May the Gods Be Kind

In the Ozark Mountains. Slavic Paganism, Strength athletics, and the struggles of coming to terms with being a foreigner to one's ancestors.

[slava-perunu]

Tumblr thinks I'm catholic today for some reason. I am not. The suggested post feature does not care what I say. Thus, I must block every catholic on this site if I desire peace.

[slava-perunu]

They burned an idol.

Somewhere in the deep forest in the Ozarks there used to be an idol to Veles. I know because I put it there. I went as far out as I dared and found a good old dead tree, one that was really just a tall stump, and on a cold winter day I spent the better part of an afternoon carving it into an idol, and when I needed some peace I'd go out and sit with him there in the forest and pray.

I said my goodbyes and left town for a few years for work. When I came back, I found that idol gone. The whole area was scorched. I found out that the government had done a controlled burn of that area of the forest. The idol was gone, my work of devotional art gone up in smoke. At first I felt a great deal of grief, but after thinking about it, I feel the burning to be poetic. An offering to itself, cut from the forest and burned for the good of the forest.

I'd have liked to see it, at least, but I can't complain. I wasn't around. Perhaps I'll go back and pray there again at first snow.

[traegorn]

Why do people think x-mas trees are pagan? Didn't different cultures decorate trees?

Largely the idea is popular because...

It's a tree, so it feels pagan-ish

The "we're actually the persecuted ones" thread in the early Modern Witchcraft Movement needed boogey-men to blame, and the church having "stolen" from them was the easiest thing.

But, like, again -- the whole chop down an evergreen, drag it in your house, put shit on it? A wholly Christian thing. Like we know it started in 16th century Germany.

But the truth is less narratively satisfying than the myth, so there we go.

[jakubrozalski]

'Caledonian Forest'

" Written by Titus Ursus, Primus pilus of Legiō IX Hispana, in the third year of Hadrian's reign (* 120 AD). This will probably be the last entry in my diary. Our legion was ambushed in the wild realm called Caledonian Forest and was almost completely annihilated. Half of my first cohort is all that was left of the IX legiō. We were pushed into the marsh and we will probably die here, fighting bravely to the end in the name of Rome and the Emperor. We were attacked by a demonic pack of the barbaric Picts. They looked more like wild beasts than humans. Some of them were dressed in animal furs, painted with strange runic signs... others seemed to be two-legged wild beasts. They tore us apart as if we were made of paper! I saw our legatus and my brothers in arms being eaten alive, I will never forget their screams. The barbarians attacked us unnoticed, quickly and with wild fury, then disappeared in the fog. Mainly at night. Our shields, swords and armor were no use here. The enemy we face seems to be the ancient wrath of some dark gods we have awakened. We should never invade these lands. I hear demonic howls, they're coming! They're coming! "

Scrap of the papyrus written by Centurion Titus Ursus. Found in October 120AD in the Caledonian Forest. Taken to Rome, where it was presented to the emperor and then burned. Two years later, Emperor Hadrian ordered the construction of a wall on the border of the land called Caledonia, in north Britannia. Coincidence? I don't think so :)) work process: https://jrozalski.com/projects/Ke94zG

[creature-wizard]

BUT, to be exact and clear: what was called "witchcraft" was a designation from the Christian/Catholics who did not like that the big majority of the healers (herbs and energy work) we done by women. In the Dark Ages, this was a good excuse to get rid by burning alive women (very few men) who dared know more and be successful with medecine! The essence of Patriarchy! They did not burn Witches, they burned Women!

Sorry to have to break it to you, but "witch hunts targeted wise women and healers" is literally bullshit pushed by the Nazis, and "energy work" was not a thing in the "dark ages" (which is not a term used by reputable historians). You seriously need to remediate your history comprehension.

[slava-perunu]

Not to be stereotypical, but I know the gods are good because they gave us mead.

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Just read the descriptions of The Slavic Legends Tarot major arcana and now I have beef with the author.

[zarya-zaryanitsa]

Ok let’s take a look

And I’m ready throw hands already.

What’s with the selective translation? Why not just say wise old woman.

The daughter of whom? Whose daughter?

Also babe, all we know about this deity is the name, how the fuck do you know how they were traditionally depicted in the mythology. We don’t know any of their mythology. This happens a lot in those descriptions btw.

Y’all know my opinion on Dziewanna.

It might be my lack of knowledge on Southern Slavic folklore, so correct me on this one friends but I always thought Sudenice and Rodzanice are the same kind of spirit? But the author chose to treat them as two separate types of entities? Also is Dziewona supposed to be separate from Dziewanna? Who tf is Karmazyna? I’m begging for answers.

