Spirited (25 page)

The Divine Child:
This ancient embodiment of purity and innocence forms the basis for many world religions.

The Divine Child is an archetype that precedes transformative journeys and hearkens to the regenerative processes of Nature. Such encounters result in a heightened sense of humility and a greater understanding of the transcendent mode of thought in comparison to the egocentric attitudes of today. Popular figures include Jesus Christ (The New Testament), the Sun Child (Wiccan/Pagan mythos), and Krishna (
Bhagavad-gita
).

The Anima:
The feminine principle of our unconscious self. She encourages us to look deeper into a situation and to do so with integrity and intuition. The Anima expresses the qualities within us that are mythologically and psychologically preconceived as feminine attributes.

Jungian thought prescribes the Anima to males who are yearning for spiritual fulfilment.

The Animus:
As above with masculine expressions in place.

The Great Mother:
Perhaps the most persistent divine expression is that of the Great Mother. Primal, sensual, and cyclic, she is the embodiment of our archaic unconscious, and as indicated by the abundance of goddess figures unearthed in Europe and the Middle East, there is a definite energy that is associated with her symbolism—the rotund and voluptuous torso and legs, the highly defined yoni, and the accentuated breasts.

All cultures know her. She is in the veiled form of the Virgin Mary and in the wild rites of Paganism. She is terrible and all-loving, and she is the circle of life that we walk. Popular figures include the Venus of Willendorf (Palaeolithic limestone sculpture), the Virgin Mary (The New Testament), and Isis (ancient Egyptian mythology).

We are the heirs of a long and elaborate psychic development, and each of us draws from this universal sea of archetypes and symbols. The way in which the archetypes manifest tends to be highly personalised and filtered through history and personality.

Jungian thought relates archetypes to mythology. Each figure in myth personifies a particular aspect of humanity. For example, Venus, Aphrodite, Inanna, and Freya are all goddesses of sensuality and sexual desire. The cultures that honoured these deities also honoured the aspects of life they embodied.

According to some Pagan philosophies, the gods are merely expressions of archetypes. Pagans who subscribe to this ideology have no problem with invoking several deities into a ritual space without thinking how they may react with each other. This is contrary to what the polytheists of our community practice, and there is a certain degree of friction between the two. However, simply because someone sympathises with the Jungian concept of archetypes does not necessarily mean they are disrespectful to the divine. In fact, the great percentage of people who subscribe to this spiritual notion are honest, ingenious people. Perhaps instead of seeing the gods as deriving from archetypes, they see the archetypes as being inspired by the gods.

The archetype is that essential embodiment of human experience that allows us to appreciate our own being in a spiritual manner. Pagans who relate to the divine through psychology are those who either support the hypothesis that the gods are beings who reside solely within the mind and represent reservoirs of power or embrace the Great Spirit as the collective unconscious and understand that it has manifested and expressed itself in many forms. It is good to understand the Self through one's innate patterns and how they relate to that world soul. The mana (Magick) that infuses the archetypes is what heightens our own self-awareness. This swift expansion of consciousness can lead to gnosis. For those of the Archetype, there is one guiding principle: the divine and the Self are one within ultimate consciousness.

Archetype Exercise

Choose a grouping of deities to work with for this exercise (the Wiccan threefold Goddess—Maiden, Mother, and Crone—is a perfect example). Now, on a piece of paper, write down each aspect of the triformis group, leaving ample space between each. Think of every deity you have ever heard of, and try to equate them with one of the aspects of your grouping. For example, you may think of Persephone as Maiden, Demeter as Mother, and Hecate as Crone. Remember to explore all pantheons!

