Z-sensei's rules to Reviewing HP Fanfiction
This was brought about by several reviews, not just one. But there was one which, as the idiom goes, broke the camel's back. Thus, out of irritation and charity, I would like to suggest the following rules for readers who review Harry Potter fanfiction:
1) Stop Embarrassing Yourself!
I would say that this is sort of common to all that follows, but I felt it needed to be said plainly. I'm always willing to take criticism--provided it's, I dunno, valid. But please, make sure that when you say something, you know what you're talking about. More specifically. . .
2) Pagan does not equal Wiccan, nor Vice versa. Rather, I think it better to say that all Wiccans (as a religion) are Pagan, but not all Pagans are Wiccan. Conflating the two is a devaluation of both. Specifically as it relates to Harry Potter fanfic: While I can certainly see pretty much the entire cast as Pagan, I can not see them as Wiccan. Why not? Because Wicca is a revivalist movement, a rebirth if you will. Gardner took Golden Dawn tradition and mixed it with folk lore in an attempt to revive the Old Ways. Muggles in this world have a use for that. But in the Wizarding World, there's no reason to believe such a break-->burial--> revival ever occured. The Potter-verse without Wicca is like Waterpolo without the pony.
A Caveat: Children of mixed heritage might be considered pseudo-Wiccan. Conceivably. But I really don't see any of the pure-bloods being Wiccan. Why would they be, when they've always had their Ways?
3) Just as there is no reason to assume that all the characters are Anglican, so too there is no reason to assume they're all Pagan. Rowling has been very good at keeping explicit religion out of the books. The Names of her wizarding characters are mostly either Latin in origin (Severus, Remus, Sirius, Lucious) or very British (William (Bill W), Arthur, Harry, Ron), so one can't make assumptions based on that. However, there are a few things which may be extrapolated.
First off, if there was ever the stereo-typical Irish-Catholic family, it's the Weasleys (despite living on the British main Island). Red Hair, pale skin, freckles, and more children that you can count. I was raised Catholic, I think I know our stereotypes. Moreover, the Weasleys celebrate Christmas. Not Yule, or Solstice, or "Winter." Christ-mas. Christmas, despite the recent secularization, is one of the two biggest Christian feasts, and by far the most popular in the Western World. "Happy Christmas, Harry!" Ron says. "Happy Christmas, Ron!" Harry replies. Not anything else. Christmas. The Weasleys, then, may not be Catholic, but I do think it reasonable to assume they're some sort of Christian.
Second, there are a few names that are more likely to be "Abrahamic" than Pagan. Among these: James Potter, Tom Riddle, Zacharias Smith, Angelina Johnson, Michael Corner, Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Theodore Nott, Sally-Anne Perks, Peter Pettigrew, Gabrielle Delacour, The Fat Friar (uh, du~uh), Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Amos Diggory, Tobias Snape, Miriam Strout, and Hedwig (named after St. Hadewich). Some of these are very minor characters, mentioned once in passing, but some not so much. Most of these, in fact, are of Semitic origin, others are latinized versions of Semitic names (Except for Tobias, which is Greek, but is the name of the main charcter of the Book of Tobit, found in the Catholic Bible). While I certainly wouldn't say that these characters are necessarily mono-theistic, I would say that with the presence of some other, blatanly paganish names, this suggests that there is in fact some "Desert Religion influence" floating around.
Moreover, some of the historical characters she mentions are most definately Christian. Nicolas Flamel, for one. Agrippa, for another, who dedicated his Three Books of Occult Philosophy to a Catholic Bishop, and who's teacher was a Benedictine (? I think. Maybe Dominican, though I don't think so) Abbot. Interestingly, a common magickal alphabet was invented by Pope Honorius.
Merlin, on the other hand, I think we can safely put as Pagan.
This leads to a point that sort of mirrors point 2. . .
4) Magickal Does Not Equal Pagan, Much Less Wiccan. Sweet Lucifer in Hell, how . . . ignorant do you have to be to assume that anyone who can read a deck, cast a circle, or kick your ass on the astral! must be Pagan (or Wiccan!). Some of the absolute best magickal foundation comes from the Jews--> ever heard of Kabbalah (much less its predecessor, Merkabah)? The entire Golden Dawn system was based on Kabbalah, Catholic Ritual, and a smattering of Pagan tradition. This in turn heavily excerted a heavy influence on Gardner's forming of Wicca. If you've ever performed the LBRP, Greater Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, Either of the Banishings by Hexagram. . .guess where that all came from? Yeah. Even if you've changed the Divine Names (such intolerance from a supposedly "tolerant" religion is another can of worms), the ritual itself came from study of the Kabbalah.
5) Don't get historical unless you know your history. Likewise, don't talk about religions if you've never even glanced at their theology. If your knowledge of magickal history comes from Silver RavenWolf or Gardner. . . pick up a damn book, okay? There are few things that irritate me more than hearing some self-proclaimed witch go off on the "Burning times" and go and contradict herself several times in a row. When, roughly, were the burning times? From, say, 1307 through to 1900? Ok, that's a start, at least. And how many of these people "burnt" were witches? How many innocent women falsley accused? How many were Christian? (yeah, lots were Christian of some sort or another, like the Cathars.)
Here's a hint: The Inquisition didn't give a damn about non-Christians. It was the secular kings who tossed the Jews out of France (and later, Spain). The Inquisition was solely concerned with people who claimed to be Christian, but held (and propogated) heterodox ideas and beliefs. This is why so many Catholic saints ran afoul of the Inquisition. St. Bernard of Clairveaux, St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Ignatius Loyola (and Companions), St. Joan of Arc, to name a few. Moreover, the Inquisition was not carried out by every priest and Bishop--> it was carried out by the Dominicans. I am not at all defending the Inquisition--> my heretic butt isn't that suicidal--> but I am saying that those women burned for being witches were not burned as part of the Inquisition. They were serparate.
And the second part of this point. Look, just like you hate it when people assume that because you're a witch, you worship the devil. . . don't show the same sort of ignorance. Don't assume you know what Christians belive regarding sin, or hell, or Jesus, or magick, or women, or whatever. Even if you were a Christian before--> don't assume that every Christian has the same beliefs your old community had. There are many denominations for a reason, you know.
I think we all know I'm not a good Christian. Hell, there are many who would debate that I'm any sort of Christian at all. That's fine, but I think it clear that I'm not a "Intolerant, Bible-thumping, Jesus-freak." I have many bones to pick with Rome, and I'm honest about that. But I do find it remarkable that I end up in the position of Christian apologist so damn much. How the hell did this happen? Michael? Lucifer? Anyone?. . . Bueller?. . .
And finally. . .
6) If you're Pagan, or, in fact, of a belief system other than the Abrahamic, you've got bigger enemies than the Christians. The worst a Christian will do these days is corner you and try to talk to you about Jesus. You know what, though, they do that to everyone, so don't feel singled out. No, you've got bigger problems. There are many people (non-Christian) who believe it is their Divine Duty to annihilate you. Those Christians you love to hate are the only thing standing between you and a slit throat, and the sooner you realize that, the better. Anyone who values the divine feminine in their mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, friends. . . do you really want to see them locked away in a house, smothered in burqas like they do in Saudi Arabia? Christians and Jews may live as dhimmis, but if pagans aren't converted, they must be slain. No questions, not caveats. The Prophet is quite clear on the matter. Some words to look up: Dhimmi, Dawa, Umma, Taqqiya, Abrogation (as relates to the Koran). Hell, read the Koran and the Hadiths (although, if you can't be bothered to familiarize yourself with the sacred texts of the current majority, I can't see how you'd be arsed to read these).
And then, when you've read, stand before your altar and cry out "Thank you, _________, for those Christians who die, that my daughters can dance skyclad at Solstice and not be raped for it! Thank you, _________, for those Christians who die, that I may pray to you. Thank you, __________, for those Christians who die, that I may despise them without fear."
Listen, I'm not down on Paganism or Wicca. Both are valuable, and I've spent time in each myself. Many Pagans and Wiccans don't need to read this. Most realise how very hypocritical it is to demand respect, but not give any, to demand tolerance but not show it. Most know that they ought never be guilty of the same ignorance they denounce in others. However, there are enough that give wiccans that bad rep, who open their mouths and prove what the bible-thumpers say, that I needed to address this. I think this is the main reason I write this. Pagans and Wiccans don't need people proving the points of their detractors, but it's very common to see. There are aspects to my faith that are very, very indebted to Paganism (to which I was introduced via Wicca), so please do not believe I'm anti-pagan or anti-wiccan. I'm Anti-Stupid, ok? I can't stand it when Christians go and act stupid, and I can't stand it when Wiccans decide to imitate that behavior. Paganism and Christianity both exist for a reason, and both have helped many people be better people, and have helped many on their Spiritual path. Just please, some of you need to stop embarassing yourself and everyone around you. It's painful.
Oh, and one last thing. If an fanfic author has gone out of her way to do interesting things with ideas in her story. . . maybe, just maybe, she's got her reasons. It's very rude to tell her that the very premise of her story is a disappointment. If you feel that way, write your own damn fic to show her how it should be done.
