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A place for Aryan (European) Folkish Pagans
Young Theseus lifts the stone under which his father Aegeus hid his sword and sandals. This feat starts the hero’s adventures.
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How to climb a tree from the same man (Ivan Vosipau)
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Milk as a sacred drink
Ancients benefitted greatly from the domestication of different animals. Horses were used for war, while bulls and cows became cattle. They produced meat and, more importantly for this topic, milk which is known for it’s nourishing properties. Also blacks and asians can’t drink it, which is the reason why some even claim that dairy is racist.
These facts lead me to using milk in my libations. Of course, water and spirits are appropriate too.
Brunhild by Gaston Bussiere
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The purpose of menhirs (standing stones) is as enigmatic as that of the stone circles. Some suggest that they may have marked burials sites, while others explain them as markers along prehistoric trackways.
Many have been removed, either for superstitious reasons or as a source of readily quarried stones. In most cases, only the very largest dolmens and menhirs have survived the wonton destruction. Sometimes their remote location saved them from being dismantled.
Brad Olsen
Perun’s idol by Olena Kulchitska
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At least I have the book's cover. It’s a pretty nice image I must say. If only I could read the text. All I needed was the first tome (there’s 10 in total).
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^ the fruits of mistake #2 described above. Pagans who don’t know their own theology.
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Mistakes of early revival
Mistake #2 casting a wide net
It’s obvious by now that Pagansphere has a problem with gatekeeping. Not keeping non-Pagans out of the club early on was justified by small numbers we’d have otherwise, but look what we ended up with. For some it was always a matter of money. Most organizations are like that. Guess it’s hard to turn people down when they give you cash each month. There’s also a lot of leftists using the term. Bored housewives with crystals and cards. Homos who can’t read the ancient laws ect. There’s some pushback, but the media will always be on their side so I don’t see much sense in wasting hours on debates. A post here and there is enough.
Temple to Venus
Chantilly, France
😍
Another example of a heroic shapeshifter is a kharakternyk cossack. A special type of Ukrainian cossack who could turn into a falcon or a hound and was invulnerable to arrows and bullets.
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One of the most prominent activities of shapeshifting witches was stealing milk of their unfortunate neighbors’ cows. Though the latter were often protected by special candles (among many other charms).
This led to the creation of the term milk witch.
Art by A.Basak
An ethnographic research was conducted from 1992 to 99. Elderly were asked about shapeshifters and here are their words:
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Hidden weapon
An interesting motif found in European folklore is that of hidden weapons which require a feat of strength to uncover. It’s similar to the Arthurian sword in the stone since the hero has to prove his strength to get the weapon.
Another peculiar element is that in many cases the weapons used to belong to a hero of old (usually a relative), so there’s an idea of a new generations getting power from their predecessors. Very inspirational.
Traditional honey hunting from Belorus
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Pagan Slavic names
Olenets (little deer)
Oreshko (nut)
Drach (brawler, fighter)
Volotko (giant)
Tretiak (the third one (child))
Chupr (named after a popular hairstyle which was later called czupryna and chub)
Hrap (insolent, impudent)
Baldá (fool)
Beloús (white mustache)
Stoian (steadfast, firm)
Zavíd (one to envy)
Zubr (wisent aka European buffalo)
There were many differences between folk beliefs and christian teaching. They are not dealt with completely to this day which signifies the resilience of the folk identity. One such difference is the view of death.
Interpreting a soul as a spiritual substance theologians separated it from the body which perished after death. Human lifeforce was transferred to the soul and continued it's existence in it. However, according to the folk beliefs…a spirit could (under certain conditions) take a corporeal form and move around.
So, the living could communicate with the spirits of the dead summoning them during Christmas and Rusalii divinations, commemorations or upon meeting them in a form of a cuckoo bird, stork, owl, turtle dove or frog.
A.Ponomaryov
Perun’s idol arrived. Will be my main one from now on.
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Have a good Monday!
By the way there’s almost no good paintings/drawing of Mani. Surprising considering that he’s an important God, albeit not one mentioned much in the Eddas. The usual suspects probably contribute to it. Naturalist interpretation is common among fake pagans who do the same thing as christians by saying that ancient Gods are metaphors for nature. If you have an altar you wouldn’t put a NASA moon photo instead of Mani, right?
Anyways, have a good one.
I still got some material from other sources which will be translated shortly. It’s stories about shapeshifting and witches again. Real folklore told by real people.
My big issue with Pagan stuff online is that often times we see authors just jumping on a bandwagon and creating what we call fakelore. A very personalized, dramatized, version of folklore. Those generous say that it’s just people being inspired, but they don’t put it like that and eventually many Pagans (or just those interested) start quoting those stories clearly written by a modern writer as something legitimate. Whenever you see someone making a post on folklore beware the usual suspects such as: clearly defined rules (folklore is never big on details and the latter can vary drastically), drama and action (real folk stories are short and never feel epic).
Know what I hate about modern academia the most? Subversive modern works are easily found with a single click, while old classics ones are not either not digitized at all or hidden behind the subscriptions and other money-grabbing. Makes my research very frustrating at times. Found a great book today but it’s not online at all despite not even being that old.
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Edgington? Fitting but Cringington sounds more accurate.
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Another new idol of Perun
Just delivered today. Already placed it on the altar. It’s freshly cut and has great shine to it.
Druid sketch by Jaime C. Dibujante
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An example of a historical figure who was also a shapeshifter is kharakternyk cossack chief Sirko
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Not all shapeshifters were evil. There are tales of heroes who turn into animals, not just occasionally too. The best example would be Volh, a rather obscure hero whose tale is one of the oldest in folklore. He turned into a wolf, pike, falcon, ermine and an aurochs (depends on the version).
Art by Brother Bjorn
At night sorcerers turned with knives and could become anything.
Her mother was a sorceress. She turned into animals.
There used to be shapeshifters. I didn’t get to see them turning so I don’t know how they did it. It is said they turned into swine.
They say we used to have many sorcerers here. There’s less now. They gathered on a hill, turned into dogs, cats, horses. They had 12 knives for this.
She used to turn by flipping over the head…
In Slavic languages the terms used for people who can turn into animals are not limited to werewolf or any other were-animal, but are derived from the verbs which mean to turn around or spin. For this dive I’ll translate those as shapeshifter just for simplicity’s sake, though something like a turner would be more fitting, as odd as it sounds.
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