Paganism is our native religion

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What about you?

1. Are you a Slav by location as well as ancestry? In other words, are you somewhere in Eastern Europe? (I'm in Virginia, but I speak speak Russian with the bare minimum of fluency. I haven't used it much for a few years.)

2. Have you ever read Slavic Sorcery: A Shamanic Journey by Kenneth Johnson? If so, what did you think of it?

1. I'm a Slav by location (Ukraine) and my ancestors were Poles, Ukrainians and Lithuanians.
2. I haven't read this book, but you got me interested in it. I'd read it with pleasure.

Like most of us here, my personal search for Truth is ongoing. I happen to be on the Christian path, but I believe all paths converge at the mountaintop, so to speak. My ancestors are of little importance to me. FWIW, my ancestors were Netherlanders. They say God made the earth but the Dutch made Holland.

That would be pretty ridiculous, unless you clarify what you mean by white men (either way, I thought much came from the east).

I find the whole ethnic/color classification to be utterly stupid and flawed. Not all white people look white, but they're still labeled white. A person that has part african blood is considered black, there is distinctions between hispanics and whites even if they are white. Jews, Arabs, berbers, and Iranians are labeled whites but how many of them do you see in White Pride parades? I've met whiter east asians than "whites".

About my ancestors I wouldn't know much about them. My bloodline I'm sure comes from all around the world. If it wasn't for my dark skin (brown not black mind you although I might have some african ancestry--saharan/subsaharan) I'd probably blend in most places. Frankly, I couldn't care less about nationalism, ancestries, etc. it's unimportant to me. I'm not that proud of my ancestors who sacrificed animals and people to appease some forrest or dessert god that spoke to them. Nor can I venerate some soldiers/warriors who killed and slaughtered thousands, converting the remaining into slavery.

Like the people who perform ancestor worship, leaving food for the rats to eat while their own parents and elders go hungry. I find it pointless and laughable.

I can see how people might feel proud of their ancestors, and the notion that without them the descendant wouldn't be here. I take this even further, without God my ancestors wouldn't have been here. The people adapt and move on. The conception of God might change, but God itself does not. I respect my ancestors, but I do not bow before them.

I should add that I like the mythologies and legends of pagan religions. The way they personify the elements it's a good escape from the mundane world we are living in today.



Thou didst raise the outcast from the depths and gavest fame unto the halt and blind. Worthy of lauds art thou.

So back to the American track:
I am a mongrel. In America, or at least, in Iowa, mixed marriages are very very rare, especially with a black woman and white man. I am the offspring of such a marriage. Mom is Jamaican, Dad's family is Canadian. I have Jamaican, American, Canadian, Iroquois, Arawak, Scottish, English, Welsh, and Irish blood. And that's just going back about 6 generations. If I go back further, there's much more. So a blood religion doesn't really make sense to a mutt like myself.

I can't say I observe the 'old ways.' I forge my own path. I have rejected my Christian upbringing, and am much closer to my mother's syncretic religion than Dad's Presbyterianism. I call myself pagan because I don't know what else to call myself. I think we need to really define our terms. What do we mean by paganism, shamanism, mysticism, animism, and such?

I do not honor (read practice) the ways of my ancestors, as my recent ancestors have all been Christian. As I follow my own path, I suppose I don't really do anything like my ancestors, recent or distant. Is it really important to do as our ancestors did? I love researching the old ideas, especially those practiced by my ancestors, but I think it is more valuable to investigate the world yourself. Learn about the old religions, and choose for yourself.

I don't think the elements were personified as gods to escape boredom. Maybe to put a friendly face on the unknown?

Feel who you are in your heart it's really good that you FOLLOW YOUR OWN PATH, there are very few people who can say this. But if what your ancestors did is close to you, then why not doing it too?

Learn about the old religions, and choose for yourself. - good words, I wish some of those who talked too much here would learn them. Because it seems that it's more important for them to say the more words they can in a moment. Thank you all who supported me and took part in discussion in a friendly way. We've just been trying to spend time in an interesting conversation.
Signing off now.

nope. there is no such thing as religion...only an inability to comprehend the things around us that leads people to deify what they don't understand.

You won't even acknowledge that religion exists? That's hard-core, man. That's hard-core atheism. Actually, you've gone beyond atheism into misotheism.

Truly hard-core.

+1!

i'm acknowledging our biological mechanisms. you deify them.

I also acknowledge our biological mechanisms. The human body is a fascinating creation.

And that's all I'll say about that ...

"creation"

What is the meaning of "native" in this context?