Read Along: To Walk A Pagan Path (Ch. 6)

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alaric albertsson, paganism, read along, to walk a pagan path

Welcome back to the totally-not-on-schedule Read Along of To Walk a Pagan Path by Albert Albertsson…  If you’d like a refresher (or a first look) at the rest of the posts, catch up here with Chapter 1 (part 1), Chapter 1 (part 2), Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 5 (I’m still skipping Chapter 4 for now).  But for today, we’ll visit Chapter 6, entitled “Bark and Branch”.

Whether due to  longevity or size, trees are often accorded a status higher than other botanical species. “Save a tree” is the environmental battle cry. You are unlikely to hear anyone saying “save a dandelion,” even though dandelions provide food for honey bees, discourage army worms and help break up hardened soil. Dandilions and most other plants just do not command the same degree of respect that we have for trees.

Admittedly it takes longer to replace a tree than a dandelion but our arboreal veneration arises from a deeper, spiritual association that we have with trees that is often reflected in Pagan myths and folklore.

~To Walk a Pagan Path by Albert Albertsson (Ch 6, p. 145)

Whether one venerates nature for its literal attributes, sees it as part of a broader Divinity in a pantheistic sense, or whether one truly believes in individual nature spirits (as does the author of this book), it would logically follow that  “to senselessly pollute or destroy these wild places is no less an offense than vandalizing a neighbor’s house.”  Even so, many a Pagan (in my experience, more so among hard polytheists and reconstructionist crowds) denies that their religion is nature-centered, earth-based, environmentalist, or even concerned with their local ecology.  And I’m sorry, but I think this attitude is nothing short of bullshit.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I think that as Pagans, we have the duty to…examine our privilege and its accompanying consumption habits (as individuals and in our communities), and to make conscious decisions about the resources we use and the waste we create.   If we don’t do at least that, how can we claim to either be revering the Earth itself or celebrating the cycles of the Earth?  How can we claim to be paying homage to the Spirits of a place we’ve treated like a dump?  How can we claim to honor the Spirit of the Bear or the Fox or the Turtle, etc  when we are destroying the habitat and poisoning the young of bears and foxes and turtles?  How can we claim to be respecting our ancestors when we fail to preserve a legacy for our children? How do we claim to be worshiping gods that represent the forces of this world, our world, if we aren’t respecting that world?

Quite simply, we can’t.

…though that isn’t really the point of this chapter…

Embedded in all of our cultures are customs of our natural reverence.  Albertsson addresses the importance of specific trees to a variety of Paganisms:

• Oak, ash, hawthorn, yew, and birch are all described in the Old English Rune Poem
• The oak tree, in particular, has a strong place in the memory of England, with a number of historically significant, named oaks
• Hawthorns are both believed to be protective and to bring ill fortune according to English folk customs while rowan trees (aka the mountain ash) is thought to be protective
• Norse and Germanic Paganisms contain the idea of the World Tree (Yggdrasil), which connects various planes of existence
• Maypole dances celebrate spring, fertility, etc–in some places this custom is still quite strong, and quite secular, as a child my elementary school held a Maypole dance as they’d been doing since the school was built in early 1900’s (my hometown had a huge German population that mostly renounced their German identity in the shadow of WWI, but they kept this custom)
• In Greek mythology, Athena created the olive tree to become the patron of the city-state that would become Athens
• and more…*

Albertsson goes on to discuss other ways that we can bring trees into our own practice, starting with the Yule Tree which many of us, including my family, likely already include in our winter holiday celebrations.  He then expands on the idea of the Yule tree to also including a midsummer tree–rather than bringing the tree indoors, adopting an outdoor tree to decorate with natural decorations (cut fruit, birdseed pinecones, etc).  Our family does something like this, but we do it for Imbolc; either way, as Albertsson writes “children love decorating a midsummer tree but it is fun for adults as well!”  Albertsson also says, “the summer solstice is opposite to the Yule season so it makes sense to decorate a midsummer tree that is the opposite to the Yule Tree”  and advocates using a deciduous tree rather than an evergreen one.

Albertsson also addresses the idea of planting your own urban orchard, with some practical advice on selecting dwarf varieties of trees that are easier to pick from and better fit most people’s yards, and a ritual for planting and blessing a new tree.  I love the idea of introducing edible trees to the yard–obviously, you need to know about where you live and what your yard and your climate can support (and you need to match that with something your family is willing to eat for the entire growing season).  While growing edible trees is mostly a requirement for people with yards, there are a few that, given the right climate, can be grown in pots.  Right now, I have a dwarf Meyer lemon tree, a dwarf yaupon holly, a key lime, a eucalyptus, and a tea plant in pots on my patio, with plans for a clementine, an arbequina olive, an avocado, and a pecan tree…none of them are even close to harvestable yet, but they are doing quite well in their containers off my balcony (and once we give up apartment living, should do well in our future yard).

Albertsson finishes up the chapter with the idea of adding a tree to the altar where he talks about his use of a bonsai to represent the World Tree (including his many failures in growing one initially):

Many Pagans today like to keep symbols representing a tree on the altars.  This is especially true for some druids, and for Pagans following a Saxon or Norse path for whom the symbol represents the World Tree.  The symbol can be almost anything, such as a painting or perhaps an iron or an aluminum sculpture.  But what could you place on your altar that better represents a tree than…a tree?

And really, who can argue with that?

