Idols & Animism. Wherein Lies the Power?

A portion of the large shrine at a Women's Mysteries ceremony,
a shrine populated by many, many persons.

Goddess figure.

This week I was assigned the job of taking photographs at a Women's Mysteries ceremony where a large credenza was filled with images, symbolic representations & figures of goddess forms. The task gave me pause to consider a simple question with no clear answer: Wherein lies the strength of an idol, icon or other symbolic object?  

Surely some would quite automatically argue that the power lies in the deity/spirit the idol represents, in the connection or entanglement to the godform or spirit, but as a photographer & animist, I would argue differently. Or rather, I would argue that while there is indeed often an external influence present, there is also something else.

Goddess figure.
Possibly Blodeuwedd.

When you spend years behind a macro lens, you invariably see that something else -- something in the small worlds that tells you that these "things" or, as I prefer these persons, have their own strength that resides within, independent of external correspondences. They have an identity, speech & attitude of their own -- if you ask them, they will tell you so. 

Moving across the terrain of this latest spiritual assemblage was no exception -- even the offerings had something to say. (Note: It may seem peculiar, but the little figure dedicated to Bast had a particularly strong character & later as I sorted photos, "he" [owner's designation] seemed to dominate my photos.)

So, while I do not deny the potency & influence of the godform which inspired a specific icon, I also cannot deny the inner sprit of the "things" which represent them. It may not be obvious to the casual observer of these images, but for me, just looking at their photographs tells me so many secrets. 

And if the truth is to be told, I must confess that I am not sure which was more personally compelling that evening; the women & their stories, the ceremony & it's story, or the opportunity to be in the presence of (& the honour of photographing) some incredibly beautiful, beloved & dynamic "object persons" with so many stories of their own.

For the Files: Autumn Equinox, Community Style

Freyja, by Arthur Rackham
image courtesy Wikimedia Commons

Below is a much abbreviated documentation of our community Autumn Equinox rite. For the files.

Our community Autumn Equinox was celebrated in the Norse tradition of Hausblot, or Fallfest. I attended alone, much to my discomfort, but this particular celebration was not developed/adapted for children & my familiarity with these rites told me that the presence of our children would not be in keeping with the intent of this event. I knew however, despite my conflicting feelings, that of any & all the celebrations hosted by our pan-pagan family, this would be the one which would most speak to me personally.

My pagan roots were set among the Ásatrúar -- their rites are familiar, stirring, honest & potent. It has sometimes mystified me how I never came to embrace Norse Heathenry, but when I examine things fairly, I know that while their values, rites, lifeways & traditions draw me, their cosmology & more importantly, their gods do not. 

The event was planned & coordinated by our community's sole Norse devotee. It began with a blót* in honour of Odin, followed by a wonderful, warm feast. In certain regards, the blót seemed more formal & involved than the blóts-of-yore, but I think some of this is due to selective memory, while some of it is probably because this event was developed for a diverse & public audience. It seems to me my friends-of-yore were much louder too... in fact, I am sure of that, but we were a great deal younger then, a bit more rowdy & much more vociferous. Regardless of how memory matches reality, I must give kudos to Shanley for an artfully developed rite & in particular, for his verse & how he represented our house fires in this ritual. It was very beautiful, symbolically & literally. 

There was some song practice following the feast & we were blessed to have our talented & multilingual songstress sing the verses of Herr Mannelig for us so that we might only struggle with the refrain. I had the luck of being seated beside her & I had one of those moments of utter awe & appreciation for the gifts of our human faculties... the gifts of community too. 

A sumbel* followed feasting & song practice. This was a long rite, lasting nine rounds & two, maybe closer to three hours (not the longest in Heathen history, I am certain!) before we needed to end -- possibly prematurely for some -- due to time & other commitments. There is little I can share about what transpired. All speech in sumbel is sacred speech & it is not my place to repeat it.

I went to this event knowing that I would need to address my outstanding debt to Freyja. I decided to bring some of my apple seeds & restate my oath. I also wanted to read a poem in Her honour -- on behalf of myself & Heather Awen -- so I made certain that this would be in keeping with our host's intentions for the sumbel. It was an honour both to publicly extol Her before my tribe & to represent the voice of someone who has given me a great deal of inspiration. 