As you continue, you may begin to feel a little disrespectful cramming all these ancient deities into neat categories that may not even apply. Reflect on how the exercise made you feel. Read and analyse the myths of each deity you have on your list and decide whether or not they do fit the archetype you have assigned. If you decide that they do not, attempt to see beyond the archetype. For instance, Athena is noble and articulate. Her practical nature affirms her as a warrior, and she is seen as a careful tactician, a wise goddess. Therefore, Athena's archetype seems to be the wise woman. Using this as an example, focus on each deity on your list individually, and discern what archetype connects them with the universal unconscious. Make sure you heed your intuition at all times.

Ultimate Consciousness:
God and the Self

In all persons, all creatures, the Self is the innermost essence.
And it is identical with Brahman: our real Self is not different
from the ultimate Reality called God.

—
The Upanishads
, as translated by Eknath Easwaran

Consciousness, reality, and the divine form an interesting and philosophically explosive combination. Their unifier is the Self.

Hindu philosophy, and more specifically Brahmanism, is the basis for much of what the Eastern traditions have to say concerning an individual's relationship with the divine. In 600 BCE, during the post-Vedic period in India, there was a move to unify the Hindu pantheon and uphold a supreme deity whose infinity would subsume all deities. Unlike the religious traditions of the Middle East, this evolution in
theology
did not result in a strict monotheism but in a multifaceted being who was neither he nor she and encompassed all. This supreme deity is known as Brahman, or Atman, which can be translated to mean “Universal Spirit.”

The tradition espousing the concept of Brahman is commonly known as Brahmanism. The Brahman philosophy emphasises the doctrines of karma and samsara (reincarnation). This has influenced the modern Hindu religion, which is now considered to be a world-rejecting
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tradition. Essentially, Brahmanism is a monistic worldview teaching that self-realisation of one's own atman (soul) brings complete unity with Brahman, who permeates all things. This transition in theology occurred during the Upanishadic period, which began in approximately 600 BCE.

According to Brahman thought, the atman (soul) is reflective of the Atman (Universal Spirit); as above, so below. The Atman and Brahman are synonymous, so this of course makes the Atman identical with Brahman,
“the ultimate Reality called God.”
Here is a revelatory concept that has its parallels in Pagan philosophies.

The Self, beyond human egocentricities, is infused with the unwavering presence of the divine and is but an incarnation of a working creator—a continuity. However, this creator is not the cold and detached deity of the Abrahamic (Judeo-Christian) faiths; neither is Brahman male or female, but both and neither. Brahman is truth in every sense. Much like the Islamic God, Brahman has no beginning and no end, and is the natural definition of life.

Pagans regard a belief in the divine as a spiritually empowering and enriching practice. The relationship between the individual and the divine is highly personalised, as it should be. There are those who subscribe to polytheism and uphold the individuality of each deity, while others are comfortable seeing the gods as archetypal potencies of the hidden unconscious. Behind this multiplicity of theology, it can be argued that there persists a notion of expressive reality—an awareness of the infinite. The Hindus call this Brahman; the Muslims Allah; the Native Americans Great Spirit; and as Pagans, we have many names for this—the Spirit, the All, the Great Mystery.

The Great Mystery transcends and infuses this world. Spirit is immanent and self-aware. Spirit is conscious and unconscious, neutral, balance and power. Spirit is the nature of movement, the quality of life, and the rhythm of one's unfurling growth. Spirit simply is.

Western society has long denied the fulfilment of the self in favour of a homogenous community that inherently disregards the health of the individual. Humanity suffers from a deeply entrenched attitude that imposes limitations on us. Both Freud and Jung discovered that much of the symbolism inherent in our dreams surfaces from the tension we feel by repressing sexual desires. Dreams are our release and help us to work through the issues that plague the periphery of the conscious mind. As part of our crusade against the Self, we have learnt to stifle those things that we know will satisfy our desires. I am speaking of sexuality as sacred, of the ecstasy of joining with another in love. It is a part of the Self that is by no means morally corrupt, but it has been made to appear so because of society's attempt at maligning the senses.

