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LivingAMagicalLife ACR 2009
LivingAMagicalLife ACR 2009
Roll Your Own Religion: Consumer Culture and the Spiritual Vernacular
Linda Scott, University of Oxford, UK
Pauline Maclaran, Keele University, UK
critics say leads to apathy and meaninglessness. Far from abandoning the thirst for meaningful existence, our subjects show an
irrepressibly hopeful and creative search for the sacred.
SESSION OVERVIEW
Consumer researchers have long questioned the traditional
separation between sacred and secular that typifies other thought in
the social sciences (Belk, Wallendorf, and Sherry 1989). In this
symposium, we will build on this work in several ways.
The most salient difference will derive from the focus of place:
all the sites here are European, while previous study in the stream
has been in America. Our three sitesItaly, Ireland, and England
not only represent a geographic departure consistent with the theme
of the conference, but also represent fundamentally different circumstances for studying the approach to spiritual experience. All
three countries have historically been what James Twitchell called
single-supplier societies in his recent book, Shopping for God
(2007), where the church is closely intertwined with, if not indistinguishable from, the state. Consequently, these countries, especially
Ireland and Italy, have traditionally allowed considerably less of the
religious pluralism that Twitchell argues had lead to a market-based
approach to spiritual practice in America, where consumer choice
and church competition are the order of the day.
Nevertheless, in all three cases, we will demonstrate a clear
trend toward what Twitchell has also called vernacular religionin which consumers either produce ritual objects themselves, re-purpose traditional religious props, or shop off the shelf
from other religious traditionsto use for their own inventive,
often empowering, spiritual practices. In this way, we will also be
building further on the work by previous scholars in consumer
behavior, who have focused primarily on the sacralization of the
secularwhere consumers imagine or treat everyday objects in a
manner that echoes, but does not attempt to constitute, a religious
practice (e. g., Muniz and Schau 2005).
In other work, consumer researchers have examined the commercialization of religious spaces and objects within the American
experience, but framed by an existing official church (e.g., Belk and
OGuinn 1989). Again, the geographic setting makes a difference:
all three of the sites examined here are places with long religious
histories, reaching back hundreds of years into the pre-Christian
erayet the cultural memory of the pagan past is still manifest in
practice and the places themselves are fundamentally hybridized,
thus arguably more open to consumer reinvention. At the same
time, these three settings are no less open to the influences of
globalization than any American site; consequently, the consumers
and the places both often invoke or reflect contemporary media. As
a result, a layering of past knowledge and practice with presently
accepted doctrine, as well as with new tropes and needs, is present
at these sites in a more transparent and conscious way. Thus, our
symposium will also marry the approach to religious practice with
Thompson and Tians recent work on the cultural memory of place
(2008).
We will add an important methodological layer to that originally proposed by Belk, Wallendorf and Sherry (1989): we not only
tack between the field and the sociological literature for insights and
analysis, we also consult the sacred texts and myths invoked by the
practices under study, as well as the actual religious histories of the
sitesand incorporate the layering provided by contemporary
texts from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Harry Potter.
Finally, our work demonstrates poignantly that humans are
still spiritual seekers, even in a consumer society that so many
EXTENDED ABSTRACTS
Bidding Brigid: Objects of Petition and the Euhemerized
Goddess
Darach Turley, Dublin City University, Ireland
Often referred to as Mary of the Gael, St. Brigid holds preeminent and emblematic status among Irish Catholics. Though her
reputation is not confined to Ireland (there are 40 dedicated sites in
Brittany, as well as 10 pre-Reformation dedications in England, the
most prominent at Glastonbury), it was probably due to her popularity in this strongly Catholic country that Brigid was spared in the
Vaticans recent purge of the saintly pantheon.
Brigid, like most who were thus swept away, lived in the
transition period when the pre-Christian was being assimilated into
Christian orthodoxy. St. Brigid is said to have died in 524AD; the
Churchs first life of this saint was written soon thereafter, in the 7th
century. Yet even this early biography includes attributes of a
Celtic, pre-Christian goddess of the same name. Indeed, there is
increasing evidence that the Christian St. Brigid is in fact an
euhemerization and thus an artefact of an astute and far-sighted
sixth century Papal stratagem, in which pagan sites and objects
were reinvested with a Christian connotation, instead of being
destroyed and replaced. Attributes of the tutelary Celtic goddess
appear to have been appropriated and grafted on to her saintly
virginized namesake. And while the persona of the Celtic goddess
has obviously been obscured in this process, there are sufficient
similarities and parallels between both to posit a composite of what
constitutes a Celtic goddess. Thus, an examination of surviving
Brigidine festivals and lore suggests that the cult of St. Brigid
represents a perfect exemplar of this pagan-Christian syncretism.
