The Cauldron

-Nature as Deity-

By Ana Hawthorn

(Nature as Deity: The Pagan Folkways of Old Europe, from BCE to Today. An Overview of the survival of Pagan beliefs and folk practices through celebration, magic and healing.)

What’s this got to do with us?

I think that many people crave a connection to this planet, they feel displaced and disconnected. Because of this, there is a revival of looking to the old heathen view. We want to feel the shifts of the seasons, the connection to Mother Earth.

When I was young, I think I lived in the fields and woods surrounding my home. It was a place of bounty and magic, of beauty and sound. As I grew older this, of course, was replaced by those things that interest most teens (we won’t go into the gory details). However, once that wore off, I found myself feeling spiritually disconnected and frustrated with church doctrine.
I've since discovered that there are many who feel this way. That others want to feel that old childhood wonder at the planet we live on. Also, that we want to be connected to where we came from. It all comes down to the big cosmic questions- where did I come from, what am I doing here and what else is out there? We crave connection. This craving is probably what has brought some of you here. It may have made you look for your ancestors, or to look to the people who first populated this land we now live on. Perhaps you cook grandma's recipes or celebrate traditions that you have in your family. We are all here because we sense that there is something more to why we are here, that where we came from matters somehow, and that there is more than meets the eye.

Old heathen practices answered to this basic spiritual need:
- Ancestors were honored
- Children knew the stories of the heroes of their own family and of the village and kingdom.
- Traditional foods and feasts brought people together.
- The need to keep community was strong- you couldn't hide or run because everyone knew you, so, you had to keep responsibility for your actions or words or risk exile that usually equaled a slow death.
- Also, God was Nature. The goddess was the land, the god was in the crops, there were gods of storms and oceans, goddesses of the hearth and of snow, deities of the woods and entities that peopled the land that were a little harder to see. Ladies in the lake, dwarves in the mountains. They were around you and involved with you.
- One cared for Nature, because one didn’t want to upset that which sustained them
- A person was honorable, because they represented their entire lineage

In short, many have come to feel that our early history is worth looking into, and perhaps embracing to some degree. I recently read an interesting article that stated – when society crumbles, we should hold close to that which is dear to us and carefully pass it on. That way, when things become better, there is something to revive. Our ancestors did that, through the dark ages and war, conquering races and political suppression. If you look, you can still see these bits in our folklore, family traditions and holidays.

Definitions
-Paganism is any polytheistic belief system- those who believe in the existence of more than one deity form. Pagan is the term used in the Mediterranean region of Europe; North of this area, the correct term would be Heathen. They mean the same thing. Pagan and Heathen religions are Culturally specific
-Wicca is a specific pagan religion that has evolved from pre-Christian practices and witchcraft practices. Wicca is a set of spiritual beliefs, most often set into the cultural context of the Celtic peoples, but the system has been adapted to many different Cultural systems.
-Witchcraft, often used interchangeably with Wicca, is actually a system of magical practice, and may or may not adhere to the Wiccan format, it can also be strictly within a cultural context. In the latter form it can be seen in a negative form- most common in popular culture, or it may arise in a positive form- under which circumstances, most cultures reserve a separate term for such practitioners- such as Healer, Cunningfolk, Spae folk, PowWow Doctors and the like- depending upon their skill area and culture.

Both believe in more than one form of deity, both honor nature and its cycles, both are a spiritual philosophy, Wicca is one specific route. This is akin to Monotheism being the umbrella concept and Christianity being a specific path of which Episcopalian is a specific tradition. Thus Paganism is the umbrella and Wicca is the path. So, when I use the term Pagan/ism I am referring to an umbrella concept or a group of common beliefs. When I use the term Wicca, I am speaking of a specific form of Paganism and from there I may qualify a specific tradition within Wicca such as Gardnerian.

When discussing the Culture and History, what we will be covering are early practices of Heathens/Pagans. When we discuss folk magic we will be looking into the arenas of the surviving practices of the healers, cunning and wise folk and the witches. The former is of predominant interest to the Reconstructionist, the latter of the Wiccan- though the interest may be interchangeable and the information equally valuable. Tonight I won’t be discussing what the Reconstructionist or the Wiccan does. Tonight we’ll be discussing the world view that effects both.

History of the early pagan world

There are still many pagan and indigenous religions that continue to exist and have striking similarities to give us a fair idea of ancient practices. I feel that the indigenous shamanic cultures that still survive, show fair evidence of how the ancient world-view of deity must have been. There are strong universal notions that exist in all of these indigenous cultures whether it’s the Mbuti tribe, Lapp Shamans or Aboriginals of Australia. There are commonalties found here that exist in Celtic mythology, Norse pagan thought and in North American Indian views of the spiritual world. This universal view concerns itself with Ancestral worship, honoring nature and the spirit world. The gods are that of the land they live upon and manifest in the natural world. They honor a Great Spirit that is inherent in all things yet often maintain a hard polytheistic view of Deities and manifestations of natural forces.

In surviving Pagan cultures, such as Hinduism, Yoruba and Asatru we still see these traits. Though with a modern world-view comes a faction that will view these Deities as archetypes instead of independent beings which can influence our lives. Simply put, pagan thought appears to be the natural inclination of the human species’ early thought processes. Some feel that monotheism is an evolution of primitive thought. Some feel that there was a failure by paganism to feed the spirit of its people, which opened the door for monotheistic religions to gain strength. Some feel that the strength that monotheism gave patriarchy was the motivating force, and some feel that it was monetarily motivated. Surely, these are all valid points. Interestingly to me, the appeal of Christianity to the early pagans came in the notion that anyone had access to God, anyone could talk to Him, one need only to strive to live as a good person (formats already set into society). In some cultures, such as the ancient Germanic, contact with deity was left to the King, Godhi, or other member of the higher class. I find it interesting because one of the things that is drawing people back to pagan practice is a desire to find personal relationship with the gods. It’s rather cyclic. And, and interesting constant for what is behind the unrest that causes the rise of a religion. It is certain that the world was broadly pagan prior to about 1700 years ago. Monotheism only existed in small sects, primarily in the Middle East. I’m not a scholar on Judaic

PAGES 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | next

Not a Member Yet?