14.01.2015

According to a survey conducted by the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 67% of Russian women and 4% of Russians regularly turn to the services of sorcerers. 6% of residents periodically practice occult rituals to achieve their goals. In other words, almost two-thirds of our women use the services of the “world of darkness,” and 6 percent of our fellow citizens are themselves sorcerers (a considerable figure, 6% of the 146 million population, that’s almost 9 million!). Of course, you need to understand that the level of “advancement” of these sorcerers may be minimal, but in spiritual world even the direction of action is extremely important. What follows is even more interesting. According to the chief cardiologist of Moscow, Yuri Buziashvili: "About 17 billion dollars are exported from our country for treatment abroad, and more than 30 billion dollars are spent on psychics, sorcerers, etc." . Well, of course, we should not be very picky about these numbers, but we must realize how much benefit this money could create for people in need.

Nowadays, people who don’t think about God at all, if there is any need (most often associated with troubles), they run to the temple, light the thickest candles there and try to convince the priest that their family problems are caused by “ evil eye" and "damage". For some, the simple act of lighting candles in the temple is almost the center of their religious life. And let someone try to rearrange or extinguish these candles! On the way home, they can also stop in to see some traditional healer who will “cleanse their karma.” Things are no better with holy water. Often, on days when prayer services with the blessing of water are served in churches, the priest is asked to “sprinkle more” on those being blessed. I myself, to admit, love to sprinkle from the heart, but to believe that “the more the better” is inappropriate in this case.

Let us consider some types of manifestations of paganism today.

1. Astrology- a typically pagan phenomenon. Ancient man after the Fall, unable to find the Divine Creator with his gaze, he began to betray special power soulless and unreasonable creatures - heavenly bodies. In all pagan religions, worship of the moon, sun and stars is an integral attribute. The man began to believe that his life did not depend on the Lord, not on a righteous life, not on fulfilling God's commandments, but from the movement of stars in the sky. At the same time, there is no need to fight with your sins, because for an astrologer these are not sins at all, but only distinctive features a person born under the influence of some luminary.

2. Divination- an attempt to look into the future. Man rejected from God after the Fall began to fear everything, and the most terrible thing is the unknown. The most important unknown is the future of man. Laws physical world the future is not known. Having ceased to trust God, moving away from Him, a person became very vulnerable. So at the dawn of humanity, fortune telling appeared in useless and senseless attempts to find out the unknown future. A Christian must understand for himself forever that the future is known only to God. Neither people nor dark forces know the secrets of the future. Let us remember how the prophet Daniel answered the king: “The secrets that the king asks about cannot be revealed to the king by wise men, charmers, occultists, or fortune-tellers. But there is a God in heaven who reveals secrets.”(Bible, Book of the Prophet Daniel, 2:27). For the Lord to reveal the future, a truly Christian life is needed. But even then, God gives knowledge about the future at His discretion and for our benefit.

Z. Faith in dreams. In pagan cultures, dreams are not a special time, but a special world in which a person establishes relationships with spirits (it is quite clear which ones). A person’s mental life does not stop even in sleep. If a person does not live by God and does not have His Spirit in him, then he is in ordinary life is in the grip of passions, anxiety and vanity. In this state, sometimes a person can be affected by dark force. The same thing happens in a dream. Here it is even easier for this force to control the soul, because the will of a person is weakened, the consciousness is asleep, and instead of the usual consciousness the subconscious is awake. Therefore, the Holy Fathers, as a general rule, forbid giving dreams any meaning, much less telling them to others, considering them revelations about the future.

Speaking about the mystical side of dreams, let's say that for the most part dreams are products of our subconscious; most often there is nothing otherworldly in them. “Prophetic” dreams are nothing more than a coincidence with a subsequent event. As Professor L.L. Vasiliev notes: “according to the theory of probability, this is how it should be: many dreams, many events, some things must certainly coincide”.

4. Necrophobia- fear of the dead and what is connected with them. Many superstitions and prejudices are associated with funerals. This primitive mystical fear has nothing to do with the Christian attitude towards death. In pagan societies, one’s dead person “helped” and someone else’s “attacked.” At the same time, it was necessary to honor your deceased. The deceased among the pagans must live no worse in the other world than here. In general, the pagan attitude towards death is a special world. Unfortunately, we Christians cannot get rid of many of the legacies of this “world.” These are some of the superstitions that have come to us from the dark past. They cover mirrors so as not to see the soul of the deceased in the mirror. They leave a glass with a piece of bread near the portrait of the deceased, and place food on the grave of the deceased (so that he can refresh himself in the “other world”). All this is of course pagan superstitions, having nothing to do with Christian attitude to death and ideas about afterlife.

