Pagan Magazine Vs the Pagan Federation

Fig. 1: Pagan: The Magazine of Blood-Knowledge Issue XXVIII (Spring 1989)

Fig 2: Letter from Leonora James, President of the Pagan Federation (1 Nov 1989)

 

I. 

 

A reader writes:

As someone who is researching the history of paganism in the UK during the twentieth-century, I was naturally interested in a remark made in a recent post published on Torpedo the Ark [1] concerning some kind of dispute between yourself and the then President of the Pagan Federation, Leonora James, in the 1980s.

      

You allege that she threatened to report you to the police on the basis of some artwork sent to her, but provide no further details of this incident, nor any proof with which to back up this claim. If you could provide a little more information and any documentary evidence relating to this case that you may still have in your possession, I'd be most grateful.    

 

 

As I'm always happy to assist those doing research, here then are a few more details as requested, along with materials submitted in evidence ...

 

 

II. 

 

Issue XXVIII of Pagan Magazine was entitled 'Expressions' and was dated Spring 1989. 

 

It mostly consisted of a selection of poems written over the winter months and illustrated with some of my favourite works by several German Expressionists, including Ernst Ludwig Kirchner and Otto Mueller. 

 

Later that year, I decided to try and get some support from the Pagan Federation (PF) for what I was doing - not just the magazine, but also a line of Pagan T-shirts - and wrote to the then President, Leonora James, a high priestess in the Gardnerian tradition of modern pagan witchcraft. 

 

The PF had been founded in 1971 and aimed to protect the rights and raise the profile of all those who described themselves as pagan and to provide information on pagan beliefs and activities to the wider community and media. Vivianne Crowley, founder of the Wicca Study Group in 1988, was appointed Secretary of the PF in that same year.   

 

Just to be clear: I wasn't a member of the PF and didn't seek membership. I was simply looking for recognition and, perhaps, some financial assistance (though I had no idea of whether they provided such). 

 

Unfortunately, after a long wait to hear back from the PF, I received the following letter dated 1 November 1989:

 

 

Dear Stephen Alexander,

I am returning your paedophile mag unopened herewith. If it is a serious attempt at Pagan erotica, we suggest you leave Paganism and join the Church of England, where choirboys seem to be all the rage, according to the many documented criminal convictions in the last year. If it is an attempt by artists to interest Pagans in paedophilia, buzz off, we're not interested. If its lurid cover picture is intended to link Paganism with paedophilia in the public's mind, rest assured, we shall take any future issues straight to the police for investigation - of you. 

The neo-Nazi overtones of the picture's legend are unlikely to arouse much interest among Pagans of the Norse tradition. Asatru is concerned with building a free and honourable lifestyle for people of all ages, not with living out regressive fantasies about children. 

May the Gods guide you through your misconceptions, and don't bother us with this kind of rubbish again. 

 

Sincerely, 

 

Leonora James

President, Pagan Federation

III.    

 

I have to admit, I still find this frankly bizarre and ludicrous letter as astonishing today as I did when I first read it. My reply read as follows:

 

 

Dear Ms James,

                        

Your letter referring to Pagan Magazine (Issue XXVIII), leaves me absolutely astounded. You accuse me of paedophilia, eroticism, and neo-Nazism and base all three accusations purely on the cover alone! 

      

Of course, I strongly deny at least two of the above charges: Pagan Magazine is not a paedophile publication and nor does it have any neo-Nazi overtones, undertones, or sympathies. And if it sometimes features erotic art, it is hardly pornographic in character (nor a 'serious attempt' to be such).

      

I'm not quite sure what troubles me most about your letter: your ignorance and philistine stupidity; or your hysterical obsession with child-sex. The image you describe as 'lurid' is in fact a well-known work by the German Expressionist Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. 

      

As for the phrase blood-knowledge in the magazine's subtitle, please note this is taken from D. H. Lawrence and refers to a way of knowing that is intuitive and instinctive; i.e. pre-mental and non-headbound. It has nothing to do with the racial politics of the Third Reich. 

      

Returning to the erotic aspect of Pagan Magazine, if this worries you so much then I suggest you rename your church of the closed mind and unopened text the Puritan Federation! It's shocking that someone like you is a representative of the pagan community, as your letter clearly demonstrates you are unworthy of such a role. 

 

'May the gods guide you through your misconceptions ...'

 

Stephen Alexander Von Hell

PS: please note how, at no time, did I threaten to send a policeman after you ...!

 

PPS: I will one day expose your foolishness. 

 

 

Thirty-five years later and it seems that my second postscripted remark has finally come to pass  ... 

 

Image used on the Contents Page of  

Pagan Magazine XXVIII (1989)

 

Notes

 

[1] The post referred to - 'Pagan Magazine: Remembered and Reimagined' - was published on 1 August 2024 and can be accessed by clicking here. Another recent post in what might be thought of as the Pagan series can be read by clicking here.