Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 21:03:43 -0700 (PDT) From: Joy Williams Subject: as Dee said 8-( *whimper*. my essay ist kaput! part 1 To: cawpagan-l@netcom.com all rites reversed (just ask me if ya quote me!) 4th Circle, Second Ring Essay for Scionization My religious background; another religious background and NeoPaganism. This essay has been a hard one for me, because my religious background is so complex. I have investigated many religions and explored many paths, and will continue to do this. Like the diet of a Hummingbird, my religious background was characterized by many flowers of experience, each offering its own nectar. Some of these nectars have been sweet indeed, some rather bitter, but all have contributed in their diversity to bring me where I am today. As I stand in the warm fire of community of the Church of All Worlds, I am amazed at all of those experiences which have molded my philosophies, my spirit and my life. These experiences were not merely my encounters with "organized" religions, they were also the traveling I have done, the significant people I have met in my life, and the abiding adoration I have of the natural world which I have had since a young child. The experiences also include those "negative" learning experiences and the mystical. So just as "religio" means to"re-link" or "recconnect" my background on this path of discovery is the web of my life and as I write this I will be re-linking my experiences to understand the dynamic, evolving, complex being that I am. I feel that the concept of this essay is a good one, for rarely, in most religious are individuals invited to write about what they truly are and how they came to being there. Generic Protestantism and the military I was brought up on various military bases, so the chapels I attended had kind of generic Protestant services with somewhat fundamentalist and traditional leanings. They were primarily Baptist though sometimes Methodist, Lutheran or others. It quite honestly depended on which base that we went to. So I received quite a bland variety of Church. The theology that was taught was monotheistic, control and punishment oriented, couched in phrases such as "Jesus Loves you" to make the bitter pill of separating man from Earth and God a little more palatable. Sin was stressed....we were all "lowly sinners" in the various ministers' eyes. Since I was so young at most of these services, they really did not have a lasting effect on m religiously because I ended up attending a Presbyterian church when I was a young teenager that was much more liberal and open minded, as well as socially conscious. However, at a very early age I had a problem with the cosmology that was being taught to me at Sunday School. Our teacher was a fundamentalist Christian who insisted that the story of the Garden of Eden in Genesis was to be taken literally. My mother had taught me that it was a "nice story" but that that was all it was, and that it was created to give a primitive people an understanding of their creation and a history, but now science was showing that evolution was an integral part of the development of life on Earth. So, when the teachers started insisting that the story was literal, I challenged her on the concept of evolution, and repeated what my mother had said about the Garden of Eden being a "nice story for ignorant people." As you can well imagine, that didn't go down very well, and the teacher kicked me out of Sunday School for being "disruptive." It was one of my first real runcins with authority and it showed me at a tender age that the fundamentalist Christian mindset did not encourage free thought and inquiry, because it was a threat to the authoritarian structure that the Church was built upon, though at the age of six, I did not quite realize that at the time. The services in the military chapels revolved a lot around the concept of "original sin" and a fear of punishment. This was mainly the Baptist influence that seemed prevalent in most of the Chapels, and I suspect that this was done with the encouragement of the U.S. military to keep the troops in check even on the spiritual level, since the whole ideology of the military is based on obedience to the government through "respect"/fear of authority and punishment and through fear of ostracization and accusations of being "unpatriotic" if the rules are not obeyed. In this environment I learned that the fundamentalist Christian religion is a monotheistic religion, based on the writings of many men who were "spokesmen" for God/Yahweh. The concept of divinity that the Church had was that "HE" was transcendent and presided over the world from Heaven, carefully watching mankind's actions to see how often man broke Yahweh's rules. Man was inherently and originally sinful because of Eve's "sin" of eating the apple in the Garden of Eden, and his purpose in life was to attain a state of forgiveness and grace (which I interpret now to mean acceptance by God) so that he might have a chance to know God in Heaven after death. This could only be attained by believing that Jesus (Yeshua ben Miriam) died for man's sins and that Jesus was God's only begotten