Sorita interviews KIM HUGGENS

Kim Huggens, Author Photograph

In this interview Sorita d’Este speaks to Kim Huggens about her work on the recently published Vs. (Avalonia, 2011) which she compiled and edited; as well as her previously published work.   Cardiff ( Wales, UK) based Kim Huggens is a Vodou practitioner and Hounsi Lave Tet with Sosyete Gade Nou Leve, and a member of the Ordo Templi Orientis.  She is well known for her lively workshops and lectures, rituals and of course her passionate articles and books through which she shares her  passion for magic, religion and spirituality with others.

To find out more about Kim Huggens’ work published by Avalonia see http://avaloniabooks.co.uk/221/?page_id=137 (includes listing of other anthologies Kim contributed to, as well as a brief biography), and other links.

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Kim Huggens with copies of Vs.

SD:  The anthology Vs. draws together a diverse range of authors and subject areas.  What inspired you to manifest this concept?

Kim:  Well, I actually thought of the idea for this anthology a good few years ago, well before I began to gather any contributors. I had a few other ideas for anthologies I wanted to put together – “From a Drop of Water”, my first anthology, being one of then, and “Memento Mori”, my in-progress anthology as well – and I actually thought that “Vs.” would be my least favourite to work on.

It came about because I realized that the modern occult, magickal, and Pagan traditions had a lot to say on the subject of duality, opposition, conflict and unity, and that what these traditions had to say was probably far more suited to our modern era than much of the theological thought of, say, Christianity or Islam. Pagans and occultists seem to view things in opposition not as “good” and “bad”, but rather “one thing/state” and “another thing/state”. Our modern world is plagued with constricting concepts of good vs. evil, male vs. female, ancient vs. modern, happy vs. sad, rich vs. poor, and there seems very little room for the idea that many of these states actually exist in symbiotic relationship with each other, or on a sliding scale. The black-and-white mindset that we squeeze ourselves into is largely absent in the occult traditions, and thus magickal thinkers and practitioners are far more able to expand their theology beyond simplistic moral judgements. With “Vs.” I wanted to give authors, practitioners, and researchers a place to discuss and express these highly complex concepts. Although I didn’t really know what the overall conclusion would be, I think that the authors for this anthology all discussed, in one way or another, the necessity of duality to attain unity. To them duality is not an evil state of good vs. evil, but rather a useful paradigm to work in. The difference here, I think, is that traditional “vs.” concepts focus only on the two opposing forces and their differences, whereas the authors of “Vs.” focus instead upon the gap between the opposites and the nature of their relationship.

I discovered the hard way that these anthologies have a life of their own. You can set a deadline for submissions, but you can also guarantee that authors will run late, or that you’ll accidentally discovered a possible new contributor about a week before the deadline. I intended “Vs.” to take six months to complete. It took over a year. But the great thing was that when it was truly read, I just knew. Suddenly it had no gaps left, it felt right, it was ripe and just waiting to fall from the tree…

SD: In Vs. and your previous anthology From a Drop of Water, you wrote on topics within Vodou. As a Vodou practitioner and a Thelemite, how much of a role does Vodou play in your life and practices?

Kim:  I would actually describe myself as a Vodouisante first and foremost, a Thelemite in my philosophy, and a practicing Pagan too. My religion and practice is Vodou, the guidelines I live my life by come from Thelema, and my understanding of the world around me and Nature is informed by Paganism. Some might think this sounds rather like a hodge-podge, and perhaps it is, but I don’t mix them all up together – I practice the three paths side by side.

Vodou plays an extremely important role in my life and practices. When you serve the lwa, you walk with them – every day. They become part of your mundane world as well as your magickal world, and your relationship with the lwa is one of friendship, love, and mutual respect, rather than worship. As such, serving the lwa is quite different to magick performed within a Pagan or Western Mystery Tradition context. You can do it anywhere, anytime, with pretty much anything. In Vodou, no circle is cast, nor quarters/elements invoked. Instead, we just talk to the lwa, pray, maybe light a candle, give offerings, sing and dance. Song and dance is vital for the Vodou tradition – every lwa has his/her sacred songs, and to sing and dance for them is a great joy and offering.

From a Drop of Water

SD:  From a Drop of Water is another challenging collection of essays.  Do you have a preference for covering ignored, maligned or taboo topics in your work?

Kim:  I don’t really see much point in covering topics that have been thoroughly explored already. I’d much prefer to look at something that is new or hasn’t been properly discussed before. I must admit, however, that one of the things that attracts me to many of my areas of interest and research is that they’re just a bit… weird. I also have a penchant for the macabre, so anything to do with necromancy, zombies, death and related subjects I find fascinating. One of the things I want with my work is for people to look at it and be struck by something unique about it – I don’t enjoy offering the same old material rehashed and repackaged.

Often the subjects I focus on in my work relate to the academic research I am undertaking at the time, and it just so happens that my PhD research (PhD currently on hold, research most definitely not!) was on Graeco-Roman voodoo dolls. It’s a pretty strange subject to begin with, but when the research started to veer naturally in the direction of necromancy, reanimation, malefic-erotic magic, love-madness, and corpse mutilation there was no pretending that it was your run-of-the-mill thesis anymore! As such, I’m used to topics that others possibly consider taboo or strange or morbid, and I don’t want to shy away from them in the anthologies I put together.

Kim Huggens with a copy of her Tarot book at the launch in Cardiff.

SD: You have been reading the Tarot since you were very young, and have had Tarot 101: Mastering the Art of Reading the Cards published by Llewellyn, as well as collaborating with Nic Phillips on Sol Invictus: The God Tarot and the forthcoming Pistis Sophia: The Goddess Tarot.  Is the Tarot as much a part of your path as it seems, and how did that come about?

