Saturday, January 29, 2011

Cult Of The Moon - Hybrid Paganism

Being of 5/8 British 1/8 Irish and 1/4 German heritage I consider myself a kind of mix of Celtic / Heathen origin. I am not bound by these origins though. I grew up in an environment that was an awkward mix of atheism, which I simply define here by a lack of spirituality and Christianity, as defined by the general culture around me. I could, by default, define myself as one or both of those. A further option would be to adopt an entirely foreign religion to my heritage, origins, or surroundings such as Buddhism, Islam, or even Hindu. But the truly Canadian thing to do would be the most multi-cultural thing and that would be to become a hybrid.

I've always told people, particularly Christians, that I am a pagan. I especially loved to say this to those Mormons and/or Christian fundamentalists that often come to your door unannounced, it seems, just to disturb you at the most inopportune times. It had such a bent for the malicious. It was my way of taking revenge on those souls that dared disturb my tranquility with their grossly misguided intentions.

I never quite believed I was pagan. It just seemed to be the default zone I fell into for lack of commitment to any other. I am so not a joiner anyway. But I could believe that, as the definition of a pagan suggests in its broadest sense, that I was of the earth. I began studying religions and the occult, including astrology in my early twenties. Of greatest impact to me was how I could understand things much better if I assigned an elemental quality to them, such as fire, air, earth, or water. The simplicity of this seemed quite pagan to me, and quite natural.

That was also around the time Bauhaus, which I like to call 'the original Goth band' was breaking up and reforming into Love And Rockets and Tones On Tail on one side with Peter Murphy solos on the other. The occult and religious studies, combined with my taste in the Gothic has been a great influence on my spirituality. Its become a real mash up of many European pre-Christian and medieval Christian ideas, Buddhism and even Native American culture.

A very long time ago, I read in some very detailed astrology book about the interpretations of my natal chart. It was said there that I might have tendencies towards creating a new religion. I now finally understand what they were talking about in that book. For now, I give it a name and say it out loud:

My religion is the Cult of the Moon, a highly personal hybrid form of paganism that chooses to not look at the light directly, but to examine the spiritual life in a more subtle, intuitive and reflective way. The darkness is gently permeated by a soft indirect light reflected off the surface of the moon. The Cult of the Moon is timeless, yet defines time as it waxes and wanes in natural cycles. It is clear that the moon worships the earth; if not directly 'of the earth'  it is definitely 'for the earth.' Yet it is more. It is surrounded and defined by darkness. The darkness is infinite. It is everything and nothing. It is the birthplace of creation in all its forms. It is the void, and the moon tenderly yet firmly defines that it is there, even though we cannot see it.

To know and to not know all that there is and to be as close to the origin of creation as I possibly can, this is the Cult of the Moon.

6 comments:

KickinAssTakingNames said...

Sign me up!

I'm a moon child anyway, so this works out perfectly.

Yours in Moon,
KATN

S. Camille said...

Dearest... you are in! Love to worship with fellow moon children.

Yours in moon too!

FreeFox said...

"And tell me, as a pagan, who do you worship?"
"Worship?"
"That's right. I imagine you must have a pretty wide-open field. So to whom do you set up your household altar? To whom do you bow down? To whom do you pray at dawn and at dusk?"
Her lips described several shapes without saying anything before she said, "The female principle. It's an empowerment thing. You know?"
"Indeed. And this female principle of yours. Does she have a name?"
"She's the goddess within us all," said the girl with the eyebrow ring, color rising to her cheek. "She doesn't need a name."
"Ah," said Wednesday, with a wide monkey grin, "so do you have mighty bacchanals in her honor? Do you drink blood wine under the full moon while scarlet candles burn in silver candleholders? Do you step naked into the seafoam, chanting ecstatically to your nameless goddess while the waves lick at your legs, lapping your thighs like the tongues of a thousand leopards?"
(Neil Gaiman, American Gods)

Well... do you have mighty bacchanals? ^_^

S. Camille said...

first tell me what a mighty bacchanal is and then I'll answer. :)

Loved that book btw.

FreeFox said...

The kind of stuff he mentions, I guess, you know, drinking blood wine (or blood, or even wine, as long as it's in copious amounts and as much of it runs down your chin as down your gullet) under the full moon, frolicking naked in the sea foam, chanting ecstatically... anything that Dionysos, an Irish(wo)man, or a Klingon could with awe in his or her voice describe as "quite some shindig".

S. Camille said...

Hmmm... with this description of the term, I'd have to say 'no' I don't have mighty bacchanals unless you included dumping fine wine onto the floor (ground) in honour of Thor before you drink it a mighty bacchanal. I'll leave those to the merry pagans dancing in my sidebar/blogroll. :)