son and mankind's saviour. Jesus was the one intermediary between God and man who was truly compassionate and understanding and who preached a message basically of love and truth, but it seemed that the ministers in the Chapels only wanted to stress the fear of punishment and the doctrine of guilt and hold out the love message as the carrot to assuage the damaged consciences of the layity. Of course the stories I gravitated to at that age were the stories which were happy -- the birth of Jesus and the manger story, the story of Jesus calling the little children unto him and saying that one had to have the attitude of a child to enter the kingdom of heaven (which I still like, but understand in an entirely different way), the healing, acceptance and love of the "fallen" woman Mari of the Magdalene, the good Samaritan story, among others -- because these were the stories which were life-affirming and dealt with love and wonder of creation. My general impression of these services was one of confusion...on the one hand were the stories of love and acceptance from Jesus, and on the other were the stories of God's wrath and anger. The other thing that I could not deal with very well was the lack of interaction between clergy and congregation. The congregation just listened to the sermon and they were not encouraged to inquire or participate in discourse. I was always encouraged by my mother to ask questions if I did not understand something in school. At that point I did not realize that it was done this way purposefully to maintain the separation between the clergy and the congregation thus maintaining the concept that God was separate from man. As for women, since their Mother was the original sinner, it was especially crucial for them to follow the rules, not question the ministers, and to be "good wives and mothers." The concept of the feminine in the divine was not even entertained by these ministers. Nature, like the feminine in the divine, was not even incorporated as an integral part of the flow of life, except when the ministers referred to "man's dominion over nature" and to the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree for not producing fruit when he wanted it to. This I had problems with as well, because I felt a deep reverence for nature and hated pollution and degradation of the natural world. So I just rejected those stories as "stories for ignorant people." === Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 21:43:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Joy Williams Subject: my essay part 2 To: cawpagan-l@netcom.com Presbyterianism Fortunately, when I was a young teenager I started to attend the Presbyterian Church in Dale City, VA for quite awhile, and I learned a new brand of Christianity that based its ministry more on right action now than on a threat of punishment. Our minister was a very liberal and compassionate man, who tried to apply the stories of Jesus to events that were current and how his theology could apply to our lives now. The Presbyterian Church is an offshoot of Calvinism and was one of the founding Protestant religions of the U.S. It was first formed in 1557 by John Knox in Scotland, and first manifested in America in 1706 in Philadelphia. fn1 Leavey, Judith S. and A. Greenhall (eds.), A AConcise Columbia Encyclopedia, Columbia University Press, 1983, p. 688. The structure of the Church was one of the first Democratic systems in Protestantism and had a heavy influence on the development of the U.S. Government and the Constitution. Since the Presbyterian Church feels that education of its members is vital for all, they were one of the first institutions that promoted free education in America. This influenced the structure of our current educational system whose curriculum is not controlled by the Church. The concept of non-Sectarian schools strengthened the tenet of the separation of Church and State, weakening the control wielded by patriarchal/religious institutions in the West, and encouraging freedom of thought, expression, and philosophical exploration. "Presbyter" means "elder", and reflects the process of the congregation electing elders to attend to the spiritual side of the religion. Other temporal duties are attended to by similarily elected Deacons and Trustees. The national Church is structured in a democratic hierarchy or "courts" comprising first the congregation, then the Presbytery, then the Synod and finally the General Assembly. The congregation elects the Elders for the Church, the Elders elect representatives to the Presbytery >from their numbers and so on up the ladder of the Church. The Minister is called to the Church by the congregation, unlike other sects of Christianity who have their minister appointed to them by their hierarchy. This is critical to understanding the philosophy of the Church, because this system naturally attracts a much more opencminded and liberal group of people, who value the contribution of each member. In the Church I attended, we had a time period in each service where members were actively encouraged to contribute their ideas and questions to the Minister and the Congregation at large. This was a welcome