The Peace of Wild Things ~ Celtic Advent Day 21

St John the Baptist in the Wilderness by Hieronymous Bosch

I have been thinking a lot today about peace and power. It feels as though it will take a powerful spell to hold us in this week, or those of us in the UK at least as we wait for our General Election to unfold. And, with great serendipity (I love that 'seren' in Welsh means 'star'. I am following it!), the two middle weeks of modern Advent often journey with John the Baptist. John the Baptist is someone I often sit with when reflecting on power. He provides an important, challenging, and counter-cultural, example of a different model than the one we are used to, woven through with the importance of withdrawal into the wilderness and communion with other-than-human allies. This is just what we need as medicine when our human world feels stretched to breaking.

Born at Midsummer, at the height of the sun's power, & so the beginning of its decline, St John has travelled with us into the darkening year as we wait for the rebirth of the Son/Sun at Midwinter. And, in the petals of his flower, St John's Wort, we find the concentration of solar power that we need to lift the depression & anxiety which often comes with the dark.

St John's Wort/Tutsan Photo: Jacqueline Durban 

St John's Wort is one of our most important plants of Midsummer, hinted at by the beautiful bright sunburst of her flowers. People of the land once picked the herb on St John's Eve, 23rd June, & made garlands to hang over the door as a protection against evil spirits & storms. After dark, Midsummer's eve bonfires were lit & St John's Wort was thrown into the flames; a symbol of the sun fallen to earth dispelling the darkness.

There are over 490 species in the genus Hypericum to which St John's Wort belongs. The name may derive from the Greek for 'above icons' for its use over shrines as protection. I believe that the species depicted above is 'Hypericum Androsaemum', also known as Tutsan, which takes its name from the French 'tout sain', or 'all holy', due to its association with St John, or 'toute saine', 'all healthy', for its medicinal properties.

The Solstices, summer and winter; the points of longest dark & light, are times of vulnerability. We need both the light & the dark to be physically & mentally well but our relationship with them has been subverted by electric light & working indoors. Being exposed to regular patterns of light & dark regulates a bodily rhythm which developed over three billion years as life evolved on Earth in tune with the Sun’s day/night cycle. It is built deeply into our genetic makeup, but we are so lost that we need help in reweaving the threads of that relationship. Thank goodness then that we have our plant allies and the wisdom of our saint-ancestors to help us.

Like the Sami sun goddess, Beivve, who was called upon to restore the mental health of those who went insane because of the continual darkness of the long winter, John the Baptist can helps us to stay well by offering us the petals of his namesake sun-carrying flower as a balm. At midsummer we need to gather up every ounce of sunshine we can for the journey ahead. Often it is hard to think about the dark and decline, especially at the height of the sun's power and when we are looking forward to several months of long summer days and balmy nights. But John the Baptist reminds us that we need to make ready. This is Advent work.

Another of St John's plant allies is Mugwort.

Mugwort, Mudsummer 2019

Mrs Maud Grieve tells us in her 1931 'Modern Herbal' that Mugwort was once known as 'Cingulum Sancti Johannis', connected to the belief that St John, the wild, dark twin of Christ, wore a girdle of her flowers & leaves in the wilderness. A protective crown was woven from Mugwort on St John's Eve (June 23rd) & the herb gathered on that night as protection throughout the year. In the Isle of Man, mugwort is known as 'Bollan Bane' & is worn on Tynwald Day, which also has associations with St John.

I love midsummer-born St John for his knowing that, even at the height of our greatest power (the sun on the longest day), the seeds of our decrease have already been sown ~ 'And this was his message: "After me comes the one more powerful than I, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie." (Mark 1:7). This is why John the Baptist is also known as the 'forerunner'; born six months before Christ, he paves the way; 'John said, "I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord!" (John 1:23)

How many of us feel now that we are voices 'crying in the wilderness' as the vested interests of age-old entrenched power tighten their grip on our world, to the disproportionate detriment of those who have the least? But how much more power might they have without our voices?

Again, Mugwort may be of help here, not only as a herb of dreaming (and we do need to keep our dreams intact), but as a companion to wayfarers, often popped into a shoe to protect the long traveller from fatigue, sunstroke, and wild beasts. May we all have the energy to keep putting one foot in front of the other as we journey through these days.

It matters too to remember that the 'Lord' John makes straight the way for is not a king on high, but a lowly refugee, whose family tree contains whores, outcasts, and immigrants, who will stand up to the power of Imperialism, both religious and secular, in his own land, and will die for it, but who will turn the ways of worldly power upside down; a 'servant king' of the poorest and most vulnerable amongst us.

In his book, 'Celebrating Abundance: Devotions for Advent', Walter Brueggemann describes John the Baptist as the one who, 'prepares us for the newness' that will break our 'tired patterns of fear'. And so it is. Even as the Peasant King turns the tables over, John is in his own way doing the same. Here is a man who could have great power handing that power willingly to another man, preparing the way for that man, even to the cost of his own life. This is not how we are told human beings, especially men, are. We are told that it's natural to be in competition. John the Baptist tells us that this isn't so.

