Gothic Spirituality

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Being in touch with spirituality is a way to absorb the traumas of living and the foreboding of impending demise. It also allows people to live in harmony with themselves, with others, and with the biosphere that sustains us. Unfortunately for many goths, institutionalized religions no longer cut it as a path to faith, hope, and charity. Many goths have abandoned the religion they were raised in and have embraced other spiritual paths, like Wicca.
Dark Wyccan runs a "dark Pagan" forum on the internet. He is a Wic-can, and a goth. He has been Pagan since 1984, and dedicated to Wicca since 1996. He defines Wicca in this way: "Wicca is a nature-based mystery religion. As a mystery religion it is not something one can learn in books or even from teachers—its mysteries must be learned through experience. Typically deity is perceived as a male and female (God and Goddess) that are anthropomorphic manifestations of the forces of nature. As with other aspects of the Craft one does not 'believe' in deity, one knows them, from experience."
He says Wicca is very different from organized religions. "It offers few specifics but rather provides suggestions and encouragement expecting the individual to do the work and find the way. Because of this, Wicca is not
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for everyone, and I do not mean that to sound elitist. We all have our needs. Some need more structure and direction than others."
Wicca is a modern religion, which began in the 1940s, according to Dark Wyccan. "It is considered a revival of ancient traditions. The ancient traditions are like a creation myth. . . . People today take the myth literally. They want to believe Wicca is an ancient religion, so many refuse to accept it as otherwise."
Wicca is often considered synonymous with the terms Pagan, neo-Pagan, New Age, Magic, and various others. Dark Wyccan defines them in this way: "Wicca is a Pagan religion. New Age is a general movement that draws upon various spiritual practices stressing self-improvement and spiritual well-being but is not in itself a religion, even though many confuse it as such. Magic is a practice each [practitioner] may use to make changes in their lives. Many 'kids' have a hard time telling the difference and just latch on to anything they can use.
"Wicca is more specifically a term used to describe a subset of religious witchcraft. Now depending on who you talk to, this subset of religious witchcraft could consist solely of what is known as the Gardnerian Tradition (one of the first modern forms of religious witchcraft), or any variation that derived through Gardnerian influences. As I said, witches rarely agree on much of anything!"
remembering the Inquisition
To Wiccans, the word witch, according to Dark Wyccan, "is generic and can mean anything from someone who just works natural magic, to the religious types that center around a goddess. It is used in so many contradictory ways today it is not even worth trying to offer a definition."
For the average person, the word witch comes loaded with evil, unsavory connotations. Back in the twelfth century, when social change began to threaten such community staples as marriage, Pope Innocent III organized a crusade against heretics—those who spoke against the Church or God. Included were those deemed to be witches, those who consorted with the devil.
In the thirteenth century, Pope Gregory IX, fearful that the Holy Roman emperor would take control of what came to be called the Inquisition, placed the inquisitors under the special jurisdiction of the papacy.
CotN
courtesy of ariana
"The chakras are power points on your body that guide health, intuition, spirituality and sense of self. If you find some part of your life lacking, put a gemstone of that color on your chakra and meditate to activity-positive energy."
Base: Black-The basic foundation of who goths are physically, mentally, and spiritually is represented by the base chakra. Vitality and self-preservation vibrate on this level. Black absorbs negativity, promotes grounding and stability, which is why it is the favored color of witches.
Sacral/sexual: White or Gold-Our sexual chakra involves all our relationships, including romantic and creative growth. White can represent our innocence, in the frills of lace and the gentle texture of antique silk. Gold represents the solidity and growth of friendships and relationships and the prosperity of following our creative instincts.
Solar plexis: Blue-That gut instinct or intuition you have about things comes from your solar plexus. Leam how to tune into your personal power and trust it. The blue of sky and water represents the healing energy we have within ourselves.
Heart: Crimson-Who we are, our passions, what drives us emotionally is represented by the heart chakra. Crimson can represent our desire as well as our passion. It is the pulse of life, our very blood.
Throat: Green-How we communicate is represented by the throat chakra. Green can represent growth and creativity. A sip of absinthe might help to open up a closed throat chakra.

