Monday, June 22, 2009

Pagan Values: Cherish Mamma Gaia and Clean Up Your Mess



Sadly,

Sia


Related Articles:


Stonehenges Pagans aren't a patch on the past
One journalist thinks the Stonehenge crowd have got it wrong.

Pagans litter Stonehenge
Oh, really? Just how many of the litter bugs were Pagans or Druids, pray? How many were heedless ravers, drug wasted wannabes and obnoxious tourists?

Record crowds at Stonehenge

Pagan Party Goers and Naked Bicycle Riders
Celebrating solstice in the Pacific Northwest

A Sense of Place:
Added 6/23
...and some people get it. Hecate is one of those. Here is an excerpt but do read the whole thing.


Paganism is, at least IMHO, a religion of place. It's wonderful to love Mamma Gaia and the entire planet, but the daily practice of Paganism is hugely involved, I think, in the business of being in deeper and deeper relationship with one's own particular landbase/watershed/genius loci. It's largely about becoming familiar with, listening to, doing right by, and helping to turn the wheel in concert with the particular spirits of your particular place. And that's something that I think that American Pagans, especially, haven't yet done or learned how to do, which may partly explain our longing for (insert your spot here) Stonehenge, Avebury, Bridget's Well, the Caves in Lascaux, Crete, the Parthenon, ancient Egypt, etc.



3 comments:

Michelle/MouseDemon said...

I realise this is disgusting, but although I wasn't there, from experiences from other places, I can pretty much guarantee that there were pagans that stayed around to clear up everyone else's mess. I know it shouldn't have been made in the first place, however the media never reports that actually it wasn't just the "authorities" that cleared up afterwards. Since that really isn't as interesting as "The Dirty Unwashed Weirdos leaving such a mess!"

Anonymous said...

Things like this make me want to take my shaman staff and smack someone on the head!

Morgaine said...

We don't mind the now-ritualistic cleanup we do. We now just carry a box of contractor bags in our vehicle and manage to carry loads of debris and litter from wherever we go.

Sad that humans have devolved away from caring for our environment, but we turn their mess into our time to restore order.

And thankfully we are surrounded now by a younger generation who, like my son and his friends, are starting Eco-Clubs to conduct clean-ups and teach others to pick up after themselves.

Mayhap someday the sight of a deceased four-legged creature as the result of ingesting plastics will actually be a death mourned, and then a thing of the past.