For instance, the pre-Christian Brigid was a goddess of fertility and
growth and the guardian of livestock; St. Brigids feast day is
celebrated on February 1st, the first day of Spring. Miracles attributed to Brigid are characterized by lavish abundance and fecundity.
Her life story depicts her very much as a transitional, hybridized
figure. For example, she has a noble (married) father and a slave
(unmarried) mother; she is born at sunrise, a transition between
night and day; on the threshold of her mothers home-in Irish
folklore a symbol of the penumbra between inner and outer worlds.
Later in life, Brigid becomes an abbessthus she attains the
hierarchical status of a male bishop. A superordinate female member of the Celtic pantheon, the pagan Brigid was creator of both
natural land formations and the great megalithic structures of the
British Isles. In keeping with the Celtic predilection for triads, she
was also a poet, healer and artisan.
Today, popular devotion to the Christian St. Brigid resonates
with her pre-Christian ancestry. At St. Brigids Holy Well in
County Clare, Irish consumers marshal an array of objects and
possessions to both reflect and shape religious and mythological
beliefs. The well itself is situated at the back of a stone grotto.
Shelves along the entrance to the grotto are bedecked with a
dizzying assortment of objects left by pilgrims: romantic religious
artifacts such as rosaries, Italianate holy pictures and statuary
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rituals. During meditations or dreams, neo-pagans may remember
past lives when they were Avalon priests, Siberian shamans or
Tuscan witches. Such vivid images, at least to a certain extent, may
be influenced by their readings in history, anthropology and fiction.
This paper contributes to literature on sacred consumption.
While magico-religious metaphors have been widely employed in
consumer behavior, most studies have been concerned with the
sacralization of the secular rather than the use of consumption
goods to seek transcendent experiences. In particular, this paper
explores the interplay of science and fantasy in the shaping of
counter-cultural mythologies and consumption practices. As they
engage with alternative spirituality and magical activities, members of the pagan community expose themselves to selected body of
scientific knowledge and inspiring images from popular culture
that shape their experience of the spiritual otherworld. Consumer
researchers have highlighted the role of mass-mediated culture and
selective readings of history in shaping of consumer ideologies and
fantasies (Belk and Costa 1998; Thompson 2004; Thompson and
Tian 2008). These same sources may also affect spiritual experiences.
Spiritual Tourism: Mystical Merchandise and Sacred
Shopping in Glastonbury
Pauline Maclaran, Keele University, UK
Linda Scott, University of Oxford, UK
Set in the heart of Englands countryside, Glastonbury town
has become the main centre in England for what Bowman (2004,
273) describes as spiritual tourism. Dominated by Glastonbury
Tor, a distorted coneshaped hill with a ruined 14th century church
tower on top, the area, that is also known as the Isle of Avalon,
generates and guards a powerful magic (Roberts 1977). The
history of the area stretches far back into the mists of time with many
contested stories that change according to the spiritual orientation
of the teller. It is generally agreed that the ancient Isle of Avalon was
a site of prehistoric worship and mystical tradition that, arguably,
can be traced as far back as the Atlantean era of 10,000 BC (Mann
2004) when the Atlanteans are said to have used the Tor as a natural
temple after their own temples had been destroyed by the sea.
The areas key spiritual attractions are brought together in the
concept of Glastonbury Zodiac which is claimed to have been
created by a race of prehistoric astronomers (Malthood 1935). They
are accredited with shaping patterns of mythical and astrological
significance around the natural contours of the landscape (Roberts
1971). Estimated to be 10 miles in diameter and 30 miles in
circumference, the sites that make up the Zodiac harness the Isles
potent celestial and terrestial energies and are closely lined to the
Arthurian legends that surround the Isle of Avalon and that have
spiritual significance for both Pagans and Christians alike. King
Arthur was allegedly taken there to heal after his last battle and his
body is claimed by Christians to be buried in Glastonbury Abbey
(Bowman 2004). The Chalice Well at Glastonbury is supposed to
be where Joseph of Arimathea hid the Holy Grail after the crucifixion. The arrival of St Joseph brought Christianity to Glastonbury
and is still celebrated in the Holy Thorn Ceremony that takes place
there each December (Bowman 2006).
Yet, the Chalice Wells history, going back over 2000 years,
predates a Christian era. It is thought to have been built by the
Druids who came to the area in 600 BC and who founded a Druidic
university in the area. They believed in the healing properties of the
water and the wells powers as an entrance to the other world.
Because the water is reddish in colour it has also been claimed by
modern Neopagans as symbolizing the menstrual blood of the
Goddess and a representation of the divine feminine. The story of
the sorceress, Morgen Le Fay, an important icon in Goddess
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