I chose a poem written by Hoen Falker of the Visigoth Tradition, Clan Falker & translated by Solange Stanquini. English is obviously not the first language of the author, nor do I believe it is that of the translator, so the poem has some translational idiosyncrasies. However, I found it so beautiful, so moving, that I chose to use it despite a few uncertain lines. I made a handful of small adjustments to assists the flow, but otherwise the poem is as I found it here: Chant to Freyja. My thanks to the author for such a sincere, emotive piece. 

Hail Freyja!

Poem in Honour of Freyja by Hoen Falker

Oh, loved goddess of Elfos, Humans & Valquiras,
that in the starry night,
reigns with replete kindness!
At the thresholds of the world
dressed of hawk
You overstep
giving a present with talents
the treasures where You pass through!
In the shining lands & meadows of the whole people,
celestial fire
it's her glance at rest.
Prostrated, to You I offer
amber & flowers,
tears & laughter.
For my Lady,
the clamours.
Show us,
the human homes in Your mesh.
Mounted on Her high boar,
She helps in the battles.
Your illuminated face in the winds of the heights
for who the fire,
front to the ice,
is like softness.
She is Lady,
of felines & hawks.
My ancestral Ones live close to You.
The half of my songs,
I offer to You.
Oh! Glorious!!
To You I offer
a burning fire of memory.
You are goddess Freyja,
of the Vanires,
the most beautiful woman!
The arches of Your eyes
like wings of swans.
A star.
Your eyes are sunny emerald seas.
Your red mouth is our blood on contemplated snow.
When falls the afternoon,
You become an invisible shine,
for Your destroyed lovers.
To choose,
for You my more beautiful desires,
I will order for the enchantments
intoning rage
& I will see then of the lonely death.
I will wake up.
It will be Your smiling
with all your beloved damsels...
The discovery of your forests
will bring the rain
& to my inert, cold body,
the life will return.

* There are many sources for information regarding the rites & traditions of the Ásatrúar, most of which I am sure are quite excellent. I chose Raven Kindred Online because it actually represents the spirit of my pagan family "of yore." Its authors were among my people & their ways were how I came to understand Ásatrú. You can find the rest of them (almost) at Raven Kindred North.

When We Missed the Elephant In the Room.

This past Spring we were due to see an Ani diFranco concert in Las Vegas. We drove the requisite 5 hours, ran late arriving to the show, went to the wrong venue, arrived at the correct one extraordinarily late only to stand in line outside the Hard Rock for an additional 20 minutes before the security crew came round to dismiss us all. Ani was sick.

Now, you might find it interesting, but I am not the epic fan, that's Hubby's role. The show was rescheduled... for a date when he would be in Alaska. His hopes & joy were all but shattered, so we nursed his aching heart with free drinks in front of the penny slots at the Monte Carlo & all the while, I had this feeling that we were missing something important...

I was recently reminded of all this by a posting over at poet Annie Finch's website inquiring about a new poem Ani read at one of her recent shows. Annie had been given only a few lines of the piece & was hoping someone complete it for her. I found the poem in its entirety, but for the life of me, I cannot find a way to send it to her. Perhaps she has already found it herself. Or not. C'est la vie I suppose, unless someone who knows how to contact her comes across this post. So, just in case, I throw it out here into the ether.


Besides, after reading it, I think it has a place here. Watch it. Read it. Several times.





A Poem by Ani diFranco, transcribed by "Shawn," posted by "francoapple" in the onherown.net forums. Thanks guys.

The Elephant in the Room, by Ani diFranco 

Together at our river source
Two streams join with equal force
And then naturally find their course
through all the froth and the churning  

First comforting and then haranguing
Nature forever yin-ing and yang-ing
The end well pots and pans a' clanging
And with each turn learning  

Together at our river source
Two streams join with equal force
But the water will change it's course
If one should surge ahead  

And in the fundaments of religion
Behold the patriarchal vision
To take creation away from women
And bid us prey to the Father instead  

Look at the leaders of nations
At the architects of social relations
At all the distorted manifestations
Of the world of the humanoid  

So many glorious inventions
Triumphs too numerous to mention
And yet we've lost our true intention
It's been cast into the void  

And just because the truth is written
And the writers of history smitten
Don't mean an opposite truth ain't hidden
And the way still quite unclear  

Yes cooperation trumps competition
As the engine of evolution
And if I were Darwin's girlfriend
I would've whispered that in his ear  

Give the witches back their brooms
Give the weavers back their looms
Chase the elephant from the room
At long long last  

Send some scouts ahead up river
Heed the messages they deliver
And while the moon is still a sliver
Try not to move too fast  

It will be a slow unwinding
Of these ties that have been binding
From a masculine that's been blinding
To a pulsing give and take  

