Real flows, direct from the source
This is a page from the third version of Technopagan Yearnings. There are some formatting differences. Originally published at www.neowayland.com/C550866538/E20060121032045
Feeling the energy
I've been thinking about energy flows.
I live in Arizona, there are a few fair mountains, some forests, but most of the state is desert. Hot desert in the south. When people visit for the first time, they aren't used to the open spaces and the heat.
A desert blue sky is a hot thing that sucks the air and moisture out of your lungs.
"It's all dead," they say panting. And in a rush to get back to air conditioning.
But it is not dead. Oh, the plants may be few and far between and most of the desert creatures are staying out of the direct sun if they can. But there is life there. Come back a few days after any spring rains and you will see plant life all over. Some of it was buried for years waiting for the next rain.
At night, away from the cities, that same desert can get surprisingly cool and sometimes cold. There is nothing but the ground to retain the heat, and most of it was reflected back during the day. Sometimes it is cold enough to be dangerous. A dry cold can be just as deceptive as a dry heat.
That energy moves constantly.
But it is not in a form that many people are comfortable with.
Monotheism's first sin is claiming that there is only one way to reach the Divine. But it's second (and deeper) sin is in the separation of humans from nature. Unfortunately, most Neopagans were monotheists first and only came to Paganism later. They retain this "separation" attitude long after the need for it has passed. Oh, they learn to embrace nature, but it becomes a holiday from the "mundane" world.
And they fail to recognize the nature in the "mundane" world. Christopher Penczak's City Magick is a great starting point, but even he doesn't always recognize all the magick that surrounds us.
My WebTree path uses the ideas of orgone and wyrd. The names aren't important as the concepts. Orgone is shaped by thought and driven by passion. Sometimes it is matter, sometimes it is energy, sometimes it is both, and sometimes it is neither. It's not completely within our perceived reality, so sometimes it is not bound by time or space.
The wyrd is the weave of orgone that connects everything. The first time you think of something, you spin a strand of orgone between you and it. The more often and more passionately you think of it (and it thinks of you), the stronger the strand becomes. Stop thinking about it, and the strand stretches thinner and thinner. Collectively, these strands form the wyrd.
Today we have ways to touch each other and think of each other that we never had before. I can still read Plato and connect to him. But I can also go online and debate on a philosophy board. Maybe the connections aren't as deep as they would be if I found a bar filled with the faculty of the local university, but they exist nonetheless. Just as you can do things in person that you could never do online, you can do things online that you never could in person.
The flavor is different, but it is still flavor. Sometimes there is more of it, sometimes there is less, but there is still flavor.
That's why I wonder about some Neopagans who claim that in order to have an "authentic" experience, you have to be buried in Nature and in Gaia's embrace.
Just where do they think they are? What do they think they are?
Posted: Fri - January 20, 2006 at 08:20 PM
