[pagan-magik] Re: pagan-magik Digest, Vol 1, Issue 2

[Steve (Dionysian Underground)]

Sara is right about Guy Fawkes, though according to my
sources he was more precisely a Spanish mercenary
called Guido Fawkes who was employed by a group of
English 'Catholic Conspirators' to blow up Parliament
and return England the the Catholic fold. Though some
revisionist historians suggest he was actually a
double agent, and an agent provocateur, *against* 
'Catholic Conspirators', as his act led to the arrest
(and sometimes death) not only of the alleged 
'plotters', who professed their innocence to the end,
but also many other 'dodgy characters' in the States
eyes. A bit like 9/11 perhaps.

I say 'Catholic' conspirators in inverted commas as
some of these 'plotters' had connections with an
occult order called the School of Night, a kind of
Saturnine alchemical 'secret society', within a
Catholic mystical tradition that verged on Gnosticism.

Whatever, Fawkes got roasted for this and his image is
put on bonfires at this time of year as 'the Guy'.
But as Sara said its not clear whether his failure and
death on the bonfire is being celebrated, as is
officially claimed, or whether the fireworks celebrate
the 'gunpowder plot' to blow up Parliament as has
often been demonstrated at grass roots level(including
one year by a public firework display ending with the
blowing up of a scale model of Parliament!) Its
suitably ambiguous.

What isn't ambiguous though is that before Guy Fawkes
images of Popes were burnt on the bonfire, and still
were till recently in the very wild and pagan bonfire
night in Lewes in the Sussex countryside. This was a
Protestant anti-Catholic event in Guy Fawkes time so
he got absorbed into it, though some say that this was
a pagan anti-Christian event in some earlier period
before this, and always secretly was for some (though
thats controversial, but if you ever saw the
traditional Lewes event, and its apparently preserved
pagan goings on, including the Green Man procession to
the bonfire, you might be inclined to believe it). 

One book I read though claimed that before Popes were
burnt, images of witches were burnt on the bonfire,
debunking the pagan claim. However other pagans say
these witches represented 'evil eyed crop blighters'
and were likewise burned by 'good pagans', but this is
highly speculative. Though no doubt pagans regretably
burnt other pagans in the wickerman in Celtic times. 

What does seem to be the case is that a bonfire night
of some kind (intepreted in all sorts of different
ways) was always associated with Nov 5th going back
many centuries before Guy Fawkes. My guess would be it
was originally a Celtic Samhain fire rite (like the
Beltane fire on the opposite side of the year) and Nov
5th might be a displacement from Nov 1st, similar to
the Roman displacement of the Winter Solstice from Dec
21st to Dec 25th. And maybe it included a burning
wickerman rite. But thats pure guess work.


Hope that helps.

Steve  





 

  

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