Classic religion and ancient traditions have asserted a reverence for some animals and nature throughout history but do we really respect them? Upon examination of the rich oral traditions and literature of religions, it appears that largely the purpose of animal based spiritual traditions is hunting, domestication, or some sort of ‘use’ of the animal’s energy for personal benefit through rites and rituals. This article examines various religions in the Matrix operating throughout the planet since time immemorial (my spirit guides insist that many religions are Satanic), although the first one examined here, being neo-paganism and Wicca are believed to be modern earth based and eco-friendly spiritual practices for veneration of nature based on ancient ones.
‘Honoured maiden huntress Artemis, Artemis…new moon come to us‘…so begins the slow popular ‘triple goddess’ chant used by Wiccan and Pagans in stone circles to ‘bring in’ the qualities of the deity into the ritual circle and infuse them with her powers. The moon has enchanted humankind since stoneage, used to mark the days, with the waxing and waning cycles that helped ancient humans keep track of the calender and the female periods. Wicca is a feminine system of worship as it is deeply connected with the three phases of the moon, new to waxing, full and waning. Artemis an ancient virgin goddess similar to Diana, Brigid, Astarte is linked with the copious new moon and new beginnings of the rise of fertility, brightness and power, while the second one in the middle is the full moon goddesses, the mother goddess Cerridwen, Isis, Demeter for blessing and fulfilment, the third, dark goddess of the waning moon connects with hidden energy, secrets, death and negativity for instance Hecate, Morrigan, Innana and the lowerworld mysteries.
But what about the fact that Artemis, much like Diana is a goddess of the hunt, armed with weapons to kill and subdue other animals with her might, her masculine femininity, her independence, pride and ego. Ancient gods and goddesses though beautiful are also adorned with weapons that are deadly at times. Well meaning practitioners who are awakening may in reality be disenchanted by the hunting past of some of these ancient deities, originating at a time when consciousness was severly limited unfortunately and wars, hunting and crimes were commonplace, laws miserably poor and population ignorant. Deities invoked were aimed at blessing humans with powers of hunting, warfare and healing for human betterment, not necesarily for the betterment of nature. The healing and hunting powers being for humankind’s benefit, for the community at large to take energy they desire from nature.
The ‘Wild Hunt‘ is a fascinating nonsensical subject among pagans and Wiccans who believe there was an ancient masculine deity, the Lord who went all around on a wild hunt at cold winter nights with his hounds, now possibly transformed into Santa Clause with his symbolic reindeers with a slight twist of imagination to divert attention from the original folk or faery lore of the Wild Hunt theme. Legends of Germanic lore also endorse the hunting of a victim female, or in other words rape through this ugly tale which is of course ‘traditional’ and charming and enacted in rituals in Wicca by educated people. People, who believe they are empowering women and by elevating feminine to goddesses that are often consorted by male gods in sexual themes of so called ’emanicipation’.
Celtic Cerrunos the horned hunter sometimes equated with the ‘devil’ imagery as one major deity or the primary deity of the ‘horned one’ is not the only one of the Wild Hunt, with Gywnn App Nudd of faery divine king lore, Herne the Hunter as the Scandinavian leader of the Wild Hunt and Odin as the Anglo-Saxon Lord of the imaginary Wild Hunt. The tarot cards include The Devil as a masked horned God goat-headed figure symbolically controlling male and female ritually bonded people in ritual.
Hunting deities are well endorsed by cave paintings of a horned male figurine of European origin reminiscent of a ‘prehistoric Shiva’ Harappan seal as lord of animals in worldwide traditions. Hunting is seen as not a crime as it should be, but a popular sport and a survival technique of ancestors. Several gods and goddesses from ancient folklores champion the neo-pagan revival including hunting deities such as Inuit Sedna who is the goddess of marine hunting, Devana of Slavic myths and Skadi of Norse legends. Noone would understand why some hunting deities of folklore are worshipped upon altars of pagans and Wiccans to connect with nature and champion the cause of the planet’s environment, seas, ice-caps, forests and it’s magical ‘healing’ rites of nature if they would also kill animals whether on land or in the seas.
Ley lines of neolithic and ancient monuments of British culture, favoured by Wiccans and neo-pagans the world over have already been exposed in the past articles part 1 and part 2 of this blog as areas where animals have also been sacrificed or killed for feasting in celebration of the winter solstice. Such stone-site megalithic traditions continue undisturbed by tribals in eastern India and Indonesia involving domesticated animal’s sacrificed on specific stones in veneration of ancestors, stones erected to honour human tribal folk who died and their families attaining noble status materially through lavish sacrifice and feasting rituals in their name.
