path_of_one
Embracing the Mystery
I'm not sure where to post this, so mods feel free to move it around if you think it best. I am a Christian and a Druid. I follow Christ and am monotheist (actually, panentheist), but I also honor the spirits of nature. I've been finding a rich tradition in modern Druidry that gives me a framework to make sense of the large parts of my spiritual experience on which Christianity is silent- the communion with nature and animal spirits, the honoring of heritage and ancestors, the enchantment of everyday life. I've often pondered how my belief in God (as a transcendent, genderless all-powerful Being) fits with other elements of my spiritual practice and belief. How is the Divine One that I believe in tied to the trinity of Christianity? To God and Goddess? Is there a connection between the symbolism of the elements/directions/seasons and the aspects of God I have personally experienced? I have been meditating on and praying over these questions for some time, and then I suddenly saw the connections that, for me, tied it together and fit with my experience. I wished to post this and gain (hopefully) some thoughts from both Christians open to panentheism and/or the interrelatedness of God and nature, and also from sundry neo-Pagan folks. I would welcome any/all to critically analyze my thoughts from their own perspectives, both on the subject of God and on the elements/directions/seasons. That said, here goes...
For those who have worked with the elements, seasons, and directions, they certainly make inherent sense. I've only studied in my particular way, so I'm not sure if/how they are different in other traditions, but they are very coherent in my tradition of Druidry. The North, from which winter comes, encapsulates the earth, with its cycles of death and rebirth. The East, the direction of the sunrise, is the place of renewal- of spring and also air, the life-breath of us all. The South, with the heat of being closer to the sun, is the direction of ripening and refining, of both summer and fire. The West, the direction of the sunset, is the place of rest- of autumn and also water, which refreshes and restores.
What of God? My own experience has been that there is but one God- the Source, the All, the Ultimate/Absolute. Yet God manifests itself in various ways, or is perceived in various aspects. The one becomes two- God and Goddess- masculinity and femininity, and for me- the traditions of spiritual learning: knowledge/text and magic/intuition. (As an aside: I mean magic in a sort of vague, all-permeating sense here, a connection to the flows of Reality, to the dance/song of the cosmos in everyday living and not specific practices. By text I mean either oral or written sacred text that gives people spiritual knowledge.) In the union of the two, there is creation. This union foreshadows the unity of heaven and earth, divinity and humanity, the embodiment of the creative force and love, the beings that spring from Being.
What of the trinity? Again, we find unity in multiplicity, and I think it is no accident that the ancient Celts emphasized the number three- that there were triple goddesses like Brigid, for example, as well as the three drops of the Awen and other such connections. In fact, the Celts originally had only three elements (earth, sky, and sea) rather than four.
In terms of God, we have Creator, Word/Christ (eternal logos, generator of unity), and Spirit (divine inspiration).
For those who have worked with the elements, seasons, and directions, they certainly make inherent sense. I've only studied in my particular way, so I'm not sure if/how they are different in other traditions, but they are very coherent in my tradition of Druidry. The North, from which winter comes, encapsulates the earth, with its cycles of death and rebirth. The East, the direction of the sunrise, is the place of renewal- of spring and also air, the life-breath of us all. The South, with the heat of being closer to the sun, is the direction of ripening and refining, of both summer and fire. The West, the direction of the sunset, is the place of rest- of autumn and also water, which refreshes and restores.
What of God? My own experience has been that there is but one God- the Source, the All, the Ultimate/Absolute. Yet God manifests itself in various ways, or is perceived in various aspects. The one becomes two- God and Goddess- masculinity and femininity, and for me- the traditions of spiritual learning: knowledge/text and magic/intuition. (As an aside: I mean magic in a sort of vague, all-permeating sense here, a connection to the flows of Reality, to the dance/song of the cosmos in everyday living and not specific practices. By text I mean either oral or written sacred text that gives people spiritual knowledge.) In the union of the two, there is creation. This union foreshadows the unity of heaven and earth, divinity and humanity, the embodiment of the creative force and love, the beings that spring from Being.
What of the trinity? Again, we find unity in multiplicity, and I think it is no accident that the ancient Celts emphasized the number three- that there were triple goddesses like Brigid, for example, as well as the three drops of the Awen and other such connections. In fact, the Celts originally had only three elements (earth, sky, and sea) rather than four.
In terms of God, we have Creator, Word/Christ (eternal logos, generator of unity), and Spirit (divine inspiration).
- One can conceive of the Creator as Father or Mother or both- but this is still only one aspect of God, an aspect that is beyond all that exists and unique in its eternal nature. Some modern Druids refer to this aspect, what most Christians would call the Father, as the Uncreated One. I think of the this aspect as Creator, both God and Goddess in union.
- Yet there is also divinity manifest in creation, the immanence of God. The eternal Word of God, the source of our understanding. As a Christian, we have Jesus Christ, who unifies humanity and the Divine, arising from a tradition of law and scriptural wisdom. Yet we also have Mother Earth, who bears the "garment of God" for all to see, uniting all creation with the Creative Force behind it, arising from traditions of mystery, magic, and intuition. We have the Word of God (logos) uniting heaven and earth, and also humanity and divinity- eternally giving understanding and providing the path home to uniting with God and all beings.
- Finally, we have the Holy Spirit, who gives us divine inspiration and is the spiritual connection between ourselves and God. In Druidry, we have the Awen.
- Jesus Christ is the "living water," refreshing and restoring us in our life journey. He offers to us the repose of autumn, and the sunset, the ending-point of our existence- unity with God.
- Mother Earth is both literally and figuratively earth, offering to us the lessons of birth and death and the cycles of existence, enchanting us with the mystery of midnight and calling to our intuition.
- Creator (Father/Mother/both) is the "breath of life," animating our spirit bodies as is told in Genesis, just as air animates our physical bodies. The Creator is the place of origins, the beginnings of new life in each sunrise and spring.
- The Holy Spirit, the Inspiration of God, represented by the "tongues of fire" in Acts, the "fire in the head" of the Celtic shaman, the "rays of light" of the Awen, is the fire that refines our souls. The Spirit is the full light of noon and summer that blinds us with God's glory and then ripens us into spiritual maturity.
