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ladycatryx · 8 months

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In Defense of Harry Potter

If you or someone you love is a trans person in crisis: The Trevor Project‘s 24/7/365 Lifeline [US]: 866-488-7386 Trans Lifeline [US]: 877-565-8860 TrevorChat, (online instant messaging option) International Support: TrevorSpace

I minored in Gender Studies for both my Bachelor's and Master's. I have a bookshelf full of queer theory. I have several trans friends.

And I went to a Harry Potter themed party the other day.

Like many of my fellow 90s kids, I grew up reading Harry Potter. It was an era-defining feature of my adolescence, eagerly anticipating book releases and midnight movie theatre screenings. But unlike many of my peers, it is not merely a feature of my past. I still regularly read and write Harry Potter fanfiction. I have beautiful art books and unofficial compendiums chock-full of lore and behind-the-scenes details. I am a HP trivia wizard---or witch, as the case may be. I have so much investment into the lore and the world of Harry Potter, and I often find myself in Hogwarts and the surrounding Highlands in my dreams---even moreso now that Hogwarts Legacy has given us a first-person and 3D experience of the layout and landscape of the Wizarding World. So I relished the chance to don my Slytherin robes and get all dressed up in character. The pictures turned out great. But I couldn't post them on any of my social media. I have been told, in no uncertain terms, that anyone who continues to support or engage with the Harry Potter franchise is a TERF and a fascist. Full stop. To quote one of my friends, "I don't interact with Harry Potter media anymore. And frankly I treat any interest in it as a sign of transphobia for my own safety. So I really don't care to know much about the [Hogwarts Legacy] game aside from the disgusting blood libel it chose to use in it's narrative. It's a hard line for me as a trans person."

It's a controversial topic, to be sure. Now I absolutely hate cancel culture's tendency to drag something someone said 10 years ago into the spotlight and blow it out of proportion, even sometimes taking it out of its original context to spin it as a bad actor with bad intentions, and then to deny people the ability to apologize or acknowledge personal growth (see: what happened to Lindsay Ellis. Thanks, I hate it). But let's be clear: that's not the case here. JKR has only dug herself deeper into the hole, being belligerently and purposefully ignorant and cruel despite a PR team probably begging her to shut up, and despite an entire world of people who have attempted to teach her better. She has acted, and continues to act, in bad faith, even writing trans and queer-coded villains and serial killers into her latest books. This is not a person who has attempted to apologize and make right her wrongs when they've been pointed out. This is someone who has been given every opportunity to not be an awful person and instead has doubled down on her hurtful and hateful views.

So, now that we know JKR's true colors, clearly the entire world of Harry Potter is suspect, as is anyone who continues to enjoy it....right? Sure, maybe not everyone who still rocks their House Pride merch is a TERF, but, like the sandwich-eaters of Chick-fil-A who just need their chicken fix, they certainly can't be counted as allies....right?

I've struggled with this.

And maybe this entire blog post will be read as nothing more than a selfish person defending their right to enjoy a thing guilt-free in order to conveniently overlook or dismiss the harm they're doing by persisting in centering their nostalgia over the real-life danger JKR's views presents to trans people. You can be the judge of that, I suppose.

My impulse since all of this has been to lean into "death of the author," an argument that says, essentially, it is not authorial intent that matters for meaning, but the text itself that is authoritative. In theory, the text can speak for itself, and the way readers engage with it and interpret it can stand in isolation from whatever meaning was meant by the author. (For an excellent video on this subject, click here, and here for a JKR-specific one). But I'd like to expand on that here, because 1) as the links above point out, engaging with the work of a living author still empowers them and gives them a platform and 2) is usually just an emotional response to silo oneself from the guilt of consuming the content of a problematic creator. In other words, it's a cop-out.

But I'm a sociologist. I'm currently an ABD Ph.D. student. I specialize in theory, gender, religion, and culture---the latter is just an elaborate system of signs and symbols that we are embedded in and have to make meaning out of. And meaning-making is a messy business. Interpretation is a vital and integral part of meaning-making. Messages aren't just handed down from the heavens and absorbed---social actors are actively engaged in the process of receiving them. Sometimes there are interferences, misunderstandings, and mixed signals that scramble the meaning. Intent does not equal impact, and so the messages we receive and understand do not always correspond to the meaning that was meant. (Again, not saying JKR is misunderstood or that we're misreading her intentions here---she's pretty unequivocally awful. But I am saying that in a world where meaning is what we make it, a trash person can still produce something of value, since beauty is in the eye of the beholder.)

