Basics: the Clarene (Places)

For the next few weeks, we’ll be delving into the 30 Days of Devotion, a devotional writing project that helps us explore the gods we worship. We will do each of these for each of the Four Gods. If you are an Other Person or exploring the Four Gods, feel free to add your own comments – or join in!

If you have another topic you would like to see written on, you can email me (aine@daoineile.com) or message me on Facebook – but my writing will likely go to one of my other blogs, as we’re focusing on the Otherfaith at this blog for the time being.

This is the final day of my Indiegogo campaign to go to the Polytheist Leadership Conference this summer. Any contributions help, more than I can say! If you don’t want to contribute through Indiegogo, I also have an online shop.

Before we begin, I want to link to this post by Morpheus Ravenna. I haven’t really been able to get into the sovereignty implications of the Clarene, but this post has some great discussion about sovereignty and sexual ethics that are always, always relevant to the Other People and our gods. This quote highlights that very well:

I want to unpack that a little bit more. Because this is important. We have to recognize that the fundamental, inviolable unit through which this flow occurs is the body of the individual person. Yes, the body. Sovereignty is not an abstract, it is a living power, and thus rooted in land and body. When the individual participating in this set of relations is not in possession of the sovereignty of their own body, the entire set of relations breaks down. Thus the fundamental ground of sovereignty is the sanctity and inviolability of the body.

Sacred Spaces

I’ve mentioned before that the Clarene is a god of tending the earth, not the land itself, and so she’s not ‘in everything around us’. Her daughter/son/child the Laetha is the West itself, and so we can say that the Laetha is in everything under our feet, but the matter is still more complex than that.

There are, however, places where the Clarene does surround us.

the Clarene is the maker of the city, the creator of skyscrapers, and she’s associated with the concrete underneath our feet (for those of us who are surrounded by it). So we are walking on her creation when we walk along the sidewalks, and we are surrounded by her creations when we dwell in the city. But, though she founds the cities and splits the earth so her giant towers may reach the sky, she is much more present in the rural lands.

The city reverberates with her, but the farmland and orchards, the place where the wild and the cultivated crash into each other, is where she truly dwells. It is where her heart sings strongest – indeed, where she is strongest. It is also where the Boy-Gods start their lives in her world, helping her care for her fields.

When we are in parks in our city, we are close to her, but we are even closer when we go to our city’s limits, or when we go into the rural landscape, or when we adventure out of our city. This does not necessarily mean for hiking or camping, but simply spending a day relaxing where there is more rolling hills than houses can bring us closer to her. And we should take some time, if we can’t get out of the city, in spaces we enjoy that are green and overflowing with the wilder city life, taking a few moments to contemplate our lives and our presence.

Growing or cultivating a garden does make a space for you to be with the Clarene, since that is a huge part of who she is, and being part of community gardens would be another space to be close to her.

Her presence, too, is in sport stadiums and other sports venues, as she is very much about competition and strength.

Another huge part of a space being hers or where she will dwell is accessibility, as well. Spaces should be accessible to all, and her godhood does not erase her disability.

Sacred Cities/Towns

• Seattle
• New York City
• Chicago
• San Francisco
• Washington DC

Previous Posts

Basics: Four Gods (Redux) [Patheos]
Basics: Clarene (Origins)
Basics: Clarene (Myths)
Basics: Clarene (Family)
Basics: Clarene (Spirits)
Basics: Clarene (Names)
Basics: Clarene (Variations)
Basics: Clarene (Mistakes)
Basics: the Clarene (Offerings)

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Want to participate in the 30 Days of Devotion? Here’s a great link with all the prompts.

We are holding an Otherfaith discussion group every first Sunday of the month. Click here for more details, and send me a message or leave a comment if you would like to join!

New visitor and a little confused where to start? Head over to our About and Otherfaith pages, and then meander over to the beginning of our ‘basics‘ series. Any questions can be directed to my email aine@daoineile.com.

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