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.
The Goddess of 'Lord of the Rings'
No wonder pagans like Middle-earth so much.
Let's face it: one of the guilty pleasures of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings is that Middle-earth is a world without organized religion.
No churches, no bibles, no street-corner preachers: really, it sounds kind of idyllic, doesn't it? No Judaism, no Christianity, no Islam. This is a world in which the two major holidays—Midwinter and Midsummer—are largely (if not exclusively) secular celebrations. In Middle-earth, we find a world of unmediated experience.
No wonder pagans like Middle-earth so much.
But wait, there's more. On a recent read-through, I noticed that there is in fact a deity in Middle-earth, one invoked with surprising frequency throughout the entire trilogy, especially in moments of direst danger. (Guess what: she always comes through, too.) And guess what: She's a goddess.
Forget the Silmarillion. Forget Tolkien's made-up pantheon of not-quite-gods, the usual poor monotheist's masturbatory fantasy of polytheism.
Judging from the trilogy alone, there's one god in Middle-earth, and her name is Elbereth.*
Elbereth the Star Goddess: She in the dust of Whose Feet are the hosts of heaven, Whose Body encircles the universe.
No wonder pagans like Middle-earth so much.
*No, I can't tell you exactly how many times she turns up in the trilogy; just how lost to Tolkien geekery do you think I am? If you really need to know, I'm sure that there's more than one Wiki out there that can tell you.
For Meredith
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