Religion

Much more than three thousand years ago, four separate peoples, all of whom dwelt alongside great rivers, met. Rather than waging war, there was an exchange of trade, culture and ideals. According to legend, this occurrence happened sometime during the Reign of Ptolemy Euergetes, a half-dead Indian mariner, who was cast adrift, somehow miraculously ended up on the coast of Egypt. He was taken to Alexandria. Struggling in the minimal Greek language that he knew, and as a token of his thanks, he offered to show his hosts a quicker route from their lands to his by sea. Excited by the prospects of turning Alexandria into the major power of trade and exchange in the ancient world, the Pharaoh directed Eudoxus, a Greek explorer, to set out with the guest from India and thus begin the direct exchange between the two countries. From this alliance, the influence of the two cultures flourished and even Rome, in its far-reaching Empire, even unto the lands of Celtia, where my ancestors came from, did the ideas further spread. This all happened long before the spread of the Faith of the Christ, or that of the Great Prophet ever was born.

Prthiv, the Great Mother, the Goddess of the Earth, who is intimately linked with Lakshmi of India, Het-Hert or Hathor of Egypt, symbolized by the cow, the giver of life and the icon of Motherhood held sway. For a brief time, there was understanding between all of these lands and the Mysteries were as close as a breath, as natural as the touch of the sun upon the face. It is even said, that the Mary, the Mother of the Christ, succoured and protected in Egypt, came to her eternal rest in India. I have seen her tomb there and it is both a wonderment and testament toward a time when many different Faiths brooked no argument. Through Her came all abundance, through Her we began and to Her we would all return ultimately. She was the most visible face of that which is so ultimately and so wonderfully unknowable.

But those in power realised that through religion they could rule the masses. Through intimidation, fear of public humiliation, torture or death, the necks and knees of both nobleman and commoner could be made to serve the whims of Master. Alliances were made and lost through the question of religion. If you found yourself on the wrong side, your choices were clear – you had to defend your beliefs, defend your faith to the death and die damned, or convert. Of course, you could still quite possibly give up your life as payment for having been on the wrong side to begin with. Salvation and Heresy are just two tools in the game. There are, without a doubt, many more.

I was raised in the Faith of the Great Goddess. I strove to learn Her Mysteries as all women dedicated to the Isle had done. In spite of what you might have heard, however, being Fae does not present any sort of detriment into entering any House of God. All Gods are One God, All Goddesses One Goddess. The One in the Many, the Many in the One – only those who are foolish will deign to argue about it.

Muse: Fanny Fae /Faelyn
Fandom: Original Character / Folklore / Mythology / World History
Word Count: 547
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