Sometimes reading a meaning other than that which was meant into something can have humorous consequences. Sometimes the results are disastrous. Sometimes it means that we humans, as pattern-seeking creatures, see the face of Jesus on a slice of toast, or a baby-shaped cloud in the sky the same week we find out a loved one is pregnant. I think the fact that we can make meaning where there is none and make beauty out of nothing is spectacular, miraculous. In this age of disenchantment, many people are looking for ways to reconnect and reenchant their lives, to create sacred rituals out of their mundane routines. We are meaning-seeking creatures, and with many people feeling burned by, disillusioned with, or distrustful of traditional religion, we are turning to nontraditional sources of wisdom and inspiration. For literal millions of people, the Harry Potter books have been one such source. And I think there is value to them still, despite what has come to light about their author.

In college, I was heavily involved in interfaith activism. I no longer identify as Christian, but I was raised Christian. And I started to feel the parallels from my own experience.

If a person has been hurt by a Christian, feels Christianity is toxic, identifies passages in the Bible that have been used to oppress or were the product of a time that was openly endorsing of slavery, homophobia, misogyny, etc...their experience is valid. They have a right to say "Hey, I was raised with this thing and at one point it meant a lot to me (or maybe not, maybe it was always forced) but it hurt me and I no longer feel comfortable there and I choose not to engage with Christianity anymore." They have a right to be wary if they hear someone is Christian and they don't know anything else about that person.

But no religion is a monolith. The Bible is not a monolith. For every passage that may be hurtful or harmful or be interpreted in bad faith to support a particular agenda, there are dozens more about love, kindness, and compassion. Religion has been the driving force behind so many wars and evils...but it has inspired countless good as well. The Bible has been wielded as a weapon to cause suffering as well as been looked to as a resource of hope and peace.

I'm not saying that cancelling someone for resonating deeply with the Harry Potter series and not wanting to give it up because of what it means to them is like asking someone to not be a Christian or to give up their faith so as not to offend others. Of course, the comparison seems flippant. Religion is religion! We give it special legal protections because of its literally sacred status. It concerns matters of ultimate importance. The other is...fiction.

But what is sacred is a social construction. I'm going to bracket here any discussion about the existence or nonexistence of deities, an afterlife, and etc. What does religion actually do for people? What does it mean in the lives of the faithful? It is a source of comfort. Of hope. Of inspiration. Of answers. It can be a moral guide, with lessons and instruction and a guide for how to live that others can model their own lives on.

Casper ter Kuile, cofounder of the podcast Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, (check out their values statement if you want to know where they stand---spoiler alert, they're as progressive as it gets) would not find the comparison ridiculous. In fact, ter Kuile (who is, by the way, a gay man) founded the project with a fellow student while at Harvard Divinity School. In his book The Power of Ritual (2020) he talks about how the HP books have been a source of solace and inspiration and sacred reflection for him---and not just for him, but for thousands. Millions.

"Millions of readers already treated the Potter books as sacred in their own way. Therapists and counselors report young people using Hogwarts as their psychological safe space to go to in times of struggle and pain. And it isn't simply a refuge from the world. The Harry Potter Alliance, founded in 2005, has mobilized thousands around the country to act on marriage equality, fair-trade chocolate, and other progressive issues, using the narratives and rituals from the books to motivate and shape winning campaigns. Just as social justice movements have reinterpreted biblical narratives like the Exodus story and quoted the psalms, so too the Harry Potter Alliance references characters and plotlines from the wizarding world to motivate readers into action" (2020:44-45).

The HP books have helped people (and kids) cope with the loss of loved ones, understand privilege, learn that adults, authority figures, and even the government that makes the laws can lie and be corrupted and may not always have one's best interests at heart. That what is legal is not necessarily right or just. That evil doesn't just look like pale, snake-faced men who attempt to murder babies---sometimes it's enough for people in power to do nothing, to care more about maintaining their own relative privilege, power, and comfort. That often bullies lash out because they too have been hurt, and that hate can be easier to speak than love when it's all that you know...but that in the end, it is our choices that matter, not our abilities or the circumstances of our birth. The books have powerful messages, and they have nuance.

Take, for example, Petunia Dursley. As ter Kuile points out, universally disliked. But:

"As Vanessa and I reread that first chapter, we saw a young woman, unsupported in motherhood, suddenly given a second infant to care for after the death of her sister. Imposed on by a world she has always envied and feared, with no explanation, she feels vulnerable to a society that can only spell danger. No doubt, Petunia is abusive to Harry. She neglects him in the most foundational years of his life. But this sacred reading illustrated that narratives of good and evil nearly always are more complex when we risk our hearts to explore a sacred reading. It not only gave me a new lens for understanding a character, but it challenged me to realize I'd let the polarizing news narratives construct simplistic binaries of innocence and guilt" (2020:49).

