Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

06 Jan 2025 23:35

Scottish fairy tale illustrations by Nika Goltz

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

06 Jan 2025 19:35

Not pointing fingers but there’s plenty of influential talking heads professing (with varying levels of sincerity) what they call Pagan worldview. But on closer inspection almost all of them are not religious at all. What YouTube pundits promote is a bizarre mix of new-age esoterica and Pagan esthetics with occasional far-right whistleblowing. The result of this is a rather sad state modern Paganism is in, being far from a proper return to Ancestral spirituality. When a person such as yours truly tries to oppose this regrettable status quo the results are, alas, not as trendsetting as we’d like them to be. As much as we try to wrest the narrative away from the shills, the task may seem impossible at the moment. Beside effort alone, it requires connections and technical skills which a normal person simply does not possess. But, it’s still imperative to try. As over-dramatic as it may sound, our future is at stake. So, if you can, join the fight, either by sharing our content or creating your own.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

04 Jan 2025 07:57

Vladimir in bylinas

While many are eager to see bylina poems as Pagan, and there is some truth to that since it’s folklore i.e. peoples’ perspective, I can’t say that christianity can be omitted from the the ones where it is featured.
The ruler of bylinas is always Vladimir, the first christian lord. What is ignored is that in most poems he is in not depicted as a noble, charismatic, king Arthur type. Quite the opposite. Poetic Vladimir is a schemer whose attitude ends up compromising the nation when invaders attack and all heroes are in jail and going to help the one who imprisoned them. Yet Vladimir needs them to save the day since he’s not a warrior himself. Again, compare to Arthur who treats his knights as equals and is in power by merit.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

03 Jan 2025 01:24

Even though one can argue that Vladimir wasn’t an ideal christian history books depict him as, what remains undisputed is his role in spreading the disease of judeo-christianity in Europe. Or rather among European royalty as the reform failed to change the belief and practices of the common people. The latter stayed pretty much Pagan. This fact is confirmed by years of priests lamenting the sad state of religious affairs as well as ethnographic data showing, to put it mildly, less than stellar understanding of core christian principles among the folk. You can read my old translations if you want to know more on the topic.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

03 Jan 2025 00:41

After the murder of his brothers Vladimir got the throne and with it seemingly the desired power. Yet he wanted to be greater than Sviatoslav, but lacked the strength to conquer like his father did. So Vladimir chose to suck up to Byzantium and convert. The deal must have seemed like an absolute win to both sides. Byzantium was a crumbling empire and wanted an infusion of strong barbaric blood to save them just like Rome did (ironically doomed itself). Meanwhile Vladimir could use the prestige of aligning with a proper empire to legitimize his own.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

02 Jan 2025 01:15

Iðunn and Thjazi by Rim Baudey

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

31 Dec 2024 08:27

A.Cīrulis Saules pagalmos

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Dec 2024 20:47

In theory it is entirely possible to construct a chronological history of a tribe. This task would be accomplished by knowing the sacred places within the tribe’s geography and all of the stories that are related to these places. By identifying the before and after of the stories and then arranging them on a time scale, one could project a chronology.

V.Deloria

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Dec 2024 07:22

Same Reddit pit on the topic of genuine belief. Note how those fakes use the same rhetoric as some guys supposedly on our side who mock real traditions opting for some platonist/evolian/esoteric bs. Also, yet another example of thursatru subversion. Jormungandr is not a God, neither is loki, but they don’t know what Germanic tradition is.

You either believe in Gods and myth or you are an atheist. Simple as.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

27 Dec 2024 11:33

Also, we know that Aesir built temples (hofin a is plural form of hof), which may sound odd as they are Gods themselves, but it can be explained if we assume that by that time Buri and Bor, as well as some other older deities such as Odin’s mother Bestla, were already dead and thus venerated by their descendants. Just like we humans worship our own Ancestors so do the Gods.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

27 Dec 2024 11:10

Where are Bor and Buri?

A few days ago the topic of Germanic ancient deities came up. Buri, licked out by Auðumbla herself, and his son Bor, father of Odin, Vili and Ve. Those old Gods are barely mentioned in the sources and don’t interact with the younger generations of Gods (Odin’s children and grandkids e.g. Thor and Magni). They don’t take part in major events like Vanir-Aesir war or Ragnarok, and judging from archaeological and textual data, they were not worshipped by the people (no idols, no temples).

