PantheaCon: The skinny.
Having just returned home from PantheaCon, I felt I should write about something that happened there. No, it was not drama, though I am sure plenty happened. It was a conversation with one of those wide-eyed normie bystanders that happened to be lodging at the hotel during the event. I was sitting down, one of the few times I was not either working or ambling about seeing people I had not met in a couple years, or in one ceremony or class or another. A gentleman hesitantly walked up to me because I looked somewhat.. normal, and asked what was going on, in the way anyone would who steps into the middle of something they have never seen before. And I had him sit down as I explained. And that explanation breaks down to this:
PantheaCon: The convention people attend in order to learn from others how to speak to themselves, Find community among others who speak to themselves in a way which is out of the main stream, and how to see the tools they learn in more ways than one.
Because that piqued his interest, he asked for a more detailed explanation of what I had said. and so I gave him what I have deduced of religion and magic and all of the things Pagans, Heathens and the sort do, in the same way that Mainstream organized religions do. I of course prefaced it with this; "This is what I have come to understand.. you will get a more colorful definition from others, and likely come away from that conversation feeling like you had just had an encounter with someone not entirely connected to the earth or reality."
Speaking to ourselves, is a short form way of saying we communicate with our higher power, God or Gods, angels, faeries, etc. etc. Because, in the end, that is all we are doing. We are, each and every one of us mortal, fragile human beings, divine spirits. We are God, the universe, the eternal forces, the elemental beings of the primeval earth.. and so on. Is that oversimplifying it? perhaps. Then here is why I am saying it this way.
The Gods of what ever pantheon, and I will for the purposes of simplicity use the Norse as a perfect example, are simply Humanized Ideals of what we most wish to be like. It is even probable that the Vaniir and the Aesir were actually human tribes who managed to be victorious in killing off, or running off the competitor tribes around them so that they survived and passed on the tales of their heroes, customs, legends and lore.. not to mention their own branch of genetic material. Those beings we refer to as Gods, Ancients, and the sort, may actually have been humans as well, and the legends surrounding them, Odin, Thor, Loki and the rest are actually tales told about Great Great grandaddy and his adventures when he was a spry young lad with a sack full of semen, and not too much common sense... until later in his life anyway.
Yes, I can hear the objections already. "These are Immortal Spirits! and how dare you profane them by trivializing them in such a way!!" Well, the answer is; How dare you aggrandise something so damn silly? and I know the answer to that. Refer to the above statement of; Humanized Ideals.
People, Individuals.. are vain creatures. We go about imposing our view of the world, how it works, how others should behave, and how they should revere us and hold our thoughts, feelings and beliefs sacred, while We do no such thing in return. Likewise, we impose our image, and our view of the world upon a Universe which really could give a shit less what we think. Those major organized religions, which need not be named, are the perfect example of this. Dictating how 'God hates this, loves that, and demands you never do the other.' when in reality the only God they are referring to... is themselves. Because they are imposing a self image upon a being which is so far out of their understanding.. they have no other way of conceiving it, grasping it, communing with it. They are, in essence, putting themselves before God, and never even admitting to it, never looking into the mirror and making that confession.. and they do it from fear. Fear that they would have to face that neither they, nor the view of God is any more or less valid than that of a child, a Witch, a Pagan, a Muslim, a ... well. you get what I mean. But you know what? Imposing that view is perfectly natural, and perfectly fine... as long as we cop to what we are doing, and realizing at the same time.. the Universe still doesn't give a damn.. and the rest of the human world doesn't care either.. so stop taking yourself so seriously.
At the same time, take what you are doing seriously. Serious enough to realize what you are holding high, setting on a pedestal and paying honor to. Your Ideal, that which You want most to be like. That which you honor as being best about yourself, and others. Bravery, kindness, wisdom, merriment, passion, intellect, selflessness, the ability to change and grow, the ability to be accountable, the power to stand and defend those who cannot defend themselves, the humility to serve those who cannot help themselves.. all of these things are Very Human, and Very Honorable aspects of ourselves, Humanity.. and... the Universe.
As well.. Understand that in owning these Very honorable and admirable traits and aspects.. you have to own up to the less desirable things too. Odin was a bastard. All of legend relating to Odin calls out the fact that he took the best and most honored warriors at the hight of their life and power in the midst of battle, sent his Valkiery down to rip their soul from their body and haul them off to Valhala to await Ragnarok and the end of the world. He was a double dealing slickster, a womanizer, a thief, a brute, and a cunning con man. But he was, indeed, all of the good things that the Aesir revere him for. Just.. for fucks sake, own all of it, and not just the bright and shiney parts. No one is perfect, not even the gods.