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Punishment escalated. Freethinkers in Germany and France were targeted initially, but the rest of Europe soon followed.
Inquisitors set up camp for weeks or months, bringing charges against the locals and demanding that those guilty of heresy present themselves. Those charged had a month to confess, after which a trial took place. The right to asylum in the church did not apply to heretics. Two witnesses was considered proof of guilt.
In 1252, Pope Innocent IV officially sanctioned the use of torture. Sentences were pronounced in public, creating an auto-da-fe (public judgment and instant punishment). At the start of this period, punishments ranged from a pilgrimage or a fine to a public flogging. Wearing two tongues of red cloth sewn onto a garment marked those who made a false accusation. Penalties also included confiscation of properly, or imprisonment. Life imprisonment was the limit of the inquisitors' powers of sentencing, which meant that when the person sentenced was handed over to civil authorities for the sentence to be carried out, it often resulted in their execution.
Tomas de Torquemada of the Spanish Inquisition is the most notorious grand inquisitor, personally responsible for extreme torture to accused heretics and the execution of thousands. His torture methods included nail chairs, the iron seat of a chair heated from below; an oral, rectal or vaginal wooden "pear" that was twisted open after insertion; and severing the body by means of tying horses to each limb and driving them until the limbs were torn from the torso. The iron maiden—a metal sarcophagus with spikes inside—comes from the Inquisition, as does the rack, a metal bed-like frame where the limbs are tied at the head and foot and stretched by rollers until they pop out of their joints. Some historians believe the Inquisition spanned five centuries, with an estimated nine million persons executed—most of them women—often through confessions elicited by extreme torture.
The Inquisition certainly set the stage for the witch trials in and around Salem, Massachusetts.
Two friends, nine-year-old Elisabeth Parris, and eleven-year-old Abigail Williams began throwing fits, falling into trances, and spontaneously screaming blasphemes. Physicians, stymied, declared them under the influence of Satan.
Third eye: Silver-Our mind, our unconscious and our spiritual thoughts are all contained in the third eye chakra. Silver can be the glint of steel of a knife needed to cut through to the truth of the matter.
Crown: Purple - What goth doesn't aspire to royalty and all the lushness it represents? Our crown chakra is our direct link to divinity, enlightenment, angels, and the spirit world that guides us.
Burnt Book
Pkoto by Marianne Wener
UJiccon Associations to CotH COLORS
Black: Divination, banishing, absorbing negative energy, protection, binding
Red: Sexual love, lust, passion, fire, willpowers, courage, energy, strength, anger
Silver: The Goddess, spiritual truth, intuition, receptivity, psychic ability, stability, balance

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ESOTERiCA

Community prayers and fasting didn't work. Nor did the witch cake, baked by John Indian and composed of rye meal and the urine of the afflicted girls, which when eaten was supposed to reveal the source of the problem.
The girls, under pressure, identified three women as witches. Tituba, the Parris's Carib Indian slave, Sarah Good, and Sarah Osborne. Tituba, under torture, confessed a conspiracy of witches were at work in Salem, but the other two declared their innocence.
Over the next weeks, more members of the community testified they had been under a spell, and a general "witch hunt" ensued. Frequently accused and arrested were people who disturbed the social order, especially women, some with criminal records, others oddballs, or merely widows and/or property owners.
Confessions were extracted through torture. Bridget Bishop was the first to be found guilty, and hanged in Salem in 1692. Accusations of witchcraft in New England escalated, and the Andover witch hunt began. To their credit, several people signed petitions on behalf of those they believed innocent, which must have been a risky thing to do. One man, Giles Corey, was pressed to death for refusing a trial.
The Superior Court, established in 1693, ended the convictions, but not before twenty people had been executed.
Perhaps the most monstrous thing about both the Inquisition and the Salem witch trials is the silencing of women, and the feminine energy (which has always been seen as dark, mysterious, almost supernatural) that women represented. Because women were the main victims, it is easy to imagine generations of mothers instructing their daughters, and grandmothers admonishing their grandchildren, to be submissive to authority. Just keep quiet! Women who expressed themselves, who stood out, became targets. Voicing opinions led to big trouble. Until recently, women did not legally enjoy the status of human being, but were property. Just seventy-five years ago women acquired the right to vote in enlightened lands, and there are many places left on this earth where women still are not given even basic human rights. This denegation of the feminine flies in the face of what goth is about. Goth supports the feminine in both women and men.
The culmination of centuries of fear only began to shatter in the twentieth century. No one who is oppressed comes out from under it without a
The f Section Plan Their Funerals
biogotb "I'd like my body to go for
research purposes. Once ifs not useful
anymore, cremated. My family and close
friends can have a quiet ash-scattering
ceremony. Nothing fancy."
Cemetery Cron> "I'd like to die at home, in bed, or in a coffin, and be
transported immediately to my crypt, no side trip to a morgue, no autopsy, no
embalming. I'd like people to follow the hearse to the cemetery, witness the
closing of the crypt door, but mostly I'd
like them to come back in summer to
see my exquisite coffin through the
gatedoor. I'll leave a catering fund for
future goths to picnic at my crypt."
DAPJS "A normal funeral but I'd be mummified everywhere but my face, and be enclosed in a pure hematite casket"
"A black casket with purple satin lining. Black and blue roses. Held at night so my friends wouldn't have to endure the sunlight. I'd be buried in my
favorite dress, and with my favorite stuffed animal (Frankenbunny)-l've had her since I was born so it's only appropriate for her to go with me."
"A floating funeral pyre on an ocean voyage to Avalon."

