{"id":221,"date":"2011-09-04T19:29:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-04T19:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king\/"},"modified":"2011-09-04T19:29:00","modified_gmt":"2011-09-04T19:29:00","slug":"the-king","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html","title":{"rendered":"The King"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
I just finished listening to the new Wigglian Way podcast<\/a>.\u00a0 The Wigglian Way is one of the longest running Pagan podcasts<\/a> \u2013 now in its 6th<\/sup> year, with 87 episodes.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of only a few I\u2019m subscribed to \u2013 while it\u2019s light-hearted and humorous, it has plenty of good content and very little of the \u201cmorning drive radio\u201d silliness I hear on too many podcasts.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This episode included host MoJo<\/a>\u2019s commentary on the archetype of The King, taken from Robert Moore <\/a>and Douglas Gillette\u2019s book King, Warrior, Magician, Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine<\/i><\/a>.\u00a0 I\u2019ve heard lots about this book but I\u2019ve yet to read it \u2013 this isn\u2019t a book review or even a podcast review so much as some thoughts that occurred to me as I was listening to the podcast.<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u201cThe land and the King are one\u201d \u2013 the King brings order to society through right rule.\u00a0 When the King is just and wise the land and the people will flourish.\u00a0 If the King is unjust or ineffective the Goddess of Sovereignty<\/a> will withdraw her blessing and crops will fail, enemies will invade, and other troubles will beset the realm.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Who or what is King of your life?\u00a0 Who or what rules your realm?\u00a0 Is your King (or Queen \u2013 this is not a gender-specific issue) wise and just?\u00a0 Or are there signs the Goddess of Sovereignty is displeased?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This is not a concept we encounter much in UU and Pagan circles.\u00a0 The idea of monarchical decision-making is unthinkable \u2013 we believe in the democratic process and in consensus.\u00a0 More than that, we believe facts should drive decisions.\u00a0 We\u2019re reasonable, rational people \u2013 if we collect enough data the correct decision should be obvious.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
If that was true we would not have such deep division in our political world.\u00a0 Liberals and conservatives aren\u2019t at each other\u2019s throats because they disagree on the facts.\u00a0 They\u2019re at each other\u2019s throats because they disagree on core values and foundational myths.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
This is not a political post and I am not advocating a return to monarchy.\u00a0 This is a post about how we choose to live our lives as individuals.\u00a0 And my personal experience is that when your King is not your True Will<\/a>, when you try to let decisions make themselves, when you act without thinking, then sooner or later your harvests will be less than they could be and less than they should be.\u00a0 They will not be enough to sustain your soul.\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Why are you in this world?\u00a0 What great works did you set for yourself before you were born?\u00a0 What have your gods and ancestors called you to do?\u00a0 This is your True Will.\u00a0 Are you doing it?\u00a0 Does it inform your every decision?\u00a0 <\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Is your True Will the King of your life?\u00a0 If not, what do you need to do to make it so?<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/span>The land and the King are one.\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I just finished listening to the new Wigglian Way podcast.\u00a0 The Wigglian Way is one of the longest running Pagan podcasts \u2013 now in its 6th year, with 87 episodes.\u00a0 It\u2019s one of only a few I\u2019m subscribed to \u2013 while it\u2019s light-hearted and humorous, it has plenty of good content and very little of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe King<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I just finished listening to the new Wigglian Way podcast.  The Wigglian Way is one of the longest running Pagan podcasts \u2013 now in its 6th year, with\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The King\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I just finished listening to the new Wigglian Way podcast.  The Wigglian Way is one of the longest running Pagan podcasts \u2013 now in its 6th year, with\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-09-04T19:29:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html\",\"name\":\"The King\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-09-04T19:29:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-09-04T19:29:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"I just finished listening to the new Wigglian Way podcast.  The Wigglian Way is one of the longest running Pagan podcasts \u2013 now in its 6th year, with\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2011\/09\/the-king.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The King\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. 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