A Lesson From The Earth

Live Oak Trees/Shutter Stock photo

When Live Oak Trees are planted together in a row their roots fuse together, and the individual trees become interdependent upon one another for water and nutrients. The twining of the roots give the trees a stronger hold in the soil. Rooted as such in the Earth and interdependent they are able to be sustained throughout whatever comes their way.

Many of us in the Pagan Community are connected to the Earth through the worship of the Goddess Gaia (Gaea) in her various aspects. Exploring Her character this way I have developed a genuine relationship and love for her as Creator and Source of the Universe in an individual and personal way.

It's not enough to simply sit in awe of Nature. It is not enough to see and admire a sunset, a flock of birds, or a flower. All of that is wonderful, but for me, it's necessary to know the Source behind all that to be able to truly enjoy the Gift. My devotion to Gaia grounds me by grace, in love and with mercy. The process of developing this understanding is sometimes an arduous journey when following the framework of Modern Paganism. Years of exploration have lead to dead ends and false leads and requires patience, tolerance and discernment. There is a lot of chaff to sift through before finding the gold of the beneficial grain to feed my spirit and soul. What has sustained me through this journey and kept me from being discouraged, is the singular truth that She loves us and stays with us the entire journey, whether or not we realize it. Our faith may falter, but her love does not. And that's what keeps me in the Pagan sphere, despite the silliness, outright nonsense and negativity we sometimes seem to wallow in.

She is there in the most difficult of times, and that gives me both comfort and peace. She is there for the journey in times of transition and change. My most recent experience of that is when I had emergency heart surgery several months ago and nearly died. There were no tunnels of light, no glimpses of Summerland, no choirs of angels for me ( unless you count an appearance of my friend Arthur the Druid who sang a very sweet song for me which I largely do not recall other than that it was beautiful). There was none of the NDE stuff you read about on paranormal sites, but there was the comfort of Her presence and a holding of space.

I often find I lack the proper words or am uncertain how to express myself to the Goddess because I allow myself to become overwhelmed by the vastness and scope of her divinity. It's a hold-over of my period of being a Christian, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing, it does get in the way occasionally and I have to stop to re-frame my concept of the Feminine Divine into something more comfortable. Her aspect of the Holy Rose lends her divinity a softness which in no way diminishes her strength. The understanding of my relationship with Her is often too deep for words and the eloquence of language fails me. To counter that I become still and give myself over to simply being, and then we can merge at the point of spirit, which is restorative.

My connection to the Goddess in Her many forms is continually changing as I make new discoveries and add to my faith story. How I apply these things to my everyday life formed who I am and who I continue to become. The latest of these lessons is that we are given no trials without purpose- and after saying that, I can argue the point. Shit just happens and things go inexplicably wrong. In March I threw a blood clot and ended up having major surgery. Even when things go wrong you have to find the positive in them and use it. So what happened after the surgery is that while I'm still healing I'm getting healthier. The downtime during my stay at the rehab center was used to prioritize somethings I've been meaning to do and make them goals to look forward to, and one of the best things out of that time are the friendships I made while there ( including some new Pagan friendships). The very best thing that I came away with is that I discovered how resilient I am. That was the purpose of this particular trial, from my take on things.

In the time I was forced to be still (momentarily!) I not only had the space to look inward, I truly had some moments of solitude-nothing from my everyday routine to worry about because I was disconnected from it all. My primary reason for waking up in the morning was to simply make it through another day as my body and mind healed from the trauma. Right now I do what I can physically for the moment-but then I read. I study. I call on the power within to remember who and what I am. This helps me to ready myself for even more the next day.

Like the trees in the opening paragraph,when I entwine myself with other people and situations, we all-hopefully-benefit from not having to stand alone.

On Being Pagan

We live in a constantly evolving Universe.  Change goes on within and all around us all the time. We are forever in a state of flux. Our personal beliefs and cosmologies change. I don't see  things in exactly the same way that I did 20 years ago because I'm a different person today than I was then. Things change, and that's okay. Because really? In the larger scheme of things  we don't have a choice in the matter. Acceptance of that tiny fact is the first step to integration and growth.
 
