Future Paganism

Among Westerners there is an erroneous belief that Paganism must necessarily involve revival of archaic aesthetics, or historical modes of being. But nothing could be further from the truth, because globally, all pagan religions constantly integrate new technologies and cultural tendencies into their religious practices and always have done, because they are not calcified by a dated text.
 

Latvians and other Balts, the last IE pagans of Europe, still practised paganism when tobacco was introduced from the Americas and so there is a Māte “Mother” of tobacco, among the numerous Mother spirits worshipped.In Thailand, strawberry flavoured Fanta "nam daeng" is the preferred offering for spirits at spirit houses, because of the auspicious qualities of red liquid inherited from older traditions of blood sacrifice. Mae Ya Nang, an old boat spirit, now serves as the patron goddess of modern vehicles, including cars and aeroplanes.

In Japan, it is acceptable to make offerings of beer cans and cigarettes at certain Shinto shrines. Vending machines sell omamori, magical protective amulets, while other vending machines near shrines can contain animatronic “shrine maiden” robots which dispense fortunes. They even built a robot called Buddharoid which can pray to Buddha.

Raijin, the Japanese storm god, is informally associated, not only with thunder and lightning, but now more broadly with electricity itself. The exact same thing happened in West Africa, where Shango, the Yoruba Orisha of thunder, lightning and justice, has metaphorical links with electrical power. Why shouldn’t Thor have these associations too?

Inari Okami, a Shinto god of agriculture, fertility and prosperity is now associated not merely with harvests but with contemporary sources of prosperity; business, commerce etc. Why shouldn’t Ingui Frey be associated with the stock market or crypto?

Japanese Yōkai spirits can embody contemporary social concerns eg. there are now decontamination yōkai that "lick away" radioactive waste. What spirits should we invoke in regards to our concerns about pollution, mass immigration, over-population etc?


 

In Taiwan the war god Lord Red Flag (Hongqi Gong) or figures under the Star of Fiery Virtue (Huode Xingjun, god of fire) are depicted with rifles rather than ancient weaponry. Why can’t our gods have guns too?

I have been accused by ignorant detractors of wanting to “go back” to some former time in history, or that my religious beliefs are an atavistic indulgence which ignores the reality of the modern world. In reality, paganism is the only religion which can be truly modern. It is the only one which constantly adapts and integrates the changing material reality with our conception of timeless metaphysical truth. 

 

See my 2022 speech in London at the Pagan Futures conference for more in regards to my views about how the question of technology and transhumanism must be approached by pagans

Is UK Society anti-Pagan? The Future of Polytheism in Britain

First published in WhyNow magazine 11th May 2022

It is estimated there are now over 250,000 pagans in the UK, in addition to a similar number of Hindus, who, like pagans, worship many gods. This summer the latest census results are due to be published and it is expected there will be a significantly greater number of pagans than in any previous year. The growth of pagan religions in the UK over the 20th and 21st centuries has been accompanied by an overall decline in religiosity, and a growing tolerance of religious diversity. The Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed in 1951 and common law offences relating to blasphemy were abolished in England and Wales in 2008 and in Scotland as recently as 2021. In light of these developments, it would seem Paganism is now just another faith among the diverse religions practised in modern Britain, but closer analysis reveals that ancient prejudices against traditional polytheistic religions still result in exclusionary language and policies from powerful institutions, even those which claim to promote diversity and interfaith dialogue.

Transnational organisations like the United Nations present themselves as representing the values of a “global humanity”, yet that organisation was founded by Westerners on a specific set of uniquely Western (and therefore Christian) values which they are attempting to impose on the world. While they condemn the old colonial European powers, they are in fact the natural continuation of them. The ancient Indian custom of Sati (ritual suicide of widows) appalled European colonists so it was banned by French, Dutch, Portuguese and British administrators who viewed it through a Christian moral lens. This is hardly different from the UN crusades against other religious customs which are unpalatable to Western tastes such as female circumcision and child marriage. The British government generally conforms to the same values as the UN and so we can see the notion of “religious freedom” is applied selectively both here and abroad.

The author Tom Holland has demonstrated in his book Dominion that the values of the modern West, even when it professes atheism and humanism, are rooted in Christianity. The idea of a global humanity exists in the Bible with the myth of the common ancestors Adam and Eve. The metaphorical description of time as a kind of space, through which one “progresses” becomes possible only with the invention of linear history and the “year 0” of Christ’s birth. Among traditional religious groups such as Hindus and European pagans, time is regarded as cyclical, so for them it is merely an abstraction to speak of “progress”. Yet unshakeable faith in progress is the defining belief system of the modern West and of global powers in general. This faith, looking ever forward to salvation in a future governed by ‘reason’ and furnished with the marvels of technological innovation, has inevitably become affiliated with the rather flimsy but popular philosophy of transhumanism.