The books aren't perfect. Even the messages JKR wrote into the books aren't all good, even if many are. Many people despise Dumbledore despite the twinkle in his eye and his many wise sayings for the way he used Harry like a pawn, like a tool---keeping him in the dark and just getting him to survive long enough to get him to die at the right time. By putting him in danger year after year, putting responsibility on his shoulders that no child should ever have to bear. For thinking that there would ever be an acceptable reason to leave him in the care of abusers, blood or no, magical love ward or no. And I love fanfiction because this messiness is explored and unpacked.

And yet, in canon, this jock who married his high school girlfriend and became a cop named his son after that guy and the incel who lusted after his mom man who tormented him and his schoolmates for years (I do love Snape as a literary character though, speaking of nuance...) instead of, oh, Remus, Rubeus, Arthur...y'know, any of the other men that were actually decent father figures to him in his life.

And yes, there are some heinous things in the book, like giving the Asian character the name Cho Chang and the Black man the name Shacklebolt. The antisemitism of the way goblins are portrayed: big-nosed, greedy, and money-hungry. And don't get me started on the fucking shofar. It has become trendy to shit on the books and other related IP, even to the point of ridiculousness. (Case in point: the uproar over the inclusion of a trans character in Hogwarts Legacy. And not from TERFs, but from the progressive community. At first I didn't understand---performative allyship? Surely her inclusion, and the ability to make trans characters in the character create, is better than the alternative, right? Apparently, it's her name that's the issue: Sirona Ryan. I had to actually look up why people were mad because again, I didn't get it. Evidently, people took issue with the "Sir" and the "Ryan," arguing that two such masculine-sounding elements on a trans woman's name was the equivalent of naming her "Penis McMan." Yes, really. Guess we better tell Serena Williams she's canceled too for perpetuating the "Black women athletes are too muscular and masculinized" stereotype). Anyway, it's been a dogpile lately to point out the plot holes and the poor world-building. And I admit, fanfiction authors often wield some amazing transformative alchemy, building on some of the half-assed parts of the lore and magic system and turning it into something far superior to what is canon. Nevertheless, it is reductive and revisionist history to portray the books as something other than the international bestsellers that they are. They are not the most amazing, brilliant things ever written, and yes, there are series out there that deserve the fame and attention and accolades that the Harry Potter series got. But nor are the HP books terrible derivative drivel that suddenly everyone wants to portray them as. In reality, they're a mixed bag.

What they undeniably are is important to people.

People read sacred texts because:

"the thousands of years in which generations have engaged these texts is something we need to pay attention to; and that we can step into a continuous stream of conversation between the text and human beings that has lasted centuries" (The Power of Ritual 2020:38).

There are nuggets of wisdom and timeless truths to be found, even in fiction. There is nostalgia for those of us who literally grew up with these characters, being of a similar age to Harry, Ron, and Hermione as we first read the books. The HP series is fairly unique in being both culturally relevant---a pop culture touchstone (I can't recall ever attending themed midnight release parties at a bookstore for any other series)---and possessing of longevity. The HP generation is passing the books along to their kids now. It connects generations in a way not many other franchises do. Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are the only other ones that come to my mind at the moment.

JKR is a TERF (which is not a slur, incidentally). Unapologetic. An awful person, certainly.

But I've seen people call her evil.

We can debate the meaning of the term, certainly. Evil itself is not black and white---her own books taught me that. If someone is evil, can anything they produce contain some good? Or is it irreparably tainted? Can someone be evil and still donate millions of pounds to charities for the homeless and victims of domestic violence? Could an evil person be capable of writing such emotionally deep and nuanced characters?

I think we are all capable of great evil and great good. Again, I'm not advocating for forgiveness or redemption here---she's done nothing to earn such goodwill. I don't support her.

But I think there are ethical ways to continue to engage in and enjoy the franchise. Don't buy officially licensed merch---but the fan-made stuff on Etsy labeled "Red House" or "Magical School Badger House" I find fair game. Buy your copy of Hogwarts Legacy used, or borrow from a friend. (Personally, I'm pessimistic enough to think that there's nothing I personally can or can't do that will financially impact her in any meaningful way...throwing away all my HP merch and not buying the $7 Slytherin slipper socks at BoxLunch isn't going to make a dent. It's up to the major companies and corporations that have partnered with her in the past to license Harry Potter-themed merch to roll back their association, and for production studios and actors to refuse to associate with the franchise. That's what she'll notice and care about. But I digress.)

