Good morning dear readers, I hope you are doing good.
Before getting down to the core of this post (beware, I am a bit grumpy and moody today so there is some ranting throughout this post), I would like to inform you that I am officially on holidays till the very end of August. Hourray, at last. I could not stand having meetings for work (pretty useless for me), I could not stand having to wait to join my friends back in my hometown. I leave a nice person, a colleague of mine who has been a good counsellor, teaching me not to take things personnally, too much at heart (oh dear it will be a lifelong challenge!). But hey, phone and the Internet do exist, right? I won’t linger on about this tough academic year as now I can put the ordeals and hardships aside (well, in my mind it’s another story, my mind is still dealing with what « stabbed » in the face or at the heart). And get back to my personal life, my inner being, my hobbies, my projects, the ones who are meaningful in my life. Will two « little » free months be enough for all I want to do? We’ll see.
Now, let’s dip into the theme of the post: polytheism on one side, hyperconsumerism on the other side. Now let’s put them together, let’s get them be faced opposite each other. Why am I dealing with such topic? Simply because Facebook seems to be the only place where almost everybody gathers about one topic (from hatred towards women, nazism, cyber bullshitting, sewing, knitting, shamanism, faith healing, literature, to music, arts, groups fighting against Monsanto and animal cruelty) and sometimes your information rate swelling up to your brain is much too high. We live in a world where most of what we see, we hear, we taste is full, even too full. Our senses are always being called for some tasting, trying and… purchasing. Is buying, possessing the end to everything? Are we what we buy? Even when it comes to spirituality and religion?
I can see in my newsfeed some people always changing their profile pics and covers, posting links and pics of pagan items (athame, pendants, jewellery and some other stuff which make your witchy cybernetic aura go more popular, you are so cool if you share anything about your spiritual path. Can’t people refrain from showing all the petty sharing about how cool it is to buy a new athame or a new Mjollnir pendant, a new caldron with a pentacle on it (well, there are some other more valuable esoteric symbols to work on or with, don’t you think?) and rather focus on writings, new discoveries (personal or community-related)? I mean: does consumerism (hey, look, I just bought a new witchy cloak for my rituals) make you a real polytheist, a real witch or even priest or priestess (add anything else you want to that list) to the eyes of the cyber polytheists? Why not share more about « yesterday night I had a dream about Arawn or yesterday during the ritual I made for Hekate I met her dogs and they talked to me with no words ». Well, it’s more intimate but spirituality is a matter of intimacy with the Divine, isn’t it?
Let’s say I am fed up with the shallow aspects of life. I have always sought genuity, the Truth, the one Truth which is mine. The Truth about the Cosmos. I am happy when it comes to objects, clothes and so on. I need to feed my soul with what I cannot touch, I need to feed my soul, my whole being with what we can’t buy: friendship, love, family, serenity, bliss, peace of mind. Always purchasing does not make me happy. Or it would rather satisfy some « greed » for some little time but what follows then? The sticky and « filthy » impression I am a shallow and brainless woman. Which I cannot put up with. Sometimes I like to pretend or to play I am being girly, just for fun you know but that does not go beyond that concept of fun with my girl friends. What nourishes me is way beyond materiality.
Sometimes I wonder whether the polytheistic community (I don’t like using the term « pagan ») is not going egocentric, egotistic about tools, items, I would even put it like this: objects. Can’t we do without « objects »? What about our minds, our souls? Should we not rather learn and teach ourselves (even one another) how to use it (i.e. « the mind ») properly, differently? Do objects we use in our practice enclose everything we need to go beyond this earthly and down-to-earth life? You need nothing but yourself for meditation. Why always utilise, with a too great excitement, some paraphernalia? I have enough paraphernalia as a young polytheist. Now I would like Athena, Hermes, Isis (or Aset?), Odhinn and Frigg, Cerrydwen, Rhiannon to talk to me. I have so many knots to undo, the path is still under way and some parts have been cleared but there is still so much to be done. That’s the way it is meant to be for us all. Items are just cumbersome, don’t you think?
Now I would like to see what your mind is about that topic! It’s over to you! 🙂
Sighild's Lair 