<![CDATA[The Völkisch Folklorist

<![CDATA[The Völkisch Folklorist - Folkloric Forays]]>Thu, 13 Dec 2018 20:45:14 -0500Weebly<![CDATA[Spinning’s Symbolic Meaning in European Myth]]>Sun, 01 Oct 2017 19:22:27 GMThttp:folkloricforays/spinnings-symbolic-meaning-in-european-myth*This article is an excerpt from "Habitrot and The Wood Maiden: Spinning Goddesses and Imagery in European Tradition ," European Fairy Tales Series Vol VII.

Frigga Spinning the Clouds, by John Charles Dollman, 1909

We have discussed the role of the Fates in European folk tradition and briefly mentioned that they are typically depicted as three female spinners. However, as it has been discussed in previous volumes of this series, definitions can be somewhat blurry, and representations of figures tend to bleed into one another.

There is certainly an association with spinning and weaving with the conception of fate and destiny. In fact, the concept of our fate, called Wyrd in the Anglo-Saxon tradition, is conceptualized as a great web made up of strands that are spun by the three spinners (the Fates, called the Norns in Germanic tradition). Wyrd can be seen as a cosmic tapestry of your life that exists in the spiritual plane.

A Golden Thread, by John Strudwick, 1885

But, just as the figures of the Fates can shift and morph into your own personal fairy godmother (as we saw in Vol VI, “The Three Golden Hairs”), there are other overlaps between figures. While we saw in “The Three Golden Hairs” that the protagonist’s fairy godmother was one of the Fates, she was also the mother of the Sun, who was clearly a memory of a Slavic pagan god in that fairy tale. But, when we look at Vol V (“Aschenputtel”) we see that the spirit of the protagonist’s own dead mother was her fairy godmother.

We saw the fairy godmother shown spinning only in one scene in “The Three Golden Hairs.” And, in “Aschenputtel,” spinning was not mentioned at all.

However, the protagonist’s mother did give her garments which are obviously made with textiles, and it was down to these garments that Aschenputtel was able to secure her fate. If that sounds like a stretch, stay with me.

In “The Myth of the Goddess,” Baring and Cashford explain that there was an ancient association between these spinning goddesses and motherhood.

Motherhood was always seen as very sacred and magical. It gave women special status because they were the givers of new life. Baring and Cashford assert that the female goddesses who were weavers of fate are connected to motherhood and agricultural fertility.

Cinderalla illustration by Jennie Wilcox Smith

The authors quote Eithne Wilkins from her own book “The Rose Garden Game,” which discusses how the Virgin Mary took on much of this symbolism. Wilkins describes the Fates as “spinners and weavers, an archaic female triad outside of time and space.” And goes on to say that they are connected to the “Great Mother” archetype:

“The Great Mother herself spins and weaves because she is the primal embodiment of the triad weavers of all things earthly, of growth, of time, of destiny. The primordial lady spins out of her own being the thread of time and weaves it to make the tissue of things, just as the woman spins in herself the tissue of another being’s flesh.

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So, according to this theory, Aschenputtel’s fairy godmother being the spirit of her own mother and giving her supernatural garments from the Otherworld is significant. This is the spirit of the woman who actually created Aschenputtel in the flesh. And now, in the afterlife, she is giving her garments that came from the spiritual realm, and those garments play a key role in determining the girl’s destiny. And, we know from the discussion in that volume that the Fates do have some overlap with the Norse figures known as the Disir, who are ancestral female guardian spirits, literally the spirits of your dead female relatives.

There was a tradition to depict Cinderella's fairy godmother appearing in the fireplace/hearth. This is a symbol of both motherhood and an interdimensional portal between realms.

However, the authors are right to tie the weavers of fate to the Great Mother goddess. As mentioned, the main mother goddesses in most of the European pagan pantheons were often depicted holding a distaff and/or beside a spinning wheel. While this imagery is certainly a symbol of domesticity, indicating their sphere as the household and the realm of women, it also speaks to the ancient concept that women held special power over life and death, which is tied to fate and destiny.

Indeed, in native European tradition, magic was seen as mainly within the sphere of women. Dr. Brian Bates discusses the important role of women in Northern European pagan society and their high status as seeresses in his book “The Real Middle Earth.”

It is recorded in Roman observations of the Germanic tribes that when the tribes were negotiating treaties with Roman generals, that the Romans generals were shocked when they were not sent to the male chieftains but instead to the high female priestess.

This woman would have been the seeress with the gift to look into the web of Wyrd, and so it was felt that she would be the most apt to make big decisions that affected the fate of the entire tribe.

