Songs for a Pagan Heart

My Pagan Heart

I have a Pagan heart. It’s just me, I don’t expect anyone else to see life, the universe and everything the same way that I do. I do not expect others to look at the stars and see what I see or walk through a forest and feel what I feel and I certainly do not write to try and convert anyone. I have become convinced that each one of us is exactly where we need to be at this moment. Every one of us has a unique view of existence, even those who profess the same religious views have their very own personal relationship with the Divine, however they conceive the Divine to be. Even those who completely reject a supernatural force have distinct reasons and motivations for their views.  The only suffering I have seen is when a person, through family or peer pressure, has found themselves in a faith system where they do not belong.
All of that is a long and roundabout way of saying that I’m not trying to convert or proselytize, I just want to present a list of songs that touch my Pagan heart.

The Hills they are Hollow

This is one of my favorite songs from Damh the Bard and this video is the best visual expression of the song I have ever seen. The song gets to the very core of the Pagan experience. We have very little in the way of written evidence of what the ancients considered sacred. However we do have tales. Myths and legends that tell of worlds and peoples beyond the mundane while the stones and trees hold secrets that are waiting for us if only we would stop to look and listen. Are the hills hollow? Do the Fae dance on midsummer’s eve? Many years ago I learned that it is wise not to judge what you do not know. I have met those who claimed to have danced in the fairy ring. Were they making it up or were they delusional? I don’t know but I keep an open mind and am willing to entertain the possibility that it could be true.

The Witch Song by Bonnie Lockhardt

 

The Witch Song

Witches are wise women. It seems plausible that the first healers would be midwives and that these would be women. The rural communities of the Celtic past had women with knowledge of plants and herbs, they knew the potions that would heal the body and they understood how the scents from certain flowers could calm the soul. Watching the waxing and waning cycle of the moon they felt the fertility cycle of their own bodies and their wisdom aided humanity in its struggle to survive and thrive.

Then there arrived the advent of a religion that said God is a man and there is no Goddess. The Priesthood was for men only and it was a woman that led the first man astray. The witches were called “Workers of wickedness.” Those who were prosecuted for witchcraft were burned or drowned and the Divine Feminine was driven from our lives.

The witches could never disappear forever and today they are back. As the song says; “There’s a little witch in every woman.”

The Goddess

Throughout time and in all places the Goddess is known by many names. One of my favorite Pagan groups is Emerald Rose; here they are with a lively invocation to the Goddess. There are many other names for the Divine Feminine used by different people in different places and for different occasions. There has been so much emphasis on God as male over the centuries that for many it comes as a surprise to find that there is a place in our heart for the Goddess. Just as here on the mortal realm there is male and female, in the realm of the Gods there is male and female also. As above, so below.

The Seven Gifts of Druidry

The Druids

The people of North West Europe were divided into many tribes but they were bound together by a Priesthood known in Welsh as Derwyddion, in English, the Druids. Little is known of them in written form, only what Roman historians have passed down to us. The Romans were biased, writing about the leaders of the people they were at war with so it can hardly be impartial. It would be difficult for anyone today to call themselves “Druid” in the classical sense. Then they were a respected class, set apart from the tribes and serving as Judges and lawmakers as well as spiritual guides. However it is possible to re-create the spiritual path they followed. It is possible by looking carefully and seeking wisdom from old legend and even from the stones around us to see what they saw and hear what they heard.

This is another song by Damh the Bard. I include it, not just for the song but for the video, made by the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids presenting the seven gifts of Druidry.

Heavenly Kingdom

The Heavenly Kingdom is not something waiting for us after we die. It is not an ethereal place that only those who believe can experience. The Heavenly Kingdom is here, it is now and it is inside each one of us. All we have to do is reach in and there it is. There is inexpressible beauty in everyone. Sometimes it is lost and for some it is buried so deep that it may never reach the surface in this life. It is there, and the most atrocious of criminals, the evil persons who do unspeakable deeds, even those have within them a spark of Heaven. The passing of that flame diminishes us all.

Those who see this world as a hell have never seen the sunrise from a mountaintop, have never drank from a clear mountain stream and have never felt a part of the wonder and miracle that is the Earth, our mother and our home.

The Heavenly Kingdom is within us and around us. Stop, Look, Listen, here it is.