Depending on whatever new I learn, my opinion about people, situations and how things are  re-formulated. My thoughts about things evolves as I incorporate new knowledge into my understanding.  I am not the same person I was even five minutes ago on a molecular level. The world is not the same as it was yesterday. This is factual and born out by the saying" The Truth is not what you see, but what you believe about what you see." Your  viewpoint isn't the truth, but it is your truth. Belief is merely an assumption.

Pagans (for the most part) are particularly analytical people. We are experts at deconstruction. What it seems we aren't very good at is knowing the difference between authentic examination and tearing things apart-including and especially, each other. This, in my humble opinion, is why we have the same conversations over and over about defining who is Pagan and who gets to play in our sandbox. And I have to admit, I often wonder why this is so important to know in order to determine what we stand for morally and ethically. I suppose there is an argument about knowing who you are before undertaking an action, but personally,  I believe right action should take place no matter who you are.

Talking about whether we engage in right action because we are human or because we are spiritual is a chicken versus egg argument. To quote Buckminister Fuller, " We're all passengers on Spaceship Earth." [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller ]. The compassion we have for one another, especially for the suffering of others, and the way in which we respond in helping them to come out of that suffering is something that stems from empathy. We relate to how it feels because we can put ourselves in that place. In that instance, what we call ourselves doesn't matter. By nature, humans are helpers at our most basic level; that's the way we are wired. We have a need to serve in the most beneficial and satisfying way for others and ourselves. While that may be influenced by our spiritual beliefs, for the most part it comes out of a concern for the welfare of others and the way we would like to be treated. Altruism is two sided and not entirely selfless: yes, we do want to help others, but in turn, should the need arise,we hope to be helped ourselves. The majority of us ascribe to the moral and societal rules of common decency, regardless of whether or not we believe in the existence of a deity.

In other words, it's not who you are, it's what you do that makes a difference in the world. To be perfectly blunt, the only person who should care about who you worship, or how you go about it is YOU.    It's not my place to tell you whether or not you are a Pagan. It's none of my business, because, you see...I don't care. Truly, I don't. I don't care if you venerate Wonder Woman as the Goddess, or believe the flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz are angelic messengers, or see Imminent Divinity in the Titans.

If you do, then that's fine with me. You don't have to fit my personal definition of what is and isn't  Deity, and you don't have to buy into mine. As it's so often said,we can agree to disagree. I have enough on my plate dealing with defining and forming my own personal theology. I practice as I choose, when I am lead to do so by Spirit. I really don't owe any explanation of who or what I see as Divine, and I certainly have no need to justify my spiritual practice. I don't seek or need  the validation of others [http://amethjera.blogspot.com/2011/06/pagan-enough.html].  Take it and accept me for who I am or leave it and walk away. ( The only time I will call bullshit is if I see someone irrefutably  ripping someone else off).

You would  think  that as often  as  we have this conversation in our living rooms or  in the pub, the subject of "Who-is-and-isn't-a-Pagan" would  be a non-issue to the majority of  us by now.   I recognize that our community has exploded in numbers in recent years and there are a lot of new-comers at the table who may need to sort things out, but what I'm seeing isn't limited to that kind of spiritual formation. What I'm seeing is not only a lack of tolerance for diversity, it's exclusivity. It's widely understood that the word 'Pagan' is an umbrella term covering the many traditions and varieties of serving the gods. [ttp://www.incitingariot.com/p/project-pagan-enough.html] There are no membership  rules for who gets to join the 'club'.  So frankly, when I see someone appoint themselves as a gatekeeper for the community, I do think we need to react and disabuse the individual of that notion swiftly...Kudos to those who have done this respectably, such as  Jason Mankey [http://www.patheos.com/blogs/panmankey/ ] and the collective at Pagan Activist  [http://paganactivist.com/2013/06/16/standing-up-against-a-step-too-far/]. You can ask questions about someone's spirituality without questioning their practice.

Because, you see, as I've said before, it's my path, and I'll travel it my way, thank you very much.