Archetypes as Spiritual Practice: A Secular-ish Prayer
Toward a pantheon of love. . .
Do I believe in god? That’s a complicated question for me.
I am probably what would be called an atheistic agnostic.
My witchcraft practice is mostly secular.
I resonate with the term atheopagan as well.
But I also still resonate with the idea of Love holding up the universe (to echo Julian of Norwich).
And I conceive of that Love as the place within our bodies and our communities where we find love and connection with all who have come before, all who are here now, and all who will come after.
And today, when I think of god, I think in archetypes of that Love—of human stories about the divine and the sense of connection they felt through those tales.
I wrote a poem about this recently . . .
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“Pantheon of Love: All the Archetypal Guides Were with Me”
Brigid found me, dressed like a guardian angel, then as a Catholic saint, and then as a Celtic goddess.
The Holy Spirit found me—a dove, or maybe a crow, watching over me.
St. Francis found me through my birthday.
Asherah found me when I learned god might be a she.
Mary found me when I had to sever with my mother.
Pantocrator found me when I had to sever with my faith.
Hecate found me in lip paint and power.
Persephone found me in a blaze of flowers and anger.
Baphomet found me in a Squishable store, offering me unconditional positive regard and snuggles.
Artemis found me in my young cries for the care of animals and later in botanical encyclopedias and absinthe.
Santa Muerte found me when I had to confront my own mortality and the scariest questions of my days.
And St. Jude, her companion, found me when I worried my hopes and dreams were a lost cause.
Nike found me in all the hard-won victories, big and small.
These are the archetypes that found me—expressed in one voice, the Love that holds up the universe.
(That’s what Julian of Norwich told me when she found me.)
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Love has held me through my days and nights, and I am devoted to that Love. As Jesus once said, the love of god and others holds up the whole thing—the Bible, religion, spiritual practice, what-have-you.
Love holds up my stardusty form, and I believe Love, expressed in so many beautiful archetypal stories, undergirds our collective liberation.
In Wonder,
Ivy Zeller (she/they)
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