Meet Raven Digitalis
March 26, 2008 – 9:21 amMy first thought in hearing his name was; oh great yet another heep big mojo man. My second thought came upon seeing his picture, great another gothic Wiccan. My third thought was, oh great the MTV generation thinks Wiccans are Heep Big Mojo Goths. Then the young man opened his mouth and I realized how much I had stereotyped a moment earlier.
Wicca has nothing to do with wearing black makeup or convincing yourself that you are too emo for your shirt (my body, for this song). But ya know what? It has nothing to do with my weird lifestyle either. It has nothing to do with the gay, lesbian, bisexual community either. So why then does it seem like so many of us freaks are Wiccan, Pagan, and Heathens? Perhaps it is because in order to be any of these things a person needs to challenge the mold into which society has poured us, to be our own people.
On the other hand, maybe it is that it is so hard to find people who have the same flavor of freakishness as yourself that you settle on a community where the commonality is the existence and tolerance of freakishness itself without respect to specifics. If you visit the provided link, you will notice Raven Digitalis is interviewed along side people whose names and appearance are much less dramatic. People who I can be fairly sure have their own freak on, but in a more subtle way.
If that is the case, maybe the problems I have been discussing about the pagan community is a factor of our willingness to accept just about anyone, no matter wheat their flavor of freak is. Maybe it is time we reexamine the idea that diversity is always a good thing, start accepting people like Raven Digitalis and give the boot to people who pose a danger to our children, even if they look like kindly old people.
I don’t think I am ready for black makeup or that wasting away look. I am more of a lumber jack sort of heathen. But I think this young man does a world of good for the pagan community even though I think he is kind of silly looking.
