Well and good, people. I thought I'd stick my head around the door, see how things are going, and this thread seems to be my most worthy and promising baby at the moment. I see there have been, as I type this, 620 people having had a poke around in here, one of them being your good self. So, at the risk of sounding nosy, Wassup? What are you looking for in here?
Why, out of all the threads here on Wicca, and Witchcraft, and whatever, are you looking in on this wild and unforgiving place? There's nothing of structure here, no set of directions that might suddenly show you something of this "Wicca" that I hear so much of in this place. I can say with all conviction here, that I don't really buy into Wicca myself. That's not to say there's nothing of any value in it, it's just not my bag, baby. "path".
I know how you all put much emphasis upon paths, so why has your path brought you in here? Is there one of the mysteries that I brought to this thread that intrigues you? Something you think might have some bearing upon your own path? Because if so, then you should take a little pause to define exactly;
A /What you are seeking here,
B/ Why you think it's in this, least of Wiccan places, and
C/ Whether to proceed any further, or return to the more orthodox parts of this site.
Because one thing is for certain, you'll get no straight answers in here from me. I'm not any kind of Sphinx, riddler, or Priest with answers to your questions. I'm under no oath, vow or geas that compels me to show or tell you anything.
I do have secrets, but you can't make me tell them. Even if I wanted to, I still couldn't tell you any secrets. Note that I say "couldn't", not "wouldn't". If you came here wanting secrets from me, then you clearly don't understand the nature of secrets.
Wicca makes much of it's emphasis on nature, on the nature of things. So how is that going? Are things any clearer since you decided upon Wicca? Do you see the natural order of things any better now? Because I have to say, no religion I ever looked into (and correct me if I'm wrong, but Wicca IS a religion) provided any clarity on our so called nature. In fact, most of them seem to deliberately obfuscate what little understanding of nature people might arrive with.
Pan is sometimes called "Nature's God" and while this is perfectly correct, it also suggests many things that might mislead the unwary, or those labouring under the mappings of religion and it's dogma. Yes, you can see Pan sometimes in the strangest of unexpected places, even in the Holiest places of the Christians, or the Muslims. But you are also just as likely to see him in even those darkest of shrines to human nature, like the ovens of Buchenwald. And I say this because when Pan is understood, and his all encompassing dynamic is evident before you, things really do become incredibly simple.
INCREDIBLE; <Lacking any sign of credibilty, or validity. Defying belief or reason>
SIMPLE; <Lacking complexity, basic, or primary in a form that builds upon itself to make structures of greater diversity>
Try thinking of him as "God's Nature" instead. It's just as much his dynamic as any other. He has other names and forms for other cultures as well, but the Arcadian Pan is his most puissant and complete form.
I brought Pan to this thread in a functionary or practical form for a reason. Yes, he is an extremely powerful and cthonic archetype, more terrible and awful than any Sumerian Demon God, like Ba'al, or Moloch, who are just facets of his all-ness. Those facets tend to inspire men into worship, simply because they see part of their own divinity there. And that's not any reason to bring Pan into anything.
That isn't Pan's function. If you want a God to worship, then go and pick one of the other ones. There are enough of them out there demanding your worship and fealty, pick one of them, if you would come to k no w Gods.
Pan's useful and practical function, the one that I invoked aspect of in this thread, is as an opener, or a remover of obstacles. A clearing of the way, or Gatekeeper, Ward, or Guard, so in this aspect, he may also be Papa Legba, or Lord Ganeshi. Or even the Angel set to guard Eden from us re-entering, with his fiery sword. Any keeper of a boundary, there is Pan.
I shall now leave you with a nod towards that most obvious and easiest of boundary markers, and one that has always been close to the Arcadian ideal of Pan.
You still find them around the places that we grow and cultivate our food, and beyond them, is the Wild. The unworked raw stuff of this nature we were discussing. So if you have an idea what I mean, then by all means, drop it here, and I'll be back in a day or two. Or ten. Or even a year. But iI will be back here with more starry wisdom at some point, I promise, 'kay?