Kim:  The Tarot is definitely a large part of my path. My spiritual development, and the way I view the universe around me, is basically ordered and expressed in the language and symbolism of the Tarot. The Tarot archetypes were so familiar to me from such a young age (I was 9 when I started studying the cards) that it became the foundation of all my later magickal study and Pagan practice.

SD:  Your work has appeared in numerous anthologies on a diverse range of topics, from the Slavic god Veles (Horns of Power) to early women in Christianity (Priestess Pythonesses Sibyls).  How do you separate your many diverse esoteric interests, or don’t you?

Kim:  I’m a researcher first and foremost. My academic background has taught me how to give my all into a single project, and then – once it is finished – to move onto the next one. The diversity of my work simply belies the diversity of my research interests over the years, though all my work could loosely fall into the category of mythology, Tarot or ancient history. What I will note, however, is that my research interests (what I write my papers about) and my own magickal and esoteric practice, rarely meet. I’d much rather tell people facts and discuss those, than give people my opinion or personal experience. Even the papers I wrote for “From a Drop of Water” and “Vs.”, despite being about the spirits of Vodou, do not tell much – if anything – of my own experience or beliefs.

Having said that, the research sometimes plays heavily on my magickal work – as anything that preoccupies one’s mind is prone to do. I often find also that one paper raises more questions than it answers, and the next paper will be on a more specific aspect of that topic. For instance, a paper on Vodou and Graeco-Roman necromantic practices that I am currently writing for the Conjure Codex (ed. Jake Stratton-Kent) gave rise to the talk I gave recently at the Occult Conference 2011, “The Truth About Zombies, or: How to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse.”

SD: Your interests include a lot of craft-related activities, making items.  What prompts you to spend your time making spirit dolls, sequin flags and jewellery?

Kim:  I’m a bit of a magpie at heart, always getting distracted by shiny, pretty, sparkly things. I also hoarde such items. It was only a natural move to start creating shiny, pretty, sparkly things. I try to “upcycle” as much as possible – picking up items that have been discarded or dropped, or buying things from charity shops or car boot sales – that I then take apart and turn into something else. For me, making something beautiful or sacred out of what other people view as trash is as much a sacred act as prayer or ritual. It reminds me that there is beauty and joy to be found even in the tiniest things, or the most unwanted things. It is an exercise in remaining close to my roots too, as making such items allows them to truly come from me, and it means that I don’t fall into the trap of purchasing them at an obscene price from others.

Most of my items end up on an altar or shrine, either my own or that of a friend. I sell very few of them, because they end up becoming gifts. And whilst they may not be perfect, they are really mine. They’re honestly, openly mine, given with sincerity and in the spirit of joy. Often while I am making the items I will be talking to the spirits, or singing for them, and I am certain they have a hand in the creation process, as things usually end up a bit different to my original plan, but somehow… right.

SD:  If you were to write your autobiography, what would you call it and why?

SD: I don’t think it would be wise to write my autobiography. It would get quite a few people (including myself!) into a lot of trouble. Not that I regret anything I have done, but sometimes it’s nicer to have skeletons in your closet. It allows you to legitimately possess the kind of smile that makes people wonder what you’ve been up to…

However, if I did write such a book, a couple of working titles could be “Maid on the Shore”, “Dancing on the Grave”, and “The Moon Clothed with the Sun.” These all sound terribly pretentious I know, but they’re three very important aspects of my life – the mermaid (La Sirene), the macabre (Baron Samedi) and the maitressa (Anaisa Pye), all Vodou spirits I am especially close to.

But really, this is one book that will never be written.

SD: Are you working on any new books and/or anthologies at the moment?  If so can you tell us anything about them?

Kim:  I am indeed! “Memento Mori” is the anthology I am working on currently – I recently put out the call for papers, and it’s received a lot of interest in its first week already. I’m hoping it’s shaping up to be a good project. It’s going to collect papers on the topics of death, dying, the Underworld, decay, destruction, etc. in mythology, magick and Paganism. I hope that it will not only be a forum for discussing these subjects from an academic perspective, but also open up a dialogue for authors to write about death and dying in the modern magickal traditions. It’s another much under-discussed topc, isn’t it? What do we do, as magicians/occultists/Pagans, when we die? What do we instruct our relatives to do? How do we cope with bereavement? Perhaps the academic papers will provide the foundation for belief about death and the soul and the afterlife, while the experiential papers show us how modern practitioners put the theory to use.

Meanwhile I’m still working away at the companion book for “Pistis Sophia: the Goddess Tarot”, which, much to Nick’s annoyance I’m sure, keeps getting put to one side while I finish papers and projects with shorter deadlines! I reckon I can get it completed in 2012 though. Preferably before the world ends.

Kim Huggens - Author and Editor

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Kim Huggens is the editor of Vs. (more info) and From a Drop of Water (see more info).  She is also the author of Tarot 101 (Llewellyn) and co-author of Sol Invictus: The God Tarot – see http://kimhuggens-tarot.webs.com/ for more information. She is currently working with Nick Phillips on Pistic Sophia: The Goddess Tarot (more information see http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=42499059316 (Facebook group, with images), as well as Memento Mori (see above).

Sorita d’Este is the author of numerous books on mythology, folklore and magic.  You can find out more about her work at www.sorita.co.uk

Avalonia is a small independent esoteric publishers based in the UK, our authors include Jan Fries, Jean-luc Chaumeil, Katie Gerrard and David Rankine.  For more information see www.avaloniabooks.co.uk