On a personal level, I find deep psychological satisfaction from identifying as a Slytherin. (I'm also that bitch who is way too into her MBTI archetype and knows her rising sign and other obscure details of her natal chart, so sue me.) Just the other day, I got into an argument with my partner, who accused me of employing leading questions to get information about his mental state and plans for the day---he prefers directness, I find subtlety to be much more polite. We speak different languages. That's not the point. The point is, he felt manipulated, and even though he knows me well enough to know it wasn't out of any malicious intent, it felt slimy to him. From my perspective, my approach comes from a history of emotional abuse from my father, who has Borderline Personality Disorder and a host of other mental illnesses I inherited (yay, trauma!) In other words, it's a survival tactic. (Self-preservation: also a Slytherin trait.) I had to learn to prioritize myself from a very young age to avoid being taken advantage of. To some, that may sound selfish. For me, it was survival. And the word "manipulation" gets a bad rap, but it literally means "to handle or control (a tool, mechanism, etc.), typically in a skillful manner." That isn't necessarily sinister or done with bad intentions. It's strategic. It's smart. It's what emotionally aware humans have evolved to do as social animals. We don't talk about manipulating tools as shady behavior. It's an asset, this ability.

Maybe that's my ambition speaking. But I wouldn't be where I am today---working hard to earn my Ph.D., having already earned a Master's Degree from a highly prestigious institution, having graduated summa cum laude with research honors at my previous university---without ambition. But I do understand that people distrust sly, slippery, cunning people. But Coyote is a culture hero, I don't abide by the maligning of snakes and serpents, and I'm a Prometheus/Lucifer apologist. People may not find their methods entirely honorable, but you can't argue with the results being for the greatest good. Those cunning folk use any means to achieve their ends. It all fits, and it's a label that allows me to understand myself and my motivations and priorities better.

If you've been hurt and betrayed by JKR and can no longer find solace in a world that was once a source of comfort for you, I grieve that with you. I understand, and I'm sorry. No one should be forced to engage with something they find tainted and harmful, and everyone must draw that line for themselves. But I think there are ethical ways to continue to enjoy and engage with a franchise that has been a source of joy and inspiration for so many, including those within the LGB+TGNC community. The text even lends itself to queer, subversive, progressive, and action-oriented readings, which is the sweetest form of reclaiming and empowerment, and which the queer community has a long history of---appropriating the hurtful and harmful and transforming it into something playful and prideful. Queer folx are the original alchemists.

It's an egregore now, especially the fanon version of the Wizarding World. It's the collective product of millions of people loving and investing in these characters and their world. It has taken on a life of its own, independent of its creator. And like Lucifer, like humankind, it can defy the will and designs of its master and break away. It's expanded beyond her. She may have built the framework of the house, but we grew up there. We furnished it. And we can return to move things around and play in it from time to time. Some of us never left. I won't give that up because I've been made to feel I have to.

Oh, and that Harry Potter themed party? It was held at a business that is an unofficial hub for the local queer community. A portion of the proceeds went to a local LGBTQ charity, and there were several trans people in attendance. And we all had a fabulous time.

#harry potter #jk rowling #fuck jkr #harry potter and the sacred text #casper ter kuile #sacred texts #hogwarts legacy #controversial #death of the author #sociology #religion

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resonancewitness · 3 months

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"...[being busy] makes it difficult to even be aware of our inner life, or how we’re really feeling.

(...)

[unplugging and spending time in solitude] inverts some of the most destructive stories we tell ourselves: that we are what we do, that we are worth only what we create. (…) it is all about remembering who we truly are.

(...)

Whatever your practice is, make it an intentional ritual. Light a candle. Recite a poem. Breathe ten times. Whatever you do, try to notice how taking this time heals and softens you. Our inner life is the foundation for our outer lives, so committing to this practice will yield countless gifts." Casper ter Kuile, “The Power of Ritual”, 64, 72, 73-74

#yizhan #bjyx #how reconstructing an untold story transforms us?#witnessing something precious #how do they cope with this sort of life day in and day out #what holds them up and helps them to go on #I am most curious about and I'll never know #resilience #how do you cultivate?#casper ter kuile

