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Image result for durga

Every modern pagan thinks from time to time what it would be like to live in a pagan country. Few, if any, of us will ever get to find out.

But that doesn't stop us from wondering.

Here's one thing that I can tell you for sure about our Paganistan of the future: there will be movies about the gods.

 

That's how it is in India. (“Hinduism,” of course, isn't pagan—it stopped being pagan back in the Upanishadic period when it became world-denying—but there's no denying that it's remained truer to its pagan roots than any of the other Big Box religions.) There's even a specific Bollywood genre called the Theologicals: films about gods.

They're great. Back in the 80s a friend and I would regularly rent them from our local Indian grocery. ("Oh, you like the religious ones," the owner would say, nodding his head.) Now, you might think it challenging to watch an unsubtitled 3½ hour film in a language that you don't understand. So it is, but—Theologicals being Theologicals—the genre is formulaic enough that, watched sympathetically, it's easier than you might think to figure out what's going on. Pretty much all of them, after all, have the same premise: Stick with your god/goddess, and he/she will see you through.

Really, there are worse premises.

Let me tell you the story of one such. At this remove of time, I can no longer remember the title of the film or even the name of the heroine, but this much I can tell you: she loved Durga, and Durga loved her.

 

Theological

 

There was once a poor family with two sons: the elder industrious and good, the younger lazy and bad. The younger had not yet married, but the elder son's wife—an orphan, and our heroine—was a pious worshiper of Durga, India's tiger-riding warrior goddess.

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  • Aline "Macha" O'Brien
    Aline "Macha" O'Brien says #
    Jai Ma! Oh, how I miss our Kali pujas. I remember a dinner with friends in Paganistan many years ago where we screened a theolog

Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Making the Gods a Priority

When's the last time that you went out of your way for the gods?

Hospitality, Courage, Generosity: even in our times of political incivility and social dissolution, we find these ancestral virtues admirable.

Piety, not so much.

Piety: making the gods a priority in your life.

Piety is a little-valued virtue in our day. When you look at the way that many supposedly pious people act, one can certainly see why we've come to view piety as ostentatious, restrictive hyper-religiosity.

But the ancestors felt differently. For them, piety was among the foremost of virtues.

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Posted by on in Paths Blogs
Unpacking Piety

Do ut des means “I give so that you may give.” It is one of the defining points of Roman polytheism, and it is the most important. It is in these 3 Latin words that we can lay out how the Romans viewed their Gods. It is in these 3 Latin words that we can lay out a different approach than what we likely grew up with in regard to relationships with the Gods and society as a whole.

Ask someone in the Pagan community about Roman polytheism and you will regularly hear that it was contractual to the point of lifelessness. Actually, ask a lot of Roman polytheists the same, and they will repeat that statement as well, preferring to take the outdated tone of early scholars of the Roman religion, who regularly were Christian and carrying on a long tradition of upholding their perceived superiority through biased writing and opinion.

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Posted by on in Culture Blogs
Piety and Distance

My shrine is gathering dust right now.  

My regular practice has been on hold for weeks, when a combination of life factors (including a series of shootings in my neighborhood) conspired to knock me off-balance in ways that initially manifested as severe anxiety and significant social withdrawal, and has so far resolved into a combination of fragile self-maintenance and insomnia.  

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  • Ci Cyfarth
    Ci Cyfarth says #
    I have been thinking about this. I don't work Hellenic, but there are certain similarities here and there. There may be reluct
  • Terence P Ward
    Terence P Ward says #
    For the basics I would recommend Kharis: Hellenic Polytheism Explored, which has a good section on the subject. I'm told that th
  • Terence P Ward
    Terence P Ward says #
    In a Hellenic context, I would characterize this is miasma and agree that the gods don't want your devotion until you're able to p
  • Ted Czukor
    Ted Czukor says #
    Absolutely right. Years ago, a Hindu guru told me that we shouldn't try to meditate when we are in mourning, because the negative
Another Question on Piety from a Reader

 

In response to my call for questions, Trine asked me the following: 

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  • Galina Krasskova
    Galina Krasskova says #
    That's a brilliant question and I want to take a little while to think about it. I'll answer to the best of my ability but it may
  • Amarfa
    Amarfa says #
    I have a question: If there's such a thing as pagan piety, is there such a thing as pagan sacrelige, and what form would it take?
  • Galina Krasskova
    Galina Krasskova says #
    I had to sit with this for a few long moments before responding because I was having a strong emotional response to the use of the
  • Galina Krasskova
    Galina Krasskova says #
    Hi Tannim, no, i don't think so. Not at all. Piety is an attitude that infiltrates everything, that dominates the way you engage
  • Tannim Wolfkin
    Tannim Wolfkin says #
    Here is a newbie question that I get all the time but would like your take on it as well. Does one have to observe all the various

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