Paganistan: Notes from the Secret Commonwealth
In Which One Midwest Man-in-Black Confers, Converses & Otherwise Hob-Nobs with his Fellow Hob-Men (& -Women) Concerning the Sundry Ways of the Famed but Ill-Starred Tribe of Witches.
Christ the Stag?
Water from the Tines
Anyone that knows Old Hornie knows him both for a trickster and a shifter of shapes, who “shows himself to each according to their desire.” Nor indeed is he god of witches alone, but everyone's, knowing or no.
(Frearth Hobson)
While visiting a friend in Ireland's Burren region, mythologist Martin Shaw spent the night in the mossy limestone cave once inhabited by Colmán mac Duagh, a 7th-century holy man.
The next night, he dreamt that he was back in the cave.
A stag came to the entrance of the cave, in moonlight. He looked in and he was twelve-tined, which means he had a great rack. I suddenly realized in the dream that I was phenomenally thirsty. As I had that thought, the stag, which I know in some form was Yeshua [= Jesus] leaned forward with his antlers, and on the tip of every antler was a drop of water. It's very much like an icon. I was underneath it with my hands cupped, gathering every drop of God-water, of Yeshua-water, of Spirit-water. I drank, and then I woke up [Dreher 215].
Forthwith, fair reader, some questions.
Do we see here Christ presenting as the Horned, or the Horned presenting as Christ?
(Or something else altogether?)
Is there a difference?
Does it matter?
Rod Dreher, Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2024.
Comments
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Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Do bear in mind that I've cherry-picked the single best episode from the book.
Dreher is Dreher, and an oppositional thinker. For all his protestations of Christianity and Orthodoxy, he's really most strongly motivated by what he's against, happiest to have someone to disagree with. In this, he seems to me a good example of what not to let ourselves become. Let us define ourselves by what we're for, not what we're against.
For Dreher, a re-enchanted world seems to be an essentially pre-modern world in which demonic possession and cross-generational curses are literally true. I think that writer Paul Kingsnorth--whose appearance in Living in Wonder is by far one of the book's highlights--comes much closer. For him, reenchantment means to walk in the forest and to know, as you do, that the forest is sensing you right back.
Reenchantment, of course, is inherent in the Pagan Revival. For poor Mr. Rod, though, we're the Bad Guys--or, at least, dupes of the Bad Guys. Read with caution. -
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
I found Dreher's book most useful insofar as it helped me better formulate my own definition of "reenchantment." For me, to "reenchant" is to reenter the Great Conversation with the rest of the non-human world.
(That's also my definition of a pagan: "one in conversation with the non-human world.")
Of course, having a conversation requires listening. Listening seems to me the essence of reenchantment. -
Tuesday, 25 February 2025
Poor Rod. He defines himself as an "indoorsman." No wonder he's so unhappy.
He'd be a much happier man if he took a walk in the woods every day. -
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Yeshua; Jesus, as a stag. I like it. I believe Saint Hubert encountered the same thing. Thank you for the book recommendation I will be looking for "Living in Wonder".
Right now I'm reading "The Mother of the Lord" by Margaret Barker. It's about the goddess in the first temple and the reforms under King Josiah that drove her out.