“<X> is my favorite deity!”, an anonymous Pagan scrawls on the internet. This has always struck me as an odd statement. I understand where it is coming from, in the same vein as “<Name> is my favorite person”. We play favorites as social animals, and it’s been something that’s been criticized for a long time. It’s in the Bible even – well, one of them (The Message). No, seriously. Check out Proverbs 28:21-22. It’s there. If one were to ask me which one of the pets I have known, or friends I have known, were my absolute favorite, I wouldn’t be able to answer. I’m a person who tries to approach people on their own merits. The people I am friendly with are not…
Anglo-Saxon Heathenry and Roman Polytheism
Posts from the “Roman” Category
Baggage is one of the major topics which I harp on as a cause of major issues with Paganism. In this context “baggage” can run a gamut of incidences: unidentified emotional hangers-on, obvious biases based off of previous interactions or disappointments, or even trauma which needs to be addressed, but nevertheless colors the topic. It largely is considered an emotional response (“emotional baggage”) and there is an implicit assumption that “baggage” is negative. Baggage of all kinds can have an impact on the types of discussions which are had. Paganism is no exception. After all, how could it be? Many people come to Paganism after a less-than-affectionate parting with Christianity, or otherwise have had some previous experiences which color them to the prevalence of…
Allow me to regale you with a tale: Three years ago, now, I was on a tour of one of the many ruined Roman temples in Italy. This particular temple was situated in the sanctuary of Diana Nemorensis, just off the northern shore of Lake Nemi. It rests within the Alban Hills outside Rome, one of the oldest regions of Latin settlements – the region finds representation in the Aeneid, and Aeneas is said to have married a Latin woman named Lavinia, after whom Lavinium was named. Just to put the age of this place into some context. The site is for Diana of Nemi, and had a temple situated within a still-functioning olive grove and associated farm. At the time of my visit,…
A Heathen’s Concern for Germania: Understanding Tacitean Historiographical Problems
Marc
Posted on December 21, 2015
The Germania (De Origine et Situ Germanorum), penned by Cornelius Tacitus in the closing years of the 1st century CE, has been both derided and lauded since its rediscovery in the 15th century. The discovery, coinciding with the humanist movement within the Renaissance [1], saw a reintroduction of Tacitean rhetorical and historiographical content in the West. It is a central work in the so-called “Silver Age of Latin literature”, and the writings which comprise the Germania are well known to both academics and practicing Heathens. Demarcated between two books, it is both a historio-ethnographic as well as a political treatise, that draws on decades of prior Roman knowledge of the region. This book is among the most well known of all of Tacitus’ works,…
Periodically, I get reminded why I am both a bad Cultor, and a poor Heathen [1]. It doesn’t have to do with practice, nor belief in the divine. But it has to do with the underlying philosophies that buttress either, and both. Much of the philosophical claptrap that has been espoused historically by Roman writers I view as just that – claptrap and frivolous intellectualisms that are held aloft by modern practitioners as some kind of grand representation of traditional Romanist ethos. I have little use for Platonic and Neoplatonic spiritualism, which seems to have come to dominate much in the way of philosophical understanding of the time. The divine emanations of the One and ineffable Good through the various facets of reality which…
This piece is going to be a little bit more free-form than my usual, more technical, pieces. I recently received a copy of Marcus Cassius Julianus’ book The Roman Imperial Cult: Emperor Anastasius I – A Practical Manual For the Worship of the Divine Emperor. It is a short read, only 67 pages, and the price point on it was not too offensive, less than ten dollars on Amazon. It is a sturdy book, and its size doesn’t seem to give it any predisposition towards splitting at the binding. The book itself is, quite simply, a how-to guide to approaching the worship of the Divine Emperor Anastasius I, the last Roman Emperor to be deified by decree. While my Roman inclinations are far earlier,…
Another Announcement Following on the wake of my reblog for Heathen Talk, I thought I’d offer up a statement: In an effort to increase my engagement in my religious aspiration(s), I got in contact with Camilla Laurentine about the blog Roman Revivalism and her plans for the site. She and I spoke and, given how she has become more interested in Heathenry, and I am a Heathen that dabbles in the religio of the Romans, I offered my words and letters to her blog as an author. She has accepted me as a co-writer of Roman Revivalism, where I will be writing as Marcus Arminius. I will be writing Heathen-inspired Roman views (much to the disgust of my mono-cultural detractors, you know who you…
Accessibility, Technical Jargon, and Anti-Intellectualism Within Contemporary Paganism
Marc
Posted on June 13, 2015
Of late there have been a few topics of concern within online Paganism, namely: concepts of religious accessibility, the use of technical jargon, and the prevalence of a claims of anti-intellectualism or academic elitism. I’m quite obviously part of a very small slice of the Pagan blogosphere, and what I experience is limited. However, it is enough to make me wonder whether or not there are some issues which will come to a greater head in future years. The various expressions of contemporary polytheist practice, whether we are dealing with reconstructionist polytheisms or revivalist polytheisms, invariably place an important emphasis on historical authenticity, and on connections with the past. This post was preempted by a dialogue which arose within one of the Roman groups…
1. Kneeling before | a ladle of wisdom, Bright mead-mind, | betwixt deepest Ash-roots, A past revealed | and laid long low of men’s old words | and forgotten mind magics. 2. To me Mind-Madness spoke | through the mists “Long I traveled | Wanderer and Seeker alike Fire-hair at my side | though often apart in company hungry for knowledge | life’s blood aspired. 3. Through forest and bough | of old, black wood Long we wandered, | until a folk we came, Residing in groves | that had become hallowed, Whether by our resting, | or passing through.” 4. Alone was I | yet not alone, A hearth alight, | embered and crackling Heart-Fire roared, | “A new people…
Categories: Creativities, Generalist Paganism, Northern Tradition, Not-Quite-Poetic, Polytheism, Roman
One of the benefits that I’ve recently come across and this is perhaps better known to other practitioners is that, while Heathenry has certain (many) historical deficiencies, Religio Romana and Roman Reconstructionism most certainly does not. The extant writings that we have for historic reconstruction about pagan pre-Christian Germanic peoples are more broadly categorized under a proto-historical narrative – the writings were written about the German tribal practices from the perspective of non-Germans. By the time the Germanic tribes (later kingdoms) began to write about their own histories, they were already heavily Christianized. Roman ethnographies and histories of non-Romans were the result of personal involvement of the author within Roman affairs. Authors often interjected numerous virtues and incidences of romanitas (“Romanness”) on to the…
Categories: Northern Tradition, Not-Quite-Northern, Polytheism, Roman, Shrines and Holy Places, Theology, Thoughts
Of Axe and Plough 