The Pagan Activist

 We would like to introduce to you our regular columist for 'Rede & Right' - Spiral!

The Pagan Activist

We live in the age of Family Values. Beginning in the late 70’s and early 80’s there grew up a large political and social body convinced that families were on the verge of destruction and had to be preserved at all costs. The nuclear family was on the Endangered Species list, threatened by terrifying forces such as single parenthood, abortion rights, feminism and the growing gay rights movement. Quickly, agencies were established to combat these dangers: The Moral Majority, The Eagle Forum, Focus on the Family, Friends of the Family, the Christian Coalition. Each with tens of thousands of followers convinced that we were facing the extinction of the traditional family. And what was the focus of this fear? Who was so susceptible to these outside threats that they became the weak link in the family system? Why, it was Mom, of course! Mothers, those idealized June Cleavers who spent each day cleaning the house and grocery shopping and each afternoon baking cookies for the children returning from school and preparing supper for her man returning from work, were being slowly led astray by dangerous, even deadly new ideas.

When Betty Friedan wrote the Feminine Mystique in 1963, she sent shock-waves through the American culture. Claiming that women actually had abilities and aspirations beyond their kitchen walls was an earth-shattering idea. The only thing more scandalous than talking about the “problem that has no name” was the fact that more and more women were agreeing with her! After decades of being told by religious, educational and familial authorities that their place was in the home; women started to disagree. They gathered together to talk about these disagreements and dreams, and out of this quiet rebellion was born the women’s movement of the 1970’s. The American family would never be the same. The ability to control reproduction, through the use of birth control and the legalization of abortion; expanded benefits for working mothers and even social policy change allowing biracial marriage, single parenthood and eventually in some states gay adoption has radically changed what we mean by the word family. The battle to prevent these choices from becoming socially accepted is one that the religious right has fought for thirty years now, if not longer. Motherhood must be preserved in its accepted form: homebound, joined to a dominant male figurehead (also known as a husband), pregnant or raising children, and submissive to conservative, which in this case means male-dominated, cultural norms and practices. We are seeing this backlash against feminism in many ways, most obvious the recent roll-back of abortion rights in several states, but there is another, far more subtle attack on women occurring today- the debate over creationism versus evolution.

Allow me to digress for a moment. Throughout most of prehistory, the Earth was acknowledged as being conscious, feminine, nurturing…in short, a mother. Most cultures throughout the world viewed earth in this manner and ascribed any number of names to: the Greek Gaia, Roman Demeter, Sumerian Innana, Mesopotamian Astarte, Teutonic Nerthus, Hindu Prthrivi, Maori Raomoko, and even the ancient Hebrew Ashera, were all viewed as the personification of the earth. Women, by extension, were viewed in most of these cultures as the personification of the Goddess. In the Temple of Solomon, the altar of the Earth Mother was placed at the right side of Yahweh and she was worshipped as his bride and consort. This embodiment of feminine divinity coupled with reverence for the sustaining planet existed for millennia. Eventually, as we all know, it ended. Many historians and theologians, such as Marijta Gimbutas and Leonard Shlain, trace the decline in women’s societal status to a corresponding diminishment of the cultural acceptance of the divine earth. As monotheism crept in, and the Earth slowly changed from Goddess to Rock, so did women change from vessels of divine authority to mere receptacles of male progeny: the early ancestor of our modern “barefoot and pregnant” stereotype… Which brings us back to today.

The creation/evolution debate has as much to do with our own perception of women, especially their roles as mothers, as it does to do with science or theology. To deny the cosmic reality of evolution is to deny the autonomy of women both in regards to society and in their own bodies. If we seek to honor and respect our human mothers, those whose bodies knit us together, carried us in safety until we were capable of thriving, nurtured and protected us throughout our lives; we must also recognize the Divine Mother, who carries out those same endeavors on a grander, yet less perceptible scale.  I want to tell you a creation story:

Imagine a tiny sphere floating in blackness. Cradled within an infinite womb it is warm, safe, and, as far as it knows, alone. Imagine that sphere starts to feel a pressure, an insistent urge to move. This gentle pressure builds and builds until it explodes in a burst of light and energy, rushed along onto paths unknown. It grows, changing slowing, growing and expanding, protected and nurtured by the same gentle, force, compelling it onward. It first grows in size, large and larger; it expands outward to fill the space around it. (Big Bang) Then it changes, the bones form and harden, the new life grows larger. (Archaeozoic) Stem cells multiply, building blocks of life, capable of becoming any number of new creations, fill in this new space and building up mass in this new creature. (Proterozoic) These cells band together, creating complex new groups, forming organs, muscles, hair and skin. (Paleozoic) Hair develops, and the body grows and its organs begin to function interdependently, fulfilling their roles in ways that compliment and support one another- circulatory system, nervous system, band together and begin to collaborate. (Mesozoic)  Finally fully grown, this new entity pushes forth, seeking independence and autonomy in ways as yet undiscovered. It has become its own creature, and although guided and protected by the larger force that has sheltered it while it grew, it now breaks away and declares itself wholly its own. A new life has been created.

If you closed your eyes, now open them. Look around you at the faces of the Mothers in this room. Their eyes are softer, they smile a little. Because they recognize this story from their own histories- from the months of pride and queasiness. From the days spent reading their “What to expect” books. This is the story of every child’s growth and every Mothers journey. This is the story of gestation, a child, cradled in its mothers' womb until the final birthing moment, when this new life breaks away and becomes something unique and aware. This is also the story of evolution, the process by which our own planet has evolved from the time of the Big Bang. Is it any wonder that the ancients saw the mysteries of the Earth within the bodies of their women? Is it any wonder that the fundamentalists of today feel so threatened by evolutionary thought? To acknowledge that we are born of the forces of the Earth means also reclaiming the fact that women are inherently symbols of these forces and thus, deserve honor not just as lower-case mothers, but as representatives of the Divine Mother, the Goddess, the feminine face of God.

But the idea of Planet Earth as Mother doesn’t end with creation. Our planet fulfils the role of Mother to its inhabitants far beyond the point of creation. Dr. James Lovelock first expounded the “Gaia Hypothesis” in the mid-70’s, at the height of the free-thinking era and just before the conservative backlash. Lovelock hypothesized that on some level, the Earth itself had be sentient. That in some way, the planet functioned as a living entity, consciously maintaining the tenuous balance necessary to maintain life. I don’t want to spend too much time on this subject, but to give one example, if our orbit was just a little closer to the sun than it currently is, everything on earth would burn. If it were a little farther, it would be so cold that life could not exist. But somehow, we do exist in a perfect balance, exactly as we need to be. Lovelock theorizes that this could not be maintained without some sort of conscious effort- the Gaia effect. Much like a mother watching over her child, making sure they are safe and protected, the earth itself holds us exactly where we need to be in order to thrive.

This does not mean that anyone who accepts the theory of evolution is automatically a practitioner of Goddess Religions. It does not even mean that they believe in an external deity at all. But it does open a door to people of faith, those who secretly see God with a Mothers face, enabling them to recognize that patterns of oppression that have existed for centuries become null and void once we recognize the power of both planet Earth and mother’s womb. This is part of why the control of reproduction is such a necessity to those who view women from a patriarchal viewpoint. To allow control of the processes of conception and birth is to allow a measure of divine right to women- essentially, authority over creation.

To deny the reality of evolution is to deny the power and autonomy of women. When we recognize mothers on days such as this, it’s important that we not honor them as stereotypes or archetypes, but as the one who created us, who protected us, who sustains us even into adulthood. This further allows us to better appreciate the world around us, seeking to protect and preserve it as we would our mother. James Thackeray said that “Mother is the name for God on the hearts and lips of every child.” It is time that we reclaim the Divine Feminine, within our mothers, within our women and within the very earth itself. The creation/evolution debate is more than a scientific quarrel- it is a battle for hearts of children, the status of femininity, and the direction of our society. When the same debate raged in 1850, after the publication of Darwin’s “The Origin of the Species”, a Unitarian minister named Eleanor Gordon wrote “if all things are really evolving and people are not fallen angels but rather rising souls, then our corporate structure is also designed to reach higher levels. It follows then, that everyone who is a part of this changing universe is a reformer, collaborating with God in the daily process of natural progress.” This is the struggle today: do we view ourselves as capable of becoming more than the fallen creatures that the Religions of the Book hold us out to be? When we look at ourselves or at others, do we see the same hope and potential within that their own mothers see? This is the promise of evolution on the spiritual level- that we are not simply creatures of dust, created by a disapproving, authoritarian Father, willing to disown or even condemn us. Rather, we are the product of a Mothers loving creation and continued hope- capable of rising above our humble beginnings to achieve spiritual significance far beyond what the world expects of us. To recognize that evolution is a form of gestational creation, mimicking or inspiring the processes within our human mothers, is to recognize the potential for Divine Motherhood. And once we view the divine with a feminine face, it becomes easier to see her present in the faces of all mothers, all women. And when we begin to view women as well as men as faces of the divine, then can we begin to create a new paradigm within our religions, our culture and our world.

