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Reviews & Articles, The Humonculous

Modern Paganism: Consciously Forgetting the Past?

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Recently, I was involved in a discussion in a pagan group about the ambiguous nature of how modern pagans identify themselves, and their, seemingly, complete disinterest in their historic roots or traditions. Specifically, modern “Druids” and those who claim Celtic Paganism, but practice a naturalistic or animistic path and make no mind or matter of the Celtic Pantheon. And though, unfortunately, the person who started this discussion, that brewed into an all out protest, turned out to be entirely misguided, arrogant and disrespectful, I couldn’t help but identify with the sentiments of his original posting.

It is no secret that I often feel alienated from the greater pagan community. Just today I read a poll about online pagan connections vs. real life interactions, and it is a sad realization that I have neither of these. I communicate plenty, but no more than an exchange of a certain topic, and then we both (or however many are involved) move on with our lives. I don’t actually have any Pagan friends or associates.

Too many times, I do not fit inside the neat little package of whatever is expected, and so I smile, and move on leaving those connections undone, and it is, for the most part, because of the Modern Pagan ideology. It can be seen all over the online pagan community, from places like The Wild Hunt, Witches & Pagans, and even sadly the Order of Bards Ovates and Druids – druidry, in its essence, has been boiled down to nothing more than a nature based spiritualism, and speaks nothing of the true nature of the practice.

Druidry, itself, began as an Irish practice, the word Druid itself  derivative from the irish word druí. The art and practice of the druid, of course, spread and could be found all over the celtic worlds – but where are these roots in the modern practice? There is no mention, whatsoever, of its Irish heritage, or any celtic influence whatsoever. They completely ignore the religious side of the practice, removing celtic spirituality, and relate it to nothing more than arts, creativity and a oneness with nature. All of which are well and good in their own rites, but where are the deities? Where is the pantheon? Where is the Leabhar Gabhala, the Mabinogi?

Even if one does not associate themselves as a Druid specifically, the same notion can be seen all over modern “celtic” paganism – which has become practically indiscriminate from Wicca. I see so many practicing “Celts” name praise to a Roman or even Hindu Goddess, raise up Egyptian iconology, invoke the strength of Viking, Shamanistic or even Native American spirits and deities, and yet keep a strangely absent figure of the pinnacle deities of the Tuatha De Danann – or even Danu herself, and the convenient lack of ANY God or male figure whatsoever, save in a few remarks in a highly sexualized consort, making any figure out to be a supplicant and lesser to the Goddess figure, not the equal that balanced the coupling that was so important – not only in a matter of divinity, but as an entire concept – to the celts as a cultural whole.

More than once I have come across those who do not know the tales of the Tuatha de Danann, let alone know the significance they hold to the nature of magic and spiritualism, as well as the arts and sciences in the mythos and canon. Too often I have come across those who have never read the Mabinogion, do not know the difference between Irish or Welsh. Where is the education? Where is the pride in your culture? Where is the faith? How can you call yourself a Celt, but know nothing of their culture and abandon their practices?

Have we reached a turning page in Neo-Paganism where we simply reinvent and redefine instead of making the effort to connect, and learn from our ancestors and our past? Do we really take such freedoms for granted, and take such free-reign liberties and entitlements with our faith that we feel we can just make up whatever we want?

It is a sad, and hurtful thought for someone like me who lives and breathes her Irish blood. Who is so closely connected to those deities of the past, and whose culture defines and shapes her everyday life. Where are we to fall, in this new-wave paganism? Where we do not fit in the past era of reconstructionism, but do neither do we frolic freely with culture appropriations of new-age spirituality. And what future do our ancestral roots hope to gain when they are so easily abandoned and ignored?

 

The Humonculous

I didn’t realize how much it would bother me…

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My son came home talking about god, and the pit of my stomach turned with bitter indignation.

Wow.
I didn’t realize I was so angry.

But I was so angry.
It came as a slap in the face – how horrible, how prejudice, how hypocritical I was being. I tried to remember how I felt when others around me tried to push their own ideas onto me. I didn’t want to be that person, I don’t want to be that person, and up to this point I have worked hard to not be that person. But my subconscious kept crawling up the back of my spine, screaming profanities at me, and insisting this wasn’t the same. But how is it not?

It’s not. I was angry, and after a very gut-wrenching night of virtually no sleep, I can clearly explain why it is not the same now.

