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#18- October 2006 c.e.Joy and Reverence

War belongs to our souls as an archetypal truth of the cosmos. It is a humanaccomplishment and an inhuman horror, and a love that no other love hasbeen able to overcome. To this terrible truth we may awaken, and inawakening give all our passionate intensity to subverting war’s enactment,encouraged by the courage of cultures, even in dark ages, to withstand warand yet sing. We may understand it better, delay it longer, and work to weanwar from its support in hypocritical religion. But war itself shall remain untilthe gods go away. - James Hillman

A Terrible Love of War

(NY: PenguinPress, 2004), 214

By Daniel Van Koughnett

When I was five years old I got a spanking forlaughing in church. It wasn’t really my fault. Billy didsomething socially unacceptable and I just couldn’thelp but laugh. It wasn’t even a very loud laugh,more of a giggle really, but the acoustics of the oldBaptist sanctuary were designed to carry thesmallest sounds throughout the vast cavern of heavyoaken solemnity.Of course I didn’t get spanked right away. I got thatlook from my mother; you know, the one that says“when we get home...”. That was always the worstpart... the waiting. Now I don’t blame my mother.She was doing the best she knew how. The Churchadvocated physical punishment, and I was a rather...spirited child. Still I don’t recall ever actuallyenjoying a church service, except for the singing. Ialways enjoyed the singing.What’s my point? Oh... right. My point.Our church is an entirely different place than the oneI grew up in. Our faith is one of joy, as well asreverence. As our Goddess is often quoted, “Allacts of love and pleasure are my worship”. In our

Finnish Magic: A Nation of Wizards, A World of Spirits

by Robert Nelson

Reviewed by Isabella Mori

Connecting with our ancestors is one of the thingsthat Robert Nelson talks about quite frequently inthis little book about Finnish magic. Writing aboutancestral memorials, he suggests that the practice of genealogy, a highly popular hobby, is partlyprompted by our ancestors’ haltija or spirits. “Thisact of searching out our ancestors is in itself an act of devotion ...” He talks about seeing the main figures inmyths and legends as our ancestors.Nelson also points out that these practices shouldnot be misunderstood as ancestral worship. Indeed,he mentions throughout the book that there is noneed to bow to gods, spirits or ancestors – all weneed to do is to celebrate them and show themrespect, the way we would show respect to anyoneelse.I mention these ideas about ancestors because thisemphasis on connecting with those gone before us isone of the ways in which this books differs frommore mainstream books on paganism.

worship services we do not punish children, oradults for that matter, for expressing the joy that ourlove of God and Goddess, and each other, elicits inour hearts and minds and tongues.Along with joy, however, there is also a place forreverence. We have a very special privilege aschildren of the Divine. Each time we gather togetherto celebrate that special bond of heart and spirit thatwe all share, we are blessed with the very presenceof our Lord and Lady, who walk amongst us,through and around our circle, touching each of us.This is certainly a time of joy, but it is also a time of wonder, and of reverence.What is reverence? Well the dictionary defines itthus,

A feeling of profound awe and respect and oftenlove

(The American Heritage® Dictionary of theEnglish Language, Fourth Edition. )Sounds exactly like what I feel towards the Divine inmy presence. I suspect it fits well with most of youtoo. But what about joy? Well let’s go back to thedictionary for that too:

the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionallygood or satisfying

(The American Heritage®Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition.)So when we combine the two we get profound awe,great delight, respect, happiness, and loveWow, quite a range of emotions. But to those whohave experienced a truly moving ritual, where thepresence of God and Goddess, ancestors andelementals, is so palpable that the breath of mortaland immortal fills the air with the mist of magick andecstasy, this wash of emotion is all too familiar.Sorry? My Point? Oh, I’ve done it again, haven’t I.Well I guess my point is, joy and reverence inbalance is the key to a ritual that blesses everyone.Too much “reverence” leads to a somber and dolefulchurch service where the most exciting thing thathappens is when the preacher stops talking, and themost spiritual thought on your mind is whether youcan get home in time to catch the beginning of thegame.On the other hand, too much joy can be just as bad.Ours is an experiential religion, a faith where God/ dess is felt, rather than being read about.Distractions during ritual elements can ruin thatexperience. This is not to say that you should expecta profound religious experience every single timeyou enter the circle, but you can bet that, at anyparticular ritual, someone may. Distractions from theritual element by joking or chatting might just ruinthat experience for that person. The other thing toconsider is the well-being of the Priestess and Priest.They are very busy people up there by the altar.Along with performing the ritual and all it’s elements,they are responsible for channelling the energy youall put out, monitoring each celebrant for signs of distress, being prepared to receive messages fromthe Divine or other beings, and even rememberingtheir deosil from their widdershin. When someonespeaks, the Priest/ess must stop what they are doingand listen. If it turns out to be nothing more thansomeone cracking a joke, it’s an unwelcome break in conversation.Now please don’t get the impression that I’mforbidding all expressions here, far from it. What Iam saying is try to keep it appropriate, in balance.Between each ritual element there is a break in theflow. During these little breaks the energy rewinds,the ritual pauses, the ritual leaders take what mightbe likened to a little break in the action. Everyoneappreciates a little levity at these times, it helps usunwind and prepare for the next element. Duringritual elements, however, the casting, the invocations,the spellwork, the blessings, the feast, the dismissals,please try to make sure you don’t cause adistraction for other people. Remember thatsomeday it might be you who just misses the touchof Goddess because some chicken crosses the roadwith a fireman or something. I am not, in any way,however, discouraging spontaneous expressions of faith or emotion that your experience may promptyou to give. Those are gifts from the Divine and areentirely appropriate to share.Joy and reverence in balance. If you alwaysapproach your rituals with profound awe, greatdelight, respect, happiness, and love, you will findthe balance and you will leave more blessed thanwhen you entered.Oh, and feel free to laugh at me during story time...Another reason for mentioning these ideas is that it isnow clear to me that my interest in this book hasmuch deeper roots than I originally thought. I amnow amused to look back on how I was slowly ledto want to read this book. First I saw it on a libraryshelf and thought, “Oh, neat, I’ve seen all kinds of books on magic but never one on Finnish magic”.Then it occurred to me that I knew a Finnish family.Then I figured I might as well buy the book (one of