 

*And speaking of more, there are a number of pretty decent books about trees out there, in terms of natural history, folklore, etc.  I recommend these in particular:  The Meaning of Trees: Botany, History, Healing, Lore by Fred Hageneder, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben, and Whispers from the Woods: The Lore & Magic of Trees by Sandra Kynes

Connecting with Spirit: Part III

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aspects of the self, chakras, connecting with spirit, druidry, Feri, Jung, paganism, Self, self-centric paganism, shadow, talking self, to walk a pagan path

Connecting Within the Self

I don’t mean this in the pejorative sense of ego-centrism, and for that reason I have capitalized the word “Self”, by which I mean something which transcends the ego and even the individual. This analogy may be helpful: as the Vedantic Brahman is to the Atman, so the Self is to the ego. “Self” can be a misleading term, but I think it is actually appropriate for that reason, because the danger of Self-centered spiritual practice is always that it will become ego-centered. (My own spiritual path partially overlaps with this kind of Paganism.) Self-centered Paganism includes Jungian Neopaganism, many forms of Wicca and feminist witchcraft, and more ceremonial or esoteric forms of Paganism. The Pagan identity of Self-centered Pagans is defined by spiritual practices which aim at development of the individual, spiritually or psychologically. Paganism is, for some Self-centered Pagans, a form of therapy or self-help. Authenticity is determined by one’s relationship with one’s Self, with that larger sense of Self which extends beyond the boundaries of one’s ego and one’s individual person. To put it another way, Pagan authenticity for this group is measured in terms of personal growth, whether that growth be toward psychological wholeness or ecstatic union with a divine “One”.
~John Halstead Three (or more?) Centers of Paganism @ The Allergic Pagan

Lets just get the first problem with a Self-centered Paganism out of the way.  Its the name, right?  Makes you think selfish, egocentric, arrogant, asshole by default?  Maybe its just me, but from now on, I think I’ll go with calling it Self-centric…  Now what about problem two–wtf do we mean by “Self” in this context anyhow?   Probably one of the more prolific Pagan bloggers on this subject (particularly with regard to the influence of Jung) is John Halstead, so I’m going to be defaulting to his explanation of what “the Self” *is* with regard to Self-centric Paganism.

Here, I’m going to talk about Self-centric Paganism as I practice it; as a sort of In-scape or Innerworld work that strives to make connections with what I see as the various aspects of (my) Self.  These aspects are eclectic–some of the ideas are Jungian, some are Jungian-ish, and there are influences from the three aspects of the soul in the Feri tradition, and from chakra work.  I work with (my) Self in 7 aspects; certainly it could be divided into many more (or less), or the aspects could be viewed differently, with different names and characteristics.  This is just my personal preference, as the most useful way I’ve found to work with the different facets of my personality, as well as to help the kiddos work through different issues of their own.  But regardless of what aspects of your Self you chose, the important thing to remember is that these aspects aren’t something you have, its something you are.

1.  Connecting with your Wild Child.  In the Feri tradition, what I call the Wild Child is fairly analogous to the fetch.  Your inner Wild Child is child-like, from a sensory perspective, but more adult in his/her interests.  S/he craves sensations and a little bit of mayhem–dance, play in the mud, play with play dough, swing on a swing, stomp in puddles…but (like a child) still needs structure and discipline.  The Wild Child is the part ourselves that is the most connected with nature and the Earth and, I would argue, the most embracing of its magic.  If you are into chakra work, this part of yourself is most strongly connected with the root chakra; it craves security AND freedom.  For some of us, our Wild Child may be overly repressed, and needs to be let out; for others it may be overly loud and need some reigning in.

2.  Connecting with your Wounded Self.  Almost no one escapes life without scars, physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, or all of the above.  We all carry wounds somewhere on our soul, some of which have healed well, some that have healed poorly, some that have become infected, and some that remain open and gaping.  When we connect with our Wounded Self, we become our own healer and identify those wounds, how they were made, and how we can facilitate their healing in a way that minimizes the impact of their scars on our daily lives.  It is connected with the sacral chakra, for those that do chakra work.  The wounded self, IMO, is also where our conscience starts–if something hurts you, you know it will hurt another; someone with a well-developed Wounded Self (and well-developed does not mean oft injured) generally has a strong sense of empathy, and therefore, a strong sense of right and wrong.  The kids call this their Jiminy Cricket.

3.  Connecting with your Shadow.  Our shadow is generally a part of ourselves that we don’t like and try to bury.  Basically, its the flip side or the hidden side of the Talking Self.  In the interest of parsing words, I recommend another of John’s posts on the Shadow Self.   By connecting with our Shadow Self, we can come to terms with (and maybe even honor) those parts of our-self that we spend too much time denying.  I have a hard time dealing with anger, because it was an emotion that I learned to repress very early on in life for fear of getting hit by my father…anger tends to leak from me in the form of sarcasm, or occasionally explode in a burst of temper because (and I’m certain I’m not alone here) I never learned to deal with it in a healthy way as a child, and was made to feel ashamed of being angry.  As a parent, part of my shadow work is acknowledging my anger, accepting it, and finding a safe place to express it (because all parents know kids know how and when to push our buttons for maximum impact).  For anyone doing chakra work, the Shadow can be connected with via the solar plexus chakra.

