Next Instalment
Here is the next section of The New Pagans’ Handbook:
The Basic Myth
If there is one great pagan theme it is that of the universally popular Mother and Child myth. It is often coupled with that of the twin brothers who contend for mastery and rule turn and turn about. These themes are present with others in the great literature of myth, Greek, Celtic, Egyptian, Hindu and other more widespread and primitive sources: even Grimms’ Fairy Tales have this mythic element and reflect the beliefs of earlier North European cultures. The elements of these basic myths, particularly the two mentioned above have been brilliantly set out by Robert Graves in his work, The White Goddess. An even larger canvas is painted by Joseph Campbell in his monumental work, The Masks of God. Both works repay careful study by any inquiring pagan.
Basically then, the whole universe is seen as the domain and being of the Great Goddess, who has brought everything forth and is Herself everything including the Gods. Contemporary cosmology has arrived at a similar situation in its consideration of the singularity that brought forth the universe. The idea is not new and is akin to the Hindu view of its genesis and apparent duration, which they call a ‘kalpa’. The Hindus further suggest that at the end of each kalpa the universe renews itself in another expansion, another contraction follows, and the process repeats itself endlessly.
However that may be, we have to consider Her basic manifestations. She is in turn Maiden, Mother, and lastly Crone. The three phases of the moon are Hers; the new, the full, the old. Indeed all triads and nenneads are Hers. She has also brought forth Her counterpart, the God. He manifests himself in multiple series of twos. Basic are His two aspects: one as the God of the Waxing Year, and the other as God of the Waning year. He can manifest in quadruple or octuple and so on endlessly. The Goddess, as seen, can be considered as multiples of three. Any consideration of these multiples will lead to the rapid realisation that between them they make up all the matter seen and unseen in the entire universe.