1) Stop Embarrassing Yourself!
I would say that this is sort of common to all that follows, but I felt it needed to be said plainly. I'm always willing to take criticism--provided it's, I dunno, valid. But please, make sure that when you say something, you know what you're talking about. More specifically. . .
2) Pagan does not equal Wiccan, nor Vice versa. Rather, I think it better to say that all Wiccans (as a religion) are Pagan, but not all Pagans are Wiccan. Conflating the two is a devaluation of both. Specifically as it relates to Harry Potter fanfic: While I can certainly see pretty much the entire cast as Pagan, I can not see them as Wiccan. Why not? Because Wicca is a revivalist movement, a rebirth if you will. Gardner took Golden Dawn tradition and mixed it with folk lore in an attempt to revive the Old Ways. Muggles in this world have a use for that. But in the Wizarding World, there's no reason to believe such a break-->burial--> revival ever occured. The Potter-verse without Wicca is like Waterpolo without the pony.
A Caveat: Children of mixed heritage might be considered pseudo-Wiccan. Conceivably. But I really don't see any of the pure-bloods being Wiccan. Why would they be, when they've always had their Ways?
3) Just as there is no reason to assume that all the characters are Anglican, so too there is no reason to assume they're all Pagan. Rowling has been very good at keeping explicit religion out of the books. The Names of her wizarding characters are mostly either Latin in origin (Severus, Remus, Sirius, Lucious) or very British (William (Bill W), Arthur, Harry, Ron), so one can't make assumptions based on that. However, there are a few things which may be extrapolated.
First off, if there was ever the stereo-typical Irish-Catholic family, it's the Weasleys (despite living on the British main Island). Red Hair, pale skin, freckles, and more children that you can count. I was raised Catholic, I think I know our stereotypes. Moreover, the Weasleys celebrate Christmas. Not Yule, or Solstice, or "Winter." Christ-mas. Christmas, despite the recent secularization, is one of the two biggest Christian feasts, and by far the most popular in the Western World. "Happy Christmas, Harry!" Ron says. "Happy Christmas, Ron!" Harry replies. Not anything else. Christmas. The Weasleys, then, may not be Catholic, but I do think it reasonable to assume they're some sort of Christian.
Second, there are a few names that are more likely to be "Abrahamic" than Pagan. Among these: James Potter, Tom Riddle, Zacharias Smith, Angelina Johnson, Michael Corner, Hannah Abbot, Susan Bones, Theodore Nott, Sally-Anne Perks, Peter Pettigrew, Gabrielle Delacour, The Fat Friar (uh, du~uh), Gideon and Fabian Prewett, Amos Diggory, Tobias Snape, Miriam Strout, and Hedwig (named after St. Hadewich). Some of these are very minor characters, mentioned once in passing, but some not so much. Most of these, in fact, are of Semitic origin, others are latinized versions of Semitic names (Except for Tobias, which is Greek, but is the name of the main charcter of the Book of Tobit, found in the Catholic Bible). While I certainly wouldn't say that these characters are necessarily mono-theistic, I would say that with the presence of some other, blatanly paganish names, this suggests that there is in fact some "Desert Religion influence" floating around.
Moreover, some of the historical characters she mentions are most definately Christian. Nicolas Flamel, for one. Agrippa, for another, who dedicated his Three Books of Occult Philosophy to a Catholic Bishop, and who's teacher was a Benedictine (? I think. Maybe Dominican, though I don't think so) Abbot. Interestingly, a common magickal alphabet was invented by Pope Honorius.
Merlin, on the other hand, I think we can safely put as Pagan.
This leads to a point that sort of mirrors point 2. . .
4) Magickal Does Not Equal Pagan, Much Less Wiccan. Sweet Lucifer in Hell, how . . . ignorant do you have to be to assume that anyone who can read a deck, cast a circle, or kick your ass on the astral! must be Pagan (or Wiccan!). Some of the absolute best magickal foundation comes from the Jews--> ever heard of Kabbalah (much less its predecessor, Merkabah)? The entire Golden Dawn system was based on Kabbalah, Catholic Ritual, and a smattering of Pagan tradition. This in turn heavily excerted a heavy influence on Gardner's forming of Wicca. If you've ever performed the LBRP, Greater Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, Either of the Banishings by Hexagram. . .guess where that all came from? Yeah. Even if you've changed the Divine Names (such intolerance from a supposedly "tolerant" religion is another can of worms), the ritual itself came from study of the Kabbalah.