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measure of anger at the oppressor. Todays Wiccans are attempting to reclaim and revitalize the lost natural powers of medieval wisewomen and men who believed in the healing properties of nature. They are attracted to the pre-Christian belief—a belief shared by many peoples—that spirit dwells in all nature, and the gods and goddesses reflect humanity, not deities that imitate a feudal patriarchal being intent on dominion and subjugation over us all.
Dark Wyccan estimates that 70 percent of the goths he knows are Wic-can. Approximately 33 percent of The \ Section identified their religion as Wicca, or a Pagan religion. Dark Wyccan believes "goths tend to be more open-minded and exploratory and so are more likely to be attracted to such a flexible and personal path as Wicca." He also says that goths tend to associate with dark deities, such as Hecate, Morrigan, Kali, or Lilith.
One Internet shop catering to Wiccans is Morticia's Morgue Emporium, run out of Houston for the last four years by Rebecca Riggs, who says, "Too often goth and Wiccan items seem to be considered cheap head shop and teenage-type stuff, and I wanted to offer a selection of both inexpensive fun things, and some really nice quality and unusual items."
At forty, Rebecca is a self-proclaimed "elder goth, and I've always been Wiccan. Growing up [when the word goth wasn't yet in use], I was known by my friends as the 'creepy girl,' or as my husband likes to call me, 'Wednesday's Child'—I was born on a Wednesday. I stopped going out in the sun when I was twelve and have the skin to show for it now. At Halloween—my favorite holiday—I always went as a witch, vampire, or gypsy."
Morticia's Morgue Emporium carries supplies for the modern Witch: altars, divination tools, talismans, books, jewelry, candles, parchment, and more. One of her bestselling items is a sterling-silver Celtic triquetra or triscele necklace, "an ancient triple goddess symbol, and used by the witches on the TV show Charmed. It's one of my personal favorites to wear." Rebecca says, "The majority of my customers are honest and fairly easy to deal with; perhaps they're afraid I'll put a curse on them if they aren't! [grin]"
A relationship with the 6rim Reaper
One reality exists for all human beings—life ends in death. Many cultures believe that life is a preparation for death. The French have always viewed moments in life when the ego is forced to give way as "little
Jennie "I want to donate my body to researching mixed connective tissue disease. My brain to a clinic in Switzerland that studies the neurological aspects of intersexuality. They'll have to bury me in absentia."
CDaJumc X "When the day comes that I must die, and my remains are put away somewhere, still, should there be someone who once loved me that then is gone, I would like to rest beside them. 'At last I am wrapped in your embrace.
The warmth of you, the cool of me
Entwined...This final union, perfect and
still Quiescent quiet enshrining me.'
That's an excerpt from a song I wrote in
1999 entitled 'Decompassion.'"
(Distress fjac>es "Delicate black-edged note cards sent out. Maidens in gray muslin scattering red and white rose pedals before the shillibere (horse-drawn carriage), which is drawn by six
rambunctious stallions, their heads adorned with black plumes, the procession from Camden High Street to Highgate Cemetery. I would be wearing a full-length black latex hobble dress, my
hair swept up in Victorian style with
pearls, roses, and ostrich feathers. White
makeup, black lips. Black carriages and
hearses behind all this for friends and
family. Finally, a New Orleans
funeral-procession band, headed
by a voodoo priestess."
CDiss £ynx "I'd rather have a wake.
My friends are depressed enough and
having them in some dreary chapel
would just do me in completely, [grin]"

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deaths," a process of building up a tolerance for ego dissolution in order to better face the Big Death. Losing love, losing a job, losing health, experiencing rejection, these are all examples of "little deaths," when we feel as if some part of us is dying.
From the moment we are born, unconsciously we retain the knowledge of coming from somewhere. Miraculously we formed out of a merged egg and a sperm. We grew and altered until we could sustain life on our own two feet, and if we are lucky and circumstances, environment, and genetics work together, we live life in an increasingly less dependent state until we reach an apex of independence. Our birth experience seems to resonate throughout our life to the grave.
Some of us are required to face our own death directly, with consciousness, which can be terrifying: aware of our departure even as we are leaving the body we have come to know so well, and the concepts of life that we cling to.
Acknowledging death, as goths do, is a kind of preparation. It is part of accepting that death awaits us. Familiarity helps insure we do not go out in the same way we came in, and that the events of our lives bring us to a different place and provide some existential meaning as we climb in Charon's boat to voyage over the River Styx to whatever may await beyond.
It is a given that when we squarely face the knowledge of our demise, when it is understood on a soul level that we will die, life and all that it involves can no longer be taken for granted. Our existence and the termination of it must be viewed with the respect this bizarre existential situation deserves. The fragility of humans is that we are, apparently, the only species that knows it will one day die. And while we may not be the only life-forms to feel death as it is occurring, the knowledge of our mortality throughout a lifetime—if it is not denied out of sheer terror—can only make us more generous and more accepting of human foibles while we 're still here. That knowledge allows us to live, and to die well.
Macabre Card 5
Image by Leilah Wendell
muscumbitcb "I must be cremated. Many peoples believe the soul is held
back from journeying to the afterlife as long as the body continues to decompose. I'd like my dog's ashes added to
mine (she's in my Pre-Raphaelite box in the living room)."
Vetu CAP* "I'd be cremated, have my ashes taken somewhere like Canada where there is still a wild wolf population, and scattered at night when they are howling, while 'Don't Fear the Reaper' by Blue Oyster Cult plays."

