Thank you, a wonderful piece once again! I did not know about the Origen quote and really love it. The Romans had an expression for these unknown beings which they invoked in the phrase: "sive deus sive dea es" (whether you be god or goddess) added to the litany of the deities invoked at the sacrifice of propitiation.
When it comes to mythologies and belief I always like to say that I am Catholic in the original sense (which has long been lost on the Catholic church): universal, accepting all divinity as it comes in all its forms and respecting its manifold revelations in the cosmos.
Of all the saints perhaps St Francis comes closest to the pantheist liturgy of the Upanishads when he sings his beautiful Canticle of the Sun or Lauds of all the Creatures:
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful...
I long for the return of wonder and delight to Catholicism. Growing up in England, we once enjoyed a veritable ‘Feast of Faith’ - a main course of the weekly beautiful Latin Mass, followed by a year long pudding, stuffed with all the dancing, drinking, faerytales , pagan incorporated festivals and nature one could muster. Alas no more - all so carelessly cast aside, discouraged, dismissed and now diminished. “Clap your hands” for its’ return, please?
Oh, knowing the Father, clothed in Christ, filled with Spirit, loving on and knowing humans, trees, plants, birds, springs the soil and the sky is plenty of action for me. Older oaks have a wonderful sweet gravitas. Really only have time and attention for that, though angels, demons, can poke their heads in occasionally and Mary once. Since much of what you’re talking about is not part of my perception field, it’s at best a curious irrelevance for me. Once I was with a Native American who sang in his language to the land, I felt the land respond.
For me an overlay of minor spirits isn’t needed to encounter and know the varied alivenesses and awarenesses of the created order we are immersed in. With a tree a hamadryad isn’t needed to account for the emergent awareness of an older oak.
A quote by Stephen Harrod Buhner
“Great forests, when they attain a certain age, take on an inhabited state. That there is a conscious and living presence in the forest. This does not occur in young forests and any forest that is extensively logged will lose this presence. Humans have grown in long relationship with this forest presence and we are immediately aware of it when we encounter it.”
In Thailand, where I live, there is much awareness of these invisible guardians; almost every house has a shrine to the spiritus loci, and some people can sense their presence. My own belief is that they more or less are part of Christ’s Body. The North Wind, in George MacDonald’s novel, is another example of such a guardian. It was such a joy to read your essay!
In Thailand, spirits of place are distinct from yakshas — yakshas are giants or ogres. But I get the sense from Wikipedia that this distinction may not hold in other places!
Not sure I can go as far as you in this. If nothing else, why do we need to add Christ to the faery world? Having experienced it myself many times, and written about it, I feel they are a long way off Christianity. But I do love the poetry, share your love of Eleanor Farjohn have enjoyed some of your previous posts.
Bravo, Sir. Bravo. Isn't this whole-hearted welcoming of the world of nature spirits and light-imbued reasoning about the human experience of nature spirits the embodiment of, or an
embodiment of, the disarmament that Christ inhabits? Models? Is? 🕯✨️❤️🕊 How or why any tendency of an institutional church (or an Enlightenment posture) would be reticent on this makes no sense to me. Thank you for such a beautiful, thoughtful and liberated post.
Do you mean that some faeries are Christian, or all of them? I could see some of them being Christian, just as some humans are Christian—but the stories sure don't make it sound like all of them are. Wouldn't the bad hombres among them be, well, sort of un-Christian? And many of them would probably be quite happy to side with the archons for a mercenary deal that seems fun. They're capricious like that, I hear.
Also, are you familiar with Susanna Clarke's novel *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell*?—it is one of my favorites.
There are a lot of moving parts in that novel that I think work together really well. 1) Magic's been gone from England for a long time, and people have only read about it in books, but it's beginning to return. 2) It's set during the Napoleonic Wars, and magic is quite seamlessly integrated with historical realism. 3) With the two title characters, there's a fascinating rivalry between what we could call the natural genius and the highly learned pharisee. 4) There's a plotline where a faerie king kidnaps Strange's wife and takes her to his court, and Strange tries to go rescue her. 5) There's a prophecy about the Raven King from the north of England, who was the greatest magician ever and was raised by faeries.
Overall, I found it to be just a monumental work of imagination. (The ending was rushed, though: maybe she was on a page limit or deadline.) Also, I saw the BBC show first and really enjoyed that as well.
Anyway, if you're saying that the faeries, as spirits, can't be ignorant of the fact that Jesus is the Lord, then sure—but by that logic, I guess that the demons would be "Christian" as well. After all, in the gospels, they were the first to recognize Him (Matthew 8:29).
Thank you, a wonderful piece once again! I did not know about the Origen quote and really love it. The Romans had an expression for these unknown beings which they invoked in the phrase: "sive deus sive dea es" (whether you be god or goddess) added to the litany of the deities invoked at the sacrifice of propitiation.
When it comes to mythologies and belief I always like to say that I am Catholic in the original sense (which has long been lost on the Catholic church): universal, accepting all divinity as it comes in all its forms and respecting its manifold revelations in the cosmos.
Of all the saints perhaps St Francis comes closest to the pantheist liturgy of the Upanishads when he sings his beautiful Canticle of the Sun or Lauds of all the Creatures:
Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
who brings the day; and you give light through him.
And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendour!
Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
Praised be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon and the stars,
in heaven you formed them clear and precious and beautiful...
I'm so much in agreement!
In house church we often sing "All Creatures of Our God and King," which is based on Francis's Canticle.
I long for the return of wonder and delight to Catholicism. Growing up in England, we once enjoyed a veritable ‘Feast of Faith’ - a main course of the weekly beautiful Latin Mass, followed by a year long pudding, stuffed with all the dancing, drinking, faerytales , pagan incorporated festivals and nature one could muster. Alas no more - all so carelessly cast aside, discouraged, dismissed and now diminished. “Clap your hands” for its’ return, please?
Thank you Michael!
I love this so much. Thank you.
Oh, knowing the Father, clothed in Christ, filled with Spirit, loving on and knowing humans, trees, plants, birds, springs the soil and the sky is plenty of action for me. Older oaks have a wonderful sweet gravitas. Really only have time and attention for that, though angels, demons, can poke their heads in occasionally and Mary once. Since much of what you’re talking about is not part of my perception field, it’s at best a curious irrelevance for me. Once I was with a Native American who sang in his language to the land, I felt the land respond.
For me an overlay of minor spirits isn’t needed to encounter and know the varied alivenesses and awarenesses of the created order we are immersed in. With a tree a hamadryad isn’t needed to account for the emergent awareness of an older oak.
A quote by Stephen Harrod Buhner
“Great forests, when they attain a certain age, take on an inhabited state. That there is a conscious and living presence in the forest. This does not occur in young forests and any forest that is extensively logged will lose this presence. Humans have grown in long relationship with this forest presence and we are immediately aware of it when we encounter it.”
Insightful as always, BeardTree.
I enjoyed the book *The Hidden Life of Trees*, by Peter Wohlleben.
Yes, a good one!
Love the icon… I collect them, not deliberately, but people send them to me from everywhere. X
Really appreciated this piece!
Thanks
In Thailand, where I live, there is much awareness of these invisible guardians; almost every house has a shrine to the spiritus loci, and some people can sense their presence. My own belief is that they more or less are part of Christ’s Body. The North Wind, in George MacDonald’s novel, is another example of such a guardian. It was such a joy to read your essay!
Thanks!
Are those called the yakshas?
In Thailand, spirits of place are distinct from yakshas — yakshas are giants or ogres. But I get the sense from Wikipedia that this distinction may not hold in other places!
This was beautiful and liberating.
Thank you, Graham
Not sure I can go as far as you in this. If nothing else, why do we need to add Christ to the faery world? Having experienced it myself many times, and written about it, I feel they are a long way off Christianity. But I do love the poetry, share your love of Eleanor Farjohn have enjoyed some of your previous posts.
...and I've enjoyed your books for decades
Thank you! Have you seen my book about the Sidhe?
I don't think I have. Will check it out!
Yessir! https://www.blueridgemountains.com/blog/the-legend-of-fairy-crosses/
I should have mentioned that! Bonnie and girls all have fairy tear necklaces!
This was a beautiful piece.
Bravo, Sir. Bravo. Isn't this whole-hearted welcoming of the world of nature spirits and light-imbued reasoning about the human experience of nature spirits the embodiment of, or an
embodiment of, the disarmament that Christ inhabits? Models? Is? 🕯✨️❤️🕊 How or why any tendency of an institutional church (or an Enlightenment posture) would be reticent on this makes no sense to me. Thank you for such a beautiful, thoughtful and liberated post.
Love you!
https://substack.com/@stevenberger/note/c-55624454?r=1nm0v2
Do you mean that some faeries are Christian, or all of them? I could see some of them being Christian, just as some humans are Christian—but the stories sure don't make it sound like all of them are. Wouldn't the bad hombres among them be, well, sort of un-Christian? And many of them would probably be quite happy to side with the archons for a mercenary deal that seems fun. They're capricious like that, I hear.
Also, are you familiar with Susanna Clarke's novel *Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell*?—it is one of my favorites.
Put it this way: they know Christ is who he said he was.
I tried reading Clarke's novel, but couldn't get into it--and it's about a million pages long. What do you like so much about it?
There are a lot of moving parts in that novel that I think work together really well. 1) Magic's been gone from England for a long time, and people have only read about it in books, but it's beginning to return. 2) It's set during the Napoleonic Wars, and magic is quite seamlessly integrated with historical realism. 3) With the two title characters, there's a fascinating rivalry between what we could call the natural genius and the highly learned pharisee. 4) There's a plotline where a faerie king kidnaps Strange's wife and takes her to his court, and Strange tries to go rescue her. 5) There's a prophecy about the Raven King from the north of England, who was the greatest magician ever and was raised by faeries.
Overall, I found it to be just a monumental work of imagination. (The ending was rushed, though: maybe she was on a page limit or deadline.) Also, I saw the BBC show first and really enjoyed that as well.
Anyway, if you're saying that the faeries, as spirits, can't be ignorant of the fact that Jesus is the Lord, then sure—but by that logic, I guess that the demons would be "Christian" as well. After all, in the gospels, they were the first to recognize Him (Matthew 8:29).
Origen was onto something
I love the idea that (say) gravity doesn't just "go" on its own, it happens because of an archangel continually doing his job.
Richard Feynman agrees.
Could you point me to anything on that?