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This was initially posted on December 19, 2019
In response to Marija Gimbutas, the faith of Outdated Europe celebrated the Goddess as the facility of start, dying, and regeneration in all of life. Agricultural peoples perceive that seeds should be stored in a chilly darkish place in the course of the winter if they’re to sprout when planted within the spring. Individuals who work arduous in the course of the lengthy days that start in spring, peak at midsummer, and proceed via the autumn, are grateful for the darkish instances of the 12 months once they can relaxation their weary bones on lengthy winters’ nights. Lengthy winters’ nights are a time for desires, a time when folks collect across the fireside fireplace to share songs and tales that categorical their understanding of the which means of the cycles of life.
The Indo-Europeans weren’t an agricultural folks. Herders, nomads, and horseback riders, they celebrated the shining Gods of the Sky whose energy was mirrored of their shining bronze armor and shining bronze weapons. When the Indo-European talking peoples entered right into a Europe, they married their Solar and Sky Gods to the Earth Mom Goddesses of the folks they conquered. These have been unequal marriages through which the Solar was considered as superior to the Earth. The sad marriage of Hera and Zeus displays this sample, as do the numerous rapes of Goddesses and nymphs recorded in Greek and Roman mythology.
The elder Goddesses who refused rape and marriage have been relegated to the darkish crevices of the earth, which have been considered as the doorway to the underworld. These “chthonic” Goddesses emerged from below the earth in fury, inflicting dying and destruction. For the Outdated Europeans, the snakes that emerged from crevices in rocks within the springtime have been harbingers of renewal and regeneration. Like seeds, they slept in a chilly darkish place over the winter however emerged in spring to shed their skins and lay their eggs. The underworld was understood to be a spot of transformation—not as it will later develop into, a spot of dying and destruction. The snake was an emblem of regeneration, not an emblem of evil.
In response to Marija Gimbutas, white was the colour of dying in Outdated Europe, whereas black was the colour of transformation and renewal of life. The Outdated Europeans understood life to be cyclic. Each factor would absolutely die, however simply as absolutely life could be reborn. It was the Indo-Europeans who taught us that dying is an ending to be feared. And it was they who taught us that mild is to be revered and darkness to be prevented in any respect prices. It was they who developed the light-dark binary through which white is constructive and black is unfavourable. The Indo-Europeans entered into India in addition to Europe. The notion of en-lighten-ment present in Hinduism and Buddhism is a legacy of the light-dark binary of the Indo-Europeans. The Indo-Europeans have been lighter-skinned than the folks they conquered: thus the light-dark binary might be used to justify the dominance of the lighter-skinned warriors and kings.
The sunshine-dark binary is pervasive within the New Age deal with mild and love. There may be nothing “new” in that! Those that observe earth-based religious paths typically declare to have fun the darkness equally with the sunshine. However will we? Or are we nonetheless in thrall to the Indo-European glorification of white and light-weight? We have fun the longest day at midsummer and the longest evening at midwinter. And but there stays a distinction. At midwinter we rejoice in “the return of the sunshine.” There isn’t a parallel celebration of “the return of the darkish” at midsummer. Moderately it appears that evidently we have fun the sunshine at each midsummer and midwinter.
What would it not imply to embrace and have fun the darkness as a lot as the sunshine? If we allowed ourselves to sleep all via the longest nights, what desires may come? May we study once more that the cycle of life is available in threes: start, dying, and regeneration? Not in twos: good and evil, life and dying, black and white. darkness and light-weight?
We’d start by getting “a very good evening’s sleep” on these lengthy winter nights. I feel our our bodies may start to point out us and to inform us that the darkness actually is as vital as the sunshine.
BIO: Carol P. Christ (1945-2021) was an internationally identified feminist and ecofeminist author, activist, and educator. Her work continues via her non-profit basis, the Ariadne Institute for the Examine of Delusion and Ritual.
“In Goddess faith dying just isn’t feared, however is known to be part of life, adopted by start and renewal.” — Carol P. Christ
Classes: Desires and Dreaming, Earth-based spirituality, Embodiment, Common
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