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268

the Crorc "I'd like to be buried in an old Celtic cemetery in Ireland."
URLs
Dark Pagan Forum groups.yahoo.com/group/darkpaganforum/
Goth Witch Forum groups.yahoo.com/group/gothwitch
Morticia's Morgue Emporium www.morticiasmorgue.com/emporium.html
Memento Morty www.brunching.com/morty.html
Go Goth (Promoting Gothic Lifestyle since the late twentieth century) www.deadlysins.com/gogoth/
blood-dance.net (eclectic page, some cemeteries) www.blood-dance.net/goth/
Sky CUufcettc "I'd want all who knew and loved me to remember me as
a decadent avant-garde spiritual
debauched artistic soul, and at times
jovial. Incense burning, red wine, red
roses and baby's breath, fruits, and
somber music. Exactly the way I am."
"I'd like my body bathed in acid
so the flesh will be gone and only bone
remaining. I want the bones to be
painted chrome with purple accents
and set up in a friend's house where
I will be dressed in wigs and clothes
and attend all future parties!"

VampirCDikc "I want to die in a
lonely place where nobody can find me,
and nobody knows where I am."
XjUstcRuCifyX "I wrote a will (in one of my more paranoid moods) saying how I want to be buried I want sadness!
I want to know that people are
depressed and crying over losing me. I
want to be mourned. I want black roses.
I want to be buried in my hand-carved
gothic art coffin with velvet and silk
interior, wearing a beautiful gothic dress,
with my favorite possessions-my stuffed
animal, and a suicide letter my friend
wrote to me."
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ESOTERJCA