change to the military Chapel services I had attended in the past! Since all people are regarded as equal in the Presbyterian Church, it was one of the very first churches to accept women as ministers in the Church. The story of Adam and Eve was regarded by the ministers as an etiological story and the "original sin" of Eve was mentioned, if at all, only in passing, and was not regarded as an indictment of the female gender. Currently, the number of women in the Seminaries is growing exponentially. The Presbyterian Church is also one of the leaders in more controversial subjects, such as accepting Gay people into the Clergy, though they have not yet resolved this debate. There has not been as yet a real strong realization of the feminine aspect of Divinity within Presbyterianism, however, one the interesting tenets of this religion is that Divinity is tripartite, consisting of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Though it may seem that this denies the feminine aspect of divinity (as well as being quite paradoxical to the concept of monotheism as a Christian doctrine), the Holy Spirit aspect reflects those qualities of the Goddess quite clearly, and it is this aspect which is focused on more than any other. The "Holy Spirit" is the spirit of compassion, nurturance, unconditional love, acceptance and transcendance and is that which reflects the more spiritual nature of the Church's teachings. Recently, some exciting things have been occuring within the context of the hymnals of the Church. Charlie Butler (phone conversation, June 13, 1993) shared with me the text of a new hymn whose words include: "Loving Spirit, Holy Spirit... Like a Mother you enfold me Hold my life within your own, Feed me with you very body, Form me of your Flesh and Blood. Like a Father you protect me, Teach me the discerning eye, Hoist me up upon your shoulders Let me see the world from high." In a recent telephone conversation with minister of the Church in Dale City, he told me that many of the Churches are "invoking" a Mother/Father God in their liturgy. This is an extremely encouraging sign in regards to the evolvement of the Church and reflects a developing tolerance for other faiths. The Presbyterian Church is also one of the leaders of Ecumenical interface with other religions, they are accepting as affiliate members Pagans and other people of varying paths. This may represent a key in reconnecting people to resolving the ills that plague society and the planet. One of the key tenets of the Presbyterian Church is the idea of predestination, which was originally conceptualized by the dour John Calvin. This is one of the most controversial elements in the Church and is extremely paradoxical to the concept of free will, which is also a tenet of Presbyterianism. Our minister did not really deal with this concept very well...he mentioned it in passing during the course on the history of the Church but did not dwell on it, and it was not a concept that I accepted. Other practices which characterize the Church include infant Baptism (to ensure salvation, because original sin is still a tenet) and communion. The Communion was held quarterly throughout the year and in typical Calvinist fashion used grape juice rather than wine. The main difference between Presbyterian Communion and other communion services is the concept that the bread and "wine" were literally the body and blood of Christ. Presbyterians reject that concept, probably because John Calvin regarded it as cannibalistic, and instead shares communion in "remembrance of the sacrifice Christ made for mankind." Of course, Presbyterianism has in common with other Christian faiths tenets such as transcendant divinity, the afterlife, the salvation concept, Jesus' divinity and resurrection, sin, and reward and punishment. These are areas which are also changing, little by little, as more tolerance of alternative ideas are being accepted. There also seems to be a growing awareness of environmental stewardship in the Church. My former minister told me that many in the Church are concerned about the fate of the Earth and that the sermons, the liturgy and the hymns are echoing this concern. Essentially the Presbyterian Church is evolving, unlike many other sects of Protestantism. I have great hope that they will continue to evolve positively in the next few years, and I feel that my involvement with that Church was not a negative thing, it was just not entirely everything that I needed, nor did it fulfill me in the same way that the CAW does. From owner-cawpagan-l@netcom.com Sun Jun 26 07:06:04 1994 Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 21:59:18 -0700 (PDT) From: Joy Williams Subject: my essay part 4 To: cawpagan-l@netcom.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-cawpagan-l@netcom.com Precedence: list Neo-Paganism To describe Neo-Paganism in a few paragraphs is somewhat daunting because of its incredible diversity and richness (to say nothing of the fact that this essay is being read by some of the people who were those visioinaries in the movement who got this whole thing rolling!) To say that all Neo-Pagans believe thus and so is also inaccurate because none of us agree on everything! Nevertheless there are certain similarities among many of our people in regards to practices and worldviews. Neo-Paganism means "new" Pagan. "Pagan" derives from "Paganus" which was a Latin word meaning "country dweller." (fn "The Truth About Neo-Paganism, Anodea Judith, CAW). More than just a religion in the common understanding of the word, it is a way of life which revives and recreates the tribal practices and traditions of ancient and indigenous peoples who derive their worship from the world around them. Neo-Pagans, like the ancient tribal cultures, integrate rituals that reflect the cycles of the Earth, combining them with play, art, dance, magick, trance and other forms of expression with those life-affirming paradigms found in the realms of science, transpersonal psychology and innovative thought. It is marked by its lack of dogma and common belief; instead it is a religion which celebrates and encourages great diversity in worship, and whose most notable goal is the self-actualization of the individual, society and the Earth Herself. To me, Neo-Paganism represents a shift away from the system of oppression and control which characterizes those religions and instituions whose orientations are patriarchal and authoritative, and whose focus and dogma center around sin, fear, and death. Neo-paganism is a life and love centered celebratory practice, and those who follow its path are joyously exploring their own evolvement. It is the hope for our species and the planet because its orientation is characterized by cooperation and empowerment of the indiviual, and its focus is on reconnection to the complex web of creation and Her continual, spiralling expression. Since it has as one of its main characteristics the understanding of the vast biodiversity throughout creation, Neo-Pagans' various rituals and traditions are remarkably diverse, inspired from the tribal religions of old Europe, to Native American shamanic paths, to Polynesian celebrations, and even to the creation of entirely new and personal rituals. It is as complex as the myriad people who follow it, so there is no one "way" of Neo-Paganism, and the people who practice it are generally very open to new experience...in fact, in the CAW this is actively encouraged, because "all acts of love and pleasure are Her rituals." (Charge of the Goddess, Doreen Valiente). There are certain traits that many Neo-Pagans share, however, and I will attempt to describe these commonalities. The Neo-Pagan ethical system is reflected in the Wiccan Rede "an ye harm none, do as thou wilt," the belief that the Earth and the universe are living organisms and the belief that divinity is immanent. For most Pagans, this means that one has the freedom to do whatever one wishes, as long as it harms nothing, including the self. This freedom entails a great deal of responsibility, for we must scrutinize all possible repurcussions of our actions. Many of us believe in a principle of kharma or cause and effect, that whatever we put forth returns to us (we are always at the center of the circle and the line of the circle always returns to the beginning), following a three-fold law. (Personally, I sometimes think that the return is ten-fold.) We do not conceptualize "sin", or "salvation," because we feel that the divinity is inherent within us, so there is nothing to be saved from, nor worry about being damned to. Therefore the mechanism of punishment, fear and guilt are almost foreign in regards to our ethical standards. Instead, we understand that everything is cyclical, so it is better for us to send out cycles of good energy then bad. The majority of Pagans believe in reincarnation, for various personal reasons. However, this is not something we dwell on very much. We live now, and the now is the important thing. Whatever happens in the after-life will happen, but we rejoice in the moment, because that is all we really know and have. Since divinity is inherent throughout nature, and since we are part of nature, it is in our best interests to ensure that nature is healthy and whole. Many of us are active environmentalists, who regard the protection of our Mother Earth part of our daily spiritual practice (to say nothing of survival!). CAW, more than most Neo-Pagan groups, exemplifies this reverence for the Earth and encourages active involvement in Her protection and restoration. Thus most of us compost, recycle, plant trees, write letters to our representatives, petition, and even occassionally chain ourselves to Redwoods. The Earth is a sacred being to us, our Mother, and most of us, feel a link with Her that is vital and tangible. Like many Native Americans, we feel that it is necessary to "walk our talk" and not be hypocritical, so activism is part of our unwritten creed. This eco-consciousness was one of the main attractions which drew me to the CAW, for protection and love of the Earth was already a part of my lifestyle, and I had been looking for a community which shared that consciousness. The Kabbala and some of the other magickal systems that I have investigated do not have this eco-awareness as an emphasis, and thus they failed to integrate all of those things which are important to my personal spirituality and growth. [more of this in the next part] From owner-cawpagan-l@netcom.com Sun Jun 26 07:09:53 1994 Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 21:54:19 -0700 (PDT) From: Joy Williams Subject: my essay part 3 To: cawpagan-l@netcom.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-cawpagan-l@netcom.com Precedence: list The Kabbalah After an interval of great stress in 1985, I had an experience which changed my life and perspective. I had been wandering through many theologies and philosophies while in the university atmosphere and without conscious volition had that experience which has been described variously as "transcendental" or "mystical" or "shamanic." The experience itself was an out-of-body ecstatic event that connects one with all being and manifestation. It entirely changed my understanding as to the nature of divinity and it's immanence and sent me on a wild search for a commonality of experience which could explain this phenomenon. Like many people who have experienced this, many strange and wonderful things started occuring, including books falling out of bookshelves in stores into my hands while I was browsing, people coming into my life who just started talking about similar occurences and offering guidance, etc. One of those experiences was to run into a woman who gave me original copies of Paul Foster Case's teachings on the Tree of Life and to consecutively run into a Jewish man who studied the Kaballah. I had a little familiarity with the Kaballah because of reading a couple of books on the Tarot, but no deep understanding of any significance. Once I started studying this I was amazed at how it connected to the experience that I had. The Kabbalah is the mystical and hidden tradition of the Jews. The word "Kabbalah" means to "pass from mouth to ear". It was an oral tradition which focused on the nature of divinity and its myriad manifestations. The knowledge rests on a diagram or schematic of reality, called the Tree of Life. Its philosophy regards Divinity as both transcendant and immanent, manifesting as a lightening bolt (or the "kav") which zigzags down the tree and creates ten spheres or "Sephirot" (from "saphire") into the physical world, and courses back as human understanding up the tree in the form of a "serpent" back to the divine nothingness or "Ayin". These Sephirah rest on three pillars, the pillar of Severity on the left, akin to the Yin from Taoism or the Goddess whose qualities are passive Form and Constraint; the pillar of Equilibrium in the center whose qualities are Grace and Will and are the integration of the God and Goddess aspect into a whole being; and the pillar of Mercy on the right whose aspects are the masculine aspects of active Force and Expansion as well as the God or the Yang. Each of the 10 Sephirah have their own correspondences and names of God or Divinity, as well as linking correspondence in astrology, human psychology and spirituality, among other things. The first Sephirot is called Keter and rests at the very top of the tree on the middle pillar. It is the crown of existence and represents the manifestation of "all that was, is and will be; it is the place of first emanation and ultimate return." (Halevi, Z'ev ben Shinon. Kabbalah: Tradition of Hidden Knowledge. Thames and Hudson, New York, NY. 1979, p. 6.) The kav continues and expands into the second Sephirah or Hokmah, or Wisdom, which is the divine spark of revelation or genius in humans. The next Sephirah is Binah, which transforms this spark by its passive and restrictive nature into understanding. These three Sephirah comprise the great supernal triangle of the Divine Spirit, the purest aspect of the God and Goddess which both evolve and reflect from. The next place the kav passes through is a hidden Sephirot called Da'at, representing knowledge directly imparted to human beings through the divine. From there, the kav creates Hesed and then Gevurah, Sephirah which "govern the level of emotion as distinct from supernal intellect." (Ibid.) Hesed, on the pillar of Mercy, represents Mercy in its true form, and Gevurah Justice. On the human scale, this level on the Tree represents our ability to have compassion and love (Hesed) which is tempered by discrimination and judgement. Tifaret is the next manifested Sephirot. It is the aspect of pure beauty and rests on the pillar of Equilibrium. This is the heart of the tree which in Christian mystical teachings is represented as the Christ, and corresponds to the human psyche as the nature of spirit and the Self, that unconscious aspect which watches all and has the inner understanding of reality no matter how much the subconscious and conscious may not. In the CAW, I feel that Tifaret is the inner God/dess which is waiting to be awakened through unconditional love, discerning judgement and the divine reflection. I have witnessed this beauty manifesting itself through the Clergy of CAW, and I intuit that this is one of the more important functions of the Clergy in helping others on the path. It is the acknowledgement and conscious reflection of the Divinity from one to