4.  Connecting with your Mirrored-Self.  The Ancient Greeks had six words for love.  You are likely familiar with 5 of them, but its the sixth that is pertinent here–Philautia, or love of the self (something best done in moderation).  The Mirrored-Self is connected to both our social identity and our self-identity.  When we are well connected with our Mirrored-Self, we are able to let go of how we think others view us (which is generally the source of bias for how we see ourselves) and seek an objective self (an unblemished mirror) that is worthy of philautia (but not so much that we become narcissistic).  Connecting with our Mirrored-Self is about acknowledging our flaws (because we are all flawed human beings) and both seeking to overcome or rectify them AND to forgive ourselves for having them or falling short on getting rid of them.  For those that do chakra work, the Mirrored-Self is in the realm of the heart chakra, because you can’t truly love another flawed human being, unless you accept and love yourself.

5.  Connecting with your Talking Self.  Jung would call this the Ego, but I prefer the Feri term for it… Realistically, most of us are nearly always connected to our Talking Self, so when I say “connecting” with it, I’m not suggesting we need to find it, but rather that we need to acknowledge it and define its edges so that we can release it for a while and move beyond it.   Talking Self falls under the aegis of the throat chakra.  The Shadow is a sublimated aspect of the Talking Self and often shows up in unexpected ways when dealing with Talker.  When dealing with Talking Self, we first need to know the limitations of him/her:

Talker is the part you are used to thinking of as yourself. It’s your social self, the one you present to the world. Talker’s favorite tool is language, because that’s how we social-animal hominids evolved to connect with one another. Talker has its own magic, to do with glamorie and storytelling, but often the more rigid and less charming aspects of it tend to take over. Since it is by necessity focused outward and towards other people, Talker is also the most prone to being pulled out of whack.

~from “Align Your Souls (Feri part 6)” by Sara Amis via Pantheon @ Patheos

6.  Connecting with your Judging Self.  Because I love watching Star Trek (but not enough to go to conventions), I like to call this my Inner Vulcan, because I tend to have a strong empirical streak.  This is the aspect of our-self that is the most concerned with what we value, and is connected to the pineal chakra.  It is the part of our-self that is capable of being reasonable and rational, sometimes even to the point of being unreasonable and irrational (pretty much like most of the Vulcans during the entire Enterprise series).  It is also the part of our-self that can choose to reject the rational, in favor of the intuitive, sometimes to the point of denying reality and being flighty.  When our Judging Self is balanced, we are able to look at both objective and subjective realities and value both as important to the human condition.  Our Judging Self and our Wounded Self are in flux together, one feeding the other in a sort of feedback loop.

7.  Connecting to your Expansive Self.  In the Feri tradition, this is known as the God-self or Deep Self (its also called this in the Reclaiming tradition).   Another way that one can think of this aspect of our-self is as part of the Anima Mundi, or as part of a Universal Consciousness.  Our Expansive self is connected to the Crown Chakra.  This is the part of us that can connect with divinity, in what ever form we conceive of it, and connection to our Expansive Self is highly personalized and dependent on the ways that we perceive sacredness and communicate with what we see as the Divine.  Our Expansive Self is sort of the flip side of a coin with Wild Child, and to some degree, we are working to keep them in a state of equilibrium.

Methods for Connection

We can connect with these different aspects of the Self in a variety of ways, such as through meditation and visualization (guided or otherwise), through direct worship–via prayer or offerings, and from mundane activities that honor the qualities and preferences of the various aspects.  By extablishing a religious relationship with the Self, we are engaging in worship of the Divine-within, an important source of connection and power.

Common Pagna shrine-work often focuses on the Three Kindreds, on honoring the gods of one’s house, one’s ancestors the spirits of one’s land.  All of these things are important for practical magic, but it is also important for magicians to take up the cult of the Inner Divine.  We know that within us is the very Fire of the Druids, the true Holy Well.  The very powers by which the Gods make and nourish the world are ours to use, according to our strength, wisdom, and skill.

This power–this Divine in Us–is worthy of our worship.  It is our own magic…by which we work our will in the world.

~Ian Corrigan, Sacred Fire, Holy Well: A Druid’s Grimoire

One of the most basic ways I connect with these aspects of (my) Self is through a modified chakra meditation.  Using chakra imagery, I sort of “check in” which the different aspects of (my) Self–are they balanced, are they operating optimally, are they being fulfilled, and (most importantly) are they working together?  Usually the answer is yes…while I do have to fight a tendency to live inside my head more than is healthy, along with a bit of a habit of procrastination, some issues with repressing anger that I need to work on, and I constantly feel like I need to prove myself to myself, I think over all, I’m fairly operational and balanced.  But sometimes the answer is no–maybe work stress or parenting stress is getting to me, maybe I’ve been sick, maybe I’ve had to push off too much work around the house to play chauffeur for the minions while the hubby is out of town–regardless of the reason, sometimes one aspect or another gets overworked or neglected and they all get out of whack.

I am not of the opinion that these aspects are subpersonalities, but rather that they are different lenses through which we see the world.  For example, I’m a mom and a wife–what I do and value as mother for my children and our relationship isn’t necessarily the same as what I do and value as a wife to my husband and our relationship (just as what he does and values as a father for our children and as a husband to me isn’t necessarily the same).  When the roles are related and the goals are similar, there is bound to be overlap…but when they have less in common (for example, my role as a member of the military often was at odds with my role as a wife and mother), there is less overlap and occasional conflict.  The aspects of (my) Self, are more like being a mom and a wife and a veteran and a scientist, etc., than the personalities The Three Faces of Eve.  I deal with “conflict” between these aspects in a variety of ways…most commonly by reengaging (generally in mundane ways) with that aspect, or sometimes through meditation or ritual.  I also occasionally engage with them through creative visualization as if they were separate entities, but I’m fairly sure this is not a good idea for everyone to try…I know a number of people whose level of discernment combined with an activity like this would lead to trouble.

