Rise of the New York Pagan

If you check out my friend Luckylicious’ latest Eat My Pagan Ass podcast, you will find him discussing our mutual friend Michael Lloyd’s upcoming book Bull of Heaven: the Mythic Life of Eddie Buczynski and the Rise of the New York Pagan (which was also covered in a Guest-Post on The Wild Hunt). Eddie was active on the Scene during the exciting time of the early ’70s, when hippie-culture was high, Gay Liberation was in its heady early days, and Neo-Paganism was starting its influence in America: all especially so in New York City, where lived the young Mr. Buczynski. Perhaps (I guess) the first person in Neo-Paganism to address the needs of the Homoerotic Pagan, Eddie founded the Minoan Brotherhood (an initiatory Magickal Tradition for Gay men), as well as the Minoan Sisterhood (a companion Tradition for Lesbians); both Traditions continue to this day. It is for this boldness in recognizing Queer Spirituality Paganism (in the early ’70s, or roughly when Sybil Leek was pondering the question of the Homosexual’s place in Witchcraft), that Michael (co-founder of the Between the Worlds Men’s Gathering) calls Eddie “the Gerald Gardner of the Gay Pagan community.” Since Eddie was busy on the early New York Pagan scene (he and his lover Herman Slater opened the Magickal Childe, one of the more memorable of NYC’s Witch-Stores), this book unfolds against the back-drop of 1970s New York Paganism as well. As much a history of the Pagan Movement in the Big Apple as it is about Eddie Buczynski, this book is being very eagerly awaited in certain circles; it is already being called the successor to Drawing Down the Moon, and indeed, Margot Adler provides the Foreword. Please be sure to read this book when it comes out, and in the meantime, please check out this Eat My Pagan Ass podcast.