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The connection between spinning and motherhood, and therefore life giving, has also been observed by author and psychologist Marie Louise von Franz, who worked closely with Carl Jung for nearly three decades. In light of what we’ve already touched upon, her observations are fascinating.

In her book “The Feminine in Fairy Tales,” von Franz mentions that another psychologist conducted a study wherein she collected the dreams of pregnant women and of new mothers with infants. It was found that imagery of threads and weaving turned up very frequently.< /div>

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In her own psychology practice, von Franz encountered this imagery in dreams of her own pregnant female patients. For instance, one patient had had a negative experience with her own mother and was having difficulty embracing her pregnancy.

The woman dreamt that she was led to a boat on the sea by several women. She was afraid and cried out for her husband, but a kind woman came and talked to her, showing her a piece of silk and explaining how the various threads were woven together to make the cloth. The dream was interpreted as spiritual interjection to guide this woman toward positively embracing motherhood and the creation of life.

The three fates by Giorgio Ghisi

That this particular dream occurred on a boat adds yet more layers. In Vol VI, “The Three Golden Hairs,” we discussed the imagery of the sea as the barrier to cross into the Otherworld. In particular, looking into it for that tale, I found that specifically it had been described as a very dark black sea in both that fairy tale and in the Slavic mythic tradition.

I personally had a similar dream, myself, although it was not related to motherhood but to fate. I had dreamt that I was on a boat in a very dark sea. The sea was scattered with many boats, but they had all been stuck on a predetermined course, like cable cars that could only travel their route but not move freely. Then there appeared a mysterious and powerful female figure who caused a great storm. The sea broke into waves that thrashed and rocked the boats. When the storm settled, suddenly all of the boats were free to chart their own course at will and go in a new direction.

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When I had that dream, I had not then known that the dark sea represented the journey to Otherworld (where our fate is woven), just as I am sure that these pregnant women likely were not folklore buffs who knew all of the symbolism behind threads and weaving.

Personal dreams fall into a category that modern Pagans refer to as UPG – unverified personal gnosis. As a side note, this is where personal experience must remain separate from historical research.

However, when taken in a Jungian context, and especially when psychologists have observed trends among a large number of subjects, or when symbols and motifs occur in a dream when the subject had no pre-knowledge of the meaning behind the imagery, it lends one to taking Jung’s theory on a collective cultural unconscious very seriously.

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Previously in this series I mentioned that my own grandmother had seen an apparition of a hooded female figure standing over the cradle of her newborn infant. She was raised Episcopalian in a small town during an age when neo-paganism was not remotely a trend. While she did have many experiences indicating that she had an undeveloped gift of “the sight,” and she was open to the mystical, she certainly was not studied in European mythology at all. Therefore, she would have had no foreknowledge that led her to imagine the Fates.

Yet, she represents an example of a new mother who experienced a vision of imagery that is seen over and over again in the European tradition, which is that of female supernatural figures visiting the cradles of newborn babies.

Again, this is a personal anecdote of manifest collective memory experienced by someone of European ancestry who had no conscious intention of practicing native European faith. And, as with Maria von Franz’ subjects, this

was experienced by a young woman who had just given birth. It seems to me very likely that these experiences abound, but without the cultural context to recognize the imagery, that most people dismiss these experiences.

Von Franz explores the notion of a woven cloth as a metaphor for a newly created human being by comparing the composition of one piece of cloth composed by many interlacing threads is an apropos analogy to describe that “every child is the coming together into definite patterns of the Mendelian inherited units.”

By Valentine Cameron Prinsep, 1897

Gregor Mendel, as you may know, was the early scientist accredited as the father of the field of genetics. Von Franz is saying that the threads of a woven cloth are symbolic of the very strands of our own DNA.

DNA is more crucial in deeper ways than we have the ability to understand today.

Just as individual strings form cloth, strands of DNA form each human. And these strands are woven in the Otherworld.

Our mothers’ bodies spin the material from her own body and from the seed of the father into the threads that will be used to weave the pattern of the new life in her womb.

And, in a way, this imagery becomes like a fractal. Because the strings are spun in the Otherworld, your mother is the doorway that brings you from the Otherworld into Midgard (Middle Earth, the realm of mortals).

While you are woven from strands of DNA that come from your parents, the three spinners continue spinning the web of your Wyrd on the spiritual plane.

Your mother is the portal by which your spirit enters the mortal realm. Her body weaves your DNA into being.

Your DNA is the cosmic thread connecting you to your past and your future.

