Plus Ça Change…

I’ve decided to make a change to this blog.

I’ve been writing several years now. When I started, I was just some queer punk social worker in Seattle who suddenly saw gods.

Lot’s changed since then. I’m still a queer punk, and I still truck with gods. But I’m not a social worker any longer–I’m just a writer, and the managing editor of an increasingly popular anti-capitalist Pagan site.

That means I’ve got two audiences; the people who read me for the stuff I’ve always loved to write, the vulnerable musings about gods and love and the world, the brutally honest stuff, the stuff I write when I’ve just come down from some profound spiritual experience and want to share it with people whom it will help inspire.

I’ve also an another audience; people who don’t know that sort of writing from me, but know me as a theorist, a Pagan anarchist, a strong and fierce critic of Capital and the State, someone not afraid of controversy and willing to call out fascist, anti-Muslim, and racialist ideology in Paganism.

I’m both those people, of course. And lots of other people, too. I’m another person to my lovers that no reader will ever see, another person to my friends that no stranger will know. And I’m yet another person to myself. I’m all those people.

When I started writing, it was pretty simple to write intimate stuff, because only those who cared about who I am ever read me. The same with those who wanted to know about my experiences with gods. And those who wanted to know about how all that fit into being a queer, and an anarchist.

Along with all the people reading me because they want to hear what I have to say are now people who hate my influence, hate the wild success of Gods&Radicals, and hate that we’re taking Paganism and Polytheism away from their right-wing goals.

Recently, I’ve realised I was trying to be aware of all three audiences in all of my writing, the people who wanted theory and liberation, the people who wanted passion and magic, and that third audience, the ones who write more than 20 posts a month about me or the site I run hoping that, if they smear us enough, we’ll go away.

There’s a lot of overlap in the first two audiences, of course. Though I know have as many non-polytheists as polytheists reading about my relationship with the gods, that hasn’t affected my writing about the gods. And though there are now as many non-Pagans as there are Pagans reading Gods&Radicals, that’s only enriched my writing there. But what has changed in the last few months has been my willingness to be vulnerable about things, knowing that a handful of crypto-fascists have little better to do than twist what I say towards their own ends.

They won’t go away, of course. While their audience has shrunk incredibly, while I’ve met no one who actually takes them seriously anymore, they’ll be the last ever to admit it. And judging from their recent associations, they’re finding quite an eager audience with the very New Right I warned about.

More so, they’re unlikely to stop being awful to people who stand up to them. Creating a fake website with my name to smear me, harassing supporters and friends, crafting lies about the police or lawyers being called–much of this is actually minor compared to what they’d done to others before me, and probably minor compared to what they’ll try against people newer to magic and the gods.

The Change

I said I’ll be making a change to this blog. It’s actually one I’d considered back in March, but put off until many friends today urged me to consider it.

The majority of essays, poems, and other works on Paganarch will be available primarily to supporters, starting with my next pilgrimage journal. Patreon supporters, donors, close friends, fellow writers at Gods&Radicals, and those who would like to read my words but cannot afford to will have access to everything I write after today.

All previous posts will continue to be available to everyone; everything I write here will require a password.

This will allow me to do several things.

First, it will mean that I can return to writing the sort of stuff I did before I became well-known. I’ll have a smaller audience here, and I’m actually looking forward to that.

It will also help me interact more with those who’ve supported me for so long through Patreon and other means. The Patreon interface is horrible for blog-posting, and because I’ve been traveling I’m behind on a few promised perks.

It will also help me keep a better boundary between my personal life and my increasingly influential public life. Being the managing editor of a quickly growing Pagan anti-capitalist site with readers in over 60 countries and writers in 6 is pretty fucking awesome. It also puts me under a lot more scrutiny from the aforementioned petty-tyrants and the people with real power who are starting to notice us. That sort of scrutiny greatly affects the way I write; removing that from my more artistic writing will greatly liberate me.

How do I read your stuff?

If you are already a Patreon supporter at any amount–or were in the past–you’ll get a password to let you read new posts. You don’t need to be an active Patreon supporter; those who’ve supported me in the past but no longer can will still get this password.

If you are a funder of Gods&Radicals, you’ll also get this password. I’ll send you an email with it.

One time donors of any amount through Paypal will also receive the password. If your email is different from your paypal email, use the contact form below to send me a message with your preferred email address.

And close friends, family, lovers, and people I think are really awesome will also get this.

Some posts will be made public after a period of time, and I will occasionally post public pieces here that don’t fit anywhere else.

You can still read my writing (without a password) on Gods&Radicals and other places. Following me on twitter is the best way to find out about new posts; Facebook also works (though they now heavily throttle page feeds).

 

If you’ve any questions, use the contact form below..

Thanks, and be well!