Transhumanism has recently been promoted by the UN affiliated World Economic Forum and by UN promoted author Yuvel Harari. This is nothing new for the UN though - way back in 1957, the first director of UNESCO, Julian Huxley, expressed his desire to reject old superstitions and make way for a new belief he called "transhumanism". Its adherents assert that mankind is “limited” and that these limitations need to be overcome through technology. Just as Christ was said to have “conquered death”, some transhumanists see death as undesirable and unnecessary - an obstacle to be overcome through technology. Yet unlike Christians they do not believe in an immaterial, transcendent realm or God. The early Christian Gnostics asserted that this natural world is evil and that we must instead seek unification with God in the next world. Similarly, many transhumanists anticipate the emergence of a super artificial intelligence which shall surpass man, an event called the technological singularity, and that man may unify with this posthuman intelligence in a man-made realm of pure data - the materialist heaven. Feminist author Mary Harrington has coined the term “fully automated luxury Gnosticism” to describe the goals of certain very-online technophiles with an aversion to the natural world. This Messianic anticipation is also connected to the idea of the “posthuman” - the alleged next stage of non-biological human evolution (progress). This is no fringe cult. It is a hugely influential belief system promoted by the most powerful organisations on Earth. It is poised to become a global religion - a desirable outcome according to UN Assistant Secretary-General Robert Muller, “the philosopher of the United Nations'' who said the world’s religions must “globalize themselves” so they can “give birth to the first global, cosmic, universal civilization.”

Pagan thinkers like the Neoplatonist Iamblichus rejected Gnostic beliefs entirely, instead asserting that the material world is divine - existing within the divine. Most modern pagans also regard the natural world as holy. Hinduism and European forms of paganism revere death - some believe that in death you unite with ancestors, others that you are purified in the underworld so that you can be reincarnated. Death is itself deified as various gods of the underworld like Hela, Hades and Yama. As it says in the Atharva Veda “Praise to that Yama; praise to Death!” Whether you seek freedom from samsara, rebirth as a descendant or unification with the divine, death is essential and desirable. 

Another part of what defines pagan religions is their regional and temporal character - gods are worshipped because they are the gods of our ancestors, and rites are observed in sympathy with the cycles of the natural world. We cannot decouple paganism from the natural world - nor can paganisms be integrated into a global religion without ceasing to be pagan since they are defined by their regional and ethnic character.

So pagans are justifiably concerned about the rhetoric echoing from the halls of power which marginalises them, while claiming to represent them. That’s why we are coming together in London on the 25th of June 2022 for the Pagan Futures conference. The speakers are myself, Tom Rowsell, a practising pagan of 13 years, known for my YouTube channel Survive the Jive, and Dr. Borja Vilallonga, also a pagan and a scholar of history and religion previously at Columbia University, New York University, and the University of Newcastle. There will also be a live musical performance from the pagan folk artist Wolcensmen and a Q&A session during which the audience will be able to ask us about the pressing issues regarding the future of paganism in an increasingly anti-pagan, neo-Gnostic world.

PAGAN FUTURES - Talks, photos and Key points

The playlist below contains the talks of Dr. Borja Vilallonga and myself, Tom Rowsell, as well as the live musical performances by Wolcensmen and the Q and A panel session with the three of us interacting with the audience.

Several people have requested that I post the summary of the core assertions of pagan belief from the talk as text for people to refer to. To reiterate them simply; 

• We revere nature as a path to the divine and therefore require access to sacred natural spaces 
• We revere death as a path to the divine and therefore reject any ideology that seeks to escape death
• We revere our bodies as a gift from the gods - which were created according to divine will and are therefore neither incomplete nor imperfect - but must be maintained and kept healthy and strong 
• We believe that the diversity of mankind is a manifestation of divine will, not a problem to be overcome - and that to approach the divine we must follow the example of our own ancestors, revering the sacred spaces of our own ancestral homelands in order to become closer to the gods of our ancestors
• We must therefore live in accordance with our own ancestral laws and customs

My talk "Pagan Tradition in a Globalized Future" is also available on Odysee and several podcasting websites.

HAIL DEATH! Why death is not to be feared

 

 This video is a little teaser regarding the topic of death in advance of my documentary about Indo-European beliefs concerning the afterlife and cosmology. It is also something for everyone to consider before attending the PAGAN FUTURES conference on the 25th June

JIVE TALK: Paganism vs Transhumanism