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Rhyd Wildermuth's avatar

Oh quite excited for this series!

I’ve mentioned this in another essay, and I think I’ll write about it (can use a break from thinking about politics), but the metaphor of “fake unicorn horns” is always how I’ve understood wells and sacred trees.

In “The Last Unicorn” by Peter S. Beagle, a witch captures the last unicorn and puts her in a circus. But knowing that most don’t have the innocence required to see unicorns any more, she puts a fake unicorn horn on the real unicorn so people can see her.

Often at such sites, the religious iconography (neopagan, Christian, etc) is there to point to the fact the place is sacred. In Shinto, it’s the same: there are markers to tell you a tree or a spring has been noticed as being sacred. None of those external signs make the place sacred, they’re just the fake unicorn horns pointing to the actually-existing “unicorn” most have forgotten how to see.

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John Corcoran's avatar

The earth in it's varied splendours is a manifestation of God's grace.

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