Past Was Pagan - Introduction To The Ancient Pagan Paradigm

(November 27, 2023, Updated April 3, 2025) Runic texts cannot be understood and hence  translated without first understanding their Ancient Pagan paradigm and 3 main religious divisions. At present, no universities are teaching this. The closest they come are studies involving the classics and the more recent bardic tales from Celtic and Scandinavian lands. But even those are studied from within today's dominant Scriptural paradigm instead of from the earlier Ancient Pagan Paradigm.

The Renaissance as an historical paradigm change is still ongoing. Innovations in thought and perceptions, motivated by nature as an authority, continue to evolve.

Religions themselves can be characterized by their answers to these three fundamental questions of existence: 

1. (Metaphysics) What are your assumptions about reality? - Where do you tend to assign causes including the first cause of creation? What roles do unseen forces, spirits, deities play? 

2. (Epistemology) What is your primary community knowledge source (authority)? - Is it nature, a sacred text, guru, institution, or tradition?

3. (Axiology) Why are you here? - What is your life goal? What is the purpose of your life if any? How should one live (ethics)?

(April 4, 2025) Ancient Druid Culture assumed the universe had a unitary reality, that is, one system of causality but with the source of change being located at the sky-shell and above (the heavens). These change powers were then transmitted down to a flat earth level where such changes were manifested and put to use. These divine powers were perceived similarly to how we perceive electricity being generated from a power station today. Conscious feelings were their energy, their divine electricity. 

The source of motion in people and animals was identified as inner emotions which were in turn empowered by the divine powers reaching them via the liver. The liver is attached to the diaphragm muscle responsible to taking breaths and breaths were associated with life and hence motion. The word for "breath" in most ancient languages can also translated as "wind" or "spirit." This is why some translations of Genesis 1.1 use "wind" and some use "spirit." The Hebrew word for both is "ruach."

The phrase often used for motion powers in Latin "was animus and anima" often incorrectly and traditionally translated as "mind and spirit." Because these words have the common root of animate, a proper translation must reflect that sameness. So a more accurate, if less poetic, translation would be "emotional-animation and spiritual-animation." 

(April 3, 2025) During the Renaissance, reality became binary having both a material universe and a spiritual/divine universe. Yet a desire remained for a unity reality which led to the following alternate paradigms:

1. Reality is not really divided because it is either:

1. Atheistic - Only the material realm exists withs it energy changes. The existence of the Divine realm is an illusion. Conscious sensations are an "emergent" phenomena. Its creation comes out of nothing or it is cyclic (a multi-verse).
2. Transcendentalist - Only the spiritual realm exists. Material realm is an illusion. Our minds create our reality and are only constrained by our own cultural conditioning and divine law.

(April 3, 2025) During the Renaissance  paradigm revolution, reality became binary having both a material universe and a spiritual/divine universe. This led to the question of where were they and how were they related? Two possible answers emerged:

2. Binary Reality - The divine and material realms have different roles. This is the dominant paradigm of today. It is also the paradigm of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Yet how these 2 realms may interact is never explained by these dominant religions. That has been left to more recent philosophies which are:

1. Dimensionalism - The spiritual realm exists within a higher dimensional space. This makes the physical realm analogous to a sheet of paper floating in 3-D space representing the spiritual realm. This was popularized by the 1884 short story called "Flatland - A Romance of Many Dimensions" by Edwin Abbott Abbott. Online at: https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45506.  The problem is that spaces higher than 3 dimensions cannot form complex structures like proteins. For example, knots in higher dimensions are not possible.  Stable orbits (atomic and planetary) are not possible. This was shown by the new mathematics of topology invented by that genius mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707 - 1783).
2. Pantheism - the divine and material realms exist "within" each other. But trying to use the word "within" is inaccurate and imprecise because that word is a spatially defined and the divine realm is not spatial in this case. Different definitions of "within" have led to  nebulous and imprecise definitions of pantheism as discussed by different authors. The most coherent definition of Pantheism is that space is an organized information processing network emerging out of a disorganized network representing the spiritual realm (see illustrations).