Some superstitions and prejudices are, unfortunately, also characteristic of believers churchgoers.

5. Technophobia- fear of products of technological progress. “Adherents” of this movement believe that computers, ATMs, the Internet, etc. are from the evil one. Such people actively contribute to the spread of all sorts of rumors about near end light, are engaged in the fight against barcodes, tax identification numbers and the like.

6. Xenophobia- fear of someone else's, foreign. Xenophobia is usually combined with nationalism and ignorance. Ignorance church history, completeness Christian tradition, the lack of development of a general outlook, the remnant of the Soviet consciousness of a “besieged fortress” gave rise to a very popular church xenophobia. Representatives of this neo-pagan movement are always “tailored” to politics. They are the main anti-ecumenists, the main anti-Americanists, they see everywhere the machinations of Jews, Masons and the CIA. Undoubtedly, our country, like any great power, has many internal and external enemies. But to shift biblical stories onto a political topic, to interpret ancient prophecies as images of today’s geopolitical struggle, without absolutely knowing the true Divine providences, is simply madness. Representatives of this trend love to praise “theirs” in everything (although in some cases there is frankly nothing to boast about) and uncontrollably criticize everything foreign, often without separating the wheat from the chaff and instead of healthy, reasonable patriotism, the result is some kind of popular print. Typically pagan image. Paganism has its own gods (ancestral deities), reliance on one’s ancestors (the souls of one’s dead ancestors help, the souls of other people’s ancestors “ghouls” and “Navii” attack), etc. In Christianity there is no god of the Russians, no god of the Chinese, no god of the Americans - There is one God, the Creator of earth and sky, God of friends and enemies, and of all things. The Apostle Paul said this beautifully: “And now put aside everything: anger, rage, malice, slander, filthiness of your lips; speak no lies to one another, having put off the old man with his deeds and put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, but all and in everything Christ". (Bible, Colossians 3:8-11). Adherents of this trend are very fond of slogans like “only in Russia will they be saved”, “only Russia will resist the Antichrist” and so on in the same spirit. The Scriptures never mention the word “Russia” or “Russian” (which does not mean, by the way, the absence of Divine providence for our country), much less about any special role of our country in the matter of private or universal salvation. When citing the statements of some saints on this topic, they forget about several very important things. Firstly, the future is known only to God and no one else, the Lord Himself speaks unequivocally about this: “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but only My Father alone.”(Gospel of Matthew 24:36). In Ancient Israel, the will of the Lord about the future was announced by prophets; there were also prophets in the first centuries of Christianity. By the time our country accepted holy Baptism, there were no longer any prophets, just as there were never any subsequently in Rus'. There were holy people who sometimes spoke out about the fate of the Fatherland, but although they certainly had a special gift of premonition, they could still be mistaken. This does not mean that we should ignore the predictions of the saints. Of course, with attention, and with great attention, these people showed great miracles with their holy lives. But you still need to understand that no one can reliably know the future of the Lord God, for the Lord himself is the Creator of the future, the past, and the present. Secondly, it is known that saints did not always write something themselves. Sometimes their statements, “passed from mouth to mouth,” reach us in a distorted form (sometimes there is simply falsification, sometimes incorrect interpretation, words taken out of context, “fouling” of real words and facts with myths). Thirdly, despite the millennia of holy faith in our country, let us, in all honesty, honestly answer the question - what percentage of our citizens lead a strictly Christian lifestyle (regularly attend divine services, confess, take communion, read Holy Scripture, engage in charitable deeds, etc.)? And having answered ourselves, let’s think about whether we are worthy to meet the Savior at the New Coming?

Of course, a Christian can and should be a patriot and a conscientious citizen. But it’s better for all of us not to talk about what the coming day has in store for us on a global scale, but to bring benefit to our country and our people in our specific workplace. Then, on a national scale, you’ll see that life will become better. And in no case should we boast of being nationally chosen; we need to understand that we have a lot of good things, but we also have a lot to learn from other peoples and countries. Again Scripture tells us this: “And do not think to say within yourself, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham.”(Gospel of Matthew, 3:9).

Christianity carries the main and fundamental meaning - the salvation of man through our Lord Jesus Christ. It cannot be a national-political club, a movement for social justice or anything else. Countries, peoples, the current and ever-changing political situation - all this will pass and will, according to the apostle, "new sky and new land» (see the Bible, Book of Revelation, 21:1), there will be something fundamentally different. Only the Lord was, is and will be eternal and unchangeable.

There are many more pagan superstitions, practices and prejudices than are described in this article. A Christian must always be mentally attentive to his actions, thoughts, and actions. He must once and for all say “no” to the inner paganism that has crept into his thoughts and heart, and entrust his life exclusively to God.. Well, of course, one should not be very picky about these numbers, but realize how much good could be created with this money for people in need, we are obliged.

