Pagan, Shinto & Spiritual Book Reviews August 2016

 Brendan Myers, The Earth, The Gods and The Soul – A History of Pagan Philosophy: From the Iron Age to the 21st Century

(Moon Books, 2013)

★★★ Read of the Month! ★★★

I’ve long held the notion that Paganism is a religion of action and ritual rather than philosophy. I was therefore intrigued to find a whole book that’s devoted to the idea of “Pagan philosophy” – and quite a hefty book at that. Surely Paganism doesn’t have much to say on philosophy, I thought, being a religion of instinct and feeling rather than analysing and reasoning. So how can one devote an entire book to this subject? Oh, how wrong I was.

The Earth, The Gods and The Soul convincingly reveals that philosophy has always played a key part in Pagan religions, and so it should, considering that the fathers of philosophy itself lived in the Pagan ancient Greece and Roman; as Myers puts it in the introduction, “Philosophy was invented by pagans.” But the classical philosophers (although explored in great depth) are only a small part of this large exploration of Pagan philosophy – a huge array of individuals and schools of philosophical thought are covered, including scientists, poets, occultists and activists throughout the world and from all points in history. They range from the big names in Paganism  (Blavatsky, Crowley and Starhawk are all there) and philosophy, to the largely unknown.

With so much research and detail from so many different sources here, it would probably have been tempting for Myers to try and define a “unified” Pagan philosophy. I am so glad he did not – I do not think such a thing could exist, considering the diversity among Pagan thinkers and practitioners. Where Myers does draw comparisons between different individuals’ Pagan philosophies, he does so carefully and quietly, usually to show how one school of thought leads to another, or to identify brief trends that might be found in particular periods of history.

While the excellent research and analysis lends The Earth, The Gods and The Soul a scholarly tone, it nevertheless exudes a personal and friendly feeling. Myers isn’t afraid to put in his own personal interpretations, ideas and opinions, which all add to the book’s interest – I was fascinated to read that he’s probably one of the very few Pagans out there who, shock horror, thinks that institutionalising Paganism wouldn’t necessarily be a terrible idea (I still disagree!).

The Earth, The Gods and The Soul is clearly a product of passion and many, many hours of hard work. And thanks to this, the Pagan community has been blessed with a high quality and unique resource for anyone interested in Pagan thought and philosophy. Hlighly recommended to those looking to significantly deepen their understanding of the rich and complex history of the Pagan path.