Creating A Pagan Culture
By Christopher Blackwell

Besides fighting for our rights and practicing our religions, Pagans are also creating their own culture as they go. You can see this in Pagan art, stories, music and now even in Pagan comics.

Recently a new comics series "*The Many Moons of Astra*" started online at:
http://goldentreewands.com/themanymoonsofastra.htm

I am interviewing its creator Glen Goldentree.

Christopher: Do you have a background in cartooning?

Glen: None whatsoever. When I was in junior. high and high school, it was my fondest ambition to create comics. I was a big fan of Marvel comics, especially Spider-Man. I wanted to create comics like that, so I would study the comics and draw superheroes on my free time (or in class, much to the chagrin of my teachers). I didn't take an art class until I was a junior. My art teacher at the time, as well as my parents, were urging me to pursue a career as an artist, but they all agreed that comics were a frivolous and risky venture. I believe my art teacher even referred to my interest in comics as "a waste of talent." As a result, I steered my artistic focus more toward the fine arts and graphic design, and away from comics despite my own desires. The inevitable consequence of this was a loss of interest in art altogether. When I went off to college, I abandoned all notions of being an artist and instead obtained a degree in psychology. I barely drew more than a quick sketch for about 10 years.

When I started this comic, I had to learn everything I needed to know by reading tutorials online and asking advice from people I knew. I came into this comic with less drawing skill than I had when I was in high school, due to lack of practice, and no clue how to use PhotoShop to color my comics. Anyone who reads “The Many Moons of Astra” from the beginning can see the raw state of the art in the first few comics, and how they have evolved to this day. That progress was from trial-and-error, as well as help from a few people, most notably Aaron Williams of Nodwick Comics <http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/index.htm> and Lorenzo from Studio Blink Twice <http://www.studioblinktwice.com>. I still have a long way to go before I will be truly satisfied with the comic's quality, but I am happy with how things have progressed so far.

Christopher: So how did this one come to be?

Glen: A few years ago, my wife and I were living in Anaheim, CA, and basically hating life. We had just begun our Pagan shop, Goldentree Wands, at the time (though in its early stages it was not really a Pagan shop, and was more focused on fantasy costumes). I had seen some interesting work online involving Flash animation, and the idea occurred to me that I might want to try a cartoon of my own. My wife and I talked about it some, but it was never a very serious idea. The cartoon would be called "Stressy the Cat" and would be about the daily life of a very stressed-out cat who was a waitress at a busy restaurant. Stressy was going to be Wiccan, because my wife and I were just starting on that path as well, so the cartoon would incorporate some Wiccan subject matter.

Fast forward about a year, and I still hadn't made any serious attempt at the cartoon. I had looked at Flash, and it seemed really complicated. But the thing that really held me back most was the idea of drawing again. It seemed pretty daunting. We moved to Boise, Idaho, to escape the crushing cost-of-living in California, so that we could hope to support ourselves on just our business. One of the things we had decided to do was to offer some free information and services on our site to help draw in customers. And again the idea of a comic came up. But this time, I decided to actually sit down and draw a bit to see if the idea was actually feasible.

Having the pencil in my hand and drawing again was like returning home after a very long time away. I quickly came up with the first Astra comic, scanned it, and tried to color it. The first comic you see in my archive was recolored about six times. The first time was terrible. The final time was still terrible, but workable. I then drew the second comic immediately, and colored that one. I threw together a little subsection of our shop site, and posted the comics. I had been drawing for about a week and was already hopelessly addicted to creating comics again. I've been updating every single week ever since, and will celebrate Astra's one-year anniversary on January 15, 2007.

Christopher: All three main characters are women and Wiccan. Was that for a purpose?

Glen: Yes, definitely. My experience with the Pagan community, and Wicca specifically, has put me into contact with a lot of interesting people and ideas. The first thing a person will usually notice about Wiccans is that they are mostly women. I could hypothesize about why this is, but it would be irrelevant to the subject at hand. The choice of gender for my main character was a no-brainer. I wanted a character who would represent Wiccans as a whole, and the female majority is undeniable.

Astra represents the average Wiccan, in my perception. She doesn't know everything, but she knows the facts behind what she believes. She doesn't pretend to be someone she isn't. Wicca is her spiritual choice because she has studied it, identifies with it, and wants to learn all she can. She doesn't speak as loudly as some of the others within Wicca, so sometimes she isn't noticed. It is almost always the extremists within any group that are noticed most.

