2 - Paganism and the counter-culture

Summary

The counter-culture of the late 1960s and early 1970s is typically represented as a global youth cultural phenomenon that casts itself in opposition to the technocracy of Western capitalist society. Central to this oppositional stance was a rejection of mainstream societal values which, in addition to the core ideologies of industrial capitalism itself, also extended to associated institutions – notably marriage, the nuclear family and organized religion. Although, the term “counter-culture” actually encompasses a wide range of quite diverse groups and interests (Clecak 1983), and although the oppositional nature of the counter-culture frequently has been romanticized and misrepresented, there is little doubt that the counter-cultural era brought with it an openness to alternative ideologies, spiritualities and aesthetic beliefs, many of which continue to manifest themselves in current youth cultures and music scenes (A. Bennett 2001).

A key aspect of the counter-culture's oppositional stance was its drawing on ideas and practices associated with pre-modern ideology, including elements of Paganism. Among these was a back-to-the-land ethos exemplified in the rural hippie communes that sprang up across North America and Europe; this was also evident at some counter-cultural rock festivals – notably the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Fair, which took place at a greenfield site in upper New York state (see A. Bennett 2004). As the example of Woodstock suggests, significant elements of the counter-cultural ideology were communicated through the popular music of the era, and this extended to the traces of Pagan belief evident in the counter-culture.