Nowadays, people who do not think about God at all, if there is any need (most often associated with troubles), they run to the temple, light the thickest candles there and try to convince the priest that their family problems are caused by

What is paganism? What does the Church warn us against? What did the ancient Slavs believe in and what were the pagan gods? We will tell you why you should not get carried away by belief in the “magical” power of church rituals, whether pagans always believe in several gods, and what Scripture says about paganism.

Paganism: what is it?

In modern theology, paganism can be called any religion that professes polytheism. However, not all pagan beliefs polytheistic (that is, they profess the worship of many gods). Pagan gods, as is correct, are more like humans. This is due to the fact that a person came up with them based on his own qualities. Many natural phenomena used to be explained by anger or mercy pagan gods. Paganism is the oldest “religion”, most people have become disillusioned with the beliefs of their ancestors, but pagans still exist.

Pagans deify the “created” world, that is, they worship what the Lord created. Idolatry and giving honor to stones, trees, water, the forces of nature, fire and other elements are paganism.

Pagan religions

The religious ideas of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Celts and other peoples are in many ways similar, since with the help of divine intervention people tried to explain natural phenomena or their own feelings that were incomprehensible to them. That is why there were gods of anger or gods of love. People attributed human qualities to supernatural beings to explain nature strong feelings which they could not cope with.

IN modern understanding paganism is:

1. For Christians - any religion that is not related to Christianity. From the point of view of a Christian, there is only one God - our Lord Jesus Christ and other “gods” do not exist, which means they cannot be worshiped. The Biblical commandment speaks about this.
2. All religions professing polytheism.
3. Ritualism - belief in mystical power church rituals, divorced from Holy Scripture. Unfortunately, paganism is also found among those who sincerely consider themselves Christians, but at the same time do not know the basics of the doctrine, giving importance to external rituals - “light a candle”, “read a prayer for damage and good luck.” All this has nothing to do with Orthodoxy.

Paganism of the ancient Slavs

The word "paganism" comes from the word "language", which used to mean "people". Paganism is a folk belief and can be interpreted as a collection of ancient myths.

The gods of the Slavs are unsympathetic and vengeful characters. Fragments of Indo-European religions coalesced into the worship of mostly evil Slavic gods. The gods common to all Slavic tribes are Perun and Mother Earth. Perun is a formidable thunderer, commanding the elements. Mother-Raw Earth is rather a positive image of the nurse and protector of people.

The eastern and western Slavs had different pantheons of gods. This is largely due to the weather conditions in the area and what exactly people were doing. So Stribog, the god of the wind, was in the pantheon of Prince Vladimir. Mokosh, the patroness of weaving, was also there. There was a god-blacksmith Svarog.

Some deities belonged to calendar dates - Maslenitsa, Kupala were considered more like “people's favorites” and were mythical game characters.

The Western Slavs believed in Chernobog, who brought bad luck and sent misfortunes, in Svyatovit, the god of war, and Zhiva, a female deity who protected certain territories.

In addition there was great amount spirits, brownies, forest inhabitants and other mythical creatures:

• Mermaid
• Ghoul
• Werewolf
• Kikimora
• Water
• Goblin
• Baba Yaga

We know many of them as fairy-tale characters.

Neopaganism

After the Baptism of Rus', a lot has changed. Paganism was exterminated by Prince Vladimir using rather harsh methods. However, new spiritual practices based on shamanism have also appeared, which theologians also refer to paganism.

These teachings can be considered syncretic, formed under the influence of various beliefs and. based on general philosophy. Russian Orthodox Church condemns paganism as a false faith. Patriarch Alexy II called neo-paganism “one of the main threats of the 21st century,” considering it as dangerous as terrorism and putting it on a par with “other destructive phenomena of our time.”

Many neo-pagans commit dangerous occult acts, and are often aggressive towards representatives of monotheistic religions, condemning Prince Vladimir for his abrupt inculcation of Christianity.

Despite the fact that pagans strive to understand the essence of things and surrounding phenomena, they move on the wrong path, deifying what the True Lord created. He speaks about “pagan” ritual belief in Christianity New Testament: “Not everyone who says to Me: “Lord! God!" He who does the will of My Father in heaven will enter the Kingdom of Heaven” (Matthew 7:21).

Christians can pray for pagans to gain faith in the Lord. Infatuation with magism, the occult and other pagan trends can be dangerous to the soul, and sometimes to human life and health.

