SoNGS COMPARATIVE MYTHOLOGY
Copyright 2012 by the Shadows of Nature Guardians’ Steading
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Psychology of Myth
The Awakening
The Founding Imagery
The Female
The Male
Animism
The Birth of Agriculture
Burials
Ancestor Worship
Anthropomorphism of Deity
Receiving the Law
Deity and the Harvest Cycle
The Problem of Creation
Extracting the Elementary Ideas
In the Beginning
The Circle of Life
The Circle is Open
We are One
We are Two
What about Today?
The Gods in Modern Times
Now What?
2
4
8
11
19
22
27
33
36
38
1
Introduction
“And some things that should not have been forgotten...were lost. History became
legend...legend became myth. And for two and a half thousand years the Ring passed out of all
knowledge.” - Galadriel in the opening of The Fellowship of the Ring.
Why start this course with a quote from a work of fiction? It is because Tolkien’s writings are
modern myth. Myth exists and it must exist. Within myth is a statement of our purpose, our
beliefs. Myth is what holds us together as a people. Americans are a young people, though a
more sophisticated people than our ancestors. Our history has not had time to become legend,
and certainly not enough time to become myth. We certainly have the deeds and characters in
our Founding and early history who, over time, could produce a coherent myth. The religious
myth that the majority of Americans hold is that of a people of another place and time. It is a
myth that is failing us. We have nothing yet to replace it.
How myth comes into being is important to understand as best we can. It is a subject still very
much enshrouded in mystery with many answers still waiting to be discovered in the rapidly
evolving field of psychology.
On the surface, myths seem to be about extraordinary people who succeed at doing things that
would be too difficult or even impossible for the rest of us mere mortals to even attempt.
Eventually, one could see where Frodo, Gollum, Bilbo and the rest of the Lord of the Rings
characters might find their way from fiction to legend to myth, becoming Deified in the process
– at least in a less cynical society.
Even in our recent past we see the process by which extraordinary people could become Divine.
We call this process “tall tales’ and ‘boasts”. A tall tale is a story with unbelievable elements,
related as if it were true and factual. Some such stories are exaggerations of actual events;
others are completely fictional set in a familiar place, often with characters that were real. The
line between legends and tall tales is a fine one. And legends become myth.
A boast is often a tall tale about oneself. Consider this speech allegedly given by Davey Crockett
to Congress: “I'm half-horse, half-alligator and a little attached with snapping turtle. I've got
the fastest horse, the prettiest sister, the surest rifle and the ugliest dog in Texas. My father can
lick any man in Kentucky... and I can lick my father. I can hug a bear too close for comfort and
eat any man alive opposed to Andy Jackson.”
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Did Crockett say this? No, there is no more truth here than the legend that Daniel Boone killed
a bear when he was only three. These were exaggerations told about him. In a time when
stories were passed on by word of mouth, how easy would it be for either of these
frontiersmen to become Deified?
Nor do all the subjects of legends need to be real. The legends of Johnny Appleseed, Paul
Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Calamity Jane, etc. could all be candidates for Deification in an earlier time
when history was passed on orally and often embellished in the process. What is important is
not the history behind the myth, though history does give myth more credibility. What are
important are the elementary ideas behind the myth.
We will see that mythological details change from culture to culture and from time to time. But
the elementary ideas behind the myth are unchanging, universal and part of our universal
unconscious. That is the theme of this course.
In the first section of the course, we will discuss the functions of myth, set the stage by defining
what we mean by elementary and folk ideas, and introduce the hero quest: where myths begin.
The next several sections are a trip through time from the awakening of our conscious Being in
the Paleolithic through the Early Iron Age. We will refer to the myths of ancient Greece, Egypt
and Britain, but will not attempt to duplicate the mythology of every Pagan Pantheon. To do so
would take volumes. Instead, the goal is to show the elementary ideas which bind the paths
together in spite of the folk ideas that set each culture upon a separate path. The final sections
are about extracting the elementary ideas from existing myths and how we might bring myth
back into our lives.
This course is inspired by, and in part follows the teachings of, a comparative religion professor:
the late Joseph Campbell. Some of his examples are so profound that we have used them here
as well. Yet, modern research has progressed in the past 30 years and some of his ideas require
revision. We have adapted some of his material as our own but supplemented and updated
much of his outline, and so a debt to him must be acknowledged.
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Psychology of Myth
Myth lies at the basis of human society. World Historian William H. McNeill wrote in The Care
and Repair of Public Myth (Foreign Affairs, 1982) that “A society that does not have a myth to
support and give it cohesion goes into disillusion.” We need our myths, even if they are
statements more of faith than of fact. Myth guides societal behavior.
Comparative theologian Joseph Campbell considered McNeill’s definition incomplete.
According to Campbell, myth serves four functions. The first is mystical. The mystical function
opens up to us a realization of what Campbell called “the mystical transcendent mystery
source”. It exposes us to concepts of Deity and to elementary ideas. The second is the
cosmological function: our image of the world. This view changes radically as time passes,
usually as a result of a scientific progress. It is a perception of what is visible, what appears
obvious to us, and what is influenced by scientific knowledge. The third is sociological: the
validation and maintenance of a specific social order of a specific society. The final function is
what Campbell calls the pedagogical problem: guiding the individual through various phases of
his life. This is certainly a more complete definition of mythological purpose.
But where does myth come from? According to 19th century anthropologist Adolf Bastián, in the
religions of the world, there are certain concepts that appear everywhere. Every human mind
inherits these elementary ideas and therefore the minds of all people, regardless of their race
or culture, operate in the same way. This view greatly influenced Swiss psychoanalyst Carl Jung.
Jung postulated a “collective unconscious”: a repository of human experience. Contained within
this collective unconscious are basic images and ideas that are independent of culture. He
called these “archetypes” and postulated that religious experience is the intrusion of these
archetypes from the unconscious into the conscious mind. Jung did not feel that his mundane
description in any way detracted from the mystical nature of such experience.
But there is more to the creation of myth. Bastián also recognized that history, culture and
environment create variations to these elementary ideas. These he called folk ideas. Bastián
believed that societies develop over the course of their history from exhibiting simple ideas and
institutions to becoming increasingly complex. Thus in theology, we might evolve from
animism, to shamanism, to ancestor worship, to anthropomorphizing Deity (or deifying people).
The belief that each society developed different folk ideas due to their history, geography and
environment requires these ideas to be preserved in the “collective mind” of a particular
people, rather than in the collective minds of all people.
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Bastián also proposed that folk ideas are of secondary importance compared with elementary
ideas, as the elementary ideas in the collective unconscious are the basis for development of
folk ideas. Thus, when we see common threads to mythological themes, we are seeing the
expression of elementary ideas, while the specifics (differences between the Greek and
Egyptian Pantheons, for example) are folk ideas.
Why do the universal themes contained in the elementary ideas occur everywhere,
independent of culture? Jung believed that these elementary ideas are in some way part of the
unconscious. Our experiences are assimilated and interpreted according to these elementary
ideas (Jung’s archetypes). The elementary ideas are then expanded upon by the folk ideas. The
source of folk ideas is the human imagination and culture, whereas elementary ideas likely
come from the human spirit.
Folk ideas therefore, are external to a person and must be imprinted upon him by the culture
into which he is born. Elementary ideas must be inherent to a person’s spirit, or a collective
unconscious that includes all sentient minds – human and otherwise.
Joseph Campbell presents two types of mythology: right handed and left handed. The right
hand path is mythology that keeps you focused on your society and your place in it (the Ten
Commandments, the Egyptian Declarations of Innocence, the Tao de Ch’ing, etc.). This right
hand path is the province of folk ideas. The left-hand path follows the way of your own bliss.
We think of the left hand path as the hero quest (Jason and the Argonauts, Search for the Holy
Grail, etc.). This is a path filled with danger, and one that is discouraged in all societies. Why is
it discouraged? Society is about tradition, maintaining the status quo, and conformity. The left
hand path is about experimentation, autonomy, breaking free of social restrictions. Of course
the two are going to be in conflict. The left hand path carries with it the danger to tradition of
radical change. As an example, think of Jesus as following the left hand path and the Pharisees
following the right hand path. Jesus upsets the social order of the day and therefore creates a
new social order, for which he was crucified.
