Update: Call of the God

Pan (artist unknown)

Io Pan ! Io Pan ! Come over the sea
From Sicily and from Arcady !
Roaming as Bacchus, with fauns and pards
And nymphs and styrs for thy guards,
On a milk-white ass, come over the sea
To me, to me, ...

 

 

With the submission date now having passed, the somewhat arduous task awaits for me in sifting though the numerous submissions received both by email as well as Facebook message, sending off appropriate "permissions to publish" and then attempting to collate the essays, poems, artwork and stories into some form of order that will take the reader on a journey through a rather testosterone inspired smorgasbord of devotion and maybe even discovery.

 

Odin (artist unknown)

I, who wait and writhe and wrestle
With air that hath no boughs to nestle
My body, weary of empty clasp,
Strong as a lion and sharp as an asp -
Come, O come!
I am numb
With the lonely lust of devildom ...

 

Late last year I had started the collation process based on what I had received to date, and came up with four main areas - (1) reinterpretation and retelling of myths about the Gods, (2) modern interpretations of what the Divine Masculine means amongst our technology and within our concrete jungles, (3) personal encounters and reflections, and finally (4) devotional pieces as well as ways of working with the Gods within ritual.  And I have to admit that I was rather pleased with my efforts. That was until what could only be described as a flood of contributions was received over the last six weeks which has seen me reconsider my initial proposed layout to include other divisions.

 

Sumerian Anunnaki

All in all, I am deeply honoured with the amount and standard of contributions received and the generosity (not to mention at some personal risk) that some well known Pagan writers have shown in contributing towards this my first anthology.

 

Io Pan ! Io Pan Pan ! I am awake
In the grip of the snake.
The eagle slashes with beak and claw;
The gods withdraw:
The great beasts come, Io Pan ! I am borne
To death on the horn
Of the Unicorn. ...

 

If you still have an offering that you would like to submit, at this stage I am still happy to receive reinterpretation and retelling of myths about the God (in particular those from Norse and Hindu cultures, as well as lesser known Gods), as well as devotional pieces (evocations, ritual segments etc).  I am also after specifically Australian  orientated submissions in an attempt to balance the dusty desert landscape with the abundance of Green Man contributions received.

 

Vishnu

As I start to make progress through the submissions received and am able to fine tune the collation process into something that is workable, I will be in a better position to ascertain whether any other specific submission pieces are required.

 

I am thy mate, I am thy man,
Goat of thy flock, I am gold , I am god,
Flesh to thy bone, flower to thy rod.
With hoofs of steel I race on the rocks
Through solstice stubborn to equinox ...

 

So to all who have contributed, especially those who have yet to hear from me, I am making my way through all the submissions received to date and hope to have all the "permissions to publish" sent off by the end of this month - so if you have not heard from me by then, please feel free to email me.

 

He comes on hooves of goat
He comes with songs that float on the wind
Let your senses know of him
Feel the earth it trembles underneath shaggy thighs
The sky is afire from his flashing eyes ...

("Song to Pan" by Inkubus Sukkubus)

Poem used in this blog is from "Hymn to Pan" by Aleister Crowley (1929) - courtesy of the Poem Hunter