5) Don't get historical unless you know your history. Likewise, don't talk about religions if you've never even glanced at their theology. If your knowledge of magickal history comes from Silver RavenWolf or Gardner. . . pick up a damn book, okay? There are few things that irritate me more than hearing some self-proclaimed witch go off on the "Burning times" and go and contradict herself several times in a row. When, roughly, were the burning times? From, say, 1307 through to 1900? Ok, that's a start, at least. And how many of these people "burnt" were witches? How many innocent women falsley accused? How many were Christian? (yeah, lots were Christian of some sort or another, like the Cathars.)
Here's a hint: The Inquisition didn't give a damn about non-Christians. It was the secular kings who tossed the Jews out of France (and later, Spain). The Inquisition was solely concerned with people who claimed to be Christian, but held (and propogated) heterodox ideas and beliefs. This is why so many Catholic saints ran afoul of the Inquisition. St. Bernard of Clairveaux, St. Theresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Ignatius Loyola (and Companions), St. Joan of Arc, to name a few. Moreover, the Inquisition was not carried out by every priest and Bishop--> it was carried out by the Dominicans. I am not at all defending the Inquisition--> my heretic butt isn't that suicidal--> but I am saying that those women burned for being witches were not burned as part of the Inquisition. They were serparate.
And the second part of this point. Look, just like you hate it when people assume that because you're a witch, you worship the devil. . . don't show the same sort of ignorance. Don't assume you know what Christians belive regarding sin, or hell, or Jesus, or magick, or women, or whatever. Even if you were a Christian before--> don't assume that every Christian has the same beliefs your old community had. There are many denominations for a reason, you know.
I think we all know I'm not a good Christian. Hell, there are many who would debate that I'm any sort of Christian at all. That's fine, but I think it clear that I'm not a "Intolerant, Bible-thumping, Jesus-freak." I have many bones to pick with Rome, and I'm honest about that. But I do find it remarkable that I end up in the position of Christian apologist so damn much. How the hell did this happen? Michael? Lucifer? Anyone?. . . Bueller?. . .
And finally. . .
6) If you're Pagan, or, in fact, of a belief system other than the Abrahamic, you've got bigger enemies than the Christians. The worst a Christian will do these days is corner you and try to talk to you about Jesus. You know what, though, they do that to everyone, so don't feel singled out. No, you've got bigger problems. There are many people (non-Christian) who believe it is their Divine Duty to annihilate you. Those Christians you love to hate are the only thing standing between you and a slit throat, and the sooner you realize that, the better. Anyone who values the divine feminine in their mothers, sisters, wives, daughters, friends. . . do you really want to see them locked away in a house, smothered in burqas like they do in Saudi Arabia? Christians and Jews may live as dhimmis, but if pagans aren't converted, they must be slain. No questions, not caveats. The Prophet is quite clear on the matter. Some words to look up: Dhimmi, Dawa, Umma, Taqqiya, Abrogation (as relates to the Koran). Hell, read the Koran and the Hadiths (although, if you can't be bothered to familiarize yourself with the sacred texts of the current majority, I can't see how you'd be arsed to read these).
And then, when you've read, stand before your altar and cry out "Thank you, _________, for those Christians who die, that my daughters can dance skyclad at Solstice and not be raped for it! Thank you, _________, for those Christians who die, that I may pray to you. Thank you, __________, for those Christians who die, that I may despise them without fear."
Listen, I'm not down on Paganism or Wicca. Both are valuable, and I've spent time in each myself. Many Pagans and Wiccans don't need to read this. Most realise how very hypocritical it is to demand respect, but not give any, to demand tolerance but not show it. Most know that they ought never be guilty of the same ignorance they denounce in others. However, there are enough that give wiccans that bad rep, who open their mouths and prove what the bible-thumpers say, that I needed to address this. I think this is the main reason I write this. Pagans and Wiccans don't need people proving the points of their detractors, but it's very common to see. There are aspects to my faith that are very, very indebted to Paganism (to which I was introduced via Wicca), so please do not believe I'm anti-pagan or anti-wiccan. I'm Anti-Stupid, ok? I can't stand it when Christians go and act stupid, and I can't stand it when Wiccans decide to imitate that behavior. Paganism and Christianity both exist for a reason, and both have helped many people be better people, and have helped many on their Spiritual path. Just please, some of you need to stop embarassing yourself and everyone around you. It's painful.
Oh, and one last thing. If an fanfic author has gone out of her way to do interesting things with ideas in her story. . . maybe, just maybe, she's got her reasons. It's very rude to tell her that the very premise of her story is a disappointment. If you feel that way, write your own damn fic to show her how it should be done.