Those who know me personally know that I am very proudly, strongly, and happen to be extremely religiously pagan – a traditional brand of Irish Druidry to be specific. My husband was, for a time, very much so rastafarian, but it died in the fact that he is very against religion – not necessarily faith, but religion as this organized monster. He’s also a bit of a conspiracy addict with a vein of paranoid anti-social hermitism. So, needless to say, we are not the overtly religious household, no matter which path it manifests itself, because, again, those who know me also know I am very subtly pagan outwardly in the regular, everyday, face-face world; Not because I am ashamed or because I shy away from the combative nature of others when they find out (my Irish blooded Gemini self relishes in quite the opposite, but I’m working on that…) but because that is how I feel all religious beliefs should be: personal. Because my son is not necessarily in a position to make a personal decision or connection with any one religion, it is just not a subject of discussion or direct influence or teaching in our household. My beliefs are my beliefs, I do not need to push them on anyone else. My son can make up his mind when he is olde enough to decide whatever he wants to believe in.

That is why it was different. That is why it bothered me so much and made be so bitter and angry with things I cannot control. Christianity in and of itself does not bother me; I have tons of Christian friends of just about every sect and variety, even my own husband – afterall, Rastafarianism is a form of Christianity itself, and I married him! It was not a matter of me trying to push my own beliefs onto my son, but the fact that others were doing that very thing.

I have tried so hard to raise him in a nuetral environment, and yet it is still happening. I am angry that the world I have worked hard to create for him is being violated. I feel like my lifestyle and my parenting is being violated. I am angry that my son thinks he believes in something, simply because he doesn’t know any better or any different.

They are children. They are naive, they are innocent, they are reliant on an entire universe of adults to teach them what is right and true in the world. When you tell them something, they take it as fact, because their entire lives have been trained that what adults tell you is true, and they know everything. They don’t know any better. They do not understand the concept of higher powers, divine interventions or spirituality – they are still trying to figure out their own selves, they are still trying to figure out how this world works, let alone a metaphysical one. You tell them 2+2=4, they learn it to be fact, you tell them the Sun rises in the east and sets in the west, it is fact. You teach them about everything in life, and it is fact, it is only assumed that if you then teach them about god, it is also fact. There is no differentiating. He does not know that is not fact. He does not know he has a choice. And that is what makes me angry.

It makes me angry that I cannot protect my son from those who would keep him from thinking for himself – and in order to correct that, in order to show him he does have a choice in whatever he wants to believe in, I will have to go against everything I’ve tried to uphold until this point. I will have to break our neautral household, and start teaching him other faiths.
Which is not a horrible thing, of course, but that too makes me angry. Once again, my life has been dictated by others.
Everything which I didn’t want him to have to experience.

The Humonculous

I’m sick of sex in Paganism

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Let me shed some light into my spiritual life: I have never once danced naked under the full moon. I have never culminated a ritual with a sexual act. I haven’t endulged in nudist drum circles, or prayer rites. Sex is not the foundation of our religion. Why the fuck do modern pagans turn EVERYTHING into sex?

It has become blatantly obvious that I am, apparently, not the “typical” pagan. So, perhaps my opinion on the matter is not in good company, but I am sick of all the flaunting and glorifying of sex in Paganism, whoring around everywhere. And yes, I call it whoring, because that is exactly how it comes across. Extortion? Desperation? Using it for leverage? Everything you associate as being a negative aspect of sexuality – that is exactly what you are doing, and rationalizing it away as liberation, or becoming one with nature, or a oneness with self, or whatever else psycho BS you can pull out of your ass to try to make it seem like anything less than an orgy or the sake of religion.

Why does sex have to be such a big issue to “our kind”? It seems like so many aspects of Paganism these days is for shock value, or simply for the sake of being the anti-christian movement. Anti being opposite of, not opposed to in this context. Christians say sex is a sin, we’re here to tell you it’s a beauitful act of power and liberation! To Prove thats what it is, and we’re not ashamed, we’re all going to orgy it up right here in front of you!

I read a lot. I follow a lot of blogs. Though, ironically, I can’t seem to name you one single “pagan” author, save for the horrendous, like Silver Ravenwolf (one of my many damning qualities, according to my oh-so-welcoming community, I’m a “bad pagan” because I can’t appropriately name-drop MVPs….) But amongst all the snippets I collect and read through week to week, one thing blares blindingly clear. Without fail, every time some spiritual ritual is mentioned, sex and sexuality is a headlining topic.

The beautiful thing about nature-based religions, and all the many fascets of Pagan paths is the understanding of sexuality. Sex is natural, it is a regular part of life, and therefore should not be demonized in the slightest bit. But being a part of life doesn’t me ruling life. It does not need to be included in everything.

Do you have sex while doing the laundry? Are you masturbating while preparing breakfast? Do you jackoff your man / fist your lady while watching family feued? Does your gamertag include your O face? If yes, any sane individual anywhere would tell you you have a problem.
The reality is, NO. We don’t function like that. Sex is not a part of everything we do in life, so why on earth does it make sense to be a part of every aspect of our spiritual selves? Everything does not have to be a discussion on sex. Stop it.

