Collin Gow, C.N.C.

Pan (god)

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              Pan is the half-man, half-goat god of the ancient Greeks. He may be the Greek version of the Ram of Mendes, which was the soul of Osiris that was worshipped as its own god in Ancient Egypt. In Greek mythology, Pan lived with dryads, nymphs, and other spirits in the mountains of Arcadia, “The land before the moon”, a rural wilderness in Greece where Pan worship originated. He is god of the wild, shepherds, the rustic, music, nature, the forest, mountains, hunters/the hunt, fertility, and the forces of creation and procreation. Pan is associated with lustful sex with many partners for physical pleasure. Pan's erotic nature is not that of making love, nor is it monogamous. He has been depicted as having sex with a goat. Pan is considered by some as being synonymous with the constellation Capricorn. Pan was an uncivilized outcast of a god living in a civilized world. He is feral and could not be domesticated/tamed, as goats are said to have never been truly domesticated and retain some of their feral nature. Goats are also known for their strong libidos. An herb called horny goat weed should be testament enough for their horny reputation. Indeed, Pan is one of the only gods depicted in statue form with an erect phallus. In Greek mythology, in the battle between the Olympian gods and the Titans, Pan blew a conch shell to frighten and cause panic amongst the Titans. When Typhon was approaching, Pan convinced the gods to disguise themselves as animals and he took refuge in a nearby river, turning his lower body into a fish. Pan and Hermes restored the tendons in Zeus' hands and feet after they had been ripped out by Typhon, then Zeus defeated Typhon. Zeus rewarded Pan for his deeds in battle and placed him in the heavens as the constellation Capricornus, the goat fish, so the story goes. Pan is said to be the son of Hermes and Penelope or another wood nymph. Hermes is Mercury, the planet/god that rules Virgo. Abandoned by his mother due to his unconventional appearance as a satyr, Pan was taken in by the gods. Pan chased after many women often unsuccessfully due to his appearance. He pursued the water-nymph Syrinx unsuccessfully. Syrinx was turned into a reed by her sisters to escape him. When the wind blew across the reeds it made a melodious sound. Pan took up a number of reeds and cut them into 7 pieces, not knowing which reed was Syrinx, and made the pan flute, his instrument of choice that he is almost never seen without. The Pan flute may represent the harmony of the spheres. Now, when pan played his beautiful music, nymphs gathered around and danced and were no longer frightened by him. When approaching Pan to worship him, one should make as much noise as possible. He likes noise. Pan also likes to take naps, though. He takes a nap every afternoon. Waking up pan during a nap makes him become enraged. Pan was worshipped in the afternoon after his nap until sunrise with panic-like dancing and drinking and probably sexual orgy. He is worshipped in caves and grottoes, as shepherds and outlaws commonly took shelter in caves. Pan is almost never seen, only heard. He is paradoxical, liking the creature comforts of civilization such as wine, women, song, yet loving the freedom and escape of the wild and the mountains. Sexual desire can be both creative and destructive. The physical, phenomenal, outer world of nature, and the body are as important as the noumenal, inner world and the spirit. Pan teaches us that we should maintain a balance between these worlds and heed not only the spiritual heights of our nature, but also the physical depths of our nature. He reminds us not to make the mistake that modern religion has made, namely, the segregation of secular, profane, physical, and taboo interests and affairs from the divine, sacred, spiritual, and holy.

              Christianity did a great disservice to the great god Pan. Around the time when the ancient Romans made Christianity the official religion of Rome in 325 AD, they made Pan out to be the devil. Pan was the god of their enemies, the Greeks, so naturally he was an adversary to the Romans. Plus, Pan represented to them everything they were opposing. The Christians were against nature. Nature, the body, the physical world, was illusion, was evil, was sin to them. Only the spirit mattered, even though spirit can't be expressed or grow or evolve except in matter. So Christianity killed Pan, literally to the ignorant masses and metaphorically to the wise few, as he is the only god that is said to have died (at the hands of the Christians) and the idea that one could find divinity in nature was nearly exterminated in the minds of the ancient world. Upon the death of Pan, Greek thought, philosophy, and culture was lost to the world and the Dark Ages ensued for the next 1,000 years, while pagans were burned at the stake, until, during the Italian Renaissance, when Ancient Greek works were rediscovered and translated, and an interest in nature was reinvigorated. Though the explosion of scientific investigation of nature during the Italian Renaissance would slay religion, science and culture would march so far towards reductionism, mechanism, materialism, science for comfort, and industrialization, that it would lose sight of holistic nature and a balance between spirit and matter once again.

