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Posted by on in Culture Blogs

 File:Put ratnika by Andrey Shishkin.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

In Andrei Shishkin's neo-Romantic painting Put' Ratnika, “The Way of the Warrior,” a youthful blonde soldier in camo fatigues, with backpack and a machine gun slung over his shoulder, stands on the edge of a stone circle gazing—respectfully, one gathers, to judge from his removed helmet—upon the statue-menhir of an ancient Slavic god.

The god is himself a warrior, with helm and sword. Before him burns a sacrificial fire; behind him, a cloudy army rides across the sky.

 

As Mariya Lesiv describes in her 2013 book The Return of Ancestral Gods, contemporary paganism in post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine tends to be characterized by both a profound social conservatism and a pronounced nationalistic character. In the ongoing Russian-backed war in Donbas—the two break-away provinces in south-eastern Ukraine where fighting has continued since 2014—there has been a noteworthy pagan presence on both sides of the conflict, including one all-pagan battalion named for Svarog, the ancient pan-Slavic god of Fire. To judge from the kolovrat patch on his shoulder, Shishkin's soldier may be a member of one such. Perhaps we are to understand that it is he who has lit the sacrificial fire.

If Russian President Vladimir Putin goes through with his proposed invasion and annexation of Ukraine, we can be sure that there will be pagans fighting among both the invading and the defending forces.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
The Mystery of the Golden Goddess

Many are the mysteries of the Russian land.

But of these, none is greater than the mystery of the golden goddess.

They say that long ago in a sacred grove on the banks of the Volga was kept a golden goddess.

Far and wide spread the fame of this golden goddess, and from far and wide did people came to see this wonder, and to offer to her.

And this was the manner of their offering: that they would hang all manner of gold from the branches of her grove.

And when the priests who tended this goddess had gathered to themselves sufficient offerings, they would melt them down and make from them yet another goddess around the first, the former enclosing the latter.

In this way, the golden goddess grew ever greater down the years, goddess within goddess within goddess, and with her grew her fame.

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Pagan News Beagle: Fiery Tuesday, May 16 2017

Violence against a religious and ethnic minority in Southeast Asia. A major city in the Caucasus gets a plan for revitalization. And a horrific story out of Chechnya in southern Russia. These are some of this week's news for Fiery Tuesday, our segment about political and societal news from around the globe. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle.

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Pagan News Beagle: Fiery Tuesday, February 21 2017

A Ghanaian musician and witch talks about social change. Syrian peace talks in Kazakhstan are underway. And a disheartening wave of anti-Semitic attacks and threats sweep the United States. It's Fiery Tuesday, our segment on political and societal news from around the globe. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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Pagan News Beagle: Fiery Tuesday, March 29

We remember a momentous event in Irish history. The international community turns its scrutiny on the disappearance of five booksellers in Hong Kong. And the role of Muslims in Western media is examined. It's Fiery Tuesday, our weekly segment on political and societal news from around the world! All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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Pagan News Beagle: Fiery Tuesday, March 8

What does the government's order of Apple in the San Bernardino case entail? The authoritarian histories of East Asia are reviewed. And we discuss the importance of standing up to our culture's skepticism towards rape claims. It's Fiery Tuesday, our weekly segment on political and societal news from around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!

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