Sinister: a Film Review

For those who don't know, Sinster is a recently released horror film. The plot is the standard a family moves into a home and creepy things start happening theme. The “hook” or “twist” in this movie vs other movies where families move into homes with creepy things happening is that these creepy things are being caused by he “pagan deity Bughuul ”.

As a horror buff I want to say that the movie is acceptable. The pacing is good and the movie doesn't go on too long. While the “twists” and “turns” are predicable the movie does make them still enjoyable.  While there is a little too much repetition of the same super 8 film work gore, the scares and twists do inpire legitimate jumps and startles. The music and lighting is excellent. The characters are believable and the acting is good. An extra special kudos goes out to the children acting leads Michael Hall D'Addario and Clare Foley whose performance really draws the viewer into the drama both in their commitment to character and in the viewer's concern for them. I would recommend it as a causal Halloween scare and a good way to spend almost two hours, but I wouldn't mark it as outstanding or a must see.

As a pagan, I was interested initially in the plot. We as a group aren't mentioned, but the idea of a pagan god as a central horror theme intrigued me. I was further interested in seeing how a god who “actually lived in the images themselves and they were gateways into his realm” would strike terror and fear into the family of the film and the audience viewing. Warning beyond this point there are spoilers regarding the plot and semantics of the film.

On the score of Bughuul I was disappointed.While  Baghuul is a fictional god so no actual deities were slandered in the making of this film, the term deity is terribly abused. A quick refresh deity according to webster's online is:

“a : the rank or essential nature of a god : divinity

b capitalized : god 1, supreme being

2: a god or goddess <the deities of ancient Greece>

3: one exalted or revered as supremely good or powerful”

I don't see how this definitions lines up with the the local occult expert's description of Baghuul as a Sumerian pagan Deity known for consuming childern's souls. Ok, so the Deity has a dark side, a ritual sacrifice kind of vibe, not unheard of please continue Mr. Occult expert on other things Baghuul does. Oh wait, that's it, Baghuul eats kids—why is he worshiped again? You can't just call something a certain label and make it so, there has to be corresponding traits. Seems like we could have swapped the term “pagan deity” for monster, been more accurate and not opened ourselves to the scrutiny of what makes a god. 

Who erects temples and ritually sacrifices to a being that offers nothing in return? At least round out the stereo type by making Baghuul give a bountiful harvest or untold powers or sight into the future or safe passage through underworld. Heck, I'd have settled for Baghuul giving out a fruit basket just so long as there was a reason he had temples to start with. Instead I have to believe that Sumerians worshiped an immortal minotaur who can walk between dimensions through portraits that humans have to create for him.

At least the occult expert believes it's pretty impossible that anyone is worshiping Baghuul (it's kind of sad we still have to give points out when they don't blame or accuse the pagans) through these murders, he just thinks Baghuul is some kind of symbol for initiation into a group (cue the humanist pagans-they go through the ritual but Baghuul is just a metaphor).

Beyond Baghuul failing to be God like—he fails to have limited power either. In the beginning the author finds a tape with a bunch of Baghuul killings in it. He sees the image of Baghuul and also apparently exposes his kids to these images somehow ( the how part is kind of unknown as he's always watching the images alone and he's very careful not to let his family in to his office, even locking it when he's not around). The question here is where does Baghuul keep all these super 8 copies of his murders? Does he keep them in his other realm and trot them out right after the house has been cleaned and ready for sale somehow? Does he allow the children he devours to stay around in our realm until they can plant his super 8 images?  Maybe Baghuul's God like power or gift is that he can drop an image of himself and all those he devours or kills where ever he wants?

Let's say I roll with the kid taking the video, hiding, and planting Baghuul's imaged before the child is eaten. How do these images end up in the author's old house with extended cuts? For a deity that can only come from one realm to another through graven images and possession of children he'll be eating, this guy has a lot of resources to get his picture out there. Maybe Baghuul should start working for a child's talent agency? I don't like that the movie didn't stick to the own limit of power they imposed on their imaginary god.

Another thing that strikes me as odd, is why does Baghuul destroy whole families? Why not take the susceptible kid and go? For that matter why not possess the vulnerable kid, use that one to take all other child family members and leave the adults behind fumbling? Seems like killing other family child members is a waste of food a least.

We could have had a really good monster movie about a being, I refuse to call him a god, who can travel from his world to ours through an image, implant himself in a human mind and possess people. We could have had people fumbling around who didn't understand or believe the rules. We could have had children luring other children into his clutches and slowing killing off adults who were in their way.  We could have seen parents strive to find ways to save their already possessed children through some form of exorcism or calling on a more powerful god or we could have watched parents murder possessed children in an attempt to save non-effected children and perhaps had a close up where realizing that their other child had been exposed to Baghuul and will be next, they choose a grizly murder over watching their child's soul slowly being devoured and giving power to this monster.

