PBP 2014: Thinking about Grace

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2014pbp, bioregionalism, grace, pagan blog project

In the Christian tradition, grace is something that is given and received. If justice is getting what we deserve, and mercy is not getting the punishment deserved, then grace is an undeserved reward–like forgiveness, love, etc. The Christian god gives grace in the form of forgiveness and sanctification and Christians give grace in the form of reverence and worship (depending on the denomination, this may or may not be a tit for tat relationship).  I was raised in a tradition that taught that God’s grace was supposed to flow downhill (something I think a lot of Christians have lost sight of, unfortunately)–that divine favor is given by virtue of divine love, and that there is an implicit responsibility to share that favor with others, regardless of one’s bias as to their worthiness.

But divine grace is not unique to Christianity.  One might wonder, on a Pagan blog, why I would lead with a discussion of a Christian perspective–quite simply because many (I would even venture most) people have been exposed to the Christian context of the term.   Grace in and of itself is a multi-faceted word and an equally multifaceted idea.  It can mean everything from “to thank” to “to bestow favor” to esteem, good will, refinement, elegance or virtue.  As a Pagan, I embrace the idea of grace with some tweaking of the Christian perspective.

Were I a traditional sort of polytheist, I might reject the idea of grace (I have had conversation with people that take this position) on the basis that the gods do not interact with humanity in a way that dispenses undeserved rewards (I can certainly agree with the idea that the gods do not hand out divine salvation).  Or, I might accept the idea of grace in a manner similar to that of a Christian (and I have had conversation with people that take this position as well)–the gods do gift us (well, more specifically their followers) with things we do not deserve (fortune, good fortune, etc).  And, for both of these groups, we humans certainly give grace to our respective gods in the form of worship, reverence, and offerings.

But…I’m not a traditional sort of polytheist (one might argue I’m no kind of polytheist at all, though that seems to ebb and flow like the tide, and will surely be discussed again and again as my understanding of deity is constantly evolving), so it should come as no surprise that my idea of grace is a bit non-traditional.  We live in a state of grace.  That grace is bestowed upon us by virtue of the gods.  We are given undeserved gifts.  Incredibly undeserved gifts–water, earth, air, the sun, the moon, the rock, the tree, the sea gull, the dolphin, the bear, the bee, one another.  We do nothing to deserve these things–they are a gift (as is our very existence) of Nature.

And if grace is both given and received, we need to start doing a better job at giving some.  Reverence is not enough.  Worship is not enough.  Sacrifice is a good start, but still not enough.  I believe (to borrow some Sophocles) that if the gods help them that help themselves, then we have a duty to help those that cannot help themselves.  We who have been given the gift of (relatively) good health and (relatively) good fortune, can start by being the physical hands of the gods in doing the physical work that they cannot in this world.  In the context of a bioregional theology, that means doing the work of Rock and Tree and Ocean and Mankind for the rocks and the trees and the ocean and one another.

*Note–I once wrote a post about what Pagans could learn from Christians…some of these ideas and words are taken from that post*

This has been a blog post for the letter G for the Pagan Blog Project

PBP: Bioregional Witchery

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2014pbp, bioregionalism, pagan blog project, witchcraft

I tend to talk a lot around here about loving where you live…in fact, last year for the letter B, I had yet another post on that very subject (also for the letter P, the letter L, the letter F…heck, even some of the letters I *didn’t* get to were going to be on that subject!).  So, it should be of absolutely no surprise what-so-ever to my regular readers to greet this topic again.

A bit of a crash course (in case you declined to follow the links):

Bioregion: An area with similar natural characteristics, including plant and animal life, human culture, climate, and continuous geographic terrain.  Varies by scale, from a larger ecoregion (akin to a biome), to a very localized bioregion, depending on the features being considered–smaller bioregions nest into one another, and into larger ecoregions, and can overlap as well.

Bioregionalism:  Emphasizes the bioregion as the basis for a healthier co-existence between human culture and the natural environment and sees humanity and its culture as a part of nature, and calls upon people to build positive, sustainable relationships with their bioregion.

Spiritual Bioregionalism: Considers the bioregion, and its inhabitants (including people, past and present) as the originating inspiration for religious and spiritual beliefs.  Uses both the ideas of human cultures and ecology as the framework for a personal (though share-able) and organic religious tradition.  Is firmly rooted in the idea of “spirit of place” and celebrates the cycles of nature in relevance to individual bioregions, as well as those personally relevant in an individual’s culture.

Spiritual Bioregionalism (as I conceive it) is bound to a single idea–showing responsibility towards the environment and ALL of its inhabitants (including fellow humans) and respecting their capacity for self-determination.  It is centered in the notion that the bioregion can take the place of a central deity (without being a deity, unless you wanted it to be one), and be interacted with and celebrated using traditional human ideas of godhood.  This interaction may (or may not) include belief in gods–whether it be one god, shit tons of gods, or no gods at all, and whether the nature of belief in said gods is literal, symbolic, or non-existent, whether said gods are a historical or created pantheon (or are the natural features of the bioregion themselves).  Spiritual  Bioregionalism calls upon us to worship (or not) in any way that  brings  ecstasy  and  reverence  while  honoring  the cycles and stages of the bioregion and its inhabitants, and may or may not include the practice of magic (however one chooses to believe in it).

