Mythic Seasons
the re-enchantment of nature
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I sat in my garden, exhausted after removing a weedy area, laying out mulch, and installing stepping stones. I gazed at Pan seated atop a pedestal made to look like the roots and stump of a great tree. Beside him on the ground sat a little wood nymph gazing up at the clear blue sky. The light flickered through the drooping flowers of a black locust tree, their odd fragrance hanging in the air.
I watched the sun lazily sinking over the tree tops to the northwest, it's deepening hues glinting on the pond barely visible through the trees. Then, a flash of white told me that the great egret was winging its way to its nighttime roosting place done with a day of hunting in the wetlands.
The Pan garden statue was a new addition to my yard, and he stirred all sorts of interesting emotions in me.
I am not alone in longing for a re-enchanted understanding of Nature. A rising current of animistic thinking occurs in diverse and sometimes unexpected places.
Animism is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and in some cases words—as animated and alive. ~ Wikipedia
There is also a philosophical refining and embracing of Pan, reflected in a newfound emphasis on both pantheism and panentheism.
Pantheism is the doctrine that the universe conceived of as a whole is God and, conversely, that there is no God but the combined substance, forces, and laws that are manifested in the existing universe. The cognate doctrine of panentheism asserts that God includes the universe as a part though not the whole, of his being.
Both "pantheism" and "panentheism" are terms of recent origin, coined to describe certain views of the relationship between God and the world that are different from that of traditional theism.
As reflected in the prefix "pan-" (Greek pas, "all"), both of the terms stress the all-embracing inclusiveness of God, as compared with his separateness as emphasized in many versions of theism.
Pantheism stresses the identity between God and the world, panentheism (Greek en, "in") that the world is included in God but that God is more than the world. ~ https://www.britannica.com/topic/pantheism
Sacred Nature
The sacredness of Nature and the presence of the Divine, as or in Nature, offers a meaningful place to begin an entirely new kind of relationship that invites us to move back into the mythic seasonal landscape that our ancestors knew.
The Wheel of the Year, as we have it today, is an excellent place to begin journeying into the sacred and mythic seasons that surround us, mark time and shape our lives. Each season is rich in archetypal energy and presence, filled with folklore, myth, tradition, and practice. To live the seasonal round is to tap into a deep remembering of ancient human life.
We know that many thousand years ago, our ancestors' survival depended on their understanding of the seasons and following the seasonal shifts. The seasonal round included moving to follow the most abundant food sources. This might have entailed moving to coastal areas in the spring and summer seasons to fish and grow some essential crops, a move into the forested interior in autumn for harvesting berries and nuts, and moving yet again in winter further upland into cave or rock shelters for warmth and access to hunting larger game like deer. Each move and each place would have had spiritual and sacred significance for them. Therefore, the land and its spirits would need to be acknowledged and honored with ceremony and offerings required.
Except for today's snowbirds escaping to Florida or Arizona to avoid the winter, most of us stay put through the year. Eventually, our ancestors did, too, as farming and settled life became the norm in the Neolithic after the agricultural revolution.
The mythic nature of the seasons and the seasonal wheel of the year remains strong even today; we feel the pull of its force, and despite our post-modern selves, our communities still offer Strawberry Festivals in June, Harvest Fairs in autumn and Winter Wonderland parades to mark the winter solstice.
Sacred Rhythm
There is something deeply satisfying and enriching to the soul when we lean into living the mythic seasons. Moreover, this orientation to living in the world and marking time according to Nature's rhythm is quite soothing. I would go so far as to say it actually recalibrates our entire nervous system to something more suitable for human beings in contrast to our artificially bright nights, beeping smartphone alarms, ticking clocks, digital calendars, and well-regulated temperatures in our homes (though I am eternally grateful for air conditioning and heat).
There are many myths from various traditions and places that give sacred life to each of the seasons. It's interesting to read and explore these as they can stir in you an intuitive or latent human memory and thus begin to deeply connect you to the essence of each season. I recommend this but only second to your own authentic, lived experience of each season.
