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Locked Horns

Z Budapest Answers Some Questions

G&C: Being seen as an "authority" on Paganism because of the popularity of your published works and projects, what type of pressure does that place on you, both personally and publically?

Z: I feel no pressure because of my books. I am glad to get e-mails from my readers. I am glad to give autographs, none of it overwhelming. I wish I had a manager to make more personal appearances. Somebody to set up gigs for me. This has always been a deep wish.

G&C: What is your "day to day" life like?

Z: I live a wonderful boring life. I say wonderful because it is. I get up around 8 AM,say thanks to the Goddess for the unfolding day, feed my dogs, (Hungarian Pulis Zyna and Zoro) have nettle tea with jasmine, have some bread and jam. I write till about 3 PM. Then we go for our walk (in the nearby cemetery park a great place to meditate) or I go swim in a nearby heated swimming pool. I feel deep joy when in water. I love the feeling of being outdoors yet in water and not be cold. I swim for an hour or so, get a good hot shower, come home, have lunch. Errands, picking up mail, reading a book, cooking dinner. I watch TV if there is anything on. Usually there isn't. I watch the news. Retire around ten. I love my life.

G&C: Having seen much of the "evolution" of Wicca over the past decades, do you see the proliferation of "traditions", covens and solitaries as making acceptance and/or tolerance of this religion (and other Pagan variations) more difficult to the "majority religions"?

Z: Paganism has never really died. So its recurrence is natural. I like the fact that we are mainstream at least once a year, Halloween, when the whole country celebrates witches. Its getting bigger then Xmas.

G&C: What do you see as the greatest "stumbling block" to Pagans striving for equality and an end to religious discrimination against them?

Z: Pagans' "stumbling block" ? I say dumbing down circles, making circles boring. We can loose everything if we too get to be predictable and overly organized. Discrimination against us is holding us together. If it stops, all the warts will be showing. I am not sure we are ready for that. We are just like the general population in many ways, homophobia, sexism, etc. Right now, we have the smug self delusion that we are better then the rest. I am not so sure.

G&C: What are a few of your best memories of practicing your faith over the past few decades?

Z: My best memories all come from the seventies and that Big Rock in Malibu. I remember endless nights dancing naked under the moonlight. I recall deer coming to wake us up in the morning, the miracles that followed us everywhere, stopping the rain one full moon for the ritual, hearing the voice of Pan at other full moon, getting our wishes heard and fulfilled. I spent my youth in wild witching.

G&C: Every religion, after enduring a period of persecution, seems to encounter a period of dangerous fragmentation. Do you think the modern Pagan movement is going through this? Are we in need of a period of reunification, for the sake of clarity in terms of information and education, or is this a natural step for a religion that stresses personal responsibility and the value of individual achievement and experience? What should be expected in the future?

Z: Paganism is an umbrella. We have fragmented, it's natural for diversity. Since we have no "pope" nor the desire for one, we have to learn to function with diversity. We cannot be united unless under attack.

G&C: And what do you make of the alarming increase in Pagans selling their services on the open market at exorbitant rates? Is it a side effect of our consumer-based society, a necessary step to help an empty, grasping culture, an obligatory phase (on the part of the practitioners) prompted by the discovery of long-dormant abilities, or some tangled amalgam of all of the above? Do you see it as getting better or getting worse?

Z: Marketing paganism comes from the influence of the New Age marketing. If they can sell their stuff why not us? I have a nine hundred myself (1-900-737-4637), due to the fact that I have never been better with advice, Tarot, insights. .Wisdom is always in short supply in the world. I think we should make ourselves available and pretend that we can eat air. I enjoy technology and how it makes me in touch with my readers (www.zbudapest.com) and make possible contacts like never before. We should compete without losing integrity.

G&C: There seems to be a trend for separation - ie. Pagan cemeteries, Pagan libraries, etc. - to serve as a method for peaceful, positive community coexistence. Do you see religious persecution as getting better or worse? Is religious tolerance being stressed enough as a key ethical concern?

Z: Spirituality demands that we have access to places to pray which, in our case, is nature. I am all for owning some mountaintops, cemeteries, yes. Sure.

G&C: Do you think that the overwhelming practical focus of today's popularly-received traditions is eclipsing the mystical essence of the religion? Or is it merely a matter of a new, dynamic religion "filling out", if you will, into every aspect of daily life?

Z: Popularity used to be our middle name. Paganism was for peasants, pagani, the regular folks. Folk religions were always popular, hence the name. I don't like it when we get to complicated, to mystified, to fancied up. We are not a group of sects. Traditions evolved from geographical roots.

G&C: Terms like "Christian-Pagan" keep appearing more and more on the internet and elsewhere. Do you think that such a tempered spiritual approach - much like St. Patrick must have used in approaching the fifth century celtic Irish - is gaining favor? Or, as many religions are returning to their inflexible fundamentalist roots in order to "regain the flock", do you see the inverse as the millennial trend?

Z: I have never heard the xian/pagan expression. Xians have taken us over by adopting to our holydays (Xmas). I guess it's only right if they get a bit of it back. Tolerance is good, watering things down sometimes serves to discover that underneath of it all, there is a oneness. Wouldn't that be a cosmic joke?

*****

Z Budapest is a well-known Psychic and Wiccan, author of the recently released Summoning the Fates, as well as The Holy Book of Women's Mysteries, Grandmother of Time, Grandmother Moon, The Goddess in the Office, The Goddess in the Bedroom, and The Rise of the Fates, all of which are available on her website: www.zbudapest.com