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The commitment to morality, or non-harming, is a source of tremendous strength, because it helps free the mind from the remorse of having done unwholesome actions. Freedom from remorse leads to happiness. Happiness leads to concentration. Concentration brings wisdom. And wisdom is the source of peace and freedom in our lives."

- Joseph Goldstein ("A Heart Full of Peace")

When I was a free-thinking (albeit “Evangelical”) freshman attending Catholic high school, I was required to take a religious education course wherein my classmates would prepare for their Confirmations while I would basically sit and wish that my church allowed communion with real wine, rather than grape juice. The teacher that year was a former Peace Corps member and radical Feminist who gave us all a dramatically different take on the Catholic doctrine.

For starters, she didn’t feel a need to insure that her students actually *became* Catholic. Instead, she gave the future Confirmands and I a year-long project in two parts. For the first semester, our only homework was to carry around a notebook or small journal, and to write down things that we believed in, as they occurred to us. This could be something as simple as “I believe that murder is wrong” or as creative and discordant as “I believe that if God created mankind, and that mankind evolved from apes; then God must therefore be an ape.” Don’t laugh—that was actually in one of the journals turned in! It didn’t matter WHAT we wrote…only that it was something we truly believed in. For the second semester, she required us to research and delve into various philosophies and world religions and compare their tenents to our own recorded beliefs. Her idea was that we should seek out the spiritual practice that conformed best to our existing personal beliefs; rather than forcing ourselves into the box others had determined we were to be in. If, at the end of this year-long period of research and reflection, you determined that your personal beliefs were most in line with Catholic doctrine, by all means, get confirmed. If not, then no matter how strong the parental pressure or how big the gift checks we received, we should not enter into a commitment of faith that was not in aligned with our ALREADY HELD view of Spiritual Truth. It was through this process that at one point my Freshman year, I looked up from an encyclopedia of world religions and uttered those fateful words: “Oh Shit, I’m a Witch.”

“So,” you’re asking, “it’s a cute story, but what’s the point for me?” The point is that over my nearly two decades as an active member of the Pagan community, I’ve noticed a disturbing and (I’ve come to the conclusion) dysfunctional trend: many people who come to the Pagan faith do so more as a way to define what they’re spiritually NOT than to act upon what they spiritually ARE. Whether they are looking to break away from a Patriarchal or oppressive religious upbringing, or to simply make a statement against the homogenized society we live in, they are drawn to Paganism simply because it presents an alternative (or even an opposition to) to their norm. They feel comfortable here, maybe a tad rebellious; but never really take the opportunity to delve into and draw out what it is they believe in their Deep Soul. 

That’s what this column is for.

To discuss the tenents, practices and yes even doctrines of the various religious traditions that fall under the umbrella of Pagan Religion. To examine with a critical eye the way we interact with each other and also with those outside our community, and to offer the opportunity to really delve into what it means to be a practicing Pagan. Rather than continue down a 40 year old path of reactionary religion, it’s time that we start to define what we believe, and start from there.

For me, as your columnist, this is a slightly deeper and more involved version of that spiral-bound notebook I carried Freshman year. For you? It’s whatever you choose to make of it. It is my role here to examine the Pagan community and it’s behaviors from a global perspective of ethics. It’s your job to determine what you think of my commentary and to begin the process of defining and refining your own idea of what it means to walk a Pagan path.

Will we always agree with one another? Of course not! That’s not the point. Just because my focus is on ethics and morality does NOT mean I aspire to be the Dr. Laura of Witchcraft. This is a personal exercise for me too- albeit in a slightly more public medium. Sure, this is a column for addressing moral and ethical situations you are experiencing—by all means, feel free to contact me with questions you’d like addressed! But ultimately, this is one tool for each of you use as you undertake the deeply personal and private process of taking stock of your own Spiritual Truths, holding them up to the light of discussion (and perhaps even a challenge or two), and then refining your individual practice accordingly.

Let us examine the reality of Pagan life together, to learn and grow both as Priests of the Gods and as a mature, centered religious community.

Let it begin now.

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