So, when it comes to being a witch, it may come as no surprise that one of my most sacred ideas is that “witchery starts where you live”.  It starts with rooting yourself where you live, and learning to love it–as an act of devotion.  It calls means  grounding yourself in the energies of your locus–your landbase, your bit’o’land, whatever you want to call it (and wherever it may be located–your backyard, a shady spot in a local park, a tree in a courtyard).  It calls upon is to make peace with the history of our locus–in this area of Virginia, that includes the displacement of the native people, two wars fought in this area specifically, and the bondage of thousands of human beings.  It includes reconciling the disparate origins and cultures (new, and old) of the people that share one’s locus–they (and the structures they have erected–buildings, statues, even parking lots and strip malls) are as much a part of its energy as plants and animals and rocks and things.

And speaking of rocks and trees and river otters and horseshoe crabs…  Part of bioregional witchery is knowing your own flora and fauna, and the distinctive energies and feel of your local species.  It is finding the place where you can forage for peppergrass (I just used my last bit up) and where the mulberry trees are (I’m running low on those too), knowing which tree on the drive in to work has the bald eagle nest and where the deer like to hang out in the early morning.  Its is knowing your land well enough to grok where to put that protection charm, or dispose of an old spell, or where to make an offering to…whom ever you are making an offering to.  Its knowing which plants are invasive to the native ecosystem and getting rid of them, even if they are pretty…and even if they have a “traditional” correspondence that is useful.  It is finding new correspondences using native species (ethically and legally sourced, of course) and using traditional correspondences obtained from local sources when possible–knowing where to shop is just as important as knowing where to forage!

Bioregional witchery is about making magic with the immediate energy of the world around you, and co-creating relationships with the entirety of one’s surroundings.

A post for the letter B, click here to check out more!

PBP: Ancestors and me

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#paganblogproject, 2014pbp, ancestor worship, ancestors, pagan blog project

As part of my practice, I don’t venerate my ancestors.  I know its a popular thing to do in various Pagan communities, but I’ve never felt compelled to do so myself.

Specifically, I do not “regard with reverential respect or with admiring deference” or “to honor (as an icon or a relic) with a ritual act of devotion” (source) the “person(s) from whom one is descended, especially if more remote than a grandparent; a forebear” (source).  I have a number of reasons for this, which I’ve found can be somewhat controversial, as people often take someone else’s rejection of something they find important to be personal (If you, fabulous reader, don’t agree with me, that is A-ok in my book!):

• I know diddly-squat about most of them. I have a big family.  When it comes to my more recent ancestors, there’s quite a few I’ve never even met and my family isn’t the type that sits around and tells stories about “back in the day”.  And then there’s the fact  that two World Wars and two more wars to follow them up can do a lot to scatter family, leading to permanent loss of contact.  I consider this to be perfectly fine, considering the next point.
• Some of them are assholes.   I personally know that some of my ancestors have been complete and total jerks.  I see no reason to celebrate their life.  I’m not alone in this either…  AFAIC, the fact that a total creeper did the deed and contributed some genetic material and/or some family dysfunction down the line is not incentive enough for reverence.
• Some of them would be offended by reverence. Lets face it, for at least the past millennium my ancestors have been Christian.  Statistically speaking, just by looking at the countries that my ancestors have come from, not only were they Christian, but they were pretty darn strict Christians.  I already know for sure that some of them, though they might be worthy of honoring, would be offended (if not downright horrified) by the practice…and I’d be willing to bet that’s the case for most of my ancestors over the past 1,000-1500 years.
• Some of them aren’t dead yet.  Hubby and I have some long-lived kin.  Really long lived.  8 decade minimum.  Until my great-grandmother passed away last summer, we had five generations of women in our family.
• They are just people.  Its a bit idealistic to think that one’s ancestors were all healers and bards and white knights…most of them were ordinary people, and some of them are likely all-around assholes.
• Who the heck are my ancestors anyhow?  I’m an ethnic mutt.  Between myself and the hubby, our family can count in their ancestry Irish, Scottish, English, German, Scandinavian, Native American and (according to some rumors) African.  I can’t even revere my ancestors in a general, cultural sort of way. Its also fairly common to in Pagan communities to see people who are drawn to the traditions of their ancestors…I see this as highly problematic as a mutt, and…well, as a student of biology, humans are all related anyhow.
• Genetics are only genotype-deep.  I think my biggest reservation about ancestor veneration is the idea of placing that much emphasis on a chemical.  DNA is just a portion of what makes us who we are, biologically-speaking; as a whole person, it is even less.

So, here is what I think about ancestry.  I don’t really care who contributed to my personal DNA or what they have done in the past.  Sure, I find it interesting (I like history, after all), but I don’t ordinarily find it spiritually significant.  Instead, I choose to honor those people that have meaningfully impacted my life, related or not. Not everyday, or as a regular part of my worship, but at times like Samhain, or Memorial Day.  I choose to honor humanity as a whole, because at the end of the day, for all our cultural and biological diversity, we are all related genetically, and in purpose (just trying to survive).

What matters to me is what I am doing with my life right now.  Humanity isn’t a chain, one generation linking to the next, it is a river, flowing and overlapping.  What matters to me is remembering the lessons of history and human kind that have impacted our lives in a general sense, and in a more specific and personal sense.  Sometimes those people are our relations.  Sometimes those people are friends.  Sometimes those are people that we’ve never even met.  Sometimes, they might even be fictional.

Yup, I’m going to try this again and see if I can actually make the end of the alphabet this time! I’m only doing one post per letter though…