![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Toward a New Monasticism
May. 31st, 2019 11:33 pm
Yesterday I fielded an intriguing call for papers, which I've attached below. It didn't come as a complete surprise -- I know the editor -- and I've also heard a fair amount from various corners of the modern polytheist revival about explorations of monastic spirituality. Still, it strikes me as a very good sign. Perhaps the most serious of the many weaknesses of the Neopagan movement is the extent to which it focuses on a purely social, outer-directed model of spirituality; the turn toward a more inner-directed spirituality on the part of contemporary polytheists, I think, is a much needed balancing factor. At any rate, here's the call for submissions. Yes, I plan on writing something and submitting it.
Call for Submissions:
Anthology of Polytheistic Monasticism
Polytheists who identify as monastics are invited to submit personal essays about their experience and practices to be included in an as-yet untitled anthology intended to heighten awareness of this form of Pagan spirituality. The editor is Janet Munin, editor of Queen of the Great Below: An Anthology in Honor of Ereshkigal.Danica Swanson of Black Stone Hermitage is serving as a consultant.
We are looking for vivid personal accounts and thoughtful reflections, not research papers.
Possible topics include:
- How a person came to and/or currently lives out a monastic vocation
- The joys and challenges of monasticism
- Monastic theology
- Your Rule of Life or other monastic disciplines you’ve adopted and what their impact has been
- Interviews with polytheistic monastics
- How monasticism differs from or overlaps with other spiritual identities or practices
- Living in community vs living as a hermit
- Balancing a monastic lifestyle with the need to earn a living in the world
- Poetry and/or prayers which vividly express monastic practice or devotion
* Submissions must not have been published previously, either online or in print.
Submission deadline: August 30, 2019
Early submissions are encouraged.
You may submit more than one piece.
All submissions are subject to editing, and the editor will ask authors to revise or modify their work if needed.
Please send all questions and submissions to [email protected].
You are welcome to send a query email if you would like feedback on an idea before committing yourself to writing a full article.
All submissions must be in an editable format.Google Docs is preferred, but Microsoft Word is fine. Please ask the editor about other formats before sending.
Compensation & Publisher
All contributors to the anthology will be compensated.
We will be submitting the project to publishers, and final compensation will be dependent on contract terms. Due to standard requirements, we will need several completed pieces to accompany the query.Once decisions are made about the publisher, we will follow up with specific information about compensation and rights. Anyone whose work has been accepted will be free to withdraw it should the terms not be acceptable.Contributors will be compensated even if the anthology ends up being self-published.
A heads up on a new project of mine...
