Pagan/Polytheistic Discussion Thread: By the Gods!

[Lady Victory]

Not quite. I'm cracking jokes, mostly.

My issue with it is it's main things are mostly gnosticism and syncretism so I can't really see it as a serious religious tradition for that reason. Nothing necessarily wrong with syncretism, but gnosticism isn't something I can take seriously.

If that's what you believe, then all power to you.

No. I am not into it but I am sympathic to gnosticism. It's probably the only form of "christianity" (if it can be even called that) thats theologically acceptable to me.

I understand the appeal of gnosticism, but they contradict too much Judeo-Christian teachings to be regarded as anything more than heretical so I can't really sympathize with the concepts proposed by gnosticism. Gnosticism simply isn't compatible with Christian theology.

[Suriyanakhon]

Not quite. I'm cracking jokes, mostly.

My issue with it is it's main things are mostly gnosticism and syncretism so I can't really see it as a serious religious tradition for that reason. Nothing necessarily wrong with syncretism, but gnosticism isn't something I can take seriously.

If that's what you believe, then all power to you.

No. I am not into it but I am sympathic to gnosticism. It's probably the only form of "christianity" (if it can be even called that) thats theologically acceptable to me.

As much as I like their aesthetics (and meme value), theologically I find them pretty abhorrent, primarily their idea that the material world is evil.

[Lady Victory]

No. I am not into it but I am sympathic to gnosticism. It's probably the only form of "christianity" (if it can be even called that) thats theologically acceptable to me.

As much as I like their aesthetics (and meme value), theologically I find them pretty abhorrent, primarily their idea that the material world is evil.

Yeah, the idea that the material world is evil doesn't appeal to me. It seems pretty edgy tbh.

[Immortan Khan]

As much as I like their aesthetics (and meme value), theologically I find them pretty abhorrent, primarily their idea that the material world is evil.

Yeah, the idea that the material world is evil doesn't appeal to me. It seems pretty edgy tbh.

Iron Age doomer vs Iron Age bloomer

[Nakena]

I understand the appeal of gnosticism, but they contradict too much Judeo-Christian teachings to be regarded as anything more than heretical so I can't really sympathize with the concepts proposed by gnosticism. Gnosticism simply isn't compatible with Christian theology.

I am aware.

As much as I like their aesthetics (and meme value), theologically I find them pretty abhorrent, primarily their idea that the material world is evil.

Yeah, the idea that the material world is evil doesn't appeal to me. It seems pretty edgy tbh.

Thats a bit of a reductionist take. That being said, I don't agree with that part either, since I do not believe in the Yaweh being the demiurge.

[Suriyanakhon]

If anyone is interested in Shintō, I can share some articles from academic sources (mostly Nanzan university).

From Jindō to Shintō: A Concept Takes Shape by Mark Teeuwen
Tracing Shintō in the History of Kami Worship by Mark Teeuwen and Bernhard Scheid
Medieval Shintō as a Form of 'Japanese Hinduism': An Attempt at Understanding Early Medieval Shintō by Iyanaga Nobumi

[Herzpunkt]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-ftbFq6zzQ

Egypts new city which evokes their ancient and glorious past

[The Alamann]

#MorrignaGang

[Nakena]

#MorrignaGang

Morrigan?

[The Alamann]

#MorrignaGang

Morrigan?

Yes, fucking typo. Also known as the “Morrigu” and the “Mórrígan”.

[Herzpunkt]

Morrigan?

Yes, fucking typo. Also known as the “Morrigu” and the “Mórrígan”.

Your Teutonic avatar deceives me.....hmmm...

[Resilient Acceleration]

TIL that my maternal grandparents aren't Muslims by birth, but animists... or dynamists... or pagans.. or whatever who later converted to Islam in their 40s. It's pretty interesting, involving arcane rituals, fastings, and worship(?) of holy places such as tombs, where they will visit once a year to pray and ask for things such as good exam results for my (then a teenager) mom. Most prominently are their beliefs about spirits, genies, ancient spiritual local gods such as Nyi Roro Kidul, and whatnot.

Intrigued, I dug further, and the results was quite the findings. The decentralized belief system, called kebatinan or aliran penghayatan (loosely translatable to "inner belief") was actually widespread during the post-independence era of Indonesia, and was especially prominent among nationalists and communists. In fact, it was the reason that Islam was able to spread so rapidly in 1500's Indonesia peacefully through syncretism and assimilation, since only the nobility got to educate themselves with the Veda texts while the lower caste populace were left to believe in whatever the local beliefs happened to be.

