Amanda: Paul, what are you doing in the herb garden at this time of year?
Paul: I am out there every sunny day possible, although my time is somewhat limited due to a spring equinox deadline for getting the finished manuscript of my newest book off to the publisher. Right now, we are pruning the various fruit trees, doing some maintenance but primarily taking joy in watching the renewed life emerge from the soil. The majority of our species are already growing.
A: What types of herbs that may be used remedially grow well in this climate?
P: We grow over 200 species. There are very few plants in our pharmacopoeia that do not grow in this climate. Everything I grew in Minnesota grows here. I spent four years living in the South (Texas and Southern California), and what I enjoyed of those climes grows here as well.
A: How do you see the people of the Craft using herbs for healing purposes?
P: You mentioned to me that you were not aware of a prevalence of people using herbs. My perspective is quite different than yours. There has been a high percentage of initiates in our tradition over the years who are registered nurses, chiropractors and other licensed practitioners. The very core of the Tradition of Lothloriën is based upon using nature as a role model. We seek our wisdom from the ways in which plants exist with their natural magick and prefer using herbs and trees as our role models than turning to older pagan models. My unique position has taken me from coast to coast teaching workshops that help people integrate their neo-pagan and Wiccan beliefs with herbal medicine and magick. Over the past 20 years, I've been in contact with at least 10,000 people, and I find myself startled when I encounter neo-pagans who do not automatically work with herbs, natural healing, massage, homeopathy, et al at some level!
A: Do you find they use more natural healing techniques, or do they revert to allopathic medicine?
P: Most people I know use a combination of both, which is what we teach at the Grove. Modern Western medicine provides us with the best diagnostic tools we've ever imagined. There are vast numbers of people who have died while being treated naturally for symptoms that were misdiagnosed. We recommend utilizing a licensed physician for the diagnosis but leaving choices regarding treatment in the hands of the patient.
A: Is there a difference between growing herbs for magical purposes and remedial ones? What are they?
P: The differences lie in such things as the preparation of the soil, the ways in which one maintains the immediate environment regarding energy and emotions and the processes of harvesting. Remedial herbs must be harvested with the molecular compounds are at their prime. Magickal herbs are harvested when the natural magick is at its prime. Remedial herbs must have the right type of soil and the necessary amount of sun so that the plant is able to extract the necessary minerals and nutrients from the soil in order to manufacture the compounds extracted for medicinal value. Magickal plants must be grown in a loving environment and radiate health and well-being.
A: Do you know of any herbal remedies that have been effective against the symptoms of AIDS?
P: There are no remedies that destroy HIV, if that is what you mean. There are a surprising number of herbs that work with the immune system or treat many of the symptomatic conditions that commonly develop as a result of HIV infection. Working with AIDS-diagnosed patients was part of my ministry during the last five years teaching in Minneapolis. Having lived with HIV myself for eight years, I continue to study research and explore herbal options. I rise at 4:15 a.m., start work in my office at 5 and frequently am not done until finishing a class or ritual at 9 p.m., five days a week with "half-days" on Saturday and Sunday. This, I believe, demonstrates that a combination of remedial herbs with spiritual disciplines allows me to provide the universe with service as a priest at a capacity most "healthy" people could not sustain.
A: What is your favorite all-around medicinal herb?
P: Favorites is not one of my games. My favorite season is whichever one we're in. My favorite herbs would number in the hundreds. I love all colors, excepting a very few off-mixtures. Rather than a favorite herb, I have my favorite gardens, and they're right outside my window. I have my favorite woods, and that's at the east end of our property.
A: It seems as if you are very close to the earth; do you think it's important that a healer be well grounded?
P: Important? I believe it is intrinsically essential.
A: I know you moved here not long ago. How do you find the area? Do you like the weather?
P: I was raised and began teaching in Wisconsin, where I spent my first 20 years. From there, I moved to Minnesota, where I converted to witchcraft (the word "Wicca" was not yet in use) and spent another 25 years. I thrived in the climate and found I could grow most species of the Western pharmacopoeia of medicinal herbs. I loved living near the Mississippi River (the "Mothervalley" as I refer to the river and her immediate banks) and planned to live the rest of my life in her realm.
But then the universe kicked my butt hard to teach me to let go of expectations, even about my love of the Mothervalley, and I moved to Texas. When my time there was done, I was ready to flee the constant heat and humidity. Departing at 5 on a May morning in a U-Haul filled with my temple, office and motorcycle (in that order as priorities) and towing my pickup, the low temperature was in the mid-80s and the humidity exhausting. The soil was dead from generations of growing cotton until all life was leached out of the dirt.
