International Gay & Lesbian Review

Cassell's Encyclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit:Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Lore (Cassell Sexual Politics Series)

• Nonfiction
• Publisher: Cassell Academic
• Publication Date: 1997

Whenever I see the word “encyclopedia” applied to anything, I get nervous. The reality of an encyclopedia, or something designed to be a broad-based reference guide on a given topic, is rarely as good as its potential. Voices and perspectives are left out as oversights as the editors forget as much as they remember. I don’t hold myself separate from this description of encyclopedia editors. The idea of pulling together a truly representative reference piece on a certain topic makes me itch. With this feeling of curiosity and caution, I picked up Cassell’s Enclopedia of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit: Covering Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Lore. The title itself implies a huge undertaking, one I tried to imagine before I opened the book. I spent time wondering what sorts of subjects should be covered in this volume: what holes would cause disappointment, what holes would be intolerable. As I began to browse the table of contents, I realized that the editors, Randy P. Conner, David Hatfield Sparks, and Mariya Sparks, had given far more than my imagination had conceived. From the beginning of the introduction, the editors state clearly that they see the creation of an encyclopedia and any conversation about spirituality as being fundamentally political. They link the suppression of spirituality to colonialism and all forms of oppression, understanding that the suppression of a people depends on the suppression of its symbols, art, and belief systems. “In this way, the oppressor achieves his ultimate purpose: that of destroying the self-esteem, integrity and independence of the individuals whose culture he wishes to decimate or dominate.” The editors call to account previous compilers of dictionaries and encyclopedias of religion, mythology and folklore for their dismissal or negative descriptions of gender fluidity and same-sex desire. They also call queer activists and theorists to remember the spiritual component of life even as they organize in the political. In her foreword, Gloria E. Anzaldua describes it this way, “It is time for us to move beyond the confining parameters of what qualifies as knowledge. When we refuse to consider the value of knowledge rooted in the body, in the psyche, in paralogical experience, we fail to challenge colonialist, post-Renaissance, Euro-western conceptions of reality. We need to move beyond the facile dichotomy of ‘essentialism’ and ‘constructionism’ to embrace other theoretical paradigms inclusive of embodied and in-spirited knowledge.” The reader needs only to browse through the table of contents to experience a transgression of the more traditional paradigms. There are seventeen listings under the topic “Spiritual Traditions.” The editors define queer spiritual traditions from the familiar position (for Western readers) of Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam through to traditions not always accounted for in Western non-anthropological texts “African and African-diasporic, Chinese Shamanism, Taoism, Confucianism, and Syncretism; MesoArnerican and South American” and then on to spiritual traditions rarely listed with the same historical respect as the others “Goddess Reverence, Queer Spirit, Radical Faeries, Witchcraft and Wicca, and Women’s Spirituality.” All of these traditions, demonstrate the editors, are of primary importance to queer lives. They are as much a part of queer studies and of understanding the complexities of queerness as are texts listing civil rights abuses or studies of famous individuals. Additionally, in a book defining itself as a “queer,” this text honors the fullness of that word in equal measure. The lives of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered people, the two-spirited, trans-sexuals, and others whose experiences can not be covered by the English language are equally detailed. As the table of contents demonstrates, this is not just an encyclopedia of European-derived experiences. In this volume, queerness is truly allowed to be all that it should be. Each of the spiritual traditions listed is given at least a couple of pages explanation before moving into the encyclopedia. The explanatory segment gives a very general description of the belief system itself and includes a discussion of the queer elements of that belief system: views on same sex love and homoeroticism, gender fluidity or transgenderism, and any contemporary political work around queer issues. Reading through these, I have to admit that my Catholic training rose up and began to complain. As I read through the body of the encyclopedia, noticing Sister Clodesinde Spighi sharing the same page with Annie Sprinkle, Soul Windows, Sots and Sotties, and Sphinx, I could hear Father Paulus from my days at St. Martin’s warning me against this blasphemous text.

For many readers, seeing the conjunction of so many usually-separated concepts will carry a feeling of dissonance. This dissonance is one aspect of the book’s power. The usual assumptions, both conscious and unconscious, about spiritual traditions are transgressed, leaving the space to imagine something different.

For the last twenty years or more, any kind of queer, lesbian, gay, bi or trans liberation or civil rights or social change movement has had to spend some amount of energy responding to the Radical Religious Right. No matter what our spiritual tradition, a specific view of sin and morality has affected queer cultural life and political organizing in the United States. It is the Christian Right’s conversation, their definition, their vision, their morality and their successes that the rest of us have been forced to respond to. The Left (or whatever language you use to describe what the Christian Radical Right is not) has failed in its refusal to honor the tangled mass of belief systems, spiritual life, cultural morality and personal vision that guides how most of us lead our lives. The Radical Religious Right has acted on “the connection between political beliefs and personal beliefs, between theory and spirit, in a way that has enabled them to reframe US in public dialogue on the meaning of ‘family,’ ‘values,’ and ‘political responsibility.’ The reasons for this cultural reframing beg for many books and many discussions but part of the reason is addressed by the work of Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit.” Queer political organizing is at a crossroads. In some parts of the country, huge gains have been made that allow for some queers “usually gays and lesbians” to live fairly uncomplicated and safe lives. Political organizing in those areas often focuses on domestic partnership benefits, civil rights legislation and the repeal of the sodomy laws. These, it is understood, are ‘queer.’ again, usually gay issues. In other parts of the country, or in other neighborhoods in those ‘safe’ parts of the country, the political organizing of queers includes dealing with the realities of welfare reform, anti-immigrant legislation, and the increasing criminalizing and imprisoning of poor communities and communities of color. The current queer political crossroads is a crossroads of visions. What do we imagine to be a queer or lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgendered agenda? What goals are we striving for and what will this community look like after we are successful? To respond to these questions, we need to allow the fullness of who we are to take part in the wondering. By leaving out our spiritual selves, or by allowing the Religious Right to define spiritual belief, morality and religion and to think of ourselves as only concerned with ‘politics,’ is to fail at creating a vision that will hold more than the people who sit comfortably at a very small table. Queer Myth, Symbol and Spirit pulls together a vast range of traditions and says “this is the queer community across history and in the world today.” This queer community is far broader than most of us can see or experience at any given moment. It is as great as our imagination. And when we pay attention to its wealth of knowledge and experience, it will help us craft a vision that will guide us into something immensely and wonderfully new.

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