Book Review: A World Full of Gods by John Michael Greer

A World Full of Gods: An Inquiry into Polytheism was written by John Michael Greer and is available here on Amazon.  The first thing you should know about this book: it is about philosophy.  It's not about theology, or what do Pagans believe; it's not a book to help you go more in-depth with your practice or to hammer out the finer details of your personal world-view.  It is a philosophy text written in the traditional style of persuasive argument; in this case, the argument for polytheism.

John Michael Greer is the current head of the Ancient Order of Druids in America, a group I don't have much personal experience with but have heard good things about.  He is also a prolific author who has released many Pagan and esoteric titles, and maintains his blog, The Arch Druid Report.  This particular work is a bit of a departure from other things I've read by him; his tone, while remaining conversational and easy to read, is very much rooted in the philosophical tradition.

In the first part of the book, Greer outlines his basic arguments for polytheism, as opposed to either classic monotheism or atheism.  Though the first half of the book does seem to largely digress into discussions of the various arguments for the aforementioned positions, I for one appreciated the basic overview of these classic arguments before diving into Greer's own counter-arguments.  He makes many persuasive points; the main argument being that with so many different experiences of the sacred or deity, it therefor makes the most sense for there to actually be different deities imparting these separate experiences.  He also addresses many of atheism's arguments against theism, and many classic monotheist's arguments against atheism and (misunderstood) paganism, and quite handily shows their inherent flaws when faced with a polytheistic worldview.

I personally greatly enjoyed this book; but I also minored in philosophy at the undergraduate level.  Those more unfamiliar with the discipline of philosophy, or who are familiar but don't enjoy the type of arguments that philosophers frequently entertain, may find this book much less appealing.  For the Pagan who is often faced with religious debates or attacks by Christians or atheists, this book can arm you with some very valuable, perspective-changing arguments that may be of great use if you are interested in engaging in those kinds of discussions.

Overall, I feel this is a very specialized piece of writing that will probably appeal to a small group of the already small group of Paganism; but if what you've heard sounds appealing, you'll probably enjoy it a lot - I certainly did!

X is for.. I'm tired and sick, let's talk about Healing!

For the past week, my family, including three kiddos five and under, has been suffering.  I don't know where it came from or even what it was, but all of us were having trouble moving, thinking, and retaining liquid.  Lovely, I know.

Still in my fuzzy pajamas (that I've been wearing for two days now), I manage the strength to stagger weakly over to my kitchen altar where I keep Brigid's shrine.  Taking a moment to block the air flow to my nostrils so I'm not nauseated by the kitchen food smells, I open my prayer book and scan for something that might work as a healing prayer.  Of course, I've never taken the time to make something like that easily accessible, so I mumble a few words to the effect of "Brigid, please help us!", realize my lighter isn't around, and crawl back to the couch totally defeated.  Not exactly the fantastic, elaborate healing ritual I'd imagined on more healthy days.

These experiences leave me with a few questions.  When suffering from an illness, it can be difficult to summon the concentration or energy make a spell or prayer very effective.  I believe the number one help here would be preparation.  Not preparation of a fantastic, elaborate healing ritual - nobody has time or energy to do that when feeling sick enough to need the healing!  Have some emergency unscented candles sitting in a drawer just in case smells make you feel awful.  Write a short, simple prayer wherever it will be easy to find when you need it, and stick it in there.  Here's a lovely prayer to Brigid from Brigit's Forge by Hilarie Wood:

Be the cross of Bride between me and all bad spirits

That move invisible.

Be the cross of Bride between me and all ill,

All ill-will and ill-mishap.

Be the compassing of Bride around me,

From every spectre, every evil,

From every shame that harmful moves,

In darkness, in power to hurt.

Be the compassing of holy Bride

Shielding me from every harm,

Keeping me from every doom

Coming towards me this day,

Coming towards me this night.

Be the fiery sword of Bride

Defending me from all black swarms,

Be the shield of blessed Bride

Protecting me from all sharp edges,

Be the cloak of gentle Bride

Encircling me.

Be the compassing of Bride about me,

This day and every day,

This night and every night.

One other thing I wanted to mention about healing from a Heathen perspective is this: you don't have to call on a God or a Goddess to help you.  After my disastrous attempt at a prayer to Brigid, I found myself laying in bed and looking up at my ancestor shrine.  If anyone in the world is going to have sympathy for your plight, isn't it most likely to be your female ancestors?  Just as many of us had our mothers care for us when we were sick in childhood, we can extrapolate that feeling to our grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and so on who have passed on.  In Anglo-Saxon, these ancestors are called our Idesa.  Since I'm feeling a bit better this morning, I've taken some time to compose a quick prayer to the Idesa that can be used for a family or modified to fit an individual.