The Self is whole within itself. If fragmented, it becomes disempowered and lost. Spirit is not emotionless or impersonal; Spirit is active and continuous, eternally shifting and transforming—becoming, never ceasing, only becoming.

We often forget our connection with Spirit in this hectic world. We must not allow ourselves to degrade the Self through petty materialism or the vindictiveness of the ego. We should live life through experiencing it—by taking risks and not letting fear overwhelm us. It is okay to fall to materialistic desires occasionally; it is completely natural to indulge. It's not about pleading for forgiveness or absolution. Learning from one's mistakes leads one along the path of knowledge; this generally leads to power and wisdom.

Paganism is not a world-rejecting spirituality, and technological advancement, desire, and pleasure are not immediately cast out as spiritually detrimental. In essence, unity with Spirit is not a matter of transcending the material world; it is celebrating the divine ecstasy of connection that is innate within us all. We are one with Spirit because we
are
Spirit.

The Upanishads speak of the Self as being the innermost essence and identical with Brahman, which is the ultimate reality. I speak of a philosophy that distils the moment into a simple observation—all things living are linked through the breath of Being, who is within my digits as I type these words and who is within your eyes as you read them.

Deity and Youth

Carpe diem (“seize the day”).

—Horace, ancient Roman poet

Youth is a passage of growing awareness and finding oneself. Deity, the spirit of expansive being, underlies this transitional period. Deity draws attention to our own divinity and urges us to nurture it.

As Pagans, we are taught to respect and revere the forces of Nature. We begin to identify the microcosmic patterns of Nature within our own lives. Pagans understand that deity, the infinite and unknown, has nothing to do with recorded word or institutionalised law but resides within the harmonising equilibrium of the self. It is not the harsh judge of our moral integrity or the tyrant who oppresses; it simply is and flows.
Deity is a force, like Magick; they are intertwined and forever aware of each other. Deity is the presence, and Magick the force. Deity resides within the awe-inspiring magnificence of what appears incarnate as Nature.

Dancing with deity is not about perfection, it is about accepting oneself as perfect. The Pagan concept of perfection has nothing to do with the standardised delusions of the superficial world. Be yourself and you will go far.

The youth of today are a remarkably independent and vibrant species of individual. For those who hear the whispers of deity, courage, vigour, determination, and intent all become intense and intimate pathways. They aid in claiming one's potential as endless possibility.

We all possess free will, and it is part of the journey to learn to exercise it. Experiment and revel in the beauty of the power that we each have within us. Call upon deity as the All and as a source of personal inspiration, and celebrate the momentum. Draw strength from deity in fortitude and embrace the potency of its universal workings (as above, so below). Know that enthusiasm and the determination to achieve will greatly affect your future and your being.

A Pagan youth dwells in a world that does not represent a physical continuum or an astral resonance. We walk the delicate path in between and are subject to the fluxes of energy that are concealed from the majority. For that reason, we each need to celebrate the life we have been born to. Seize the day, for it is within the seed of action that a spirit of intense curiosity dwells.

What I Believe

As a Pagan, I speak for myself and must make it clear that this chapter has been a reflective contemplation on the divine. It is based on my experiences and may be utterly meaningless to you. My journey so far has been one of change, transformation, and contrast. Interestingly, every piece of the puzzle along the way fits in beautifully with those already placed. At other times, my worldviews have been turned upside down. It is all sacred.

This chapter has demonstrated that within a single community reside countless views and ways of understanding. Are you a ditheist? A pantheist? An animist? Or perhaps even a monist with an archetypal attitude bordering on moderate polytheism? These are all labels, descriptive terms that are used to define perceptions. They address something that is wholly personal for the individual, intimacies that vibrate within the mind and that spawn divine marvels within the heart and the soul. Personally I can attest to belonging to almost every theology mentioned above. For instance, I am a hard polytheist by nature and experience, but I am also a poetic ditheist and monist. I am also an animist and pantheist in that I experience the divine in Nature and treat all things with reverence.