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The Busy World of Lon Milo Duquette
G&C: Being seen as an "authority" because of the popularity of your numerous published works, what type of pressure does that place on you, both personally and publicly?
Lon Milo Duquette: I'm very gratified that my works have been so warmly received, and I'm pleased to take any opportunity to discuss them further. I've always led a somewhat public life. I was a musician for fourteen years before taking a rather visible role in magical societies. Even before any of my books were published my ritualistic duties afforded me the opportunity to travel quite a bit around the country and abroad. If there is any additional pressure in recent years it has only resulted from my struggles to better budget my time.
G&C: What is your "day to day" life like?
LMD: As I would image it is for you and many of your readers, my day-to-day life is an odd mixture of the painfully mundane and the colorfully bizarre. First of all, I have a regular 9 to 5 job. As a matter of fact, holding a job and my 34-year marriage to Constance, are the two greatest magical accomplishments of my life.
The traditions of ceremonial magick inform us that the first magical weapon a magician makes is the Disk or Pantacle. It is the Elemental weapon of Earth, and it is the firm foundation upon which the magician stands before beginning to exercise his or her will upon the universe. For me, holding a regular job is an important aspect of my magical Pantacle. Without a roof over my head, or food in my stomach, all my magick would be concerned with putting a roof over my head and food in my stomach!
Actually, my day begins before I am fully awake. For me, the moments of twilight consciousness (just before I'm completely asleep at night and just before I'm completely awake in the morning) can be the most spiritually revealing times of my life. If I can bring the memory my dreams (even if it's the only last images and impressions of a very long dream) into waking consciousness I feel that I have at least partially integrated my conscious and subconscious minds. Hopefully I've also digested some of the lessons and adventures of my subconscious life. They are not always pleasant lessons, but I would rather remember them and try to work out their mysteries than forget them and have to repeat the lesson.
Before driving to work I usually spend a little time answering my mail and organizing my thoughts and materials for the day's work. On the 30-minute drive to work I chant a peculiar mantra of my own invention (108 repetitions of the holy name of Ganesha to the tune of Pop Goes the Weasel...don't ask....it's a long story) and work on memorization of various rituals and poetry. For the last 23 years I've hosted a weekly magick class in our home and I am usually teaching or otherwise ritualizing 2 or 3 additional nights a week. Last night's class was on the construction of the body of light and astral projection.
I travel quite a bit every year in my physical body too...not only on O.T.O. business but also for the American Tarot Association, the International Tarot Society, and my publishers. This August I teach three days at the Omega Institute in upstate New York, present two seminars at the National O.T.O. Conference in Long Beach, California, two seminars at the annual Scandinavian Gathering in Oslo, Norway, and two seminars in London. In between all of this I try to write and keep from getting fired from my day job.
G&C: Having witnessed the "evolution" of Paganism in recent years, do you see the proliferation of "traditions", covens and solitaries as making acceptance and/or tolerance of Paganism as a whole more difficult to the "majority religions"?
LMD: Please don't think me arrogant when I say I could care less if anyone has difficulty with my religious beliefs or spiritual practices. I practice them in private or in a sympathetic environment. I do not proselytize, nor do I rub my religion in anyone's nose. I just don't have the time to be constantly weighing my beliefs or practices against everyone else's beliefs and practices.
I try always to keep in mind the fact that I live 99.99% of my life in common with everyone else on this planet...even the most hateful bigot. We are all human beings; we all depend upon air, and food and water and shelter and human companionship. Compared to all the things I have in common with the Christian or the Moslem or the Jew or the Hindu or the Buddhist the fact that we hold sacred different varieties of abstractions is hardly worth mentioning.
I don't wear my religious differences on my sleeve. I look more or less like anybody else. (Actually I look like two somebody elses!) I talk more or less like anybody else. I can find plenty of things to pleasantly discuss...even with people whose politics and religion I abhor. I like apple pie and pizza. I watch Jeopardy! I enjoy sex. I go to movies, I complain about gasoline prices. I'm not asking anyone to "accept" or "tolerate" the fact that I conjure demons and worship strange and terrible gods....hell...I don't even have time to bring the subject up!