 We could have made Baghuul more ambitious and had him desire to slowly take over this realm or have him building strength to do battle with other gods and possibly gain more powers/realms. Instead we have a God who is not really a God with limited powers like those a polytheistic pantheon may support, who becomes all powerful when it suits the writers, basically creating a stereo typed mess in a stereo typed ritual manner.

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Welcome To Southern Pagan Muses!

I want to welcome everyone who found this site to the official opening of the Southern Pagan Muses blog!  Southern Pagan gets is name from the regional area the author Swift Rabbit live in.  She was a born and raised in Massachusetts, but moved to Huntsville Alabama approximately two years ago.  The changes in her religious experience have been profound, so she intends to bring that "southern" influence into her writings at this blog.  The name itself is both meant to describe the kind of writings found in the blog and be a play off of the famous Southern Living magazine.   Within the blog you will hopefully find welcome, an active discussion, and possibly some ideas to add into your own practice. 

The issues discussed in Southern Pagan will range based off of the season, and whims of Swift Rabbit.  The blog is meant mostly to be an editorial with a few shopping tips, ritual ideas, and tarot spreads thrown in the mix.

What We Do:
1. Southern Pagan Muses is committed to created between three to seven weekly posts that are no longer than one to five pages in length.  The goal is to be current and to the point.

2. Currently Southern Pagan has two reoccurring segments: one where Swift Rabbit blogs through the Delphic Maxims and the other where Swift Rabbit is blogging through the online Crystal Wind Rider Book of Shadows.  In her Delphic Maxims segment she is discussing what she does or does not find morally relevant to herself from the original list of maxims.  In the Crystal Wind Rider BOS segment she is commenting on the original work, adding to it in some areas, or taking a theme from the orginal work and expounding on it.

3. Other topics that will pop up often include magic, seasons, local gods, reiki, energy work, and other online posts.

A Little About Swift Rabbit:

In Swift Rabbit's religious life she is a Hard Polytheistic Monist Eclectic Neo-Pagan with strong outer court Wicca, Reiki, and traditional Italian lore influence.  She has been practicing for a decade, and writing for about as long.  Her religious experiences are primarily personal in nature and have been with guides and local gods.

In the rest of Swift Rabbit's life she is an avid writer, a home maker, an explorer, and works as a general manager in the food service industry.  

Weekly Tarot Share

I work a lot with tarot cards, for more on why I do that I have a post called: Why I Use Tarot.  This post is more of my attempt to bring my experience with tarot into the discussion here.  The following is the daily reading I've done for myself today.

Four Messages to Carry With me Today Per the Halloween Tarot  (review of tarot at aeclectic):

The Star: This card is thought of as the calm after the storm of the Tower. I've faced the unreality or intentional self deceptions with in my life plans (hopefully-I've tried to be very realistic, but I never know for sure until I'm knee deep in a mess) and what's left is the hope, inspiration, and beginnings of a new strong project. I believe that this card is talking about my blog directly here. I've wanted to write one one about religion for a while, and I've spent a few months looking up different ways to go about writing, getting my thoughts out to a larger audience successfully, how to online network, how I can do this and still work a full time job and live an active offline life. It's daunting, but a series of events in my personal life have signaled that now is the time.

So today, like the star card is a day of new beginnings, of hope, and creativity. My energy is focused on the spiritual/divine aspect in the this card more than the social and structural aspects of actually starting a successful blog. I know I have to face those and work as hard, perhaps harder on those ends, but in writing this post and drawing my cards, I have no choice but to turn inward and hear what it before me instead of what would make the best post or what I could drive people here with.

Two of Pumpkins: The two of pentacles (pumpkins in this deck) should be my repeating life theme. The card signifies that I am juggling two very differing aspects of my life trying to find balance and sure footing between two objects or ideas that need my time and attention. This particular deck shows a literal light hearted juggler balancing two pumpkins but if you look at the expression on the juggler's face, you will see her smile is very similar to a frown of concentration. Disaster can strike if she drops what she is managing. In the real world we often perceive a disastrous end to the “show” if we drop the ball too, but it is important to remember, that a good juggler, can drop everything in the act and recover for a huge audience applause at the end.

It seems I always have one foot in the intangible world and one in the real world. It's probably my major life struggle to balance this pull I feel towards an ideal life path and the reality it takes to get there. If money were no object, I know I'd float away in hypothetical and religious intangibles and never look back. I'd be happier and my life would be easier, but I think that I would lose my connection to others whom are struggling in much the same way. I don't always feel this way, especially when this card comes up, but my connection to something more than myself is a huge gift that I may use for positive change, so long as I don't drift too far into ether that I no long can relate to others.

