Alexander FauqueThe Golden Age and Neo-Pagans

April 5th 2008

Neo-Pagans use the myth of the “Golden Age” as a model for the future. They postulate

that at this time in our past, humanity was attuned to nature and worshipped mother earth. Since

then, we have fallen into disunity and must now work to reinstate the balance that existed in the

Golden Age. The way in which Neo-Paganism brings the sacred reality into the profane world is

through rituals and beliefs that emphasize the sacredness of all beings and our ultimate connection

to the earth. The Sabbat is an example of one such ritual that Frederick Bird might term as being

“self-representative.”1 Essentially, the three stages are as follows: the Golden Age, the shift away

from the sacred into our current state of disunity and the rekindling of spiritual movements that

aim to reinstate the balance by reintroducing the values of the Golden Age into the modern world.

Frederick Streng defines the profane world as “untouched or uninformed by the sacred

eternal order” and is characterized by things like purposelessness, boredom, competition and

waste.2 It is an existence devoid of wonder as the absence of sacredness causes people to fill the

void with transient satisfactions that lead to further restlessness. Ultimately, a sense of

powerlessness pervades and humanity has no real direction. Life becomes a matter of survival

more so than fulfillment. Neo-Paganism sees our current situation as a manifestation of this

problematic. The combined efforts of patriarchies across the globe have undercut our connection

to the earth and each other. As a result, we experience environmental degradation, widespread

poverty, racism and various other afflictions that are directly related to the imposing of a male

centered value system. In the film “Full Circle,” one of the women interviewed notes that the

world is out of balance and lacks the female perspective.3 Essentially, the problematic is a question

of artificially imposed hierarchy that puts distance between people and alienates them from their

natural environment, which is where they would be most comfortable and aware. The symbol of

the circle then becomes central as it dispels the notion of a chain of being in favor of a unified and

flowing model for reality. The hierarchy, as defined by patriarchs, has man at the pinnacle,

dominating all other life forms. This in turn fuels what Neo-Pagans perceive as the problematic in

that it justifies industrialization and capitalism. The central problem is that of selfishness whereby

the individual cares only for personal betterment without regard for the welfare of others and the

planet. This mindset also applies to governments in that nations vie for sovereignty in order to

1 Bird, Fred, Rituals as Communicative Action (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1995) 30-31.2 Streng, Frederick, Creation of Community Through Sacred Symbols (California: Wordsworth Publishing, 1985) 45.3 Full Circle, dir. Donna Read, VHS, NFBA, 1993.

impose their own agendas on their people and avoid entanglement with other nations that might

seek to establish an objective ethical code that takes the entire conglomeration of nation-states into

account.

In order to proceed in a teleological fashion, Neo-Pagans invoke the myth of the Golden

Age. The myth serves as a model for how society once was and can become if we are able to bring

about the necessary transformation. The Golden Age myth coincides with Streng’s notion of the

“Ultimate Reality”. This reality is the source of knowledge and thereby the source of

empowerment for those seeking to rid themselves of the problematic. Streng writes “the Sacred

Realm, or Being, is also infinite and awesome, but expresses a structure or reveals inherent

characteristics that are reflected in everyday existing forms.”4 This is especially true in Neo-

Paganism becomes the Golden Age is a past reality, meaning that at one point in human history,

this was a tangible reality. Therefore, Neo-Pagans are encouraged to seek the sacred in this world.

Indeed, nature herself is divine and so are we, it doesn’t get much more immanent than that. Neo-

Pagans understand the Golden Age as a time when Goddess worship was widespread, reverence

for the earth was a given, people lived attuned to natural cycles (and thereby embraced change)

and each person recognized their own divinity. Accordingly, one version of the Sabbat ritual has

the high priestess say: “I have been with thee from the beginning; and I am that which is attained

at the end of desire.”5 This illustrates how Neo-Pagans see the sacred as something that has always

been carried within, as we are all aspects of the divine. The latter part suggests that gnosis, or

wisdom through insight, is a matter of recognizing that we already have all that we need. This

follows from the belief that Gaia provides for us all, which is central to the Golden Age view and

lacking in our contemporary patriarchal world that focuses on the supposedly ever-present lack we

all feel. The Ultimate Reality also cannot be divorced from the notion of the Goddess. In “Full

Circle,” Donna Read goes to Greece to find relics of Goddess worship but finds that the museums

are relatively unconcerned with the representations of Artemis, Persephone, Demeter or