Because I also think these are sort of Universal archetypes (though not in the traditional sense) that can be seen on personal, family, community, and societal levels, and even on the level of humanity as a whole, as well as having deities that are representative of these archetypes (there are several trickster-type gods with strong Wild Child and Shadow tendencies in particular), I don’t feel out of place honoring the Divine-within through actual worship, mostly in the form of prayer, but also in offerings.  While I’m fairly sure this system isn’t quite what Ian Corrigan had in mind when he talked about our Inner Fire being worthy of worship, I find that it works for me, not as a means to increase my magical power, but as a means to foster a greater balance and connection to a Universal consciousness and to Earth Herself.

Ultimately, this is just one Self-centric Paganism.  Other Paganisms often have a Self-centric aspect, even if they are not explicitly so–Druidry (see Ian Corrigan’s book for an example, if you have Kindle Unlimited, you can check it out), Wicca, a number of witchcraft traditions, etc.  Others might be explicitly Self-centric–atheistic Pagans, Satanists (theistic or non) that choose to self-identify with the Pagan community , and practitioners of certain forms of magic or witchcraft.  Additionally, something to consider when one is approaching Divinity from a Self-centric perspective is that while a connection with the Self is certainly be an authentic Pagan experience, there is a danger of dipping into little-s, self-centered Paganism* (or perhaps ego-centric Paganism is a better moniker?).  But done well, Self-centric Paganism is one more way that we can connect with spirit as Pagans trying to walk a Pagan path in the day-to-day.

*Actually, I would argue that all four of the centers of Paganism have their own “dark side”–community-centered Pagansim and folkishness, deity-centered Paganism and zealotry, Earth/nature-centered Paganism and a sort of anti-humanist nihilism, and the aforementioned ego-tripping.

Connecting with Spirit: Part II

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4 centers of paganism, bioregionalism, earth-based relgion, genus loci, landspirits, nature, nature spirits, paganism

When you need to pray, go down to the sea.  Breathe with the rhythm of the waves. Become the sun, the surf, the sand.  And when you no longer know one from the other, let your hopes, your fears, your dreams, your very soul become one with the world, with the universe.

Don’t worry, when you are finished you will find your way back to yourself.  You will have cleansed the stain of civilization from your soul to one again embrace your true self.  And you will know that you can come back anytime, you are only a small thought away from god.

If you lack a handy nearby ocean, don’t worry.  You can do this anywhere…just shut off your computer or put down your book, open your front door and go outside (shoes are optional, but generally not recommended).

Connecting with Nature—

Earth-centered Paganism would include those Paganisms concerned primarily with ecology, those more local forms of Paganism that I would call “backyard Paganism” or are sometimes called “dirt worship”, and many forms of (neo-)animism which view humans as non-privileged part of an interconnected more-than-human community of beings. The Pagan identity of earth-centered Pagans is defined by their relationship to their natural environment. Authenticity for these Pagans is defined by one’s ability to connect with the more-than-human world.
~John Halstead, Three (or more?) Centers of Paganism @ The Allergic Pagan

Nature Centered Pagans find the Divine in Nature – their primary concern is the natural world and our relationship with it. You may hear terms like “Earth centered” “tree hugger” and “dirt worshipper.”

This may be a non-theistic practice, though not necessarily so. It includes Animism, the idea that whatever animates you and me and the birds and bees also animates the wind and rain and even the mountains.
~John Beckett, The Four Centers of Paganism @ Under the Ancient Oaks

My “Connection with Spirit” is primarily a connection with nature.  Yes (as mentioned in the last post), I worship deities, but do so in relation to their relationship to the natural world. My connection with nature is specifically a relationship with my bioregion (but not an animistic one), the Chesapeake Bay watershed. I worship personified natural forces as a way of worshiping Nature Herself (through the Nereids). Land is steeped in sacredness, whether one sees these as individual spirits (what one might call land wights, or nature spirits) or part of a greater (almost pantheistic) spirit is (IMO) beside the point. It has been my experience that the land doesn’t care about what you call it, it cares that you have heard its call (and it doesn’t care whether you believe that call is literal or figurative).

A Nature or Earth centered Pagan may work with only one of these aspects–spirits, nature, and Nature; a naturalistic Pagan might work with nature, an animist might work with their local bioregion, a pantheistic Pagan with Nature Herself, etc. Or a Nature-centered Pagan may work in the area where Nature and the gods overlap (if we think of this as a Venn diagram), or with all three aspects. Either way, the focus for most Nature centered Pagans generally seems to be building a relationship between the various aspects of nature and one’s self. This may mean building a relationship with one’s local land spirits, incorporating service and/or activism as a sign of reverence (which can be as simple as picking up trash at the local park), or creating a tradition unique to yourself and your bioregion. For me, it includes all of the above, as well as things like being ecologically thoughtful about my offerings, being a conscious and responsbile consumer, and striving to teach all of these things to my children.

I found it surprising that Albertsson didn’t address nature worship much as part of “connecting with spirit”, as he comes from an ADF background (though I suppose one could argue that he does address various ways to do so in the rest of the book).  ADF considers nature part of the Three Kindred–gods, nature, and ancestors.  The ADF Dedicant Path though the Wheel of the Year (a book that can be used to help complete ADF’s Dedicant Path) explains Nature awareness as having three facets–awareness of the physical and material existence of nature, an awareness of the spirits of Nature, and the awareness of the Earth as a sort of Mother deity (akin to what I call “Nature, Herself”).   One of the activities incalls upon its new members to find a place near enough to their home that they can visit it at least weekly for at least an hour, and to observe and experience that place with their entire being for the entire year of their Dedicant Path work.