I am publishing a new article by the Belarusian philosopher, Baltic identifier and musician, leader of the Kryvakryz group, Ales Mikus, “Notes on the Fifth Paganism.”
“Who is a pagan? A pagan is one who prays to the gods.” That's what they usually say and don't add anything else. Of course, everything is more complicated. Without taking into account the surroundings, such words are like a tree torn out of the ground and amusingly suspended in the air.
Modern paganism is not at all the paganism that existed in ancient times. And also not at all what remained in our villages until recently, a hundred years ago, before the invasion of the economic structure, the dispersion of the villagers and the penetration into their culture. Modern paganism exists in society and feels what society feels, lives with it in the same rhythm. It cannot be otherwise if modern pagans are included in their contemporary society and have no other support that would nurture them. Modern paganism here refers to attempts at pagan revival over the past hundred years. The territory under consideration is the entire geographical Europe.
Modern paganism is heterogeneous. It underwent the trends of society, even the influence of world processes that were reflected in society. We can talk about three waves of modern paganism. They all happened within the last hundred years. All three were determined by what was happening in society, in public consciousness, as well as on a global scale. This is the basic point being made here.

Three waves of modern paganism
The first wave of modern paganism is the first half of the twentieth century, the pre-war period, more specifically the 1920-1930s. Pagan movements, still in their infancy, arose in Eastern Europe - mainly in new states. These are Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Ukraine (respectively, “Visuoma” by D. Šidlauskas, “Dievturi” by E. Brastyņš, “Circle of Admirers of Sventovid” by V. Kolodziej, “Order of the Knights of the Sun God” by V. Shayan). This did not happen in Belarus, but one might think that under similar conditions something similar might have been created by V. Lastovsky (his work was similar to the work of the Lithuanian Vidunas and the Ukrainian V. Shayan).
What supported these emerging movements, what gave them strength? Obviously, nothing similar arose in Western Europe at that time. In the case of Eastern Europe, two factors played a role: the first was liberation from the yoke of the Russian Empire, the second was the desire, having been freed, to emphasize its uniqueness and justify its newly acquired independence.
The second was facilitated by the fact that for a century before that, Western Europe(from Germany) interest in the “spirit of the people”, the culture of the “silent majority” - in folklore, legends, fairy tales, songs - spread. This was not a suddenly awakened peaceful interest in folk culture. At the same time, medicine, chemistry, and psychology developed. Along with this, interest in folklore was another impulse to destroy the integrity of what still remained intact - the rural community and the mental ties that held it together. Recording, fixation, tearing away from living media and the living environment accompanied this activity.
For Poland and Ukraine, such a cultural leader was a native of the Logoischina, Z. Dalenga-Khodokovsky. For Latvia – the collector of folk songs-daina K. Barons. For Lithuania, the author of the first history in Lithuanian is S. Daukantas (he did not write down folklore, but transcribed data on ancient Lithuanian and Prussian mythology). They all sincerely loved what they did and those from whom and for whom they adopted these oral riches.
On this basis, movements to revive paganism arose in Poland (1921), Lithuania (1926), Latvia (1926), Ukraine (1937). These movements were under the sign of strengthening the unity of nations - new nations that emerged as a result of the events of the early twentieth century. This was especially strong in Latvia, where E. Brastiņš’s movement was the most populous, and he himself called his position as the head of the movement tours “ great leader"(dizhvadonis).
Thus, the leitmotif of this first wave of modern paganism was, by constructing or reconstructing, to strengthen the unity of the modern nations that had regained their independence and historical subjectivity - Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Ukrainian. This impulse is still maintained among Latvian and Ukrainian emigrant supporters of modern paganism (Dievturs and Runwists, respectively).
The second wave of modern paganism is the junction of the 1960s and 1970s. At this time, independently of each other in 1972, movements for the revival of the Old Norse religion of Asatru emerged in Iceland (S. Beintainson) and Great Britain (soon also in the USA). A powerful student local history and folklore movement emerged in Lithuania; in 1967, the celebration of the Summer Solstice was organized (the movement was strangled in 1973, and the organizer J. Trinkunas received a “wolf ticket” to work). In Poland, W. Kolodziej tried unsuccessfully to register his pagan community in 1965. In the USA, the Ukrainian emigrant, founder of the RUNVira movement L. Silenko (an ungrateful student of V. Shayan) wrote his book “Maga Vira” in the 1970s.
What was the engine of these pagan movements in post-war period? Here the arena of action was more shifted to the West, and strengthening the unity of the newly fledged nations did not play a role here. Obviously, the impetus came from the youth protest unrest of the late 1960s. 1968 – powerful left-wing student demonstrations in Paris. At the same time, the hippie movement was flourishing in the USA, as was the emergence of an entire counter-culture (literature, music) in the Western world. This was precisely the field on which the shoots of modern paganism of the second wave emerged.
The leitmotif of the second wave was liberation. Sensitive youth freed themselves from the oppression of the rules of the Western “modern” world, clearing the way for the “postmodern” that followed (immediately after that, books by a galaxy of French postmodern philosophers began to be published one after another). Strength was recruited from the East - politicians from China, esotericists from India. In the Icelandic Asatru movement, the second person after S. Beinteinson was one of the leaders of the Reykjavik hippies, Jormundur Ingi Hansen. The Lithuanian-Indian Friendship Society operated in Lithuania in the late 1960s. (It seems that Lithuania was generally the only one from Eastern Europe who found itself in line with the trends of the Western world at this time.)
The second wave of modern paganism marked the transition of the Western community (and then the world) to new conditions, to a new worldview.
Finally, the third wave of modern paganism - the beginning of the 1990s. This wave is again associated with global changes- with the emergence of new states (in some places this was a revival) on the ruins of the huge Soviet state and bloc. Therefore, it is not surprising that the relief of pagan movements in Western Europe was not affected in any way. But it affected Eastern Europe.
