The Great Ancient Animal Master

Before we dig in to the substance of this essay, namely the nearly universal deity whom mythographer Joseph Campbell referred to as the Animal Master, and my own experience with him, I would like to begin by making a few brief remarks about the unusual position of being North American of European descent who feels called to the task of forging a spirituality based on a good relationship with the spirits of place, and land, in a place where one has only begun to grow roots. I have made these kinds of remarks before, because they are necessary and important to keep in mind.

I often read with no small amount of envy, the accounts of modern Pagan practitioners in, especially, the British Isles, (where many of my ancestors hail from), in which they pop by the local stone circle out on the windswept moor for a nocturnal ritual or something like that. The privilege of living in a place where one’s ancestors have lived for thousa…