Aphrodite, often only labeling them anonymously as “Goddess”.6 This is characteristic of the

modern world that has abandoned the idea of the Goddess in favor of the father God of

“churchianity”. Another point the film brings up is that from a very early age, children are made

to think of God in male terms as we use male generic language to refer to the divine.7 These

4 Streng, Frederick, Creation of Community Through Sacred Symbols (California: Wordsworth Publishing, 1985) 47.5 Bromley, David and Cowan, Douglas, Cults and New Religions (Massachusetts: Blackwell Publishing, 2008) 202.6 Full Circle, dir. Donna Read, VHS, NFBA, 1993.7 Ibid.

backwards notions renew the need for a reintroduction of Goddess and Mother Earth worship as a

way to make the values that they express integral to our lives. We live in a male oriented universe

and so we value reason, strength, control, order etc. Awareness of the Ultimate Reality as per Neo-

Paganism would enable us to incorporate the complimentary values of intuition, nurture instincts,

cyclical and collaborative thinking etc.

In order to reinforce the values prescribed by the Ultimate Reality, religious movements

will rely on rituals to communicate sacred truths. Streng refers to the “Means to Ultimate

Transformation” when designating the way in which practitioners bring sacred time and space into

the profane world and thereby symbolically transform the problematic into the Ultimate Reality.8

For Neo-Pagans, this is the process that allows them to reintroduce the Golden Age into the

modern world. The film “Full Circle” addresses this question. In an interview, one of the women

asserts that the political is personal and vice versa.9 The myth of the Golden Age says that when

Gaia first begot children, known as the “Rainbow Family,” she said that they would be summoned

if she needed them.10 We now find ourselves in that time and it is the responsibility of each of us

to heed the call and return to our first mother and care for her. In that sense, there is no separation

between the external world and our primordial selves; they are one. Political movements start with

the individual; we must change within before we can affect without. A key part of this process is

acceptance of the self and consequently others. In order to attain this level of acceptance, Neo-

Paganism emphasizes the importance of transformation. If we recognize that all things, including

ourselves, are undergoing transformations, then we can accept them much more readily than if we

have preconceived expectations of how they ought to be. As nature represents the Ultimate

Reality, we can use it as a symbol for the divine. Everyday, the natural world is different and so

are humans. Fred Bird talks about rituals that are self-representative11 and I believe the ritual of the

Sabbat as explained by Helen Berger can serve of an example of one such ritual that reinforces the

notion of the fluidity of the self.12 During the Samhain, those present are made to reflect on death

as analogous to the coming of winter, that is to say as a natural process that allows for the renewal

of life. Furthermore, it is made clear that death is more akin to a friend than an enemy because if

we resist death, we only cause more suffering for ourselves where as a welcoming of death allows

8 Streng, Frederick, Creation of Community Through Sacred Symbols (California: Wordsworth Publishing, 1985) 49.9 Full Circle, dir. Donna Read, VHS, NFBA, 1993.10 Ibid.11 Bird, Fred, Rituals as Communicative Action (Waterloo, Ontario: Wilfred Laurier Press, 1995) 30-31.12 Berger, Helen, A Community of Witches (South Carolina: University of South Carolina Press, 1999) 29-31.

us to appreciate and honor the memories we hold.13 We must be willing to accept change as a

natural and healthy phenomenon. The ritual is brought to a head when everyone chants: “It is the

blood of our ancestors that flows through our veins, the forms change but the circle of life

remains.”14 This reflects how the participants represent themselves as beings that celebrate both

positive and negative changes and who are able to come together in a community to offer support

for those who have lost and rejoice together at the reality that life goes on as it ever has and ever

will. This self-representation establishes a group identity that is working to bring about the values

of the Golden Age. Berger writes that the ritual is meant to put Neo-Pagans “in tune with the

changing environment” and help them “alter his or her own life.”15 These are key tenants for

anyone hoping to reintroduce the values of the Golden Age in that there is an embracing of change

and reinforcing of the idea that we are powerful and able to shape our lives. Hence the ritual

serves to represent the practitioners as fluid, community oriented and empowered.

The myth of the Golden Age represent an ideal that is attainable in the here and now. It is

used both as the source of knowledge and the alternative to the problematic. Though it may be

difficult to factually account for the historical validity of the Golden Age, as a myth it serves to

empower Neo-Pagans as it provides a model of a world whereby the problematic is overcome.

13 Ibid, 30.14 Ibid, 30.15 Ibid, 31.