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darthfoil · 2 years

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"V: I also think like there is a problem with society that we think that marriage or long-term committed romantic relationships are the only way to create – "C: I agree. "V: -- a family. Cuz like, I just want to admit, right like, I feel much more secure now that I’m in a relationship with Peter. Financially, right, like, health-wise, like I just have someone whose like, moral obligation is to have my back. And that does, it makes the world less scary. But I just don’t think that that should be about romantic partnership. Friendships can be genuine partnerships, and often the people who make me feel cosmically not alone are friends. Right? Like, Peter is my home, but he’s like really really not my everything. "C: Totally. "V: And I just – I wish that society acknowledged that. I wish like, you can marry a friend so that legally you have all of those rights, but like that’s not a socially acceptable thing. I really hope that in the future,as so many identities become more fluid, that relationships also become more fluid. "C: I’m so interested in this idea, because we have a very limited set of legal categories that recognize very meaningful relationships. Like, one of the things I love learning about, when I was writing my newsletter last year, was in 1391, Sir William Neville and Sir John Clanvowe were buried together under a shared tombstone, and they lie facing each other as a married couple were. And they were, as the category was known at the time, sworn brothers. Where people, two men in this case, swore their true love and brotherhood for each other in public. And it was like, this kind of knightly commitment to one another,and it was recognized. Right? It had implications like, you could be buried together in this very public way. And like, we don’t have an equivalent today, where you get visitation rights, right? If you’re someone’s best friend, or if you’re someone’s like, long-term roommate or if you’re, you know, even like cousins who are really close don’t get the same treatment as siblings. Like, we just have this very limited understanding of where committed relationships can happen, and I think we’re all poorer for it. And I even feel this as a married couple, like, this is the ultimate legal standing, but there’s nothing beyond that, right? Like, what would it look like to live in a shared house with two other couples? Like, could that be some sort of family unit under the law? There are so many bigger, like, real questions open in this question, cuz it’s really about like, the pathways of relationship are limited in our culture. And it means that everyone loses. Like, why can’t we have a much more expansive understanding of what it means to love and commit to one another? I think we’d all be better for it. "V: Yeah. There were a couple of years when I was living in New York and I was single and I worked with two women who became two of my best friends, Dana and Jen, and all three of us were single, and I can’t tell you how not lonely we were. [laughs] Like – "C: Yeah. Right! "V: -- None of us dated, really, like, we had crushes kind of, but like, we would work together all week and then Friday night we would go out for margaritas and a movie. "C: I love it. [laughs] "V: And Jen would fall asleep in the movie. Right? Like [Casper laughs] and it was just like, we were just together all the time. And they were. They were my primary partners. My mom would come to visit and the four of us would go out. Right? Like, my mom had to see my two partners. And like, and we celebrated Valentine’s together. And I mean, it was just such a beautiful special moment, and those relationships have lasted, but now we’ve just like, all gone off to our romantic partnerships, [laughs] and it’s so much more boring! [both laugh] "

-- The Real Question, Bad Chaplaincy

Vanessa Zoltan, Casper ter Kuile

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sororfeminarum · 1 year

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My Dianic/Female Centered witch reading list (will update as I get more)!

The Holy Book of Women’s Mysteries by Z. Budapest (because obviously)

The Chalice and the Blade by Riane Eisler

Who Cooked the Last Supper? by Rosalind Miles

The Skeptical Feminist by Barbara G. Walker

The Spiral Dance by Starhawk

Women’s Rites, Women’s Mysteries by Ruth Barrett

The Pagan Book of Living and Dying by Starhawk

Moon Time by Lucy H. Pearce

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses by Barbara Ehrenreich and Deirdre English

Women Who Run With The Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes

WomanRunes by Starhawk and Molly Remer

Whole and Holy: A Goddess Devotional by Molly Remer

You are the Placebo by Joe Dispenza

The Power of Ritual by Casper Ter Kuile

Feel free to leave some recommendations! I really like hearing especially about non-pagan books that influenced your practice (like the last two listed here were for me)!

Blessed be! 🌙💫✨

#dianic witchcraft #female centered spirituality #female centered witchcraft #dianic wicca

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booksandwitchery · 6 months

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Stigmatization of the "Witch" and the Atrophy of Magickal Abilities

Folks seemed to like my post about demystifying the term “energy” in the witchcraft sphere, and that’s really cool because I think this topic is both interesting and important. Since I’m very much in the broom closet, it means a lot that we have an online space to celebrate each other’s esoteric ideas.

I’ve been thinking more deeply about the stereotypes surrounding witch culture. I wonder how many people out there are, for all intents and purposes, living the witch lifestyle but calling it by a different name. There is so much overlap between witchcraft and many different belief systems (Eastern especially), which is why witchcraft can be practiced regardless of one’s religion or lack thereof. But this stigma of the witch as problematic, kooky, evil, or otherwise unwholesome must leave people (including the witches by another name) with so many feelings or beliefs that go unvalidated.

Perhaps a middle-aged biology professor rejects the existence of gods but feels spiritual about morning dew on leaves, or freshly fallen snow. He doesn’t give himself permission to consider adopting a spiritual practice of any kind because in his social circles, any ritualistic praxis is equated either with theism or pseudoscientific mysticism. A church-going mother of three is drawn to divination or aligning her life with the phases of the moon but is ashamed because she’s been told her whole life that occult or pagan practices are wrong. A young adult recovering from the psychological damage of a strict religious upbringing closes herself to any ritualistic practice because society has conditioned her to equate ritualism and spirituality with deity worship or mystical nonsense.

It's no wonder so many of us feel lost! I want to give all these hypothetical people a big hug and tell them that what they’ve been told is just flat wrong. In the book The Power of Ritual, Casper ter Kuile remarks that ritual practices have become too tied up with bits of religious culture—that “institutions have turned mysteries into dogmas” and “the interlocking systems of oppression depend on our feeling alone and ashamed.”

