The pagan's progress, or, the invention of pilgrimage
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[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-COLUMBIA AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] This book examines religious travel in contemporary Paganism in three long-form creative essays. It looks at space, place, and travel within the modern Pagan religious context: how Pagans create sacred spaces, interact with ancient sites, and invent their own pilgrimage practices. The book is anchored in the author's account of his experiences as a second-generation Wiccan and practitioner of the Norse revivalist religion called Ásatrú, but also features the perspectives of other Pagan pilgrims. "Live Deliberately," the first essay, focuses on Gaea Retreat, a Pagan-owned nature retreat in Kansas, to consider climate change, urban alienation, and the reconciliation of human and environmental needs. This essay uses the Gaea landscape to question whether Paganism can address concepts of freedom and wilderness. The second essay, "Utþra," takes place in Iceland, describing a pilgrimage made by the Icelandic Pagan organization called Ásatrúarfélagið. Icelandic Pagans see their religion as bound up with their national identity, giving their form of Asatra distinctive cultural character. This essay combines an ethnographic, outward-looking perspective with the author's reflections on Iceland's role in the global Pagan consciousness. The final essay, "St. Deryck," recounts a funerary pilgrimage to Birmingham, England, searching for the grave of the author's Wiccan forebear, Deryck Alldrit. The essay deals with themes of lost memory, ancestry, and how family history swiftly becomes family mythology
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