As for the proliferation of new (or ancient...recently rediscovered, or newly revealed) "traditions" and such, I personally feel that many of them are really more along the lines of role-playing games. But what's wrong with that? When you think about it, all religious expression is a form of role playing game. Honestly though, who am I to even voice such an opinion publicly? It shouldn't matter what I believe. Unless someone is putting a gun to my head and ordering me to believe one way or the other it is not for me or anyone else to denigrate another's religion -- no matter how silly I may believe it is. I've been wrong before, and I've spent years of my life being silly and doing stupid things.
G&C: What do you see as the greatest "stumbling block" to Pagans striving for equality and an end to religious discrimination against them?
LMD: While there is no question that the ignorant and misinformed continue to make things difficult for people of all minorities, in my opinion the greatest stumbling block to Pagans striving for equality and an end to religious discrimination can be found inside themselves. It is the insidious mind-set buried deep in the subconscious minds of many individuals in the Pagan community that perhaps their beliefs really are unequal with the majority beliefs.
I certainly do not want to sound cruel here, but it is painfully obvious to me that a great many professing Pagans are part of the movement primarily because they are against the religious institutions and the spiritual world-view of their parents and previous generations, and not because they are thoughtful and passionate advocates for the craft. It is clear to that many vocal proponents of the craft are very sure about the things they fear, but not at all clear about the things they love. It's a sad comment, but I believe that if there were not some level of discrimination and intolerance against the craft many of these individuals would not long remain part of the scene.
Yes there is discrimination. Yes there is intolerance. But anyone who defines their entire spiritual identity in terms of the villains who oppose them rather than the heroes they profess to be are missing the point entirely. If you don't think your religion will be equal to Roman Catholicism until the Pope admits that it is --- you may as well give up and become a Catholic. This spiritual inferiority complex is unwarranted and unhealthy and certainly unbecoming of mature individuals of any religious persuasion.
G&C: What are a few of your best memories of practicing your faith over the past few decades?
LMD: For the last 21 years Constance and I have had the privilege of celebrating what is commonly known as the Gnostic Mass. It's not only an extraordinarily beautiful ritual that communicates the supreme magical secret of our Order but it is also the central ceremony with which our Thelemic community marks the great landmarks of the life we share in common - births, deaths, marriages, and rights of passages. I would have to say that my best memories have occurred just before during or after one of these magical celebrations.
G&C: Being so active in an O.T.O. lodge, do you find yourself "lumped in" with the reputation of Aleister Crowley on occasion? How do you feel about that, and the way Crowley is viewed, in general?
LMD: If I find myself lumped in with the reputation of Aleister Crowley it has been only in the most positive ways. The wide availability of his writings in recent years has made it possible for even the most casual investigator to soon discover Crowley's serious contributions to modern spiritual thought. I'm happy to say that currently, among the individuals and institutions whose opinions actually matter (vis a vis the advancement of civilization in general and the evolution of human thought in particular), the works of Aleister Crowley are enjoying immense popularity, and his sinister reputation is viewed with a kind of nostalgic amusement.
G&C: Do you see an alarming increase in Pagans selling their services on the open market in the current era for similar purposes? What is your view of such practices?
LMD: I'm not too alarmed at all. After all, some people don't value teaching unless they think it's valuable enough to pay for. I do see a lot of Pagan-looking books that aren't really aimed at knowledgeable Pagans, and I do have serious issues with works aimed at children. Spell kits and such aimed at the children's market is telling me one of two things: 1) The creator and the publisher don't really believe this stuff is real and so believe it is harmless to sell to kids, or 2) The creator and the publisher do believe this stuff is real and don't care if they sell it to those who are not mature enough to use the power wisely. Either way the creator and the publisher are behaving irresponsibly. Again, this is only my opinion, and I'm just crabby old magician.
G&C: There seems to be a trend for separation - i.e. 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?
LMD: Separate cemeteries for Pagans? Wow! I haven't given that much thought. I suppose some folks might find that an attractive idea. Than again, I'm not sure all the Odinites would be completely comfortable laid out next to the Fairycrafters.
Bad as things seem to be, I think they are slowly getting better. Things such as diversity training in the workplace and positive media models (no matter how corny and politically correct) I believe are very helpful. To keep things moving forward, however, it will take continual (but non-paranoid) vigilance and activism on the part of the entire community.
*****
Lon Milo Duquette will be teaching the course "The Western Magickal Tradition" at the OMEGA Institute for Holistic Studies on August 3-5. He has written My Life with the Spirits; The Magick of Thelema; Angels, Demons and Gods for the New Millennium; and an e-book Accidental Christ, among others. Visit his website.
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