(March 8, 2025) Pantheism holds that the divine and material realms exist within each other but use different ways to separate causal events (that is, to change state).  

1. Material Realm's Spatial Separability: All events are governed by energy changes separated by space-time differences like material realm, therefore the spiritual realm exists in some higher dimensional space. Physical constants are unchanging.
2. Spiritual Realm's Quality Separability: All events are governed by quality ratio changes (same reasoning as Pythagorean ratios) like physical constant changes in the paddle ball example. In the material realm, each spatial dimension is a quality analogous to a primary color, just using spatial energy mixing rules instead of color mixing rules.

(March 15, 2025) Related to assumptions about reality are assumptions about how to learn about that reality.  These are:

1. Dogmatic Theistic Knowledge -  All of reality can be known in common by a community. The physical realm can be known by observation and experiment. The spiritual realm can be known dogmatically via a religion's sacred text or institutional tradition (assumed to be divinely revealed). The religions of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and lordified Paganism belong to this paradigm as either Monotheism or Polytheism. 

2. Pagan Perceptheistic Knowledge -  Only the physical/material realm can be known in common by a community leaving spiritual knowledge as personal knowledge. Personal knowledge is mystical knowledge based upon perceptions and feelings, hence the name Perceptheistic. Perceptheistic deities can be perceived either as people or as clusters of powers. Deities can be one or many. A person may use different divine models at different times depending on what provides the best connection. Historical Druid culture is perceptheistic.

(March 14, 2025)

• Eastern Lordified and Dualist Religions (after 500 BC Zoroastrianism) - Creation of the material realm was a random accident which has separated humans from the perfect and unchanging divine realm. Therefore humans should seek to rejoin the Divine by becoming like the Divine (oneness) by becoming changeless themselves. Do not desire or be motivated by anything. Their meditation practices focus on mental stillness instead of awareness like Pagans. (example, Buddhism).

• Western Dualist Lordified Religions (after 500 BC Zoroastrianism) -  Creation of the material realm was a random accident which has separated humans from the perfect and good divine realm. Therefore humans need to rejoin the Divine by becoming good. This is done by rejecting everything of the evil material realm as much as possible and following divine laws (Judaism, Islam). Alternately, because we can't fully reject the material realm, find a divine lord who will save you from from the material realm instead (Christianity).

(March 14, 2025)

• Ancient Druid Paganism - Humans and their material realm have the purpose of keeping both the divine and material realms in balance.  

• Later Druid Paganism - The above plus adding in the balancing practices of love and avoiding envy. Because everything is interconnected and attuned (Greek logos) a disturbance in the balance will propagate outward and eventually circle back to its source. Jesus' teachings are a prime example of this (he learned this Pagan concept as a young adult when he lived at Capernaum on a trade route between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. He used this concept to argue against the dualist idea that God would bring in a violent end times apocalypse.

• Lordified Yet Still Non-Dualist Paganism (Roman) - Humans exist to serve, flatter, and praise their lord gods in exchange for favors.

(March 4, 2025) Ancient Druid culture was perceptheistic. No separation was made between spirits and deities. Perceived spiritual powers observed in nature can be divided up many different ways depending on the goals of the people involved. The Druid pantheon was a classification system which worked best for early agricultural cultures. It was gender balanced with the power clusters (deities) representing observed changes on earth. These were divided into 2 large classes of 3 layers each (source of the sacred number 3)consisting of the life power class and the motion/emotion power class. This scheme is called the Ancient Pagan Paradigm.

The ancient Druid goddess triad (most popular goddesses) represented the powers of death and rebirth (underworld goddess Kate/Hekate), life guidance and wisdom (crescent moon goddess Ayu), and the inner emotional spark of life (celestial light goddess Selu/Selene).. In contrast the Druid god triad represented the powers of creation (god Alu), order and security (god Hu), and fate/time (dark new moon god Su).

Classical Equivalents to Druid Deities.

Marcus Varro (116-27 BCE) has an important deity list in his book entitled Antiquitates rerum humanarum et divinarum (Histories of Human and Divine Things). He was born in or near Reate (now Rieti) in Lazio, Italy into a family thought to be of equestrian rank. He ended up owning a large farm in the Reatine plain which was reported to be near Lago di Ripasottile.  

