious movements, music and ritual are often borrowed from other traditions. Neopaganism is a good example of this, but by no means rare among new movements, for example, Rastafarians used Baptist and other Euro-Western church music in the first decade of the movement (Reckord, 238). In early Neopaganism, music was borrowed, often folk songs or popular songs with changes to the lyrics. Another popular source was and continues to be music from other religious traditions, sometimes with changed lyrics. This repurposed music and even a tradition of unique songs grew popular. Margot Adler recalls that during the growth of the movement, a new popular song or chant would spread throughout the U.S. quickly, achieving a type of universality to the movement. Today the movement has a smörgåsbord of musical offerings to choose from. There is the more traditional music that has a folk style, Neopagan music is also available in heavy metal, rock, pop, and jazzy flavors. Pagan rock is exploding, some of the offerings even reaching mainstream audiences. Andrea Nebel Haugen, a self-identified Pagan musician says, “It’s not about returning to the lifestyle people were living 1000 years ago. It’s about bringing the old wisdom back into our existing lives. Pagan traditions are living traditions, living wisdom that is just as important today as it was back then”. With the large variety of music available, there is certainly something that will appeal to any Neopagan, however there is a perceived lack of shared community identity with having no shared music.

While the large offerings available of Neopagan music “represents a real flowering of art and music within Paganism and Wicca”, on the other hand, it also in some ways shows a lack of community. Two groups can meet and have no songs or chants to help build common ground (Adler, 441). While many American Christians share the songs like Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art between denominations, today there is not a unifying song among Neopagans or even among the larger traditions. Many in the 1970s and 1980s were familiar with artists like Gwydion Pendderwen, but Neopaganism is currently suffering from a lack of a common voice. This can be a real problem in a world where there is a “growing importance of media for contemporary religion and spirituality” (Lynch, 482). Readily available music from the Internet can make it easier for seekers to choose to examine a new religious path, however having no common music or even rituals encompassing the Neopagan tradition can make it hard to find a place to start dialogue about the changes that being a more established tradition can mean. For a religious community to exist and thrive, it needs to define what is important to it regarding important items like music, ritual and pageantry. Helen Burger argues about changes in current Neopaganism, stating that there is a continuing trend of sharing of resources among Neopagans and that this is leading to a routinization of the movement. She further argues that much of this arises from the “need for legitimacy” (Berger, 49-52). The main criticism of this argument is that is hard to establish a set tradition, musical or otherwise, for such a diverse group. A tradition starts with a single person deciding how they want to go about doing a ritual or what music can be used in it, then teaching it to others and using it again and again. Berger argues that “creating a tradition, something to teach your children, involves a lessening of spontaneity” (Berger, 60). There is a pull from both directions, both towards an establishment of traditions and to keep spontaneity and creative juices flowing. Neopagans that are for the establishment of traditions and even set music and rituals to go with the traditions are often struggling with the dual demands of career and children, something not always present at the beginning of the movement. On the other hand, spontaneity, creativity and full group participation is what drew many Neopagans to the movement to begin with, disliking the codification of more mainstream religious practices.

Another practice under debate within the community is the commodification of practice. In most larger bookstores today, there is a large section on Neopaganism, including books, tarot cards and CDs. Rituals are being copyrighted and musicians that would have likely played for festivals for the joy of it are asking for large payments in order to attend. David Waldron wrote one of the best essays on this topic, Witchcraft for Sale! He states that,

“The development of a sense of community requires a loci or sense of focus around which a community identity is shared... [and that] the intrusion of the realm of commodity into the constructions of Witchcraft identity and community structure, has led to increasing conflicts between popularist consumer-driven models of Wtichcraft identity and Witchcraft configured as a symbolic expression of counter- modernity... in opposition to the dominant cultural matrix of capitalist and patriarchal modernity” (Waldron, 44).

The emphasis on making money has appear to change the approach some Neopagan musicians take, making them more likely to skirt closer to cultural norms and to the more popular expressions of Neopaganism. Neopagans have long seen themselves as a counterpoint to modern society, a return to something more natural and in tune with paleo-peoples. Music and ritual being seen as simply items for sale changes the dynamic of the community in ways that are only beginning to be felt.

Neopagans are in a pivotal point in their history, where they will make decisions on where they are going as a movement. Are they going to consolidate into set denominations, where each has a particular ritual and music library that they pull from or are they going to find another way to construct their community where they can keep the spontaneity and creativity that makes the movement appealing to so many? Music will continue to have a large role in the construction of identity in Neopagan communities, however common songs and chants that are freely shared might both keep the feel of the community that began as an alternative to the larger culture and establish a shared component to the tradition that will be helpful in teaching children and new members alike. Religious scholars are just beginning to focus on the impact on music on new movements and Neopaganism is at an engaging junction of change that does not present itself everyday. Christopher W. Chase states, “part of what Pagan music seeks to accomplish is the work of creating, reinforcing, and testifying to the "authenticity" and power of the religious tradition in question” (Chase, 4). Neopaganism is an area in the examination of music and its impact on religion that needs further study.


Bibliography

Adler, Margot. (1986). Drawing down the moon: witches, druids, goddess-worshippers and other pagans in America. New York: Penguin Books.

Berger, Helen A. (1995). The routinization of spontaneity. Sociology of Religion, 56(1), 49- 61.

Bonewits, Isaac. (1976). The first epistle of Isaac. The Druid Chronicles (evolved), 2(4).

Chase, Christopher W. (2009). Approaching the sacred grove: the Orphic impulse in pagan religious music. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.

Lynch, Gordon. (2006). The role of popular music in the construction of alternative spiritual identities and ideologies. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 45(4), 481- 488.

Magliocco, Sabina. (1996). Ritual is my chosen art form: the creation of ritual as folk art among contemporary pagans. In J.R. Lewis (Ed.), Magical Religion and Modern Witchcraft (pp. 93-120). Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

Pendderwen, Gwydion (Performer). (2005). Lord of the dance. On The Music of Gwydion [Medium of recording: Record] San Fransico: Serpentine Music. (1975)

Pitzl-Waters, J. and J.Z.W. Hannah (n.d). Interview with Andrea Nebel Haugen of Nebelhexe and Hagalaz’ Runedance. Retrieved from http://www.wildhunt.org/pagan/hagalaz.html

Reckord, Verena. (1998). From burra drums to reggae ridims: the evolution of rasta music. In N.S. Murrell (Ed.), Chanting down Babylon: a Rastafari reader (pp. 231-252). Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

Waldron, David. (2005). Witchcraft for sale! : commodity vs. community in the neopagan movement. Nova Religio: The Journal of Alternative and Emergent Religions, 9(1), 32-48.