Finnish Magic cont....

very few books that I take out of the library andthen actually buy). And on it went like that until itfinally dawned on me that my grandmother – the onewho supported the family by “reading the cards” tothe rich farmers’ wives in post-war Germany – camefrom the same stock as the Finns: the Baltic triangleof Estonia, Russia and Finland.This book, then, touches me in some deep space,the space that has long been fascinated withScandinavian midsummer night festivals, the longdark nights of the North, the stark beauty of North-ern Europe. Perhaps reading this book is a form of ancestral celebration for me. (And how much of acoincidence is it, do you think, that I am currentlyreading a book that I casually picked up at ValueVillage a few months ago and which turns out toalmost entirely take place in Finland?)Other ways in which Finnish Magic is a little differentfrom your run-of-the-mill pagan book is its emphasison history, the central place of songs and chants(particularly from the Kalevala, the Finnish nationalepic) and the very pragmatic style both of the magicand of the book itself. There is absolutely nothingfluffy-bunny about this book.Finnish magic is, above all else, pragmatic. Do whatworks. The mage is not bound by traditional orestablished ritual. The most powerful magic is aresult of spontaneity and creativity rather than of strict adherence to a set pattern.Words like these, and the tales of sailing on roughseas, living in the forest and pragmatically andharmonically living with nature that weave throughthe whole book, make me think of a sturdy peoplewho, through hands-on experience, have learnedthat magic works, and that there is nothing particu-larly unusual about that.Of course trees have spirits! Of course spiritsbehave in understandable ways! And of course, thesauna has a spirit, too, that “knows and feels. It isthe spirit of the sauna that purifies, heals, and conse-crates.”Spirits, or the haltija, should not be understooddualistically, as in western philosophy. There is not aspiritual world and a material world. There is aworld. The world and the things of the world arecomposed of many parts. The human body, forexample, has bones, blood, nerves, skin … None of the parts is a human, nor is a human completewithout each part. Similarly, the haltija and the bodyare both essential to a complete being – whetherhuman, rock, plant, or animal.This month, we celebrated Mabon while hosting theOkanagan Pagan Pride Day here in Penticton. Wehad such a great time! Though it started out slowly,momentum picked up as the day progressed endingin a whirl of positive energy! We’ve had manycontacts through PPD and our next ritual may bequite busy! We met the Ancient Gods in person andtheir music really is fantastic! They really helpedcarry the day for us and so to repay the favour,Sable and I have offered to distribute copies of theirmusic for $10 per disc. This will be split with $5 tothem, $4 to our temples and $1 for the disc itself.Everyone wins and they get exposure. Thank you,Carri, Jeremy and Chris!!I really want to extend my thank yous out to thosewho made our OPPD so wonderful: FibonacciRoastery and Cafe, for their coffee stand, LippyHippy’s Creations, Blue Moon Creations,Dreamweaver (Vernon) for their contributions to ourSilent Auction. North Okanagan Temple and all myhelpers from our own Temple for helping with all theorganization and keeping things moving. I was reallystarting to fret when you all arrived and then thewhole day went off without much fuss at all! Thanksto all the contributors to our Silent Auction, bothvendors and personal contributions. In all, betweendonations and the silent auction, we managed tobreak even! This was fantastic!I have learned a few things from this year, thus likeSable did, I am looking to improve things even morenext year. I have some contacts made this year thatwill be great for next year. I intend to have the venuebooked much earlier and I will be booking evenmore stuff and people. I really enjoyed myself thisyear, thanks to soooo many people. I will do it againnext year just to have some more fun and mirth!I have been into contact with Christina Ince, aholistic counsellor here in Penticton, to formulate adate that she can do her Celtic Wheel Workshop forus. This will be a half day event. I am meeting with

Temple News

South Okanagan Temple (Penticton)

Isabella Mori is a practising psychotherapist inVancouver. She welcomes comments and questionsthrough email at moritherapy@shaw.ca, through herweb site at www.moritherapy.com, or through herblog at www.moritherapy.org.