Pagan Journey

Some of the most prominent philosophers of the late pagan era of ancient history were also the composers of beautiful hymns, devotional poetry to the old Greek and Roman gods. This tradition of pagan hymn-writing goes back to the earliest times, and we even have a collection of hymns supposedly written by the poet Homer himself. Other hymns were said to have been composed by the legendary Orpheus, but were probably actually written for use by the Orphic religious sect.

 

The later hymns by the philosophers include examples by Julian the Apostate (the last pagan emperor), Sallust, and the Neoplatonist Proclus. Because Proclus was an advocate of theurgy (the use of ritual magic to enter mystical states and achieve enlightenment), some scholars believe that the Proclean hymns may even have been used in magical rituals. It is possible that the recitation of the Proclean hymns was supposed to function something like a mantra, focusing the mind of the worshipper and making it easier for him or her to enter an altered state and contact the gods.

 

Whether or not the Proclean hymns were ever used this way in ancient times, it should certainly be possible for modern pagans to use them for meditative or theurgic purposes. Translations of these hymns are not widely available, but they can be found. Sometimes the translations are accompanied by scholarly commentary, which can be both interesting and useful for the worshiper who really wants to understand them in depth. They could also be used as liturgy by Hellenic pagans.

 

 

Agora is a new movie about the pagan philosopher and martyr Hypatia, who was murdered by a mob of Christians in the latter days of the Roman Empire. Hypatia is sometimes taken as a martyr of science and thus a hero for atheists, but in reality she was a deeply religious person. Specifically, she was a Neoplatonist, which was a powerful late pagan philosophical and mystical movement. None of her writings have survived, but she was universally considered to be an important philosopher.

The city of Alexandria in Roman Egypt was a hotbed of rival religions, mystical sects and philosophical schools. Gnosticism was born there, as was Neoplatonism, and Christianity absorbed a lot from both movements. However, all of Alexandria's rival religious factions were violently antagonistic to each other, and the struggle for spiritual supremacy was often mixed up with local political rivalries. Hypatia, as an influential figure in the pagan community, was in it up to her neck.

 

At some point she made too many enemies, and they managed to get the mob riled up against her. The result was her murder, the most famous example of pagan martyrdom in the ancient world. Apparently the Church has been complaining about the movie because it portrays Christians as a bloodthirsty mob of intolerant fanatics. Such a sweeping generalization would not be fair, but the facts are the facts. Hypatia was in fact murdered by a fanatical mob and they were in fact Christians. Hypatia's story deserves to be told.

 

 

 

Some neopagans would prefer to believe that human sacrifice was never a part of ancient paganism, but of course it actually was. The archeological, historical and literary records provide far too much evidence of this for any reasonable person to doubt it. Some cultures practiced human sacrifice as an occasional ritual act of great power, an exchange between humanity and the world of the divine in which a thing of great value (a human life) is offered up in anticipation of a great reward. Other cultures practiced human sacrifice on a massive scale, slaughtering hundreds of victims at a single ceremony. These acts are repugnant to us today, and with good reason.

On the other hand, the callous violence of human sacrifice is by no means a feature unique to ancient paganism. What about the auto-da-fe, the central public ritual of the Spanish Inquisition, in which “heretics” were forced to publicly confess before massive crowds before being burned alive? If this is not a human sacrifice, the distinction is an academic one.

 

The ancient Romans professed to be horrified by the Gaulish practice of human sacrifice, but they also threw people to the lions for public entertainment. Modern atheists would see human sacrifice as one of the evils of religion and superstition, but atheist totalitarian regimes murdered millions of people in the name of ideology, so what's the difference?

 

The practice of human sacrifice in ancient paganism should not be denied, because it's a historical fact. But it also shouldn't be blamed on pagan religious ideas- whether pagan, Christian, atheist or anything else, humans still have a lot to learn!

 

 

Anyone who has ever been part of a small group knows that such groups are often vulnerable to being derailed by people with issues. This applies to every type of small group, from political activist organizations to pagan circles. It may even be more common among pagans, though, because the nature of pagan religion is such that it is more likely to appeal to people that see themselves as outsiders. That isn't a bad thing, but while some people are outsiders because of their unorthodox opinions, other people are outsiders because they just plain can't get along with other people.

The specific issues vary, but they all have one thing in common- drama. One person creates it, everyone else has to deal with it. There's a useful article on this topic at the the ADF website, called “weeding the garden.” It might not be very nice to think of certain people as being like weeds, but the analogy is a valid one. When a single member of the group is ruining the experience for everyone else, that person has to go.

 

Of course, you don't want to jump to that conclusion, and nor should you. But once you start losing other members because of the actions of a single person, you have to ask yourself- is it more important for us to keep this one person at the expense of everyone else, or do we need to lose this one person for the sake of everyone else?

 

According to the article, the biggest mistake you can make is to explain yourself to the person in question, because they will use that as an opportunity to debate the issue with you in detail. Instead, you should just let them know that they aren't a good fit with the group, you wish them well, but that's that.