I wonder how many other nature-loving pagans have, like me, adopted the Sun and Moon as their personal deities. This divine relationship is sincere, effortless and almost parental-- containing the warm respect, casual cadence and nurturing essence of a bond shared between parent and child.
Daily I look skyward, finding comfort in and seeking guidance from their reliable presence. My Lady Mother calms my often impatient spirit. She blesses and protects my home, my family as she blankets the nighttime lands with her ever-shifting light.
But since the focus of this blog party is the god and not goddess, I nod to her respectfully and move to think upon my Lord, the Sun. I greet him as I rise from bed each morning, drawing in his brilliant energy and asking that he watch over my day as he journeys across the sprawling skies.
Throughout the ages there have been a great many cultures and groups who worshiped the sun as central deity and I’m quite convinced that early Christians also adopted this solar devotion, exchanging the actual planetary body for a relevant human form, a “son” named Jesus Christ.
I think this is why there are so many beliefs surrounding The Savior that coincide with ancient pagan practices linked to the Sun--Though the man Jesus Christ was known to have been born sometime in the spring with the animals of herd, it is celebrated in December near the Winter Solstice, a holiday in the pagan Wheel of the Year when we see the rebirth of the Sun god after his death at Samhain. I don’t believe this to be unintentional and at the same time, I’m not offended or bitter-- I take it to be the normal resulting merge of ideas and celebrations as the segregated peoples of the world began to mingle. I just wish more Christians would come to accept this as well. But, I suppose that’s a topic for an entirely different post.
While I know the Sun and Moon are not themselves great gods, they are my constant connection to a source of ethereal divinity buried within us all.
Here is my comment from Confessions of a Country Witch:
ReplyDelete"The celebration of Christ's birthday circa the birth of the Sun God is anything but accidental. As it happened with many other holidays, Christianity needed something (a big event) to keep those newly converted "happy" and to take some of the shine away from the Pagan celebrations. This might be the reason why Christianity as a whole couldn't couldn't agree on what day to celebrate Christ's birthday, for before the 12th century (give or take a century or two) not all Christians celebrated Christ's birthday near the our witchy Winter Solstice. I read somewhere (I think a was an article from AAR, but I can't remember the title) that Christ's birthday was first celebrated somewhere between spring and fall.
Very interesting post; thanks for sharing."
Thank you Magaly. It's just a little bit amusing, isn't it, when Christians first learn that December 25th is not, in-fact, Jesus Christ's birthday? You see that little bit of wonder slide across their stare-- 'Maybe, just maybe, there are truths in other beliefs and some inaccuracies in my own'.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't mean to turn them away from their faith -- only to realize that, because none can claim any certain proof, all deserve the same respect.
Exactly! I rarely get into debates of what spiritual path is right or wrong, but sometimes it's just hard not to. My brother and I get into it all the time (He is Baptist). He'll say something like "For goodness' sake, your faith is just myth without foundation!" to which I shake my head and reply, "The day you show me a video of Jesus walking on water or doing his legendary necromantic act (Lazarus) I might consider your words as reasonable; not truth, but definitely a reasonable foundation for your intolerant argument."
ReplyDeleteHow amusing -- my brother and I have had the very same arguments! Always with respect and in good fun. Sadly, he recently returned from the military an Atheist. Ironic that I would miss his "here's-why-you're-damned-to-an-eternity-of-hell" ribbing. :(
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