30 Days of Paganism: 2. Beliefs — Cosmology

There are several definitions for the word cosmology (no, none of them are “the study of trashy magazines, marketed to women, with horrible sex advice”), but generally speaking in theology the one that’s meant is this one: “A specific theory or model of the origin and evolution of the universe.”

Put in simpler terms, “What does your religion say about the origin and existence of everything?”

I went into this a little bit on Friday’s post about orthodoxy and orthopraxy, and to simplify things there’s a creation myth I’ve written, too.

My path has a creation myth, and I’ve always been a creavolutionist — a person who believes in both creation and evolution. I don’t see how they contradict each other, honestly; in my faith, the big bang is the Smith pounding on Her anvil in the morning; our stars and planets come from the candles in Her house and the sparks made by the hammer and anvil; our souls are the sparks of Her industry. Doesn’t mean She has anything to do with what we look like, or what our planet is composed of, or what animals populate it — this world or any other.

She’s the life force behind all this, but just like a spark does not resemble a flame, or a seed a tree, nor do Her actions resemble what we have now.

The Universe itself is made up of stars and darkness. Her and the Deep One. They become one, when the Universe is stretched out, expanded; They are the very make-up of existence. They are so vast and fathomless that we cannot possibly know Them; and while They may not know us individually, They love us all.

The Phantom is the breath of this universe; while the Smith and the Deep One form its actual physical existence, the Phantom is the wind that blows through the cosmos, igniting souls with passion and belief. Strength and self-actualization come from the Phantom — the will to move forward.

The spark from the Smith’s anvil became the core of our earth; rocks spun around it to create our planet. Eventually the planet becomes hospitable to life, and life evolves. And continues evolving, until eventually there’s us, and life continues to evolve, and we have no idea what the future will hold.

Bits of the Smith, the Deep One, and the Phantom break off to become separate beings that still have the essence of Their “parents”. These are the gods, and through Their interaction with Their worshippers, They evolve and change too. The gods I honor and love and worship in this path are not the Smith, the Deep One, and the Phantom — but They are from those three, the three that form the creation myth of my faith. And the Smith is also the Lady of the Stars, and Brighid is Brighid of the Stars as well.

Everything comes from these Three that create and are the universe. They are the divinity immanent within all beings and places.

That’s the origin and existence of everything in the universe, according to my faith.