Spirited (21 page)

Now take the oak leaf and gently place it onto the surface of the water, and watch as it glides away. It represents you and your new life. Silently ask the blessing of the spirit of the oak that you are forever blessed and guarded by its holy power.

After a while, slowly return your awareness to the mundane level, and leave the site of your rite of passage with faith in your heart.

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I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God
who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect
has intended us to forgo their uses.

—Galileo Galilei

Pagans see the divine as immanent within creation. Transcendence, totalitarianism, almighty gods, and divine commandments are completely irrelevant in Paganism. However, it is impossible to generalise how Pagans see divinity, as every one of us has a different perspective on the matter.

What we can all agree on is that divine energy exists and is actively involved in our lives. The gods are not senile politicians seeking to exert influence over us. They would rather see us live our lives and cope with the challenges as best we can.

The creation, or the manifestation of the divine, forms the structure of physical reality. Our physical reality resonates with the echo of the other planes that coexist with our own. Divinity—the principle,
without
gender and embodiment—is the quintessential flow that suspends existence and gives balance to all things.

Some religious groups look down on Paganism as a path that places too much emphasis on the material and not enough on the creator. What these detractors miss completely is the fact that Pagans perceive no distinction between the creator and the creation. In our philosophies, there is no need for a creator; it is all a continuity, a rhythm that inspires life to be and to be again.

Galileo's words quoted at the very beginning of this chapter ring true in the Pagan traditions. As Pagans, we reject a cold and detached god. We see the divine as a plane of neutrality and extremity simultaneously—the very matrix of existence and emotion. All thought and feeling is comprised within its totality. The divine is not a force of morality, it simply
is
. Therefore, our gifts of
“sense, reason, and intellect”
are divine.

There is no hierarchy in relation to divinity. The divine is not above or below our humanity, the divine is the seed of it. The divine is relevant in our lives and offers a personal relationship with the universe and the self. Lastly, the divine is your key to perception, the catalyst of individual expression. The divine is your connection and your consciousness. The divine is not your window to the world, the divine
is
the world. You are divine.

Painting the Gods:
Defining Deity

Speak of the Gods as they are.

—Walter Bagehot,
Literary Studies

The nature of deity is not hidebound in the Pagan traditions. Each individual is expected to approach the subject independently, to communicate with the divine. It all falls on perception, experience, and personality. There is no central authority to direct your questions to. Now comes the time for a little soul-searching, for it is within the self that truth is found.

Below, you will find information on the five major theologies
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embraced in the Pagan community—pantheism, polytheism, animism, ditheism, and the archetype. Each section deals with the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects of the theology and provides you with exercises in order to further your understanding.

Theology is an expression of one's feelings and thoughts concerning the divine. Religion is merely the sum of a society's codes and mores and is rarely a personalised thing. Understanding that the divine is one or that each deity is actually a vibrant life force unto itself is a highly definitive moment in one's life. It is the revelation of the divine, and this experience cannot be stolen, bought, or traded.

Pantheism:
God Is All and All Is God

What else is Nature but God?

—Seneca the Younger, Roman Stoic philosopher

Pantheism is the spiritual understanding that the divine is within Nature.
Pan
, the Greek word for “all,” forms the subject of the word and refers to the Greek god of the same name. Pan, the lusty satyrlike musician of the wilderness, rules over the pastures and is patron deity of shepherds. His connection with the natural world and the animal kingdom, as indicated by his goatlike appearance, is the quintessential heart of the pantheistic worldview. It is in the primal realm of Nature that divinity flows freely. It is in the beauty of the earth that we may attune with the inner sanctum of spirit and soak in the awe-inspiring resonance of the all.

It was from a Jewish community situated in the meeting-ground of revolutionary philosophy—Amsterdam, Holland—that, at the age of twenty-three, Baruch (Benedict) de Spinoza (1632–77) was excommunicated for espousing radical ideas. These ideas advocated a doctrine adverse to the dualistic notions of the organised faiths Spinoza speculated against. In essence, Spinoza was the first pantheistic monist, meaning he regarded Nature as being synonymous with God. In fact, he theorised that God was the one and only substance, and that all things were constituted of it.
However, Spinoza did not court the fancies of a transcendent creator-God. After all, God was all, and all that existed was the present. Spinoza believed that God was self-caused and that all in existence relied upon God's substance. God was also, in Spinoza's view, composed of infinite attributes and capable of extension and thought, otherwise considered to be an expansion of consciousness.
“Spinoza's God is a self-caused substance … from whose nature everything possible necessarily flows.”
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By extension, Spinoza saw God as the creator of humanity and all things but in a remarkably different light than orthodox teachings. Individuation, the process whereby a whole becomes fragmented (the individual gathers substance from the whole), is an inevitable fate for a force of dynamic expansion such as God. The name given to the products of individuation is
modes
. We are all modes of God, the one substance, and are therefore dependent upon that substance's continuance. The implications of this are far-reaching, both in this time and magnanimously more in Spinoza's lifetime. God's cause is itself, and therefore all of reality is simply a manifestation of the divine catalyst. To Spinoza, divine reality was simply a matter of
“Deus sive Nature”—
God or Nature.

