On the Ancient Syncretic Cults of Greece and Rome of the 1st Century and the Modern Pagan Revival.

Throughout the centuries, and up to the present day, there has been much Christian church propaganda that goes against all objective research and academic knowledge about the Pagan world during at the beginning of the Common Era.  One of the major misconceptions of the 1st Century CE, was that it was a time of atheism and decadence, especially in the Roman Empire, but actual research and the writings of historians and philosophers of the time reveal that not only was religion thriving, but was syncretizing itself in many different forms with influence from varying cultures with the revival of magick and mysticism at the forefront.  All across the Hellenistic world and in the Roman Empire, various cults were at near their peak, including those of the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Orphic Cults, the Dionysian Cults, the Isis Cults, the experimental mysticism of the Hermetic Tradition and Gnosticism along with the Roman Martial Cult of Mithras which was imported from Persia. 

               A competitor of Christ in the 1st century CE, an actual person rather than a composite myth, was the philosopher and mystic Apollonius of Tyana.  He was considered one of the most well-learned Adepts and philosophers of his time.  People even attributed miracles to him.   His travels to India were well documented.  It is of my opinion that Gnostic texts such as “Hymn of the Pearl” which speaks of Jude Thomas’ voyage to India are actually stories of Apollonius. 

               The Christian religion only took over the West because of Constantine.  This was a mind-virus, much like the theory of Intersectionality that is currently taking over the West as the Christian religion recedes.  Islam is another Universalist religion that is unfortunately making inroads in the West, often assisted by the Intersectionalists.  We can look to the fall of Rome by overreach and the intrusion of foreign cults as a warning as to what the West is currently experiencing. 

               In the Nordic-Germanic world, religion was also at its height.  Often dismissed as “barbaric,” the cosmology of the Northern religions was quite complex, with a written language, the runes, which also acted as magickal ciphers.  Christians continue to falsely accuse this culture of wanton human sacrifice of the innocents, including children.  The ancient tribes sacrificed outlaws, criminals, and slaves from conquered enemies.  They did not do it in the extremities of the Aztec Empire (which itself was a collapsing civilization with a half-remembered and misunderstood primordial religion.)  Human sacrifice was a form of Capital Punishment.  Occasionally a stillborn, dying diabetic, or extremely deformed baby would be left for the gods.  We can look back with our modern morality in disgust at this practice, but we must look at the Christian church, which until the Enlightenment and even after the American Revolution would execute people for a slight difference in theology.  for 1500 years, Catholics burned Heretics, slaughtered the Cathars, tortured people, burned and imprisoned people in the Spanish Inquisition, and in America people were executed in the witch trials while Mormons were hunted down and massacred for daring to have another Bible and raising the ire of the Protestants.

               The ancient European Pagan world did not have the same attitude towards heresy, as long as you did not directly insult the gods.  The Roman world viewed the Zoroastrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Nordic-Germanic gods as all of the same religion originating from a primordial source.  Abrahamism is built upon monotheism, different from the Monism of Plato who viewed all the gods and goddesses as emanations of the demiurge known as the One.   The Judaic and Christian religions view the gods of other religions as being false gods, idols, and/or demons.  They insist that YHVH is the “True God” and that the gods of the gentiles are evil.   The Abrahamic cults spread by being adopted by the elites and enforced top down.  The word “pagan” comes from “paganus” which is a derogatory term for “farmer” or “peasant.”  This put-down was used by the elites at the time, much like the word “deplorables” is used by the elite political class in America to mock rural people and conservatives for not submitting to their agenda. 

               The eclectic religion of the Roman world can be seen as a blueprint in reviving the ancient Pagan Mysteries in the modern West.  The Hermetic Tradition, which was a composite of the ancient mysteries of Thoth in Egypt and the Hellenistic religion, has seen its revival over the last few centuries in Rosicrucianism, Freemasonry, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, Theosophy, Thelema, and in the works of various writers such as Rudolf Steiner, Julius Evola, and Rene Guenon.  Modern occult currents such as Chaos Magick explicitly call for an eclectic approach to occultism and Hermeticism, allowing the Adept to appropriate techniques from different Traditions.  In my estimation, Typhonian Thelema is the most viable Path in our degraded modern world for the revival of the ancient Pagan Mysteries. 

               We are coming to the end of a cycle with the beginning of another.  In the Aeon of Horus-Ma’at, experimentation returns to religion and occultism.  The ancient Pagans did not stifle themselves with the rigid theology and rules that the Christian, Muslim, and Jewish religions place upon the adherent.  In Islam and Christianity there is no mystical attainment.  This exists in the form of Qabalah in Jewish Mysticism.   The occult practice of Qabalah can be appropriated by Pagans as it offers the most accessible path to attainment in the Western Tradition.  There is also a Greek and Chaldean Qabalah which the Jewish Qabalah is influenced by.  A similar Tradition exists in the North in the form of the Yggdrasil Tree and the Elder Futhark. 

               The Pagan Revival in the West must be syncretic and based on revelation and a direct experience with the gods.  Dogma is a barrier to this goal.  It is perfectly fine to switch back and forth between Nordic and Egyptian godforms as an example, as long as one understands the attributes of the gods and goddesses and the correspondences between systems. 

               Christian monotheism and its Universalist nature as divorced the Westerner from his/her gods and has stifled mysticism.  A sense of ennui has overtaken our culture and people are looking for spiritual nourishment.  Unfortunately, the only options in the West for spirituality are Christianity, Islam, and Atheism.  This is not sustainable.  Christian revivals come and go, but what is left is spiritual emptiness.   Religion and ethnicity are irrevocably intertwined.  This is why Jews tend to be more successful is that their religion provides community and a sense of cultural unity.  Christianity and Islam are Universalist and subsume and homogenize cultures. 

               Typhonian Thelema allows for experimentation.   It allows the individual to utilize the techniques of Chaos Magick to create syncretic systems from different Traditions.  This experimentation allows the individual to self-initiate and attain the wisdom of the Higher Realms without the hierarchy of any Lodge that is stuck in Osirian ways of thinking.  Exploring the ancient Hellenist and Roman syncretic cults will help the Adept construct a workable system of Pagan Occult Initiation for the new Aeon.