PCon Notes: Earth Based Religion, are we Really?
Panel: Thorn Coyle, Diana Paxon, Z Budapest, Lon Milo Duquette, Orion Foxwood
Being recorded for Elemental Castings, woo!
Thorn got the idea for this at Ivo Dominguez' Between The Worlds conference. Someone asked, what will become of earth-based practices in the future when we're on other planets? Lon said he's part of a solar-phallic cult so it doesn't matter. Hah. Thorn said that her practice is seated in herself, so it's always with her. She's nature-based, and nature includes the whole cosmos, and realms not discovered by humans yet, etc. It's all part of the fabric of God Herself. The theme of Pcon this year is “Back to Basics and the organizers used the phrase earth-based a lot, so Thorn decided to have the panel. Some of us probably are earth-based, but not all. Some nature-based or cosmos-based or or or.
Diana: wrote an article a while back called “They Might Be Giants” about the relationship between the Norse gods and the giants. Stated in the article, “as an earth-based religion, the giants are part of the spiritual ecology and we need to deal with them.” someone wrote in asking whether Asatru was an earth religion. It hadn't occurred to her that anybody would question that, so she wrote another article exploring the idea. Asatru is a reconstruction of a particular religion from a particular space and time. They look at how people then related to their world, and how we can relate to our world now, in a different time and place. One area that needed retraining is in the relationships to the land spirits. Everything that had an identity had a spirit, a wight. We as humans are part of the same continuum of spiritual beings. The earth that heathens are related to isn't so much planet Earth as the-earth-that-we-are-dwelling-upon.
Z Budapest: Comes from women's mysteries: “to me, women are the earth, and whatever happens to the earth happens to earth.” and vice versa. Correct what happens to the women and you can fix the earth. Constant violence against the earth, against women. The media are the powerful ones, because they make/shape opinions. People vote according to their opinion, so the media are the ones who run everything. Sees herself as part of an earth-based religion.
Orion: There's no democracy in the things happening to the Earth right now, we need to either volunteer or be dragged along. Sees himself as a servant of the earth. We're all part of a big family which includes the earth. Earth made us, not the other way around. We're fingers on the hands of creation. Concept: fear of the deep place. Feelings shape who we are and how we think, etc.
Lon!: Read a piece about riding in a cab from the airport to Bristol. Was amazing, many shades of green, etc. “This was heaven on earth. No, this was heaven OF earth.” the Earth is a being, an intelligence, a goddess, and we are all her children. “What more palpable deity could humanity seek?” We must honor the sun, but without earth, there would be nobody to worship the sun. Earth is sunlight made manifest. We embody the secret of spirit's return to godhead. Earth is mother, sun is father. His personal quest isn't earth-based, but he seeks earth and heaven will follow.
Thorn: We are part of a biosphere, but also part of a cosmosphere. If everything has a spirit, nothing is disposable. As pagans, if we see the sacred flowing through everything, why do we have such a disposable culture? How does tech fit into that? If we are nature, then we are the cosmos, and we are divine. How do those three things weave together? If every person comes from woman, and woman comes from earth, than we are all part of the sacred flow. What practices reconnect us to nature, to earth, to cosmos, and how do they help us connect to each other and mend rifts that lead to violence and oppression and pollution?
Diana: a basic concept in the Germanic tradition is the idea of change and balance. We receive so much from the Earth; we must give back to maintain the balance.
Z: sees the Goddess as an invisible web. We can't see the signals traveling through it. When she prays, she addresses the tiniest piece, because it will reach the larger. It's important to connect together, to make groups and families and treat them the way we wish families would treat us. Connection is really important.
Orion: Concept: Reverent Rage. The good piss-off. We must embrace that, not get drunk on our own fear. We're being summoned to the deep place. The horrendous things unusual folks are going through is because we're breaking out of a soul cage. We're being summoned forth.
Lon: the only thing we can change is ourselves. Of course we want to change the world, but unless we change ourselves, we're fighting against the current. If you're not reinventing yourself, you can't reinvent the world. Everything is connected - talks about Enochian magic and the explanations the angels gave Dee.
Thorn: talking about work she's done recently with forest activists in Tasmania. One reason we call ourselves earth-based is because we're not religions of transcendence.
Z: picking up trash is a form of prayer. “People ask me why do you do this? Because mama doesn't like the schmutz on her, that's why.”
Audience member is reminded of Avatar. Wants to know what the panel's responses are to Avatar.
Orion: humanity isn't the source of inspiration, it's the source of invention. People go to see Avatar because they crave both entertainment and the spirituality of it. He's seen rednecks and violators brought to tears by that movie. Avatar reminds people of the connection to the planet they forgot was there.
Diana: It's gorgeous, but we knew it some time ago. It's the rednecks who're weeping over it. But: the more pop culture and paganism can synch up, the more we can amplify their effect. When groups of people get together and visualize the same thing, it gains momentum and power.
Katie's question: exercises to reconnect?
Lon: feels guilty as a ceremonial magician bc he does very little actual ceremonial magick. As far as exercises to connect, his involvement with the Enochian system has been his vehicle for seeing the big picture and getting in touch with individual threads in the big neck. He's sorry it's not enough of a universal system that he could proseletyze it. Has stripped a lot of unnecessary weight off his body, but even more unnecessary stuff out of his mind and soul.
Orion: it's really easy to get distracted and forget. Daily integrative practices keep you from getting drunk on the human world and acting like it's real. Practice: ocean breath. Imagine life is an ocean full of ripples. Hold hands out in front of you. breathe in ahhh and move hands in toward your chest like a wave. Vibrate mmmmmmm with hands over chest, then hands go back out, shhhhhhhhhhh. Lon totally dug it.
Z: talks about a ritual of self-blessing where women confront themselves in the mirror and reconnect with themselves.
Diana: after reconnection and self-blessing, look at the world around you! Magical work is intoxicating. It can be deceptive. If you get too wrapped up in your head and forget to look at the spirit around you... bad. “Think Globally, Act Locally.” Gotta start with the people you live with, the spirits in your house, etc.
Thorn: We must re-member ourselves so that we can re-member the earth and the cosmos. This re-membering starts with our core, our center. Walked us through a centering technique.
Question about how to reconnect to people we disagree with.
Thorn: if we can sit down and have compassion for and commune with all our parts, we can start to do it with all the people in our community. We need fierce compassion, calling people on things so that they can interact with us and all come to the table. Bring ourselves back to the fold, so that we can bring others back to the fold.
Lon: gets lots of email from conspiracy nuts. Writes them back, when he thinks it's safe, that people aren't organized enough to have that much organized evil. But there is a spiritual force behind it that, once that force has been connected with, it organizes on its own, using its own momentum and its own energies, and that is usually greed. All of these things that appear to be conspiracies are not conspiracies, they're just people who are one with each other with greed. Greed is their god. Greed organizes it. If there can be one evil force, one vice in the human character that could formulate such a massive destructive entity, who is loving? Is not love as great as greed? love doesn't seem to have any money, Love is like Jehovah and Jesus: all-powerful but constantly in need of money.
Orion: a checklist! Four things: illusion of isolation, resentment (not the same as anger), the desire to possess, and the desire for absolute rightness. Fear is the fuel of them all. We all have issues. Find where you're out on those four and find a way to fix it.
Z: the earth has its own destiny. We are affected by it, but aren't the cause.
Diana: Ragnarok, or the equivalent, is in most cultures. It's happened many times and WILL happen many times. “but I will be really pissed if it happens early because we upset the balance.”
This is my last PCon post, as I'm not going to be at the rest of the con. Lots to do! Hope these notes have been of interest/use to folks.