Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth

In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.

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Are There Pagans on Other Planets?

Are there pagans on other planets?

For now, of course, there's no way to know. But my guess would be: Yes, there probably are. Wherever there is intelligent life, there will be pagans.

In fact, I'd be willing to go even farther. Since the Old Gods, the great Powers that give rise to, and sustain, life will necessarily (so far as we know) be constant from planet to planet, I suspect that the paganisms of the extraterrestrials may well bear something of a family resemblance to our own.

Earth is at the center of all the paganisms that we know, and pagans of other planets will have their own Earths. Like us, they will know a Sun (or Suns) and Moon (or Moons). One wonders what manner of mythologies might arise on planets with multiple Suns and Moons.

 

On any rotating planet with an atmosphere, there will be Winds, and hence weather. Likely Storm will figure large in extraterrestrial pantheons as he does in those on Earth. Planets with Seas will know that power as well.

If we may speak of the collective plant life of planet Earth as the Green God, then he will exist on any planet where there is plant life. And where there's plant life, there will be Fire.

Likewise, if we may speak of the collective animal life of planet Earth as the Red God—him that we call the Horned—then he will have brothers (or other selves) on planets on which animal life exists.

Any planet that revolves around a Sun will have solstices and equinoxes, and seasons as well. So extraterrestrial pagans may well know a Wheel of the Year, just as we do.

Exotheology is the name given to “the examination of theological issues as they pertain to extraterrestrial intelligence.”

For some of Earth's children, exotheology can pose major theological difficulties.

But for pagans, it's really no problem.

No problem at all.

 

 

 

 

 

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Poet, scholar and storyteller Steven Posch was raised in the hardwood forests of western Pennsylvania by white-tailed deer. (That's the story, anyway.) He emigrated to Paganistan in 1979 and by sheer dint of personality has become one of Lake Country's foremost men-in-black. He is current keeper of the Minnesota Ooser.

Comments

  • Anthony Gresham
    Anthony Gresham Wednesday, 09 March 2016

    I remember an article in Science News magazine that said yellow dwarf stars; like our sun, favor the development of chlorophyll as the primary pigment in photosynthesis. Blue dwarf stars favor the development of carotenoids as the primary pigment in photosynthesis giving the vegetation hues of orange and yellow, while under a white dwarf star the primary pigment will be anthocyanins: giving the vegetation hues of scarlet, indigo and purple.

    I don't remember anything in the article about green being the color of fall on planets around blue and white dwarf stars, but I like to think it would.

  • Steven Posch
    Steven Posch Friday, 11 March 2016

    The "Orange Man"? "Jack in the Indigo?" Curiouser and curiouser!

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