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600

Subject: DIANISM IN A NUIT-SHELL

              Recently, I got back in touch with my teacher after nearly t
wo
     years and dropped a  couple of bombshells on her:  I had changed gend
er
     identity and  had come together with  two other women to  form a Dian
ic
     coven.  When the initial shock wore off, Rita sent me a complete run
of
     Protean Synthesis and a solicitation for this article.

             Several years ago I subscribed to several stereotypes regardi
ng
     "those  peculiar Dianics".   They  were thealogically  unbalanced, th
ey
     hated men, they denied that men had souls, they were all lesbians, th
ey
     couldn't  spell  (in the  orthographic sense;  no  one has  yet accus
ed
     Dianics  of inability to work magick), etc.  etc.  When I came togeth
er
     with  my covensisters,  I  realized that  these  notions were  at  mo
st
     partially true and some cases were patently false.

            I believe there are only three valid generalizations that can
be
     made about Dianics:   1) We are all feminists.   2) We all look  to t
he
     Goddess(es)  far more  than to the  God(s).   3) We  are all eclectic
s.
     Note  well  that  there  are plenty  of  non-Dianic  feminist  Witche
s,
     non-Dianic   eclectics,    and    non-Dianics   who    are    primari
ly
     Goddess-oriented.    There are  also  doubtless a  good  many feminis
t,
     Goddess-oriented eclectics who do not choose to call themselves
     Dianic.   In  my own  case I  use the  "If it  quacks  like a  duck,
it
     probably is  a duck" argument, as well as  the fact that my HPS learn
ed
     the Craft as a Dianic and runs Dianic rituals.

              Some of the stereotypical generalizations I can dismiss out
of
     hand.   I don't know of a single Dianic who denies that men have soul
s.
     Even  Z Budapest doesn't  believe that piece  of tripe anymore!   It
is
     true that  Dianism is particularly attractive to  separatists, and ma
ny
     separatists  actually hate  men.   Many  Dianics  are lesbians.    So
me
     misspell words  like "woman", women", "egalitarian",  and "holistic"
on
     purpose.   Not all fit these, however,  and I think that  Z Budapest
in
     her younger, or spiritual bomb-throwing, days represents an extreme a
nd
     a small minority.  There are a number of males involved in Dianism, a
nd
     some of those are men [NB:  I use the terms "man" and
     "woman"  to indicate gender identity,  that is, how  one's heart, min
d,
     and/or soul  are configured.   I  use "male"  and "female" to  indica
te
     physical  sex, that is, how one's plumbing  is configured.  I hope th
is
     dispels confusion.].

            Thealogical and magickal imbalance is not so easily dismisseda
nd
     needs to be addressed further, as that is the most valid objection th
at
     thoughtful  Witches have to Dianism.  The apparent imbalance comes fr
om
     the Dianic emphasis on Goddess-worship, often to the complete exclusi
on
     of God-worship.  This  upsets many Witches' sense of  polarity balanc
e.
     The  resolution of this apparent imbalance lies in the consideration
of
     other  polarities than  sexual and/or gender  as the  primary polarit
y.
     There  are  indeed  many other  polarities  to  consider:   true-fals
e,
     life-death,   dark-light,    rational-mystical,   creation-destructio
n,
     order-chaos, and good-evil, to name but a few.
     One problem with  the masculine-feminine  polarity is that  there is
 a
     strong tendency  to express all other  polarities in terms of  it.  T
he
     Chinese  were particularly  fond of  this, and  mapped  everything th
ey
     liked into the  yang side, and everything they disliked  or feared in
to
     the yin side, the patriarchal no-accounts!

                                                                         6
01

            One thing I have discovered is that if you look hard enough, y
ou
     can find  goddesses to  fit both  ends of most  polarities.   Some ev
en
     occupy both ends simultaneously.  Inanna, my matron goddess,  is a go
od
     case in point.  She is the Sumerian goddess of love, war, wisdom (whi
ch
     she won  in a drinking bout!),  adventure, the heavens,  the earth, a
nd
     even  of death (in the  guise of her dark aspect,  Ereshkigal).  A ve
ry
     busy lady indeed is Inanna.  At this point it
     becomes  largely  a  matter  of  personal  preference  rather  than
of
     polarity, whether one chooses a god or a goddess to occupy a particul
ar
     place in a ritual.

