It’s been both a bitter and liberating experience to realize the old certainties are not going to save us. There are certainly treasures from the past that we can carry forward, but no one else can walk our path for us.
Great reflection. I'm reading this in my first chunk of free time after a week-long mountain music school, and only a few hours ago had a good conversation with a musician I respect about how traditional music (+ old time fiddle music) is a living thing, a communal thing, a sort of cultural connective tissue rooted in place and shared reality. The old time music tradition includes new songs and shared songs, and it's the act of being in the space together that guides it all to fit. Spirituality seems very much like that as well - a thing that is always there, but thrives in the specifics of place and community. I'm a city-dweller, and reading posts like these reminds me that I remain connected by nature of being a living thing that has to eat. I appreciate your work with the land and with the keyboard!
Thomas Jefferson was big on Agrarian values himself, but even then he was taking a cue from the ancient Roman pagan philosophers and statesmen. Living one's values through physical action seems a great way to get in touch with the divine as well as our own surroundings, and few physical actions are as consistent as farming. Even crafts and construction are not as regularly practiced out of necessity.
All I have is a blackberry bush in my backyard, so I can only get a taste of these natural rhythms, although my temple milk offering comes from a farmer I know and is hence rooted in the land.
Yes, the ancient Roman agronomists like Cato and Columella and poets like Virgil, were prime examples of agrarian pagans. Their writings expressed lived piety toward the land that deeply inspires me.
Your milk offerings ritual sounds beautiful and I’m sure the genii loci appreciate it.
Although my offerings are to deities I see as "nonlocal" (more transpersonal), the name of our temple (and my substack) was at least an attempt to ground the practice in a physical location. My view is that any religion whose deities are considered immanent in any way, some localization to the land and community is vital.
It’s been both a bitter and liberating experience to realize the old certainties are not going to save us. There are certainly treasures from the past that we can carry forward, but no one else can walk our path for us.
Agrarian Paganism seems to be a good match with regenerative agriculture - or would they be unrelated endeavors?
They are absolutely compatible and should be practiced together, if one is so inclined. That’s what I do! 😉
Great reflection. I'm reading this in my first chunk of free time after a week-long mountain music school, and only a few hours ago had a good conversation with a musician I respect about how traditional music (+ old time fiddle music) is a living thing, a communal thing, a sort of cultural connective tissue rooted in place and shared reality. The old time music tradition includes new songs and shared songs, and it's the act of being in the space together that guides it all to fit. Spirituality seems very much like that as well - a thing that is always there, but thrives in the specifics of place and community. I'm a city-dweller, and reading posts like these reminds me that I remain connected by nature of being a living thing that has to eat. I appreciate your work with the land and with the keyboard!
Thanks Clay! I love your analogy between old time music and spirituality, it is very apt!
Thomas Jefferson was big on Agrarian values himself, but even then he was taking a cue from the ancient Roman pagan philosophers and statesmen. Living one's values through physical action seems a great way to get in touch with the divine as well as our own surroundings, and few physical actions are as consistent as farming. Even crafts and construction are not as regularly practiced out of necessity.
All I have is a blackberry bush in my backyard, so I can only get a taste of these natural rhythms, although my temple milk offering comes from a farmer I know and is hence rooted in the land.
Yes, the ancient Roman agronomists like Cato and Columella and poets like Virgil, were prime examples of agrarian pagans. Their writings expressed lived piety toward the land that deeply inspires me.
Your milk offerings ritual sounds beautiful and I’m sure the genii loci appreciate it.
Although my offerings are to deities I see as "nonlocal" (more transpersonal), the name of our temple (and my substack) was at least an attempt to ground the practice in a physical location. My view is that any religion whose deities are considered immanent in any way, some localization to the land and community is vital.