and ofc i'm completing my masters in Irish folklore and i don't believe that Old means Right. new folklore, legends, etc. (these words are fraught in and of themselves but i am using them for simplicity atm) are born every day and matter. "bloody mary" is not ancient. yet the story's impact on culture, especially among children, is compelling. ofc that's perhaps a less culturally significant example than neopaganism but you get what i mean. if someone did form a cult of bloody mary they wouldn't be wrong. newly developing beliefs and practices matter and i am not disparaging them for being recently conceived.
it's those who package them as "ancient, once lost and now revived" etc. that's the issue. and they're usually selling it to you ofc.
it would be wrong to say "bloody mary is actually a celtic goddess whose story was diminished to a children's game because the Church couldn't accept her Power."
but you can find basically exactly that in a bestselling hardback every day.
