A path for NW European pagans...
Who focus on working with the spirits of the land where they live
Who typically work with a Celtic, Norse or Germanic pantheon
Whose worldview is defined by this land's history, seasonal cycles and spirituality
I wandered upon Britain's paths
The Gewessi Henge
This is a philosophical and spiritual circle that honours the British land, connected by an ancient tribe - the Gewessi - originators of the Kingdom of Wessex. Specifically a joining of Celtic and Germanic learning along with the whole range of myth, legend and folklore that makes up this blessed Albion. It's a spiritual way firmly rooted in the land of Britain - it involves working with the local energies, powers or spirits in this landscape. A place where all neo-pagans can gather under the greenwood tree. It creates a peaceful space where pagans can communicate their experiences of working with this land.
A place where we don't need to argue whether Druids worshipped at ancient henges. We know that henges are places of power in the British landscape, that people honoured their ancestors and the gods there and that we may choose to, forming part of a living continuum and that is enough. We don't need to spend hours discussing historical authenticity of practice but can focus on the here and now. We don't need to think whether it's Imbolc or Lughnasadh because Gewessi people are living on this land and share the same seasons and weather. A place where your genes don't define your tribe but your culture does. Where culture is informed by the light, seasons, plants, animals & history of this place.
The name Gewessi was born from a desire to allow neo-pagans from Britain and North Western Europe a path that was specific to the them. Druidry has become a global spiritual path thus allowing many different lands to have a voice - wherever the Celts have been or had a culture. This ranges from Turkey to Ireland in ancient times & through to the Celtic Diaspora in modern times. Wicca & Asatru are similarly global. I have come across neo-pagans in North Western Europe who can't connect specifically to any one pagan group but feel connected to something rooted in tradition. They are not eclectic or 'new agey'. They're not picking and choosing from a world of spirituality but want a tradition that feels connected to where they live. Yet they feel alone & unable to quite define what path they are on. These people recognise that nature and the natural landscape contains an energy that defines their spirituality.
These energies and powers have been called by different names depending upon the time and culture of the people living on the land. Yet they are fundamentally the same, just as the land is fundamentally the same so Celtic Taranis, Saxon Thunor and Norse Thor are all names for the Thunderer God with sacred places in the same landscape.
I wondered what I am
Why Gewessi?
I am a Heathen & a Druid and early on I struggled to reconcile my mind, in the OBOD Druidic teachings that I learnt, with the Germanic Heathen approach that my heart felt close to. I kept trying to intellectually associate Heathen Gods with Celtic ones, or mix and match (which never felt 'right') but mostly feeling confused and alone. Then someone reminded me of the 3 strands of the Druid Awen and this triggered another memory! The Chinese approach to cooking and religion; in cooking the basis is garlic, spring onion and ginger, in religion it is confuscionism, taoism and buddhism & everything seemed to click into place.
- Sea - the Druidic philosophy. The Draoicht method of knowledge, experience and inquiry. Based around the 8-fold year and the guiding principles for behaviour rooted in the western mystical tradition.
- Sky - the Heathen spirituality. Each adult is their own Gothi/Gytha (i.e. priest/ess) with their own connection to the Gods. This provides the structure for ritual, or Blot, at the 8 festivals of the year.
- Land - the scientific method. This keeps us rooted in what is fact, what is theory and what we don't know. It's the modern part of being a neo-pagan.
I was brought up in a British landscape where Arthurian legend provides the example continuum: from Celtic poetry through to Norman tales, onwards to Victorian Poet Laureat and modern times with John Boorman's "Excalibur" & "Merlin" the TV series. This landscape accepts christianity as a turning of the wheel, 1000 years ago the wheel turned from many gods to one god. Now the wheel turns again. Just as early churches were built on ancient sacred ground so they remain sacred and their Yew trees, often older than the church, remain sacred with them.
OBOD Druidry is my philosophical approach, Heathenry is my religion, I am not Asatru as I have Lokean patronage, and Science because I live in a westernised country and work in I.T. Years of searching identified my patron pantheon, which has been informed by Alexei Kondratiev's (Celtic reconstructionist) work into patrons of my tribe, my work and my personal patron. Years of work meant that modern logic and thought processes are fundamental to my patterns of behaviour. Now years of Druidic study, following the Gewessi path and honouring the Gods mean I am experienced in this Gewessi Way.
A wilder time - Gewessi History
Where's the Gewessi land?
Wessex in Britain is the homeland of the original Gewessi although now I think it applies to those living in the human cauldron that is the lands of North West Europe which were once joined, until the floods of the Mesolithic created the North Sea. Thorn, who originated this Meme, may well disagree and limit it to the land of Britain. Having read Stephen Oppenheimer's "The origins of the British" it confirmed what I have long thought & proposed - the Northern Tribes (Celts, Gaels, Picts, Anglo-Saxons, Teutons, Norse) have had a lot more interaction over the past 10,000 years than history may suggest. However, there seems to be something separate around the spirituality that is focussed around Britain. Gewessi was chosen as a name for this spirituality as the Gewis/Gewessi seem to have been a tribe of mixed Celtic, Germanic roots formed in the heart of Albion. Saxons with Celtic names whose Kings (e.g. Alfred the Great) the Welsh Princes were happy to owe allegiance to.