The Pagan Path
The seasons of the Earth turn and the circle of life moves on. All I can do is watch and wonder and be glad that I am here on this beautiful world. These are some of the songs and images that touch this old pagan’s heart. They are not presented to change anyone’s faith. The pagan path is not one we choose. Yes, there are some who step on this path out of curiosity or rebellion and there are some who enter for less than honorable reasons. These do not last long and are soon known for what they truly are. The Pagan path, in some mystical way, chooses us and those who walk it see neither a straight and narrow way nor a wide and smooth road. Instead we walk a long and winding road that leads to the Summerlands and every turn in that road leaves us with a sense of wonder.

Many Bright Blessings.

Pagan Spirituality

The word “Spirituality” often crops up in discussion amongst Pagans. It’s an interesting concept, Pagan spirituality can almost seem like a contradiction in terms to the individual outside the Pagan realm; references to Magic and occult ceremonies, an assertion that the divine feminine loves all beings and that eternity is not judged by this life alone. In fact Pagans tend to resist the whole concept of a “Day of Judgment” Referring instead to laws of cause and effect; the three fold law or versions of Karma. The rewards or punishments of actions will be received either in this life or in another incarnation. That, in itself, presents a rather different concept. To the Pagan community, there is no permanent Hell. When you have sufficiently made recompense for your actions you may move on. This is best illustrated by the following story;

“Once there was a Priest whose duty was to prepare Goats for sacrifice. One day as he was commencing his duties the Goat he was preparing began to laugh, a very human laugh. Startled, the Priest asked ‘Why are you laughing?’ The Goat replied ‘For five hundred years I have been born as a goat to be sacrificed, born and reborn for the same fate but this time, when I am sacrificed I will be reborn as a man’ The Priest congratulated the Goat and said he was happy it would be so. Just then he saw a tear in the Goat’s eyes. ‘Why the tears?’ Asked the priest. ‘Because’ replied the Goat ‘five hundred years ago I was a Priest who sacrificed Goats’

The question that is then asked, and it is a fair question from the religion point of view, is that if there is no immediate judgment and everything will balance out in the by and by, what is the incentive for being spiritual?

Another apparent contradiction to Pagan Spirituality also raises itself. Pagans often speak of using Magic to manifest desire; Pagans frequently find themselves defending gay marriage and group arrangements. There is Sex Magic, The Great Rite and men and women jointly performing rituals naked, or “Sky Clad” as it is often called. This manifestation of Earthly desire and the glorifying of the body appear to the outside as the very opposite of spirituality. These questions bring us to the very foundation of what makes the Pagan, the Magical People, different.

Religions see a duality of Body and Spirit, Religions see them as separate entities and insist that the Body with all its earthly desire must be controlled and subordinated. The Pagan sees no such duality. To the Magical People there is no duality in that sense. We are one person and honoring our body and the body of another is a spiritual practice. The phrase often heard in Witches Coven and Druid Grove alike is;

“We are not bodies having a spiritual experience. We are spirits having an earthly experience.”

Once this concept is fully grasped then the questions of birth, death and re-birth are easily answered. The fulfilling of the Mortal experience is the aim along with a realization that such an experience must be done carefully, thoughtfully and with attention to the ripples it may cause. “Do as you will but harm none” is still the best counsel though the application is not as easy as it may sound. Pagan Spirituality is not about controlling or abandoning the desires of the body, Pagan Spirituality is about recognizing the whole person. Completely existing in this incarnation and living life to the full.

Have a wonderful and Magical life my Brothers and Sisters. All that this World has to offer is yours. Do not be distracted by the poverty of mind or the poverty of circumstance that many find themselves in. The Magic and the Blessings of the Gods are yours in abundance, you just have to learn how to claim your birthright.

Your birthright and your joy and the honoring of all that you are lie in the Love of the Earth and the Love that the Goddess has for you.  This is Pagan Spirituality.

Non eclectic me

I occasionally attend pagan rituals in my area around Los Angeles County. Not as often as I should, indeed it’s not as often as I want to. The main problem for me is that rituals and retreats etc. take place on weekends. My career choice involves weekend work so I am effectively excluded from most rituals and celebrations. The cares of the mundane world hold me back and work gets in the way of life. That may well be the subject of another post but, for now; I want to write about the Pagan rituals I have attended here in this part of America.

Frequently before the ceremony begins, the participants are smudged. Drums are played to a Native American beat. In discussion with Americans who are seeking out the ancient path I hear talk of “Karma” and of “Chakras” These things and more make me uneasy and it took me a while to figure out why.

I am Welsh, nothing but Welsh as far back as I know. Most people in America are a mixture of many things. I have become convinced that it is this mixture of cultural heritages that make Americans in particular, more at ease with a mix and match of ritual and doctrine than I can be comfortable with.