another to enable self-actualization and growth not only of the individual, but ultimately of all humanity and of Gaia herself. Tifaret is the Heart of Love and corresponds to the heart Chakra as well. The three Sefirat of Hesed, Gevurah and Tifaret comprise the divine soul which mirrors the divine spirit above. The next level is the level which represents in the human psyche the "vital psycho-biological processes, whether active instinctive and impulsive [Netzach "Eternity" on the pillar of mercy] or passive, cognitive and controlling [Hod, "Reverberation" on the pillar of Severity]." (Ibid, p. 70). Kav continues on to the next level which is called Yesod or Foundation and also lies on the pillar of Equilibrium. This Sefirot is the point on the Tree where further Trees manifest and it is also "reflective: here, directly below Tiferet an 'image of the image' can be perceived, and the Tree sees itself: Yesod is the mirror within the mirror." (Ibid.). In the human psychology this is where the ego rests, and how we regard ourselves and project that perception of self to others, which does not necessarily reflect the true self of beauty at Tifaret, depending on how damaged we are and where we need to grow. This is the area in general in the human psyche which needs the most help and direction. The last Sephirot is Malkuth, the kingdom. This is the world of matter, our bodies, the four elements, the root, the physical manifestation of the Earth and all that is within it. It is also a reflection of Keter in the physical image, for Keter is the potentiality of all that may come into existence. Human growth and potential manifests as an image of the serpent crawling back up the Tree of Life in a circuitous manner crossing pathways between all of the Sefirah on the Tree, until a union and harmonization with Keter is attained. Thus, the serpent in the Garden of Eden story, which according to the Kabala, is a metaphor for the Tree, was the creature who represents the return to complete Godhead. The Kabalistic system is an extremely complex and involved philosophy which I could dedicate many books to, so instead of going into all of its myriad details I would like to address a few points of comparison for the purposes of this essay. As I said earlier, the concept of divinity is regarded both as transcendent and immanent at the same time. The Kabbalist's believe that the only way that creation could understand it's own existence is by manifesting into something. The only way that anything can know that it exists is by its creation, whether that is thought, action or physical manifestation. If I were all that existed in infinity, I would not know my existence unless I saw a reflection of myself through some creation. According to the Kabalah, "God[/dess] wished to behold God[/dess]" and therefore created all things in its image, through the supreme act of love of self and total free will. This process of creation reflects the macrocosmic aspect of infinity in the microcosmic world of physical creation and rejoices in itself and continues to evolve in expression and diversity. So while the divinity exists on a transcendent, macrocosmic level it also exists on the physical, microcosmic level. It is a dynamic process of continuing manifestation down the tree and back up it to actualization. Humanity is an aspect of this process, as is all life and creation. An interesting enigma of the Kabbalistic tradition is that even though the Kabbalists recognized the feminine in Divinity (elohim and shekinah are both feminine names of God/dess), the manner in which this knowledge is imparted remains sexist and controlled. Jewish tradition currently does not impart this knowledge to women...to gain this one must be 38 years old and male. Since regular Judaism does not even touch on this, it is tragic that women are denied this opportunity. Fortunately, there is enough available literature now on the subject that this is changing, and the ceremonial magick tradition is also contributing to the spread of knowledge. Another enigma of the philosophy is the belief in Hell, guilt and sin. The tree is believed to go through four worlds of manifestation, and each time one of those transformations completes itself, negative yicky stuff is left behind (perhaps like the skin of a serpent). The Kabalists believed that all of this "stuff" creates a negative tree, or the Qlipoth, which is the extreme aspects of all the Sephirah. This is a hellish place or state, and has seven levels to it. Those who sin greatly and who never grow out of their practices reside their until the day of Judgement when God finally fully sees his reflection, becomes one with it and then decides which parts of himself to cast aside. Therefore, the ethical system is based on the threat of punishment and the fear of separation from Divinity. In regards to the afterlife, Heaven is regarded as oneness with Keter and oneness with the conscious principle of life. The Kabalah teaches that there are four layers of the tree, and that the human soul travels through all of these trees until becoming one with the ultimate divinity to start the process of manifestation all over again. The concept