But what of the stars?

Courtesy of NASA - a photo of Jupiter taken by
New Horizons

Like many of us who follow the pagan path, the sky is very important to me.

My first clear memory of awareness of the sky is from when I was five years old.  Our family had moved to the far north of Canada – literally in the tundra – and it was winter.  My father knew the science teacher at the local high school, and had been invited to join a star-viewing party during which some pretty amazing aurorae were expected.  There were several impressive telescopes, the sky was as clear as crystal, the aurorae were as amazing as advertised, and I was hooked.

Walk your own path

Many pagans yearn for the chance to visit a sacred place that is particularly important to them.  Stonehenge, Newgrange, the White Horse, the Cerne Abbas Giant, Ynys Môn, and dozens of other sites are common pilgrimage dreams for pagans following a British tradition, for example.

There’s nothing wrong with this of course, and these places are sacred for a reason – if nothing else, the simple weight of historical significance is enough to imbue such places with spiritual power to energize an enthusiastic pilgrim.  It’s perfectly natural and appropriate for people to want to visit powerful places they’ve read about for years. Nevertheless, I have heard many people say that they scrimped and saved for a dream trip to visit one or another sacred that had a special place in their heart only to be underwhelmed. 

Part of this is to be expected – after months or even years of anticipation, it would be hard for the real thing to measure up to the dream, particularly when the real thing is wrapped up in the tinsel of a tourist attraction. 

Reflecting the gods

A Kamidana, or household shrine,
with the mirror displayed in the center.
Image taken from Wikipedia commons.

Gods are everywhere because we are gods.

This is the lesson that I have learned from Shinto, and which I have incorporated into my understanding of my Welsh path.  This fact has informed my meditation, my practice, and my reading of myth for years.

If you were allowed to explore a Shinto shrine, you would find that in the deepest part of the shrine – I suppose one might call it the inner sanctuary – there is a mirror. Those with knowledge of Japanese religion might recall that one of the three Imperial treasures is a mirror as well.  On top of this, an important kind of offering that is prepared and given to the minor gods of home and garden is a set of small, round cakes of mochi  (a paste made by pounding glutinous rice) which are called kagami mochi…mirror mochi.

More Than Stones