The leitmotif of the third wave is return. The collapse of the communist empire and exit from it was thought of as a kind of return to the point of departure - for Russia this was the 1910s ( Russian empire), for the rest - 1939 or 1945. The calls of modern pagans for a return to the forgotten, destroyed, expelled, driven underground fit well into this general channel.
In Poland, the “Native Church of Poland” of E. Stefanski and “ Native faith» S. Potshebovsky. In Ukraine - “Union of Ukrainian Rodnovers” by G. Lozko (Runvists also transfer their activities here, L. Silenko often visited from overseas). In Lithuania - “Romuva” by J. Trinkunas. In Latvia there are a number of communities, both independent and cooperating with each other (most of them are now cooperating within the framework of the “Commonwealth of Dievturs of Latvia,” which is headed by V. Celms). In Russia, the first pagan festivals were held in 1989 and 1990 by A. Dobrovolsky (Dobroslav). Subsequently, a motley number of pagan and near-pagan communities and movements arose here (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Omsk, Kaluga).
It is interesting that the connection with the “second wave” (1960s) of the Eastern European leaders of the “third wave” can be traced not only by J. Trinkunas, but also by A. Dobrovolsky. Having participated in the anti-Soviet dissident movement, in 1967 Dobrovolsky testified against them in court, and in 1969 he sold family icons and bought many books on esotericism and occultism to study.
In turn, continuity with the paganism of the “first wave” is especially noticeable among Polish pagans. The “Native Church of Poland” included E. Gawrych, the official successor of W. Kolodziej. Another Polish organization - “Native Faith” - can boast of membership in its ranks of A. Vacik (from his Wroclaw community “Native Faith”), who in the 1930s was the closest ally of the Polish near-pagan philosopher J. Stachniuk.
Differences between modern and traditional paganism
Having outlined the three waves of modern paganism, we note their main difference from traditional paganism.
The main feature of modern paganism is that from the very beginning it was (and is) an “open system.” And this system is subject to outside influences. Such paganism flares up and goes out not according to its own laws of development, but according to changes and trends in society. And society includes many other components, including ideological and religious movements.
It can also be noted that if at first such paganism was part of the system of national society and was in agreement with its needs, then the subsequent stages of modern paganism (the second and third waves) are already part of the system of the world community and reflect its trends and changes. (The collapse of the Soviet empire is not a regional phenomenon here, but a link within global processes).
What was traditional paganism like? First of all, it should be said that it was not fundamentally different - namely, in its inner essence. The rituals differed little, the understanding of natural elements also differed little, communication with the sacred differed little, and the forms of requests, and the desired answers, and the expected results, and illogical magical methods of influence, and the mechanics of sending and receiving messages from non-human beings and elements. Everything that made up the inner essence differed little. Everything that was inside was enclosed in a complete shell.
But the fact is that during the existence of that traditional paganism, the boundaries of this integrity more or less coincided with the boundaries of the social “system” itself. This was even 100 years ago, and in some places even later. Nothing broke through this shell, and even if it tried to break through (power relations, economic innovations, religious changes), there was always a core that crushed these intrusions under itself. This core transformed new items into those forms that allowed this integrity to continue to exist.
What was this core? It was based on the "slow rhythm". It was held together by many threads of connections that really go back centuries, but are manifested here and now. These were family relations, these were friendly relations - which, in turn, were based on both family and friendships between relatives. It was an economic way of life, held together both by the force of transmission from ancestors and relatives (vertical bond), and by the force of habit, connecting in everyday relationships (horizontal bond). These were family taboos, clan taboos, village taboos - which “sank to the bottom” of consciousness, but from there they determined many actions and relationships.
And most importantly, it was extremely difficult (and difficult) to get out of such an integral system. All members of such a micro-society were in their places, everyone performed their function (not only in economic terms, but also in the mental landscape - any society needs its own outcast, its own rich man, its own sorcerer, its own good man, its own business executive, etc. .). Carrying out their function and not being able to “reboot”, everyone was forced to cope with what they had in stable external conditions: to be angry, to put up, to search, to coordinate, to be in opposition (but withstand the confrontation, not to jump out), i.e. maintain natural order within such a micro-society.
It is easy to see how the described reality differs from the communities of modern paganism. You can join modern pagans, you can leave them, it has become another identification that can be changed at your discretion. Someone has found what they wanted to find, or is disappointed in something - and you can leave with peace of mind.
Already starting from the first wave of paganism, from the very first stage of “post-traditional” paganism, the pagan movement was no longer a whole (it wasn’t even a community, rather just a movement). Moreover, people who were mentally quite close gathered there - and they gathered and were attracted from all over society. Society needed to strengthen its unity - this was done by the social group of pagans. Or society needed to emphasize the return of the previous blessed order - and this was done by the social group of pagans. (Of course, differentiation also occurs in pagan communities, as in every group, but this is a phenomenon for any group.)
Even the attempts of modern pagans to “cleave” to the remnants of traditional paganism, to identify with them, as if ignoring the surrounding modern society, are only a reflection of this society’s need for roots.
Thus, this is the main difference between traditional paganism and modern paganism. It is on the scale of “integrity - non-integrity”. Traditional paganism itself was the framework of society (one might say that society was paganism), while modern paganism is an element in the framework modern society.
Speaking about modern paganism, about the paganism of the early 2010s, we must, firstly, clearly distinguish it from traditional paganism (the “first” paganism, so to speak), and secondly, keep in mind the presence of three layers in it, in accordance with the stages in its development throughout the twentieth century: 1920-30s, 1960-1970s, 1990s.
