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« on: April 04, 2003, 07:20:21 PM »
Hi Raineypark, this is so weird... on another of my lists, we are currently discussing Harvest Home as well, as someone had a dream of the enactment of the Dionysiac Sacrifice last night--the beautiful young God torn into pieces by a horde of ecstatic women, then borne in solemn funeral procession through the fields and sown amongst the crops to revivify the Land.
Bear in mind that any time any mundane person sees an image of a Horned God, they think "Satan." It does not matter that for thousands of years before mediaeval Christianity, horns represented authority and wisdom.
I also do not think that people who do not at least have some sort of basic emotional or psychic attunement to the Old Religion understand about the harvest sacrifices and the turning of the wheel of the year through ritual acts. For instance, in the Wicker Man (I am finally supposed to see the restored version of that this weekend), according to what I recall of the film, the islanders did not feel they were being evil or manipulative. They were doing what was necessary to ensure the survival of their own community and the fruitfulness of their Land.
I really pray that none of us has to experience the harsh realities of life in a subsistence society, but I wonder whether our continued trashing of the environment may not result in a time when we go to the supermarket and find the shelves bare.
Thoughtfully, Gothick