It will be a slow reinvention
Of our underlying intention
Til relationship and connection
Be the thread we dare not break  

My body is your body
No such thing as separation
It takes a quantum explanation
To explain what Mothers know  

And by all means pursue your science
Celebrate your many triumphs
But know the wheel is always turning
Whether or not you say it's so  

Women, you must do nature's bidding
With a force that isn't kidding
When all the pain you've been forbidding
Comes back brutal and divine  

Women, you must face the terror
Be the feeder, be the bearer
Women please don't make the error
Of just falling right in line  

Let us all go back to college
Grow the shadow side of knowledge
Let's collectively acknowledge
The elephant in the room  

People peace is born a bounce
And the twenty first century challenge
Is to remain God, the mother
And spaceship Earth, her fertile womb  

This one's for the files. 

For the Files: His Own Cosmology

I wanted to write about a dream I had last night, but the Little Lad who claimed he was "so tiiiired" stayed up very, very late. This led to a conversation which I do not want to forget. It caused me to have one of those curious, child-inspired moments where surprise & a touch of awe blend together to make you cock your head & flash them a crooked smile while you stall-out in wonderment. It made me think & think again. So, the dream discussion will have to wait. This is one "for the files."

I read to the Little Lad from "A Little Book of Fairy Tales, Rhymes & Riddles," a small book which arrived in this special package: In the Drip of an Eave (something I intend to discuss further if life ever permits). He has been very enamored with the various rhymes & stories in this book. In fact, he startled me today by unexpectedly reciting one of the rhymes verbatim -- I had no idea he had memorized it. I did not think I had even read it enough times for him to have learned it.

By this evening, I had already read everything in the book with the exception of "The Maiden Without Hands" which I specifically avoided because it relies very heavily on certain concepts: "God," the "Devil," evil, piety, angels, etc. I knew this would require much question asking & answering -- not really the attributes of a sleep-inspiring bedtime story. Besides, we work very hard to leave concepts of cosmology open-ended, so concepts such as these require careful, delicate explanation. Honestly, sometimes I am just not in the mood, especially when I must explain belief systems which contain -- in my experience -- a great deal of objectionable content.

Anyway, we came to a part of the story in which the King employs the assistance of a priest who was to speak to a spirit for him. Of course, this precipitated a deluge of questions, beginning with, "What is a priest?" "What do they do?" In the course of this discussion, I tried to make it clear that there are many different names for people who are variously ordained to provide services to many, many different kinds of "churches" & that all those different people believe very different things about how the world works. I even gave him examples of people he knows personally who believe different things, attend various churches, or don't subscribe to any of it at all. All of this, of course, was explained in child-speak. 

Once he seemed satisfied with my overview of human belief systems, he asked me if I knew what he thought about it. "Do you know who my god is?" "No," I answered. "You," was his reply. To this, I said, "I am not a god, I am just a human." Then he said something like, "Well, I believe in a goddess, like the one you sing about." I said, "Oh, like an Earth mother goddess..." He thought about that a moment. Then, his face transformed, like suddenly he remembered something he had long forgotten:

Dreamily, he looked over at me from the pillow, "You know what I think?"
"No, what?"
Smiling, faintly, then mirthfully, "I think there's thousands of gods... thousands of them."
Looking dreamily across the ceiling, he continued, "This whole universe is made up of them. They're all out there in the universe, curled up."
"Curled up?"
Now, with a broad smile & great certainty, "Yes, curled up out there, like in eggs. Like all the solar system is filled with gods all curled up in eggs." 

He went on to elaborate on size & scale & how they can be small & large. Like Jupiter, or Canis Majoris. I confess I failed to absorb a certain amount of the elaboration because my mind was reeling with images of colourful, curled up space gods whirling through the Milky Way in their eggs. Neither did I ask any further questions of him -- to insure that I would remember his words, his vision, just as they were & save them here. When years have passed, long after these entries have been printed & bound, I hope he has a chance to read this & consider how his cosmology has changed. Or hasn't.

Later, I will ask him to tell me more about it.

In the meantime, I wish for dreams with deity-filled eggs of the comos, big & small. All of them, out there, just being... & making up everything.

An egg. What god resides within?
Photo by Little Lad, taken with his own camera.

Goddess Worship, Vegas Style

Las Vegas ate my internet. 

Actually, our timeshare is not particularly sharing w/the wi-fi & I didn't want to spend my vacation sitting in the owner's lounge, the lobby or the Starbucks down the street.