I just read Sex and the Parliament of World Religions and it is a prime example. It both confuses and infuriates me.

“One commonality that stood out to me was our relationship to sex. While there were other faiths that honor sexuality as sacred, nowhere was it as explicit as in the Pagan community.”

Nowhere was it as explicit as in the Pagan community….
How does that line make you feel? Why is this something to be proud of? It makes me sad, and ashamed. We are the trashed party-girl of the Religious community. And we have somehow convinced ourselves, like every other party girl in history, that that is a good thing. It’s not. People only like us because we’re easy. We need to wake up and realize that.

And as I continued through this shameful article, and coming to the grand conclusion, I didn’t understand…What does sex have to do with ANY of this? It was completely unnecessary to her experience with the conference or community. Why must being happy in your own body have to be about sex? Why does a closeness with someone else have to equal to sex or sexuality? Why do you admit that most contact was not sexual in nature, but then forcibly bring the conversation straight back to sex? Why does ANY of this have to be about sex, why must we be EXPLICIT in our community instead of giving our bodies, the act itself, the way we view and represent ourselve, and even our ceremonies the respect and honour they deserve?

People get the wrong idea that in order to be ok with yourself or your sexuality that you must overtly flaunt it, that if you cover it up, then you must either be ashamed or oppressed -that that is just the radical extreme of the opposite end of the spectrum. Being respectful to your body, and your faith, does not mean defaming it, and not thinking about what you do or how you use it and just throw it blindly at anyone, or use it for any little opportunity is not respectful.

My next question is: Are you all that vapid and shallow?
Do you think you are being deep and moving by takling about sex all the time? What are you trying to accomplish? Do you think being a “feminist” means shoving your tits and pussy at everyone and making them deal with it? That’s not how it works. You are trying too hard. You are desperate.
A psychologist would tell you that folk who are this engulfed and vocal about sex have some severe insecurities, or trauma they are trying to work through – those who scream the loudest have the most to hide. Which is fine, if that is the case, but we are not your therapy.  There are real and true traditions, we are real people, will real faith, and real customs and spirituality and things that were once sacred that are being desecrated in falsehoods and misrepresentations. Being proud doesn’t have to mean making a mockery of us. And if you think sex is all there is to paganism, or even one of the biggest points of paganism, you’ve entirely missed the point.

 

The Humonculous

The Christmas Tree and the Dregs of Winter

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In the olde faiths, the Irish Celts (and much of their brethren) would light candles and lanterns and hang them in the trees to illuminate their path and spirits through the Dregs of Winter – the 12 darkest days of the year leading up to the Winter Solstice – And in memoriam, as a Vigil, to the spirits of the Earth that dwindled and died in the bleak Winter Months. 

The Solstice itself culminated the Dregs of Winter, and was celebrated not only because it marked their end, but also the return of the Light beginning the waxing of daylight hours towards the Summer Solstice. 

Because of this, the Solstice was celebrated with many rites, rituals, feasts and celebrations. They would light all the previous candles and lanterns lit through the dregs, in honour of the returning light – and would garland the trees with sweet treats, heady foods, and lush offerings to the Gods to bless them for the upcoming year, and to ensure the return of light, life, fertility to the lands and abundant harvests for the growing seasons that laid ahead, and the rebirth of the Land and Earth that had been slumbering through the season. 

They would do this as they believed the spirits of the Earth and the Gods lived in the Trees, and by placing the blessings and offerings in the trees, they would be handed directly to the Gods and Spirits of the Earth themselves. 

As time went by, and the New Faith spread across the lands, and crossed the Sea to the Isles, the faiths became mingled. As the Celts did not fear or resent change as many people do – they accepted it, and honoured it. They were very easily converted to the New Faith because of this acceptance to change, and their easy and willing natures to grow and evolve as Time and Earth ever does – but because they were also a people of great respect, pride and integrity – They never, completely, let go of their olde ways or beliefs, and continued to observe certain sacred traditions and rituals, integrating them together with their new Faith, growing and evolving them both into something new – something unified together. Just as is their nature, until eventually we forgot about the Yule tides of the Northmen and their relative Tribes, or the Festival of Lights of the Gauls and Galacians, or the Midwinter rites of the insular tribes of Celts, from Goidelic, Manx, Picts and Brythons. 

Until these were all blended together with the new reigning faith, and as their empire grew they adopted it and defined it as their own, and slowly over years and years of exaggeration with new tradition built ontop of new tradition it has grown into modern times – but nonetheless, we are all each tied to our distant past in a least expected way. 

Each time you decorate your christmas tree.