Male Mysteries

Over the last thirty years or so we have seen western paganism move from being a minority religion practiced by eccentrics into a popular alternative spirituality practiced openly by millions of people in the western world.

The rise of western paganism and its many different traditions happened largely in a time when women were still fighting for equality in society and the workplace, so it was inevitable that much emphasis would be put on the Goddess Worship aspect of paganism, perhaps as a justified reaction to 2000 years of patriarchy.

As a pagan priest my perspective of Deity has always been one of balance and duality and I feel that it is time that The God took his rightful place beside his lady and was honoured in balance with her.

In society today the traditional roles of Female and Male no longer apply and women are as likely to be the breadwinners alongside their male partners or indeed reversing roles completely and working while their men folk stay home and take on the role of home maker and child carer. It makes a lot of people uncomfortable to even discuss gender roles, but as pagans we should celebrate the differences between the genders as the divine duality of Godhead that makes the universal wheel turn.

Many years ago I remember a Wiccan priestess telling me that I must be able to recognize the divine Goddess in all women that I meet, but she did not stress that the same applied to all men as well. Worship of the God took a backseat and so did the Divine Male Mysteries associated with it.

Male spirituality and the Male Mysteries have always had their place in tribal societies across the world, and as western Pagan Males we should honour our Divine Maleness through the worship of the Horned God.

To me, the Male Mysteries are a recognition and celebration of the divine God within ourselves as men. The Male Mysteries are the power of feeling and sensitivity coupled with a balanced psyche; where mind is not separated from emotion and spirit is not separated from flesh.

The Mysteries are the image of what men can be, if liberated from the constraints of the negative role models placed upon them by society, the media and popular culture.

Men do not need to behave more like "Real Men", as portrayed to us in advertising, film and TV. Instead they need to open up to the real keys to masculinity; the inner God, the well of power, love and life . This will bring to the fore all the wonderful, loving, terrible, creative, tender, potent and uniquely male aspects of their true spiritual selves.

Once this is recognized, it can only lead to a much more enriched, harmonious and happy state of being, which will surely permeate the lives of not only the man himself but his partner, family, friends and all.

So who is the God? He is Pan, Cernnunos, Herne, Osiris, Lugh, Zeus and hundreds of other personae through every culture in the world. He is a Warrior, Father, Lover, Protector, Teacher, Trickster and Nurturer. He is usually associated with the life giving Sun in the same way as his female counterpart is associated with the Earth and the Moon. He contains the seed of life without which the Earth Mother would lie barren and lifeless, this is the greatest mystery of all.

He is the hunter, in ancient times the hunt meant life, and the hunter was the life giver to the tribe. He had to be in tune with the habits and psychology of his prey and the kill was made with respect for the Animal offering up its life to nourish the tribe.

He is untamed sexuality, but sexuality as a deep, holy connecting power. The God of the woods is free and wild, not reckless and uncontrolled, he is a passionate and untamed lover, but he is gentle and tender as well. The horns on his head represent animal virility and strength but also represent the waxing and waning moon aspects of the Goddess who is his lover and consort.

He is the Lord of Misrule and the Trickster. As Lord of the Dance he entices us to abandonment and ecstasy through dance and music, the excitement of courtship and new love.

He is the Winter born King through whose sacrifice of himself bestows new life upon the land. At midwinter he dies with the waning sun only to rise again and make the earth fertile with his seed and his promise of life restored.

The rays of the Sun entering the chamber at Newgrange on the winter solstice are a clear symbolic representation of union between the God and Goddess; and clear proof of the balanced view our ancestors had, the importance of honouring the divine forces, both Male and Female in nature.

The rays of his light warm the body of the Earth Mother so that she can bring forth new life through her crops and in her forests, rivers and seas.

It is through embracing the divine God aspect that many men will come to understand nature's mysteries and connect more deeply with the Goddess. For too long men have been isolated from that part of themselves that honours their divine inner selves and allows them to be proud spiritual beings.

I once met a work colleague who was carrying a bunch of flowers along the street , when I commented on them she said," My Husband bought them for me, I have him well trained". I would be deeply hurt if a loved one referred to me as "Well Trained", simply because I had tried to do something thoughtful and spontaneous for them.

It is time for us all, regardless of sex or sexual orientation, to look at our loved ones and see the divine in them.

In a time and culture where men have been told masculinity demands a lack of feelings, success demands detachment from emotion, a lot of men may need a lot of love and encouragement to rediscover their inner god.

Without his divine lover the God has no purpose and like wise vice-versa.  Together the divine lovers perpetuate life and balance in all things, and dare I go so far as to say, that as mortals we are mirrors of that divine force.

KEEP ON LOVING BROTHERS AND SISTERS!

Al Cowan

http://www.fainne.net/dubh/new7-1.html