"The Sorceress" by John William Waterhouse
Years ago, when I discovered the Goddess Movement, I was reminded of a time, even more years ago when I was in elementary school, and I found the ancient Greek and Roman mythology, sculpture and architecture delighting and absolutely enchanting.
Recently, I am reminded of the fact that that the education I acquired in elementary school was Edited For Children. Yes, that delight and enchantment which I had compared favorably to those well-named grim fairy tales we were subjected to as kids ( you know the tales in which every story has an evil witch ) was actually a watered-down version of mythology for the younger generation. There was nothing in those mythology books about how the ancients actually worshiped the ancient deities. No grim, horrible details.
Compared to the visual icon of most Sunday worship ( the Christian cross ) those beautiful tales and images from the ancients took on an immaculate quality of their own. At the time, I realized that people didn't actually worship Pagan deities and, until about a decade ago I never believed I would meet anyone who did. When I walked into a Goddess Temple, those memories of childhood came back to me in a huge rush of amazement, and I embraced the spirituality as something much more beautiful and precious than anything any church had to offer.
Unfortunately, when we go back in time to the Pagan Era, we are tasked with a huge job of editing. History does not provide those made-for-children mythology books. When we research how those beautiful deities were " honored " in ancient times, the imagery in the Church pales in comparison. In real life, the rituals and offerings of many Pagan religions were ugly, dirty and filthy. What has survived from that era, what was sculpted in stone to last; this is the legacy that we have fallen in love with. Not their reality.
When we acquire a fascination with those ancient deities, our fascination is clothed in a luxurious, contemporary ability to worship as we wish. It's important to remember that this gift of religious freedom has been handed down to us since the abolition of Paganism. With freedom comes responsibility. One of those responsibilities is to realize that there were very good reasons for abolishing the brutal rituals of ancient spiritualities. What is really appropriate to bring back and what is best left in the past? What, in fact, did the ancient divine actually reject and continue to reject for the last two thousand years?
We may take our clue from what has survived since ancient times, and go back to those created-for-children mythological tales which our grandparents, great grandparents, and similar recent ancestral generations had already taken the time and care to edit for us, so that we could discover with delight and awe when we were young. The wonder of innocence is what we wish to reconnect with when we worship on a Sunday morning. Those beautiful tales of why a certain herb grew and was named " Mint ", what is the symbolism of the daffodil and the anemone? Was there a love affair between the earth and the sky?
There is great beauty in how the ancients understood their world, and how they honored, celebrated and worshiped the stars, the earth, the sun, the heavens and all the creatures and phenomena of our precious life on this planet. That is the beauty and preciousness which I had hoped to embrace within the Goddess Spirituality. And, yes, there is plenty of this available.
However, there is also a school of thought that comes from an " equal reaction " state of mind; the classic chiaroscuro mindset exemplified by the expression and symbolism some people refer to as " yin-yang ". This domestic and international school for " adults " advises us that for every joy there is sorrow, for every beauty there is ugliness, for every act of kindness there are unspeakable horrors. This school is alive and well and teaching within the Goddess Spirituality. From this school we receive " empowerment of the dark Goddesses "; a mythology of female horror stories that rival the masculine church icon of horror.
For those of us who come to the Goddess Spirituality, based on an education gleaned from elementary school mythologies, these tales of empowerment based on horror come as an unwelcome shock. This is a very similar feeling to hearing the stories of Jesus as a great leader, and then being confronted with the Church's standard icon of worship. This ugliness and horror is what cause people like me to avoid standard Sunday worship and to seek the attraction of joy and beauty instead.
However, in an alternative Sunday worship which provides the beauty of Pagan Goddesses as a magnetic and majestic form of divine feminine attraction, it's possible to also come away from Goddess worship feeling a little jaded and wondering what is the difference between these " empowering Goddesses " and any other evil witch from those grim fairy tales. We are left with the same hollow feeling that comes from viewing the grim icon of Christian spirituality's cross. Those of us who are sensitive feel the tears and sadness of what's been taught every Sunday morning, and wonder who finds such worship uplifting?
Let's be honest with ourselves. Following a Pagan spirituality on a Sunday morning puts us in a different congregation from the churchgoers who comprise the lion's share of Sunday worship in the USA, and in many parts of the world. It's not an easy path and, for many of us, it hasn't been actually lucrative. Most of my Pagan clients are not wealthy people; most are on a very tight budget. Paganism has not become equated with great financial success; at least not in my experience. If our wealthiest clients are in church, we begin to wonder ... If not for beauty and love, is being Pagan worth it?
I would suggest that, if the only thing the Goddess Spirituality has to offer is a feminine version of the light-dark semi-horror story of the church, that maybe the Goddess Spirituality as it is presently practiced isn't offering enough to keep its followers for the long-term, unless it's purely being presented as feminine empowerment and not an actual religion.
With the luxury of being allowed to worship as we choose comes responsibility. With responsibility comes choice; a choice that is easy to make when deciding between existing options presented " as is ". However; choice can be the decision to get involved, to evolve and to help our communities evolve. As Pagans; spiritual heirs of ancient mythology, we're actually lucky that we don't have a " sacred book " that has been handed down through the centuries; a book which would be sacrilegious to edit. We imagine, create and edit every time we birth a ritual, because there is not any traditional standard.
* It's okay to edit out any and all ugliness of ritual from our worship. *
* It's okay to edit out negative aspects of spirituality from our worship. *
* It's okay to edit how we teach history, especially when children are present. *
In their wisdom, our elders and recent ancestors took their time and energy to to edit ancient mythology for the children's section of our public libraries, so that the stories would share only love, light and beauty with their younger generations; us. Honoring ourselves, our younger generations, and honoring our own elders and ancestors is also honoring their wisdom and their knowledge. Knowledge is power. Knowing when to edit knowledge for the benefit of our shared Sunday worship is not about being a " fluffy bunny ". It may be a path back to love, light and that enchantment we had in our first blush of Pagan mythology.
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