Some Wiccan practitioners insist that they belong to strict lineages of men who imitate semi-satanic loosely occult inspired rituals of strict nudism, sexuality and imitation of bestiality dressing up in horned masks. They are clearly rebelling against the unjust murders of so called witches, male, female and children of the burning times of inquisions and witch hunts in the name of Jesus Christ when several innocents who were not even witches were terribly tortured into a false confession that they were guilty of working with the devil.
Other Wiccan traditions are neo-Wiccan, having transmuted into simpler ones who insist they ‘Harm None’, focus on tarot card reading work and crystal, herbal or candle folk magic to bring back feminine spirituality and intuition, oblivious to the other stranger traditions in British and western Wicca.
Eight words the Wiccan Rede fulfill, An it harm none do what ye will. (Doreen Valiente, 1964) – these words are not always followed as Wiccans are flexible in their opinions and not bound by any strict law. Yet, many neo-Wiccans are drawn like magnets to the Wiccan Rede believing that there will be love and compassion to learn from Wiccan faith.
Those who adhere to the Rede might prefer to be vegan and work only with positive magic to heal other humans and wild animals and the planet too. However many Wiccans are solely omnivorous and most still invoke hunting deities, a practice that arguably takes away instantly from the concept of Harming None. The use of animal products in rituals and rites is still part of many groups, temples or covens, employing animal bones, horns, cornucopia, skulls and goat’s head even to this day, symbolically. Ugly rituals from the past included animal sacrifice and divination by entrails of murdered animals, a practice that is not followed by most Wiccans, except for those select practitioners who imitate the hideous times of the past ritually to maintain traditionality of occult.
Some people, usually children enamoured by child-friendly Harry Potter magic that makes objects briefly fly into air by telekinesis, or young females inspired by the Charmed series of three ‘Wiccan’ sisters who fight against demons are shattered to learn that real witchcraft has no semblance to that kind of television and Hollywood magic. Ordinarily Wicca students are nothing like Hermione Granger and her witty spells from books, and teachers nothing like Dumbledore. What was possibly a simple global belief in power of herbs, thoughts, intentions, words and charms, followed by every culture all around the world, from China to India and Pakistan to Africa for cleansing, empowering, healing and blessing has been ceremonialised in occult forms developed by Aleister Crowley and other occult ceremonial magicians regarded as wizards and witches.
Wiccan religion seems to imitate partially, malignant Christian rituals with chalices of wine and bread and lengthy sermonic invocations of flesh and body of the lamb of god a.k.a. Yeshua murdered in lieu of animals to take away sins. Except that instead of a lone deity of Israel, neo-pagan and Wiccan religion honours pantheistic ancient ones from around the pagan world, Celtic, Druid , Egyptian and Mesopotamian to name a few as Wican chalices are taken around the circle or coven of witches.
The simple fact that killing of other species is considered ‘normal’ and part of nature and hunting venerated explains how mysterious otherworldly powers are abused by humans to create and manufacture religions meant to subjugate others around them whether in the name of God, Allah or any other divinity that attracts followers be it Diana, Cerrunos, Yahweh or any deity whatsoever, feminine or masculine. Perhaps the introduction of Jesus was meant to eradicate practices of animal sacrifice in a way in rituals, although Christians continue to consume animals and their secretions all over the world and associate Jesus with animal farming and fishing too which seems contradictory if he took away all sins. His killing is another form of ritual sacrifice murder, and the entire idea of sacrifice being a misplaced one based on a very wrong belief that someone must die in order for a deity to be pleased, for atonement of sins or in lieu for someone else who must be saved by offering another’s life in his or her place.
We have all heard of African baby and child sacrifices as well as animal sacrifices in witchcraft, Haitian voudou, Santeneria and numerous other traditions and some Indian unholy rituals all heavily criticized as shameful ignorant malpractices. In countries such as India people would pay large sums of money to practitioners of tantric and aghoric belief systems who can make things ‘happen’ for them (including so called black-magic to harm someone) using disgusting and murderous practices at times, while those who insist that Wicca is based on ‘Harming None’ are seldom accepted as people devoid of consciousness still associate evil and superstitious rituals with magic.
Those Wiccans who morally insist that Wicca should be a mature, nature loving spirituality of kindness and non-harming (ahimsa) for healing of the planet based on the Wiccan rede (Harming None principle) are at times rudely rebuked as ‘fluffy bunnies’ by nudist and Luciferian ceremonialists from Alexandrian, Gardenerian and other lineaged traditions of British Witchcraft who insist on the ‘old ways’ being superior. Connection with ancient stoneage and hunter-gatherer past still runs strong among most of them as the following documentary richly elucidates.
Swati Prakash 