Medieval and early modern European culture understood the coexistence of physical and spiritual reality. It echoed the many gods and goddesses that populated pagan religions in pre-Christian times. Christian faith may have abolished the polytheism of earlier eras but retained a deep understanding of the mystical relationship between the physical and spiritual. Throughout Europe—especially in Britain—that relationship was expressed in the sacredness of creation and in the belief in “thin places” where the physical and spiritual could be intimately experienced.
Science, reason, and theology have taken us far from the wisdom embedded in those ancient beliefs—and not without justification. Those were also years of magical thinking, bizarre myths, and ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night. But while science and reason rightly quashed the nonsense, they also deprived us of the deeper wisdom hidden within it.
The subject came up in a recent conversation about the gods and goddesses in Hawaiian culture. Hawaiians may be faithful Christians in every way, but if you ask them about Pele—the goddess of the volcanoes that formed the islands—they will say she is real. It means the land itself holds a sacred spiritual reality, just as humans do. Hawaiians have preserved and reinterpreted their ancient wisdom for today and are adamant about restoring sacred care of the ‘āina,’ the land. Our conversation focused on Hawaii, but something similar is happening among American Indian tribes across North America. They, too, have preserved mythological wisdom and are reframing it to meet the needs of contemporary society. We should listen closely because they have something vital to share with the European-based Western culture that dominates the global economy—and therefore dictates how creation is used and abused.
Christians—especially Anglicans and British Catholics—have a solid foundation on which to restore and reframe ancient wisdom to guide humanity in a better direction. Celtic Britain carried the same wisdom through pagan goddesses of the land and animals, such as Danu and Ériu. Celtic Christianity adapted that pagan wisdom to express the profound meaning of being created in the image of God and of being accountable to God for the stewardship of creation.
Humanity, the land, and all creatures coexist in such a way that the well-being of each depends on mutual respect for the physical and spiritual reality of the others. Humanity bears a special responsibility because we are the only creatures capable of independent, willful action that affects the entirety of creation. If we choose wisely, we can do great good; but our predatory instincts also enable us to do great harm. Creation may lack willful independence, but it can—and does—react to protect itself as best it can. The ancient goddesses themselves were not real, but the spirit they represented was real then and is real today. That wisdom is what the Western world must recover and adopt—not merely as a sacred obligation but as a practical necessity.
It’s important not to be misled by contemporary social and religious fads that use the words and symbols of ancient wisdom to construct imitation beliefs—things people play-act until the next fad comes along. Imitation Celtic neo-paganism seems to be the current one. Recovering a deeper, more profound understanding of the sacredness of creation and our collective responsibility for its care leaves no room for such nonsense.