THE X

f EIISE

Cbc future isn't ODcr . . . yet!
The Lost Goths
Copyright X-tra-X
knonring the unknown factions
Goth has always been a local phenomenon. Goths know the goths in their town, in their city, and not much else. It is bands that have given most goths a sense of a bigger world, with goths from other cultures out there, doing gothy things.
Goth exists around the world, and has been expanding its numbers at a frightening pace over the last few years in this, the third wave of a movement that somehow appeared out of nowhere in the mid-1970s in England and Germany. Its spread to countries one would not normally associate as goth havens indicates that something in goth touches a lot of people. With this expansion, goth is changing, as it must. A more universal concept of goth is evolving, but one that still holds onto individuality, identity, and the small community with darkly creative ideas and interests that have made goth what it is.
Many other countries outside the United States and England have a goth population, and some, like Germany, have an enormous goth population—this is as it should be, since Germany and England are where goth was born.
The Internet is a major venue for meeting goths from "elsewhere." And the Internet has plenty of free translation programs, so sending an e-
mail in both your native tongue and in the language of the country you are sending to helps facilitate communication.
A few goths from around the world have generously offered a crow's-eye view of what goth is like in their homeland.
Australia by SUZANNE (one of The t Section)
"Gothic in Australia means many things to many different people, but perhaps an important factor in most perceptions is the isolation of our country. Obviously I can only put forward my own observations, but I feel that since the Internet has been widely in use, we have gained the inspiration and input from otherwise untouchable sources.
"UK gothic and German gothic were amazing-sounding movements that we heard little about but fantasized about greatly. Everyone else seemed more 'hardcore' and innovative and we had our well-tested styles and music. Of course, our music was drawn from both local and international sounds, but pre-Internet and pre-downloading there would have been a majority of goths who may not have heard the range we have access to now. This can also be said of goth fashion, and the broad range of resources and bases this can be built from.
"Personally, I had never even listened to such huge gothic names as Apoptygma Berzerk or VNV Nation before I was able to search the Net. I had never imagined there were such mind-blowing outfits as featured by Skin Two or Cyberdog. These discoveries led me to push the boundaries of my own sewing tendencies with my label ASYLUM Seven, and open a partnership shop UltraChamber in our hometown. The opportunity to show the population something new and beyond their day-to-day choices means that we can pass on the things that excite us to the boring masses.
"It's an obvious but important factor in Australian gothic that the Internet is particularly well-used by our genre. Even as far as living in a regional country town such as Ballarat, an hour from the closest major city, there are huge differences in day-to-day life. Wearing anything out of the norm (normal being jeans, windcheater, and runners) asks for abuse hurled from passing cars, blatant staring and sniggering . . . compared to larger cities where there are a greater number of goths, and they are seen more regularly. Regional towns find it hard to deal with 'freaks.'
"At the same time, there are of course wonderful people who appreciate and commend the effort we go to, and they wholeheartedly agree that
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there is no need to follow the herd. These people are most often the last ones you would expect, such as the old conservative grandmothers who tap you on the arm and say, 'You look lovely, dear! Isn't your hair a pretty color?', or a politician on rounds looking genuinely awestruck and commenting, 'Marvelous! Are you a local?'
"Australia is not as old in its history and creativity as most other countries, so I believe we are still in our formative years. We are only two hundred years' worth of events from white settlement, compared to five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred years in European countries. Our general population is still conservative and does not deal with change or new ideas in relation to genre and style. Of course, there are exceptions to this train of thought, and we goths are certainly the ones with the opportunity to push them."
Belgium by Roxane (member of the band the Dawn Visitors)
"Goth in Belgium is a mixture of nostalgic New Wave, Dark Wave, underground people and fetishists, superficial and empty/narrow-minded teenagers, and twenty-five-year-olds.
"The goth scene is very active and present throughout this country, but the difficulty is how to collaborate between the north and the south. So there are some famous places, clubs, festivals, gigs in the north where less and less bands from the south play. The south doesn't have the same organization, because people generally listen to Star Academy or rock 'n' roll, or techno music. Brussels, in between, offers some nice places.
"In the north there is the Steeple Chase in Waregem (every third Saturday of the month). In the south, the Cabaret Voltaire in Binche (with DJ Fred, first Friday of every month). In Brussels, the biggest program belongs to Le Fantastic Night, held most of the time at Magasin Four (www. lefantastique.net), but there is another good place to dance, which is Pilgrimage parties, at les Glacieres, with DJ manu Ninety-three, DJ Gore, DJ Damien (www.pilgrimage.be).
"It's really difficult to define what goth means to us. You'll find many people in Belgium dressed in black with crazy hair and makeup, but they could listen to goth metal music, medieval music, industrial, Punk, Dark Wave, electro, gothic rock, Dark Beat. . . And all of them will tell you they are gothic!"
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THE X CHAPTER: FUTURE TEHSE
there is no need to follow the herd. These people are most often the last ones you would expect, such as the old conservative grandmothers who tap you on the arm and say, 'You look lovely, dear! Isn't your hair a pretty color?', or a politician on rounds looking genuinely awestruck and commenting, 'Marvelous! Are you a local?'
"Australia is not as old in its history and creativity as most other countries, so I believe we are still in our formative years. We are only two hundred years' worth of events from white settlement, compared to five hundred, six hundred, seven hundred years in European countries. Our general population is still conservative and does not deal with change or new ideas in relation to genre and style. Of course, there are exceptions to this train of thought, and we goths are certainly the ones with the opportunity to push them."
Belgium by Roxane (member of the band the Dawn Visitors)
"Goth in Belgium is a mixture of nostalgic New Wave, Dark Wave, underground people and fetishists, superficial and empty/narrow-minded teenagers, and twenty-five-year-olds.
"The goth scene is very active and present throughout this country, but the difficulty is how to collaborate between the north and the south. So there are some famous places, clubs, festivals, gigs in the north where less and less bands from the south play. The south doesn't have the same organization, because people generally listen to Star Academy or rock 'n' roll, or techno music. Brussels, in between, offers some nice places.
