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Rethinking the Wheel of the Year

The morning after the Winter Solstice, I started thinking pretty heavily about the substantial disconnect between our “standard” Gregorian calendar, the liturgical calendars used by various polytheisms, and the Wiccanate neopaganisms’ “Wheel of the Year”. For newer seekers and the general laity, this is a hurdle to regular practice and thus to stronger cultus.

So, for the last couple of weeks I’ve spent a lot of time noodling how to reframe the Gregorian calendar as a liturgical calendar. While I’m really designing this around my particular brand of syncretic polytheism, I’m hoping that it will be useful for others.

I don’t intend it as a replacement for reconstructed liturgical calendars, especially in mystery traditions. Rather, I think of it as a gateway calendar- a way to help reprogram our relationship to time.

Currently, it’s nigh-impossible to escape the crush of monotheism in our overculture’s calendar. However, “Holy Mother Church” taught us the power of subverting a culture’s existing calendars, holy days, and observances. I think we need to heed that lesson. Heck, they kinda stole that idea from the ancient Romans anyway.

Most of the “Wheel of the Year” charts I see split the year either by the solstices and equinoxes or by holy days that fall roughly halfway in-between those- such as the Irish calendar. The Wiccanate Wheel of the Year is a combination of both:

A four-armed Sun Cross. An eight-armed Solar Cross.

 

Of course, many cultures historically divided their year up differently- the Hellenic, Kemetic, Hindu, and Cree calendars, for example. In all of these cases, their agricultural seasonality is different from the “typical” Gregorian seasons.

In thinking through this new Wheel of the Year, I wanted to aim for a decidedly American (U.S.) calendar. If this takes off, I think folks in Canada, Mexico, and many other places could easily use the same principles to adapt their own.

I’m going to get into specific observances later, but for now I just wanted to share my first draft of the wheel:

A first-draft Wheel of the Year for SANCT.

I’m not entirely happy with the “tide” names for the liturgical months, so those will probably change. Suggestions?

That said, changing tides at roughly the ides of the Julian month seems to help the calendar feel aligned with the solar quarter days without turning them into moveable “feasts”. Of course, this won’t work for Work that requires the actual astronomical moment; but, many rituals already get scheduled for the nearest weekend anyway.

I’ve added a ring with four alternate “seasons” since not all of us get real winter (or summer- Minnesota?). These are based more on the feeling of available light than on specific cultural assumptions like snow, falling leaves, or going to the beach. I also included a rough mapping of rainfall patterns in Central Texas to reinforce how our “seasons” don’t necessarily fit the “traditional” pattern.

I said earlier that I would get into specific holy days and such in later posts, but I did want to share some (very) rough noodling about the transition days at the center of the four “sun seasons”:

Yuletide (Dec. 31 to Jan. 1) – “New Year’s”: A day for safeguarding all that is good in our past and correcting or discarding that which is not. Cleansing and warding Work should definitely be undertaken, even more so than normal.

Blossomtide (Mar. 31 to Apr. 1) – “April Fools”: A day for frivolity and rejoicing in the sensorium, a celebration of life and living.

Victorytide (Jun. 30 to Jul. 1) – “TBD”: I still have a lot of unpacking to do here, but it has something to do with the Gods’ restoring the divine order and us following their example to restore right relations.

Harvestide (Sep. 30 to Oct. 1) – “Autumn Sage?”: A day for taking stock, planning for the future, budgeting, and making hard choices.

Those are very cursory descriptions- obviously, I didn’t really get into the specific Gods and the specific liturgy for worshipping Them on those days. I’m just not yet far enough along in the process to do so.

Anyway, that’s a quick overview of one of my many projects.

-In Deos Confidimus

 

Announcements, Theology

On Terminology

Recently, there has been a bit of a race war (pre-Blumenbach usage of “race”) on Twitter/Tumblr/etc. regarding those Gods worshipped by the ancient peoples of Greece. There is a lot going on there and I’m not about to wade into the morass of who and what rightly constitutes “Hellenic” religion.

Kaye Boesme wrote a very heartfelt position piece on her Kallisti blog that takes strong positions- especially against allowing theological and ethical arguments to fall into petty abusiveness.