His important passage about early Roman deities is quoted by Augustine in "de ciu. Dei, VII, 2." This is the earliest complete list that we have on the main Roman deities:  

• "Varro compiled the chosen gods in the last volume: and there are twenty: twelve males, eight females: Janus, Jupiter, Saturn, Genius, Mercury, Apollo, Mars, Vulcan, Neptune, Sun, Orcus, Liber, Terra, Ceres, Juno, Luna , Diana, Minerva, Venus, Vesta."

Druid Masculine Life-Growth Deities With Classical Equivalents

1. Alu (Roman Janus/Yanis)  The life source god representing new beginnings. The Roman month of January (winter solstice) and June (summer solstice) are named for him as they begin the seasons. Janus is represented as 2-faced god to represent such transitions.

2. Hu (Roman Sol, Apollo) (Greek Helios, Apollo)  The life connective god represented by the sun and rainstorms. He connects the divine and material realms. Apollo is likely Akkadian AP.L meaning “Veil eliminator."

3. Yahu (Roman  Luna) (Greek Phanes, Φάνης) The life manifesting god represented by the full moon and eggs. Luna is the Akkadian LaNu meaning the visible "platonic" form. This power of life manifestations is represented by eggs and the full moon which makes visible the dark new moon. Phanes comes from the Greek Orphic hymn traditions and not the Homeric tradition. He is associated with white eggs which could be thought of as the full moon. This life manifesting egg connection might be the source of the Christian Easter Egg.

Druid Feminine Life/Fertility Deities With Classical Equivalents

1. Kate/Hekate (Roman Juno/Yuno) (Greek Eleuthyia) - The life-cycle underworld goddess. Yuno is Akkadian Y.N meaning "The one who is not revealed." She represents the storage of dead souls in the underworld waiting to be reborn. These souls were waiting to be reincarnated. Hence Juno was also associated with childbirth. She may be the goddess at the center of the Eleusian Mysteries.

2. Ayu (Roman Diana) (Greek Artemis) - The crescent moon life guidance goddess. Roman Diana is Akkadian D.IN meaning life-manifestation controller. In myth, the crescent moon became a bow and she became a hunter. 

3. Asher (Roman Ceres/Keres) (Greek Demeter) - The earth mother and goddess of vegetation named after Akkadian words aṣu and ašu meaning "expelled/created things." Demeter's daughter, Persephone/Kore, is a representation of vegetation. Demeter and Persephone are sometimes mixed-up in ancient myths. Roman Kerus , Greek Kore is Akkadian  K.R meaning the "one involved with the eagle-vultures which edit the life network. Ceres/Kerus was a deity of agriculture  and was originally the central deity in Rome's plebeian Aventine Triad.  Romans called Persephone Proserpina.

(November 27, 2023)  In the ancient past before the rise of books and institutional authorities, nature and cultural tradition were the only source of community knowledge. While gaining a good model of nature is a challenge, nature itself is the only possible source of community knowledge which is internally consistent. If it wasn't self-consistent, the universe would crash like a computer.

 Community knowledge is the facts a community is expected to believe in order to insure their mutual prosperity and survival. Not believing in germ theory and acting upon that knowledge puts many in the community at risk of early death. Humans do not exist in isolation from others so a community has the right to expect its members to care about the truths of the physical world.

Other sources of community knowledge beside nature have been charismatic gurus, institutional traditions, or leaders and sacred texts claiming divine inspiration or secret ancient or alien knowledge. These differing sources never agree with each other which results in endless conflict and drama because truth cannot be agreed upon. The only potentially peaceful religions are nature based religions.

In contrast to community knowledge, personal spiritual knowledge is knowledge about your own emotional reactions. It is knowledge that only you can really know. You cannot expect others to feel the same or to use the same mental model which works for you emotionally. This is why Nature Religion is perceptheistic encouraging any divine conception which works best for each individual. All personal knowledge is equally valid as long as it does not contradict community knowledge.