I think that this is the very reason why humans have grown estranged from their own psychic and magickal capacities; like a muscle, these abilities atrophy when they go unused. Consequently, we lack even the ability to conceptualize and describe many valid facets of our own existence. I hope that someday, as a result of my own path, I can help people to strengthen these muscles and connect more deeply with the world.

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over-fen-and-field · 4 months

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End of year reading round-up! Woo-hoo!

My reading goal for 2023 was to read a book a week – while using very broad definitions of “book” (includes things like plays, novellas, and graphic novels), “read” (audiobooks and radio recordings count, not just written texts), and “week” (sometimes I read multiple short things in a week, sometimes it took me two or three weeks to get through a longer book). I’m also defining “finished” as when I’m done with the book, but not necessarily when I’ve read every word on every page – I picked and chose chapters a bit from the essay collections, for example, and bounced off a few books halfway through if they just weren't for me or weren't for me at that time. Anything with an asterisk is a reread. I have these roughly in chronological order of when I finished them, but I tended to be in the middle of several books at once and didn’t keep a good spreadsheet to keep track, so it’s a bit cobbled together from my memory and library records. Also, please note that just because I read a book, doesn’t mean I agree with or endorse all or even most of the ideas in it.

The Ministry of the Future by Kim Stanley Robinson

Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler

New York 2140 by Kim Stanley Robinson

The Lifecycle of Software Objects by Ted Chiang

Flight Behavior* by Barbara Kingsolver

The Water Knife by Paolo Bacigalupi

The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making* by Catherine M Valente

Deerskin* by Robin McKinley

Holy Silence by J Brent Bill

You Don’t Have to be Wrong for Me to be Right by Brad Hirschfield

A Letter in the Scroll by Jonathan Sacks

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler

One Nation, Indivisible by Celene Ibrahim and Jennifer Howe Peace

Chalice* by Robin McKinley

Braiding Sweetgrass* by Robin Kimmerer

Dracula* by Bram Stoker

Hamlet* by Shakespeare

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Here All Along by Sarah Hurwitz

This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared by Alan Lew

The Scientist’s Guide to Writing by Stephen B Heard

Everything is God by Jay Michaelson

The Cooking Gene by Michael W. Twitty

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible* by Barbara Kingsolver

The Power of Ritual by Casper ter Kuile

Unsheltered* by Barbara Kingsolver

Pride and Prejudice* by Jane Austen

Cadillac Desert by Marc Reisner

No Cure for Being Human by Kate Bowler

Everything Happens for a Reason and Other Lies I’ve Loved by Kate Bowler

Jane Eyre* by Charlotte Bronte

Praying with Jane Eyre by Vanessa Zoltan

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Barrel Fever by David Sedaris

When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris

Proverbs of Ashes by Rita Nakashima Brooks and Rebecca Ann Parker

The Splinter in the Sky by Kemi Ashing-Giwa

Staying with the Trouble* by Donna Haraway

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

The Incarnations by Susan Baker

Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire by Rebecca Ann Parker and Rita Nakashima Brock

The Anthropocene Reviewed* by John Green

The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

My Promised Land by Ari Shavit

This is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone

Enemies and Neighbours: Arabs and Jews in Palestine and Israel by Ian Black

Dragonflight* by Anne McCaffrey

The Masterharper of Pern* by Anne McCaffrey

The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

A Peace to End All Peace by David Fromkin

Dragonsdawn* by Anne McCaffrey

Overall, I’m feeling pretty good about the list! There are definitely some themes that pop up again and again, but there’s a nice mix of genres, fiction/nonfiction, length, tone, first-time reads and rereads, etc. I haven’t set a formal goal for this coming year yet, but I’m hoping to get some off-the-beaten-path recommendations from friends for things that I wouldn’t otherwise have heard about – so, if you have any favorites, I’d love to hear about them!

#Fen's rambles #2023 #end of year reading list #I didn't actually think I'd meet my goal #But yay!#I guess the good thing about having a slightly disastrous pre-field-season-construction-period is that I had hours and hours and hours #of audiobook time #most of the books from about August to November were audiobook “reads”

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ritualistic-therapeutic-humanism · 1 year

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Meditations on Ovid’s Metamorphoses as a Secular Sacred Text

I’ve never really felt like I had a book that was mine. I was an avid reader from an early age, but I’m not someone who rereads anything if I can help it. Even my favorite books have tended to be one night stands - I’ve never really gotten into a long term relationship with a book where I keep coming back to it again and again.

As a secular humanist, some of that is to be expected. I’ve seen people post pictures of their well-read Bibles, full of highlighting and underlining with choice pages earmarked and post it notes all over. That’s not something I’ve ever had. Sure, I was raised Christian, but even as I tried to understand the faith tradition I was raised in, I was never nourished by my delves into the Bible, even if I found a lot to interest me.

