[ANSTHRLD] [Ansteorra] Pentagrams now allowed in SCA heraldry

Kihe Blackeagle kihebard at hotmail.com
Wed Jun 10 10:17:15 PDT 2009


(I'm rambling a bit in the following -- short on sleep...)

 

Without refering to specific precedents / rulings that occurred in the intervening timespan, this at least in part refers back to a very old ruling against three things:  invocation of magical aid on the list field, claims of association to divine Powers/Principalities, and "offensive heraldry".  

 

At various points and for various (often mistaken, IMNSHO) reasons, these got commingled.  The combination you cite with the goat's head might still run afoul of the three classes -- specifically, it could be interpretted as invoking the assistance of non-human Powers.

 

The glitch in this has become, variously, that the counterclaim against the display of crosses of any form as well as some other religious iconography was not being considered on anything approaching a neutral basis, that the pentagram in whatever orientation and both environed of the annulet as well as "bare" was as much a symbol of Christian as of other religious expressions, and that "invocations of magical aid" were originally ruled against as much for sake of squashing some weirdnesses  / peculiarities (cf. discussion in the History of the West as regards the SCA career of one P.E.I. Bonewits) as they were for managing the public image of the SCA.

 

As an ordained minister and Named Bard both, it is my considered opinion that it was largely never really a substantive issue beyond the twin points of image and perception -- except for the facts as they occurred along the way, and the personalities involved, the SCA in general has gone to extraordinary lengths to separate religion and religious expression from our public "face.  At the same time, we as an organization operating under the 501(c)3 tax code have very good reasons to never be perceived by the taxing authorities of the USA as a religion.  Operating as an educational organization the SCA should avoid as much bias as possible, and in the interest of attracting and keeping as diverse a group of members as possible just plain need to be perceived as being as inoffensive as can reasonably be achieved.

 

Now, as to some of the issues this raises for considering heraldic devices and the charges / charge combinations that are appropriate for our purposes, remember that submissions made under this new ruling still may run afoul of the Rules for Submission in other ways.  My personal view is that the pentacle-and-goat's-head combination will most likely end up on the list of offensive charge combinations (OR possibly the "claims powers / associations not provable in SCA context" alternative).    

 Adieu, Amra / ttfn - Mike / Pax ... Kihe  

Mike C. Baker / Kihe Blackeagle 
Opinions? I'm FULL of 'em 
SCA: al-Sayyid Amr ibn Majid al-Bakri al-Amra, F.O.B, OSCA 
"Other": Reverend Kihe Blackeagle PULC (the DreamSinger Bard) 
alt. e-mail: KiheBard at hotmail.com 
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> Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2009 11:27:46 -0500
> From: Jeff.Childers at ttuhsc.edu
> To: heralds at lists.ansteorra.org
> Subject: [ANSTHRLD] [Ansteorra] Pentagrams now allowed in SCA heraldry
> 
> I am sure everyone saw the post by Stefan on the Ansteorra list.
> 
> What specifically make a pentagram or other 'religious' symbols
> offensive?
> 
> If I submitted one with a goat head inside the pentagram. Does that make
> it offensive?
> Is Satanism the specific target of this? Or just satanic symbolism?
> 
> Would you heralds enlighten me on this idea?
> 
> Garreth

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