The Artistic Body

Author Interview with Charles Arnold
interview by Neal Levin

Born in Washington, DC and grew up in Cape May County, NJ. He was active in both Boy Scouts and 4-H. Joined the Army, went to Vietnam and had his world changed.

Over the years he published a Pagan magazine, served as Treasurer of the WCC, Chairman of another group, and HP of a public pagan temple and four covens. Along the way he forced the Canada to recognize Wicca as a religion. All of this while writing two books, over 1,000 articles and more than 250 poems. Today, he's a featured speaker at conferences and festivals, primarily focusing on Sacred Sexuality, Ritual Body Art or Community Building.

Happily married, he has a son by a previous marriage. He and his wife, Vykki, live with two Basenjis (Chaka and Zulu) and two cats (Kit-kit and Smudgenik), in central Vermont.

Awards: In 1988, Charles Arnold was successful in forcing the Ontario and Canadian governments decriminalize witchcraft. Initiated High Priest in Alexandrian and Old Orders of Wicca Member, President's Advisory Committee, Humber College Member, Humber College Multiculturalism Committee Various awards from a variety of charities for fund raising.

PM: Charles Arnold, tell us about Ritual Body Art : Body Painting for Ritual & Magic. Why did you decide to write this book?

CA: Actually, it was a combination of things. I had seen the work of the artist, Verushka, and experience the power of that work several years earlier. Then I was introduced to Marija Gimbutas's book, Goddesses and Gods of Old Europe and the various votive and other statuary seemed to resonate inside me and I knew that there was some very powerful magick in those pieces and the shapes that adorned them. I worked to combine those symbols, others that I was already working with, color and even scent into one effective school of magickal practice - AND IT WORKED.

PM: What thought process do you consciously go through before a book of this type?

CA: With that book, I don't think there was nearly as much of a conscious process as an unconscious one. The conscious part came when I was actually writing the manuscript, dealing with first one, then another publisher, and trying desperately to find models who I could work with to create the illustrations in the book. That part was possibly one of the hardest parts.

PM: What kind of research did you do on this book?

CA: I had been working with symbols, colors and scents for a number of years before I cam to that book. When the idea began to come together, I spent a lot more time collecting more symbols, looking deeper into scents, stones, woods and metals. Luckily, I had a fairly good foundation of understanding before I began and merely added to that foundation. The other area where I did have to do considerable research was in the field of sacred statuary. Gimbutas' book was a fabulous start. Buffy Johnson's Lady of the Beasts was also a great help. Then there were numerous trips to several museums. And all of this was followed by actual experimentation to see if it would work.

PM: What attracted you personally to the idea of using body art as a form of magic?

CA: The power of the symbols on the various votive statuary immediately struck me as soon as I saw it. It was absolutely amazing. I would sit for hours just looking at two or three photos, actually feeling the power and meanings of those symbols.

PM: What do you hope readers will take away from the book?

CA: I think that I want people to take a few very simple things from that book. The first is that magick really does work. The second, that this is an incredibly powerful kind of magick. Finally, I would really like for them to appreciate the fact that this magick is incredibly old, not just centuries but tens of centuries. I want them to take the time to look at the same sources I did, to really try to get closer to the people who first discovered this power, who tapped into it and used it in such a way that it has managed to survive for 10,000 years or more.

PM: What about your previous publications? I understand you used to write a magazine called Rags to Witches?

CA: I created and edited "Rags" for about three years while living in Toronto. It was originally created as a sort of memorial to a friend and teacher who had just passed, Roy Dymond. The first issue, all four pages, were first distributed at Roy's wake.

I also had a volume of poetry published, Goddessborn. It was published in Toronto by Communitas Press, a branch of Wicca Communitas, a Pagan community service organization, as a fund raiser.

PM: Who are you when you're not writing? What kind of work do you do? What are your hobbies?

CA: These days I am working primarily as a writer and speaker. My background is primarily in retail management but teaching, along with writing, is my passion. I'm currently creating a lot of articles for ThemeStream.Com, working with AskMe.Com and trying to sell several manuscripts. I also have a rather heavy schedule this year relating to Pagan events. I have already been a speaker at EtheraCon and, over the next few months, will be at MPA Beltaine in NJ, FSA Beltaine in MD, Hearthfire in KY, Free Spirit Gathering in MD, Whisperfest in Ontario and several others. There is also some discussion concerning a possibility of being a keynote speaker at a conference on Sacred Sexuality in Chicago in June.

As for hobbies, my son, Lorien, got me hooked on bicycling (he is a bike mechanic and manages a shop in Victoria, BC). And one of my plans for this summer involves getting some time for fishing - something I love. But, with all of my other commitments (charity fund raising, being an active officer at my VFW post and a member of the honor guard there, keeping house and remodeling for my wife, and taking care of our two cats and two Basenjis) I have a pretty full schedule.

PM: When and why did you make your move to writing? How did you get started?

CA: The honest answer is that I wrote for my high school newspaper and for several anti-Vietnam War publications. But then I stopped writing completely. I started again one day in 1982 when I stepped off of a bus at work (Humber College, Toronto) and, within less than 30 seconds, had a complete poem fully formed in my mind. I went to my office, typed for five minutes, and The Bright Green Hair of the Mother, was done.

I write because I love to teach. Writing in another form of teaching. It's my calling in life.