Vegas is always full of surprises. We have been scraping away at the seedy underbelly of that beast for years with the goal of uncovering the rich, juicy entrails that make our visits worthwhile. This means staying as far away from the tourist magnets as humanly possible & seeking out the local businesses, thrift stores, small museums, kick-ass off-strip restaurants. Someday, we'll have it down to a science.


This round, we made it to the Las Vegas Natural History Museum, a stop long overdue. I'm not sure why we never made it there before, but hooray for us! Hooray for them! The museum is relatively small, but they are working their tails off to build something that gives back to the community. We had a great time & will visit again. Of course, plugging the museum is not the purpose of this post (nor is gushing about the vast ungulate display that made my head explode -- I'll save that for another post). So, onward to the surprises, goddess-worship & suchlike.

Scandinavian Yule Goat.

When you enter the museum, you find yourself in a long corridor lined with large & small glass display cases.This month the cases contained displays dedicated to winter holidays & world religions. They call it "A December to Remember." Created by local organizations, the displays are very diverse & ecumenical. Encouraging as this was, I had no hopes for a Pagan (as in "neo," "modern," or however everyone wants to clarify the term these days) exhibit. I could not be more mistaken.


There in the front-centre of the left wall (not hidden in the corner, mindyou) was a case dedicated to Yule. Not "Yule" as part of the Christmas season, not "Yule" as Pagan holiday-past, but Yule as in the here-&-now, Winter Solstice-style, Pagan-observance. Silly me, I neglected to take a photo of it (luckily, I found one) -- probably because I was busy being obsessed with the Yule Goat with whom I instantaneously fell in love. In fact, in my goat-y delirium, I nearly missed the most surprising aspect of the Yule display. 

Winter Solstice Exhibit, photo from sekhmettemple.com

After wandering off through the Egyptian exhibit, something made me think I needed to revisit the Yule case. There I found it. Around to the right side of the centre pedestal was an informational poster:

How did a Temple to an Egyptian Goddess end up in the Nevada desert?

The text of which reads: 

"Forty mile north of Las Vegas, to the left of US Highway 95, a modest straw-bale and stucco building stands in the Nevada desert. Its cream colored exterior contrasts sharply against the blue sky.
It is the Temple of Goddess Spirituality, dedicated to Sekhmet.
The top of the structure features an open dome, made of six interlocking metal rings forming a lotus. The four undoored arches designate the directions: north, south, east and west. creating an unobstructed entrance for the elements and weather extremes of the area. Inside is a fire pit, surrounded by a guard of dancing women, linked by the phases of the moon. Along the walls are a life-size statue of Sekhmet, the lion headed goddess of ten thousand names, Madre del Mundo, the Virgin of Guadalupe and numerous other female deities.
Philanthropist/writer/activist Genevieve Vaughan, bought 20 acres of land and funded construction of the Temple in 1992, fulfilling a promise she had made 30 years earlier in Luxor, Egypt. Having trouble conceiving, Genevieve had asked Sekhmet to bless her with children, promising to build her a Temple in return. Genevieve was pregnant with her first daughter before leaving Egypt, followed by two others in the following years.
The core values of the temple are: Goddess Spirituality, Peace and the Gift Economy. The focus of the Temple is to bring balance to planet Earth by embracing the feminine aspects of divinity, and returning power to women.
Men are welcomed and honored here, but women are the ones to prepare and lead ritual, build and tend the temple fire.
Rituals are open to everyone, men women and children, except New Moons, and an occasional "women only" event.
All are welcome to come experience the peace and quite beauty of this unique building and the surrounding grounds, which include a labyrinth, Guest house, cactus and rose gardens.
The Temple is open to the public from 8am to 6pm daily. Night visits are by appointment only. Alcohol, firearms and pets are not permitted on the grounds.
Private tours and rituals, overnight stays or conversation and a cup of tea with the priestess may be arranged by contacting the Temple prior to your arrival.   www.sekhmettemple.com"

Now that's dedication.

I could ramble on & on about all we found exploring the Temple website this morning; the Temple Herstory, the Goddess Temple Virtual Tour, the Temple's commitment to a Gift-Economy, the Temple blog & projects ranging from beekeeping to sacred art, but I will leave the discovery to you. If, my goddess-loving friends, you finish reading up on the Temple & find yourself with an overpowering urge for a pilgrimage, we just might have a timeshare you can borrow for a few days. That is, if you can live sans internet for awhile.