If the first, traditional paganism could be called “paganism of wholeness,” then the subsequent forms of modern paganism are “paganism of unity,” “paganism of liberation,” and “paganism of return.”
It is obvious that at different stages of modern paganism the backbone of pagan movements was different people– mentally different, and one or another main leitmotif was close to them.
Unity Paganism, 1920s-30s: Experiencing unity with your nation.
Paganism of liberation, 1960-70s: throw away the old shackles that squeezed the spirit and rejoice new freedom.
Paganism of return, 1990s: to turn to what was behind, what was forgotten and abandoned.
Twenty years have passed since the last wave. This is not so little - the same amount separated the second wave from the third. Modern paganism is disoriented and, lacking nourishment, prone to isolation. Not seeing its dependence on the trends of the modern world, not seeing its inclusion in its processes, it began to identify itself with traditional paganism.
This leads to dreams of returning everything ancient culture and its replacement with modern culture, the return of the hierarchy, headed by new, distinguished priests, the creation of a new state formation similar to a pagan empire, etc. Most likely, such dreams are fundamentally at odds with the surrounding reality, even in its futurological dimension.
Modern paganism today is multi-layered. Three layers at least, and these three layers correspond to the three stages it has gone through. We can also say that there is no single message in modern paganism, and the leitmotifs of different layers intertwine and collide. As a result, the unification of various parts within modern paganism is problematic (this is true even for the pagan movement in one particular country), and it itself takes on a patchwork appearance.
Someone lacks a sense of unity, a feeling of a shoulder, and he is looking for it. Someone feels suffocated and longs for freedom - here the feeling of the shoulder will seem squeezing. Someone wants to overcome the feeling of abandonment and (God) abandonment - and for him the desire to free himself from the framework will be completely incomprehensible, and the feeling of a shoulder will be too hasty. In turn, those looking for a sense of shoulder will consider the thirst for freedom as an “undermining” of order, and turning to the repressed and looking pitiful as retrograde and weakness.
Paths of modern paganism
How is the development of modern paganism possible? Two paths are visible.
The first is that some transformative event happens in the outside world, and paganism connects to it, integrating one of its meanings into a new direction. But such an event should be a transition to something new, to new formations, and also carry a connotation of liberation. That is, if you look at all three previous cases, this should be a split of some kind of whole and the emergence of smaller units from it. And this should happen in Europe.
What remains to be liberated in Europe that has not yet been liberated? It is really difficult to answer, if you do not take into account frankly demonic phenomena in relationships and bodily transformations. Moreover, it is a local phenomenon of “change of the constitutional system” in the individual Republic of Belarus. But, we must repeat, this is a local phenomenon. Although it really is the “last integrity” (with all the possible ensuing historiosophical conclusions), the last integrity of Europe.
The second path would take a completely different direction. This is not a split of the whole, as in all three cases of modern paganism, but the preservation of the whole. Only we are no longer talking about the integrity of the collective type - for such a final whole, thanks to information flows, today is rather all of humanity. It is rather about preserving the integrity of a specific human being, a conscious individual. Integrity, both mental and, say, spiritual.
Preserving individual integrity presupposes a community of like-minded people and even requires it to enhance the effect of its action. But the main emphasis then shifts from strengthening the team to strengthening internal integrity.
That this is becoming more and more relevant is evidenced by the increasingly active penetration from the outside into both the psyche and the body (the latter only in initial stages). The mass cultural space is overflowing with an incompatible multitude of informational, imaginative, and auditory impulses, and their unhindered penetration into the psyche leads to the destruction of mental integrity. The psyche is intact if a person understands what is happening and why it is happening. And if he doesn’t understand, the psyche becomes a passageway where the wind blows and every passerby does what he wants.
Integrity is not closedness, not hermeticity from the world. First of all, it is the presence of a center, an axis. This is precisely what has been the essence of traditional pagan rituals at all times. The combination of four elements - fire, stone, water, wood - during the ritual creates both an axis in a person (spiritual, supporting everything else) and integrity. The creation of an axis as a result of the ritual destroys all unnecessary multiplicity - all information garbage, noise. All extra impulses from the outside simply do not penetrate the barrier spiritual type, which arises when the spiritual axis is created and operates.
The world has reached its borders (now the “world” is the world, without what is “beyond the line”, beyond the border, beyond). He himself had no external goals left due to being overcrowded with people, intentions, and actions. (Even space enthusiasm was gradually “drained” several decades ago - the reasons could be similar to what Lem wrote about in Solaris; it is quite possible that this is precisely why the consumption race was so hyped.)
At this time, it seems that a person has no choice but to be the same as the world (and this is a deeply pagan attitude). This means maintaining your boundaries. And to draw strength and the feeling of being alive precisely from this state - maintaining one’s boundaries, the feeling of the presence and tension of one’s boundaries.
Given what we have, in the absence of changes, this is precisely what will be the content of modern paganism - the fourth in a row since the beginning of the twentieth century, and the fifth - if you count from the traditional paganism that we have lost.
Unity, liberation and return - all this has already been realized or is actively being realized in a world that is itself uniting, in which ever smaller and more specialized social groups and phenomena are liberated, and more and more forgotten and contradictory nuances of the past are returned.
It seems that we are once again faced with the relevance of “paganism of wholeness.” Only in a new format - in the format of the smallest possible systemic integrity, the integrity of a person. The world seemed to be fragmented and crushed. Shrunk to size human body.
One should not think that this is something unknown to traditional thinking. In mythology, giant volots are known who lived before, but then disappeared from the world. Phrases like “Are there people behind the light? There are, only small ones.” This is a completely traditional mythology. And we live in it now.
Ales Mikus

