The Creation Spirituality Lineage Calling All Social and Environmental Activists, Mystic Explorers, Justice Makers, Cosmic Thinkers, Earth Keepers |
Ritual & Cosmic Awareness:
Wicca, Indigenous & Early Christian |
Not only the Eastern
religions Marcel refers to, but also Earth-based religions of the West, such as ancient Native American traditions and modern nature-mystic faiths such as Wicca, are steeped in cosmic awareness, cosmic celebration, and cosmic healing. |
In the matrifocal pagan religions, for example, the power of the microcosm is celebrated as a Goddess who “encircles the universe.” About Wicca, Starhawk writes: In the Craft, we do not believe in the Goddess— | Mini-documentary (2010) marking the 30th annual Spiral Dance of the Wiccan Reclaiming Tradition, founded by Star Hawk. |
we connect with Her; through the moon, the stars, the ocean, the
earth, through trees, animals, through other human beings, through ourselves. She is here. She is within us all. She is the full circle: earth, air, fire, water, and essence—body, mind, spirit, emotions, change. Ritual in the Wiccan
tradition takes place invariably in circles and spirals to mirror the cosmos, which is also curved. |
First part of a 3-part documentary on the background and rituals of the Lakota Sundance ceremony. See parts 2 and 3 HERE. Publius4321 | When Native Americans gather to worship, they too gather in circles and believe that each time ritual is celebrated in this way, the center of the cosmos is found in the center point of the worshiping
circle. Native Americans could not imagine worshiping without a cosmos. |
The early Christians, too, celebrated the cosmic Christ, of which Paul writes in Colossians, Ephesians, and Philippians, some of the oldest texts we possess of early Christian practice. The words recorded therein are hymns from the earliest Christian rituals. They are cosmic hymns about cosmic healing and cosmic
rejoicing. |
In Ephesians, Paul (or a disciple) sings of how with Christ “everything in the heavens and everything on earth” comes together (1.10) and how Christ “fills the whole creation” (1.23). A cosmic rebirth is celebrated in
Christ. In Colossians, the hymn calls Christ “the firstborn of all creation in whom were created all things in heaven and on earth.” And through him, Christians celebrate the reconciliation of “all things… everything in heaven and everything on earth.” (Col. 1:15, 20) | Divine radiance of creation: sunrise on a forest hill, Aylmer, ON, Canada. Photo by Michael Krahn on Unsplash |
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality, pp. 73f.
Banner Image: Sacred circle, Isle of Skye, U.K. Photo by Robert Lukeman on Unsplash |
Queries for Contemplation How prevalent is the cosmos in your experience of worship or liturgy or ceremony? (The Cosmic Mass or TCM has it in the title itself.) Do you sense what Otto Rank teaches, that only ritual
that connects psyche and cosmos is effective ritual? |
Responses are welcomed. To add your comment, please click HERE
to go to our
website and scroll down to the Comments field. |
Original Blessing: A
Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story | |
See Matthew Fox's full calendar
HERE |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “The Hidden Spirituality of Men: Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Virtual Retreat, Thursday, September 14,
4:00-6:00 pm PT. To register, click HERE. |
Join Matthew Fox and a speakers' panel for brief Creation Spirituality presentations, music, songs, prayer, and refreshments in a free online and on-site Celebration of Matthew Fox's donation of papers
to the University of Colorado, Boulder. University of Colorado Boulder Libraries – Center for British & Irish Studies – 5th Floor Thursday, September 21, 4:00pm-6:00pm PT RSVP HERE for on-site attendance only. Virtual attendance link will be forthcoming. |
Join Matthew Fox as he discusses “A New Reformation: Creation Spirituality and the Transformation of Christianity” in an Our Lady of the Prairie Virtual Retreat, Thursday, October 19,
4:00-6:00 pm PT. To register, click HERE.
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Creation Spirituality Conversations |
Aaron Perry hosts Matthew Fox on the Y On Earth podcast, on “Hildegard von Bingen & Her “Viriditas,” sharing profound wisdom and deep insights about
the essential importance of our relationship with Mother Earth, our celebration of the Divine Feminine, and our connection with Creation Spirituality, drawing upon centuries of knowledge and wisdom from indigenous and mystical traditions world-wide… particularly from the Rhineland Mystic Movement of the medieval European Renaissance, and a most extraordinary woman at its helm: Hildegard von Bingen. | |
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