August Reading

I've been reading.  I finished Ronald Hutton's "The Witch," which was more about using the historical or ethnological lens to have a global look at the cultural phenomenon of the witch, and less about actual witches or witchcraft.  He spent a lot of time criticizing Ginsberg's "Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath," mostly for folk-story back-projection.  The interesting histories, which I wished there had been more of a focus on, dealt with ancient Mesopotamian and Roman beliefs and records.  The tiresome histories dealt with when churchmen equated witchcraft with heresy (Satanism) and forced confessions into their paradigm of what an anti-Christian practice should look like.   Slightly less tiresome were the politically-motivated accusations of witchcraft between competing dynasties.  More interesting was the proposal that where random bad luck (e.g., lost crops) was less likely to have an economic impact or was more likely to be blamed on fairies, the result was less witch trials.

Okay; the most entertaining thing I read was that the Anglo-Saxon pronunciation of cc was "ch."  So it's spelled wicca, but it's pronounced (toss a coin to your) "which-ah."

Still, I think the comments about "service magicians" (folks who find lost items or turn the evil eye) and Hutton's five-part definition of a witch--which he used to nail down a specific cultural role--makes for some interesting ways to think about how to world build magic users in fantasy settings (i.e. are they evil, or can they use destructive spells for good? are they working with forces to bring down humanity, or are they simply annoyed at certain, bothersome neighbors? can they shape-shift?  do they fly for real, or only in spirit? how can they be resisted or counter-acted?  What is their relationship to the recognized, orthodox religion or state?) .  

[11-24-2020 Edited to add some additional notes]

The other interesting idea is that William Grimm compiled the idea of "The Wild Hunt," which might have had origins in the benedanti  and other European folk beliefs about "good ladies" leading a magical following to bless houses; or Norse rituals informed by Sami shaman  traditions.  I'm a little stymied about how stories about the riders from Annwn (Cwn Annwn) fit in.  

[end edit]

Moving on, I'm in the middle of Jane Yolen's "Choose Joy," which is less a manual for writers and more an inspirational tract.  So far the open secret about writing that she's shared is, "get your Butt In Chair and write every day."  While she does organize chapters by various writing tasks and novel structures, this is not a workbook like LeGuin's "Steering The Craft"--although I think the two make good companions.  Yolen makes me laugh out loud in places, which is a good thing, and is a perfect antidote to sadomasochistic writing advice out there.  

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Mark had made a comment about me not leaving the house on my writing nights, so last week I attempted to write out of the house at Hendrick's Park, but that didn't go over so well; there aren't many spaces to write comfortably.   I've concluded that one of the reasons I stick around the house is that it's covid-free, there are snacks, and, generally, spaces to write. 

On the submission front:  I had submitted a story to a contest and hadn't heard back from them; it turns out they choose contest winners and don't tell the losers anything -- so one story rejection by lack of response. The other story I have in the mail has been short-listed; I won't know anything more about it until probably October.   Sigh.  I need to work on my submissions.