Paganism and its forms in modern world – interest Ask, studied by many religious scholars and theologians around the world. How did it happen that paganism did not fade into history, but continues to exist? Apparently, everything is to blame for its deep-rooted mythological tradition, which cannot be gotten rid of, since the genetic and historical memory of the people is quite strong.

Any pagan religion is based on the main category - the category of gender, due to which it also continues to exist. In every family and in every clan, traditions and religion are inherited, therefore they continue to exist from time immemorial to this day. Any actions, thoughts and desires of a person must be assessed solely in the context of his kinship with his family and all human brothers on earth, as well as in the context of his relationship with the nature around him and its spiritual parts.

Traditionally, most pagan religions are limited to one nation or one people, which is conceived as a supra-tribal structure of paramount importance. Most scientists and researchers assume that with time and the processes of globalization in the world, concepts such as nation or ethnic group are leveled out. As a result, the extinction of ethnic religions within the framework of paganism will occur. But so far this has not happened, despite all the changes in public life most pagan peoples.

According to a minority, the processes of globalization are supposedly on the contrary – they are spurring pagan religions to develop in the modern world. Some pagans try to remain Old Believers and desperately resist globalization, while some, on the contrary, do their best to help this process and strive to take part in it. One way or another, both of them help preserve paganism, no matter how paradoxical it may sound. After all, the basis for any pagan religion is its tradition, that is, that set of attitudes and behavior patterns that help a person adapt and exist harmoniously in this world. But tradition is not identical to the culture of the people, since it is not so obvious and prefers to be hidden from prying eyes. Thus, pagans consider their tradition to be above everything, which means that it can be approached both in the spirit of restoration and in the spirit of innovation and innovation.