I am an old Welsh Druid and that is it, simple and straightforward. I don’t go along with Karma but I understand cause and effect. I have a view of my physical body and its relationship to the spiritual energies that has nothing to do with “Chakra” These concepts are part of the spirituality of India. Valuable and worth knowing about, just not a part of my way or my views on Life the Universe and Everything.

I have a number of Native American friends, my wife is Apache Nation. From time to time we attend drumming circles and I always enjoy the Pow-Wow trail when we can get on it. Nevertheless there has been so much taken from the native peoples I feel that if I were to take an active part I would be just another European moving in on their land again. So I get uncomfortable when, at a Druid ritual, I am smudged. I can accept the gift gratefully when done at a Native ritual but in a European Pagan context it doesn’t sit well. I have come to realize that this is because my life, my heritage and my cultural roots all revolve around a distinctly Brythonic culture. For those who see themselves as new to this long and winding road we call the Pagan path it seems natural to explore various “Traditions” and include them in practice. For me personally, mix and match does not work.

Ceridwen and blind Morda

I was in a group discussion the other day when the question of Ceridwen arose. People had a number of questions about the story. Not surprising really, It is one of the most profound of the old Welsh legends. It tells of the birth of Taliesin, the greatest of the ancient Welsh poets or Bards.  The legend has it that an old blind man, Morda is his name is set to stir the cauldron of Awen. To make sure it doesn’t boil over. Morda falls asleep and three drops of the precious liquid fall on the thumb of a little boy.

 Just so we don’t get lost in translation; the boy’s name is Gwion Bach, literally “Little innocent” The old man is Morda, “Sea Father” Ceridwen is a lot trickier. The oldest manuscripts write her name as Keridvan or in modern Welsh spelling Ceridfan. “Fan” means place Cerid could be “loving” or it could mean “Crooked” or “Bent.” This would seem to reference the crescent moon. There is a deep study here and we have by no means uncovered all of the secret lessons hidden in this legend.

The part of the story that had almost all of my friends questioning was in regard to the action of Ceridwen. When she discovers that the Awen was taken by the young boy, the legend states that she beat Morda until his eye fell out. In Pagan groups Ceridwen is viewed as a Goddess. In fact there is ample evidence from legends and other sources to convince us all that she has always been a Goddess, so what is this passage all about? How could this be the behavior of a Goddess? I had to remind my friends of an important part of the story. Morda was blind. She was beating out the eye of a blind man. So what good was the eye to him? There are meanings within meanings inside these old tales. We are lulled into thinking that blind means “Not-seeing” Instead we should ask; “What was he blind to?” If we think of this part of the story as Morda losing that which prevented him from seeing clearly, then we realize that Morda also went through a transformation gifted by the grace of the Lady. It all revolves around a question that everyone in my group thought they had the answer to. The question of; what was in the Cauldron? What was it that Morda was stirring for a year and a day?

Almost everyone thinks it was the Cauldron of Inspiration. It is not.

The Axioms of Magic

Something I’ve been thinking about for quite some time is; how do we define Magic?  When the question is asked on an individual basis it is usually phrased “How do you define Magic?” The question is phrased that way because within the Pagan community there is a strong tradition that truth is not necessarily absolute, your truth is not necessarily my truth. I sense that this is more rebellion than tradition. A determination that those who honor the Old Gods will not set an absolute doctrine of “My way or Eternal Hell” as Abrahamic religions are fond of saying.

 There is no evidence of a “Holy War” among Pre-Christian inhabitants of North-West Europe. There were different names for the same God and quite naturally so: The God of a river would be viewed, and named, differently by those who lived near the lake at its source, those who lived near the rapids and those who dwelt by the estuary. Nevertheless there is no evidence of strife, no insistence that this is the God’s name and nature. It seems that each area had its own “Folk Ways” that were accepted by the visitor and the settler. The way in which the modern Pagan movement emulates this is warming and comforting to the modern settler and wanderer in the spiritual communities.

That’s all well and good, but what about the Magic? Some will say that Magic is simply science that hasn’t been understood yet. The problem with that is that science tends towards the absolute and absolute means that one Magic must be everyone’s Magic. The argument that “Your Magic may not be my Magic” Raises the thorny question of “Then what good is it?” If it is only Magic for you, then how can it affect me or any other being? Without universal truth Magic becomes self- serving, growing, or diminishing the practitioner, having no effect in the World and leading to the assertion that Magic fails.

I’ve been wondering for some time if there could be a set of axioms, along the line of Euclid’s axioms that are common to all sciences that could be common to all Magics. So I’m starting a series here on my Blog all about the axioms of magic.

My next post will talk about the first axiom.

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