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Modern Pagan Writing
There are basically two types of modern 'scholarly'
Pagan writing, the Recovered and the Discovered. The first type is that
which references to old (usually unknown or obscure) texts. Some of these
are real, most are not. Some of these book are purely fiction and done
for money while others are written by authors who are unaware that what
they write is fiction and that their own sources may be unverifiable. With
either one of these scenarios, much work must be done to research these
sources. Any referenced source must be searched out and verified. This
process needs to continue as many levels down until it cannot go any further.
The process is long, costly and possibly fruitless. It is necessary though.
Any real sources must be uncovered and brought into the scrutiny of the
public.
Alternatively, any false works must be found out
and discredited as soon as possible. Either way, such texts must be given
attention. The Discovered focus more on the modern views and modern practices.
The most prominent example of such a writer is Isaac Bonewits. Instead
of focusing on the literature of the past, Bonewits brings into his writing
a new classification system, new theories based on current research and
new perspectives on issues such as ethics and methods. This kind of writing
will be the cornerstone of the Reconstruction. As fundamental as the past
is to our being, we cannot let Druidim fall into the trap of living in
the past. Druidicm is about observing what one sees around themselves.
I contend that a new writer which does not take the here and now into account
in their writing is doing a disservice to us. We must be as grounded in
the now as we are in the past.
For both types of writing, though, the issue of license is a
key element in the survival and growth of Druidism.
Words and Licenses
The concept of writing for profit is far younger
than writing itself. In the far past, writing was a special activity. The
cost of the material and the time it took to produce a written work made
doing difficult, timely and unprofitable. Stories were oral traditions
and popular stories may be conveyed through plays. This served both to
entertain the masses but also out of the simple issue of dissemination
of written material to a large group.
As religions go, the vast majority of religions
were passed down orally, many times as a way of keeping sacred information
secret and preventing it from reaching people it was not intended to. This
method presents two difficult problems. First, it makes the knowledge fragile.
If in two generations the knowledge is not passed on properly, for reasons
of oppression for instance, then the knowledge is irretrievable. For those
who claim that the knowledge of our religions if built into the sky and
earth itself, I'd argue that it took hundreds of years to discover and
refine the knowledge, which is not retrievable in it's purified form. Secondly,
oral tradition does not allow for individuals to study on their own. This
is potentially a positive reason as it allows there to be strict control
over the way the information is presented, but it can't be utilized
by those who are in a position where a good teacher is unavailable.
Writing for profit began shortly after the invention
of the modern printing press. The second boom in writing for profit came
with the advent of the "paperback". This represented the idea of books
produced cheaply and for mass consumption. Now writing became a profession
for writers, who could now realize their dream of disseminating their work
to millions of people.
Unfortunately these changes brought to light the current problem.
People know what is popular and what is popular is what sells. Unfortunately
this more often than now does not correlate with quality but with what
tantalizes the public either by controversy or by reassurance. This
phenomenon can be seen quite clearly in the New Age literature.
The problem has been spelled out, so now I propose
a solution. This solution will be hard to take, but unfortunately it seems
the only way. As spelled out previously, it seems obvious that we
must not allow Druid culture to die again. For this reason, it must be
written down. Furthermore, it must be freely distributable. Copyright restrictions
must not be the barrier that prevents important religious text from potential
practitioners. This freedom also entails taking the power away from the
publishing companies as they stand now and placing it in two places,
that of the author and that of the public. This will ensure that popularity
will not dictate what people know about and that all religious texts have
a chance. It then is up to the individual (or their teacher if possible)
to make the distinction between quality and garbage.
Most specifically, I am calling on Druid writers to license their
works under a license such as the Open Publication License or a similar
license that allows the free distribution of their work in some form or
another. If this license seems to extreme, I suggest construction of another,
one which would allow electronic distribution but which would force sale
of printed material to have a certain proportion of profits to be given
to the author.
Many skeptics may ask, why should a publisher or
store who wishes to print such a book donate any profits to the author.
What is stopping this from happening today? Photocopiers abound yet the
illegal sale of illegally copied books is rare. We also must ask ourselves
who our target
audience is. If we are targeting our work to Druids, wouldn't real
Druids wish to follow the request of the author and contribute back?
In return for giving up your freedom to take in all the money
from the sale of your book, you are helping to ensuring that your work
can live on. Even if every single printed copy is destroyed and only one
floppy disk exists with a copy of your work, the potential can remain that
the work can live on and be distributed to future pagans. I also suggest
authors who wish to publish do it in house using a print on demand
publisher which would give them a higher percentage of the end profits.
That would be the first step in preserving what we have done. Opening our
literature (even if only the most introductory of it) would provide us
with a safety net, a starting point for a generation where we and all we've
accomplished are gone.
Controlling the pipe, steering a river
With this license and the flow of writing and writing
which will come. The problem afterwards is what is good and what writings
is unpolished, innacurate or otherwise not suitable for our seal. For this,
I suggest that the Druid community band together and create a standards
board. This standards board should consist of a committee whose members
are comprised of at least one member of a representative of the major
Druid organizations (ADF, Keltria, OBDA, etc). One doctor in history specializing
in the Druid times not belonging to any of the aforementioned organizations
(though he may be Druid in religious beliefs). With this committee,
books which meet the high standards by which this delegation would abide
would give said book their "seal of approval".
A second solution would be if the Druids would come
together and make a purchase of a publisher. Such a publisher could itself
be the standards body and additionally could ensure that all profits from
Druid works would be returned back into the community. This control of
the pipe is not unique, many mainstream religions have publishers which
are controlled by them r are trusted by them to publish religious work
which meets a high standard.
Both of these solutions have possible problems associated
with them. A standards body while sounding fair and objective at first
has two major problems associated with it. First off, such a group
would have to actively seek members of the community which would both want
to vouenter and would be suitable. It is rare that the leader who would
best serve on such a board would not be involved with other activities
and would be unable to complete their duties.