I’m a big fan of the “find a place in nature and exhalt in spending time there regularly” practice as the most effective way to connect with nature. Too bad there isn’t a simpler word for that idea the English lanugage–after all, the Norwegians have the word friluftsliv and the Japanese have the term shinrin yoku, both of which come close…  The myriad of physical benefits from spending time in Nature–decreased stress, improves memory and attention (especially for persons with ADHD), an increased sense of vitality, and a strengthened immune system (to name a few) should have Pagans (of all sorts) lining up to go outside on a regular basis.  Physical reasons for going outside and spending time in nature aside, Paganism is ultimately a religion steeped in the idea of gods that are of this world–gods that are imminent and accessible, that are the forces and features of this existence.

If we truly believe this, whether we do so literally or figuratively, I would hope our worship would include getting to know those forces and features beyond the personality said to represent them. Spend an hour in nature (at least) each week. Learn about your bioregion, your ecosystem, your backyard.  You don’t have to do anything crazy or go anywhere fancy, though activities (like flying a kite to get to know your local Air or planting a native garden to attract your local animal spirits) can absolutely be a part of this process.  Pick up a field guide or two, go on a plant walk with your local Native Plant society, volunteer for a bird count with your local Audobon, pick up trash at the park where you walk your dog.  Talk to your garden, sleep in your woods, swim at your beach.  And do them all with reverence. But no matter what you choose do, let your feet greet the earth and get to know your bit of land, in both the mundane sense and the spiritual sense.

Once you’ve gotten to know your bioregion, make an offering to it or to an aspect of it that you are interested in working with, or to a particular spirit of your region, or to a deity or entity that you feel is representative of your bioregion at large or a particular aspect of it.  Whichever one of these options you choose (or which ever one chooses you) is, in my experience, largely unimportant–it is my experience that the land doesn’t care what you call it or how you relate to it (provided it is in keeping with its features and forces), it “cares” that you are called.  Beyond that, the process of getting to know a landspirit can be much the same as the process in getting to know any other deity.    I would also hope (and here’s where I will take great effort to stay off my soapbox as to not get off topic) that if our spirituality includes the idea of these forces and features as sacred that our everyday actions would reflect that concept of sacredness…particularly once we get to know them.

Thalassa’s Recommended Reading for the Nature-Centered Pagan:

*The Wakeful World: Animism, Mind, and the Self in Nature by Emma Restall Orr
*Biophilia by Christopher Marley
*My “bioregional awareness” post, as well as a post on bioregional witchcraft, and another on spiritual bioregionalism
*The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-Than-Human World and Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology by David Abram
*Bless the Waters Thrice: Making Environmentally Sustainable Offerings, What Will Druidry Look Like on Mars?, and Talking About Anthropocentrism in Modern Paganism (blog posts by Alison Leigh Lilly)
*The Song of the Land: Bioregional Animism, Land Guardianship, and How to Create a Genius Loci Profile (blog posts by Sarah Anne Lawless)
*The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert
*The Sacred Depths of Nature by Ursula Goodenough
*The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature by David George Haskell
*A Pagan at Donner’s Pass, The Collapse of the West and the Future of the Human Species, and (blog posts by John Beckett @ Under the Ancient Oaks)
*Keeping a Nature Journal: Discover a Whole New Way of Seeing the World Around You by Clare Walker Leslie
*Deconstructing Local Mythologies, Only Connect, and Lost Watercourses and Resacredization (blog posts on Gods and Radicals)
*How Earth-Centered is Neo-Paganism Really? (blog post by John Halstead @ Humanistic Paganism)
*The World in One Cubic Foot: A Portrait of Biodiversity by David Liittschwager
*Depth Ecology (an essay by David Abram)
*A Natural History of the Senses and The Human Age: The World Shaped by Us by Diane Ackerman
*The Meaning of Human Existence, The Social Conquest of Earth, The Future of Life, On Human Nature, Biophilia, The Diversity of Life, and Conscience: The Unity of Knowledge, all by E. O. Wilson

randomly connecting things I’m reading

Tags

four centers of paganism, multifaith, paganism, religion, religious differences

A (long) while back, I started reading a book called Shaman, Sorcerers, and Saints: A Prehistory of Religion by Brian Hayden.  I never got to finish it because it was a library book, and it was when we were in transition between Virginia to Illinois and back again, but it interestingly divided religions into two basic types–the so-called “book” religions and traditional religions.  This is by no means the actual point of the book…it was just a few pages from the introductory chapter before progressing to a discussion of the different ways to study the development of religions, but I think there were a number of ideas that the author expresses that I think are useful to consider as a contemporary Pagan

Hayden asserts that religions can (at their very most general and basic level) be divided into two main types–traditional (usually indigenous) religions (experiential and usually passed on orally) and formal “book” religions (religions that have texts or scripture describing the nature of divinity, the supernatural, and morality).  He states that traditional indigenous religions have been shaped by two main factors–ecology and (what I would describe as) “the something that makes us human” which is (specifically, according to the author) “an innate emotional foundation”.  The latter allows for us to have “the ability to enter into ecstatic states via a number of techniques and to create strong, emotionally binding relationships with other people (or institutions or ideals) associated with those states”.  The former “modifies the context of this innate emotional factors in terms of economic conditions or small group political relationships”.  And he goes on to distinguish and differentiate traditional religions from “book religions” in eight main differences (to which there will, of course, be exceptions):