The way to begin a living relationship with the seasonal wheel is first to notice. Look for weather patterns; these are easy to spot and impact your day-to-day life. Then, look for migration and hibernation patterns that show the arrival or departure of birds or animals in your immediate area. Finally, know how your home is oriented. Where are the four cardinal directions? I always know what season it is by where the sun sets as I look into my backyard. At the equinoxes, it sets directly behind the garden shed in the west. Now in the middle of Beltane, it sets to the right of the shed, and at the summer solstice in a few weeks, it will be far to the right at the very northwest end of the pond.
In contrast, at the winter solstice, it will set near the far south shore of the pond. I watch this progression of the sun throughout the year through my kitchen window with the same level of awe and wonder that my ancestors did at places like Stone Henge and Chaco Canyon thousands of years ago. The divine is within everything, and the sun's movement is set in its course and ordained by divine forces. So, the re-enchantment of Nature becomes a living, breathing, soul-satisfying part of my life just by noticing the most basic and easily observable thing, the sun.
But let's go deeper into the mythic nature of the seasons and explore on a different level. At the uppermost level, the year is split in two. At the winter solstice, the sun is re-born, and we enter the light half of the year. The sun's influence grows over the next six months. At the summer solstice, the sun reaches its pinnacle, and then we enter the dark half of the year as the sun's potency wanes.
Further into the mythic landscape of the seasons, we encounter the four seasons. Under the sun's watchful, warming yang energy, the feminine yin principle can begin her own heroic journey. In February, she begins to wake as greening returns to the earth. Her children, the proverbial birds, bees, and others copulate, seeds germinate, and early blooming flowers are pollinated. Maiden becomes Mother. So while masculine solar energy grows from December to June, nested within that is a remarkable movement of feminine power that births new life. Together, yin and yang are necessary to create life on earth.
Sacred Union
This is where we are right now in the northern hemisphere. This brings me back to the delight I experienced when I found my Pan sculpture at a beautiful antique store. I immediately knew how fabulous it would be to have a mythical, archetypal, earthly representation of the solar, masculine principle residing in my garden. Lusty, lively, protective, and gentle, Pan plays his pipes and calls to the woods bringing forth living energy.
The focus on the solar masculine will intensify as spring turns to summer, culminating at the summer solstice. After that, the previously vulnerable Maiden and postpartum Mother will rise to power as the harvest season begins in August, but not immediately; first, we must encounter July.
July is unusual; no solstice, equinox, or cross-quarter festival falls there. Where I live, July is sweltering, yet my gardens of native plants are at their peak in July. Although the heat can be oppressive, I've come to appreciate it as the heat of a decisive moment in the mythic seasonal round when both masculine and feminine exert significant influence. This is the expression of the Sky Father and Earth Mother, The Solar King and Lunar Queen acting as a power couple.
We are always living within these mythic currents. Archetypal patterns are playing out all around us in every season of the year, and we, whether we know it or not, are caught up in and affected by them.
To be conscious of them and further honor and work with them is to facilitate your integration into the more significant, divinely ordained scheme of life. I find tremendous personal meaning in this. I feel connected to something good that is greater than myself individually and humanity collectively. The mythic seasons unite me with a cosmic web of existence and reality.
To move with the rise and fall of energy throughout the seasons is a powerful lesson in integrating the anima (feminine) and animus (masculine) within ourselves. It is also a masterclass in learning to accept the wisdom of variability. There are times of fallowness, resting, quiet, and stillness, just as there are times of creativity, productivity, and activity.
There are times when we will be vulnerable and need protection and when we are strong and rise in our own strength.
To truly understand these movements within ourselves, nature is a masterful teacher, but the way to reach the depths of our psyche and create lasting change and growth is through the mythic lens. Of course, nature remains a biological, material reality (as our own bodies do). Still, myth lifts nature and us into the timeless realm where we can access and understand eternal truths and ultimate reality. There, we find meaning, enchantment, and the connection and wholeness we so desire.