In addition of her condemnation of abuse for the sake of the abuser’s emotional satisfaction, she very rightly calls out the impact this has on the broader polytheistic population. Such persons often have no close community and are left with only online discussions as guidance for their own praxis and piety.

I’m publicly on-record as pushing for bringing polytheists closer together regardless of their tradition. I want to be clear that I’m not pushing for erasure or universalization. I simply recognize that our peoples have more common cause and shared worldview with each other than with monotheists and atheists. There is plenty of time for our traditions to move farther apart again once they have strength and stability.

I recognize that this is a privileged position. My polytheism, while recondite due to its apparent secularization, is arguably one of the most universal (if under-practiced) in the United States. I can see representations of my Gods all around me- not hidden away, but in positions of honor and importance.

Yet, my faith is trapped in a “catch-22”. Were my faith to gain wider recognition, those statues and bas-reliefs would, under our laws, be removed. The assumed “metaphorical” purpose of those idols and icons protects them, allowing the Gods of my nation to reach out and influence us even today. At the same time though, that “allegorical” labeling prevents many from acknowledging and offering cultus to Them as the Holy Powers They are.

However, specific to the terminology argument at hand, I have always shied away from the term “Hellenic” (and certainly “Hellenismos”) to describe my faith.

Why? Let’s consider some important aspects:

Syncretism

My faith is not directly rooted in a single, unbroken tradition. While a great many indigenous polytheistic faiths practice syncretism to varying degrees, here in the U.S.A., none of the Old World faiths are indigenous.

Furthermore, because of our physical residence in the New World, we owe respect and cultus to the spirits and Powers of this land as well. As such, while our dealings with Them are not part of an indigenous religious tradition, we are technically syncretizing our practices by incorporating Their worship- even in our bastardized and imperfect form.

Similarly, our worship of Old World Powers is not and cannot be identical to the traditions of ancient faiths. This is in part due to lost information, in part due to cultural and linguistic disconnect, and in other ways by necessity (see above).

Thus, while researching ancient knowledge of The Gods is important to the modern practice of my faith, it cannot be a direct template. Historical information provides points for triangulation and self-correction, but not a point-by-point liturgy or dogma.

American

I am neither Greek nor Roman. I am not even Celtic, Slavic, or Germanic, though my ancestors generally are. I am an American, both in the broad, hemispherical sense and in the narrower sense commonly used in the United States.

My faith is directly born of the syncretic nature of American culture.

Neo-Classical

The early generations of my nascent nation took inspiration from the ancient cultures of Greece and Rome. America’s founders looked to Athenian democracy and the Roman Republic for guidance on governance and the pitfalls thereof. The Enlightenment philosophies that justified the American Revolution (and Mexico’s) were built on attempts to reconcile Classical philosophy with the differing worldviews of Renaissance and Colonial Europeans.

Throughout Europe (and later the Americas), people began to draw inspiration from the Greek and Roman Gods and Their mythologies. These Gods, adopted first as allegorical icons, began to be covertly recognized as Themselves, however imperfectly scholars of the time understood the differences between Them.

Through Them, the illusion of “The One, True God” dissolved like cheap cloth left too long in the sun. In New England, once the epicenter of monotheistic religious extremism in the New World, an American of African descent openly praised without irony the Goddess Columbia. While monotheists and atheists might argue this was purely poetic, Wheatley’s words clearly denote Columbia- not Jesus or Yah, as the heavenly Power protecting our land.

One century scarce perform’d its destined round,
When Gallic powers Columbia’s fury found;
And so may you, whoever dares disgrace
The land of freedom’s heaven-defended race!
Fix’d are the eyes of nations on the scales,
For in their hopes Columbia’s arm prevails.

Following Independence, the peoples of our nation widely embraced many forms of Classical art and architecture. This trend started in Enlightenment Europe, but here our leaders sought to draw a direct visual connection between the new American Republic and the old Roman Republic. As a result, many of our most important government buildings, especially capitals, are built in this “Federal” or “American Neoclassical” style.