1. World view—In most book religions, sacredness/divinity is something that is separate and often distant from material existence.  In most traditional religions sacredness/divinity is imminent (though possible dormant) and can be accessed through the technology of religion (rituals, special items, etc).  And if you notice, the differences in the following seven points pretty much all stem from this one thing.
2. Sacredness of food and dance–I would describe this one more as “sacredness of the physical”, though the author is specifically talking about how food and drink, and music and dance are used as a link between man and gods/spirits in traditional religions, vs book religions that considered these actions and experiences to be profane indulgences.
3. Ecstatic experiences–As the author puts it, “In most traditional religions, entering into ecstatic states is the religious experience.  It is a direct connection with the sacred forces of the universe and is therefore promoted as desirable.”  In book religions, not so much; if they aren’t outright shunned, they are kept as something separate and/or limited.
4. Participation–Traditional religions are generally speaking more inclusive and allow for the participation of most aspects of the religion for a “broad segment of the community” (through altered states of consciousness).  In book religions, accessing the divine is generally a more spectator sport (if it happens at all) during rituals (usually performed entirely by clergy on behalf of followers).
5. Life Attitude–In book religions, existence is generally seen as bad/evil/suffering/etc that can only be escaped (generally not until the afterlife), vs traditional religions which generally tend towards celebratory ritual that fosters connections between individuals and their environment (or aspect of the environment).
6. Goals and morality–Traditional religions tend not to be moral systems while book religions tend to proclaim a moral system geared towards ensuring a lack of sin or state of purity.
7. Central Mysteries–According to the author, central mysteries in book religions generally “revolve around the actions of deities” and/or “moral aspects of the universe”vs. the central tendency of traditional religions’ central mysteries to be centered around life and living: “where it comes from, where it goes, what affects it, and how it is transformed and continuous from year to year and generation to generation”
8. Exclusivity–“Because book religions are ethical systems, usually based on the teachings of key historical figures such as Mohammed, Christ, or Buddha, book religions tend to consider other belief systems as not fully ethical and valid. Generally they are intolerant of other belief systems even when they do not actively campaign to eliminate them.  Therefore, book religions transcend ethnic groups and tend to become imperialistic.  In contrast, traditional religions easily accept other religions as being equally valid and are tolerance of beliefs in other deities.”

I’m not mentioning these differences to criticize the so-called book religions, but to point out that (while there is still variability) some of the commonalities between many contemporary Pagan traditions, which tend to resemble traditional religions more than they resemble the “book religions” (I’m not terribly fond of this term, but it works I suppose). While arguing over defining Paganism is a popular (though thankfully seasonal and seemingly out of season at the moment) spectator sport in the Pagan blogosphere, the predominant theme between most contemporary Pagan religions (as far as I can tell) echo these above-listed differences from book religions between.  When I’ve taken a wide-angled, multi-faith look at Pagan traditions, for the most part, these commonalities of traditional religions (and of contemporary Paganisms) can be summed up or distilled as 1) Practice is Experiential, 2) Divinity is Plural, and 3) the Material is Sacred (for full disclosure, I staunchly favor a polythetic definition of Paganism).  Which brings me to where our differences (at their most basic level can be found…

And I think the best summation of these differences, if one uses that same wide-angled, multi-faith look, can be found in the idea of there being multiple “centers” of Paganism (AFAK, John Halstead at The Allergic Pagan is one of the first people to write about this idea in this way, followed up by John Beckett at Under the Ancient Oaks, both of which are Patheos blogs). The first, Nature/Earth Centered Paganism, which is “concerned primarily with ecology, those more local forms of Paganism that I would call “backyard Paganism” or are sometimes called “dirt worship”, and many forms of (neo-)animism which view humans as non-privileged part of an interconnected more-than-human community of beings” (per John Halstead). The second, Deity Centered Paganism, which “is mainly concerned with forming and maintaining relationships with the Gods, ancestors, and spirits” (per John Beckett).  The third, Self Centered Paganism isn’t actually self-centered (I’ve taken to calling it Self-centric), but rather centered around the development of the self and “defined by spiritual practices which aim at development of the individual, spiritually or psychologically” (per John Halstead).  The fourth, Community Centered Paganism is “about maintaining harmonious relationships” where we are “secondary to the family, and immortality is in the continuation of the family, not in the continuation of the individual” (per John Beckett).

Practically speaking, most Pagans that I have encountered seem to identify with more than just one of these centers (and religion, IMO, is about the relationships we find in those centers, whether it is between one another or ourselves and the gods or ourselves and our ancestors or our relationship with the world around us).  Some of us identify with all of them through out our path, either at different times on our journey or in different aspects of our path.  Some traditions do this as well–ADF specifically recognizes and addresses the spirits of the land, the ancestors, and deities and leaves decision of which center to focus on up to the practitioner.  Another book I’m fond of, by an ADF Saxon Pagan (To Walk a Pagan Path by Alaric Albertsson, which I’ve been blogging about) talkabout connecting with spirit in reference to these three things (he leaves out the Self), whereas I find that connection with spirit occurs in all four centers as well (or maybe where they all intersect, if we think of them in terms of being a Venn diagram), and I think this is an important distinction when talking about how we individually and collectively connect with spirit (a topic for another day), rather than dismissing one another as being *not my Paganism*.

