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.
The Columns of Aya Sofia
All of the world's big-box religions—including, be it noted, Hinduism and Buddhism—have built their houses on pagan foundations.
As we rebuild the paganisms of the future, this fact has implications.
Let us be frank: much—most—of the Old Lore has been lost forever; there's simply no way ever to recover it.
So, when it comes to the intangibles—tunes, tropes, vocabulary—I would contend that, as pagans, it's our right to take from the Dispossessors whatever we might wish.
Think of it as Reparations: the making-good of that which has been taken from us. In the old Hwicce/Witch language, this would have been called a grith-geld (as in wergeld): payment to make peace between communities.
As for the tangibles: the places, the fungibles? All in good time, my little pretty: all in good time.
If we're wise, for now, we'll draw the line at intangibles. Remember that pagans are the Original People.
If there's one thing we know, it's how to wait.
In the cathedral of the Holy Wisdom (Aya Sofia) in what is now Istanbul, stand eight green marble columns pillaged from one of the world's original Seven Wonders, the famous Temple of Artemis at Ephesus.
In their time, these magnificent columns have heard Sunni prayers and Orthodox hymns, but deep in their crystalline structure they remember the chants in praise of the Many-Breasted Mother of All.
Some day, we are bold to declare, they will hear her praises again.
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