Interesting choice of verbs? Kinda random (why „umarzać? did she take me to court or something?). Like not entirely unrelated but it would probably be better to cite something like mór (mass death) or morzyć (to cause to die) or mara (a demon - a mare, a nightmare) or even the core mor/mar in the context of water (a sea or a lake).

Also is she really typically portrayed as an old woman? Is she?

SO IS SHE AN OLD WOMAN OR A YOUNG WOMAN FOR THE LOVE OF ALL GODS HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO TAKE YOU SERIOUSLY

But was he really?

BUT WAS HE REALLY?

Alright *narrows eyes*

[slava-perunu]

There's a meadow of tall grass somewhere a few dozen miles from the town I was raised in. Next to a cold, clear river fed by so many springs, where cedars grow next to the water, tall and kind. I remember fishing there with my grandpa, catching trout, caught in a perfect mix of the warmth from the summer sun and the cool air coming off that cold river. I remember the golden grass swaying in the gentle breeze, a worn old gravel road that you'd always accidentally take a piece of home in your shoe, a weathered sign post with outdated directions barely visible in the cracked wood.

Some days I wonder if the gods care about us. I wonder if they look down on us and love us in something like the way we love them, or maybe in the opposite way we love them. When I ask myself that, I think back to those days and think, they must. They must care about us, because by some cosmic accident or by the guiding hand of the holy powers, we can live in this world and love it, love it for its beauty and its simplicity and its soft sunlight and its swaying grasses and its groves of cedar and the taste of trout fried in butter. And in loving the world we can love its gods.

[xzihilo]

Veles by Kriegerman

[slava-perunu]

I'm remembering a now-deleted post I saw on r/pagan (forgive me, I know) in which the OP proudly produced a holiday (All Serpent's Day) on which to we all were to correct Christians about the Real History of St. Patrick's Day. This went beyond the classic "St. Patrick genocided/forcibly converted all the pagans, that's where the snake story is from" myth and actually invented a group called the Order of the Serpent that Patrick supposedly brutally wiped out.

When asked, the OP directly said that they had made it up.

Don't do that, please.

[creature-wizard]

There's people out there who will be like, "What if Christianity never happened?" and come up with the most fanciful wish fulfillment scenarios instead of actually examining what other spiritual and political trends were popular in the 1st century Greco-Roman world and looking into the histories of countries where Christianity never gained predominance.

[slava-perunu]

This is definitely something I take umbrage with in the greater Pagan community. Too many people seem to base their worldview on the idea that Christianity is this great corruptor that obliterated some society of idyllic forest dwelling ur-Pagan communes, and that those pagans would have achieved total world peace by now if some mustache-twirling caricature hadn't killed them all in order to make way for a spiritual parking lot.

[tendernaiad-deactivated20231220]

when charles schulz said "all you need is love. but a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt" and anthony bourdain said "your body is not a temple, it's an amusement park. enjoy the ride" and mark twain said "part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like." when erma bombeck said "i am not a glutton- i'm an explorer of food," voltaire said "ice-cream is exquisite. what a pity it isn't illegal" and when kurt vonnegut said "you can't just eat good food. you've got to talk about it too. and you've got to talk about it to somebody who understands that kind of food."

[wiisagi-maiingan]

People really think that something can only be appropriation if there's a financial aspect, huh. I know that things like "respect" and "spreading misinformation about other cultures" and "butchering the same traditions that people were arrested and killed for practicing" are less tangible issues than money, but that doesn't make them any less important.

[lesoldatmort]

| PERUN |

The god of thunder and the Slayer of the serpent.

Perun, the most famous god in slavic pantheon. Thanks to many written sources, his iconography is well known, being god of thunder, sky, storms, mountains or even war. Given his popularity, he is woshipped to this very day.

More (folk)lore, info and WIPs of this project on my P/treon.

[lesoldatmort]

| VELES |

The transcendent mage with horned crown who shepherds the dead.

Veles (Volos), most known as the god with head of a cow/bull and the shepherd overlooking the endless pastures of the underworld where the souls peacefully reside.

More (folk)lore, info and WIPs of this project on my P/treon.

[djlechat]

‘The Druids’ by Julia Tar

Bear Paw Armor Cuprum Arm Guard, Indo Persian Islamic Empire Dynasty

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[sabertoothwalrus]

new 0 notes post dropped and it’s the sickest gauntlets I’ve ever seen