Read Along: To Walk a Pagan Path (Ch 1, part 2)

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alaric albertsson, book review, connecting with spirit, paganism, read along, sacred space, to walk a pagan path

Welcome back to discussing the second part of the first chapter of To Walk a Pagan Path: Practical Spirituality for Every Day by Alaric Albertsson (Book stats: 275 pages (10 chapters), published by Llwellen in 2014). Last time, I talked about my impressions of the first few pages and the idea of a dedication rite. This time, we are actually getting to the seven steps mentioned in the title! Please keep in mind this isn’t really a review, but rather a summary and commentary. Also, I’ve found that one or two of these topics are likely going to become topics on their own for future posts, so this post doesn’t become its own book!

1. Connecting with Spirit–Albertsson’s first step is to find your connection with the Divine (which is probably one of the best first steps one could suggest in how to live your religion). He offers some practical advice on finding which gods to worship, on finding a pantheon or mythology* that appeals to you, perhaps because you’ve been “called”, or perhaps based upon your heritage, or perhaps just because you’ve done some reading and picked something that interested you. He then suggests picking a god to make an offering to as the start to building a relationship, and describes the process of making an offering in a clear and easy to understand way. Like many polytheists that have chosen a specific pantheon to work with, he is fairly dismissive of eclectic Pagans (more on this shortly). And finally, almost as an afterthought, he brings up the subject of connecting to spirits in other ways–ancestor spirits and land/nature spirits.

If I have any complaint throughout this book, it is that Albertsson (understandably, mind you) has a bias towards tradition-specific polytheism (because, you know, that’s his path). As a result, his discussion of non-traditional contemporary Paganisms and eclecticism are underwhelming at best and in some places, more than a tad presumptuous (if I’m feeling uncharitable) and naively stereotypical (if I’m feeling more kindly)–“there are many Pagans today who take a more scattered, eclectic approach to connecting with Spirit, leaping from one pantheon to another, collecting “patron” deities as if they were Hummel figures.” (p 17). While it didn’t lessen the value of most of the advice in the book over all, I did find it to be an unhelpful distraction at times. I bring this up because I feel that it is important to recognize that one can absolutely have a worthwhile polytheism that is eclectic in nature (although I also recognize that there are practitioners that live down to the negative stereotype that is often levied at eclectics), also because I think that his discussion of connecting with spirit could have done a better job with ancestor spirits and land/nature spirits, and it certainly leaves out suggestions for non-theist Pagans. I strongly feel that the book would have been better served with a thoughtful look at eclectic Paganisms and a more in-depth look at non-deity centered Paganisms (something that I plan to blog about as its own topic).

2. Creating Sacred Space–After finding one’s connection with Spirit, Albertsson recommends that “your next action should be to establish a place where you can maintain and continue to build that connection” so that “there is some place in your home that is sacred and set aside for your gods” (p 19) (and/or presumably for your ancestors or nature spirits). He suggests that one’s sacred space (for devotion is an altar and that one’s altar should reflect the culture of the deities of worship–“the sacred space you reserve for your gods should be a space where they can rest comfortably” (p 19) before turning to the practical concerns of space itself and how “out” one is as a Pagan, the benefits of outdoor altar space, and of altars dedicated to one’s ancestors**.

I strongly agree with Albertsson’s assertation that establishing sacred space is of paramount importance in a Pagan practice, though my own take on things is a bit different. First of all, I view all space as sacred…we don’t create sacred space, we just acknowledge our own belongingness (to invent a work) to a particular space (which is already sacred). Functionally, it’s about introducing ourselves to the land–in a land-based practice, you don’t pick the gods you worship, the land does (and they won’t always be from a single pantheon). Secondly, I don’t see an altar as essential to sacred space and I differentiate between altars and shrines in my own practice. An altar is a place for working–for rituals, for magic, for crafting, also for mundane work…it’s a workspace that acts as a conduit (for lack of a better word) between us and outside energies. Shrines, on the other hand, “house” the essence of the object of our reverence…a shrine (IMO) is the place for offerings, for devotional prayers and meditation, etc. Additionally, I feel the former can easily be moved or stored and taken out when needed (a travel altar, for example), but the latter is something that should be established in a semi-permanent location where it doesn’t need to be moved or taken down. Third, in my practice, because is is rooted in the land first, rather than being centered around deities, acknowledging a belonging to the bioregion and introducing yourself to a particular location is how you find your connection to spirit, so this step 2 is really my step 1.

3. Creating Sacred Time–“If you do nothing with your altar, it is not truly an altar it is merely a table or shelf holding an incense burner, a couple of candles, and perhaps two or three interesting statues. The activities that take place at that table of shelf–the reverence, the offerings, and the meditation–are what give meaning to your sacred space.” ^{(p 23)} Yes! Paganism is a religion based in praxis; without practicing, all you have is a shelf of dust collectors. In this section, Albertsson talks about the fact that life happens, and the importance of consistency. Because, as he says, there is always going to be something happening that will let us feel justified in putting it off until the next day. His recommendations include setting aside a specific time for doing this. Practically speaking, that might be during a certain event of your day after you wake up or while you wait for your morning coffee to percolate, or it might be at a specific time each day (in my experience, setting your alarm for this is a good idea). Whether its 5 minutes or 15 or 50 isn’t as important as consistency. And it doesn’t have to be every day–maybe it’s just once or twice a week. Albertsson’s advice (and I concur) is to pick the smallest time commitment that you can reasonably stick with…if you can’t stick with it, then it’s not reasonable for your lifestyle. His last advice here regards the interruptions that life brings to even the best laid plans, “When something like this happens, attend to the problem but make your sacred time the next highest priority. If you put it off any longer than necessary, you diminish its worth.”^{(p 26)}