So when I found out about Casper ter Kuile and Vanessa Zoltan's secular sacred reading practices, I was intrigued. Maybe this was the missing piece I needed to let books speak to me in a way they never had before?

For the past few weeks, my partner and I have been reading short passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses using the Four Ways reading method outlined here, which is based on the practice of Lectio Divina.

I’ve gotten a lot out of this practice. My partner remarked early on that it was a lot like Tarot reading, but he felt a lot more connected to it, and I can see what he meant.

A text really breathes when you read it again and again. You notice things you’ve missed, you make connections you never would have otherwise, and doing it in community really helps bring another perspective into things.

Even simple things like reading Ovid’s account of the war of the giants against the Olympian gods took on a new meaning and resonance when my partner suggested that the image of people being born out of the blood of the giants shed onto the Earth might be connected to the messiness of actual human childbirth.

And comparing and contrasting yourself to figures in these myths results in some very interesting introspection. The story of Pan and Syrinx, might seem like a wholly fantastical story where a nymph is transformed into the first set of Pan pipes, but then we found ourselves drawn to phrases like, “she called on the nymphs of the stream to transform her”, which subsequently turned into a lengthy discussion about how everyone needs help and support networks, and we found ourselves being called by the text to reach out to and be more appreciative of our amazing friends and family.

Not every conversation manages to dive all the way to the depths of the human soul, but a few of our discussions have touched on very intense or important topics to the two of us, and I feel so grateful to share this time with my partner.

I encourage everyone to look into secular sacred reading practices like Four Ways Reading / Lectio Divina. It might add new life to your favorite books, and while I think it is especially well suited to mythological texts like the Metamoprhoses, it was originally suggested by Vanessa and Casper as a way to take the books you already read and re-read and add another dimension of enjoyment to the experience. I think almost anyone could benefit from this injection of the sacred into their lives.

#secular humanism #secular sacred text #hpsacredtext #religio romana #paganism

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thedailydesk · 4 months

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sunday - 7:41 am - desk view: the last few minites of my 54th book of the year, notes from a pinterest-via-tumblr post on writing advice.

the book review: CULTISH by Amanda Montell

I didn’t love this book, but that’s honestly on me. I was rushing to finish it before the end of the year (even though I already surpassed my reading goal), and I’m not very good at paying attention to audiobooks. I can only focus well enough to absorb everything if I’m travelling or cleaning, and I wasn’t waiting for optimal times to listen. In 2022 my word of the year was “single-tasking.” I failed miserably to live up to it then, and I’m still pretty dreadful at it. (I’m currently watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix while reading this, and I’m reading another book on commercials.) Anyway, I didn’t get what I was hoping to out of this book because I would zone out for just a few seconds and miss a vital transition, and I had trouble connecting names of cults to their details. I tried to explain what I was learning to my partner, but I could never be quite sure which details went together. But I was very excited when she quoted Casper Ter Kuile’s THE POWER OF RITUAL because I have been an OG fan of him since the beginning of Harry Potter and the Sacred Text, before he wrote his book. Anyway, I got another of Montell’s books from the library (WORDSLUT) so I’m excited to read that one on paper in 2024.

Have a great night everyone, and be safe!

#the daily desk #city #writer things #writing #writers on tumblr #writers and poets #writerscommunity #books #book review #currently reading #audiobook #amanda montell #linguistics #non fiction #new years eve

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jungchicago · 5 months

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Jung in the World | The Power of Ritual: Simple Practices that Restore the Psyche with Casper ter Kuile

Transcript This podcast and everything we do is only possible because of donations by generous individuals like you. Contribute to our Fall Fundraising Drive to ensure that we can continue providing free and low-cost educational resources and training. SUPPORT THE INSTITUTE Author Casper ter Kuile joins Patricia Martin for a lively discussion about how to restore our spirits and communities…

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2023readingyear · 9 months

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cavenewstimes · 9 months

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Casper ter Kuile sees America’s religious decline as an opportunity

(RNS) — Where many observers look at American religion and spirituality and see decline, Casper ter Kuile sees the changing faith landscape as an opportunity. “We are in crisis today. Too many of us feel isolated and bereft of purpose. What worked for prior generations is failing,” said ter Kuile, the founder, most recently, of The Nearness, in a recent interview. “But I think we’re both…

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fandomforward · 3 years

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Schedule some time to slow down, pause, and find joy.

We are honored to have Casper ter Kuile from @hpsacredtext at our next healing retreat on Monday, December 7 at 3 pm ET.

Mark your calendars!

