Bryon Morrigan is a former US military intelligence analyst with a degree in forensic science. He lives in a beautiful Southern estate in Florida with his wife and two daughters.  He counts Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child, H. P. Lovecraft, H. G. Wells, and Hunter S. Thompson among his literary influences.  Look for his horror thriller “THE DESERT” in bookstores and libraries – or ask for it if you don’t see it on the shelves!  Bryon’s website can be found at http://www.bryonmorrigan.com/

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MW: You’ve listed your path on your MysticWicks as Ár nDraíocht Féin.  Tell us about your spiritual journey – when did you get started, how did it develop, and how do you feel about where you are now?

Bryon: My path began a long time ago, during the Dark Ages of the Satanic Panic.  It started out in two major ways.  The first was that I began asking questions at Sunday School.  In particular, I remember what I like to call the “Hitler Conundrum.”  I lived in a very rural area, and my parents made me attend one of those one-room, no air-conditioning (in Florida!) Missionary Baptist churches.  One thing they kept hammering at us was that anyone who believed in Jesus would go to Heaven.  No “ifs,” “ands,” or “buts.”

So I started asking about Hitler.  Since Hitler was a Christian, logically one had to assume by that reasoning that he went to Heaven.  On the other hand, people from places like India or China that had never heard of this Jesus guy would be doomed to eternal torment.  Even in 3^rd grade, that seemed utterly stupid to me.  Add to that the fact that I thought the stories in the Bible were completely boring, and you certainly have a recipe for apostasy!

The second major issue that impacted my journey was my interest in fantasy and magical stories.  I played Dungeons & Dragons from about 4^th or 5^th grade, and I was always interested in trying to figure out a way to make “real magic” happen.  So what I started doing was creating a “grimoire,” that I reverse-engineered from anthropology books about voodoo and witch-doctors, combined with excerpts of supposed “witchcraft” rituals and incantations from those Satanic Panic books.  (IOW, if it said, “You should watch out if your kids do _____.” then I would do “_____.”)

Much of my early Pagan “identity” at this time came from Mary Stewart’s “Merlin Trilogy.”  You have to remember… this was the 80s, before the Internet and the ease of availability of knowledge about these things, especially to a young boy in elementary school.

In high school, I started dating a much older Wiccan woman, and I tried to get into Wicca, but it never felt right to me.  As soon as we broke up, I was back to my “I’ll figure things out myself” ways.  Eventually, I ended up reading a lot of Mary Renault, and her descriptions of Hellenic Polytheism rang “true” to me. I could believe in the gods of the Classical world, whereas the gods of the Abrahamic religions have always felt as “real” to me as Mickey Mouse and Santa Claus.

Eventually, I moved from a strictly Hellenic tradition to a more Roman model.  I love Classical history, and I have a deep affinity for the Roman world, particularly the somewhat “eclectic” way that they viewed their religions.

Recently however, my wife and I came to a compromise.  She is also a long-time Pagan, but just doesn’t feel the connection with the Greco-Roman world that I do.  It got to the point where I was the only one doing rituals or teaching the children about religion.  So I went to her and asked her what I could do to make it more interesting to her.  She’s Irish-American, and feels much more at home with the Celtic world.

To me, there really is no issue in moving between pantheons.  No more than it was difficult for a Roman stationed in Britain to call upon Mars Nodens (Celtic), rather than Mars Ultor (Roman).  So we jointly decided to make our official home religion Celtic, and teach the children to worship in the Celtic fashion, while still learning the Greek, Roman, and even Germanic myths and stories.

Since I never do anything half-assed, I decided to join ADF to assist me in this endeavor.  I have always admired Isaac Bonewits and the ADF’s commitment to scholarship and excellence.  (I was even originally going to be Professor of Classics at Isaac’s ill-fated Real Magic School.)

Also, being a Left-Wing, tree-hugging, environmentalist, Liberal, I find myself a lot more at home in ADF than some other groups in the Pagan world.

MW: Tell us more about your background in the US military.  Were you “out” as a Pagan while you were serving?

Bryon: I joined the Army in 1996, enlisting as a Signals Intelligence Analyst, which is basically a fancy word for “code-breaker.”  I had a Top Secret/SCI clearance at the time, but unfortunately did not get to see any secret UFO facilities. 

I checked “No Rel Pref” on my official religion, like most Pagans at the time, and was glad of it.  One drill-sergeant in basic training made us all pull our dog-tags out of our shirts in formation one day, so that he could go check to make sure he didn’t have any “dog-gone witches or warlocks” in his platoon.  Trust me, basic training is not the kind of place that you want to “stand out.”  On Sundays, we were given the choice of going to church, or cleaning the barracks.  I went to church and daydreamed.  There were other “pseudo-mandatory” Christian functions from time to time, but I don’t remember them as well as that particular incident.

MW: Tell us about your novel “The Desert.”  What has been, in your experience, the hardest part of bringing the story to market?  What was the easiest?  What was the most rewarding?

