I find the idea of this to be interesting.
But what they need in order to not be LARP-tier is something like a god-head or eternal truth that is the equivalent of such concepts in Abrahamic and Dharmic religions and such. Or maybe a greater focus on nature and spirits of the earth and/or earth mother.
Like Platos 'unmoved mover' with the gods as beings underneath that. Maybe if Julian "the apostate" had tried that, Greco-Roman Polytheism could have been saved.
> implying greeks and romans took their religion seriously
Stupid hippies cherry picking pagan "ideas" crystals and dreadlocks are in your future
...
>What /pol/ thinks Paganism is
We wuz vikings n shit!
>What Neopaganism really is
The gods are colorblind and support feminism and transgenderism!
>Neopagans
I love studying the mythology and folklore of ancient peoples. but I would NEVER want to meet anybody who practices it unironically...
...come to think of it, I wouldn't want to associate with someone who practices ironically either
>Like Platos 'unmoved mover' with the gods as beings underneath that. Maybe if Julian "the apostate" had tried that, Greco-Roman Polytheism could have been saved.
He did though
He sort of did, Julian understood the gods as platonic forms. He didn't literally think Dionysus was a guy riding a tiger. Unfortunately a lot of greek commoners did and the intellectual bent of Julian's paganism didn't appeal. Most of the platonist thought got absorbed into Christianity anyway.
Celtic and Germanic paganism were just disorganized tribal beliefs and don't have a lot of literature like the Greeks do so any reconstruction is going to be messy and probably inaccurate.
i will cross the chinvat bridge
not this guy again
Como on, it would be a great conversation. If I'm ever in Iceland, I'm totally hiking up to that Norse temple they recently built.
>He sort of did, Julian understood the gods as platonic forms. He didn't literally think Dionysus was a guy riding a tiger. Unfortunately a lot of greek commoners did and the intellectual bent of Julian's paganism didn't appeal. Most of the platonist thought got absorbed into Christianity anyway.
He should have done more, and emphasized the fun aspects of paganism, and encouraged a more optimistic view of life after death. Like reincarnation, or something. Paganism, if anything, is malleable.
that alone isn't going to save paganism. to save it you'd need a reversal of political power, as in Julian having a much longer rule and a non-christian successor
Julian probably would have made a serious dent in the rise of Christianity if he didn't fucking die like a fag on his campaign in Persia. Many of his criticisms of Christian morality were felt keenly by his Roman subjects he just didn't get to fully realize his plan.
Isn't that Zoroaster?
But they did, they were extremely superstitious and religious. Maybe not dogmatic like Abrahamics, but most religions, like Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, etc. are not.
they were cucks for every foreign religion, if christianity hasn´t happened we would be mithraists or something like that
>if foreign religion x hadn't happened we would be foreign religion y
Paganism was inherently much more syncretic. It wasn't really your neighbors business if you worshiped Isis in addition to Apollo and Aphrodite, no one really cared.
Sol Invictus was pretty popular at the time so maybe he would have become the main faith of the empire but I doubt all the other Gods would have died out as well.
It can be hard coming from an Abrahamic perspective to understand that people had individual pantheons and didn't try to convert other people all the time but that's how shit went down.
Not even close nigger, maybe among wiccans. Most nordic Pagans have ambivalence towards new agey feminists and shit, they're more like anarcho primitivist types. Don't forget that they're a tribal organization, so what vargs group does and likes is irrelevant to the Icelandic cucks and vice versa
You're the abrahamic cuck, lmao. You literally can't understand how people can absorb and respect other religions and gods without issue. Paganism, even hellenism, varied a ton between families, areas, etc. and popularity of cults waxed and waned - its how all religions besides Abrahamic ones worked. People were generally very faithful to their cults/gods of choice, read literally any hellenic account.
Things still seem to function in this sort of way in Asia. Buddhism is fairly popular but in Mongolia, China, and Japan they've merged it with their own local folk beliefs pretty well. There's like a million gods in Shintoism and Hinduism isn't much different.
>in Asia
It was like that with all non-Abrahamic religions. I'm Zoroastrian myself, and we're pretty dogmatic ourselves imho - besides some early cases the religion has stayed pretty constant; but even then we see no issues at all with venerating foreign gods of Hinduism to small degrees; my ancestors' lords patronized Buddhism too, its just really not a big deal for us.
I'm a Christian, so take this with a grain of salt, but... what's wrong with embracing the weird side of old paganism?
Something like the Bacchanalia, the Furies, the mystery cults with their horrific practices. Why shouldn't you assert that the gods were indeed as presented in Homer and Hesiod?
If you try to make your gods and religions more "reasonable," you lose, because for raw reason nothing beats pure atheism. Instead, embrace the darkness and the chaos that comes from stepping beyond human reason. Christianity actually does this to a huge extent with things like the Trinity and the Eucharist. It's mystical, supernatural, otherworldly, and it makes the religion powerful. So don't be afraid of weird shit in your religions.
Good post.
I think this was exactly the point of the Dionysian revels. Definitely wouldn't mind bringing those back.
but that´s carnival or mardi gras
Yeah and it's also a religious festival
Zero downsides