Post Your Poetry
| 
|
Witchvox Chapter: Local Poetry
| Chapter Page Views: 20,018,650
|
Poeem Specs
VxPoem ID: 32761
Category:
pagan_spirituality
Posted: April 26th. 2008 8:48:30 AM
Views: 934 |
Faith in the Earth
by B. T. Newberg
Age Group: Adult
It is important to believe with as little force as possible. It is only in non-nature-based religions that faith must overwhelm natural instincts and sensations.
In nature-based religions, we need only look and see what is there. Faith in the Goddess is no more difficult than faith in the solidity of a stone. You can tap it, touch it, strike it, weigh it, toss it, drop it, pick it up, and feel its weight against your skin. The Goddess too can be touched and felt, though she is not one thing but many, indeed everything around you and in you, and more. Thus, there is no need to strive for faith. Faith is given to you as naturally as your body.
Having a vision is no more difficult than looking and seeing what is in your mind’s eye. Touching the Goddess is no more difficult than touching your own flesh.
And yet, there may be times when you feel your faith is being tested. For whatever reason, you may feel that the Goddess is not there. You can no longer believe in her. Thus you feel your faith threatened. But actually this is an illusion. Even if you become an atheist, still nothing has changed because the Goddess appears in many forms. First she came to you as “Goddess” and next she came as “there is no god.” You stop calling her by any name, you stop calling yourself Pagan, you do whatever it is you feel necessary to root out religion in yourself, yet your body abides. Your world abides. Your life abides. That is what is meant by the Goddess—she is that which goes on. In the wake of all change, she abides. And no matter what you call her or don’t call her, she remains with you.
And even if you spit on her and curse her, she remains with you. The Goddess cannot be blasphemed. Hers is a purity no abuse can stain.
But you can make things harder for yourself. You can take such a cantankerous attitude that she can only appear to you as hostility, misery, and boredom—because you refuse to see anything else in the world. So you can make her fight you. Yet even so, you cannot offend her so terribly as to remove yourself from her being.
You may try to conquer her. But try as you might to conquer her, all you can do is change her. It is she that conquers you, by changing with you.
How much easier is it, then, to embrace her than fight her? How much more livable is it to care for her than neglect her? She does not require us to call her by any special name, or think of her in any particular way, yet how much more enchanting is it to call her by an enchanting name? How much more loving is it to know her in a loving way? And so we celebrate the seasons, and perform our rituals, and tell our stories, and so on and so forth.
But let’s be honest: if the last Pagan ceased calling back the sun at Yule, would the sun cease to rise? Nothing would change but the enchanted feeling of things, which would be lost.
Yet she would not be lost. Nor would hope of regaining that enchanted feeling.
This is the mature reality of the Goddess: responsibility for the earth and its livability. It is childishness to think we can divorce ourselves from the earth. To be Pagan is to take responsibility for our relationship with the world. When we embrace the Goddess, our mother, we give up the illusion of separateness. Such is little more than adolescent rebellion. This childishness we surrender.
At the same time, even as we accept responsibility and grow toward adulthood in the earth, we also grow the other way. As we return to enchanted ways, and allow ourselves to be suckled by a loving mother earth, we become children again.
Author's Notes: c 2004
As a Naturalistic Pagan, I believe in evidence. There is no evidence that deities and magic are "real" in the most literal sense, but they may yet be moving and powerful. These poems are a tribute to the inspiration of Pagan ways.
For more information on naturalism, see HumanisticPaganism.com.
Author's Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
More Poems: B. T. Newberg has posted 73 additional poems- View them?
Author's Profile: To learn more about B. T. Newberg - Click HERE
Contact Me Via Email...
Email Invites Note: No, I have not opted to receive Pagan Invites! Please don't send me anonymous invites to groups, sales and events.
Disclaimer: The Witches' Voice inc does not verify the accuracy of the details stated in this listing, nor do we vouch for the value of the goods or services presented here... As with all contacts and financial dealings in cyberspace, we encourage you to use caution and wisdom in your dealings with strangers.
Political Statements: Any and all personal political opinions expressed in the public listing sections (including, but not restricted to, personals, events, groups, shops, Wren's Nest, etc.) are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinion of The Witches' Voice, Inc. TWV is a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization.
|
State/Country flags created by 3dflags.com and are used with permission
Web Site Content (including: text - graphics - html - look & feel)
Copyright 1997-2013 The Witches' Voice Inc. All rights reserved
Note: Authors & Artists retain the copyright for their work(s) on this website.
Unauthorized reproduction without prior permission is a violation of copyright laws.
Website structure, evolution and php coding by Fritz Jung on a Macintosh G5.
Any and all personal political opinions expressed in the public listing sections (including, but not restricted to, personals, events, groups, shops, Wren’s Nest, etc.) are solely those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinion of The Witches’ Voice, Inc. TWV is a nonprofit, nonpartisan educational organization.
Sponsorship: Visit the Witches' Voice Sponsor Page for info on how you
can help support this Community Resource. Donations ARE Tax Deductible.
The Witches' Voice carries a 501(c)(3) certificate and a Federal Tax ID.
Mail Us: The Witches' Voice Inc., P.O. Box 341018, Tampa, Florida 33694-1018 U.S.A.
|
Top 13 Poems
New Past 7 Days
(most viewed)
|
|
