Looking Towards the Light

As we pass into the light following Imbloc it's a good time for reflection. Gwydion McPagan, also known as JR Gower wrote these Words from the Path;

'The growth of interest in our Pagan traditions at this time is meteoric. Though many learn the 'content' of our traditions such as the annual festivals, various 'life ceremonies' and the characteristics, myths and associations of a retinue of Goddesses & Gods (deities) and their interrelated symbolism, very few start with an understanding of the absolute 'basic' concepts which underlie this symbolism.

Due to the historical enforcement of 'sets of beliefs' by the 'dogmatic religions', for instance a 'creator God' essentially independent of existence itself, heaven, hell, the idea that evil forces exist independently of life, in fact all the 'beliefs' of monotheism, have become the generally unquestioned 'spiritual' concepts of our society.

Once you lay aside all these 'religious' preconceptions and look for supernality rather than 'God', you are entering the realm of pure spirituality rather than religion. It comes as a surprise to many, even many newcomers who already consider themselves Pagan, just how different and more appropriate to the modem world the ancient principles of Paganism are when interpreted in the light of contemporary human knowledge about the Universe we inhabit.

Pantheism is the recognition of supernality symbolised in the form of archetypal deities, each characteristic of supernal 'components' of our shared 'experiential reality'.

With this perspective, consider the question 'Does existence have any purpose, and if so, what relevance does It have for me?

In the beginning, when our Universe began as an infinitesimally tiny seed of pure energy, everything that is now your body and your mind, even the tiny energies that comprise your thoughts, was intimately and utterly combined with everything that now exists.

All that is now you has always been part of the whole, part of the unfolding of time and space, part of the first stars whose light first lit the heavens and gave rise to the elements we now know made life possible.

You are made from the dust of the Earth, the dust of ancient stars. When part of that dust began to replicate itself, an inevitable process that our Universe has perfected by its nature, it was a path of evolution of some four billion years so far, giving rise to you. We are the children of this Earth, and since our emergence as a 'cultural species', all but a tiny part of our history was in the great playground and school of the palaeolithic world.

In the light of our Pagan traditions, we can see the current time as one of both enlightenment, as science seems to reinforce our 'pantheist' principles, and yet one of barbarism, conflict, oppression and suffering that flies in the face of every spiritual aspiration and principle.'

Take time to consider these profound statements.