A Review of Thorn Magazine
Online media can only go so far when reaching out to the polytheistic/pagan communities in the English-speaking world. While many print publications on pagan/polytheistic topics folded after the Internet's popularity increased, this service is still important. Other faiths, such as Christianity (Christianity Today) and Buddhism (Tricycle), can maintain general magazines of decent quality in addition to the hundreds of English-language blogs and large number of Internet forums. Like those faith groups, general Western paganisms should be able to work together to produce at least one good magazine in addition to the various smaller publications produced by individual pagan/polytheistic groups, such as the Hellenic He Epistole (Neokoroi).
With this void in mind comes the new Thorn Magazine: Paganism in the Silicon Age, a publication aimed at the general pagan/polytheistic community. When I say “general,” I mean it: the December 2008 issue includes an article about “orgone energy” by a Discordian, three articles about modern initiation practices in Reconstructionist religions (Kemetic, Hellenic, and Norse perspectives), an atheist's perspective on Neo-Witchcraft, and several reviews.
Thorn looks like a very promising magazine, and Volume 1:1 did a decent job. Content I listed above makes it clear that it gives a voice to minority polytheistic faiths in addition to the concerns of Neo-Wiccans, but that also depends on the types of submissions the magazine acquires. I really liked the set topic idea for the recon faith articles because I think comparing how they do things is good for any outsiders who might read these articles. Thorn's formatting usually hits the mark: I approved of the editorial staff's header and footer designs, and they succeeded in attractively formatting titles' text. The advertisements were unobtrusive, yet noticeable, and very appropriate.
Someone at a Smith leadership conference once said that their organization considers "positives" and "deltas" when evaluating their performance because "delta," unlike "negative," signifies that the org has an opportunity to learn and grow. Thorn definitely has some deltas. Sometimes single lines carry over columns, which gets distracting when they are left alone. The white void in “Creation Myth: Intelligent Designs from the Descendants of the Sun Gods” on page 5 was distracting. Some of the articles may have looked better in two columns (the magazine used three as a standard) because short paragraphs look less choppy that way. Line spacing varied from a cramped ~1.0 in “The Wild Hunt: A news summary for modern Pagans” to a spacing of 1.3-1.5 “Creation Myth.” (Note: the spacing in “'Story' is Only Part of 'History'” has perhaps the best line spacing solution.) As you can tell from the volume classification of 1:1, December 2008 is their first issue, so I'm confident that they'll settle on a formatting standard soon.
Thorn's success ultimately depends on the quality and varieties of articles/editorials submitted by members of the pagan communities, along with the readership demands of the demographic it eventually settles into. While I can't say that every single article gripped me, Thorn's first issue definitely had some very engaging sections and deserves further attention. I will probably subscribe to Thorn in the near future, but I hesitate to give a n/5 rating to a magazine only in its first issue. (Thinking in letter grade mode, I would give Issue #1 a B.) I encourage you to look at Thorn for yourself and give them feedback on what you think. They even have a survey on their web site.
