An Orthodoxy in English Paganism
Does English Paganism demand an Orthodoxy?
Art: Midvinterblot - by Carl Larsson; 1915. Swedish painter.
Brothers and Sisters,
Nothing can be more overstated than this phrase: we need an Orthodoxy in English Pagan religion.
The very state of being Pagan is to be at a crossroads of lineage; ancestor above you, descendant below. At each stage of your life you invoke the Three Sisters in your very being. The ancestor, who once was and who we are to become, is of Wyrd. That which is not yet, but shall be, is of Scyld. You, as you are now and remain, is that of Weordende.
The past, present and future coalesce within the soul of the living Pagan. To believe oneself above this - an outsider to lineage, is to put stock in a concept not understood by the ancient fathers. The actions of the now are that which should surpass their actions and bring fruitful consequence to our bloodline in improvement. Not action commitment for the sole benefit to the here and now.
The living Pagan tradition is cemented in the folk - in people. It is not within a single book, a single Gothi or a single entity! This is not the definition of Orthodoxy to which we argue for. The argument for Orthodoxy is that of shared belief and worship. The lineage that is found in the father to son - mother to daughter, is that of a passing; the passing of the flame of knowledge for betterment, growth and spiritual expression. That same flame is what was once passed from elder priest to acolyte.
The seeds of the Germanic Revival came in the Volkisch movement - a Romantic yearning to a bygone age for sense of identity - for being. This flourishing energy, the vigour, of the nascent liberal nationalism of that generation was not set about for moralistic decay, excessive vice or any of the other trappings that poison our modern world. It was for self-realisation! It was for a rebirth of purpose between the end of an old world and the start of a new one.
The trans-national pervasion of the Roman Catholic Church fermented a millennia of discontent in our folk. The people remained whole in mind and body not because of Christianity, but in spite of it. Quite so then that as the zeal of the Reformation birthed myriad ideas anew, the lethargic Latin Rite ebbed away. The Reformation did not tie the noose to the neck of Christianity, it simply kicked away the chair - it was doomed to perish the instance it tried to supplant our native belief.
A people's faith can not be taken away as easily as one takes possession or life - it permeates the material as it permeates the present. It's lineage deep within the recesses of the soul can not be broken, not truly. It can only be suppressed for a time. That is the highest meaning of the Pagan soul in its binding to the entwinement of Wyrd, Scyld and Weordende; it exists in our past, present and in our future. It is immutable.
So what of the proposal of Orthodoxy? If the laurels of our religion can survive a millennia suppressed for a foreign equivalent, then that should be enough? Did our forefathers not practice in a vibrantly diverse manner from tribe to tribe?
We answer in plain; the differentiation of practice has ever been customary, but the core foundation of our shared belief is orthodox. To believe the Gods are ever-present, that they are real, is a form of orthodoxy! What is real can not be fundamentally different from person to person, or it can not truly be said to be real.
We turn to High One as I ask you thus - do you believe Woden is God? The Chief of the Gods? Do you believe he is the God of the Burdens (Farmatyr) and Wise One (Fjolnir)? Do you hold that he is all within High, Just-As-High and Third? To hold to these is to hold to individual beliefs; single, immovable orthodoxies contained within themselves that encompasses a whole. These, alongside countless others, are truths that can not be denied.
While that core foundation is unbreakable, it can still be shaken however. We only need look back on our history again to see this - a millennia of persecution following the annihilation of our oncerevered Pagan priesthood. We are nothing short of blessed by the Gods to hold the wealth of lore we enjoy today. We must swear to never go through such a break in tradition ever again.
To codify our lore is not to take away from living practice, but to embolden it. How can we resist the bitterness of a Wolfs Age without spiritual moral codes? How well can we fare without the guidance of the Gothar - they who warden the secret flame and listen only to the Gods?
No society of our religion ever went without their priesthood. A folk can not be without the Gothar - the notion is as much an anathema as wishing a folk without its fathers. A folk without their mothers. The King is the father of the temporal tribe, the Priest as of the spiritual tribe. The Clan Father as the king-priest of his own home. This is the natural order of things.
So why an English Orthodoxy? Why not a single Orthodoxy for all professing Germanic Pagans?
In truth, our faith is as one from each corner of our homelands - we all know this to be so. To separate Woden from Odin is a severe misunderstanding of our commonality as folk. There can be no mistake in this: all honourable sons and daughters of the Gods are of them. The argument for ours and not all is an avoidance of hubris.
It is not for an Englishman to steer the destiny of the Danes, nor Germans, nor Dutch. It is for a Dane to steer the Danish, an Englishman to guide the English and so on. Only the Gods may lead the Gothar, but it is his own folk who follow their lessons. This is a key distinction to make in an ever-changing world of globalisation!
With this opening argument laid out, we should rest not on words that may grow stale without fresh recourse. Let all the pious within our folk who seek only the highest Truths speak out to begin this conversation. We are in the spirit of Weordende now; of Scyld to come and Wyrd become.
It is in the souls of the many that the faith is held dear, but in the mind of the learned that our future is clear.
Blessings of the Gods to each and every one of you.