Thursday, February 18, 2010

Pan & The Magick Beans ~

No. I didn't get the stories confused. Pan, best known as the Goat God, was the dude who played his magick flute and cast his naughty spells on those pretty little virgins who wanted nothing more than to meet him at the nearest cave and let him have his way with them. He was a fun, comical god with little horns on his head and the ass-end of a goat. He stunk to the high heavens, according to those who somehow managed to evade his lures, and his appetite was insatiable. He was, for all intents and purposes, the original Seed. {Note I did NOT say 'original SIN'. Maybe the Pope needed glasses?} He planted his seeds, just like Jack planted his beans, and he waited for them to grow. He knew that the stalks would reach the stars, and so then, would we. He also knew that the only way to get there was to celebrate. To Pan, celebration was the ultimate fertilizer. The more we celebrate, the more the beans grow.

Pan wasn't into fear. On the contrary. He wanted us to express ourselves. He wanted us to understand the basic necessity of joy and laughter and fun. These were his beans. Joy. Laughter. Fun. Because when you come right down to it, joy and laughter and fun are the ultimate crop in the Universal Garden. Not fear. Not guilt. Not shame. {shame: weeds in the Universal garden} These were learned at the hands of those who wanted to control us. The kind of control that gives the controller complete dominance and leaves the controlled in a state of continual helplessness. I often wonder if this god {the one I learned about in catholic school.} is so omnipotent/omniscient, then how come he's so scared of letting us be who and what we are. How is it that we even have desires if they are so evil? After all, if we are, as they say, “made in his image”, then what has he to fear anyway? Never made much sense to me. But then, I never did much care for bullying. The god I was reared to believe in was a spoiled little brat, complete with tantrums, jealousy and relentless vengeance. No thank you.

How could anyone not love a god like Pan? He loves music. And women. And pleasure. He loves laughter and dancing. He's the epitome of Life. Yet, for whatever reason {as if you didn't know}, Pan has always been depicted as the devil. He's been slandered and cast off for all his fun-loving ways. What a shame. A terrible shame. Because we can learn a whole lot about living, about what Life is really all about, from Pan. My guess is that one of the biggest reasons he's been so harshly judged is that if everybody lived the way Pan wanted us to, we'd have no room for guilt, punishment, penance, or fear of going to hell. I mean, how the heck do you control people without all that crap? How could the Church {Using the capital letter here in order to include any and all religious conglomerates.} ever get anyone to tithe were it not for their sins? As if we could pay our way into this heaven we hear about. Go ahead and sin. It's okay. When you come to church on Sunday, give a little extra. That'll keep you out of hell. Geez. Are you kidding me?

So Pan got the raw deal, then got ditched in favor of some all-knowing, all-seeing god that said sex and music and dancin' around naked is really, really bad. They turned Pan into the devil and took away our intrinsic desires, telling us that were we to follow this path we'd most definitely burn in hell for all eternity. YIKES! Who wants that sentence? Pan didn't believe in sin nor shame. Pan didn't do guilt. Pan was the epitome of Nature at it's very best. Look how that turned out for him.
Poor guy.

It's no surprise that so many turned to this other god and his set of rules. The alternative was death. Not a very pretty death either. Folks who didn't buy into the new rules were burned at the stake or eaten alive by ravenous lions, or worse. The choices , then, were: convert or be killed. Don't believe me? It's still going on. Only now we call it other things, like genocide. It's mighty scary to even think about it. Sadly, it's out there and the best we can hope for is that those who haven't yet been found (out) will find a way to hide until the forceful occupation of their souls has given way to the freedom of choice.

For now, let us hail Great Pan. Let us sing his praise and do a little dance. Let us get naked and rejoice. Pan is the representation of Life. Fun. Sex. Music. Oh...and let's not forget that funky stink. That glorious, funky stink. It's the smell of Life in all it's undisguised glory.

Bring Pan back.
Plant some beans.
Dance naked.
Enjoy the funk.

No comments: