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.
Who Do You Swear By?
Just before the last presidential inauguration, a petition made the rounds requesting that language referring to “God” be dropped from the presidential oath.
Me, I didn't sign it.
I think it's right and good that those entering public office should swear by the gods that they honor. It's a time-honored old pagan tradition.
But to each, his own gods. When the time comes—hasten, O hasten, the day—that it's a pagan taking that presidential oath, I want to hear those pagan gods called to witness.
Then I'll die happy.
Who among your gods witnesses oaths? Who would you swear by, if you were taking the oath of office tomorrow?
If it were me, I'd swear by Earth, Mother of Us All (bend, touch Earth, kiss hand) and by the All-Seeing Sun (raise hand to Sun, kiss hand). And, of course, by the Horned, god of my heart. (Make sign of Horns, touch heart, kiss hand.)
Who do you swear by from day to day? Do you call upon your own gods, or someone else's? (“Jesus Christ, god of minor household accidents,” my friend and colleague Sparky T. Rabbit once quipped.)
It's a question well worth the asking, and well worth the answering.
And if the plane were going down, Whose Name would you call?
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