The initiates' door into the great mysteries lies in your own backyard. It is as available to you as an oak tree or returning swallow. It is as ancient as indigenous peoples' shamanic societies from thousands of years ago and as futuristic as quantum physics. It is as gritty and earthy as scratching a hole in the earth, planting a seed, and praying for rain. It is as philosophical as the most elaborate, structured, formal religious, or magical ceremony. The power of Myth infused into the cycle of the seasons brings all those profound systems of encountering the divine, unseen realms to your backdoor, removing all of the perceived obstacles to understanding the mysteries of life by embedding the secrets in nature's most ordinary everyday experiences.
Immanence or transcendence
The poetic sense of the divine within and around human beings, which is widely expressed in religious life, is frequently treated in literature. It is present in the Platonic Romanticism of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, as well as in Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Expressions of the divine as intimate rather than alien, indwelling and near dwelling rather than remote, characterize pantheism and panentheism as contrasted with classical theism. Such immanence encourages the human sense of individual participation in the divine life without the necessity of mediation by any institution. ~ https://www.britannica.com/topic/pantheism
Do you long for a more enchanted vision and experience of nature? Have you found profound meaning held within your experiences of nature? Are you able to conceive of God in or as Nature? Help build the Hedge Mystic community by sharing your experiences and insights in the comments section.
Thank you for reading Hedge Mystic; your support and participation are appreciated, and you are loved.
Pan Resources
Encounters with Nature Spirits: Co-creating with the Elemental Kingdom by R. Ogilvie Crombie
A fascinating, first-hand account of the vast powers and true nature of the Elemental Kingdom
• Reveals deep wisdom, eloquently shared through the author’s encounters with the great God Pan and his elemental subjects
• Offers a glimpse into the hidden layers of the natural world and the workings of the elemental kingdom
Christ and Pan in The Wind and the Willows - article by Matthew Claridge, Credo Magazine
Chapter Seven in Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows
and then, in that utter clearness of the imminent dawn, while Nature, flushed with fulness of incredible colour, seemed to hold her breath for the event, [Mole] looked in the very eyes of the Friend and Helper; saw the backward sweep of the curved horns, gleaming in the growing daylight; saw the stern, hooked nose between the kindly eyes that were looking down on them humourously, while the bearded mouth broke into a half-smile at the corners; saw the rippling muscles on the arm that lay across the broad chest, the long supple hand still holding the pan-pipes only just fallen away from the parted lips; saw the splendid curves of the shaggy limbs disposed in majestic ease on the sward; saw, last of all, nestling between his very hooves, sleeping soundly in entire peace and contentment, the little, round, podgy, childish form of the baby otter. All this he saw, for one moment breathless and intense, vivid on the morning sky; and still, as he looked, he lived; and still, as he lived, he wondered.
Thank you Jan for sharing this! I realized the reason for feeling so off balance some years back. I wasn’t in sync, so to speak, out of touch with Nature and caught up in the chaos of the world around me. I was suffering and my art was suffering because of it. I wasn’t happy. Everything felt “off”. It’s taken time but I’ve learned from moving with the Wheel and using moon energy to become more connected and balanced. I do my best art on high energy moon phases, drawing on that energy. I have reconnected with Nature, moving now with the flow of her seasons. I feel more a part of the Divine and realize that the Divine has always been there waiting for me to figure it out. The Divine isn’t confined to buildings of worship. I am connected just as the trees and the smallest of creatures. My “church” is in Nature.💜
Your posts have been so helpful to me in understanding the shifts of the seasons throughout the year. This one today really clarified for me how the solar masculine shifts at the solstice to the beginning of the feminine. Thank you for this. I have been trying especially in this past year to live closer to the seasons shifts, tracking things like the moon cycles and especially the cross quarter holidays and your posts have helped me a great deal.