"In the north there is the Steeple Chase in Waregem (every third Saturday of the month). In the south, the Cabaret Voltaire in Binche (with DJ Fred, first Friday of every month). In Brussels, the biggest program belongs to Le Fantastic Night, held most of the time at Magasin Four (www. lefantastique.net), but there is another good place to dance, which is Pilgrimage parties, at les Glacieres, with DJ manu Ninety-three, DJ Gore, DJ Damien (www.pilgrimage.be).
"It's really difficult to define what goth means to us. You'll find many people in Belgium dressed in black with crazy hair and makeup, but they could listen to goth metal music, medieval music, industrial, Punk, Dark Wave, electro, gothic rock, Dark Beat. . . And all of them will tell you they are gothic!"
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Canada by R351570R (a Toronto band and a group of goths)
"We write from the future, where a band of Toronto-based goths are attempting to revitalize a stagnant scene by infusion of new ideas and energy from an overcommercialized rave world. We have formed an underground movement called R351570R to attempt to bring both scenes to a new level of respect. We realize that most goth/industrial bars have very set playlists, and that the scene in general is aging. We also realized that there is a generation gap and cultural void currently with the mainstreaming of rave culture, and realized that this younger crowd, pining for the 'old days' when promoters threw themed events that attempted to create community and veritable escape through the use of seldom-heard music and deco. We also saw the evolution of Industrial Electronica in the form of Psychedelic Trance, a genre that we perceived to be more 'Cyber-Trance.'
"With these influences and markets, along with an imagery from the British Cybergoth scene, R351570R was born. I can share with you stories, pictures, reviews, and our market survey within the movement's manifesto (business plan). I've also included a review of one of our parties that Analog Pussy, the Israeli trance act, sent to their sixty-thousand-person mailing list and also published in a London rave/cybergoth magazine."
Review of R351570R by Jiga + Jinno of Israel's Analog Pussy
"Arriving to Toronto we were a bit overwhelmed seeing lots of mental cases in the streets. So many loonies in Toronto, we thought, one must wonder what the party would be like . . . the promoters explained there's a mental hospital in the center of town, so it must be the reason.
"Hmmm. after playing in their party we're still in doubts! That was one crazy event.
"Almost half of the crowd at the Reverb club were dressed with black vinyl and lace, had tattoos and colored hair. Are we at the right club? Are we supposed to play a cover song for Covenant or Bauhaus, is Sid Vicious alive?? But these creatures were dancing like naturally born trancers.
"The psy-trance scene is slowly growing in Toronto, explained Hillary and Clay from Resistor—the party promoters.
"They are practically importing the sound of trance to Toronto, 'converting' people to expand to other styles of music. The new cyber-goth music demonstrates electronic motives and more people open up to trance as well. But this sound gets its own unique interpretation in Toronto.
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"Onstage, just before playing, there are few seconds of silence, eternal moments that seem like forever. At this time, you can tell what your gig will be like. You see their eyes. And their eyes were wide open, thrilled, examining—innocent in a way. It was a virgin initial experience, no unwritten code yet, not a habit. Only letting themselves go. You have to be brave to do that. For us this was getting back to our roots of trance. Where our body is taking over everyday consciousness. Only then can miracles happen.
"The promoters handed little alien dolls and alien candies to everyone, and we swear we saw there real aliens, too. That tall girl was, for sure!
"We thank Toronto for bringing us back to innocence."
France by Sire Cedric (one of The t Section)
"As a matter of fact, the goth population has been growing quite a bit in France lately, with the commercial success of bands such as Marilyn Man-son, etc. but most mainstream people still have heavy prejudices against kids dressed in black. And prejudices that are, to me, perfectly justified (we still have a lot of grave desecrations and Satanist childish acts). Yet I think all that shall evolve with time. Goth sure has a place—and a role— in society. That's what I believe, and that's the reason why I write stories.
"Goth fashion has been growing quite a lot, too, in France these past three or four years. I go to Paris as often as I get the chance; the goth activity there is really great now. There are big parties and events and gigs every week, even a goth bar, Le Katabar, and we also have a pro-gothic magazine, Elegy magazine.
"Of course, goth arts are not taken seriously by mainstream businesses, but I feel hopeful. Things take time, that's all, and we are getting there slowly. That's also one of the reasons why I tell people that I am not goth, when they ask me what I am. If I told them I was goth, they would think I am just a kid listening to Marilyn Manson, see my point? So I just tell them I am an artist, that I write about love, and they accept my work as a good-though-weird art form."
France by Lea Silhol, editor at Oxymore Editions in Montpelier, France, and publisher of the vampire magazine Requiem
"There are no goth writers in France besides Sire Cedric and myself— we both have a large goth readership. Sire Cedric writes vampire erotica.
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My focus is more like the ancient 'colds' of the eighties. There are no major goth writers in France. Well, perhaps, Carthesian Land."
Germany by DJ Caluna (one of The f Section)
"The goth culture in Germany is multifaceted. We have the romantic,
and they are very much into medieval themes, roleplaying, and listening
to metal or darkwave musik with a big amount of medieval style in it, like
Qntal and In Extremo. Then we have the eighties goths, who dress like
Siouxsie and the Cure when they were young, and only listen to
,".< musik older than ten years. The electro fans like EBM [electronic
1 body music], industrial and technoid sounds, and always argue
with the eighties folk about how much techno can still be consid
ered goth.
"We have a lot of nice music festivals. The biggest is the Wave
und Gothic Trefeen in Leipzig, east Germany. I'm really looking
forward to that. Then we have the Zillo Festival, Mera Luna Festival,
and the Sonic Seducer Festival, all organized by the big magazines. We
read magazines like Zillo, Orkus, Sonic Seducer, Neurostyle, and Gothic.
"We have problems, too, within the goth scene, with groups of neo-Nazis that try to infiltrate. That's bad and leads to conflicts."
Italy by the staff at L'Erba delta Strega (Witch Grass) (a Web community and dark magazine)
"Our first gothic bands in Italy stopped being innovative and experimental in the middle of eighties. Unfortunately, in the last ten years just a few bands have been able to achieve popularity in our country and, occasionally, in the rest of Europe. Chants of Maldoror, Frozen Autumn, Vidi Aquam, Canaan, Kirlian Camera, Ataraxia, Burning Gates, Limbo . . . and others now have a lot of fans and perform concerts. Many organizations and individuals are trying to 'do something' (in the broadest meaning of the phrase) for the Italian gothic scene, with concerts and other musical events scheduled, artistic exhibitions, Web sites (Erbadellastrega, Ver Sacrum, Slowburn, Angelic), magazines (Ascension Magazine, Ver Sacrum, Ritual), retrospectives, clubs (Jungle in Rome, Siddharta in Florence, Transilvania Live in Milan), etc."
THE GOTH BJBLE
276