To confirm the previous thoughts, it is enough to cite the example of modern Japan or the countries of Western Europe, which have a rather liberal attitude towards their religion and even the presence of several religions - monotheistic and pagan. As for Eastern Europe and our country in particular, nationalist conservative tendencies still prevail here, which do not allow the pagan religion to stand out from the general Orthodox layer and become more amenable to change. Therefore, the Orthodox monotheistic religion with distinct elements of paganism and worship of the forces of nature continues to exist in this territory. Just look at the annual celebrations of Maslenitsa or Ivan Kupala. Paganism in Rus' needed time, and it still needs it now.

What it is? And how is this happening today in Belarus? This will probably come as a surprise to most readers, but pagans still exist today. We interviewed one of them. His name is Maxim, his pagan name is Vesemar, he lives in Minsk.

Hello, Maxim.

Good health.

Is paganism a faith, a religion or something else?

Paganism for me is manpower nature, connection with family tree, ancestors, forces of the earth. This is the legacy of blood and spirit, the Slavic soul and the ancient ancestral image that connects the soul with hundreds of generations of ancestors and ancestors.

How long ago did you come to this and what influenced you?

The first experiences associated with paganism, one might say, were in childhood. As a child, I felt a connection and attraction to the forest, its magic and beauty. Our village and ancestral land was located in Gomel Polesie. This is a land of simply magical beauty. Feeling that the forest was alive, as a child I talked to it, brought gifts, and treated the forest spirits. Now I understand that this was the feeling of a genuine pagan world, a world of natural forces permeated with the spirit of magic and some ancient enchantments. This was later, many years later, having become acquainted with different directions of modern Slavism, conducting rituals and holidays, studying sources and the folk tradition, I realized that the true spirit of pagan fire is hidden precisely in nature, in its living force and power.

A little later, already at school during history lessons, it was very interesting to hear about what our ancestors believed in. There was little information, so I had to search and study on my own. The soul responded to pagan images, names of gods, ancient symbols... All this influenced my path and spiritual formation, within the framework of the ancestral tradition and way of life.

How did your relatives and friends react to your hobby and how do they react now?

My relatives, in principle, always treated my path calmly and normally. Nobody created barriers. Today, some of them have a more meaningful attitude towards the concept of the Slavs and our ancient faith. And my friends were always from my circle and, of course, shared their views on faith and worldview.

Do you perform rituals every year? What do you do in your free time?

I perform rituals every year. Alone or in a circle of like-minded people - the Slavic association “Heritage”. In our ritual practice, we try to adhere to the folk and natural calendar and traditions. The calendar of the main Slavic holidays can be viewed on my website, in the calendar section. Folk calendar based on holidays preserved by the Slavs from the so-called period of “dual faith”.

The natural calendar is based on natural dates and cycles.

Almost all of my time is spent on Heritage and the range of projects it represents. They take a lot of time and effort, leaving virtually no opportunity to do anything else.

Perunov day

Gromnitsy

The vernal equinox

On your website you post photos, videos, your thoughts, and answer questions. Do you represent any organization or act independently?

The Vezemar.org website is a personal author's website. By profession, I am the head of the Heritage association, which is engaged in the study and revival of our ancient faith. "Heritage" conducts rituals and holidays, thematic meetings and events, engages in research and study Slavic tradition and culture, popularization of Slavic values ​​and extensive educational work. I work both as part of an association and independently.

Meeting on the topic Autumn Equinox

Believing and knowing are different things for you?

Faith for me is a feeling of the divine in the soul. Knowledge is an understanding of how this divine works and what it is. I am one of those people who strive to know and understand everything that happens during the ritual, how certain forces operate. For me, it is not enough to just come to a holiday and perform some ritual and ritual actions. It is necessary to clearly understand, see, feel the currents of power, the presence of spirits of the place, understand how this or that process occurs, what it follows from and what it will lead to. I strive for full understanding and awareness of everything that happens during a holiday or ritual and its accompanying elements.

When performing rituals you use different objects, where are they from?

When conducting a ritual, I use ritual utensils and objects that help to carry out the ritual or other zeal. I purchased some of them from masters - a tambourine, a brother, musical instruments. Some he created himself - images of ancestors (chura), symbols, banners...

What advice can you give to people who have just begun to study paganism?

Today one can observe how people’s interest in tribal tradition is growing. This trend did not just happen. Returning to our roots is a return to the ancestral womb, where the strength and wisdom of our people is located. It reached us in folk holidays and rituals - Kolyada, Kupalo, Bagach, Komoeditsy.. In fairy tales known from childhood, in folk embroidery, amulets, mythology, folklore, holiday songs, conspiracies..

For those who are interested in all this and who want to learn more, I invite you to our meetings and events, our websites and information resources, rituals and holidays!

Animals