              The story of Pan may be a zodiacal one, like most mythology is. Pan, the goat-man god, may have truly represented Aries, the ram, especially if Pan was derived from the Egyptian Ram of Mendes god. If so, this makes sense that Pan is said to have jumped into a river and turned his lower body into a fish. This story may represent the transition from the Age of Aries to the Age of Pisces in the precession of the equinoxes. Indeed, Aries are said to have strong libidos as well, and Pisces is represented by two fish. Jesus, the cult figure of Christianity and the events of the Bible overwhelmingly symbolize Piscean motifs. Though Jesus truly represented the sun, the sun was journeying through the Age of Pisces for 2,000 years due to axial precession, during the reign of Christianity, hence the Piscean symbolism surrounding Jesus' life and Christianity. So, if this is all true, then the Ram (Judaism - Jews blow the rams horn at religious ceremonies - and Paganism/the Age of Aries) was killed by The Two Fishes (Christianity/the Age of Pisces) and now The Two Fishes have been killed by The Water Bearer (Science and Technology/the Age of Aquarius) and eventually as we pass into the Age of Capricorn, due to axial precession, The Water Bearer will be killed by the real Goat Fish (Reality, Responsibility, Karma, Death, Time/the Age of Capricorn). There's no telling which theme will become the primary one to make it into the mythology/zeitgeist/culture of the coming age, amongst the myriad of Capricornian themes. My theory is, that the Age of Capricorn will be in full effect when all of our misgivings and misdeeds we've done to nature will come back to haunt us. The consequences and reality of what we have done will finally hit us full force during the coming age. Much sorrow and death will come to mankind and he will be forced to limit himself and wise up and take responsibility for his actions. We've got around 2,000 more years until that happens. Or maybe Judaism will come to dominate Christianity in the coming age, as Jews unconsciously worship Saturn, the ruler of Capricorn. Perhaps the Greeks preferred goats to rams or goats were more of an integral part of their lifestyle and so they just assimilated Egyptian culture into their own and made the ram into the goat. Or perhaps they misinterpreted goat and ram in Egyptian language. The specificities don't matter all that much. What matters is that we regain a balance between the dimension of the sacred and matter, that we know our history, be aware of the current paradigm we're influenced by, and prepare for the future with zodiacal wisdom and foresight, and that we, as Naturotheologists, take back and raise from the dead our beloved Pan, not because we think he's a real god that literally lived and died in ancient Greece, we don't, but because he is one of the many deities that came to represent a love and reverence for nature. Plus, we could use some symbols for our celebrations that more accurately reflect our views than the modern ones stolen and transmogrified out of the ashes of the pagans who burned and died for their beliefs.

              According to legend, October's full moon is Pan's Moon and on this night one's true love is said to be revealed in dreams. I doubt very much that there is one perfect time of the year or day to worship Pan, however, regardless of what others might say. Perhaps the best time would be at spring as nature comes back to life and is in full bloom, perhaps in October due to Pan's moon, maybe in December and January if one wants to relate Pan to Capricorn. A Libra, Taurus, Virgo or Capricorn would probably appreciate what Pan represents the most. Libra and Taurus because they are ruled by Venus. A strong Venusian quality would give one a great appreciation for the beauty seen in nature. Virgo, Taurus, and Capricorn are earth signs. Earth signs would possibly resonate with an earth and nature-based spirituality more than others and be willing to make it their preferred form of spirituality. Saturday is Saturn's day. If Pan is related to Capricorn, then maybe Saturday would be a good day to pay homage to the god, as Saturn rules Capricorn. If Pan's origins relate to the soul of Osiris (the soul of the rising sun), then perhaps one should worship Pan at sunrise on Sunday. To me, however, one should live close to the earth and nature on a daily basis and be thankful for it's gifts as often as possible. Get wild, love nature, play the pan pipe, blow a rams horn, bang a goat (figuratively), and get it on.