Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Worlds - The Cosmology of the Pagan

I thought I would attempt to put together a very quick and to the point essay on the worlds in the pagan cosmology as my tradition understands them. This, hopefully, will help define our way of thinking about life, death, and what else is to come.

The Middle Garth. That is where we live right now. This reality where we work, play, love, hate, live, and die. The term Middle Garth is the Anglo-Saxon term and has been used by us for a very long time. I suspect it is a hold over of Anglo-Saxon invasion, but no certain documentation details why we call it that.

The Land of the Dead - or Hell - This is where all shades end up after the body dies. It is a place of repose, if you will, and not a place of torment. Originally, the term Hell, was actually the name of a Norse goddess called Hel. She ruled the underworld and kept the dead in her halls. The Christians usurped the name and made it a place where the bad folk went, which included pagans.

Upper Garth - This is the land of the gods. The places where one can go if one is taken by a god to be at their side. This is also a place of the fey. Or the land of Faerie. Entry to this land could be gained by death, or at certain times of the year through a howe or grave mound. Some unfortunates inadvertently followed parades of merry peoples into caves and were never heard from again, or if they did come back out it was many years later.

In many other pagan cosmologies have many other world. The Norse have nine worlds each containing spirits or gods, and some even giants or Jotuns. The above is a basic outline of my tradition and how we see things.

I hope this brief introduction helps make some sense of one pagans way and will give you a guide to more investigation.

Until next time.....

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