This morning I was watching Gordon White’s tribute to the recently-departed Peter Carroll. I’ve never read any of Carroll’s books and I doubt I ever will. I was watching for the same reason I read or watched nearly everything Gordon produced: you never knew when he would drop some jewel of knowledge or practice. He ended the video with a prayer that Carroll would be seated as an ancestor of practice.
I switched over to my email app and saw an “Announcement” email from Gordon’s Rune Soup community timestamped just moments before. Gordon had died while travelling in Peru. Shock doesn’t begin to describe it. I would guess he’s about my age (though he will always be remembered as forever 27 😉) and he was so full of plans for new work and ideas for the community.
Everyone here knows about the influence Wendell Berry has had on my life. I haven’t talked as much about Gordon–mostly because I never imagined I’d be talking about his work in the past tense for many years to come. Also because the material he covered isn’t something many people here would seem to have much interest in; in fact, some folks might have little patience for it. (If you’re one of the latter, please don’t tell me. I am emphatically not in the mood.)
Rune Soup started as a blog, then a podcast, then a membership community centered on the Western esoteric and magical tradition, including eventually animism and indigenous shamanism. I’m not sure when I discovered it–probably a decade or more ago? I think my first encounter was when I first came across the term “animism” as a contemporary worldview and not just an insult hurled at indigenous communities by racist anthropologists. I was fascinated by the idea and searched Twitter for it. Many of the folks discussing it had #RSPM in their bios. More digging, and I discovered that hashtag referred to Rune Soup Premium Membership. Down the rabbit hole I went. I started listening to the podcast, reading the blog, and following all of the #RSPM accounts. I joined the membership some time later. I quit for a time but then re-joined in late 2020.
I didn’t always agree with Gordon–and the great thing about him was he never presented himself as a spiritual teacher demanding to be followed. He was irascible and extreme sometimes. He was also astonishingly smart and had an ability to draw together ideas and practice in ways that will not soon be matched.
I’ve never really been what would be called a magical practitioner, especially in the ways that were most prominently discussed in Rune Soup (grimoires, etc.). What Gordon did for me was re-enchant the world. He exposed me to ideas that have become fundamental to who I am, animism being only one of them. And, as one person said in a remembrance this morning, he got me to pray again–and that’s no small thing. He helped me find a way to re-engage Christianity. That engagement would not satisfy traditional Christians, of course, but it has been vital to me.
Gordon has been one of the most important, ongoing teachers of my adult life. I’ve cried more over his death today than I would have expected. The work will go on, of course, but he himself is irreplaceable. His combination of gifts will be deeply missed by me. It’s absurd that he’s gone. It’s way too early, and there’s too much going on.
But, in a very Gordon move, I will quote Lord of the Rings: “A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”