Capricorn, Pan and Pagans

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The word Pagan finds its roots in classical Roman times. With the rise of Christianity at the time of the fall of Rome, the notion of Pagan emerged and remains for many derogatory,  referring to superstitious, primitive and ignorant people. The term Pagan basically referred to people who lived close to the land and who paid close attention to the cycles and the ‘signs’ of nature for the sake of success with the crops. By extension, the turning of the seasons and the waxing and waning Moon held spiritual significance to the Pagans. Of course, the people of all advanced cultures throughout history held similar views and spiritual associations with natural rhythms and cycles. How interesting it is that the rise of Christianity led to the disdain for Pagans and subsequently to nature itself. This is not true of all people who claim to be Christian, yet the other worldly attitudes, on one hand, and the ambitions, political complexities and corruptions of the empire contributed to a distorted view of so-called Pagans and Paganism in general.

 Consequently, the rituals of the church progressively led people away from honoring the natural cycles as having anything to do with spirituality or God.  Faith became blind and obedience mandatory. It was the march of the Age of Reason, a reaction to blind faith and strict obedience, which widened the gap. Combine that with irreverent opportunism and a complicated story begins to get clearer. The main issue is not religion or science though; it is extremism, ambition and human reaction. There are other factors as well and it may all be part of a greater plan. But given the ecological crisis of our times, we are wise to tune in again to natural cycles. These occur both in the natural world and within each person and they are measurable and therefore have a scientific basis. At its core essence, this is what Paganism recognizes. By extension, Paganism shares close associations with Pantheism.

Pantheism was the widely held belief that all nature was spiritual and that every aspect of nature had its own spirit. Amidst many gods and spirits and faeries and elementals t one of the main figures of Pantheism was a flute playing goat/man that was simply referred to as Pan. Astrologically, Pan shares close resemblances to some of the themes and characteristics of Capricorn which is commonly symbolized by the mountain goat. In the political processes of monotheistic religions, Pan was demonized – contorted and distorted to symbolize evil itself. Our modern image of the devil is a dark caricature of Pan. Nature and nature’s procreative cycles were what Pan once symbolized. Yes a celebration of procreation and of the inherent sexuality in all aspects of the natural world. Is it any wonder that we have created such a negative and dangerously disrespectful relationship with the natural world and to sexuality and to our own nature?

Perhaps we have all been fooled, just as J.R.R. Tolkien was aiming to demonstrate in his Lord of the Rings trilogy and other writings. The singularity on Monotheism has and continues to cause much damage both to the natural world and to our own psyches. In the bosom of monotheism, however, is the more accurate notion that “God is One” or whole, verses the political, reductionistic and impoverished notion that there in ‘only’ one God. It would seem that this notion of divine singularity is a root cause to prejudices of all kinds, perhaps especially religious prejudice, which in turn, does much to fan the flames of fanaticism. Not surprisingly, the word ‘only’ (as in only one God…) shares roots with lonely and alone and the singularity and solitude of one verses whole or holistic. If those reverent to the monotheistic notion of God espoused ‘oneness’, there might not but such a division between people of different faiths. That God is one or oneness means that all parts of creation share a common denominator. The life force flows through everything. The physicists have proven this and other branches of science are emerging from it – one tree many branches. The metaphors go on and it is all Pantheism in another guise and perhaps from new angles of perception as well. For its part, Astrology proves that life functions on the basis of intelligent design and order. It is the controlling tendencies of unchecked ego that is unwilling or afraid to acknowledge this. That entire industries profit from this obscurity is another factor in the game that benefits from obscuring a simpler truth. Yes, division and conflict spawns big business, ask the arms dealers. What were once swords and armor and perhaps even valor and courage is now missiles, jets and laser beams supporting the evils of manufactured conflict for the sake of ambition, power, greed and control. It would appear that Sauron, the dark Lord, the “great eye” from the lord of the rings did not perish in the end after all.

The game of keeping people divided and separated from nature, their own and that of the natural world continues. So, the wheel of time turns and the tide is turning now. Which way it will turn however, is yet to be seen. The question remains: what are we to do about it? Beyond the bigger picture, we can tune into our own rhythms and cycles. Even in this day and age, with all our gadgetry, people look to the cycles of the natural world. Consequently, Almanacs remain important. Yet, more basic than almanacs are clocks and calendars which are popular remnants of almanacs. Reading the time and knowing the date is common knowledge. What is not so commonly known is that calendars are linked to almanacs, which are linked to cycles, which are linked to Astronomy but which are Astrological because Astrology is Astronomy brought down to earth and made practically useful for everyday life.

Would you like to learn more about reading an Astrological Calendar for daily practical use and even inner attunement to nature and to your own nature? Sign-up for my webinar on how to effectively read and follow a pocket Astrologer. Learn more ….