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Subscribe to this list via RSS Blog posts tagged in golden calf

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 

 Golden Calf Syndrome | The Layman's Bible

 

 The Making of a Pagan

 

The little tow-headed boy is sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, watching TV. Now playing—maybe because it's Holy Week—is C. B. de Mille's epic kitsch-fest The Ten Commandments.

The film is unrelentingly grim. Oh the slavery! Oh the plagues! Oh the suffering!

Suddenly, the mood changes. The Children of Israel are, for once, happy. They're dancing, they're getting drunk, they're grabbing each others' asses.

They're worshiping the Golden Calf!

That looks like fun! thinks the little boy. That's what I want to do!

 

With its implications of juvenescence, “calf” is really something of a mistranslation. In Hebrew, an égel (עגל) is actually a yearling bull, newly come to maturity. The Golden Bull is a youthful god, shining with juicy adolescence.

 

“What the heck is that?” asks my friend.

Last modified on
The Golden Calf: A Rite of Private Devotion

The Golden Calf:

A Rite of Private Devotion

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Last modified on
Recent Comments - Show all comments
  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch says #
    Satire aside, in my opinion, sacred images as a spiritual technology are much underutilized in contemporary paganism. The genius o
  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Re "sacred images as a spiritual technology are much underutilized in contemporary paganism." Exactly. As a poet, ritualist, and
  • Francesca De Grandis
    Francesca De Grandis says #
    Thank you, am always glad to see idol worship. It is such a heartfelt practice. Yes, joke intended and, yes, I am sincere about th

Posted by on in Culture Blogs

Paganicon 2014 will open this year with the (in)famous Rite of the Golden Calf.

The Rite was first created for a private festival in 1996 by Twin Cities liturgist Steven Posch. He recalls: “I'll never forget the faces as the procession with the Calf came through. At first, incredulity: Is this for real? Then dawning: This is it: the big one, the sin of sins. And then, abandon: Ohmigods, lemme at it! And they all came rushing in. It was wild, ecstatic: there were actually couples off in the woods afterward, just the way there should be.”

During the Rite, the Calf will be borne in festive Procession and Installed in a shrine in the Art Gallery. He will be accessible for acts of private devotion during Gallery Hours. A brief rite of public worship will take place daily at 12 noon.

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