Italy by Paola (one of The f Section)
"First of all, I find the Italians really tolerant. I hear some real horror stories of American goths being laughed at or persecuted, but in Italy they don't automatically assume that a goth is also a rabbit-slashing Satanist, or a potential new Columbine murderer. Their view is admirably serene. This may be because most Italian goths tend to be middle-upper-class, all college students or thirty somethings with brilliant jobs, so the stigma of goth as white trash does not exist. Also, Italian goths are still Italians, so they are friendly, witty and love a laugh and the good things in life; I rarely saw dismal goths here. The Catholic imagery is closely linked to being goth: churches, cathedrals, saints, martyrs, etc., are the epitome of goth. This is a subject worth many PhD sociology papers and I don't feel qualified enough to delve more into it."
Peru by Reynaldo (one of The t Section)
"We in Peru who love goth music are only a few. We have just cassettes and a few CDs. We would love it if goths from around the world could help us. We are poor, and the gothic scene here in Lima is a very hidden underground. We would be happy to have promotional material, CDs, maybe even videos, anything. Please ask people to contact us. We would be very glad to have goths from around the world come and visit us, and stay with us in Peru."
The Netherlands by Nimue (one of The f Section)
Nimue says about goth in the Netherlands (where she was born and still visits):
"The goth scene in the Netherlands is terrific. Great. Unbelievable. Maybe the best one there is. There are so many goths in the Netherlands, and the goth scene is so big, free, relaxed, and beautiful. Most people are in the category of vampire/Wicca/Wednesday Addams goths. The way I would describe the goth scene in the Netherlands is: all a goth could wish for. Maybe I'm exaggerating, but that's just what I think. In general, people in the Netherlands respect the goth scene, simply because it's so big they can't deny its existence and its greatness."
THE X CHAPTER: FUTURE TEflSE T 277
Ukraine by Vitality "Stranger" Fedun
Stranger represents all Ukranian gothic bands and is the only promoter of gothic music and subculture in the Ukraine.
"Ukrainian goth style is black clothes and silver, and the symbol of our trident, which you can see as the frontpiece of our Web site. It's difficult being goth here. Our society doesn't like the unknown, and thinks goths are Satanists.
"Our most gothic book is Remarque's L'arc de Triomph, and all his other books. To be honest, we think gothic is more a philosophy than vampyre stuff.
"Ukranian gothic music started here around 1988 when the bands Komu, Vnyz, and Skryabin appeared, playing sad/philosophical music with deep text. They just didn't know they were goths. . . .
"I don't know if goths here are different than goths elsewhere, but maybe are smarter. In Ukraine you're supposed to be smarter if you're goth, otherwise you're pop-flooded, with the tastes of the bubblegum-mers. To get goth music here is difficult; it's hard to save yourself from the flood of Britney Spears and related stuff, and from stupid metal—the two main tastes of youngsters in the Ukraine. There are no goth clubs here. We listen to CDs, which can take five or six months, a whole lifetime [wink] to get. There's no music market in the Ukraine."
Ukraine by Nimue (one of The f Section)
"Well, Ukraine has a very, very small scene. Plus it's different than in any other country. Most people are used to goth girls wearing vampire dresses and all that, but the ones in Ukraine just wear plain clothes. The only reason why they call themselves goth is because they like goth music. So it is really different."
the pASt impregtutes the present, n>bid) births the future
A reviewer in the Daily Telegraph, a newspaper in England, commented on the goth culture as portrayed in two small-press books published there: "One finishes reading convinced that the main reason goth subculture hasn't been coopted by mass media is that it hasn't got much to say that wasn't said better 150 years ago."
In many ways, this reviewer is correct.
The world took a wrong turn in the 1800s. In Zen thinking, it's not
THE f SECTION TWENTY YEARS IN THE FUTURE
SO ft. Quccnic "I may not be going
out as much, or I just might; I refuse to
be told I have to 'outgrow' something
that still attracts me. I will always be
eccentric, stubborn and intense."
ArAtttcle "Probably [I'll be goth], if it still suits my soul, and I believe it will."
biogotb "The 'me' of now could probably have a conversation with the 'me' of twenty years from now and find a lot of common ground. Poppy Z. Brite says, 'goth is a good place to grow old,' and I agree."
Beacon Sytb "I'll be fifty years old
with the eyeliner over the wrinkles, the
PVC pants holding up the beer belly,
telling my kids they don't appreciate
the classics like Bauhaus,
Ministry or Specimen."
Decaying toy "I'm sure people will
ask about my strangeness, acting this
way in old age. And after all, I may get
bored of the color black, but I will
always be gothic inside."
DJ Qlutu "Still wearing black and
melancholically looking back on the
eighties and early nineties where life as
a goth was still a thrill."
Jctgirl "I'll be sixty-six with tattoos
and piercings and I still see myself as
the same person. I like my clothes. I'll be