It is important to note, therefore, that my faith is new (in historical terms). It is a syncretic revival of Classical faiths interpreted through the numerous philosophical lenses that shaped (and continue to shape) my nation and the global civilization it helped to bring about.

Tradition

At the same time, my faith has direct person-to-person heritage going back hundreds of years. Our peoples’ relationship with these Gods in this form (through masks both ancient and more recent) is no longer a New Religious Movement (NRM).

Rather, it is a set of mythologies, assumptions (worldview), and practices (praxis) that are widespread and so commonplace as to be largely unremarkable to the average American. Yet, as with other faiths, mine is threatened by the twin Adversaries manifest in monotheist hegemonic oppression and in atheist/postmodernist erasure of meaning.

My goal is to restore health and piety to this extant tradition by exploring both the new masks worn by my Gods as well as ancient understandings of these Holy Powers. At the same time, I hope to restore right relation between my peoples and the sacred Powers and places of this new land we inhabit far from the homes of our ancestors.

So there you have it- my faith is the Syncretic American Neo-Classical Tradition.

-In Deos Confidimus

Prayers, Theology

Why ‘Highest and Best Good’ Probably Isn’t

Of late, I’ve started to see a lot of prayers, affirmations, workings, ceremonies, and such that petition for the “highest and best good” in a particular situation.  I grasp that this phrasing is meant to account for our own limited knowledge and understanding.  That said, it’s also presumptive, dangerous, lazy, and frankly- a bit rude.

For what are you asking?

Let’s start off with the basics- something that the author of the link above seems to be blissfully unaware of.  The entities with whom you are interacting have their own personalities, agendas, and methods- the exact opposite of:

They wish to be supportive of the individual’s life plan. This is their only agenda. They wish to do so without interfering—to be supportive of the person’s highest and best good. A spirit guide does not impose their agenda on another. Their only aim is to be supportive.

That’s not to say that Holy Powers and other spiritual beings are bad, just that it’s selfish and naive to think of them as being solely concerned with our wellbeing.  Such a belief is solipsistic at best and has no place in an enlightened spirituality.  Deities are well-known to sacrifice individuals for their own purposes, though those who serve them well before and during that process are generally rewarded.  This is a fairly consistent thread across cultures and religions.

So, if Holy Powers are fully-realized, independent individuals with their own personalities and motivations, what does that imply about asking for your highest and best good?

It means you are asking for the highest and best good to which that Power can put you.  In a way, that sounds very deeply pious and devotional.  On the other hand, it can REALLY suck.  If you’ve ever met someone who’s experienced Shaman Sickness, they can give you some idea of what it means to be put to highest and best use.  For other examples, we need only turn to history- prophets and other “change agents” of the Gods are often martyred for their faith.  It’s a very brave thing to knowingly offer your life in service to a deity.  It’s quite another to do so flippantly and without such an intent.

Who are you asking?

This sort of request gets even more inauspicious when one is addressing “Spirit”, “God”, “Deity”, or the “Universe”.  Our Universe, while it likely possesses a consciousness (very much unlike our own), is probably not the Power picking up the “phone” when you call.  If you’re just throwing your request out to a Monist or Monotheistic generalization, you don’t have a lot of control over who answers your call.

Would you fling a $100 bill into a crowd while yelling “somebody use this money for my highest and best good”?  Yeah, probably not.

In appealing to Holy Powers, it’s important to ask the right entity.  Why?  Because someone who prays to a New Age notion of glowing “white light” perfection is quite capable of having their prayers handled by Yah, Amaterasu, Apollo, a dead relative, some random angel, the lamppost in the front yard… you get the idea.   Such a person might also get Lucifer or some other less-than-friendly entity with a glowing light theme.  It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in personal evil- They believe in you.

If we just throw stuff around willy-nilly, we get whoever answers.  Specificity helps, even if it’s just “My honored dead and our beloved Gods and spirits”.  That at least narrows it down to your ancestors and Powers that you (and they) have knowingly served- though if Uncle Joe was secretly in some other religion, you could still be in for a surprise.

So, what are you asking for, again?