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

22 Dec 2024 09:13

Latvian Pagan wedding

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

22 Dec 2024 00:27

^ btw, it's the same with the concept of religious dogma, the practice of kneeling while addressing the gods and more. Some "Pagans" just don't like religion in general so they try to mold ancestral faith into atheism with runes. It's somewhat understandable and can even be forgiven if the guy is a teen who just now got into Paganism, but when the man is pushing 40s, claims to be an expert and promotes his atheistic revision to countless followers it becomes a problem.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

21 Dec 2024 00:08

Early snow in the evening by Yuri Pryadko

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

20 Dec 2024 08:30

Variations of Narbut coat of arms

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

06 Jan 2025 20:08

Recently a relative tried to convince me to use the work here as a source of revenue. While not opposed to the idea of monetizing one’s content it’s not for me. Free money is tempting, but I was not raised to rely on others when it comes to income. Since young age I had a family to feed (my mother and sister) and never got to experience the (relatively) carefree life of a single adult, despite being one. Maybe if my channel becomes a part of a bigger whole e.g. a research organization like Norroena Society I’d be willing to ask for financial support, but for now, simple shares and likes are enough.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

04 Jan 2025 11:16

Is there something Varg’s wife doesn’t see as a placenta metaphor?
(Spoiler: there isn’t)

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

03 Jan 2025 01:37

Tomorrow I will write about the often forgotten (or ignored) aspect of Vladimir. How the people depicted him in folklore.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

03 Jan 2025 01:06

Despite introducing the Byzantine law code and desecrating the idols of Perun, Dazbog, Stribog and a few other deities in Kyiv Vladimir’s approach to christianization wasn’t as zealous as it may seem after reading a history textbook. He ignored many things new religion commanded and did’t even bother growing a beard instead opting to keep traditional Slavic style of long mustache with a clean-shaven chin as you can see on his coins.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

03 Jan 2025 00:39

Why Vladimir betrayed the Gods?
A matter of ego

It’s well known that the (in)famous Vladimir was the first christian ruler on the lands of Rus (modern Ukraine). This is not entirely correct since his grandmother Helga was both a prolific ruler and an open christian. Still the bastard was the first to go down in history as a christian king. He was also the first of not fully Germanic Rurikids. Still, he was loved and received his share of power, but wanted more likely as a result of an inferiority complex which also showed itself when he raped princess Ragnhild.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

01 Jan 2025 00:09

New year, new hardship and happiness await.
May the Gods guide us on the path of fate.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Dec 2024 21:43

^ wonder if any of you guys tried this since I originally posted the idea. If so, feel free to share the results.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

29 Dec 2024 20:37

New year brings us to the topic of dates and dating systems. As we know Ancients had a lot of different dating systems. Each tribe had their own sacred history which does make it hard to count the dates, but is an example of folkish perspective.
For example, one of Roman systems was AUC (Ab urbe condita) according to which now is 2777 (2024+753)

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

27 Dec 2024 23:18

Reddit is the biggest cesspool on the net. Not a hot take, I know. Yet it’s still useful to check it out from time to time. Why? Just to do the opposite, really. Best example for us is the self-proclaimed pagan community it has. Not saying all people there are degenerates with no real belief, but the majority obviously are. A great source of lolcows if you need them. Here are some anti-dogma types answering a question about not praying. They "do what feels right" since actually "you make the rules"!

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

27 Dec 2024 11:26

To explain this lack of attention Buri and Bor received I propose a theory. It’s simple, but I don’t see any issues with it. We know that Gods can die and there’s a clear indication that Gods age too (otherwise they wouldn’t need Idunn’s apples), so it’s possible and dare I say probable that both Buri and Bor died, likely of old age. When exactly they died would be impossible to tell, but my sense is that it happened either before or right after the creation of mankind hence why they were not worshipped. They just didn’t get to deal with humans.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

26 Dec 2024 07:15

In Iceland, an old tradition that carries till today is the Yule Lads or Jólasveinar who play pranks around the home.

These are the guys who make 'Murphy's Law' a Law👌🏻

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

22 Dec 2024 08:08

Illustrations from Arveds Paegl’s "ABC" of Latvian signs ornamentation

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

21 Dec 2024 23:59

Some say that mythic literalism wasn’t the norm, or at least something only peasants (as STJ puts it) believed, therefore we are to worship archetypes. But that’s a lie since those who made such claims in the past (xenophanes, socrates, plato) had to explain and promote the idea. It was a new spin on traditional Paganism and it was not appreciated, to the point that those supporting it got punished. The only reason actual Pagan believers are criticized as fundamentalists and whatnot is simple. Most Pagans today are ex-christians who got atheistic in order to drop christianity. Later they jumped on Pagan bandwagon and sadly kept atheistic lenses on. Hence the ridicule of literal (aka real) belief in Gods as something christian. It’s not. It’s just religion. And deep down they don’t want a religion.

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

20 Dec 2024 23:17

Join us for our Year's End Stream where we will go over this past year, have interesting discussions and so much more as we look toward the Solstice!

Aryan Paganism, Traditions and Art (APTA)

19 Dec 2024 23:06

Just a nice-looking coat of arms. It belongs to the House of Narbut, a Polish noble family of Lithuania descent.
If you have some cool European coat of arms to share feel free to do so in the comments.