by Jack Crowley, Cedar Light Dedicant
Don't you love it when a dictionary gives you a definition that is based on the word you are seeking to define. For example, fertility is the state, condition, or quality of being fertile. Duh. Okay, let's look up fertile. This is where it gets interesting. Here are some of the definitions that I did find. Of course the sexual connection comes first.
"Capable of initiating, sustaining, or supporting reproduction. "Capable of growing and developing; able to mature: a fertile egg."
But after the most obvious comes the more interesting:
"Highly or continuously productive; prolific" "capable of growing or developing" " marked by great fruitfulness".
No where could I find creativity as an attribute of fertilily, which surprised me a bit. But productivity was a clear and repeated characteristic. One must hook onto the definition that means the most to oneself. As an older, single male with whom reproduction is not a key and overpowering focus, the sexual aspect of fertility is not what I most closely relate to.Productivity on the other hand, does make some sense to me. To be productive, to be capable of growth and development, to be fruitful in a spiritual rather than material sense. This definition does interest me. But ultimately, I'm still not satisfied.
I can see types of productivity that are very sterile rather than fertile. The productivity of a technocrat shoveling papers (virtual or actual) for no real purpose does not seem to embody fertility. In my view, productivity and fertility are not necessarily synonymous.
It all comes back to that lost definition that I can't seem to find in any of the dictionaries. To create. Creation most definitely has a sexual, an artistic, and a spiritual component. To create according to one's vision is the ethic I believe fertility addresses most directly to me. Often that creation involves another person or a group of people. Sometimes it only involves oneself. Yet creating seems to most always be a spiritual exercise. A person develops her skills and uses them in conjunction with the muse, or with spirit, or with love. A creation results. That creation could be a life changed for the better, a statue or painting, a literary work, a relationship, or a newly born child. Our ability to create is one of the characteristics that makes us most god/dess-like. In the Judeo-Christian tradition, God created Man in His own Image. Part of that image is the ability to create. It is one of our duties as Children of the Divine to discover and use our skills in such a way that the world is a bit better because of us. If we are able to do that, I believe we embody the virtue of fertility. If on the otherhand, we are just a consumer of what others have created, we definitely are falling short of this ethical ideal. In a world that is greatly overpopulated, fertility cannot and should not be limited to the birth of children. In a world that is over-ripe with such anti-virtues as prejudice, dogmatism, and intolerance, we need a fertility of spirit that will bring beauty, inclusion, and wisdom back into our communities. In a very real sense, fertility is the translation of the other virtues into the physical world. It is ultimately, the giving of oneself. It is this form of fertility that we should most honor at our Beltaine and harvest festivals. It is the form of fertility that the Pagan vision, in my opinion, most fully represents.