![](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-N-3gZ7Ji9XM\/UOo7RdgCMYI\/AAAAAAAACYI\/8shUz0d6AQk\/s1600\/rebuilding+at+Ephesus.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nThe wonderful folks of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel<\/a> now have the audio files from the two panel discussions<\/a> at Between the Worlds<\/a> available for download. They run about an hour and 40 minutes each: I put them on my phone and I\u2019ve been listening to them while commuting. Get them and listen to them \u2013 they\u2019re excellent. <\/p>\n I want to call your attention to one segment in the Friday morning panel \u201cThe Turning Of The Ages: What To Keep, What To Throw Away, And How To Decide.\u201d At the 1 hour 18 minute mark, Sam Webster<\/a> begins a four and a half minute talk that I\u2019m titling \u201cVia Deorum<\/i> \u2013 The Way of The Gods.\u201d Here\u2019s an excerpt:<\/p>\n The thing that I am advocating for us all to do is to rebuild the cult of the gods. All of them. All of them we know. For every person who has a direct connection with a or many deities to rebuilt their cult, establish it again in the world, continue the process of making offerings, and create rites that introduce people to that deity. They\u2019re real, they\u2019re powerful, but we need to recreate their way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That concept greatly resonates with my own feelings. This is what Morpheus Ravenna<\/a> is doing for Morrigan. This is what the folks who contributed to Hoofprints in the Wildwood<\/i><\/a> are doing for Cernunnos. This is what Denton CUUPS did for Morrigan, Cernunnos and Danu at our Winter Solstice circle<\/a>. <\/p>\n As I listened live at the conference, I wrote down five notes. <\/p>\n \u201cRebuild the cult of the gods<\/b>.\u201d There are millions of people in our culture who are dissatisfied with mainstream religion. Some of them have been hurt by religious extremists. Some can\u2019t believe what they\u2019re told they have to believe. Some think the god of Abraham isn\u2019t worthy of worship. Many of these folks would be Pagans if they knew polytheism and the gods of Nature were serious options. <\/p>\n I like Sam\u2019s priority here. He doesn\u2019t say rebuild temples or institutions, he says rebuilt the cults (\u201ccult\u201d being used here in the academic sense, not in the \u201ccrazy religious people you need to avoid<\/a>\u201d sense). Rebuild the ceremonies. Re-establish the sacrifices. Start worshiping the old goddesses and gods in the ways they used to be worshiped, and in the ways they tell us to worship them here and now, and good things will happen. Do what you can do in your back yard or living room. Gather with other like-minded folks. Talk to others who are doing the same things. Be there so that when the next person feels that same call you felt, they\u2019ve got some place to go and somebody to talk to.<\/p>\n \u201cVia Deorum<\/i> \u2013 The Way of The Gods<\/b>.\u201d Sam said the Romans didn\u2019t have word for religion until Christianity came along. Their practices were simply what they did. You can see a similar thing among the remaining tribal societies of Africa and South America \u2013 \u201creligion\u201d is what Christian or Muslim missionaries do. What we call their religion is simply part of who they are and what they do. <\/p>\n \u201cBelief is irrelevant<\/b>.\u201d The concept that religion is primarily about what you believe is a modern, Western, Protestant idea. When I said that to John Michael Greer at the OBOD East Coast Gathering, he said \u201cI\u2019d add a fourth adjective \u2013 dysfunctional.\u201d Belief is important, because your beliefs influence your actions. But when it comes to dealing with others, they\u2019re irrelevant. It doesn\u2019t matter to me if you care for the Earth because you believe it\u2019s the body of the Goddess, or because you believe we should be good stewards of God\u2019s creation, or because you believe it\u2019s the only planet we\u2019ve got so we\u2019d better take care of it. I just want you to care for the Earth. <\/p>\n This is why I\u2019ve urged polytheists<\/a> and non-theists<\/a> to work together and build a big tent of modern Paganism. If you\u2019re helping pick up trash on the side of the road, it doesn\u2019t matter if you think the gods are individual beings, aspects of The One, archetypes or metaphors. If we\u2019re fighting for religious freedom or science education in schools or environmental protection, what you do is important. Why you do it isn\u2019t. <\/p>\n \u201cWho do you serve?<\/b>\u201d There are many gods and goddesses. Who do you know? Who do you work for and with? If you serve Hermes and I serve Cernunnos and we have a conversation, now each of us will know another powerful being. Perhaps some day I will need something from Hermes, or he will need something from me, and we\u2019ll already be acquainted. Perhaps some day I\u2019ll come across someone who feels called to Hermes and I\u2019ll know to send her your way. Perhaps all that will happen is that each of us will learn and grow. In any case, we all benefit from learning from and worshiping with each other.<\/p>\n \u201cOpen architecture<\/b>.\u201d Sam said \u201cif you don\u2019t know that that means go find a local geek and they will explain it to you.\u201d It means we\u2019re transparent in our dealings with each other. It means we talk to each other and visit each other\u2019s circles. It means we see what works well for other folks and then figure out how to adapt it into our practices. <\/p>\n For some deities there are excellent records of how they were worshiped in ancient times. For others there are none. But even when we\u2019re rebuilding the cults of well-documented goddesses and gods, we have to remember that we live in a very different place and time than the ancient Greeks and Romans. And our gods and goddesses are living beings \u2013 they\u2019ve changed over the past two thousand years. The more we share information, the more we talk with each other about what works well and what doesn\u2019t, the better we\u2019ll be able to rebuild the cults of the gods and to build the Paganism of the 21st century. <\/p>\n Via Deorum<\/i> \u2013 The Way of The Gods. Let\u2019s build it here and now.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The wonderful folks of the Assembly of the Sacred Wheel now have the audio files from the two panel discussions at Between the Worlds available for download. They run about an hour and 40 minutes each: I put them on my phone and I\u2019ve been listening to them while commuting. Get them and listen to […]<\/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-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n