of "Gilgulum" is the Kabbalistic equivalent of reincarnation and this process is regarded as necessary for the growth of the soul and for the soul's personal destiny. In many respects, the Kabalistic system has many elements which are similar to Paganism, but also similar to Christianity (which considering that Christianity comes from Judaism, is not surprising). It had some very interesting concepts for me, but again, I found that these paradoxes were extremely confusing, and I also found that the philosophy was so complex that it became burdensome and tiresome. There is also a severe lack of joy and playfulness...in some ceremonial circles I was in it was far too serious and somber. I think it is because the people who practice it are striving SO HARD to reach Keter that they lose their spontaneity and their touch with the joy of just living. I also have witnessed that in some ceremonial circles people have a tendency of wanting to "order" something to come into a circle, rather than invite it. Just as in Christianity, ceremonial magick and the Kabala are highly structured and hierarchical. For those reasons I grew disenchanted with it, and though there are some wonderful things in it that I refer back to in magickal work and there are some tenets which I agree with and integrate into my philosophy at this point, it did not fulfill me and I continued to explore. From owner-cawpagan-l@netcom.com Sun Jun 26 07:16:43 1994 Date: Sat, 25 Jun 1994 22:05:48 -0700 (PDT) From: Joy Williams Subject: my essay part 5 To: cawpagan-l@netcom.com MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: owner-cawpagan-l@netcom.com Precedence: list Neo-Pagans regard divinity as immanent in all creation, from the universe to the subatomic particle. And even though we believe that all is "one" with this great divinity, our religion is characterized by polarity and polytheism. Neo-Pagans believe that divinity manifests as the God and the Goddess, the Lady and the Lord, the Yin and the Yang of Taosim, the Hokmah/Binah of the Kabala. This is essentially because the existence of something necessitates that it's complement exists to define it. Light is not possible without dark; the feminine is defined by the masculine, and vice versa. This basic polarity exists throughout all creation. The magnet which brings these complements together is love and this love between the God and the Goddess creates all manifestation. We also believe that since the God and Goddess are immanent that man and woman are reflection of this Divine polarity. Thus when members of the CAW say "Thou art God" or "Thou Art Goddess" we are acknowledging the Divinity within each other and rejoicing in it. Because of this shared belief that the love between the God and Goddess begets all creation, sex is regarded with joyous reverence and is sacred. It is the highest expression of worship that most of us can imagine or practice, for on a microcosmic level we reflect the macrocosmic principle, and we become as God/desses. For the past 6000 years or so, the feminine aspect of Divinity has been subjugated, oppressed, raped and dismembered. The Inquisition of Medieval Europe, which was continued in the Americas (and in some ways still goes on) is the most vivid and frightening example of this violence, resulting in millions of people dying in the name of Christianity. (I know that the oft quoted number of nine million who died in Europe due to the Inquisition is highly debated, but if one includes the number of Native people in this hemisphere who suffered and were slaughtered during the Conquistador invasion and after, under the diretion of Queen Isabella and the Catholic Church, the number of Pagans who died goes easily into the millions.) The tragedies of environmental degradation, oppression of civil rights, war, estrangement of individuals >from the Earth and each other, the ridiculous consumptive nature of capitalism, and the breakdown of the family can all be laid at the feet of dogmatic religion which is exclusive, controlling, hierarchical and singularily patriarchal. And though Abrahamic traditions are probably the most prevalent religions which illustrate this problem and continue to do so, they are not the only ones. Buddhists, Aztec, Roman, some African, Hindhuism and others have all demonstrated this tendency in history. It probably all started during the Aryan, Kurgan and Semitic invasions of major cultures all over the known world. It is my theory that since most of these groups were nomadic, the driving, hunting aspect of God energy gained control of the culture and out-of-balance. The God became hubristic and started to separate itself in human consciousness >from the feminine and started to see land, woman and property as something to be taken rather than shared. At first, those cultures who were Goddess oriented were completely unprepared and receptive to these invasions, but eventually the instinct to survive kicked in and war began. War begets war, and bit by precious bit, the Goddess was raped, disempowered, and dismembered. Finally, she sank into the subconscious of humanity, except in those remote areas where Her being was not violated. Just as the