4. Sacralize Daily Activities–Albertsson’s fourth step is to “integrate our spirituality with the rest of our lives” as our spirits are “sustained by the mindful actions you take to sacralize your daily activities” ^{(p 27)}. He explains his tradition’s “Hal Sidu”, or “holistic tradition” (I call this “artem vitae”, which is Google Latin for “art of living” and my summer sister*** calls it “nuanaarpoq” which is an Inuit word that means something akin to “taking extravagant pleasure in being alive”) as an integration of our spirituality into the everyday of our lives. I won’t spend too much time here, since his third chapter is pretty much dedicated to this idea, except to say that this sacralization might be while you do dishes or take a shower or when you drink your first cup of tea (whether you are interested in Wicca or not, Diane Sylvan’s Circle of One has some great ideas on this topic). Or maybe it’s mindful eating and before meal prayers, or meditation while swimming laps or while running each morning–you name it. As Albertsson says, “Any worthwhile pursuit can be a sacred act.” ^{(p 29)} As I put it, let every action or our bodies be a prayer of our soul.

5. Observe Regular Húsles –Perhaps this would be better titled “Observe regular rites” or “Observe regular Offerings”… According to Albertsson, a húsle (sometimes called a faining) is his tradition’s “formal offering usually given to a specific spirit” ^{(p 29)}.  With that being said, what Albertsson is really calling for here (as opposed to a regular schedule of making offerings) is a ritual practice that is “more formal that a person’s ordinary devotionals” that “recur at specific times” and often are “observed with a group rather than one’s self” ^{(p 30)}.  Some examples of this from other traditions, include blots or esbats, or any other regularly religious observation–what he isn’t talking about are actual holy days (that’s #5 on his list).

If I were to call out any of the 7 steps as perhaps less important (or maybe even unimportant) for some individual paths, this would probably be one I’d single out. I think that whether or not regular formalized religious rites are useful to you will first depend on your personal connection with spirit.  If one has a mostly (or entirely) solitary practice or a practice that isn’t deity-centered, perhaps a weekly or daily devotional practice in combination with seasonal observances is enough for one’s needs.  From personal experience and observation, I also know that this depends on the conditions in one’s life–not every community has a Pagan community, not every Pagan community has fellow members of one’s own tradition or welcoming to one’s own tradition, and not every Pagan community is accessible or amenable to one’s personal needs.****

6. Observe Holy Tides–The next step is a set of seasonal observances that recognizes the significance of the passage of time throughout the year.  Albertsson mentions a number of possibilities here–following the contemporary Pagan Wheel of the Year, whether in the Wiccan form or some other adapted way, or to celebrate an annual calendar from another culture.  As he puts it, “The important thing is not what calendar you follow, but that you consistently observe the hold tides–the holidays of that calendar.  By doing so you touch the earth, attuning yourself to the seasonal change occurring around you.” ^{(p 32)} I’m not going to spend too much time discussing this step now, since it’s the very next chapter!

7. Find Your Folk–“Humans, however, are social, tribal creatures, and the overwhelming majority of us are happier when we can share our life  experiences with others… Our celebrations, whether secular or spiritual, are more fulfilling when we are joined with others of like mind”^{(p 32-33)}.  Albertsson takes some time in this next step to talk about the benefit of having some sort of non-solitary practice, whether its is a single family or a formal group–support, advice, assistance, fellowship, and friendship, to name a few.  He also offers some practical advice in finding the “right people to enter into such a relationship with” , from the practical–compatibility of beliefs and membership expectations, to the precautionary–that active recruitment of new members can be an indication of something not being on the level.  This last step is another that might not be up everyone’s alley, for a number of reasons (many of which overlap with the reasons from step 5).  For those where a local community doesn’t mesh with their own practice or beliefs, online communities may be an option worth looking into.  While the worship aspect would be difficult, the community aspect–advice, support, assistance, and friendship is not.

Extra Thoughts:
*I have a wee complaint here, on the author’s “dislike (of) the word mythology because of its secondary definition meaning “something untrue”^{(p 14)}, as I have a very broad understanding of mythos which is comfortable with the idea that myths are “untrue” (if by untrue one means not factual). As its a disagreement on semantics, I figured I’d keep it out of the main body of discussion.

**Albertsson takes a “not necessarily limited to your biological lineage” ^{(p 22)} approach to ancestors, which I like (= have issues with the bloodline idea of ancestry.

***My BFF since high school and I have long called ourselves summer sisters from our decade of summer canoe and camping trips together, before we’ve had to become long-distance BFFs.

****This might be a physical need such sign language interpretation for Deaf Pagans at Pagan rituals, or it might be a lifestyle need, like child care for Pagan parents that would like to participate–while I can’t personally comment of the former, I’ve long been a follower of Deaf Pagan Crossroads, and know that this (and other) barriers exist for many Pagans…but on the latter, I can definitely comment that Hubby and I often felt unwelcome once we had (mobile) children (if I couldn’t leave them at home) at the very events that we had faithfully attended when it was just the two of us. Many Pagan groups and events that I have encountered don’t have adequate support for families, particular when the kids are between the toddler and early elementary ages.