Bring back the gods

Did you feel her presence as you opened the door this morning and walked outside, or did you miss her?

Did you think of them when you turned on the tap that brought water from the reservoir, or was your mind just a blank? Did you think you saw her running among the trees, or was there emptiness? Were they there when you danced, or sang, or sipped on your glass of wine?

When the Ancient Greeks opened their doors in the mornings and felt a breeze it was the sign that the Titan goddess Aura was cooling their skin with the fresh cool air. When they drew from their wells or drank from a stream they knew that were dealing with the visible embodiments of semi-divine water nymphs. When they walked in the mountains and forests there were spirits in the oak trees, and ash trees and pines. There were gods of the dance and the song, and you could always count on Dionysus, the god of wine and the grape harvest, being with you when you raised a glass.

From the sea to the highest peaks there were gods, goddesses and other divine and semi-divine figures everywhere you looked. And wherever you went you contemplated nature with feelings of joy, or wonderment, or awe, or dread.

The Romans had them too of course. Many merged with their Greek counterparts, but others, in earlier times, belonged just to them. Spirits surrounded all men and influenced almost everything they did. There were gods in tree stumps and boundary stones, in orchards, in fire, in volcanoes and doorways. And there were agricultural gods and goddesses who oversaw every stage of growing crops, from the fertility of the soil to planting, from weeding to growing, from reaping to threshing, and even one that watched over the grain in storage.

Before our modern God appeared on the scene other gods and goddesses thrived almost everywhere you travelled from Polynesia to Babylonia, from India through Europe and into the Americas. Of course, in some places they still exist. But, back then, in those ancient cultures, there were gods of lightning and rain, a goddess of the oasis, gods of the wilderness, a guardian of hazelnut thickets, protectors of forests, gods of rainbows, goddesses of summer, guardians of fish. The moon was a god, as was the sun and all the planets. There were gods of craft and slaughter and others of love and a binding promise.

Almost all these deities have been smitten by modern religions and as a result we are left living in a deadened place. Our forests and rivers, the ocean and the land have lost their sacredness. And, as a result we cut them down, and pollute them with our refuge. We destroy and misuse and we desecrate and squander. Bring back the gods, I say.

Sometimes you don’t notice things until someone has called your attention to them. So I am calling your attention to the gods and goddesses. If you notice the gods and goddesses all around you, then you will see things in a different light, and will experience things more powerfully. You will live in the present for longer, feel the spirit of a place, and learn how to turn your attention to things.

Through some fortune and plenty of planning I have ended up living very close to the sea, so it was towards this that I walked this morning on the lookout for gods. I found my first ones in a forest on the way, a bracken god, tree nymphs and a goddess of wild birds. Once on the beach I saw another goddess, of the sparkling sun on the surface of the ocean. The god of waves was hard at work, and there was a minor god of seaweed on the shoreline. Oh, and a goddess of shells. A stranger passed me and I witnessed the god of the smile and the hearty greeting in both of us. After reaching the end of the beach I turned around and felt the goddess of the breeze on my face. She knew I had spotted her and whooshed in my ears in appreciation at being found again.

Task

Go outside and look for gods. Even if you believe strongly that there is only one God, then you can look for God in the things around you.