Yesterday was the start of Saturnalia, a Roman holiday of gift-giving, merriment, and social role reversal. Naturally, I reversed my role of desperate, job-seeking, college grad and went to see Star Wars with some buddies from my Kemetic temple to have actual fun (Kemetics is a modern rehash of ancient Egyptian religion; my temple here in Denver was founded by a small group of devoted Kemetics mentored by fervent magician and devotee Richard Reidy).
Now, for those of you who are like, wait. Who the hell is Saturn? Why is there a holiday named after a planet? Is it like Sunday, but for Saturn? And finally, if holidays get named after planets, is there a planet called Annoying Relatives that we can rename Christmas after?
Well have no fear, little ones. I'm abouts to explain it all...except the part about the annoying relatives planet. I d'no you guys. The universe is friggin' huge. It's probably out there somewhere. And once the many nations of Earth assemble to form a space-faring empire, we can all get a kick out of blowing it up. Too much Star Wars in my head right now?
Nah, never enough Star Wars in my head. Or anywhere. Ever.
Anyway, re:Saturn. You could read the Wikipedia article in that link, or you could read on because my explanation is cooler and shorter. Basically, Saturn is a Roman harvest god who rules over prosperity, agriculture, and time. He also has ties to some other realms via his relationships with other deities and, given his association with the passage of time, he is also associated with death. 'Cause, you know, that's life: give it enough time and it'll kill ya. #jokes.
It is theorized that Saturn has roots in pre-Roman shamanistic traditions, given that some of his sacred plants are entheogenic mushrooms. For those of you who are unfamiliar with plant shamanism, it's an ancient tradition that involves, among other things, using "hallucinogenic" plants, i.e. "shrooms" and their ilk, to attain heightened states of consciousness in order to facilitate communion with higher powers. I don't practice it, because I am clairvoyant and see like a zillion things a day that most people need shrooms to see, but a) that doesn't mean it's not awesome for the people who do practice it, and b) that doesn't mean I'm better, even if I brag about it like a sack of dicks...lol made you look.
So yeah, Saturnalia was Roman Christmas. It started out being celebrated for a single day (yesterday, December 17th), but by the end of the Roman empire it had been stretched into roughly a week - from the 17th to the 23rd. People of all ages, races, and castes gave each other gifts that spanned much the same range as our modern Christmas capacity - from minor, inexpensive things such as cutlery and small toys, to lavish gifts like slaves and rare pets. Yes folks, Roman citizens of every size, shape and lifestyle ate, drank and were merry (in that order). Saturn was given offerings (including human sacrifices - yeesh!), and public events were held in his honor. And (here's the role reversal part you've all been waiting for), during Saturnalia, masters and slaves would trade places. Masters would serve their servants, while the folks who had spent the past year doing their bidding and cleaning their gross things got to sit at the proverbial head of the table and chill gettin' feasty as fuck.
Now, here's the part about Saturnalia that makes me think: obviously, Roman society had plenty of flaws and was steeped in several metric tons of bullshit at many different levels, much like any society. However, it is similar to every other society ever in that it also had some cool things going for it - one of them being a holiday comprised in part of what was more or less mandatory social role reversal.
I don't have a definite answer for this question, but I'm asking it because it's food for thought: what if we had something like that today? What if, for one whole week, the CEO of Starbucks and Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Donald Trump had to be homeless? What if they had to live in a tiny, meth-ravaged town in Appalachia, or the impoverished ghettos of Houston, or Cleveland, or any major city ever? What if their communities were so poor that all they had to drink was Mountain Dew because their well water was crap, and all the sudden they had to deal with this bullshit? And what if, for one week, the other 98% got to live in penthouses and fly to Switzerland in a private jet for no other reason than because they felt like it? What would happen? What would change? What wouldn't change? Etc.
I don't have a poem to end this post, and I don't have all that much experience with Saturn, either - he first showed up in a dream announcing who he was and that he was a god "of the harvest." I was vaguely familiar with the Roman pantheon from middle school Latin and high school history, so I knew Saturn was a Roman god. But I was like, the harvest? For reals? Nah. I thought all the Romans did was fight wars and hatch political coups. And hang out with Russel Crowe lol.
But then I looked up Saturn and lo, bitches! He's an actual god of the harvest. He appeared in one other brief vision with a comment on the nature of time, but that's about it besides some assorted synchronicities. I sometimes make offerings of wine and incense to invoke his blessings and wisdom, but like I said, that's about all. He's probably one of my spirit guides who's shown up the least. His messages have been pretty significant though. Love transcends time, blah blah, stuff like that. You know, the ush. (that's supposed to stand for usual).
So yeah, that's about it for his actual presence in my life. However, in lieu of a poem, I have this, which is a little quip that popped into my head and it kind of sounds like some shit from Game of Thrones. I could easily picture a wizened old Roman senator staring off into some distant cloud of truth while he says this to some upstart young pup who's new to the political scene of ancient Rome.
~
"We celebrate Saturnalia for many reasons. We like to make merry, to give each other gifts. We like to play at being who we are not. However, perhaps most importantly, we celebrate the Saturnalia as a reminder: no matter how tight, how smooth, how clean the borders of law, reason, and civilization, at the end of the day order is always a step away from chaos. The top is always a step away from the bottom."
~
Here are some pics I snatched from the jaws of Google. From top to bottom: sculpture of Saturn, emphasizing his roles in agriculture, time and death (note the scythe, hourglass, and...sycthe. Hee hee.), the alchemical symbol representing the energies of the planet Saturn (this symbol is thought to have been derived from Saturn's agricultural associations, as it resembles a scythe turned on its side), and a rather intriguing modern depiction of the harvest god.
Peace, y'all. Believe in impossible things. Because, chances are, if you use the word impossible in the first place, you don't know squat about what's possible.
Shea out.
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