I Surprise Myself
Jan. 21st, 2009 10:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poliphiloYesterday morning we were in Glastonbury.
Glastonbury is one of the two places I think of as "home".
I climbed the Tor as I always do. Dion Fortune says the air at the top is full of sparkles- and I can't think of a better way of putting it. On this occasion it made me feel very heavy and earthbound. I addressed myself to the genius locii and said, "Guidance would be nice".
I came back down and rejoined Ailz and Ruth in the town- and then I surprised myself. We went down a wynd- and there was a shop there called The Witchcraft Experience or something of the sort- and I insisted we went in- and first I bought a pendant in the shape of a viulva- which I wore for the rest of the day- and then an amber ring for Ailz and a pentacle ring for myself.
Will I wear this to church on Sunday?
But of course.
Because Jesus is not enough. He's the god of the public temple I can get to most easily- so convenience comes into it- but I have to say I've never really loved him. Tipharetic Sun Gods aren't particularly lovable. They're too bright and shiny. Did anyone ever love- as opposed to adore- Apollo? I need other Gods in my life.
Especially I need Her.
They have a Temple of the Goddess in a yard in Glastonbury. You go up wooden steps into an upper room. You take off your shoes- as if it were a mosque- and leave them by the door. There was a woman at the back arranging flowers. The shrine is Hindu or Catholic in its over-the-topness, with incense and taped music and lots and lots of images. The central image is a terracotta statue of Herself as Crone in a cloaked hood carrying Her staff. I could look at images of Jesus all day and feel nothing in particular- except admiration for the artistry- but show me any image of Her....
I lit a couple of candles- and promised I'd rebuild our temple at home- in some form or other.
Glastonbury is one of the two places I think of as "home".
I climbed the Tor as I always do. Dion Fortune says the air at the top is full of sparkles- and I can't think of a better way of putting it. On this occasion it made me feel very heavy and earthbound. I addressed myself to the genius locii and said, "Guidance would be nice".
I came back down and rejoined Ailz and Ruth in the town- and then I surprised myself. We went down a wynd- and there was a shop there called The Witchcraft Experience or something of the sort- and I insisted we went in- and first I bought a pendant in the shape of a viulva- which I wore for the rest of the day- and then an amber ring for Ailz and a pentacle ring for myself.
Will I wear this to church on Sunday?
But of course.
Because Jesus is not enough. He's the god of the public temple I can get to most easily- so convenience comes into it- but I have to say I've never really loved him. Tipharetic Sun Gods aren't particularly lovable. They're too bright and shiny. Did anyone ever love- as opposed to adore- Apollo? I need other Gods in my life.
Especially I need Her.
They have a Temple of the Goddess in a yard in Glastonbury. You go up wooden steps into an upper room. You take off your shoes- as if it were a mosque- and leave them by the door. There was a woman at the back arranging flowers. The shrine is Hindu or Catholic in its over-the-topness, with incense and taped music and lots and lots of images. The central image is a terracotta statue of Herself as Crone in a cloaked hood carrying Her staff. I could look at images of Jesus all day and feel nothing in particular- except admiration for the artistry- but show me any image of Her....
I lit a couple of candles- and promised I'd rebuild our temple at home- in some form or other.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-21 02:40 pm (UTC)I personally can't get beyond "god" as a life force or bundle of natural law or Grand Unified Theory of Everything about how the Universe runs, and how that force might polarise itself in people's minds into matter and anti-matter, yin and yang, male and female... whatever. An inanimate thing, not much use praying to it.
But why the god bit should be fulfilled by the person of Jesus I am not sure - some guy in an obscure corner of the Roman empire 2000 years ago - just an accident of history. He did say some pretty cool things though, the Sermon on the Mount is a belter.
I was reading a quotation from Ghandi (was it Seraphim who posted it?) who said he didn't much like Christians, they were so unlike their Christ. That's why I could not get involved with the established Church of our country, or any other, in fact.
We had to go to mass the other night (praying for the soul of my departed mother in law) and the priest asked for donations to some good cause or other. To which my husband and his brothers riposte was - sell some of the antique stuff in the Vatican first, then we'll consider it.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-21 04:13 pm (UTC)I just assembled a little Goddess shrine for myself in the back bedroom. It includes an image of St Catherine from the church at Deerhurst, just south of Tewkesbury. It occured to me after I'd selected it that St. Catherine with her wheel is in fact a Christianized form of Fortuna or Nemesis- one of my very favourite Goddesses.
I love the Sermon on the Mount. It's the genius of Christianity- and Judaism before it- that it harnessed religion to morality. Much as I love the old Gods they were none of them particularly moral.