"Lewis had converted to Christianity, but had problems with the whole concept of religion, he saw faith and belief in gods as a necessity but that the Jesus saga had followed the earlier stories, especially Northern pagan of the dying of the god. In fact religion was founded on mythological stories carried forward. Well the 'Inklings' had a very satisfying life of discussion and criticism amongst the hallowed portals of Oxford - being intellectual! Taken from here."
Something sparked when I listened to 'The Inklings, it was the philosophical question of whether there had been any real gods, or is belief to be equated with truth. So I dived into the rabbit hole of my blog, when years ago I read everything about, what I would call Celtic mysticism. I have written reams about gods and belief, they fascinated me, I expect because I actually wanted them to be living gods and not of the imagination.
Capturing Celtic tales, pondering the meaning of Iron Age mirrors, did they have a sacred nature or was it just vanity? Water as a natural sacred vessel. Why were Saxon women buried in bed burials what was it all about.
The answer will come ringing back to me, they believed in 'The Otherworld,' enter the Bronze Age barrow or the fairy fort of the Sidhe and you were away. We have/had Paradise, the Vikings had wine, women and food. It all boils down to the same thing of course, we are afeared of death and therefore promise ourselves a bright future in the afterlife.
The photo at the beginning is a screenshot from Colette's Bealtaine Cottage, her peace and belief in Goddess Earth, reflects the feminism of today's modern culture of pagan belief. I listen to her videos for the peace of the tranquil three acres of woodland she has planted on scrub land. It is one of the intriguing things following the pathways of the gods to understand how women played an important part. Even in our Christian faith, may I say it, who had the baby?
So I shall go on gathering these thoughts, thinking of Celtic Portals to the Otherworld, as Colette found when she dug a well in her own Paradise, and also listen to a good friend's voice as he wanders round a favourite well of mine.
And so..how I dabbled at the edge of the portal amongst the gods but at the end found no existence of the presence of a god or gods....
https://northstoke.blogspot.com/2009/01/welsh-celtic-story.html
https://northstoke.blogspot.com/2014/12/mirrors.html
The World from a Different Angle
I love all these sacred springs and wells.
ReplyDeleteI find that the offerings left rather let things down round the wells. The Swallowhead willow at Avebury was always festooned with strange stuff.
ReplyDeleteI loved Tolkien's response to Lewis' doubt. I feel as if I'm on quite a trail. As I said, I read the Inklings with my phone nearby for quick googling. So much I don't know. There is such a intertwining of myth and faith and superstition. In the end, the one thing that I know for sure is that while I no longer seem to believe in God, I do very much believe in good.
ReplyDeleteWell perhaps goodness, or right and wrong were the beginnings of religion, you just had to make up a code of behaviour ;)
ReplyDelete"I dabbled at the edge of the portal amongst the gods but at the end found no existence of the presence of a god or gods...". Likewise Thelma, likewise. I looked into the very heart of things and found an empty space, no creator, no guardian, nothing. All the rest was just stories, make-believe, social glue.
ReplyDeleteI am not sure if religion isn't about weakness Neil but its slow evaporation as more and more intelligent study of the world sterilises it into imaginative fairytales is perhaps fairer.
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