PantheaCon: The convention people attend in order to learn from others how to speak to themselves, Find community among others who speak to themselves in a way which is out of the main stream, and how to see the tools they learn in more ways than one.
Because that piqued his interest, he asked for a more detailed explanation of what I had said. and so I gave him what I have deduced of religion and magic and all of the things Pagans, Heathens and the sort do, in the same way that Mainstream organized religions do. I of course prefaced it with this; "This is what I have come to understand.. you will get a more colorful definition from others, and likely come away from that conversation feeling like you had just had an encounter with someone not entirely connected to the earth or reality."
Speaking to ourselves, is a short form way of saying we communicate with our higher power, God or Gods, angels, faeries, etc. etc. Because, in the end, that is all we are doing. We are, each and every one of us mortal, fragile human beings, divine spirits. We are God, the universe, the eternal forces, the elemental beings of the primeval earth.. and so on. Is that oversimplifying it? perhaps. Then here is why I am saying it this way.
The Gods of what ever pantheon, and I will for the purposes of simplicity use the Norse as a perfect example, are simply Humanized Ideals of what we most wish to be like. It is even probable that the Vaniir and the Aesir were actually human tribes who managed to be victorious in killing off, or running off the competitor tribes around them so that they survived and passed on the tales of their heroes, customs, legends and lore.. not to mention their own branch of genetic material. Those beings we refer to as Gods, Ancients, and the sort, may actually have been humans as well, and the legends surrounding them, Odin, Thor, Loki and the rest are actually tales told about Great Great grandaddy and his adventures when he was a spry young lad with a sack full of semen, and not too much common sense... until later in his life anyway.
Yes, I can hear the objections already. "These are Immortal Spirits! and how dare you profane them by trivializing them in such a way!!" Well, the answer is; How dare you aggrandise something so damn silly? and I know the answer to that. Refer to the above statement of; Humanized Ideals.
People, Individuals.. are vain creatures. We go about imposing our view of the world, how it works, how others should behave, and how they should revere us and hold our thoughts, feelings and beliefs sacred, while We do no such thing in return. Likewise, we impose our image, and our view of the world upon a Universe which really could give a shit less what we think. Those major organized religions, which need not be named, are the perfect example of this. Dictating how 'God hates this, loves that, and demands you never do the other.' when in reality the only God they are referring to... is themselves. Because they are imposing a self image upon a being which is so far out of their understanding.. they have no other way of conceiving it, grasping it, communing with it. They are, in essence, putting themselves before God, and never even admitting to it, never looking into the mirror and making that confession.. and they do it from fear. Fear that they would have to face that neither they, nor the view of God is any more or less valid than that of a child, a Witch, a Pagan, a Muslim, a ... well. you get what I mean. But you know what? Imposing that view is perfectly natural, and perfectly fine... as long as we cop to what we are doing, and realizing at the same time.. the Universe still doesn't give a damn.. and the rest of the human world doesn't care either.. so stop taking yourself so seriously.
At the same time, take what you are doing seriously. Serious enough to realize what you are holding high, setting on a pedestal and paying honor to. Your Ideal, that which You want most to be like. That which you honor as being best about yourself, and others. Bravery, kindness, wisdom, merriment, passion, intellect, selflessness, the ability to change and grow, the ability to be accountable, the power to stand and defend those who cannot defend themselves, the humility to serve those who cannot help themselves.. all of these things are Very Human, and Very Honorable aspects of ourselves, Humanity.. and... the Universe.
As well.. Understand that in owning these Very honorable and admirable traits and aspects.. you have to own up to the less desirable things too. Odin was a bastard. All of legend relating to Odin calls out the fact that he took the best and most honored warriors at the hight of their life and power in the midst of battle, sent his Valkiery down to rip their soul from their body and haul them off to Valhala to await Ragnarok and the end of the world. He was a double dealing slickster, a womanizer, a thief, a brute, and a cunning con man. But he was, indeed, all of the good things that the Aesir revere him for. Just.. for fucks sake, own all of it, and not just the bright and shiney parts. No one is perfect, not even the gods.