Having taught workshops in Los Angeles for many years and being in motion, I accepted an offer to move to Southern California. I thought I could tolerate it for two years and then would return to my beloved Mothervalley. Surprise! I thrived with the ever-present powerful magick of the Mother's fault lines. What wonderful creative energy! I learned to appreciate the absence of humidity and took joy in the vegetation that was akin to the Mediterranean, a culture that has greatly influenced modern neo-pagan beliefs.
The climate of our gardens (here) is a perfect blend: the best of everything I've loved throughout my life. Last year, we were gardening in January. This year, I'm grateful for the heavy rains and cold weather. I'd be making no progress on my new book at all if we had endless days of warm sun!
A: How about the community? We have had our problems, but after talking to others in different parts of the country, it seems as if we are pretty together. What do you think?
P: I've met a goodly number of very wonderful people, but my experience with the "community" has not been comfortable and is very different than I've experienced in the rest of the United States. We've had over a dozen local "leaders" make appointments to meet me and visit our gardens. Most don't even call to say they're not coming. To date, only one local "leader" has actually come to see what we're up to. The folks at Pendragons and at the Order of Dragon Temples are at the other end of the spectrum: They've been welcoming and warm and, were it not for them, I would feel that I've not been particularly welcomed by the "community." But I have been warmly embraced by numerous individuals who are not affiliated with any of the established groups and who are almost of one voice saying they are seeking a sense of "community."
A: Do you have any suggestions for people who want to heal the old rifts that exist in the community?
P: I would urge people to be careful, because by the time "old rifts" are healed, new ones will have taken their place. There is enormous potential here, but it requires setting aside one's ego and working for the "common good." Whether or not there could be agreement about the "common good" and how to work toward it may be doubtful. I would ask people to give serious thought to following the old adage that, if you can't say anything good, be silent and do so in a way that does not imply negation.
A: How did you get into the Craft? What were your beginnings like?
P: My earliest studies were in response to my background. As a child, I dowsed water and was unusually intuitive. In college, I had numerous, documented experiences demonstrating telepathy and precognition. Next, I became a "profound agnostic." I believed in "something" but was loath to define that "something" in anthropomorphic terms.
In my 20s, I encountered Asian religions and began studying Tibetan and Indian Buddhism along with Taoism. I was able to make use of books enough to manifest a rent-free farm in northern Minnesota where I grew native herbs, went back to the land and meditated until realizing my teachers were waiting in Minneapolis.
I moved back to the city and, within weeks, was introduced to the priestess and priest of a coven. They talked witchcraft, and I talked Buddhism, and we spoke, pretty much, a common language. They placed me in the role of teacher in 1976, and within another year I rearranged my life so that I have spent the past two decades as a Wiccan priest, working as such over 60 hours a week. The sacrifices (and there have been many) have always been rewarding.
A: I really enjoyed your book A Wiccan Bardo and wondered what was the origin of your tradition, Lothloriën.
P: My original training was in a neo-Alexandrian tradition. Lothloriën, however, is the result of my own creative spark, the result of inspiration derived from making spiritual progress, from seeing the joy upon the face of a newly initiated priestess, from watching the Mother as She displays the full range of Her gentleness and Her fury.
A: Do you have a favorite Oestara ritual that you'd like to share with our readers?
P: Our rituals are extremely long, filled with poetry, embellished with Lothloriën's myths, which include the natural cycles and unicorns as a balance to the painfully sharp blade of the Mother's pruning shears.
A: Are you able to live from what you make doing the Craft? If so, how have you come to that?
P: As a priest, I make very little money. To spend the hours I do in service to so many subscribers, church members and students, I live substantially below the poverty line. I manage money well and always pay my debts. Maintaining strict ethics regarding financial matters means that my needs are always met. "Needs" do not include luxuries such as days off, paid vacations (or unpaid vacations, for that matter), but I am blessed with more than enough work to keep me thriving, knowing that my books and teaching have touched over 50,000 lives and made a tremendous change in many of those.
Most of my income is derived from teaching and from 20 years' work as a professional astrologer. During a few temporary periods when I've needed more money, I've done part-time work in offices, was a professional chamber musician for 10 years and scrubbed toilets in the suburbs when I ran my own house-cleaning business. Through the wisdom and foresight of my partner, our overhead is extremely manageable. Nearly all of what I earn is given directly to support the Hermit's Grove.
A: Anything else you'd like to share with our readers?
P: You are invited to make an appointment to come and be touched by the magick of our gardens and woodland. We have dried herbs and live plants for sale, a free mailing list and offer other services as well. Earlier this year, I bought ad space in Widdershins urging people to call with questions regarding herbal usage. Believe it or not, I'm still waiting for the first call! My offer was sincere. I love being here and have found this to be a wonderful place to be a hermit.
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