Self-Care

“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence; it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.” ― Audre Lorde

I admit I don’t like being idle. I’m always writing, reading, watching educational videos, doing sorcery, or something else. However, there comes a time when one has to step back and take care of oneself. One just has to slow down and smell the roses, as the saying goes. 

I’m also rather private, so I'm selective about how much personal information I share. I will say I’m only uploading this brief post this week rather than something longer because I recently wasn’t physically well. I hope, dear readers, that my brief hiatus serves as an example of the importance of self-care.

Gratitude

In the United States, November 23rd is recognized as Thanksgiving Day. The proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln that created this national holiday was wrapped in religious trappings. For now, let’s leave aside the religiosity of his language and the inaccuracy of the ‘history’ surrounding the holiday. In doing so, we find that the spirit of the holiday is sound and still worthy of recognition. 

The spirit of Thanksgiving is one of gratitude.

John Donne wrote, in the misogynistic language of his time, that “No man is an island.” The truth of this cannot be overstated. The Self, the center and total of who we are, does not arise independently. No one is ‘self-made.’

The source of our dependence as children goes beyond our parents. I know many stood behind her mother and I in raising our daughter. We were not alone. 

This fact doesn’t end upon reaching adulthood. The Self still depends on others for its stability, health, and continued growth for the rest of its physical existence. Our dependence continues until the day we die.

We are all raised and sustained by a village.

It’s this interconnectedness with each other that makes Thanksgiving Day worthy of celebrating.

Being Ethical

I’ve written numerous posts critical of monotheism, especially of the Abrahamic variety. I’ve pointed out how monotheism fails to account for the existence of evil. I’ve also pointed out that the polytheistic approach to ethics is superior to monotheism. In addition, I’ve shown that Abrahamic monotheists edited ancient Israelite polytheistic mythology to try to make it fit their monotheist worldview.

Despite all of the flaws of monotheism, it’s important to remember that many ethical monotheists exist in the world. 

 

The reader might be surprised by my statement. If monotheism is so flawed, how can there be so many ethical monotheists? Ironically, such confusion itself is a product of another flaw of monotheism. Let me explain.

Monotheism has long claimed that it, and only it, is the source of ethics. However, a review of Abrahamic religious texts reveals a serious lack of ethics in its mythology and commandments. Yahweh drowns untold innocents in the Great Flood. Then He sends the Angel of Death to murder Egyptian innocent firstborn. These are such a few examples.

With all this said, I still maintain that there are large numbers of ethical followers of Abrahamic monotheism.

My proof for this is self-evident. It’s a simple fact that ethical monotheists are all around us. We all know them. And anyone who studies history will find them throughout the ages. Ethical monotheists are present everywhere you turn.

Their large numbers are because ethics is not a product of religion, monotheistic or otherwise. Ethics arises from the human condition. 

The origin of the human condition is complicated and has been debated among philosophers, psychologists, and other scholars for ages. Buckets of ink have been spilled on this subject. My opinion is that it’s likely an emergent property resulting from a complex interplay between genetics, environment, and cognitive reasoning.

The key takeaway is that there is no connection between ethics and religion. Anyone, monotheist, polytheist, or atheist, can be ethical. Religion can help reinforce certain ethical behaviors, but it’s unnecessary.

Monotheism isn’t the source of ethics. Ethics is the product of our humanity.

Violence

“Peace is the only battle worth waging.” - Albert Camus

You can’t turn on the news without seeing reports of violence. Russia’s unprovoked war on Ukraine. Hamas kidnapping and murdering civilians. Thousands of Palestinian non-combatants killed. School shootings. Road rage. Mass killings. Sexual assault.

Violence isn’t new. Humans have been killing each other as long as we’ve been human and before. Our interconnected world with access to news 24/ 7 can make it seem like violence is new, but it’s not.

Because violence has always been with us, some say that nothing can be done about it. Violence is in our genes, they say. We’re Killer Apes. Homo necans.

I disagree.

The animal we call human is more than its genes. Unlike other animals, our behavior is driven by more than instinct and environmental conditioning. We have the capacity to overcome these influences. We have autonomy. 

This isn’t just theory. We’ve been shown alternatives to violence by visionaries such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. Through their examples, we’ve seen that there are successful non-violent solutions. Violence isn’t our only option.

I’m not a pacifist, and I’m not saying that violence is never the answer. History has shown that, at times, violence is necessary. Slavery in the U.S. would never be eliminated through parliamentary measures as it was in the British Empire. The Axis powers would never have been defeated by non-violent protests. And an individual has the right to use violence to defend themselves, if necessary.

However, if we don’t start applying non-violent alternatives to more of our conflicts, our species’ future is bleak. Today, one person with a modern firearm can slaughter dozens of people in just minutes. Modern armies can kill thousands in a day. One nuclear device can kill millions. And all of the nuclear devices of the world’s nations combined can wipe human civilization off the face of the planet.

Conflict is an inevitable part of life. Violence doesn’t have to be.

Blessed Samhain

In my post last week, I wrote about Samhain and how it differs from the modern Halloween. One of the differences I mentioned was that since the Celts used the lunar calendar, yesterday, October 28th, rather than October 31st, marked the festival of Samhain. I also mentioned that the festival continued for three nights, making this day 2 of the festival.

Over the last week, I learned more about Samhain. I thought I would share some of what I learned.

1)    Academic uncertainty
What we think we know about Samhain is not certain. We know very little about the pre-Christian Samhain festival. And what we think we know should be taken with a grain of salt. 

2)    There was no Universal Celtic Festival
The pre-Christian Celtic people were not unified. The pre-Christian Celtic Irish were different from the Welsh, who were different from the Gauls, and so on. Indeed, they share linguistic and cultural elements. But we can’t lump them all together and say, “The Celtic people believed...” I will admit that I’ve been guilty of this. 

3)    Supernatural
In my last post, I implied that Samhain lacked supernatural elements. That needs to be clarified. 

Samhain was a liminal time when the division between our world and the Otherworld became porous. In modern occult language, we say that the veil becomes thin. It was this change that allowed the increased supernatural activity.

While it’s true that the Irish honored the dead during Samhain, they also practiced rituals meant for supernatural protection, such as bonfires and talismans. This belief in enhanced supernatural activity was found in Wales and Scotland; however, they didn’t see this time as connected with the dead. For the northern and central Welsh, it was a time for divination. 

While there was a supernatural element to Samhain, with the risks accompanying it, horror and fear were not the theme as it is with the modern secular festival of Halloween.

Conclusion
As contemporary Pagans, we need to acknowledge that our spiritual traditions, while they have ancient roots, are ours. They don’t exactly match up with the traditions of ancient people. And that’s okay. 

Samhain blessings to you and all who hold dear.

Samhain and Halloween

Note: The book Secrets of the Druids: From Indo-European Origins to Modern Practices by Teresa Cross was a great resource for this post.

Halloween is right around the corner. Needless to say, I’m excited about its approach. This is especially true since I have a preference for dark aesthetics. I can say that Halloween for me is more of a lifestyle than a holiday.

It’s commonly said that Halloween is a Christianized version of the Celtic Pagan festival Samhain. While they are related, that’s not 100% accurate. Like so much in life, it’s more complicated than that.

We begin with the date. We all know that Halloween always lands on the same date each year (October 31st). This is because Halloween is based on the solar calendar. However, the Celts followed the lunar calendar. For them, the full moon marked the month’s change. As a result, the date of Samhain changed each year. In addition, the Celtic holy days started at sunset. Hence, the Celtic festival of Samhain began at sundown on the last full moon of the month we call October. 

Unlike the modern Halloween, Samhain wasn’t a time of fear of ghosts and evil spirits. Instead, it was time to honor the dead rather than fear them. Nor was it for just one night. The Celts celebrated Samhain for three nights that began the night of the full moon. There was "food for the dead” in which food was collected and given to the needy. In addition, there were bonfires and the carving of turnips to resemble skulls (a practice that continues in modern Halloween with pumpkins.)

So as you can see, Samhain isn’t exactly the same as Halloween. I used to celebrate these on the same day; however, starting this year, my wife and I plan to celebrate them as two different holidays. We’ll celebrate Samhain as a three day festival starting at sunset on October 28th. Each day we’ll have a different ritual to honor loved ones who have passed on to the Otherworld. Then on October 31st we’ll celebrate the secular festival of Halloween as a night of spooky fun.

Embracing the Dragon

It’s impossible to overstate the influence of Joseph Campbell. Campbell was a professor of literature at Sarah Lawrence College. While his most influential book was The Hero with a Thousand Faces, the PBS production The Power of Myth with Bill Moyers made him a household name.

Recently, I watched a clip of The Power of Myth in which Joseph Campbell discussed the myth of the European dragon. In the classic myth, the European dragon represents greed, for it guards either a hoard of gold or a stolen virgin maiden. In the myth, the hero fights and kills the dragon, taking ownership of the gold and winning the maiden’s heart. And they lived happily ever after.

 

In the clip, Campbell provides an interpretation from a psychological perspective. Campbell says that the dragon represents binding oneself to one’s ego. You’re imprisoned by your ego (i.e., the dragon), and the solution is to break the dragon and release yourself from the cave. How does one slay one’s dragon? By allowing yourself to “follow your bliss.”

Even though Campbell is one of the greatest minds on myths and comparative literature, many scholars question several of his conclusions and theories. While it might be hubris on my part to think that I’m qualified to also question Campbell, I propose an alternative psychological interpretation of the dragon.

Maybe the dragon is less like a hoarder or kidnapper and more like a family dog protectively watching over its homestead. Indeed, the dog will respond aggressively to any stranger approaching the house and fight to the death to defend the ones they love.

Understanding the dragon as a defender rather than an obsessive hoarder changes our approach. From a psychological perspective, the dragon isn’t an evil to be “killed.” It’s part of the greater Self. Therefore, we should embrace the dragon out of self-love. We can help the dragon understand we’re not a threat through patience and effort. Eventually, we would be allowed access to the treasure it protects.

This reinterpretation of the European dragon helps to bring the archetype closer to its Asian cousin. Campbell points out that historically, the European dragon is negative while the Asian is positive. By understanding the psychological archetype of the European dragon as a defender, we can accept it as a positive force in our lives that can aid us in healing.

Embrace the dragon.