Out of the Broomcloset
Dear Friends, pull up your chairs to the electronic hearth (unless you’re reading the magazine itself).
Hopefully this reads as a lighthearted October anniversary column for the magazine, and considering the current state of the world, it seemed that a lighter-hearted column as a palate cleanser might be in order and necessary. This sort of fabulousness doesn’t spring up like the Big Bang; ground had to be cleared to allow for room to grow.
First we have the witchcraft revival in 1940s England, making its way across the pond, with its ritual structure introduced by Gerald Gardner, being decidedly cisgender in orientation. While it was trying to carve out a space, and a degree of respect, within a society, nominally Judeo-Christian, most of the budding covens and organizations really did lock out queer men and wymyn.
Of course, it being the late ’60s, there were those like Leo Martello knocking down any impediments both to pagan groups flourishing in the open as well as gay liberation. (He had battled New York City bureaucracy to get permits for ritual gatherings in places like Central Park.)
Carol Bulzone and her partner, Lady Rhea, opened Enchantments in the East Village. Herman Slater and his partner, Ed Buczynski, moved their shop from Brooklyn into Chelsea, where it became the Magikal Childe.
Collectively, they were some of the community leaders who provided the physical space within their buildings for group meetings, for training in various magical paths and to build a coalition between other businesses supporting the burgeoning pagan community in the Northeast. Between them, by 1975, they had developed the rituals and structure of both the Minoan Brotherhood and Sisterhood, as a positive ritual path that wasn’t heteronormative (but open to all).
Having moved through the end of the Nixon era, things then moved forward into the time of the Witch’s Ball, starting as small parties at Enchantments, growing and moving to various club settings, like the Limelight, and then finally to Wetlands on North Moore. These were always fundraisers for community needs.
Newer business owners included Artie Haber and his partner, Stan, at Video Haven on 14th Street, and the Zodiac Lounge on 96th. And now the story moves to the fore during the Reagan years, coming together to raise money to assist in the battle against AIDS.
As a particular grace note, the fundraising was directed to involving Cabrini Medical Center and St. Vincent’s, which compelled representation from the hospitals and the Catholic Church to appear to accept donations from the pagan and pagan-friendly communities.
Unfortunately, the synergy that was formed during this trying time fell apart. New York City became too expensive to maintain premises such as these, and unfortunately, many of the individuals mentioned here died from their various medical complications, despite the first protease inhibitors being approved, and the introduction of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy.
For some it was just a matter of age. Others moved on to other endeavors as their lives continued.
In many spiritual paths, to speak the names of the departed is to make them live again, and this is often the heart of a Samhain midnight ritual (as it was in the midnight rituals that were held at the balls). It is the time of year that the barriers between us and those who have departed grows thin.
Let us light a candle in their memories rather than curse against the darkness.
