Oh, my Dearest Readers. Ya girl spent nearly a whole day at the art museum the other day, and saw some very delightful exhibits. During the process of observing a number of very lovely pieces, the topic of lineage and succession came up—but in the context of trades and art techniques. And it occurred to me that this may be a good topic, since the idea of succession within the arts is not nearly as well established in Western (especially American) culture as it is in other places. 

Lineages of Magic

One non-biological lineage that is understood (somewhat) in Western circles is the concept of magical lineages. Gardnerian Wicca, for example, does keep a lineage. From what I understand, it is very common in those circles to track who taught you magic, who taught your teacher, who taught their teacher—so on and so forth until it can be tracked back to Gerald Gardner—the originator or ‘ancestor’ in this tradition. 

You can see this more often in Webtoons that have a martial arts or immortal cultivators setting. Characters will overtly state their overall lineage (school/sect/etc) and then will often name their immediate teacher. In these settings, finding a good teacher is considered a huge plot point and advantage. That is because these are closed traditions/closed schools that don’t just teach any regular-degular Joe off the street. So if someone acts up, people around them know who has decided to teach them—and the fault will fall on the shoulders of their teacher. This is much like how parents are held accountable (in a reasonable and rational world) for the actions of their children—because it means their parents are at fault for not raising them properly. 

In fact, very poor behavior reflects on the entire sect/school—because it implies that they either approve of this behavior…or that one of their members has such a poor judgement related to character that they picked someone who should not have been worthy of learning. 

This is most commonly seen in Western culture via organizations such as Sororities and Fraternities, or in associations related to universities as a whole. With big name schools, just having the degree imparts a certain weight because that university has a certain reputation. 

Here is a case study. In the version of Clow Sorcery that I am learning, I would be considered one of Rune Emmerson’s students, since I am explicitly learning from his texts and so are the other people in the server where we hold discussions. Rune could be considered to be ‘Spirit Taught’ (although your mileage may very depending on your individual definitions) or a student or Sakura and Clow Reed. Sakura herself was a student of Clow Reed—but can also be considered Spirit Taught because she received a lot of her power through both trial/quest and from Kero—a familiar spirit. So my linage would go : Me, Rune, Sakura, Clow Reed—more or less. 

I am going to generalize here (and with that comes the usual caveats of OF COURSE I AM NOT SAYING EVERY AND ALL PEOPLE UNDER THIS CATEGORY, GAWD USE SOME DISCERNMENT) and say that most Americans are not in the practice of recognizing their non-blood lineages. We often do not think about the ancestors we have from, for example, our magical traditions or our day jobs. As a writer of Fantasy and Science Fiction (for instance) that means Mary Shelly is one of my ancestors as the literal mother of science fiction. Sorry boys, Science Fiction is actually not for you.

Lineages of Art 

So, back in the day, normal people had a lot harder of a time getting an education. Usually only the wealthy could afford to hire well-known experts in their fields as tutors. The idea of public school wherein you have teachers that changed every year was not really a thing (as far as I am aware). This was especially true with artists and their apprentices. Masters/Teachers and their apprentices had pretty close relationships, because of the time investment it took on the Master’s part to teach. 

This is actually in many ways is very unchanged among Mangaka to this day. Many very prominent Mangaka spent years as assistants to other Mangaka—and that’s where they really cut their teeth and learned a lot of their skills before starting their own work. And many Mangaka will specifically name someone as their ‘successor.’ For example Okubo-sensei (the creator of Soul Eater) explicitly named Urana-sensei (Gachiakuta) as his successor and has stated in interviews that she has already surpassed him very early in her career. 

The Mangaka of Bleach, One Piece, Hunter x Hunter, and others specifically name Toriyama (the creator of Dragon Ball) as a huge influence. But, the culture is such that people do not look down on them for having been influenced by another. Instead, it’s understood that they are in a loose ‘lineage’ where Toriyama-sensei has explicitly named Toyotarou-sensei as his official successor. 

In my case, I have not had a singular teacher that taught me the grand majority of what I know. But, I do have a previous professor that was extremely influential on my personal outlook. Professor S. was very peculiar among her colleagues at the time, because she considered pop culture art / consumer art to be a ‘legitimate’ and ‘real’ form of art next to ‘fine art’ or ‘gallery art.’ She was rather infamous at my university for not taking interns. But, she let me work as her intern for one summer while I was on medical leave from my university for health issues. Much like a Mangaka’s assistant, I took care of some grunt work for her—such as carefully photoshopping individual particles of dust or excess glue out of her cut paper pieces before the final images were sent to her agent. 

I think I was also not ready for a lot of what she was trying to teach me at the time—things like the importance of rest, fun, and following your own desires. But, that’s just a variation on a theme for repeated lessons and shadows that appear in our lives. 

So my Dearest Readers, what lineages of yours can you track?