Santa Muerte: The Enigmatic Allure of the Beautiful Girl
David Metcalfe reports on the many lives of Saint Death. Continue Reading →
Tag: david metcalfe
St. Valentine's Fallen Face
By David Metcalfe
An urban youth lends no pastoral allure to chalky candy charms and flimsy cardboard tokens. Until, within a sepulchral view of a rose adorned skull, faint echoes of divinatory lots and sympathetic magic are discerned beyond St. Valentine’s fallen face.
Wandering beyond mercantile districts, into a dispersed and disputed hagiography, we find him moving with all the invisibility of an adept. Through Jacobus de Voragine, a partner in beheading with St. Denis, whose street leads the alchemist Flamel to his vocation.
Here, outside of time, we see him fully, valorous knight of Christ, and patron over the grand feast of amour fou.
Continue Reading →
St. Valentine’s Fallen Face
By David Metcalfe
An urban youth lends no pastoral allure to chalky candy charms and flimsy cardboard tokens. Until, within a sepulchral view of a rose adorned skull, faint echoes of divinatory lots and sympathetic magic are discerned beyond St. Valentine’s fallen face.
Wandering beyond mercantile districts, into a dispersed and disputed hagiography, we find him moving with all the invisibility of an adept. Through Jacobus de Voragine, a partner in beheading with St. Denis, whose street leads the alchemist Flamel to his vocation.
Here, outside of time, we see him fully, valorous knight of Christ, and patron over the grand feast of amour fou.
Continue Reading →
I Love You, I Do.
We asked our Near and Dear to tell us something about today, the day when we celebrate love–or loss or absence or grief or joy or chocolate or the color red. Valentine’s Day is one of those not-so-holy (or so-holiday) holidays we bump into on the annual calendar, on our way to spring, rebirth and Easter rising. We didn’t really know what we’d get for our asking.
It’s an odd and fascinating assortment of reflections and observations from some of our favorite loves–our regular contributors, family and friends. Happy Valentine’s Day! We love you, we do!
“Month of Valentines” by Stacy Doris
“#MyGrownUpValentine” by Ashley Baxstrom with image by Angela Zito
“A Buddhist Valentine” by S. Brent Plate
“My Friend” by Jacob Glatstein, translated from the Yiddish by Peter Manseau
“A Valentine Offering” by Genevieve Yue
“My Wish this Valentine’s Day” by George González
“A Simple Dinner” by Anthea Butler
“St. Valentine’s Fallen Face” by David Metcalfe
“Heart in the Snow” by Mary Valle
“A Red Bagel” by Adam Becker
“The Gospel of Sacred Candy Hearts” by Amy Levin
“Be Mine” by Jeremy Walton
image: “Heart to Heart” by Angela Zito Continue Reading →
Outer Phenomenon and Inner Journey
A review of David Halperin’s Journal of a UFO Investigator (Viking, 2011)
By David Metcalfe
Riddles chased mysteries, were chased by enigmas, around and around my brain. –from Journal of a UFO Investigator
On June 24, 1947 the U.S. Air Force pilot Kenneth Arnold witnessed a series of angular, wedge shaped objects skipping like saucers across the sky near his plane. Although he described them as angular or wedge-shaped, from his statements about “a pie tin cut in half” the news reports gleaned the word “Flying Saucer.” The media’s misrepresentation of his description stuck, defining the iconic image of the UFO for decades to come.
Ambiguity from eye witness accounts, media misrepresentations, ‘expert’ analysis, and the phenomenon itself, pervades UFO culture at every level. On this unstable ground David Halperin builds his debut novel, Journal of a UFO Investigator, weaving the tale of young Danny Shapiro as he experiences alienation and personal growth inside the shifting realities of 1960’s UFO research and its heretical place in the cultural struggles of the mid- to late-20th century.
As a noted religious scholar specializing in traditions of heavenly ascent and the heretical messiah Sabbatai Zevi, Halperin may seem like an unlikely candidate for authoring a debut novel about UFOlogy. In truth, however, his expertise allows him to uncover some of the more perplexing and valuable aspects of the UFO narrative, and show how even at its most flimsy, the cultural phenomenon surrounding UFOs can provide real insights into the human condition. Continue Reading →
Pagan Elitism
From Star Foster’s recent post at Patheos:
To be an intellectual Pagan is to some degree an elistist thing. The communities that do offer support and sometimes resources are often semi-closed and even secretive. To study Paganism requires not merely dedication and time, but money, proper geography and heart. To enter into a Pagan tradition requires more than just being an egghead, you have to have passion, love and a desire for ecstatic mystery.
Is this a good thing or a bad thing? I don’t know. What it does seem to create is a system by which every generation of Pagans is a first generation. A movement made up of converts who have to fight the same battles for understanding over and over. Someone I spoke to at PSG said that they thought the most amazing development in Paganism were children being raised in our traditions. These children don’t have to wrestle for understanding like we have and are free to move forward in new ways.
(h/t David Metcalfe) Continue Reading →