Tuesday, November 26, 2024

Syncretic Indo-European Faith by Zachary Gill: Excerpts & Commentary on the Introduction and his defining "Pagan"

 

On page 6, Gill talks about how those in charge of technology and media, etc., 

strip away your independence, your personality, and your spirituality, threatening to take away all the things that make you human. All the things that make you Folk. Communication and spirituality have always been the thing that creates viable communities, and they seek to destroy that. ... Traditional spirituality, family values, and proper virtues of manhood and womanhood are returning. And it isn’t through Abrahamic religions nor is it through defiance of modern society. Instead, it is through the momentum of Folk religions and Indo-European spirituality, where it could be said that Christianity got its values to begin with. 

 

Then on page 9 he writes:


First Statement of Awakening (Taking the Sunpill)

 

So, I have this deep gut feeling, that with the Vedas, the Eddas, the Gathas, and Rodnovery/Romuva faiths, the key to where the real original religion for the Indo-European can be found. ...

 

I like how he says, "Taking the Sunpill" as a play on the Redpill and all the other blank-pill terms to describe a worldview or philosphy. This Indo-European spirituality based around the early ancient people's recognition of the Sun in their formation of a spirituality, could also be called what I have coined Solar-Pantheonism. 


He goes onto talk about rather than finding meaning in life or direction through media messages, greed, hedonism, or new age religions or gurus, one can simply form meaning and spirituality through their own ancestry:


The truth is there before us, within our ancestral blood, within our forefathers, within our children, and ever-present in the Cosmos.


This resonated with me as I read this, for I have been contemplating this idea before even reading this book, on why growing up was I never taught anything about the Norse religion of my Scandinavian ancestors. Why have I only been taught another culture's religion, as the Bible is not a cultural history of my ancestors but somebody else's.


I spent years struggling with trying to force myself to believe in the Mormon theology; and then the Protestant theology, which was always forcing me to believe in ideas contrary to Nature, to the Cosmos. So this excerpt above that the truth is ever-present in the Cosmos resonates with me. I don't have to believe in something hard to believe but can experience real Sun rays on my skin for example, and I can notice the cycles of nature which are real, and the gods are real archetypes based in part on our gender instincts as I explain in my introduction.


 So Solar-Pantheonism is based on the reality I experience evidentially. In that it is not a mere "belief system," but real to me as it is based in my own genetic coding and genealogy, i.e. its the Folk religion of my forefathers. This universal Solar-Pantheon was formed by my ancestry while interacting with the real world; as they aristically formed Germanic and Norse gods and stories as manifestation of real masculine and feminine instincts; which was based in part on the heroic deeds and adventures of my own actual ancestors and their cultural history in the Eddas, etc. 


On page 10 he makes a good point that you're not allowed to question things in today's culture and if you do you're immediately labeled negatively. I agree when he says: "I’m pretty tired of labels. Always question anything that threatens you and yours no matter who you are. Always question what doesn’t flow with the natural laws. Always suspect what makes you weaker and doesn’t lead towards greatness or enlightenment." 


On page 11 he writes, "It is our hope that this book inspires those of Indo-European cultural background or Heritage/Ancestry to view society, spirituality, and culture through a healthier lens." Since I am myself of Indo-European cultural background or Heritage/Ancestry, I am interested in his perspective. 


In the section What is Indo-European Paganism?, he begins with, "Language, Genetics, Spirituality," then writes on page 14:


 Many will say that the term Indo-European only applies to a language tree and not to specific groups of people. ... Indo-Europeans brought their language, culture, and religion to the regions they migrated into. These traditions and concepts of faith were disseminated throughout the various areas that were settled, either through marriage or conquest or both.  For the sake of brevity when referring to Indo-Europeans, we will mean “of or relating to” the collective people and cultures of Europe and Western Asia, including the northernmost regions of India, with a primary focus on their religious traditions. 

 

Various spiritual, ethnic, and religious groups are included in the Indo-European Paganism. Examples of these groups are Vedic, Germanic, Norse, Hellenic, Hittite, Persian, Greeks, and Slavic religions.  Many scholars have compared and contrasted these religions and found similar themes, rituals, symbolism, and linguistic origins. In some cases, whole pantheons and views of theology are distinctly similar. Scholars have worked to, for lack of better words, reverse engineer, reconstruct, and reassemble the Proto-Indo-European (PIE) mythology.


 Gill then asks, "What Is a Pagan?" Writing on pages 15-16:


Many people today seem to identify as “pagan.” This word has developed into a sort of catch-all for anyone not part of the mainstream religious movement. It has also come to represent  “unsavory” individuals that Abrahamic religions do not approve of—especially those who have chosen to live their lives and their spirituality outside of the accepted norms. The word “pagan” no longer means what it used to. So, here is a clear definition of what the word ‘Pagan’ means.

Initially, the word ethnikos was used in the Bible when referring to pagans. Ethnikos, meaning those of the ethnic faith. The word gentile, which was used frequently in the Bible, referred to non-Jewish or a Christian who isn’t Jewish but also isn’t pagan. However, this word also began to take on a meaning similar to “pagan.” Gentile, from Latin gentilis “of or belonging to the same people or nation,” from gēns ‘clan; Tribe; people, family’ is similar to the root word we use for Genes, which would imply Folk or family.

 The word “pagan” is derived from the Latin pāgānus, meaning ‘rural or rustic,’ but was later used to refer to civilians vs. the ruling class. 

Around 400 AD, Pagan being used as Not-Christian started to come about through the use of Vulgar Latin. ...


After going into an analysis of ancient languages he concludes:


This would imply that “Pagan” means the people of Indo-European faiths or people of the European rural faiths. Many people who claim the umbrella term “Pagan” are not adequately following the Indo-European folk/family traditions or morals as they should. They are not pagan. Paganism will always be centered around Folk and family and the worship of the Gods.

 

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