If you are comfortable sharing, I would love to hear more about your practice honouring God/Christ and also pagan Celtic deities. Do you view them as facets of one divine source, or is your form of paganism polytheistic?
Thank you so much for the Question. This is a complicated topic that I am going to simplify a bit so if you have follow up questions, please ask them.
The Scripture is clear that there are more than One Deity:
- Exodus 12:12 says that God sets the plagues against the gods of Egypt.
- In the earliest manuscripts of Deuteronomy 32 it tells the story of the Most High apportioning the nations among the Gods, and HaShem getting Israel as his portion.
- In Psalm 82 God confronts the Divine Council which is made up of other gods.
- 2 Kings 3 even tells the story of how the wrath of Chemosh defeated God and his people in battle.
These are just some of the places where the Scripture acknowledges the existence of other gods.
As to how I honor God, Christ, and the Irish Pantheon, I am an animist. The Hebrew word for God's name is YHVH which is a form of the verb to be. When Moses asks God for a name, God responds, "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh" which could mean: "I am that I am," "I will be that I will be" and the like. When I read things like Psalm 104, I see this animist God who is in all things and who all things are within.
As a result, we are all individual instances of the One Life, like waves on an ocean. The waves are unique and separate, but are interconnected with each other, and from a certain point of view the waves are the ocean. The waves are in the ocean and the ocean is in the waves. The same is true for the stars, planets, rocks, minerals, plants, animals, spirits, and gods.
Brigid, to who I am a dedicated priest, is a wave in the ocean. She is uniquely herself and is the ocean itself. I would never say that Brigid is HaShem, because she does not contain the wholeness of the Godhead, but she is a part of the Divine Ocean in the same way I am. I work with Brigid like I work with Mary. Mary is the Mother of God. Brigid is the Foster Mother of Christ. I respect both the pagan lore about her and the christian lore about St Brigid. I do not worship Brigid, nor do I worship Mary. I work with and for them.
I have a deep relationship with Brigid, Lugh, Aengus, Caer Ibormeith, Danu, An Dagda, and An Morrigan. We work together in the spirit of Meitheal (pronounced "meh'-hull"). Meitheal is the Irish tradition of neighbors coming together to share labor freely for the good of the whole community, especially during seasonal or demanding work. They are gods/spirits in their own rights but part of the same interconnected being we all are. They are not faces or facets of God, they are currents flowing through the ocean.
I hope that answers your question, if not, let me know and I will dig in further.
Thank you so much for your thorough and thoughtful answer. You have given me a lot to think about! Many parts of your response really resonated and I’ll need to sit with this for awhile. I hope you will consider writing more on the matter! 🤞
I really can identify with your descriptions and explanations, but I am not a Christian. I am still a follower of Jesus. I folllow Creation Spirituality and also Unitarian Universalism. Jesus does not have the last name christ and I will never refer to him as Christ, so although your definition of a christopagan is something I can identify with, I prefer other words. I really enjoyed your discussion, Charlie.
I understand. If I had to sum up my beliefs in one word I identify with it would be daati, which is Hebrew for "knower," and the only reason I don't use it more is my faith in Jesus, my precious Brother Lord and Mother Christ, as Julian of Norwich says it.
Like I said in the essay. I expect the only ones that are going to use the term Christopagan are those who, like me, practice a blend of non-imperial Christianity and paganism.
I do feel like it is important to establish terms so I can reference them and the meanings I am bringing to them.
If you are comfortable sharing, I would love to hear more about your practice honouring God/Christ and also pagan Celtic deities. Do you view them as facets of one divine source, or is your form of paganism polytheistic?
Thank you so much for the Question. This is a complicated topic that I am going to simplify a bit so if you have follow up questions, please ask them.
The Scripture is clear that there are more than One Deity:
- Exodus 12:12 says that God sets the plagues against the gods of Egypt.
- In the earliest manuscripts of Deuteronomy 32 it tells the story of the Most High apportioning the nations among the Gods, and HaShem getting Israel as his portion.
- In Psalm 82 God confronts the Divine Council which is made up of other gods.
- 2 Kings 3 even tells the story of how the wrath of Chemosh defeated God and his people in battle.
These are just some of the places where the Scripture acknowledges the existence of other gods.
As to how I honor God, Christ, and the Irish Pantheon, I am an animist. The Hebrew word for God's name is YHVH which is a form of the verb to be. When Moses asks God for a name, God responds, "Ehyeh asher Ehyeh" which could mean: "I am that I am," "I will be that I will be" and the like. When I read things like Psalm 104, I see this animist God who is in all things and who all things are within.
As a result, we are all individual instances of the One Life, like waves on an ocean. The waves are unique and separate, but are interconnected with each other, and from a certain point of view the waves are the ocean. The waves are in the ocean and the ocean is in the waves. The same is true for the stars, planets, rocks, minerals, plants, animals, spirits, and gods.
Brigid, to who I am a dedicated priest, is a wave in the ocean. She is uniquely herself and is the ocean itself. I would never say that Brigid is HaShem, because she does not contain the wholeness of the Godhead, but she is a part of the Divine Ocean in the same way I am. I work with Brigid like I work with Mary. Mary is the Mother of God. Brigid is the Foster Mother of Christ. I respect both the pagan lore about her and the christian lore about St Brigid. I do not worship Brigid, nor do I worship Mary. I work with and for them.
I have a deep relationship with Brigid, Lugh, Aengus, Caer Ibormeith, Danu, An Dagda, and An Morrigan. We work together in the spirit of Meitheal (pronounced "meh'-hull"). Meitheal is the Irish tradition of neighbors coming together to share labor freely for the good of the whole community, especially during seasonal or demanding work. They are gods/spirits in their own rights but part of the same interconnected being we all are. They are not faces or facets of God, they are currents flowing through the ocean.
I hope that answers your question, if not, let me know and I will dig in further.
Thank you so much for your thorough and thoughtful answer. You have given me a lot to think about! Many parts of your response really resonated and I’ll need to sit with this for awhile. I hope you will consider writing more on the matter! 🤞
I really can identify with your descriptions and explanations, but I am not a Christian. I am still a follower of Jesus. I folllow Creation Spirituality and also Unitarian Universalism. Jesus does not have the last name christ and I will never refer to him as Christ, so although your definition of a christopagan is something I can identify with, I prefer other words. I really enjoyed your discussion, Charlie.
I understand. If I had to sum up my beliefs in one word I identify with it would be daati, which is Hebrew for "knower," and the only reason I don't use it more is my faith in Jesus, my precious Brother Lord and Mother Christ, as Julian of Norwich says it.
Like I said in the essay. I expect the only ones that are going to use the term Christopagan are those who, like me, practice a blend of non-imperial Christianity and paganism.
I do feel like it is important to establish terms so I can reference them and the meanings I am bringing to them.