#harry potter alliance #retreat #Casper ter Kuile #Harry Potter and the Sacred Text #Online events

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resonancewitness · 3 months

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“Perhaps you’ve had a similar experience with a [story] you adored: that sense of falling into its world, knowing the characters and landscapes intimately — even if they are invented in your mind. (…) That sensation tells us something important. It suggests that reading is not just something we can do to escape the world, but rather that it can can help us live more deeply in it, that we can read our favourite [stories] not just as novels, but as instructive and inspirational texts that can teach us about ourselves and how we live. We can treat a [story] as sacred not because we are going to believe that the storylines within it somehow explain the mysteries of the universe, but because they help us be kinder, more compassionate. They help us be curious and empathetic. And they offer us a mirror in which we get to reflect on the motivations that live behind the actions we take every day. This is the power of reading [stories] as a sacred practice: they can help us know who we are and decide who we might want to become”. Casper ter Kuile, “The Power of Ritual”, p.36-37

#yizhan #bjyx #bxg #casper ter kuile #witnessing something precious #finding ourselves in their story #a healing dose of beauty #resonance #loyalty and commitment #appreciation of beauty and mastery #how reconstructing an untold story transforms us?#sacred reading of visual texts #the untamed #bts

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authorstalker · 3 years

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My January & February Reads

The Particulars of Peter, Kelly Conaboy - Do you like dogs? Get this book! Do you like to laugh? Get this book! I've followed Kelly's online writing for years - she has such a unique, funny voice and she tends to blog about topics that are vital to my happiness (dogs, Gilmore Girls, scented candles). She's as obsessed with her dog Peter as I am with my dog Pedro, and her essay collection is an exploration of modern dog ownership. She and Peter attend a dog festival, dog dancing lessons and agility classes, and she investigates issues like whether it's okay for your dog to sleep in your bed and the ethics of spying on your dog with a nanny cam. If you are a dog lover or know one, this book is a perfect gift.

Becoming, Michelle Obama - I borrowed this forever ago from my friend Sarah, but I put off reading it because I was too stressed about the election. Thank you to everyone who voted correctly so I could finally read Michelle's memoir! I mean, what is there to say? The woman is incredible. I especially enjoyed the insider info, like did you know that when the president travels, his team has bags of his blood type at the ready, just in case - that's wild.

Fake Accounts, Lauren Oyler - If you read this, don't look up any reviews or interviews ahead of time because they are full of spoilers! Being stuck inside the narrator's head is mostly unpleasant, but the story sucked me in and I read for hours. Plus it made me laugh a lot - the narrator is a miserable bitch, yes, but I loved her mean observations. Will people who are *not* Extremely Online be able to like or understand Fake Accounts? I dunno but I'm curious.

The Finishing School, Muriel Spark - So weird, so funny, and only 190 pages. This is my ideal book. I want to mail it to my friend in Paris because it will also be her ideal book, but I can't figure out if France is accepting mail from the U.S. during Covid. Kate, please move back to New York so I can give you books again.

People We Meet on Vacation, Emily Henry - I hit such an emotional low point in February, but then I got this book via NetGalley and I swear to god it cured me. I read it twice in two days! Friends to lovers perfection.

Single, Carefree, Mellow, Katherine Heiny - Between this story collection, her last novel (Standard Deviation), and her absolutely amazing upcoming novel (Early Morning Riser), it's time to make it official: Katherine Heiny is my favorite contemporary author.

The Morning Gift, Eva Ibbotson - Why don't my friends listen when I tell them to read Eva Ibbotson? If you're reading this blog post, get The Morning Gift and A Song for Summer - those are the two I've read so far and I wish I could exist in a permanent state of reading them - romance, food, art, music, Mozart, family, cozy Christmas scenes, nature, everything wonderful! I loooove Eva's writing but unfortunately she's dead, so I have to pace myself the way I do with Laurie Colwin's books, uggghhhh.

The Power of Ritual, Casper ter Kuile - This one is all about creating rituals that connect you with people and nature. Taking internet breaks was only a small part of the book, but it was the most useful for me! I'm stealing Casper's weekly "tech sabbath" ritual, which I'm interpreting as not going on social media at all on Saturdays (hence why I'm here writing this book roundup instead of scrolling Twitter).

Weather, Jenny Offill - Weather is 200 pages written in Jenny's standard fragmented style, so it was easy to read in one sitting. Her books blend sadness and humor in a way that vibes with my soul, and she packs every page with random facts - her novels are almost like quirky, depressing textbooks, and I mean that as a compliment. I'm not sure Weather will stick with me in the same way her other novels did, however; it is maybe too fragmented and spare. I enjoyed it and I’m still thinking about moments from it, but it didn't feel complete.

Beth & Amy, Virginia Kantra - I'm so grateful for these Little Women modernizations, what a treat! Virginia Kantra took the most boring March sister and the most hated March sister and gave them the best stories, all while staying true to the classic characters.

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