Another problem with the “highest and best good” phrasing is that it assumes divine omniscience- the ability to know everything about everything.  The second we remove the mask of monotheism and look at actual religious traditions, the more we find that even the Gods are typically not omniscient.  Whether this is a self-imposed limitation or not can be argued, but even a seemingly monotheistic book like the Bible offers examples of a deity “finding out” something rather than instantly knowing (or pre-knowing):

God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways.

– Genesis 6:12

 

Then the Lord said, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know.”

– Genesis 18:20-21

There are many other examples if you look for them. But this is not surprising as Judaism was originally a henotheistic religion- one that acknowledged other deities but served only one.  Monotheism was a later, human invention.

I find the second passage above to be highly illustrative of my point.  Note that Yah says “the outcry that has reached me”.  This indicates that He was made aware of the situation in Sodom not through omniscience but through the petitions and prayers of the faithful.  Yah even travels in human form to visit Sodom and check things out for Himself.  That’s not to say that He or any other deity is incapable of getting a good view of things remotely.  It does, however, suggest the importance of clear communication if one desires assistance from spiritual sources.

Coupled with the earlier statement about WHOM we might be petitioning for help, the need for a clear request becomes even more important.  Even in the case of praying specifically to a major Holy Power, that doesn’t mean that He or She has to intervene personally.  Deities often work in groups- if someone requests Odin’s help with romance, He might ask Freyja to handle it.  Assuming that She does get involved, She in turn might have one of Her retinue take responsibility for that person’s case.  She could also decide to pass it back to the petitioner’s ancestors, depending on the nature of the issue.

Therefore, the petitioner in this case (or in any case) would be wise to be very clear and precise in their requests.  Praying for one’s “highest and best good” doesn’t have anything (overtly) to do with romance at all.  Even praying for one’s “highest and best good in love” is really, really open to interpretation.  Perhaps the entity handling your case thinks you should breed like rabbits to swell the ranks of the faithful.  Maybe said entity thinks love is a fool’s game and will try to steer you away from it.  Be clear and precise in your requests.

While this might not convince a Holy Power that disagrees with your request to help you, it also makes it less likely that such a Power will use the energy that YOU are putting into the request in a way that you would dislike.  It may also increase the chances that an agreeable deity, spirit, or ancestor will be the one to respond.

Of course, prayer is not a WYSIWYG tool.  You can’t push a “marriage” button and be instantly transported to the end of a Disney movie.  The threads of causality are complex and we are imperfect beings.  Even in the case of a powerful deity’s direct intervention, we humans have an uncanny capacity for gumming up the works.  If we are clear in our communication, it means that we have at least some conscious idea of the goal- maybe we will be less likely to screw up.

Is it arrogant to ask?

One of the main reasons that people fall into “highest and best good” is the belief that we humans, limited as we are, simply do not know as much about a situation as the Gods.  While this is often true, once we remember that omniscience is a falsehood created by humans, it is right and proper for us to communicate more fully.  Just because an entity can know about something doesn’t mean that said entity grasps our perspective of the situation.  Isn’t good communications about a two-way sharing of perspective?  We might not hear Their responses, but it’s rude to assume They can’t (or don’t want to) hear ours.

That’s not to say we can’t acknowledge our limited perspective.  Let’s imagine the case of praying for a friend who has fallen ill.  It’s perfectly appropriate to pray:

Please heal my friend Amos who has brain cancer.  Please help him to recover fully and swiftly.  I know that I might not fully understand the situation and if healing is not an option, please help my friend and his loved ones to get through this with as little pain as possible.

Similarly with prayers about love or romance:

Please bring me a spouse that will be loving and supportive.  Please help us both be good partners throughout our lives.  I realize that maybe that’s not what I need at the moment, but I’m very lonely. If I can’t have such a person in my life right now, please help me to overcome my loneliness in healthy ways.

The same principle applies across the spectrum of human experience and topics of petition.  We can and should ask for what we want (perhaps with an explanation).  We can and also should admit to our limitations and our motivations- especially in the case of entities with whom we have (or are building) relationships.  With very few exceptions, honesty is a sound policy in any relationship.