Mothers who mourned when your merry ones were ill,
my children are crying, chilled and feverish.
Help us, heal us, hold us together,
so fit and fierce, we will face the day.

Crafting the Runes: Cen

The torch is known to every living man
by its pale, bright flame;
it always burns where princes sit within.

Today we have another rune with some linguistic confusion and a variety of interpretations.  The Norwegian and Icelandic rune poems named this rune Ulcer, and consequently their poems speak of a dangerous rune.  The Anglo-Saxons, on the other hand, called this rune Torch.

Though we don't have many extant Anglo-Saxon sources, we do know quite a bit about the mythology of their cousins, the Norse.  In Norse mythology, fire holds an exalted place - Muspelheim, the first of all worlds, has flames so hot that there are no visitors.  The place where the fires of Muspelheim came in contact with the ice of Niflheim was called Ginnungagap, and it was here that life came to be.  (Sturluson, The Prose Edda)

Fire also heralds the end of the world, also called Ragnarök; the Gods of Asgard are fated to fight the fire giants of Muspelheim (Sturluson).  It can be both destructive and creative.  The name Torch suggests to me the positive aspects of fire: it is fire contained, controlled by people, and used for the people's benefit.  "The torch is known to every living man," because who in those times could make do without a bit of light to see by or fire to cook on (or, in our times, who in this country could do without electricity?).

One thing this rune does not signify is knowledge!  This is based on a linguistic misunderstanding, where 'cen' or 'torch' is mistaken for 'ken' or 'knowing'.  Instead, we must look to the Germanic understanding of fire as participant in both creation and destruction to understand the torch - creation harnessed to give light and life to humanity.

W is for Winternights

In the waning days of Autumn, those of a Celtic or a more generic Pagan persuasion will often celebrate Samhain near the 31st of October.  Many people following a Northern European Pagan path will also celebrate many of these same themes near this same time - many Heathens call this holiday Winternights.

Historically, Germanic peoples thought of the year in terms of two seasons rather than our modern four (much like their neighbors, the Celts).  These seasons were summer and winter, and were roughly divided between long-days and short-days.  Therefore, one of the most important days of all was the beginning of winter, also known as Winter Day.  The Ynglinga Saga, written by Icelander Snorri Sturluson around 1225 (wikipedia is helpful for remembering specifics), mentions three sacrifices, including this one: "On winter day there should be blood-sacrifice for a good year," (Ynglinga Saga, chapter 8).  Modern Germanic Pagans such as the Asatru have adopted this holiday, though in the Heathen community it becomes more of a harvest and ancestor celebration; actual blood sacrifice being relatively rare these days (Asatru holidays).  The Catholic holiday of St. Martin's Day is thought to be a remnant of this old celebration (Albertsson, Travels Through Middle Earth).  For many modern Heathens, the celebration is held in early or mid-November; for others, it is held in mid-October - the variance of seasons across the Germanic lands makes pinning down a specific date very difficult.

 The Anglo-Saxons, a Germanic people that made England their home sometime in the fifth century, are thought to have held their celebrations near the Full Moon in the month (look here for more awesome AS calendar info), therefor I have taken to celebrating Winternights near the Full Moon of Blótmónað (roughly corresponding to our month of November).  So on Sunday night, my children and I will be cooking a wonderful feast, pouring out some ale to the deities, ancestors, and land wights, and talking about the change in season that has taken over the land.  Winter nights are here.

Just as a note: my Germanic path is rather loose Anglo-Saxon Heathenism, and I am not as familiar with the Old Norse sources as some Asatru or continental German reconstructionists.  So if I have anything incorrect or in a misconstrued context, please let me know in the comments - I'm always open to correction!

Crafting the Runes: Rad

Riding seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors
and very courageous to him who traverses the high-roads
on the back of a stout horse.

The above stanza taken from the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem is one of the more interesting I've read since embarking on this study.  This rune is usually characterized as one of the simpler ones: the translation is "to ride", which often sees it telling of travel, journeys and transportation.  But reading through the various rune poems leads me to believe that this simplicity is rather deceptive.  Consider the Norwegian Rune Poem, which says "Riding is said to be the worst thing for horses", or the Icelandic Rune Poem, which specifically mentions that although "Riding // joy of the horsemen // and speedy journey" it is also "and toil of the steed".

All of these poems have something in common: dual perspectives.  In the Anglo-Saxon, the two perspectives are those of someone indoors, not having to actually face the danger of riding a horse; and that of someone on the back of a horse, taking dangerous roads with a potentially less-than-reliable animal.  The other poems reveal exactly why the horse may be slightly dangerous - while riding can be great for those doing the riding, the animal that has to carry that person is working very hard.

So while this rune is most obviously about travel, riding, and our modes of transportation; I think it's worth considering in a reading that this rune may be trying to show another side to the story.  Consider an outside perspective, perhaps one that is normally overlooked or brushed aside.

High Holy Day Essay: Samhain

I ended up attending a few more functions put on by Pagans of Nebraska, and it was there that I met fellow ADF member Amber Doty, at the time the only other ADF member in Nebraska. We talked about starting up a group, and it was on the 18th of October that Prairie Shadow Protogrove was born. Our first ritual was held at Samhain. Amber wrote the ritual with a Hellenic hearth culture, and the ritual was focused mainly on the Ancestors. There was a processional between two sticks of incense into the ritual area, held in Amber's large and open backyard. After the processional was a brief meditation, followed by prayers of welcome and offerings to Gaia, the Earth Mother. Offerings were made to the Fire, Well, and Tree, Hermes was called as the Gatekeeper, and there was another brief guided meditation for opening the Gates. The Kindreds were welcomed and offered to. For the main body of the ritual, the participants were invited to talk about their Ancestors; Amber told us about a man named Dale, a friend of hers who had passed on but inspired her to found Prairie Shadow Protogrove. The final offerings were made, a favorable omen was taken, and cider was used as the Waters of Life, held up and blessed by all the Kindred. The Waters were taken around the half-circle that had formed, and poured for each person. The Kindreds were thanked, the Gates were closed with another meditation, Gaia was thanked, and the rite was closed.

 This was my first group ADF rite. While it wasn't without its flaws, most of these were natural to a first-time ritual with any group. The energy was not as present as I had felt in other rituals, but no one was visibly distracted or not paying attention. The Fire had some problems staying lit when several offerings were poured on it in a row, a lesson we took to heart for the next ritual. Honestly, it was so refreshing to be doing ADF ritual, pretty obviously written for a group of people, with an actual group of people! I know there are many solitaries who happily use the Core Order of Ritual, but I could never quite make it feel right for myself - but in a group of 10-12, it seemed that just the right dynamics were present. The energy created by Amber and I's excitement at the group's first ritual was strong enough to overcome the hurdles that we discovered along the way.

W is for Web Ritual

A brief introduction: I am a member of Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, a group focusing on recreating (in a modern context) many various religions of ancient Indo-European peoples.  Though it's the largest Druid group in America, until recently (luckily a Protogrove just started in my area!) I haven't been able to attend any rituals with other members.

Luckily for all members outside of driving distance of a Grove, the idea of 'web rituals' was recently talked about on the lists.  Nicholas Egelhoff, a member of the Norse kin (a group within ADF devoted to the Norse pantheon) set up the first 'Druid Moon Ritual' on Google Hangout.  Called the 'Druid Moon Ritual' because of its location on the 6th day of the new moon, about eight people were on video (from different locations!) performing the ritual for a larger group of ADF members.  You can watch the video of the ritual here on youtube.  There were a few technical issues at first (which is why I linked it some 30 minutes in), but overall I felt it was a wonderful success!  The use of more tech-heavy imagery, as well as the invocation of pioneering technology Ancestors, was an amazing touch that really made the ritual work.

Before trying it out, I wasn't sure how to feel about virtual ritual.  On the one hand, coming from a Christian background, I'm used to the notion of believers from around the world being able to 'link together', as it were.  On the other hand, it's a concept I've tried to minimize in my own practice - believing as I do that contact with land spirits is best done on the land, talking to ancestors is best received near their graves, etc; my spirituality is generally more about direct contact than linking energy over great distances.  And yet, once the ritual begun, I largely forgot my misgivings.  The energy did flow.  Though the Kindreds were being invited and sacrificed to many miles from me, I still felt Their presence.

The leaders of the Druid Moon Ritual are hoping to have one each month on the 6th day of the new moon.  If you're interested in watching or participating, you can check out ADF's Google+ page, where I believe more announcements will be made as the time for the next ritual draws nearer.  Personally, I'd like to see as many people as possible - it's a wonderful experience, and I think largely due to its nature, would only become more powerful as more people join in.