Beyond Bizarre -- Bizarre Pagans - Bizarre Goths
Documentary television hosted by Jay Robinson focused on exploring great mysteries around the world, from ghost sightings, alien encounters and everything else in between.
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Zia and Dragon are Gatewood's favorite pagan couple.
00:05Their behavior includes employing a belief system
00:09based on ritual and magic.
00:15Dragon is an artist and a painter.
00:18I just simply have had the sense all my life
00:21of never really fitting into the tribe that I was among.
00:28Now that he has become a pagan,
00:30there is a bizarre twist to his approach.
00:34I mean, I feel responsible for it in that I'm open to it.
00:38I'm able to take this energy and, you know,
00:41put down my own fantasies and my own realities.
00:45But I also feel that I'm riding a wave of energy.
00:50Zia works as an entrepreneur during workshops and rituals,
00:55but she is also a maker of potions
00:58and collects the essential oils and herbs herself.
01:03Pagans can turn to someone like Zia
01:06or patronize establishments such as ancient ways
01:11that stock key ingredients traditionally thought to bring
01:15added benefits to people's lives.
01:19Power, protection, and love.
01:25Pagans delve into the mysteries of magic and ancient rituals.
01:31In this New Age interpretation of the ancient Gothic culture,
01:36people dress in theatrical vamp
01:39and create their own special music.
01:43Goth kids are on a quest,
01:45just like all these other groups are on a quest.
01:48They're looking for something,
01:50and they're not finding it in normal society,
01:54I'm interested in the term Gothic in the traditional sense
01:59where that is the sense of the old English term,
02:03which was that of the barbarian or one who's barbarous,
02:07meaning one who doesn't live within the confines of a society.
02:15The whole scene for me and for some people in the scene
02:18is very much about getting in touch with some part of your soul.
02:22We're all in the scene for different reasons,
02:25but it's the only social scene I've ever found
02:29where you can try things out and test things,
02:33and you're not going to be shot down for it
02:36like you would in mainstream society.
02:38Morally and socially, it's a lot freer that way,
02:42and my music plays that same role.
02:45It's used a lot to open certain doors, if you will.
02:49There is a reason why this scene is thriving,
02:52and we're all real people.
02:55There's no way you can understand it
02:58unless you have somehow involved yourself within those circles.
03:02If you can do something that extreme that is totally you,
03:06you know, the payback is incredible for you personally.
03:14Before I got into the Gothic scene,
03:16I didn't really have much direction in life whatsoever,
03:20and it really helped me see things in a positive light.
03:31I've been like this pretty much all my life.
03:34I was kind of ostracized, and I just kind of took the low road
03:39and came to find other people who had also,
03:43and the things I found I liked, so that's how I came here.
03:47I grew up in Los Angeles, and I was kind of the odd person out.
03:52I was always into electronic music.
03:55Though appearing Gothic and dark,
03:58the Gothic lifestyle enriches the lives of its followers.
04:04Maniac.
04:09Maniacist.
04:12Maybe a lot of people there were just dressing up,
04:15and maybe their interest is more theatrical and more make-believe,
04:19and maybe they romanticize vampires on a Hollywood level
04:23or an Anne Rice level or a Poppy Z. Bright level,
04:26but I know that a lot of the people there really are blood drinkers,
04:30believe it or not.
04:32Some of the people there are into ritual cutting,
04:35and many of the people there are into fluid bonding,
04:38exchanging blood, doing blood ritual.
04:41That's what my book is about.
04:43It examines blood ritual in the Goth community,
04:46the pagan communities, the body modification communities,
04:49and sort of connects all the dots.
04:53Pagan rituals are designed
04:57to break up your normal flow of information,
05:01to disorient your senses,
05:03and they work on your mind, your body, and your spirit simultaneously.
05:08And it's all very scientific, the chants, the drums,
05:11the setting, the casting of the circle.
05:14It's all done the way it's been done for many thousands of years.
05:18In these dark worlds,
05:21Charles Gatewood senses no limits.
05:24In these bizarre rituals,
05:27Charles Gatewood tastes the infinite.