And we can all do this work of 'making straight the way' for change to come, for justice ~ within ourselves, but also in the wider world; by staying informed, being aware, by talking with others, and through our votes. If not for ourselves, then for those who come after us. We too are the forerunners of a hope that will not die.

I hope that I will be forgiven for not remembering the source, but a few days ago I read some fine words on how we might go about deciding on our vote, and I paraphrase; "if you are uncomfortable, vote for a better life for yourself. If you are comfortable, vote for a better life for someone else." Amen!

I think that John the Baptist was often uncomfortable, but still he looked forward, looked forward to something better, he played his part in 'making straight the way'.

At the height of his own power John the Baptist attracted many followers, very many of whom thought him to be the predicted Messiah. But he rejected all suggestion of that; "I baptise you with water for repentence...he will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire." (Matthew 3:11). I wonder how many of us, especially in this world where power and status have become our measure of worth, could find it in ourselves to dismiss the determination of others to lift us up?

Not being saints, perhaps in order to resist the lure of worldly power we must find an alternative source of self-worth, a counter-cultural sense of belonging, which is where we return to the 'peace of wild things'.

Both John the Baptist and Jesus spent much time in the wilderness. Often this is interpreted negatively, as a test or as self-denial, but with different eyes and an open, less tamed, heart we might see these times as necessary withdrawals from the centre of worldly power and human interaction to the comfort and potential of the wild edge places. Remember too that 'humble' and 'humus' (or soil) both have their roots in the word for earth. We are told that John lived in the desert, that he dressed in fur, and that 'his food was locusts and wild honey.' (Matthew 3:4).

John the Baptist in the Wilderness, Geertgen tot Sint Jans, 1490

Where would we find the 'wild honey' to speak Spirit on our tongues without making our dives into the wild, just as the selkie does when she reclaims her skin?  The myths and folktales of every culture are threaded through with these stories of departure and return.

As author and musician, Akala writes, "how can we speak with a colonised tongue?" Even our language is a trap, ill-equipped to convey the depths of our love, or our grief, or our rage. No wonder then that so many of our saint-ancestors are said to have lived 'alone' in the wild where another, older language holds sway; wild honey on their tongues.

Around the 3rd Century CE, Early Christianity saw many hermits, monks, and ascetics, both male and female, retreating into the wilderness, mainly into the deserts of Egypt, Israel, and Syria.

westconcordunionchurch.org

There, they lived simple lives of solitude, peace, and prayer, also wrestling with the less beautiful aspects of human nature; those aspects of us which seem so easily to fall prey to manipulation by our media and those in power. These contemplatives were known as the Desert Mothers and Fathers. Many followed their example and these desert communities, necessitating I imagine that  'solitude' became more a state of mind, became the model for Christian monasticism.

But they did, it's said, find a sense of peace, and they believed that they were doing their holy work for us all; imaginal cells. That has led me to ponder who our own 'desert mothers and fathers' might be, whether Christian or otherwise; those who withdrew from the world and sought out the wild in our own lands. This week I will be writing about some of them, beginning with a new poem, Margaret of the Fox Earth', this evening.

It may be that we are much in need of their wisdom of withdrawal and return, and of seeking out other-than-human allies for sanity's sake, as the week goes on. And I have no doubt that it will benefit and comfort us, no matter what the result, to have one foot in the wild, with the reminder that there is more to life than this.

As for John the Baptist, he reminds us that no worldly power is forever & it is in tune with nature for our influence to wax & wane;

"Your houses they pull down, stand up now, stand up now,
Your houses they pull down, stand up now.
Your houses they pull down to fright your men in town,
but the gentry must come down, and the poor shall wear the crown.
Stand up now, Diggers all...

To conquer them by love, come in now, come in now,
To conquer them by love, come in now.
To conquer them by love, as it does you behove,
For he is King above, no power is like to love.
Glory here, Diggers all."

('A Ballad History of England', Roy Palmer)

I am grateful to John, and to his St John's Wort & Mugwort plant allies, for modelling and holding the truth of the World Turned Upside Down, & for protecting us we confront & come to terms with our deepest vulnerabilities and our own hunger for power. None of us are immune. May we, & those who seek to rule us, always walk with their prayer at the very soles of our feet. And may we be humbled to our roots.

Mugwort, 2018

References:

John the Baptist

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_the_Baptist

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_3:4

https://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20101202_1.htm

Mugwort

https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mugwor61.html

https://howtolucid.com/mugwort-for-lucid-dreaming-2/

https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/m/mugwor61.html

https://www.google.com/amp/s/flabbywitch.wordpress.com/2017/09/29/mugwort/amp/

St John's Wort

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypericum_perforatum

https://botanical.com/botanical/mgmh/s/sajohn06.html

Walter Brueggemann, 'Celebrating Abundance'

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/9780664262273?gC=5a105e8b&gclid=CjwKCAiAob3vBRAUEiwAIbs5TpESiMI-or7XhP6W9SXu3LGMayI8leQ52dYLRrOx_OvEx6dpWsyxLBoCcUYQAvD_BwE

Desert Mothers

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Mothers

Desert Fathers

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desert_Fathers

Beivve https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beaivi

Three Acres and a Cow/Roy Palmer

https://threeacresandacow.co.uk/2014/05/a-ballad-history-of-england-by-roy-palmer/