A Book of Pagan Rituals by Herman Slater

Author:Herman Slater
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Samuel Weiser

The Gods

We give honor to many Gods in the Pagan Way. It must be immediately realized that these many Gods are the Many Forms of the One God, the great force that lies behind all creation. The closest that philosophers have come to a definition of the One is “A state of Pure Being.” Not a force that is “good.” Not a force that is “bad.” Not a force that is dark or light, but an existence that simply “IS.”

Now this Oneness is not only nature, but it is the Supreme Power that transcends all of the Universe. So Providence, the bountiful one, creator of all things, is the material universe, but also above that universe. As you will now appreciate, the One stands beyond the range of the human mind, as it is the inmost self of all things, and may only be perceived in the mirror of the universe. Thus the knowledge of the One is attained only through the symbols and laws It has created.

The apparent form of the One that we may understand is the Truth of polarity. Everything is dual; everything has two poles; everything has its pair of opposites. Opposites are identical in nature but different in degree. This great truth we express in the form of the male/female aspect of polarity, the God and the Goddess. In terms of a creation theory, the One is both male and female, being all things. As creation comes about through the conjunction of the male and the female the One immediately may be represented by a second level consisting of male and female figures, the God and the Goddess.

The God and Goddess are not mere symbols of the God, except as everything is symbolic. They are representatives in the physical universe of principles that are as near to the One that we may experience and still remain human.

These principles are personified during the solar year and have assumed many forms in many traditions. Different peoples have called the God and the Goddess many names. All the names are the true name, for it matters not what they are called.

Throughout history, the four seasons have symbolized man's journey through life. In the Spring the pregnant Goddess of nature emerges from the underworld when melting snow signals the bursting of the divine placenta. The infant God of the year is born at the Spring equinox, and after the delivery the Goddess again becomes a maiden. Beltane marks full adolescence and the engagement of the young God and Goddess as pollination begins. Midsummer marks their wedding feast: the year's orgasm beginning on the longest day of the year. The embryo of the coming year develops around Lammas, August 1, with the ripening fruit. The Autumnal equinox and the harvest moon, the brightest of the year, signal relaxation and release as the fruits fall. Halloween ushers the return of the dead and the descent into the underworld. At the Winter solstice, the longest night of the year, the Holy Infant

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