This card is a huge message for me because I'd love to get lost in what I love, where I feel confident, and in work I feel I was placed here to do. However, to survive, I need to reserve some focus for my day job and for the people who are put in front of me and what their needs are. I have a lot to contribute, but I can't get so caught up in contributing my thoughts and experiences that I neglect the finances and people who have made it possible for me to speak up.

Ten of Pumpkins: This card shows a child wandering blindfolded towards an unknown object which he hopes to swing at, hit, and receive reward for. I think everyone knows the feeling of wandering in blind to what we hope is a good opportunity and working in good faith to see if we can achieve rewards. While the feeling is unsettling, this card is a good omen. It implies that hard earnest work will achieve massive rewards. Beyond the excitement and thrill of the candy in the pinata, there is a a ladder on the tree that will lead the child up to untold amounts of reward. Once I get the hang of this new project, taste the beginnings of rewards from it, the blindfold will come off (as I will have experience and know what I'm doing), and I'll be able to apply that knowledge easily to earn larger rewards.

Another thing this card points out that is important to nervous people like myself, is while we feel exposed and at risk during the beginning of our journey, we're not. Being in the dark and wandering around with a stick feels very scary. From viewing this card as an outsider though, I can see the danger to child (myself) is in is minimal. The ground is free of anything that may trip me, and the person pulling the string of the pumpkin while masked, is an impersonal obstacle. He has not targeted the child, and he doesn't care about the child's success or loss. He only cares about his specific job of moving the pinata up and down, there is no malice personal or otherwise from him, he is only doing his job to make sure those who hit the pinata have earned their rewards.

Six of Pumpkins: This reading was meant to be a standard three card pull, but as I was putting the deck away this one fell out and I decided to add it in. This does happen fairly often, whether it's because I have the world's smallest adult hands or because divine always has a little more to say than I intend to pull is immaterial as the cards always seem relevant and helpful. In this case the card is even in line with the suit my reading has been in.

This card re-emphasizes the unexpected success in the Ten of Pumpkins. The two cards diverge in where in the process they show me, as the Ten of Pumpkins shows me swinging blindly for reward, while the six of Pumpkins shows me already with these rewards in hand.

The concept that I will have more than enough is prevalent as the witch in the card is giving candy to trick or treaters without anxiety and there bowl she has is large and overflowing. This brings in a new element of the reading.  Once I have earned my rewards, I need to give back to the community which has helped me achieve success. I believe in charity, good work and giving back to the community both monetarily, through prayer/ritual, and in writing/giving shout outs/ adding positively to the discussion. This card is a reminder that achieving reward for hard work isn't the end of the journey, I have to remember to give back to my community and to give credit to all those who have helped me get to where I am.

Even though this is the beginning of my blog project and I have no following or anything but my writing and ideas right now, there are still people who have made this start possible without whom I'd never have attempted this. I need to keep those people in mind and remember to continue to support them. My mind wanders particularly to Jason Pitzl-Waters at the Wild Hunt who is the gold standard of pagan blogging and whom needs the community's financial support in particular right now (I've already donated if you have any income to spare go help Jason be independent pagan press, we need someone like him and his services working for us). My mind also wanders to Star Foster and her new blog Beyond Pink, she is currently transitioning in a huge move and life change. As someone who's done something similar I understand how much she needs community support. There are my gods, my guides, and a million personal people near me who have encouraged, bolstered, and otherwise helped me be at this juncture. I will strive to support them in their own projects and life paths as they have mine.

Over All Thoughts On the Reading:

This reading was heavily focused on both the creation of this new blog which is a baby I've been imagining for years and working towards actively for a few months, but it also drew in some interesting thoughts about maintaining my day job and keeping up relationships with people.  I liked the well rounded feeling of the reading. I like how it captured the mindset I had when I drew the cards and I thought that the advice was directly applicable to my life right now. While I was focused on today specifically, I did appreciate who the cards drew out what may be a possible outcome of my actions today.

An interesting thing to note is that while the reading starts out in the spiritual world and intangibles like inspiration and hope, it immediately grounds to the material work with pumpkins (pentacles in a traditional tarot). This shows that while the blog I'm starting may be about religion, god, and faith, there are specific material outcomes I want and there are direct steps I need to take to reach these goals. It won't be enough to connect to a divine line and write, I'll have to reach out to others to comment/read. I'll have to make writing tag lines that will pop on a search engine, and I'll have to create supporting media to bring others in. I have to do all this and balance working a full time 60-70hr a week job, keep up relationships with those close to me, and continue to practice as I see fit. It's a tall order, but it's something I'm going to try for.

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Article copyright Swift Rabbit/ Southern Pagan Muses
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