Goddess slumbers in the Earth in the Winter, She gradually escaped into the Earth to survive. In the meantime, the out-of-balance God played havoc in the world and the human psyche. Because of these atrocities to the Goddess, Her representatives (women), and Her body, the role of women in Neo-Paganism is prevalent. Women often become High Priestess and frequently have the final say in the decision making process. Some sects of Neo-Paganism are women only. This is occuring because we want to bring the Goddess back to health in her full glory, but I think it is a mistake to neglect the God aspect, because He is equally damaged, and His representatives need to feel that they are healing as well. For the full healing of men and women, society and the Planet we must include the full polarity of the ultimate Divinity. We must heal the rift caused by the controlling God and the way to do this is by celebrating them both in each other and beyond. It must be understood that the God who controlled was not the healthy God, the Horned One, Cernunos, Herne or the Green Man. This was, essentially, the immature aspect of the God which is clearly seen in the Old Testament as capricious, grasping and jealous. This God was not the Pagan God that Neo-Pagans worship today. Our God is full of drive and energy, delighting in the Goddess, potent, wild and free. He is the evolutionary key to species, for it is His energy which drives species to survive and adapt. Therefore, He is the Lord of the animals, the hunt and the will to survive. He is the essence of the drive in humankind for new discovery and explorations, the cerebral aspect in humankind to expand understanding and the psycholgical drive to self-actualization. He is the movement and this is seen in the quest of the sperm to meet the egg, the energy of the the spiral dance of the Galaxy and the DNA. He is the flow of the blood, the rivers, and creation, while the Goddess is the blood, the water, the egg, the galaxy and the helix. Within Her lies all potential and possibility, but She must have the energy to manifest and thus "make it so," just as He must have something to plant his seed within to continue. In many respects, this concept reflects the Tree of Life, for it is the masculine in the kav which drives Divinity to manifest into Creation and it is the potentiality of all being that this energy intersects which is the Goddess. And it is the love which attracts the two which begets creation. Neo-Pagans' polytheism has many different expressions of deity. Conceptually, I have always felt that Divinity can be compared to a large jewel, with each facet a deity or a "face" of the Divinity. Thus, Neo-Pagans may call upon Aphrodite/Eros for sexual love, Pallas Athene for wisdom, the Hindu Lakshmi for prosperity, Hermes for science, or any other number of Gods and Goddesses. A common practice of Neo-Pagans is to invoke this deity into ourselves and to perform ritual or magick in this state. Rituals and celebrations reflect the cycles of the Earth and fall on or near natural events, such as the equinoxes, the solstices, the cycles of the moon, the cycles of the seasons, the transitions of life and even the cycle of the endless expression of expansion and contraction of the universe. Most Neo-Pagans recognize at least 8 major holidays, drawing upon Celtic and other European traditions. These holidays celebrate the fertility of the Earth, the harvest, the masculine drive to create, the feminine creation, among other things. Neo-Pagans also often hold rituals and worship upon the moon phases for transformational and magickal work, but they will also do work whenever they feel the need to, or just want to. There are no set rules for this. The last point I would like to bring up in regards to Neo-Paganism is that most of us practice some form of Magick. Magick is both akin to prayer and science. It is also an art. It is a method whereby we can manipulate probability and manifest our will through consicous direction. It uses symbols, tools, any myriad number of things to create a new reality. It is empowering and evolving and manifests in the form of activism as well as healing and other ways. It is the craft of the wise, and the wise are those who understand the patterns of nature and know how to encourage it under their direction. It is also an incredible way to develop the intuition and leads to a deeper understanding of all things. Magick is practiced in as many ways as there are practitioners, and is a prime activity among Neo-Pagans. In all actuality, all creation is a form of magick. To summarize this essay, I would say that though I have learned positive things from all of my explorations, in Neo-Paganism and in the CAW I have found my home and tribe. This is the most joyful, happy, lively and fun lifestyle I have ever known. It has empowered me more than anything has ever done, and it is the mechanism which will lead me to my full potential. This path is the magickal life which leads to self-actualization, evolution and connection. I am continually surpised by this grand and wonderful adventure, and wait in anticipation for its next gift. [well that's it folks...hope you liked it!]