Want to know more about land spirituality?
Who were the Gewessi?
They seem to have been a tribe of uncertain origin that controlled the Thames Valley area of Britain during the sixth and seventh centuries AD. Bede wrote "gens Occidentalium Saxonum gui antiquitus Geuissae uocabantur" which means the people of the West Saxons who in the past were called Gewissae. However their early leaders seem to have inherited Celtic names. Gewis appears as the progenitor of the Wessex Kings in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. However, Vortigern is also call Dux Gewissorum which is very confusing as most historians think he was Romano-British and not Anglo-Saxon. So who or what were the Gewessi (Gewissae / Geuissae / Gewis)?
Stephen Oppenheimer suggests that the people we know of as Saxons may well have always been British. Which could make Vortigern Romano-Saxon and then the invading peoples of the 5th Cent would be the Angles and Jutes not the Saxons. Anyway this Gewessi tribe started off somewhere in the western Thames valley (so not far from Avebury & the West Kennet complex) but it becomes the Wessex kingdom which covers the sacred heartland of Britain. Wessex has long covered the spiritual heartland of Britain as both the legendary home of Arthur and the real home of Alfred. The land of Glastonbury Tor, Weyland's Smithy and Stonehenge.
What is the Gewessi path?
The land
It's a spiritual way firmly rooted in the land of Britain - it involves working with the local energies and powers. Specifically it is a syncretism of Celtic and Germanic learning along the British continuum from the Mesolithic to the current day. These energies and powers have been called by different names depending upon the time and culture of the people living on the land. Yet they are fundamentally the same, just as the land is fundamentally the same. Want to know more about connecting to the land?
The name Gewessi was a meme driven by a desire by British pagans (and those in North Western Europe) to discuss a path that was specific to the land. At that time, and to this day, it becomes difficult to discuss those features that are specific to this place. When forums, social media and blogs are global the noise from the world can drown the voices you resonate with. Sometimes when I talk about an Oak tree I want to be able to assume that the readers will know it's an English Oak. However, don't think this is a bigoted way! It's for all pagan's regardless of ethnicity, gender, orientation etc... as long as they live on and connect to this land. The Druidic and Asatru paths can also disinherit those living in Europe who don't identify themselves as Celts / Norse / Germans nationally. As an Englishman our history with the Celts who are Welsh, Cornish, Irish or Scots did stop me from feeling allowed to be Druidic, certainly from honouring Celtic deities.
In addition to this Celtic dilemma there is Heathenry; Asatru is sadly tainted by the groups of bigots who use the names and symbols to justify their negative world-view, one defined by hatred. There are many Asatru who reject such right wing politics and bigotry, they continually fight like Thor to reclaim their religion from the trolls who would take it over. I applaud them. In my early pagan days I explored Asatru and found many good things that resonated but then there are Druidic themes that ring true to me in a way that the Heathen themes don't. This is the conundrum of living in Britain; the influences from the last ice age onwards have come from two ways - the western, or Celtic path, and the eastern, or Heathen, path. The red dragon and the white dragon entwined as related in the Historia Brittonum.
Modern paganism is a global term that defines many non-mainstream, non-monotheistic spiritual paths from aboriginal inspired or native traditions through to modern Wicca. There are many in the pagan community who follow a mix and match or eclectic path. It allows those people to cherry pick and justify their practice from these traditions and gives them the freedom to make up much. This is the eclectic or new-agey approach which Gewessi is definitely not. So I have come across many British pagans trying to search for a term that can describe their traditional based non-eclectic non-new-agey practice. The practice feels traditional and rooted but there wasn't a pagan term to describe it. Now there is.
To be Gewessi you only have to fulfil these 3 criteria:
- Residing in Britain or North-Western Europe
- Adopt the 9 values as a way to live your life, I've re-written them
from Thorn's original (which you should read):
- Bravery,
- Creativity,
- Discipline,
- Honesty,
- Honour,
- Hospitality,
- Justice,
- Loyalty,
- Knowledge.
- Choose a Day, annually, when you will re-affirm your commitment to the Gewessi Path For me this is Eostre, the spring Equinox, when the balance between light and night is equal.
There are no specialist robes, rituals or tools required. Rather it is
up to the individual to define the structure of their ritual - although the
use of the Eight-fold year is assumed. The emphasis is upon the functional and practical rather than
form and fantasy. I do not use specialist robes or tools within my practice. Not that I would hold anything
against someone who did. Some tend towards more ceremonial ritual whilst others prefer a simple approach.
Eight-Fold year...Would you know more?
Gewessi is a product of the land and history of Britain. It's for those inspired by the pre-Christian religions of this land and is built upon the belief that whilst people may travel to all corners of the globe the spirits of the land do not. They are firmly rooted, leaf and twig, in this land and its climate. Thus only someone living here can follow this path. Being a neo-pagan way there is also an ecosophical / deep-ecological basis to it. There are values (see below) rather than laws; these are built upon a theory, originally christian, of situational ethics (see the link below) but with a nature-centric focus instead of a human-centric one.
Meme's
Are ideas, beliefs or belief systems, or patterns of behaviour that spread throughout a culture.
This meme originated on the usenet forum uk.religion.pagan
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