The Phantom Scholar

So I haven't posted around here since before Christmas! Yikes!! But life got really busy, mostly because I fell behind on basically everything, so things kind of went dormant here while I endeavoured to get caught up. Which, thankfully, has been mostly successful!

But then I began thinking about starting yet another blog for a new project. But that struck me as dumb when I already have this one barely started! So I thought why don't I just repurpose it? Besides, as I mentioned in an earlier post, I really love the format here! It's so accessible and easy to use!! So here goes.

As well as sharing just regular life stuff, I want to use this space to share my explorations and endeavours in practicing a NeoPagan path based on the story of The Phantom Of The Opera, especially as embodied in the Andrew Lloyd Webber stage-musical (as originally staged and designed by Hal Prince, Maria Bjornson and Gillian Lynn). The Phantom has been a powerful presence in my life since I was ten, when I first fell completely in love with the story through the musical. And I have long done various devotional practices as a Phan - copious listening to and singing the music, having some piece of Phantom memorabilia (shirts, jewelry, the soundtrack) on my person whenever possible, and of course, seeing the show live whenever possible!

In addition, The Phantom and his story have played a powerful role in shaping my Disabled identity and my sense of gender (I have come to identify as gender-fluid). Moreover, because The Phantom’s story is one about the terrible psychic/psychological, mental, emotional and spiritual effects of injustice and the power of justice-based transformation, it has also played a profound role in shaping my politics and my activism. And because of those two elements, The Phantom and his story have been and remain foundational to my spiritual orientation as well.

In spite of all of the above, though, it’s taken me a long time to “come out”, as it were, as practicing a Phantom-based spiritual path! For a long time, I didn’t take myself seriously. There are a lot of reasons for that that I’ll likely post about here. Suffice it for now, though, to say that, since Phantom didn’t seem to fit any of the models or modes of Pagan practice I knew of (i.e. reclaiming pre-Christian traditions, Earth-based spirituality, Women’s spirituality, Wicca), I had a lot of imposter syndrome around conceiving of my Phanship as a “real” spiritual/magical practice. I’m trying to learn to ditch that, though, which is part of the impetus behind this blog, too! Well, that, and I hope what I share here will be useful to others struggling with the same things, whether your path is Phantom or otherwise. Plus, of course, I hope, in sharing my own explorations here, to connect with other Phans seeking the same kind of path/practice!

ON that note, I should say that I actually identify as ChristoPagan. That is, my actual spiritual practices are a syncretism of my Phantom-based Pagan stuff and Left/liberation Christian practice and myth/cosmology. The two converge and overlap very organically for me around themes of social and environmental justice, radical compassion, and the transformative power of love both human and Divine. But that’s just what works for me! A Phantom-based NeoPagan/magical practice can, of course, be a person’s sole path, or be hybridized/syncretized with any other tradition with which it shares those or other themes! So I hope I’ll succeed in presenting the Phantom-based Pagan stuff here in as accessible and inclusive a way as possible. Though, I probably will share some Christian/Christian-adjacent/Christian syncretism stuff here as well. I hope that’s cool!!

By the way. My ideas of a Phantom-based Pagan spirituality certainly need not be the only ones out there! Though, admittedly, they’re the only ones I’ve seen in a very long time. So I call the particular path I’m developing Spirit and Voice, after a line in my favourite song from the Lloyd Webber musical, in order to distinguish it from other possible approaches. I’ll say more about why I chose that name in particular in future posts!

In fact, I considered renaming this journal Spirit and Voice. But A, I couldn’t figure out how to do that or if DW would let me, and B, I ended up deciding against it. So watch the tags instead! Because, I’ll include the tag “Spirit and Voice” on any posts on this project, so hopefully you’ll be able to click on that and find them all grouped together. I hope so anyway!

Anyway, here’s to an exciting adventure! Blessed be, and I’ll post again soon I hope!