PM: Who or what has most influenced your writing?

CA: OK, now we start the hard questions, right? Ever writer I have ever read has influenced me, and I read a lot. Marija Gimbutas is important, so is Mircea Eliade. James Mellaart and James Mitchener and Robert Heinlein and Robert Rimmer and Gerald Gardner and Israel Regardie and Eden Gray and Jones and e. e. cummings. Then there's Ann Rice (under various names), Michael Stackpole, .... are you beginning to get the idea?

PM: What is your spiritual path, and how does it influence your writing?

CA: I started out as a solitary witch, joined an eclectic group and went on to become an Initiated High Priest of two traditional British orders. I still claim that heritage. However, over the last five years I have been led farther and farther into the worship of one particular goddess, Astarte. A coupld of years ago I created The New Temple of Astarte and that is my primary spiritual home now and probably will be for the rest of this lifetime.

It was this calling into the service of Astarte that has led me to create a manuscript tentatively entitled "Sacred Vessels" dealing with Sacred Sexuality. One of my major projects this year is to find a publisher brave enough to take this project on.

PM: I understand you had some major impact in the Canadian Wiccan movement. Can you tell us about that?

CA: I challenged my employer, under the terms of a union contract, to give me time off, with pay, for religious holidays. Beltaine and Samhain were the ones listed on the grievances. My employer refused and the case finally went to arbitration. In Ontario, such arbitration for cases involving government employees, is handled under the jurisdiction of the Ontario Ministry of Labor, an official government body. That panel not only give me time off with pay but found that Wicca and Witchcraft had been the object of a long period of discrimination and misunderstanding. In effect, the panel far exceeded it's original mandate and went on to state that Wicca and Witchcraft were, indeed, religions entitled to full government protection. Because this was the finding of an official government body, answerable directly to the Minister of Labor, it had the authority of the Minister, himself. These findings then had the authority to remove wicca and religious witchcraft from the field of prosecution under Section 232 of the Canadian Criminal Code (The Witchcraft Act). And, with the signing of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, this protection cannot now be removed.

PM: What are your favorite books and authors?

CA: The Source by James Mitchener, The Harrad Experiment by Robert Rimmer, The Sacred and the Profane by Mircea Eliade, Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert Heinlein, Omega by Stewart Farrar, Rites and Symbols of Initiation by Mircea Eliade, The Goddess and Gods of Old Europe by Marija Gimbutas. I could go on for at least three more pages.

PM: What do you enjoy most about writing?

CA: Taking an idea and making it understandable to others. And the beauty of words.

PM: What do you enjoy least? What do you find most difficult?

CA: Having to try to sell manuscripts is the hardest part these days. There are fewer and fewer Pagan oriented publishers out there. We really do need more. I also hate doing re-writes, especially when I really like what I initially created but the editor insists on changes.

PM: What's the best thing about being published? Tell us the most exciting and memorable experience you've had since your books came out.

CA: I think the most exciting thing, after the contract was my first royalty check, all $485 of it. I really can't give you a lot of exciting or memorable experiences that I have had with the book.

PM: Why did you chose to go to Phoenix Publishing as your publisher, instead of one of the others?

CA: Actually, Doug Brown and Phoenix had turned this project down three times. I finally went into contract with Delphi but, after three years and the expiration of the contract, they hadn't even created a galley for me. But, based on order to Delphi, Doug decided to finally publish the book. This was really great because Phoenix was my first choice. After all, they are probably the most significant publisher of books on Paganism and Witchcraft in America. They are the agent for all of the Farrar's work, Valiente's work and many others. They aren't the biggest and, believe me, their marketing budget is nonexistent, but they are honest, they value the information they publish and they value the integrity of their writers.

PM: How would you counsel emerging writers who wish to become published authors?

CA: Don't let the rejection slips get you down. I had 157 rejections for Ritual Body Art before it was accepted the first time. Just keep writing. And don't quit your day job because royalty checks are usually not all that big. Only two or three writers in our community can depend on writing full time for their income.

PM: What's next? What are your plans for the future?

CA: As I mentioned, I really want to sell this manuscript on Sacred Sexuality as well as two others. And then there are all the speaking engagements. what I would really like to do is make enough money doing this that I would be able to devote all of my time to writing, teaching and speaking.

PM: As a writer, where do you see yourself in 10 years?

CA: I really feel that that depends on the industry and the community. If we start to see new Pagan publishers starting to emerge, I would love to ally myself with one or two of them. I would also like to see our community raise the standards that they find acceptable. Right now it seems that just about anything will sell and that is a real shame.

PM: Where do you see the Pagan movement over the next ten years?

CA: I think we are just beginning to reach maturity. What I see is a splitting up of various branches of Paganism as people and paths evolve more. This would be a good thing because it is based on recognizing similarities and differences and respect for ourselves and one another.

PM: How can readers contact you?

CA: Your readers should feel free to email me at RitBodyArt@aol.com. And, if they come across me at any of the events where I will be presenting, they should stop me and take a minute to say hello. I always try to make time for people.

PM: Any closing thoughts or comments? Anything else about yourself that you'd like readers to know?

CA: We are a growing and evolving community. We are also maturing and we shouldn't fear this maturity.

PM: Thank you for your time. We appreciate the opportunity to discuss these issues with you, and wish you the best of luck in all your endeavors, since we know your next books will be fantastic.