278
THE GOTH BIBLE

what was done, but how it was done. The obsession to industrialize at all costs has ended up nearly destroying the planet with pollution, created weapons of mass annihilation, and has left the average person feeling ineffective, not to mention dehumanized. Technology is industry's bastard cousin. What we have been promised has not come to pass, and computers are a perfect example. Predictions in the 1980s—that computers would reduce the workload—were dead wrong. The opposite is in effect; computers have not only doubled the workload but have left us precious little free time, combined with a deep sense of being less connected to one another by the fleshy contact of the senses that nature intended, which helps keep us grounded.
Goth is a realm devoted to the deepest yearnings of the collective unconscious. It respects what has been traditionally called feminine values in both men and women, and traditionally those values have not been heard, to the detriment of us all. Goth espouses the beliefs of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood—beauty, love, refinement, creativity. At the same time, it is sophisticated enough to be able to laugh at itself in this theater of the absurd we call life.
Goth culture remains relatively small, in many ways uncharted, experimental. It is not for everyone, and being goth requires a particular set of sensibilities. Goth is about process that does not get sacrificed to product. In the 1970s the frightening phrase became popular "the end justifies the means." Goths believe in process—allowing life to happen, in waiting to see where things will lead. This is an artistic approach to living life. And while goals are important, they are not the be-all and end-all to goths, who try to live a far better balance than what the mainstream culture suggests. Goth is all about acceptance of what the world-at-large rejects, but which, ironically, human beings desperately seem to need in order to both survive, and to survive with style and grace.
To the extent that a person has difficulty accepting death, they will also have a hard time accepting anyone or anything that personifies that dark goddess who beckons and draws us relentlessly into her realm. Goths are not afraid to Dance Macabre with skeletons, play grim fandango for real, and tango "to the end of love," as Leonard Cohen sang so poetically. Some people are afraid, and its natural that goths make them uncomfortable.
And while the happy, wealthy, ultra-consumer modern moguls who run the day are busily building and demolishing empires and acquiring
collecting my Social Security check in yards of black chiffon and a great hat!"
Johnny Jomul&eby&e "I see myself as still being goth, maybe more
corporate goth, but I'll still hold my
views, like my music, enjoy my art, and
dress how I want when I can."
KrockmiUinc "I'm an old goth. Been
in since 1980, so I guess I'll be here for
the next twenty years."
CDA<X\mc X "I wouldn't know how else to be. Granny goth: I don't think I like that. I'll make sure there's a goth club around I can dance in...even if I have to build one myself."
museumbitcb "Even more so! I
expect to own my own home, then I can
do even more gothy-type stuff without
concern for a landlord, for example."
Silly "I don't know for sure, but I think I will never be normal."
Srxkitub "You can take the girl out of the black but you can't take the black
out of the girl. Perhaps more toned down. A classier type of goth. [smile]"
"I see myself as
still being goth, and making a name for
myself, turning around the 'all goths
are druggie idiots' to 'wow, these
people are very kool!'"

279
THE X CHAPTER: FUTURE TEHSE
more and more to make life easier and easier—which too often seems to result in joylessness—goths continue to quietly live in a manner that is not of the world but yet they are in it.
One image works well to show goth in comparison to the madness surrounding it. Werner Herzog's exquisitely elegant film Nosferatu the Vampyre portrays the idyllic town of Bremer, overrun with rats carrying the plague, brought to its shores by a vampire. In one poignant scene, the character Lucy Marker (played by Isabelle Adjani) wanders through the town square crowded with citizens who have given way to insanity brought about by knowledge of their impending demise. Goth is the Lucy of the world, still sane, viewing the madness of the collective, unable to do much about it, but unable to ignore it either. Goths hear the proverbial fiddlers play while the city burns. When the emperor decides to go naked, goths refuse to pretend he's dressed. It's no wonder some people are uncomfortable around goths.
The nature of the mainstream is a hungry monster, a blob, eating all in its path, constantly trying to expand itself. It will likely never make space for goth in a major way; it's easier to try to swallow goth whole and spit out the bones, treating what it cannot truly digest with scorn. But perhaps it is a good thing in the long run that goth cannot be co-opted. The image of the crayfish on the tarot card the Moon could represent goth. The crayfish crawls up out of the murky depths onto the shore, and in the case of the card, it symbolizes a gift from the world of darkness to the world of light. But the home of the crayfish is not terra firma, so it can only leave the gift from the shadowy realm, then return from whence it came. Goth offers a gift by its very existence, but it cannot live well in the light. That's not the nature of goth, anymore than it is the nature of most people to live in the dark realms, where goth flourishes.
Goth brushes the collective consciousness like a ghostly spirit, representing values of another time which, had we maintained, could have moved us all a different way. Maybe in a more humane direction. One can only hope that this spectral contact makes a difference. Sometimes it doesn't take much. The last rose petal falling could alter the balance and topple the bush. At the very least, that petal decomposes and supports new life. And it makes a great sachet!
Zcrstocrtc "I'll probably be this witchy woman who wears a lot of twist dresses (think Stevie Nicks) and beaded jewelry, and I'll definitely be the coolest grandma in the nursing home! I'll probably be the most tattooed, too!"
CiFts FRpm THE
"Goth style and attitude are
something of a desire to return to a
more formal and elegant world. The
Victorian time period is romanticized,
and modernity is perceived as crass.
Romanticism in any form is usually a
good check on culture, since it tends to
value beauty, and the individual over
mass consciousness."
C.B. "Goth gives the mainstream a place where their outcasts can find the
social-support structure they need.
Society needs more fringe groups to
reach out to people who aren't making a
healthy contact with others."
Deacon Sytb "Goth is the single
greatest basis of creativity, especially
in music and prose.
Jennie "What did Orwell say? In order
for there to be a strong Us, there must
be a frightening Them."

muscumbitcb "Balance. Not every
aspect of life/culture is sticky sweet,
nor should it be."
CDylucrctu "Goth lends the power to stand up and be heard."
Vctu Gou "[Goth gives] permission
to be more of an individual and
increased openness to esoteric, religious
and other ideas."
Sire Ccfcric "Goth already is a
part of society, the dark and beautiful
heart of night."

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