Spinoza was ultimately a naturalistic rationalist who considered God to be both perfect and infinite. In his view, all knowledge deriving from the present moment is conceived by the unitive substance, and therefore is knowledge of God. The implications of this are startling, in that “knowledge of God” is to be interpreted as both scientific discovery and knowledge possessed by God. As modes of the one substance, we are able to access God's storehouse of wisdom, and like gnosis, the underlying principle of pantheism is made clear: that as beings of consciousness, we are essentially divine in make-up, and therefore our highest aspiration as a species is to attain the divine, or to realise it.

The World Pantheist Movement has put forward a belief statement that addresses the central tenets of the pantheistic worldview. Primarily, the statement explains the very nature of the pantheist: “We revere and celebrate the universe as the totality of being, past, present, and future.” The statement goes on to describe the nature of connection and how living undeniably in the present fulfils the spirit.

Pantheists are also actively involved in the preservation and fostering of the natural world, which they understand themselves to be an integral part of. Respect is the basis of all relationships, and all of life is acknowledged as sacred. Each individual is considered a purposeful “centre of awareness.” This returns personal power. The inclination to embrace life as creatively ingenious allows the pantheist to accept energy in all its forms, as an evolving and interweaving interaction.

There is a common understanding that because energy cannot be destroyed, it is simply recycled and absorbed into other forms, in which the originality and perhaps even personality of that energy is retained. Reason and logic are indivisible from the reality and truth of our presence in the universe, and science is often considered a pathway of enlightenment. While freedom is embraced as the means to living a highly individualistic and creative existence, there is also a degree of natural humanism in pantheism, which in most cases rejects any spiritual or emotional relation. However, the essence of Nature is vital to all experience, and the conventional religious urge to bend and worship before an authority is completely inappropriate within pantheism. The notions of salvation, resurrection, and spiritual paradise have nothing to do with the pantheist worldview. Nature and the world are believed to be the only paradise, heaven itself.

There is a great deal of collaboration that goes on in pantheism as well. For instance, their belief statement also details the following: “Our beliefs and values reconcile spirituality and rationality, emotion and values and environmental concern with science and respect for evidence.” There is a complete practicality and humility involved within this understanding of divinity. There is a need to strip down the impositions and leap the chasms to unite humanity under a banner of reconciliation and healing.

Pantheism offers humanity a theological definition of life that encourages eco-friendly attitudes and collaborative expressions of human interaction and destroys all egocentric illusions of human beings as higher than other life forms. It is essential to embrace the plurality of Nature as mystery and not as fragments of a greater whole.

It is within the inspired awe of Nature that humanity is humbled and therefore freed. Without the institutions of religion and government, the individual begins to grow towards spiritual understanding. We are all aware of the bigger picture, of the presence of something more, and it is within these moments that we are willing to release and to receive. Nature reveals its life force and blesses the self. For it is in the moment that the revelation of unity and of balance within harmony is found, and all things become one.

Pantheistic Exercise

Before you begin this exercise, you will need to answer a few questions, the first being which natural phenomenon are you most drawn to? The sunrise, the sunset, a wild storm, a gentle breeze? Once you have established a particular natural scene, phenomenon, or being in your mind, you may now begin the exercise. I will use the example of a sunrise.

Arrange yourself comfortably, and ground and centre. Surrender yourself completely to the rising sun. Open yourself to the profundity of the experience. Embrace the overwhelming tide of seemingly unfounded emotions that are ignited within you as your being becomes absorbed into the natural phenomenon. When you feel ready, you may recite the following affirmation (or one of your own invention):

Gracious face of the all-encompassing divine, I am humbled by your artistry and skilful glamour, though I acknowledge there is no illusion here. I am healed by you and stand strong in my conviction to live in the moment, for this is the charge Nature has given, and by Nature do I keep it.

Now concentrate on the energy within you. Feel it pulsing in rhythm with the rising sun. Feel it grow to a peak, and in that moment seize its potential and literally explode the energy. Mentally, emotionally, and physically burst in an infinite array of brilliance. You are now suspended within the whirling resonance of a flowing river of energy. The sun's rays charge it, imbuing it with purpose and direction. Throw away all thoughts of who you are and simply reside within the moment. Ride the power.

When you feel it is time, bring yourself back down to earth and ground. Thank the sun and the Spirit.

Polytheism:
Legacy of the Pantheon

The idea of polytheism is grounded in the view
that reality (divine or otherwise) is multiple and diverse …
Polytheism has allowed a multitude of distinct groups
to exist more or less in harmony, despite
great divergence in beliefs and practices …

—Margot Adler,
Drawing Down the Moon

Each flame glistens seductively, ushering forth serenity. Each flame possesses a unique aura amongst the sea of fire that gathers over the smooth surface of the consecrated altar. The chant begins:

Isis, Astarte, Diana, Hekate, Demeter, Kali, Inanna …

Pan, Poseidon, Dionysos, Cernunnos, Mithros, Loki, Apollo.

Many modern scholars define Paganism as a polytheistic tradition that seeks the divine in plurality, meaning we acknowledge the diversity in Nature and personify the working aspects of life through deities. It is here where opinions divert and polytheism becomes much more than a singularly comprehensive theology.