Bryon: Gods.  Bringing the story to market was rather easy.  Within a week of finishing the novel, I already had publishers interested.  (It’s topical… see?)  The hardest part has been the movie.  I’ve gone through a few interested parties trying to get the movie made, from a big-name Hollywood guy to a low-budget company pitching it to SyFy Channel.  I’ve written 10 different screenplays, and it has yet to go into production.  The SyFy Channel one was the closest to going through, but it looks like it’s not gonna happen at this point.

MW: Do you have any new books coming for us to look forward to reading?  What publishing or related projects are you working on now?

Bryon: I have a sequel to THE DESERT that I’m finishing up now.  It’s called ACHERON, and takes place in Basrah, Iraq, as a lone Army officer escapes from the hands of a terrorist group… only to find that the world outside has gone to Hell… somewhat literally.  There’s a lot more Pagan mythology in this book than in THE DESERT, which only lightly touched on Yazidi mythology.

I’m simultaneously working on the screenplay, and the aforementioned Hollywood guy has already expressed an interest in it.  Keep your fingers crossed.

I’ve also just begun a project with a very Pagan focus.  My friend, the horror and Christian theology author Kim Paffenroth, Ph.D. (http://gotld.blogspot.com/), and I will be collaborating on a screenplay about the Roman emperor Julian II (Aka “Julian the Apostate.”)  It will likely be about an important moment in his life, from both the Pagan and Christian perspectives.

MW: Has being a parent changed your world-view (your spirituality or your career)?

Bryon: Gods yes.  Spiritually, it forces you to really confront your own feelings on religion constantly, since you are essentially their spiritual teacher.

Career-wise?  Let’s just put it this way: Sometimes, it can be a bit trying when you are attempting to write a novel and a baby is screaming in the next room.  On the other hand, there are few things as uplifting as making that same baby laugh or smile… or snuggling up to her to take a nap together.

MW: What advice would you give to budding writers just starting out today?

Bryon: Buy a copy of Stephen King’s ON WRITING.  Live it.  Read about the experiences of other writers, particularly a great guy named Brian Keene, who has blogged extensively about the real experiences of being a professional writer.  NEVER EVEN CONSIDER SELF-PUBLISHING!  Don’t do it!

Also, consider this: The only reason that I can afford to support my family solely as a writer is that I bought a cheap house, in a small town, and I own both my cars.  It’s a wonderful feeling getting up every morning knowing that I don’t have to go to a “real” job… but you have to be realistic.  There are houses for sale in my town for $15k.  Nice, big Victorian houses like mine…  (My house was built in 1883, and is enormous.)  If you search around the country right now, there are plenty of small towns just like this one where you can buy beautiful houses for practically nothing.  If you’re serious about writing for a living, and you aren’t on the New York Times’ Bestseller List, you might want to start doing some research.  (We searched for a year before settling on this house.)

MW: What do you hope the Pagan community will look like in the future?  What do you see as our greatest challenges in attaining this future?

Bryon: I see a lot more “educated eclecticism” creeping in, and hopefully a great deal more focus on “the now,” as opposed to “the then.”  As we become more out in the open and mainstream, I see us becoming more about being a living, breathing religion, rather than the live-action-role-playing-game that some people tend towards.  Scholarship is wonderful.  I have an MA in History myself… but trying to live in the past, without allowing for the changes that have occurred in society over 2000 years, is just not something that I’m particularly interested in.

MW: What advice would you give to those starting out on the path exploring Paganism?

Bryon: Read.  A lot.  Preferably from people with the letters “P” “H” & “D” at the ends of their names.  Question everything you read.  There was a lot of misinformation published in the 1990s where every Pagan tradition was explained as just another kind of Wicca, and the authors usually presented these anachronisms as “fact.”  Skip the Amber K’s and D.J. McCoy’s of the world, and pick up something by Isaac Bonewits, Ronald Hutton, or John Michael Greer.

And while you’re at it, pick up THE PRICE OF MONOTHEISM, by Jan Assmann, and GOD AGAINST THE GODS: A HISTORY OF THE WAR BETWEEN MONOTHEISM AND POLYTHEISM, by Jonathan Kirsch.  If you want to be truly educated about the relationship between Paganism and Christianity, you really have to read books like those.

MW: What advice would you give to elders in the Pagan community today?

Bryon: See the previous question.  Unfortunately, there are a lot of elders in the Pagan community who have stopped learning.  They feel that they learned everything there is to know about our religions back in the 80s or 90s, and they haven’t kept abreast of the modern philosophical and historical strains and discussions going on.  One thing that I’ve learned over the course of my academic enlightenment is that you should never stop learning or challenging your own beliefs and assumptions.

Also, we really need to keep on top of what political issues are going on in our countries that affect our rights as Pagans.  I’ve run into all kinds of Pagans online who support candidates who they didn’t realize were actually Christian Dominionists actively trying to create some kind of sick Theofascist society.  (Senator Sam Brownback, I’m looking at you!)

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Ben Gruagach is an eclectic Wiccan writer living in Oakville, Ontario Canada with his sweetheart, two wonderful sons, and both a feline and canine companion. Look for his book, “The Wiccan Mystic,” which explores mystery religions and mysticism in a Wiccan context. Ben’s website is http://www.witchgrotto.com.

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