A hero quest typically consists of four parts:
 Leaving the society where you were raised (Frodo leaves the Shire),
 Going into domains where you interact, often in a hostile manner, with mythological
creatures and Deities (Elves, the Ringwraiths, Gandolf, Orcs),
 Acquiring that which is needed (access to Mordor), often with supernatural help or
advice (the Elven cloaks, his uncle’s sword, Gollum), and
 Solving the problem that required the hero quest in the first place (destruction of the
ring).
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However, in order to solve the problem, the hero must sacrifice his position in society and
become something else. Society tends to have a love-hate relationship with such figures. For
this reason, when hero quests are written into myth, they tend to end rather poorly for the
hero. Frodo sacrificed more than a finger. As he wrote in his uncle’s journal: “How do you pick
up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand.
There is no going back. There are some things that time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too
deep. That have taken hold.”
Many of the Greek heroes also had tragic post-quest lives. Jason brought back the fleece, but
look what happened to him at Medea.
Theseus slew the Minotaur, but lost his father Aegeus when he forgot to change his sails from
black to white (signaling success). Aegeus, in grief, threw himself off a cliff into the Aegean
when he thought Theseus had been killed. Theseus later loses popularity in Athens and is
exiled. He wanders to Scyrus where he is hurled off a cliff by Lycodemes (oh, the irony!).
Society doesn’t like people following the left hand path, and the myths reflect that.
Occasionally, however, someone following the left hand path gets deified and a new right-hand
path gets created in the process (such as Jesus). Even then, it comes with high price (crucifixion
in this case).
So what does this mean for modern Pagans, who, in our society at least, are following that lefthand path? In a very real, rather than metaphorical way, we have sacrificed our place in society
for the hero-quest of the search for our own enlightenment. In another way, we are searching
for that solution to the problem we see infecting our society: disintegration – people need to
experience themselves as members of a single organism and they do not. But our search is
personal; we are not trying to convert society to our ways. It does not mean that history (and
eventually legend and myth) will treat us any differently than the way Theseus was treated.
The above discussion addresses mainly the pedagogical and sociological purposes of myth.
Myth helps to give us a sense of purpose and a place in society. Our sense of purpose and place
springs from the folk ideas incorporated in myth. The cosmological function is easier to
understand. The challenge to mythology is to transcend science in such a way that the myth
can survive advances in man’s understanding of the Universe around him. This is often
problematic, especially if myth was written down by a different people long, long ago in a place
far, far away and is essentially not subject to change. For particular myths to survive scientific
advancement, they must be presented in a way that is metaphorical: containing lessons from
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history or mythology that can be applied to the present time. It must appeal primarily to the
elementary ideas of the collective unconscious. It must answer the basic questions we raised
first in the Seeking course: the nature of the Divine, the meaning of life, what happens after
death, and our relationship with the Universe. Given our advances in modern physics, this is
easier to do today than in any time in the past, yet our old myths have not adapted, nor have
new myths appeared to take their places.
The first purpose of myth, the mystical function that opens up to concepts of Deity, is likely the
least understood of the four purposes. Deity is an elementary idea: it is part of our collective
unconscious. Though not physical, it is real. It is the expression of Deity in our folk ideas that
produce differences in how each of us perceives the Divine. All paths are parallel because of
elementary ideas; all paths diverge because of folk ideas.
Because of folk ideas, religions used to change as the needs of the people changed. One can
argue with some success that radical changes in religion were required when our species
developed from hunter-gatherer to cultivator. Changes almost as radical happened during the
Renaissance, when Greek myth was rediscovered and reinterpreted, and we also saw in the
west the rise of Protestantism. It is equally likely that radical changes will be required as we
evolve in the age we are currently entering – whatever our descendants choose to call that age.
The changes are in folk ideas, not elementary ideas, and myths need to be stripped of their folk
ideas to find the underlying elementary ideas.
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The Awakening
Prior to the evolution of more advanced species of the genus homo, there is no archeological
evidence of religious practice or of mythology. Evidence of religious practice is confined to
three species: Homo heidelbergensis, Homo neanderthalensis and Homo sapiens. It is probably
no coincidence that the three species showing some form of religious practice all have large
brain cases relative to our primate cousins. The Neanderthal brain was a little larger than
modern man’s while H. heidelbergensis was about the same size. Brain size may be an
important factor in developing language skills necessary to convey religious concepts, but may
also be required for development of Bastián’s folk ideas: an essential factor in the development
of myth.
H. heidelbergensis lived in Africa, Europe and western Asia from at least 600,000 years ago, and
may date back 1,300,000 years. It survived until 200,000 to 250,000 years ago and may have
been a common ancestor to H. neanderthalensis and H. sapiens. Some experts believe that
this humanoid acquired a primitive form of language. The morphology of the outer and middle
ear suggests they had an auditory sensitivity similar to modern humans. They likely could
differentiate between many different sounds. Their cranium averaged 1100–1400 cm³,
overlapping the 1350 cm³ average of modern humans.
Recent (1992) findings in a pit in Atapuerca (Spain) of 28 to 32 skeletons suggest that H.
heidelbergensis may have been the first species of the genus Homo to bury their dead. A hand
axe buried with the skeletons is consistent with some kind of ritual offering for a funeral. If it is
so, it would be the oldest evidence of ritual burial. The Atapuerca remains are at least 350,000
years old. Ritual burial implies belief in life after death or some similar form of spirituality.
While there are no art forms conclusively associated with H. heidelbergensis, red ochre has
been found associated with their remains at the Terra Amata excavations in the south of
France. Ochre is an iron-rich mineral used for paints. The implication is that this species may
have had a ritual use for pigments.
While the interpretation of ritual burial in the H. heidelbergensis species is controversial and
has only limited support, what seems certain is that the species did have the brain size and
auditory faculties to be the first species to have a religious or spiritual experience. Neither the
fossil record nor archeological evidence has found any evidence that even suggests earlier
religiosity. This is not to say that other animal species do not mourn their dead. Elephants have
been seen fondling the bones of dead elephants, and some pets do seem to mourn the loss of
their human companions. However, this is not necessarily evidence of religiosity.
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Burial: And in the End….or is it the beginning?
The first infallible signs of mythological thinking appeared with Neanderthal Man. The burials
suggest ritual treatment of the dead. Most animals display only a casual interest in the dead of
their own species. Many even eat the remains. Ritual burial thus represents a significant
change in behavior.
In Es Skhul Cave located on Mount Caramel in Israel, archeologists found a burial with the
mandible of a boar on the skeleton’s chest. Qafzeh cave in lower Galilee contains several
human graves, along with sea shells that had only decorative use and lumps of ochre. The
shells were complete, naturally perforated, and several showed traces of having been strung
(perhaps as a necklace), and a few had ochre stains on them. One of the skeletons was an
adolescent (aged at about 13 years) buried in a pit dug in the bed rock. The skeleton was lying
on his back, with the legs bent to the side, and both hands placed on either side of the neck,
and in his hands were the antlers of a red deer. The hominids at Es Skhul and Qafzeh have been
dated at 80,000-120,000 BCE. They appear to be some as yet unclassified hominid species,
possibly closely related to H. neanderthalensis.
Kebara Cave, also on Mount Caramel, contains several burials dated at about 60,000 BCE,
including the one shown in a sketch below. This burial included the torso of a Neanderthal, a
necklace and portions of a stone tool, potentially presenting an intentional burial with symbolic
meaning due to the removal of portions of the skeleton.
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One of the skeletons in Kebara cave contained a modern-looking hyoid bone. The hyoid bone
aids in tongue movement. The discovery of this bone led its discoverers to argue that the
Neanderthals had a descended larynx, and thus human-like speech capabilities to go with their
auditory sensitivity similar to modern humans. They had the ability to develop a sophisticated
language and, assuming they did, they could have communicated folk ideas.
The oldest known and widely accepted European burial dates to 50,000 years ago, located at
Sima de las Palomas in Murcia, southeast Spain. Here, three individuals, an adult male, a young
adult female and a juvenile, were found buried underneath numerous rocks that were dropped
on them from a height, their bodies in a fetal position. It may also be the first evidence of a
ritual stoning.
The combined evidence from these and other burial sites of similar age suggests that
Neanderthal man had developed the concept of life after death. The use of ochre and grave
goods is suggestive of ritual burial. Further the burial of antlers of a red deer with the skeleton
at Qafzeh is very illuminating. What use would a person have for antlers in the afterlife? Two
possibilities are suggested: that the person would need the antlers for a hunting ritual or that
the person was a shaman and the antlers were part of his ritual garb.
The study of Neanderthal skeletons strongly suggests they had developed language. It is highly
likely that this cousin of our own species had a brain capable of an unconscious that would
house elementary ideas, and the language necessary to develop folk ideas. It is likely, given
these conclusions, that Neanderthal man could have developed a mythology and an
animistic/shamanistic religious belief that was more advanced than its H. heidelbergensis
ancestor but considerably less advanced than its closest relative: H. sapiens.
We have no idea what the folk ideas of Neanderthals might have been. What is clear however,
is that one of the most important elementary ideas of the collective unconscious was welldeveloped in Neanderthal man - that of the existence of a spirit - that the individual has a
continued existence after death. Burial is the first tentative step into the transcendent mystery
source.
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The Founding Imagery
According to Campbell, the human body is the founding imagery of myth. Our first experience
is the mother’s body. The concept of the Earth or the entire Universe as our Mother carries
these early memories into the sphere of adult experience. Getting in tune with the Universe
and staying there is the principal function of mythology, at least for Pagans.
Evidence of the human body in myth first appeared 40,000 years ago, in cave paintings and in
Venus figurines. It is important to note that both appeared about the same time: that one did
not precede the other in the archeological record. They both appeared as soon as our species
emerged. It is as if our entire species was born complete with a collective unconscious and
elementary ideas.
Until very recently, the role of the female has been the creator and maintainer of human life.
The woman was in the role of perpetuator of Nature. The man had another set of concerns.
The man had the roles of defending territorial rights, hunting, preventing females from being
abducted, and a brief role in procreation. He prepared and maintained the relatively stable
conditions in which the female could create and maintain life. The Duality of the Divine
Masculine and Divine Feminine was born out of these traditional roles.
These roles are highlighted in mid-Paleolithic archeological evidence. Joseph Campbell points
out that because of these traditional roles, primitive man had a lot of time on his hands. Except
for brief sexual encounters, most of this time was spent in the company of other men. They
created stuff, including the first religious symbols.
The Female
The earliest known expression of the Divine Feminine was figurines carved of mammoth tusk,
limestone or some other soft rock. They have been found across Europe and into eastern
Siberia. These Venus Figurines, as we call them today, have exaggerated female characteristics:
large breasts, thighs, buttocks and occasionally vulva. Most are free-standing, but some are
carved into rock in caves that show evidence of domestic use. The figures have no face, and
often no head. They have no feet either. Some have been found in place in a niche within the
home cave with their legs stuck into a mound of clay. Presumably, this provided a more stable
base to keep the figure upright. They are always found either in dwelling sites, or in
manufacturing sites.
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The oldest datable Venus Figurine (above) is from Hohle Fels, an Upper Paleolithic cave site in
the Swabian Jura of southwestern Germany, which is known for mammoth ivory carvings and
the evidence of their manufacture. The figurine is dated to between about 35,000 and 40,000
years ago.
Venus Figurines are obvious representations of fertility. Whether they represented the Earthmother goddess at that point in time is debatable. However, one can see the evolution of the
figurines of similar shape through to the Romano-Celtic period where they are tied to Earth
Goddesses. The figure below is from Catal Höyük in Turkey, and shows similarity to both Venus
Figurines and to other more recent earth-mother figures found in Europe. In addition to the
obviously exaggerated female characteristics, this figurine has just given birth (the head can be
seen between her legs). Catal Höyük is one of the earliest known cities in the world, dating to
6500 BCE. Note the lions on either side of the seated figure, suggesting authority.
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The Tarxien temples, an archaeological complex in Tarxien, Malta date to approximately 3150
BCE. The site appears to be related to worship of the Earth-mother, and several Venus
Figurines were found there, including a statue that must have stood three meters high. There is
a suggestion that the shapes of the temples are based on the Venus Figurine design (see
below). The same observation has been made of certain Neolithic structures on the Orkney
Islands, including Skara Brae.
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Though H. Neanderthalensis might have been responsible for some cave art depicting hunting
scenes, nothing has been discovered suggesting they were preoccupied with the Feminine
fertility mystery. There could be several reasons for this.
The periodic state in mammalian females that immediately precedes ovulation and during
which the female is most fertile is called estrus. In most mammals the signs of estrus are
obvious. For example, during estrus, the skin around the female chimpanzee's vaginal opening
will swell noticeably. The swelling will be taut for about ten days before becoming flabby and
then shrinking away again. This signals to the males that she is ready to mate. How much
simpler it would be if human fertility was so easily discerned! We don’t know if our relatives: H.
heidelbergensis and H. neanderthalensis had to deal with this part of the feminine mystery or
not.
Among the great apes, the female in estrus actually solicits copulation. No so with humans. The
males have to guess. Thus, the time of fertility is a mystery to us (at least to us who are men)
and likely was as well to our closest (now extinct) relatives. We may be more confident though,
that they might not have had to concern themselves with the second great feminine mystery.
Only humans and great apes show a true menstrual cycle: one where menstruation is overt.
Many other animals show periods that are essentially non-events. In the case of the great apes,
menstruation comes at a time when they are most fertile. The chimpanzee menstrual cycle is
longer than the human cycle lasting 35 days in the common chimp, and 45 days in the bonobo
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chimp. In orangutans, it is 29 days; in gorillas, 30 days. In humans it averages 28 days – the
same as the lunar cycle. Counting sticks found in the archeological record suggests our
ancestors were aware of this relationship and considered it significant. Thus the symbols of the
Earth-mother are also reflected in the Moon.
There is no reason to think that the menstrual cycles of H. heidelbergensis and H.
neanderthalensis were exactly 28 days, nor is there any reason to believe that those two
species did not have obvious signs of fertility such as our great ape relatives do. If this is the
case (and that is a very speculative IF) then it might explain why Neanderthal cave art reflects
the Divine Masculine while the archeological record appears so far to be silent on the matter of
the Neanderthal Divine Feminine.
Fortunately, nature has provided a means of
compensating for our hidden fertility.
According to Tito Varela, head of the Animal
Biology Department at Santiago Compostela
University in Spain, there is a relationship
between the development of intelligence in
mammals and sexual pleasure. Elephants,
dolphins and the “higher” primates all show
evidence of a well-developed neocortex (the
center of intelligence). And all these species
show evidence of sex being pleasurable
(because all these species masturbate). The
size of the cranium in H. heidelbergensis and
H. neanderthalensis suggest a well-developed
neocortex as well. However, no direct evidence of sexual pleasure had been found in the
archeological record prior to the appearance of the oldest Venus figurines. The artifact on the
left was found at Hohle Fels, the site of the oldest Venus figurine discovered to date. Its
purpose seems somewhat obvious.
One can argue that the covert estrus of the human female, coupled with a menstrual cycle
identical to the lunar cycle and sex as something pleasurable (as opposed to instinctive)
combined with the role of the female in creating and sustaining life, gave rise to the concept of
the Earth-Mother.
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This founding imagery of the Feminine Divine is incredibly important, as it shaped our ideas of
Her as cycling, changing monthly and with the seasons. It also influences how we viewed Her
counterpart - the Divine Masculine.
The Male
The earliest known expression of the Divine Masculine is in the large ritual caves of Europe.
These caves are large, dark and show no signs of human habitation. The consensus of scholars
is that the caves were used for men’s rituals: places of transition from boyhood to manhood,
where they “died” to their dependency on the mother and were “reborn” to their adult roles.
These caves are known for their paintings. The paintings are of god or shaman figures, the
hunt, animals and on occasion, death. There are no female figurines or paintings in these caves.
Recent studies have shown that the Paleolithic paintings in El Castillo cave in Northern Spain
date back at least 40,800 years, making them Europe's oldest known cave art. It is unknown
whether these paintings are of Neanderthal or Homo sapiens origin.
From the very beginning, the concept of a hybrid creature: half
man-half animal was important. The first known hybrid is Lion
Man of the Hohlenstein Stadel – a cave near the factory cave
that also produced the first Venus Figurine and, apparently, the
first lady’s home comforter. The Lion Man is an ivory sculpture
and one of the oldest known sculptures in general. The figurine
was determined to be about 40,000 years old by carbon dating
material from the same layer in which the sculpture was found.
The sculpture is 9.6 cm high, 5.6 cm wide and 5.9 cm thick. It
was carved out of mammoth ivory using a flint stone knife.
There are seven parallel, transverse, carved gouges on the left
arm. A photo appears to the left.
The much younger Sorcerer at the Lascaux cave in the
Dordogne area of France, (a reconstruction pictured below,
left) may represent a Deity. The figure has human feet, phallus
of a feline, antlers and body of a deer, a wolf tail, bear paws
and possibly owl eyes. This site is about 10,000 years old.
Archeological and DNA evidence suggest that the Dordogne
area was where the tribes of the British Isles originated. They
migrated to Briton as the last glaciers retreated 10,000 years
ago, bringing a cult of a horned god with them. Archeological
evidence for the horned god cult includes shaved down antlers
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(to reduce weight) with holes drilled in them in a manner suggesting they were mounted and
worn as a headpiece. Similar cave figures include the well-known figure of Cernunnos (below
right), and Indalo Man (below center) – one of the runes used at Greyhaven.
Indalo is an ancient Andalusian symbol. The original image, dating from Neolithic times, can still
be seen at Almeria, in Southern Spain. He appears as the figure of a man carrying a rainbow
between his hands, alongside figures of animals, horned men, and a number of other symbols.
The name Indalo is derived from the latin phrase “Indal Eccius,” or “Messenger of the Gods.”
Indalo’s original meaning and purpose has been lost, but it most likely represents a Shaman or a
God figure. Today, the figure is closely associated with the village of Mojacar, and is used there
as a symbol of luck and good fortune, and to ward off evil.
These figures are part human- part animal, or possibly part human-part Divine. Scholars have
interpreted the images variously as sorcerers, mythic ancestors, gods, and human hunters in
costume. In the end, it doesn’t matter, for, just like we do today, the human assumes Deity for
the ritual. Shamans dressing as part animal are a common theme worldwide. It represents the
elementary idea of oneness with the Universe.
The final facet of our Divine Masculine discussion is how the Divine Masculine might have been
shaped by development of the Divine Feminine. Whereas She might be represented by the
moon with Her own cycles and changeability, it would be reasonable then to have Him be
represented by the other important light in the heavens: the sun. While the sun does not have
monthly courses, it does strengthen and wane in accordance with the seasons. Thus, in
northern cultures, especially once agriculture developed, the Sun might be seen as pouring His
energy into the earth to promote plant growth. In tropical cultures however, the Sun might be
seen as a destructive force: capable of destroying crops with His oppressive heat. There are oly
a few examples of a Sun Goddess.
What elementary ideas do these founding images convey? The most important one is the
concept of duality: between Male and Female in this case. The Male and Female duality has
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found multiple analogies throughout time. Consider for example, the Taijitu symbol: the most
familiar symbol of the concept of Yin-Yang in the West. This symbol, originally used to convey
the essence of the Taoist philosophy, describes how complementary yet contrary forces are
interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other
as they interrelate to one another. Many natural dualities such as male and female, light and
dark, beauty and ugliness, good and evil, life and death, etc. are tied to this concept.
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Animism
It appears that early humans practiced totemism or animal worship in addition to their religious
burial of the dead and their honoring of fertility. Animal worship during the Upper Paleolithic
intertwined with hunting rites.
The next figure is of a painting in Lascaux cave (left) compared to a mural at Catal Höyük,
Turkey (right). In both cases, the men appear to be hunting deer, the staple of their diet, but
while the mural at Lascaux seems to depict an actual hunt, the one at Catal Höyük seems to be
more ceremonial. There are no obvious weapons involved, and one of the men seems to be
interacting with a second animal, possibly a bear.
Lascaux has one other scene depicting a hunt that appears to have ritual meaning. The cave has
a twenty-foot-deep hole, wide enough for one person to be in comfortably, but little more. On
the wall, a bison is poised for attack. The animal has been wounded by a spear and its entrails
are spilled on the ground. A shaman lies in front of the bison, wearing a bird mask. Birds are a
metaphor for spirit in many cultures. Nearby lies what looks like a bird on the end of a staff.
Note the phallus on the human figure. Men get erections in dream-state.
Archeologically, the bison is not part of the regular diet of the Paleolithic people of the
Dordogne area. This appears to be a dream trance, in which the shaman has ritually
disemboweled the bison to read its entrails. The bird-headed staff perhaps was a ritual
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instrument, and the bison spilling its entrails is an animal spirit encountered and killed in the
other world so that the shaman could divine something from it.
Obviously this is not depicting a hunting accident. The purpose of a ritualistic hunt or cave
painting of a hunt would be to have hunting success. Depicting a hunting accident in a sacred
space would tend to magickally produce more hunting accidents. Nor is it likely to be a hunt.
Certainly contaminating meat with digestive juices would have been a poor hunting technique!
The hunting cults of the world have in common the myth that animals (sometimes willingly)
give their lives in order that other animals may live. In turn, the hunter is expected to honor his
prey so that the prey can be reborn. This is a form of animism: the predominant form of ritual
worship in hunter-gatherer cultures. Animism is the belief that there is no separation between
the spiritual and mundane world. Spirits exist, not only in humans, but in all other animals, and
in some belief systems also in plants, rocks, geographic features such as mountains, rivers, and
springs. This presents problems for some sects such as Jainism, which teaches one should not
kill to live.
In animism, other entities of Nature, including thunder, wind, and the planets also have a spirit.
Some refer to these as elemental powers.
The extent to which rituals were formalized during this period of human development is
unknown. However, cave paintings suggest that specialized practitioners called shamans
appeared very early in our history, and may have even been part of the Neanderthal mythos.
Shamanism is practiced by individuals who have superior access to and influence in the spirit
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world. Usually to reach the spirit world, the shaman enters a trance state, either self-induced or
with the help of herbs. In this altered state of consciousness, the shaman can practice various
forms of magick, including interacting with spirits, performing divination, or healing.
Shamanism existed in many cultures for tens of thousands of years, and was practiced by many
cultures in Africa, Australia, parts of Asia and the Americas up until and past the age of
colonization. In many cultures, shamans wear ceremonial dress that mimics the animals with
which they or their tribes normally interact. There were buffalo shamans on the North
American plains, deer shamans in much of Europe and parts of Asia, bear shamans, etc.
However the bird was a common shamanic creature, possibly because one of man’s elementary
ideas was the relationship between creatures of the air and creatures of the spirit world.
As we saw in Ethics 101, the Insular and Continental Celtic Pantheon started with Gods as being
spirits and powers of nature: Cernunnos, the Morrigan, Taranis, Daghda, etc. Interspersed with
these major Gods are Deities of springs, rivers, trees etc., such as Sullis, Danu, Coventina, Borvo
etc. This is animism: the beginnings of the Celtic Pantheon.
Animism reflects one of our elementary ideas: that in addition to being individuals, we are all
part of a network that includes everything in existence, not only in this world, but in other
worlds (astral planes, dimensions, etc.). This is something ingrained into our unconscious: the
idea of interdependent-relationships. It is why we feel regret at having to kill an animal – even
one in pain that we euthanize (okay, maybe not mosquitos, but certainly more intelligent
species). It is why the ancient hunting cults paid respect to their prey. It is an elementary part
of our collective unconsciousness.
The cave paintings also point to two elementary ideas. The first is that certain people through
their own Will, can interact with the spirit world and influence not only it, but the mundane
world as well. Magick is real. The second is that at least some life, large mammals in the case of
cave art, is sacred, even though life feeds on life.
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The Birth of Agriculture
There is some evidence for what is called forest gardening in many Mesolithic cultures. Forest
gardening was the gradual process by which tribes identified useful species and improved their
habitat while eliminating undesirable ones. Between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago, the
ancestors of modern cattle, sheep, goats and pigs were domesticated. The combined process
of forest gardening and animal domestication allowed man to become less nomadic. The
domestication of animals had a profound effect on Mesolithic mysticism. Hunting cults became
less important, and for a brief period, Earth-mother cults were dominant. It was not to last.
The gradual transition from wild harvesting to deliberate cultivation happened independently in
several areas around the globe between 11,000 and 9,000 years ago. This again had a profound
effect on human life and religion. A steadier food supply meant population growth, and the
need to stake out and defend territory, especially against nomadic tribes. The early civilizations
of Mesopotamia were under the constant threat of raids from the herdsmen of the Arabian
Peninsula and the Indo-European tribes from the north. The Greeks were under constant threat
of the eastern Celts and Slavs. These were battles that eventually both civilizations lost.
However the religious response to the threat was the elevation of a different set of Deities and
different ritual practices. It is in the transition to agriculture that sociological and pedagogical
functions become more important relative to the mystical function, although the mystical
function (and of course the cosmological function) was not entirely ignored.
Burials
There is one function of burials that has nothing to do with ritual or afterlife: a burial declares in
no uncertain terms that this is the land of my ancestors. This land is mine! This was likely not a
motivation for hunter-gatherer societies as they tended to be somewhat nomadic and
therefore could not properly defend the gravesites. It is more likely to be a stronger motive
when tribes began settling down into smaller territories, during the transition from huntergatherer to sedentary agriculturalist. Burial practices of sedentary people included excarnation
and burial in the sleeping quarters of a domestic hut, mummification, and even
dismemberment and distribution of bones throughout the tribe.
There is ample evidence that not everyone was buried in a tomb. In Skara Brae for example,
human bones have been found in the midden heaps surrounding the sunken dwellings.
Presumably, some dead bodies or the excarnated skeletons were just tossed away with the rest
of the garbage. In Egypt, the servants slain to serve the Pharaohs in the afterlife did not receive
the same treatment as did the Pharaohs. Clearly, some people were valued more than others,
and some people were not valued at all.
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Agriculture also created the need for greater organization of political power and the creation of
social stratification. It bred immobility, as populations settled down for long periods of time,
which led to the accumulation of material goods. Pottery, too heavy to be carried by nomadic
tribes, became commonplace.
Like their human counterparts, Deity became more materialistic and political. Compare the
6000 BCE Catal Höyük Venus figurine to the 100 AD figure of Cybele: an Anatolian mother
goddess (below). Both came from the same area of present-day Turkey. There is archeological
evidence suggesting Cybele evolved from the goddess represented by the Catal Höyük figurine.
The figurine was carved with natural proportions, and the presence of the lions on either side is
retained. Both figurines are believed associated with mountains, and by extension, the Earth in
general. However all suggestions of fertility are gone from the Cybele figurine and she wears a
crown reminiscent of a defensive wall surrounding a city. This figurine exudes not fertility, but
authority. It serves to demonstrate the social and pedagogical functions of myth. The mystical
function is not readily apparent.
Early warfare tended to be brutal. Through the early Roman period, losing a war often meant
your city was razed and the more desirable women and children taken as slaves. Everyone else
was put to death; that culture was eliminated from the face of the Earth. Concepts of Deity
were reflected in the need for defense. The Gods became more brutal; the fertility cults,
though still important, became subordinate. Nothing is fertile if everyone is dead. Just ask the
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Carthaginians or the Trojans! Warrior Gods and Goddesses became more important. This was
not a matter of conflict between the sexes: it was necessary for survival.
Ancestor Worship
It is a small leap from the burial of favored ancestors to ancestor worship. Obviously, if one is to
go to the effort of burial, including the sacrifice of wealth in the form of burial goods, the
person being buried must have been loved or respected for whatever reason. Otherwise, throw
that person in the midden heap!
Ancestor worship is an important part of religious practices in the Far East. However, it was also
an important part of the Celtic tradition as well. At the Battle on Culloden Moor in 1745,
Scottish Highlanders, as tradition required, recited their ancestry as part of working themselves
into a battle rage. Some cited ancestry going back hundreds of years.
The arrival of farming in the British Isles also brought the process of excarnation: the procedure
of placing corpses on raised platforms to be stripped of the soft parts by carrion birds. Only a
select few appear to have been buried after excarnation (and often in the raised ledges used for
beds in round houses) while many more seem to have been thrown into midden heaps. Burial
mounds were placed to mark territory: an important consideration during the transition from
hunter-gathering to agriculture. What is interesting is that the skeletons from this period show
differing degrees of weathering, suggesting perhaps a common burial date when the veil
between this world and the Afterlife was easier to penetrate. In Cladh Hallen in 1500 BCE,
bodies were mummified by placing them in bogs and then were kept above ground for 300 to
500 years after death before they were finally buried. These are all examples of veneration of
the honored dead.
An important non-religious function of ancestor worship is to create or strengthen social
cohesion at every level from family to the largest political entity at the time. So of course,
political entities got involved: they needed to be venerated as well. Thus, Pharaoh becomes the
representative of Osiris and a God Himself. Caesar proclaims Himself God. The ancient Kings of
Kings in Persia declared themselves Gods (Darius, Xerses). Even the Catholic Church is not
immune from ancestor worship. They have their saints. Christian kings, while not self-declared
Gods, did hold themselves out as God’s representative on earth – kind of setting themselves up
like a tribal God. Thus, the distinction between the religious and the political became blurred.
The politicization of myth is part of the pedagogical function of myth.
Veneration of the dead, from Neanderthal burials to the present day, reflects what is probably
the most important of our elementary ideas: that the dead have a continued existence and/or
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possess the ability to influence the fortune of the living. In some cultures, ancestor veneration
is to ensure the ancestor’s well-being (like Mormons praying for the salvation of their
ancestors). In others, the ancestor is thought to have the power to intercede on behalf of their
descendants either to petition Gods or to grant favors directly.
An equally important elementary idea expressed by ancestor worship is the concept that the
dead not only can survive the end of mortal existence, but do so with their personal identity
intact. Otherwise, why would they and how could they intercede on our behalf?
It is not only kings and pharaohs that pass through the Veil and live on after death. Egyptian
religious beliefs included not only the survival of the soul, but survival of the physical
receptacle. Thus mummification was so important. But the religion also had a backup plan for
those who could not afford such a spectacular tomb as Pharaoh. The portraitures common in
the tombs of the upper and political classes of Egypt represented their physical receptacle.
Below are hieroglyphics from a tomb in Saqqara. The tomb is where two brothers, both
merchants, were interred with their families.
According to the guide at the tomb, this particular tomb has friezes (below) that suggest the
brothers closely identified not only with Horus and Isis, but the implements pictured provide
insights into their actual professions.
25
Of course, the servants killed and buried with Pharaoh or with other important people must
also have continued existence after death, if for no other reason than to serve their masters.
The elementary ideas associated with ancestor worship are the most important ideas of the
collective unconscious:
1. The existence of spirits and a spirit world.
2. The continuation of personal identity.
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Anthropomorphism of Deity
It is important to realize what a profound effect that the rise of agriculture, and therefore the
emergence of cities had on humankind’s view of Deity. The timelessness of the Nature religions
based on fertility and hunting give way to historic processes. Civilization begins to emerge.
Pedagogical and sociological functions of myth take center stage, at least for those needing to
maintain control.
The most important effect on the concept of Deity was the tendency to anthropomorphize the
Gods and Goddesses: to assign the characteristics of Deity to a human figure. Ancestor worship
was a transition from Nature religions to the polytheism of the Greek, Egyptian, Celtic and other
polytheistic societies. It is again a small leap of faith from ancestor worship to the belief that
ancestors may ascend to become deities themselves, and not necessarily minor ones. Religion
and religious mythology, evolved.
Civilization changed Deity. The most obvious change took place in Greece, where the Olympians
overthrew the Titans. Yet Greece is not alone. In Egypt, Goddess figures can be found dating to
6000 years ago. Then about 3200 BCE, Ra, Nut and the other elemental Deities took a back seat
to Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and their progeny.
So who were these Deities: Osiris, Isis et al.? All
four are direct descendants of Nut (sky Goddess)
and Geb (agricultural God). Osiris is often depicted
as in the picture on the left. Here he is wearing the
crown of Upper Egypt, suggesting he was originally
an Upper Kingdom king. He holds in his right hand
the shepherd’s crook, symbolic of pastoralism and
protection. This is important, as the right hand is
the power hand. In his left hand he holds the grain
winnowing whip, symbolic of agriculture and
discipline.
Osiris does not appear to have any shamanistic or
spiritual associations that can be traced back to
pre-dynastic times. He was a person, a king who
was deified. What is important to us about the character of Osiris is that he died, but his spirit
lived on as the judge of the dead. This is the basic elementary idea of death and rebirth
27
common to all of us, wrapped in the folk ideas of early Egypt and evolved from even earlier preagricultural shamanism.
Osiris’ twin sister and queen, Isis and her
younger sister Nephthys are often depicted as
winged; strongly suggesting they were spiritual
creatures. To the left is a broken ivory fragment,
presumably carved by a Phoenician, showing Isis.
The wing on the left part of the fragment is
different, suggesting a different figure, possibly
Nephthys. This symbolism suggests perhaps that
they were spirits with which the males
communed, or perhaps shamans themselves who
could commune with spirits. Certainly the myths
suggest that Isis was a very powerful magist,
considering how many times she had to find and
reassemble Osiris! Neither Goddess is shown on
any surviving artifacts with any obvious
exaggerations that would suggest fertility, nor has
archeology revealed any evidence of them being
descended from the earlier fertility figurines.
In fact, Isis may be a proto-dynastic figure, and possibly even a Goddess of that period. In
artifacts, she is usually depicted as on the right (below). She wears cattle horns, suggesting
perhaps a tie to the proto-dynastic herding cultures of Upper Egypt. Was she also Osiris' wife in
Her human reincarnation?
The cobra on the crown is interesting. There is an earlier Goddess, Serket, who is also from the
proto-dynastic period. She is the goddess of healing poisonous stings and bites in Egyptian
mythology and was associated with the scorpion - and the proto-dynastic Scorpion Kings. She
could cure scorpion stings and snake bites. Early Pharaohs considered her their patron (thus
Scorpion Kings). Serket also was a protector of the dead, just as Isis was. Eventually she became
regarded as an aspect of Isis, but maybe that ought to be reversed. Maybe Isis is a reincarnation
of this original patron and protectress of Pharaoh.
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The younger brother Set (on the right), is the God of the
desert and storms, and of chaos and destruction. He is
depicted as a composite creature of the desert: part man,
part jackal, part ass, part aardvark. Set is also depicted as
a guardian of Ra’s barge during its passage through the
Underworld (or through Nut’s organs).
There is some evidence that Set might be the historically
oldest of the four, appearing early in the proto-dynastic
period. His half-man, half-animal appearance is
suggestive of a Mesolithic period shaman, and the
animals chosen seem more typical of the desert nomads
than of the Nile Valley. Hence, it is possible that Set was an
ancestral shaman of Upper Egyptian people (the Naqadan or
Badarian cultures) prior to their settlement in the Nile Valley.
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During the pre-dynastic period, many people identified with the totem animal of their place of
birth. The original pharaohs were from the Upper Kingdom, and were closely associated with
cattle goddesses. They were likely descended from the Badarians. The Badarian people lived in
Upper Egypt, on the eastern bank of the Nile, from approximately 5000 BCE to 4400 BCE.
Though they were a semi-nomadic people, they formed small settlements and began to
cultivate grain and domesticate animals. The Badarians are thought to have originated in the
western deserts. They were a war-like people that eventually conquered Lower Egypt and
started the Dynastic Periods. Set might be a composite of ancient Naqadan or even Badarian
monarchs or shamans.
Again, a number of elementary ideas emerge.
1. Life comes out of death.
2. The dead continue existence and have the ability to affect the fate of the living. Osiris
presides over the weighing of Pharaoh’s (and others) heart against the feather of Ma’at.
3. There is a spirit world. Even though tombs were furnished for Pharaoh’s life after death,
there is still the journey down the Nile to the spirit world.
4. Extraordinary people can assume the aspects of Deity and interact with mortals as such.
5. Magick is real and can be used by those who have the ability to influence the mundane
world and presumably the spirit world as well.
Unlike the Egyptians who kept the older Gods while incorporating new Gods that may have
been derived from older shamans, the Olympians actually overthrew and imprisoned the old
Gods – the Titans – and established Their own religion. The Olympians came from many
sources: local Deities and imported ones were combined. They have a genealogy, just as we
would suspect if They were once humans who were deified (see http://ludios.org/greekgods/).
In the British Isles, one of the most widespread of the original Celtic Gods Beli, (a.k.a. Belenos,
Bel) became the first corporeal Being and sired the clans of Danu and Llyr. A number of the
early Celtic Deities were incorporated into this genealogy, while others were not. In Ethics 101,
we talked about the stories composing the Book of Invasions. From this period we get the
origins of the story of Lugh and Tailtiu, the Fomorians and Fir Bolg and possibly most of the
stories of the early Irish kings. In the Book of Invasions, these people may have had magickal
abilities, but they were clearly humans. As their stories became embellished, they took on
qualities of Deities. They became Deities – or the Deities became them. You can research the
genealogies of the Welsh and Irish Gods and Goddesses at
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/genealogies/genealogies.html.
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Receiving of the Law
One of the more important implications of civilization was the need for law. Law that was
Divinely ordained obviously would have more impact than the laws of men. Thus we had,
starting about 4000 years ago, evolving folk myths about lawgivers and law receivers. In what
might have been the first example, the Babylonian King Hammurabi received the law from Sun
God Shamash (Who then became the God of justice). The preface of Hammurabi’s Code states
that he was chosen by the Gods of his people to bring the laws to them. Of course, this is how
one would go about establishing law; mere mortals may be overthrown or die, but it is unwise
to go against the Will of the Divine. Similarly, Moses received law from Yahweh; Mohammed
from Allah, and so on. The spiritual ruler thus became the secular ruler. This situation continued
well into the Renaissance.
The receiving of law from Deity is more than a political power grab. It is the prime example of
myth fulfilling its sociological and pedagogical functions: the validation and maintenance of
social order and the guiding of the individual through the various phases of his life. This is the
foundation of ethics, be it the examples already cited, the 613 commandments contained in the
Torah, the Egyptian Declarations of Innocence, or some similar set of values.
Deity and the Harvest Cycle
Where agriculture is the base, the Goddess is going to be the primary mythological figure. The
rise of cities resulted in divisions of labor far more sophisticated than had existed previously. If
you were a blacksmith or merchant, you would need a Deity with which you could more closely
identify. If you were a soldier, you wouldn’t find yourself relating to a fertility figure. Yet,
agricultural Deities remained important, as a large percentage of the population were still
farmers.
Not all agricultural Deities were female. Again looking at Egypt, Pharaoh carried two tools: the
shepherd’s crook and the winnowing whip. As an interesting aside, note
that Ramses II pictured here (and Tutankhamun also) carried the winnowing
whip in his right hand and shepherd’s crook in his left. This is the reverse of
how Osiris is seen carrying the same implements. This might be a result of
the religious crisis caused by Akhenaten during the 18th dynasty. Aten was
the solar disk around which Akhenaten tried to build a monotheistic religion.
Akhenaten’s son Tutankhamun restored the ancient Gods, but changed their
primary deity from Aten to Amun. So Aten Ra became Amun Ra. The whip
represents discipline; the crook protection. This subtle change from
protection to discipline can be seen in many cultures, including our own.
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In ancient Greece, planting was in the fall: harvest in the spring. The grain was stored in the
ground in pots: in the keeping of the Underworld until planting. Demeter, an Earth Goddess,
would give the fruits of the harvest to the Underworld God Hades for safekeeping. Hades would
return the grain to Demeter for planting in the fall. The symbolism of life coming out of the
Darkness is a common mythological theme. Later, the grain was symbolized in human form:
Persephone.
Any doubt that Persephone represents
death and rebirth can be dispelled simply
by examining surviving Greek art. On the
left, in a frieze presently in Reggio Museo
Nazionale, Reggio, Italy, we see
Persephone and Hades sitting on a throne.
Persephone holds a hen and a sheaf of
wheat. Hades has a bowl and sheaf of
asphodel: a flower both representative of
the Afterlife and sacred to Persephone.
This implies even the God of the
Underworld respected the circle of Life that
Persephone represents.
The use of agricultural imagery to give a
spiritual message: death and rebirth, the
cycle of life, the unity of body, mind and
spirit are some of our elementary ideas.
It is in fact, the best example of the elementary idea that life comes out of death; that death is a
sacrifice for life. There is a circle of life, death and rebirth. All that falls will rise again. It is the
strongest of all our unconscious elementary ideas. It is present in all Western cultures evolved
from agricultural societies, including Wiccan and Asatru symbolism. The cycles of the Lady
through Maiden, Mother and Crone, the annual death and rebirth of the Lord, all echo in the
ancient religions of the Western World. Squirrelly Productions makes extensive use of
agricultural metaphor in its own rituals.
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Creation
The issue of creation is one that most Pagan paths don't address that well, but the concept is
important to the Abrahamic faiths. In fact, of all the creation myths world-wide, the Abrahamic
myth, in spite of all its inaccuracies, probably comes closest to current scientific theory.
Creation will be addressed more thoroughly in a Apprentice course called Science and
Theology. However, the concept needs to be addressed here as it reflects one of our
elementary ideas.
Is there a Creator-Being? Did some Being exist as the Word and say "Let there be Light"?
Science tells us that matter and energy are created by division. Out of nothing came particles
and anti-particles, energy and anti-energy. This happened in a time so brief it defies our
imagination. There are 1088 subatomic particles that were created in something like 10-23
seconds! That is an unimaginably large amount of particles being created in an unimaginably
short amount of time. Time and space were also created in the same event. Then something
happened to cause the antiparticles to “go away”. Science isn’t clear what happened and
arguments for field fluctuations and random variances seem weak. Maybe the antiparticles are
in another dimension – maybe even in a separate, parallel universe. If so, what happened to
antimatter is a question science may never be able to answer.
All these particles and this energy that exists in space-time coming into existence at the same
instant seem to be almost infinitely improbable. Something happened. Did it take sentience?
The creation of particles and antiparticles has been demonstrated scientifically, and is
happening naturally, though usually in extreme environments like the event horizon of a black
hole. This is a real phenomenon. It does not conflict with conservation of mass and energy laws
we all learned in elementary science classes because within the duality of the particles created,
balance is maintained.
Anyway, there is plenty of evidence that the Universe came into Being about 13 billion years
ago. How did it happen? If we study Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica, we find a rather
fascinating concept proposed: that the Creator God is altogether outside of time; as time is part
of Creation. By logical extension then, the Creator God must be outside of space. Realizing that
in order to have created space-time, He must have existed not only outside of space-time, but
in a place that existed before He created space-time. (Language fails us a little here, because
we are talking about a time before time existed, but I think most can get the concept.) Based on
this concept, presented by Aquinas, we have to conclude that the Creator God is outside of and
separate from Nature.
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The next logical conclusion is that our universe was not created from substances outside of our
space-time, so we, or anything else in this space-time, cannot be considered part of the
Creator-God. That which makes our mind and our spirit was created here, not from a source
outside. We are not part of God in the same way that anything we create is part of us. So here
we have a separation between Deity and humanity that most Pagans do not feel.
The concept of creation and the possibility of a Creator-God coupled with scientific evidence
might present a theological conundrum for modern Pagans. How do we, as Pagans, reconcile
the scientific evidence of a beginning with our theological worldview of birth, death and
rebirth?
The above argument is based solely on the Christian concept of the Supreme Being. There are
other spiritual beings however that are definitively part of our space-time. In Christian myth,
these are angels and demons. In the 4th century, Pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite wrote De
Coelesti Hierarchia. In his celestial hierarchy Pseudo-Dionysius organized angels by three
spheres, each containing three choirs. In the 12th century, Moses ben Maimon, a rabbi and
Jewish philosopher proposed a similar hierarchy, but he included a 10th class: Ishim – man-like
beings.
These Judeo-Christian classifications may easily be applied to many, probably most, Pagan
Pantheons. The first sphere lies outside of our space-time. In the second sphere we can place
elementals, location deities, patron deities and deities associated with natural phenomena. In
the third sphere, we might find our Divine royalty, perhaps the triple goddesses. We also find
tribal gods and spirit companions. The 10th class is filled with all the ethereal beings that we
share this universe with: from the fairies to animal spirits to wood nymphs and the like. They
are all there. Though the Abrahamic faiths might not agree, these are powerful Beings – the
Gods and Goddesses of this reality.
There are other possibilities that science has postulated are real. They include interaction with
other dimensions (which some call astral planes) or in scientific jargon, other branes. These
possibilities are likely forever closed to scientific investigation because we cannot perceive
them, except maybe at the spiritual level. The spirit world need not be outside of our universe.
It may exist in one or more of these other dimensions. So the numbers of possibilities are
limited only by our imagination, psychic abilities and scientific limitations.
What about a Creator God? Maybe there is One; maybe not. Maybe that Entity can interact
with this reality, or maybe not. It would seem however that the denizens of this reality cannot
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be removed from it to be with that Entity if indeed, according to a combination of science and
Abrahamic theology, it requires our spirits to leave this existence (including the unseen realities
dictated by modern physics). It might be that the Creator doesn’t matter. You decide.
What elementary ideas are here, buried in creation mythology? Science dictates a beginning,
but not an end. After creation, the cyclic nature of mythology became dominant. We had a
beginning. We came into existence from nothing. But we may not have an end.
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Extracting Elementary Ideas
It is myth that provides the link between the outer world and the spiritual world. Elementary
ideas are part of the unconscious which is our brain’s link to that spiritual world. Campbell
would advise: “do not lose the message in the symbol.” Do not lose the elementary idea in the
folk idea. The folk idea, the myth, points the way to the elementary idea. One has to approach
the mythic with the idea that the folk idea is going to be somewhat metaphorical. Unwrap the
myths and you find the elementary ideas. What are these elementary ideas? Below, we break
the ideas into five categories and summarize each.
In the Beginning
The inescapable evidence from science is that there was a beginning to our Universe. We came
into existence, but not completely formed, as the myths of the monotheistic faiths postulate.
We have been recycling and evolving ever since. Pagan myths do not address this concept very
well at this time, but it is a very basic elementary idea. It is often the first question on a child’s
lips: “Mommy, where did I come from?”
The Circle of Life
Probably the most important of the elementary ideas is that life does feed on life. Life comes
out of the death of something else; that death is a sacrifice so life can continue. It is a circle:
life, death and rebirth. All that falls will rise again. This very basic elementary idea is older than
our species.
However, even though life feeds on life, the elementary ideas argue that all life is sacred and
must be accorded its due respect. One can argue the life of a human is much more valuable
than the life of a squirrel and a life of a squirrel is more important than the life of a bug, but
each life is due the respect that it has earned (or lost).
Between lives, we exist as spirits, in a spirit world (or worlds). The dead have a continued
existence in which they have some ability to influence the world they left behind. The dead not
only survive the end of mortal existence, but do so with at least part of their identity intact.
There is a unity of mind and spirit that survives after the unity of body with mind and spirit is
broken.
The Circle is Open
In myth, some extraordinary spirits can assume the aspects of Deity, and in this role have
greater influence over the mortal sphere. Rather than being reincarnated as humans, these
individuals advance to another level of existence – disembodied, yet real.
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The existence of spirits in another dimension that affects ours, however that existence is
perceived in a folk idea, requires interaction between these different realms. On a spiritual
level, there is no separation between the spiritual and mundane world, but in our mundane
existence, it takes effort to communicate with the spirit world(s). Some are better at this than
others.
Spirits are not confined to spirit world(s) in the same manner as flesh is confined to the
mundane world. Spirits can and do enter the mundane world. They are transcendent and
immanent.
We are One
However, in addition to being individuals, we are all part of a network that includes everything
in existence, including unseen realities (astral planes, dimensions, etc.). The energy that is
within you is part of the energy of the universe. We are One. It is like the energy field of
another modern myth: “It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and
penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together... Partially through the unconscious, it controls your
actions, but it also obeys your commands.” – Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars IV – A New Hope.
