{"id":2982,"date":"2010-01-01T01:10:30","date_gmt":"2010-01-01T06:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/paganpages.org\/content\/?p=3039"},"modified":"2009-12-20T16:33:46","modified_gmt":"2009-12-20T21:33:46","slug":"a-witchs-view","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2010\/01\/01\/a-witchs-view\/","title":{"rendered":"A Witch’s View"},"content":{"rendered":"

One of the things I love to do is visit churches and cathedrals.\u00a0 Amongst the pews of a Christian church is not the obvious place to find a Pagan but I find them quite compelling.<\/p>\n

I have a love of history which makes England the perfect place for me to live.\u00a0 With the arrival of Christianity in the 1st century A.D. there’s probably no other invasion which has had such an impact on our history.\u00a0 By the 10th century the rich land owners were beginning to build chapels on their land so the common folk could have the services of a priest.\u00a0 However, the Lords who owned the land wanted to ensure their new investments would be used so what better location to build a church than on Pagan sacred ground?\u00a0 The general public were not all for the new Christian faith and they held on to their Pagan practices so the new religion swallowed the old up.<\/p>\n

The workmen who were used to build the churches were not all converted to Christianity, at least inwardly, and they took the advantage of incorporating Pagan symbolism into the masonry and carpentry.\u00a0 Green men, Sheela-na-gig figures, pentacles and a wide collection of mythological beasts can all be found. \u00a0 There are hundreds of churches scattered around the country which were constructed during this time so with a careful eye you can usually spot something which would look perfectly at home on a Pagan altar.\u00a0 Later additions to churches and cathedrals are gargoyles and grotesques, which I find fascinating, but also seem to also look out of place on a church.<\/p>\n

Last month I visited Winchester Cathedral and felt perfectly at home there.\u00a0 In one section of the building (it’s huge) there were stone, ornamental carvings which looked exactly like pentacles and, at the front, an extremely large Christmas tree was on display.\u00a0 And, as you know, a tree or log at Yule is an old Pagan tradition<\/p>\n

Church graveyards also have an interest for me as I have a fondness for the paranormal.\u00a0 From a quiet village church to a busy cathedral, there is usually a local ghost story attached to a graveyard (and sometimes even the church itself).\u00a0 And nearly every abbey or ruined monastery has it’s resident spirit.\u00a0 Just in my local area I’ve been out looking for the ghost of Florence Nightingale and a wandering monk!\u00a0 It’s not really surprising that paranormal activity attaches itself to a church as many were built on ley lines.<\/p>\n

In the UK, the church doesn’t have the appeal or the power it once had.\u00a0 So it’s not unusual to visit a church and be the only (living) soul there.\u00a0 And in our crowded, bustling society how many places can give you solitude and peace?<\/p>\n

So next time you pass a church, especially if you live in England, don’t automatically pass it by because it’s a building not associated with your faith.\u00a0 The building itself might sit on ancient Pagan holy ground, the architecture could have hidden Pagan symbolism and it’s a good place to hunt ghosts!
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One of the things I love to do is visit churches and cathedrals.\u00a0 Amongst the pews of a Christian church is not the obvious place to find a Pagan but I find them quite compelling. I have a love of history which makes England the perfect place for me to live.\u00a0 With the arrival of Christianity in the 1st century A.D. there’s probably no other invasion which has had such an impact on our history.\u00a0 By the 10th century the rich land owners were beginning to build chapels on their land so the common folk could have the services of a priest.\u00a0 However, the Lords who owned the land wanted to ensure their new investments would be used so what better location to build a church than on Pagan sacred ground?\u00a0 The general public were not all for the new Christian faith and they held on to their Pagan practices so the new religion swallowed the old up. The workmen who were used to build the churches were not all converted to Christianity, at least inwardly, and they took the advantage of incorporating Pagan symbolism into the masonry and carpentry.\u00a0 Green men, Sheela-na-gig figures, pentacles and a wide collection of mythological beasts can all be found. \u00a0 There are hundreds of churches scattered around the country which were constructed during this time so with a careful eye you can usually spot something which would look perfectly at home on a Pagan altar.\u00a0 Later additions to churches and cathedrals are gargoyles and grotesques, which I find fascinating, but also seem to also look out of place on a church. Last month I visited Winchester Cathedral and felt perfectly at home there.\u00a0 In one section of the building (it’s huge) there were stone, ornamental carvings which looked exactly like pentacles and, at the front, an extremely large Christmas tree was on display.\u00a0 And, as you know, a tree or log at Yule is an old Pagan tradition Church graveyards also have an interest for me as I have a fondness for the paranormal.\u00a0 From a quiet village church to a busy cathedral, there is usually a local ghost story attached to a graveyard (and sometimes even the church itself).\u00a0 And nearly every abbey or ruined monastery has it’s resident spirit.\u00a0 Just in my local area I’ve been out looking for the ghost of Florence Nightingale and a wandering monk!\u00a0 It’s not really surprising that paranormal activity attaches itself to a church as many were built on ley lines. In the UK, the church doesn’t have the appeal or the power it once had.\u00a0 So it’s not unusual to visit a church and be the only (living) soul there.\u00a0 And in our crowded, bustling society how many places can give you solitude and peace? So next time you pass a church, especially if you live in England, don’t automatically pass it by because it’s a building not associated with your faith.\u00a0 The building itself might sit on ancient Pagan holy ground, the architecture could have hidden Pagan symbolism and it’s a good place to hunt ghosts!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2982","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2982\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}