Arken

I've wondered this for a long time now and I've never found any data either way. Are there any adherents left (even ones who have revived the belief system) to the Greek/Roman or Norse Pantheons? I know that a lot of Mesoamerican religions are still practiced, usually somewhat corrupted by Christianity, but what about their European polytheistic counterparts? Are there any people around today who seriously worship those gods?

Aquila ka Hecate

Hello Arken,

Well the answer to your question would seem to be 'yes'.

The Greek and Roman pantheons are worshipped today by revivalist pagan practitioners (hello OJuice....he's around here somewhere and worships in the Roman pantheon I believe).

The Norse pantheon is likewise still recognised by the very vital Asatru pagans.

What I find fascinating is that the Greek deities are still worshipped-as a continuous tradition by some folk in Pakistan, called Kalas,who've been largely left out of the march of civilisation.
Here's some pics (thanks Frenchy):

http://tftb.com/deify/kalaspics.htm

Anyway I guess you'll get more detailed replies from the not-inconsiderably-educated pagans we have around the place!

andy_d

I believe the Norse revivalists call their faith Asatru, don't they?

EDIT: Whoops, bit of an echo in here, isn't there?

Arken

Fascinating. Thanks for this informational tidbit and all the rest. I had assumed that some neo-pagans probably revived it all but one has to wonder if it is more a revival because it is 'cool' or because they actually believe in the pantheons. The Kalas are a people I will definitely have to study more as the whole idea is extremely interesting to me.

Calzaer

Arken:

An interesting note is that the Asatru hate being called "pagan" or "neo-pagan". They're strict reconstructionalists; they actually believe in Frigga and Tyr and Odin et al, and despise being lumped in with the "Every god is one god" crowd that is prevalent in the neo-pagan community. They prefer to be called "heathens", or, if you can pronounce it, "Asatru".

There are some Greek and Roman reconstructionalists who feel the same way, but they're not at all as common.

Arken

Huh. Well I realize this is probably an unanswerable question, but what would bring someone to the belief, growing up in our mostly-monotheistic world, that there were a pantheon of god and that the Norse or the Greeks and Romans were correct about them? Does anyone have any theories on how someone's beliefs could be changed so radically?

emotional

Oh, that's easy. OJuice, our local Roman polytheist, outlined it thus: when you consider that monotheism (the Bible) and polytheism (the Odyssey etc) are on an equal footing by being based on mythology - and that's what atheists always keep saying - then you lay aside the old canard that somehow "monotheism is more advanced than polytheism", and you examine polytheism with a more impartial eye.

On one Asatru apologetics site (yes, there is such a thing!) I found out the reasoning that "the truth is multi-faceted, therefore there are many gods". It seems as valid as any other belief. Myself, I'm a monotheist believer, but that's mainly because my personal background is Judaism.

If you ask our local polytheists why they believe, they would usually respond that they've been in contact with their deities. OJuice says he's been in contact with Postverta, Roman Goddess of the Past. Kassiana says she's been invited by the Lady Isis.

azidhak

The problem with Åsatru is that much of that faith have been used very much by neo-nazis and former satanists at least here in Norway and even more in Sweden. Some of you may have heard about the infamous Black Metal-murder in Oslo in 1993(?) Well greven (aka the Count, Count Grisnakh, Burzum) was the one who commited that murder, changed name from Christian(!) to Varg and began writing nationalistic Åsatru-metal. The worst of the lot is probably Vigrid. Vigrid is a militant nationalistic and racist organization where the leader sees himself as the incarnate son of Odin. What really pisses me off is that soon we have no national symbols left that those BASTARDS havn't exploited.
Haakon

andy_d

Hell, why not?

They certainly have better stories than the monotheistic religions. If you're going to believe in any god(s), why not pick some interesting ones?

vixstile

LORDS OF CHAOS. I've read that book.