            No Dianic I know of denies the existence of the God.  Indeed,
He
     gets  mentioned as the consort of the  Goddess with some frequency in
 Z
     Budapest's HOLY  BOOK OF WOMEN'S  MYSTERIES, which is close  a thing
as
     there  is to a Dianic version of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows.  He
is
     there, and  sometimes we will invoke  Him, when it is  appropriate.
He
     makes  His  own path,  and  we  follow our  own,  and  when they  cro
ss
     naturally we honor Him  and do not avoid Him.  We also do not force t
he
     paths  to cross simply to lend an  artificial balance to a ritual whe
re
     none is really needed.

               Now that I have spilled agood deal of ink over what Dianism
is
     not, I  should now say  a few words  about what it  is:  a  movement
of
     feminist, eclectic, Goddess-oriented Witches.

            Feminism: This covers avast multitude of virtues and sins.  I
do
     not  think the stereotypical radical lesbian separatist is as common
as
     is believed.  Moderate to liberal feminism is probably far more commo
n,
     even  among Dianics.  Certainly  my own coven  contains no separatist
s!
     There are too many nice  men out there, even though surveys  have sho
wn
     that 70% or more of all  men are potential rapists.  The nice  ones a
re
     found among those who are not in that repulsive majority; you just ha
ve
     to look to find them.  One of  the places you might find such nice  m
en
     is in Dianic covens!  Some are  mixed groups, at least some of those
of
     the branch founded by Morgan McFarland.  My
     own is something  of a  mixed up  group, I suppose.   While  we do  n
ot
     currently have  any men in the coven, two of  the three of us were bo
rn
     male and still have  original-equipment plumbing.  The Goddess  and o
ur
     HPS accept us unreservedly as women.

             Eclecticism:  If there is one dictum of Z Budapest's that bea
rs
     repeating to everyone in the Craft, and which gets followed by many,
it
     is  "When  in doubt,  invent."   Dianics  tend toward  creative ritua
l,
     drawing from any and all  possible sources.  I have yet to see a Dian
ic
     equivalent of the Gardnerian Book of Shadows, nor do I ever hope to s
ee
     one.


                                                                         6
02

               Goddess Orientation: I've discussed this at some length whi
le
     talking about polarity.  There are some wags who have said that Diani
cs
     are nothing  but matriarchal monotheists.  I tell you three times:  T
he
     Dianic  Goddess is  NOT Jehovah  in drag!   The  Dianic Goddess  is N
OT
     Jehovah in drag!   The Dianic Goddess is  NOT Jehovah in drag!   A mu
ch
     closer  analogy would be that Dianics have taken the Classical panthe
on
     and reclaimed most of the roles.  This, too, is oversimplifying, but
it
     is not nearly as wide of the mark as the usual
     criticism.  At some point  I may write up a long exegesis on the Dian
ic
     Goddess, but not here.  My own personal involvement with Her comes fr
om
     a great feeling  of comfort I do not find elsewhere.   She feels righ
t.
     I have  a great deal of difficulty accepting known rapists (most of t
he
     Olympian  males are  this, especially  Zeus, Hades,  and Pan!)  into
my
     personal pantheon.  I also feel a personal vocation from the Mother;
it
     is rather incongruous to me to embrace a male deity wholeheartedly wh
en
     the Goddess comes to me and calls me Her daughter.  This  goes double
d,
     redoubled, in pentacles, and vulnerable for lovers of women.

           I hope this little discussion of Dianism-in-a-Nutshell has prov
ed
     enlightening to you.  It is not a path for everyone, but it is  a val
id
     path for some, and in considering it I hope that you can now ignore t
he
     garbage that has been put forth in the past as "data" regarding it.

                                   Inanna Seastar
                                   Birdsnest Coven