If Astra is the average Wiccan, the other two, Diana and Apple, represent the extremes of Wicca. I made them both female as well to make the comparison between Astra and the other two easier. Diana and Apple are everything that I perceive as problematic in Wicca. Diana goes out of her way to be seen as dark and scary and is in everyone's face about her beliefs, while at the same time ranting about persecution. Apple refuses to acknowledge anything that she sees as dark, and believes Wicca is all about faeries, unicorns, and elves (she is what many people these days refer to as "Fluffy Bunny Wiccans," though I dislike the term). Diana and Apple are both from legitimate Wiccan paths (Dianic and Faerie Wicca respectively), but neither of them know much about what they claim to believe, and are more focused on the image of being Wiccan than the spirituality of it (or even the truths behind it).

So, my purpose for choosing three female Wiccan lead characters was to examine important issues within the Pagan community from various angles and viewpoints. While it would be arrogant and simply incorrect to say that the three girls represent every aspect of the Wiccan movement today, I think it is safe to say that most people who have dealt with Wiccans on even the shallowest of levels will see some familiarity in the characters I have created.

Christopher: Each of them is quite different from each other. Did you just make them up or are they partly based on people you have met?

Glen: Every character in the comic is based partially upon one or more people I have met through my business. Astra herself is based on my wife, Willow. You can see pictures of her on our website, and the obvious physical similarity. Astra's personality is also somewhat based upon my wife, with a bit of myself thrown in because I can't help it. Apple and Diana are not based upon any one person, and physically they do not resemble anyone in particular. I chose the way they look to reflect their personalities. Their words and beliefs, however, are a combination of a wide variety of people, from people I have spoken to in various forums online to people I have met personally.

Christopher: Most of the scenes take place in the metaphysical bookstore where they work. Any reason for that location?

Glen: There are several reasons for this, actually. The first reason is because one of the main inspirations for the comic was a local Pagan shop here in Boise. Our associations with many of the people we have met through that shop, directly or indirectly, inspired some of the earlier comics. Thus, a Pagan shop seemed an appropriate location for the comic to take place. Another main reason for this, in the beginning, was because of my limited drawing skills. It was simply easier to draw the inside of a single building than to have diverse settings for each comic.

As time has moved on, and my artistic skills have improved, I have chosen to branch out from the shop setting quite a bit. But I made a firm choice when I began this comic to never lapse into generalized humor, to always have the comic focus around something pertinent to the Pagan community specifically. It would be easy to just come up with jokes that have nothing to do with the Pagan community, but I don't want to do that. So, the Pagan bookstore is a good setting for many of the comics simply because it is the natural setting to discuss Pagan issues. Also, Astra, Diana, and Apple are not really friends at this point, just coworkers. If I want more than one of them in a comic strip, they need to have a reason to be together. So again, the store is the natural setting for this.

Christopher: So far all of them are single and the men come in and out of their lives. Though I do notice that one of them has brother who is in the series fairly often. Is he developing into a regular character?

Glen: Yes, Forest (Astra's brother) is a main character at this point. One of my tasks for the New Year will be finally adding him to the cast page. I felt it was important to not only have a male point of view in some of the comics, but also a character that was not Wiccan (not any religion, actually). In this way I can further examine how people outside of the pagan community interact with Pagans, and the funny situations and misunderstandings that often arise.

Forest is not meant to be the only male regular character in the comic. I have others planned in the future. Diana's uncle, Merlin, who owns the bookstore will eventually make regular appearances. I have a few other characters on the horizon as well. Unfortunately, updating only once a week limits my ability to introduce new characters or progress any sort of storyline very quickly.

But, for the record, Apple does have a boyfriend. He has been mentioned on two occasions and has never appeared in a comic strip, but he may do so one of these days.

Christopher: Well, you obviously enjoy your cartoon series. What are your plans for the future of it?

Glen: I have been trying to take it pretty slowly, and will likely have to continue doing so. I really wish I had more time to work on it, but running a full-time Pagan shop where most of the items are handcrafted takes more time than I can really describe. As such, the comic, which I love but do for free, must remain a once-a-week activity. One of these days I will find the time to merchandise a bit and hopefully make some money with the comic. This will allow me to devote more time to it and update more than once a week. That is something I would very much like to do.

Though I may one day actually settle on a final art style, people can expect to see the art continue to improve for a long time to come. Though improvement since the first comic has been vast, I am not working at the level of quality I wish to be just yet. In the very near future, I will be taking the comic in a few new directions that will expand the scope of the comic as well as stretch my artistic abilities. This will hopefully make the comic a bit more fun to read as well. Not that it isn't fun already. But more fun is always a good thing.

Other than that, I just want to keep doing the comic for as long as I can. It is rewarding to me on many levels, and I truly believe that I am reaching people with it, making them think or at least making them laugh. It is important to me.

Christopher: I expect that our readers will check it out