TL;DR, I discovered that there was once a large religion(ish) with tens of millions of followers other than the 6 government-endorsed religions of Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. This syncretic belief system, which completely overturned my understanding of Indonesian history and culture as it explains so many things that previously seemed out of place (such as the political dynamics among Muslim organizations), was then gradually suppressed as a distinct entity throughout the military dictatorship era. Its history forgotten, absorbed and "Islamicized" into the present day's beliefs of Islamic mysticism still popular among the public and even the ruling elites. (Not that the military regime hated it; President Suharto is highly superstitious, and is said to be backed by ~30 necromancers to sustain his regime, one from each province).

[Suriyanakhon]

Intrigued, I dug further, and the results was quite the findings. The decentralized belief system, called kebatinan or aliran penghayatan (loosely translatable to "inner belief") was actually widespread during the post-independence era of Indonesia, and was especially prominent among nationalists and communists. In fact, it was the reason that Islam was able to spread so rapidly in 1500's Indonesia peacefully through syncretism and assimilation, since only the nobility got to educate themselves with the Veda texts while the lower caste populace were left to believe in whatever the local beliefs happened to be.

Thanks for sharing, I was aware that Indonesia still had animist beliefs from the Pre-Islamic period, but didn't know that it had a name.

Modern Indonesia has a weird law where every major religion has to be monotheistic, doesn't it?

[Borderlands of Rojava]

I wonder if Germanic or Norse Pagans ever take trips to India to see their holy sites.

[Herzpunkt]

I wonder if Germanic or Norse Pagans ever take trips to India to see their holy sites.

I might go to a hindu temple for fun, their are no hofs near me, but with germanic paganism rising that could change

[Suriyanakhon]

I wonder if Germanic or Norse Pagans ever take trips to India to see their holy sites.

Some of the weirder Pan-Aryan types do. While referring to Indians derisively because they don't consider them real Aryans anymore because of the Aryan Invasion Theory about how the upper castes mixed their blood with the native Dravidians (even though Aryan isn't a biological category, it's linguistic).

[Herzpunkt]

Hopefully the temple in iceland gets finished soon, that would be amazing to visit and to participate in a Blot

[Suriyanakhon]

Hopefully the temple in iceland gets finished soon, that would be amazing to visit and to participate in a Blot

That would be neat, I wouldn't mind participating in Ásatrú rituals if there were any where I live. But unfortunately we're heavily evangelical with like a few Muslim folks.

[Herzpunkt]

Hopefully the temple in iceland gets finished soon, that would be amazing to visit and to participate in a Blot

That would be neat, I wouldn't mind participating in Ásatrú rituals if there were any where I live. But unfortunately we're heavily evangelical with like a few Muslim folks.

It needs time to recover, abrahamists did a number on us

[Ayytaly]

One of your guys is threatening to blow up mosques, Varg Vikernes-style.

Thread's in the General section.

[Suriyanakhon]

One of your guys is threatening to blow up mosques, Varg Vikernes-style.

Thread's in the General section.

Okay?

[Herzpunkt]

One of your guys is threatening to blow up mosques, Varg Vikernes-style.

Thread's in the General section.

"One of your guys"

[Samudera Darussalam]

Intrigued, I dug further, and the results was quite the findings. The decentralized belief system, called kebatinan or aliran penghayatan (loosely translatable to "inner belief") was actually widespread during the post-independence era of Indonesia, and was especially prominent among nationalists and communists. In fact, it was the reason that Islam was able to spread so rapidly in 1500's Indonesia peacefully through syncretism and assimilation, since only the nobility got to educate themselves with the Veda texts while the lower caste populace were left to believe in whatever the local beliefs happened to be.

Thanks for sharing, I was aware that Indonesia still had animist beliefs from the Pre-Islamic period, but didn't know that it had a name.

Modern Indonesia has a weird law where every major religion has to be monotheistic, doesn't it?

Yes, afaik it is implied in Indonesia's founding principle and government-enforced ideology. The thing is composed as a compromise for Indonesian factions, where the first sila/principle is a compromise for the religious factions (there are Muslim and Christian factions, but the Islamic ones are the most influential out of the two), thus the 'belief in Almighty God' thing. Pancasila is enshrined in the preambule of the constitution, and the constitution is the highest legal authority in the country's system of government, and the three branches of government must defer to it. Hence, there is a saying that pancasila is the first and foremost source of laws in Indonesia.

One of your guys is threatening to blow up mosques, Varg Vikernes-style.

Thread's in the General section.

Umm, I'm not sure why are you posting that here. Tbh I'm not sure if Satanist is paganistic/polytheistic, and even if it is, the perpetrator isn't related to any of them.

[Thermodolia]

One of your guys is threatening to blow up mosques, Varg Vikernes-style.

Thread's in the General section.

Bit of a broad brush don’t you think?

[Herzpunkt]

Satanism is NOT Pagan first off

Satanism, devil worship or the atheistic kind, is inspired by Christianity and other abrahamic faiths.