By extension of the above elementary idea, the network that we are all part of is the reason
magick works. Through our Will, we can influence the Universe around us. Not perfectly, and
not completely, but we can and do control our own destiny.
We best serve ourselves if, through intention and action, we align ourselves with what we
perceive as good. This is not the same as Light. Through the network, our actions have a way of
returning back to us, or accumulating credits for or against us. Elementary ideas all embrace
this sense of action and reaction. Some call this karma; some call it fate.
We are Two
Duality has been an elementary idea since the dawning of our species. Like the Universe, we are
a mixture of Light and Dark, male and female. Once you leave transcendence, you encounter
duality.
There are likely more elementary ideas, but these are the ones that appear most frequently in
mythology. These are the ones we need to unravel from the folk ideas. We need to understand
and embrace them.
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What about Today?
The biggest social problem facing the world today is one of disintegration – people need to
experience themselves as members of a single social organism and they do not. There is
nothing wrong with celebrating diversity, but we need to reconnect with the elementary ideas
that bind us together. In this, we have not been successful. Unfortunately, with the rejection
of myth, we are unlikely to be successful.
Paganism, as with the religious traditions developed by the Abrahamic faiths, suffers from a
lack of cohesive, believable myth. McNeill’s definition of myth can include all forms of
knowledge, including scientific knowledge. This is an important point, addressed in depth at the
Apprentice level. If myth conflicts with believed science, myth fails. Thus the old mythologies
have to be viewed not as fact, but interpreted as metaphor, if they are to have modern
meaning. Many cannot see myth in this manner.
Modern Atheism rejects the possibility of the mystical function of predominantly Christian
myths because of the failure of the cosmological function of those same myths. It tends
however, to keep the pedagogical and sociological functions, not as the derivations of Divinely
ordained law, but under the guise of concepts such as objective morality. This is a problem. It
was shown in the ethics course that objective morality is equivalent to Deification of morality.
Like Deity, pedagogical and sociological functions will evolve. The danger is that, unlike
Paganism which also rejects those same derivatives, Atheism today tends to embrace
entitlement and social responsibility over personal responsibility.
What about mysticism? Where are the elementary ideas? Atheism has none. This is the
danger, for without the cycle of life: birth, death, rebirth, where is the incentive to align with
the Light? Where is the incentive to walk a path of Ethical Egoism tempered with utilitarianism?
Pagans rightfully point toward how many people have been killed in the name of one JudeoChristian religion or another over the past 2000 years. Yet, if we consider how many people
have been killed by Atheists such as Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, etc., in less than 100 years, we see
exactly the same pattern. Failure to embrace the mystical function often results in
consequentialism or nihilism.
We have to consider not the detail, what we have called folk ideas, but instead consider the
general: the elementary ideas common to our collective souls. The scientifically undermined
myths that attempted to make the past useful by describing large-scale patterns in science and
history need to be revisited with the understanding that beneath the metaphorical folk ideas
are useful and valuable elemental ideas that apply to us all, here in the modern world.
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And we need myths. In his last series of interviews on PBS before his death, Campbell often
cited the first Star Wars trilogy as an example of modern mythology. Campbell had a profound
influence on George Lucas and it showed. Like The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars had all the
elements of a left-handed path: the hero quest we discussed at the beginning of this course. A
strong mystical theme is what separates Star Wars from The Last Star Fighter. The former
touches our group unconscious; it links us to the transcendent mystery source in a way other
action-adventure stories do not. This was the source of its immense popularity. We are not
advocating the worship of The Force or Deification of Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, but the
phenomena does point out that even today; unconsciously we are looking for relevant
mythology and the elementary ideas that bind us all together - even Atheists. As a people, we
are not finding common elementary ideas, so we need to find them on our own paths.
The Gods in Modern Times
The universe has been evolving and recycling ever since creation. Why should Deity be any
different? The Gods change, adding attributes and characteristics that stand in stark contrast to
how those Gods were originally worshipped. Other Gods get swept up in the flow of history,
Their worship perhaps absorbed into that of another Deity. Others are lost entirely.
There’s a natural tendency to think of the Gods as changeless, but the worship of Deity has
always changed. The Greek Goddess Aphrodite is a perfect example. She changed through
several reincarnations from a Cypriot bird-goddess to the Goddess of Love. Cultures change
and grow, and Deities must change or risk losing relevance. None of us are worshipping Deities
in ways that Their devotees two thousand years ago did. Most of us do not even conceive of
Deity the way our ancestors did – not even Catholics!
The Morrigan is another good example. In ancient times She was a Triple Goddess and a very
dark One. She was the Goddess of war and death. She was known to instill battle fury in Her
allies and terror in Her opponents. She was offered the heads of the battle dead as a form of
appeasement. During the Second Battle of Mag Tuireadh, the Morrigan "said She would go and
destroy Indech son of De Domnann and 'deprive him of the blood of his heart and the kidneys
of his valor', and She gave two handfuls of that blood to the hosts - not a Goddess to cross!
Today, many view the Morrigan in gentler light: as a wise Crone and even a Healer.
Mythologically, She did show a soft side, often using terror to rout an enemy rather than relying
on bloodshed – if that can be said to be soft. Modern worship is hardly indicative of the ancient
legends in Her case.
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Is the story of Osiris and Isis real or metaphor? Does it matter? Some people do take it literally
and as long as it makes them better, more enlightened people, as long as it is meaningful to
them without causing others harm, let them believe it is literally true, even if scientifically
impossible. If people cannot see through the folk ideas and grasp the underlying elementary
ideas, let them enjoy their level of enlightenment. It could be worse.
In the past, none of the Gods were worshipped using what we call the Gardnerian liturgy. But
does that make the use of said liturgy wrong? Deity needs to progress and grow, just like we do.
The relationship is symbiotic.
Then are the Gods just characters of folk ideas or some Jungian archetype? Of course not. They
are part of a network that includes everything in existence, not only in this world, but in other
realities. We can speak to Them and feel Their presence. The energies of those Gods that were
once human are with us today. These are real Spiritual Forces, whether you consider Them in a
polytheistic way or as aspects of the Lord and Lady doesn’t matter. That difference is merely
due to folk ideas anyway. It may help to think of Deity as Energies in the transcendent web that
we perceive through the elementary ideas. We anthropomorphize Them so that our brains,
locked into the space-time reality, can begin to understand Them. They become both
transcendent and immanent.
Now what?
So how do we look at myth: literally or metaphorically? Some might say you can take your pick.
Yet, if you pick the literal option, you run into issues with what science tells us cannot be.
There need not be a conflict between mysticism and science, if you look at myth – any myth –
for the elementary ideas contained therein, recognizing that the folk ideas are merely
embellishments added by a more primitive people, somewhere else a long time ago.
Modern Paganism provides no consistent mythology, no agreed upon Gods. You are
responsible for your own belief system. In the absence of agreed upon myth, you must access
elementary ideas and the “mystical transcendent mystery source” on your own.
What to do? There are many ways of accessing the mystery source but meditation and other
ways of inducing an altered state (other than through using hallucinogens) work best for the
beginner. Accompany a ritual act with a meditation of its meaning. You can put yourself into
light trance if you wake up a little early and then put yourself back to sleep. With practice, you
can receive visions while wide awake. You can feel the presence of Spirits – Deity and
otherwise. Sometimes it is a feeling of cold, or a breeze where no breeze should be. Sometimes
the hairs on your body stand up. Sometimes you can see Them. They are there and They are
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real. So Seeker, find that transcendent mystery source: that fire within yourself. Find the path
and the Deities that move you; that speak to you. For now, understand the elementary ideas as
a function of your own path. The issue of science and myth will be addressed again at the
Apprentice Level. In the meantime, enjoy the journey.
Activity:
To complete this course, look at each of the elementary ideas presented. Add any to the list if
you wish. Take each elementary idea and describe how it appears in the myths that most
appeal to you. What folk ideas are wrapped around that elementary idea? How do you
interpret these folk ideas?
In light of what you have learned in this course, what is your concept of Deity?
Write all this down in your journal.
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