From: blchapma@eos.ncsu.edu (BEKKI LYN)
Newsgroups: alt.pagan
Subject: Re: New pagans and reading
Date: 2 Sep 92 23:48:29 GMT
Reply-To: blchapma@eos.ncsu.edu (BEKKI LYN)
Organization: North Carolina State University, Project Eos
Originator: blchapma@c00474-224wi.eos.ncsu.edu


In article <2AA452E8.11235@orion.oac.uci.edu>, cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese) writes:
|> Path: taco!rock!stanford.edu!ames!haven.umd.edu!uunet!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!news.claremont.edu!ucivax!orion.oac.uci.edu!skid.ps.uci.edu!cortese
|> From: cortese@skid.ps.uci.edu (Janis Maria Cortese)
|> Subject: Re: New pagans and reading
|> Nntp-Posting-Host: skid.ps.uci.edu
|> Message-ID: <2AA452E8.11235@orion.oac.uci.edu>
|> Newsgroups: alt.pagan
|> Organization: University of California, Irvine
|> Lines: 36
|> Date: Wed, 2 Sep 92 01:36:41 GMT+5:00
|> References: <1SEP199220045522@rosie.uh.edu>
|> 
|> An especially good piece of advice is to get the archaeological
|> information from the horse's mouth.  DO NOT TAKE AN OCCULT BOOK AS THE
|> LAST WORD IN ARCHAEOLOGICAL INFORMATION.

In fact, do not take *any* book as the last word in archaeological 
information.  As Janis mentions below, many have a favorite point they
wish to make or try to "prove" something they "already know".
Even if a point of view is blessed by most of the scientific community
now, it may be disproved later.  (Remember how many experts insisted
the earth was only 6000 years old?)

|>  Many people have an agenda or
|> certain point of view they want to push (this occurs in the scientific
|> community as well, of course, but usually gets torpedoed quickly by
|> other scientists), so try to get to a university library and find some
|> doctoral theses on the subject or some academic papers or textbooks.
|> Supplement this with the occult reading, of course, since the
|> spiritualists can shake you up and make you aware of the larger cultural
|> biases at work in the scientific community.  And trust your own
|> judgement at the last.  
|> 
|> I just finished two books on Minoan Crete -- _Town, Palace, and House
|> Cult in Minoan Crete_ by Geraldine Cornelia Gesell and another wonderful
|> one called _Minoans: Life in Bronze Age Crete_ by Rodney Castleden.
|> This last comes especially highly recommended, as it addresses many of
|> the commonly held "facts" about Minoans and how they may be
|> overidealized as peace-loving flower-children on the basis of very
|> little evidence (mostly on the sole basis of their very powerful and
|> vivid artwork -- it's really gorgeous).

I have also been doing some research on Minoan Crete.  I'm progressing
slowly because I have to fit it in between all the stuff I'm "supposed"
to be doing.  Fortunately, I've signed up to take an Intro to Prehistory
Anthropology course this semester even though I don't officially
"need" it for anything.

Minoan Crete is still very much of an enigma to me (but then it probably
is to most everyone else as well).  For instance, I have trouble 
sometimes trying to figure out whether the book authors are discussing
the Mycaeneans or the earlier people of Crete.  A lot of what was
written on the Minoan culture is guesswork based on our 20th century
experiences.  There are a LOT of different viewpoints written on the
Minoans, and it is amazing how fast those viewpoints change in a 
decade even.

On a side note:
Does anyone know if anybody is still doing any archaological work on the
Minoans, or are we just reprocessing the stuff that's already written?
What is the current situation?

|>  I am going to continue
|> researching into Crete, and supplementing it with my other readings by
|> Barbara Walker, Merlin Stone, Rosalind Miles, and others.  (A friend of
|> mine -- The Marvelous Sally -- keeps encouraging me to read Mary Daly as
|> well.)

Reading these authors are refreshing after reading some of the books dated
from the 1960's in which their authors couldn't seem to comprehend women
having much of a relevant role in ancient societies.  ("If women are such-
and-such now, then they were always such-and-such")

As far as archaeological validity goes -- I don't know.  I haven't been
studying the subject long enough.
 
|> Basically, don't make the mistake of taking Aradia et al as a valid work of
|> archaeological research on its own.  You can't approach something like
|> this from only one point of view.  Take heed in the fact that many
|> modern books written by archaeologists (especially about Minoans :-))
|> are written by people who are just as fascinated by the spirituality as
|> you are; that's why they're studying it.
|> 
|> Blessings,
|> Janis
 
With so much reading and experiencing out there, I sometimes wonder if
one ever becomes something other than a New Pagan...

Bekki Lyn
-- 

Bekki Lyn

************************************************************
"All's well at the midnight hour; you're ready to fly
 Don't think about the darkness, or the rumbling in the sky.
 Somewhere on the morning road just waiting for you
 Some things that just could never be are calling up a
   spell so you can see..
 Dream Evil, the dark that you find in the back of your mind
 Dream Evil Dream Evil -- DIO --
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