Your DNA, then, is like a bridge connecting the individual to both their ancestors and to their descendants. Your web of Wyrd is unique to you, but it is connected to the Wyrd of who came before you and will create a foundation for those who come after you. Meanwhile, these spinners continue to exist on the Otherworldly plane which exists outside of space and time. But, your DNA, as that magical string that transcends generations, also transcends time, as you receive your own fibers from your ancestors and give them to your descendants.

What this shows us is that much of the imagery in fairy tales is inherently deeper than most of us have been aware of. When we dig deeper into the imagery, we see that it stands for symbols and metaphors that tap deeply into our psyche and work to give us a deeper conceptual understanding of the universe and our role in it.

Habitrot and The Wood Maiden: Spinning Goddesses and Imagery in European Tradition

This piece has been excerpted from Volume VII in the European Fairy Tales Series, "Habitrot and The Wood Maiden: Spinning Goddesses and Imagery in European Tradition ."

Each volume explores some of the deeper cultural elements found within the tale followed by a re-telling of the story.

Explore the series and download Volume I for FREE here!

My name is Carolyn Emerick, and I write on the history, myth, and folklore of Northwestern Europe.

Explore this website for more on European history, mythology, and folk tradition. Please check out the section for my books!

]]><![CDATA[Europe's Roots in Ancient Indo-European Culture]]>Mon, 11 Sep 2017 21:08:59 GMThttp:folkloricforays/europes-roots-in-ancient-indo-european-culture*This article is an excerpt from "The Star Money: And a European View of Karma," European Fairy Tales Series Vol IV.

Indo-European migrations from ca. 4000 to 1000 BCE according to the Kurgan hypothesis, image by Joshua Jonathan

When reading this tale ("The Star Money," in European Fairy Tales Series, Vol IV), the main theme that I was struck with is that it is literally a lesson in Karma. Now, it might be instinctual to recoil at that word in an ancient European context as we consider it a foreign word native to Indian Hinduism. Of course, this is very true. However, an historical truth that many Westerners are oblivious to is that Europeans and Indian Hindus share a common linguistic and mytho-cultural heritage.

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I am not asserting the two groups are closely related or that they are remotely identical. However, both cultures stem from a Proto-Indo-European source, which is the modern term for what had always previously been referred to as “Aryan” historically.

The Aryans were an ancient culture that is thought to have originated in the Eurasian Steppes (the area between Europe and Asia) before spreading outward in many directions.

Proto-Indo-European is used to describe the language family as well as the cultures that descended from this group of people.

The ancient word “Aryan” meant “noble ones,” as they had been great conquerors and formed the ruling classes in regions as widespread as Europe and India, to Turkey and Iran.

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Indo European language branches map by Wikimedia user Hayden120

Iranian Persians were Aryans and Zoroastrianism is the ancient religion that developed in an Indo-Iranian (Aryan) cultural context.

The Yazidi are an indigenous group found among the Kurds who still practice their ancient spirituality, and the Kalash people are a similar group who live in the mountains of Afghanistan. Both groups have Aryan origins, both groups feature a cultural inheritance that stands apart from the Muslim majority in their regions. Both groups have been heavily persecuted by their neighbors.

For Europeans, indigenous animistic polytheism (paganism) is our own ancient native religious inheritance which faced similar campaigns of violence during the Conversion Era of Europe (especially in the Wendish, Northern, and Baltic Crusades).

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Indo-European language throughout Europe and the Middle East 500 BCE, by Wikimedia user DBachmann

So, therefore, while our own ancient religion did not have the ability to continue unabated in its full form, with temples, priests, and so forth, much of our ancient Indo-European beliefs were encoded and embedded within the folk tradition.

The process worked differently for our Kalash and Yazidi cousins. Those groups survived as small pockets of tribal remnants who kept their culture intact, though sadly, they are at risk of true ethnic genocide today.

But, it is in India where Aryan spirituality has been preserved in the most intact way within the Hindu tradition. While Hinduism appears very foreign to ethnic-Europeans, one will find ancient ties to our own native faith when one takes the time to study.

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Hindu religious art depicting Lord Krishna as a child

Hindu religious art depicting Lord Krishna

Historians and anthropologists can look at a number of things to ascertain if cultural commonalities occur due to diffusion, shared origin, or pure coincidence. In the case of native European and Indian Hindu culture, linguistic studies can corroborate mythical ties to lend credence to the theory of very ancient shared cultural heritage.

As we saw in “The Three Heads,” ancient mythical figures can manifest in folk and fairy tales. Gods and goddesses sometimes shift to a fairy or some other being that is supernatural without the overt conception of god-status.

Indo-European language family tree, click to enlarge

This allowed ancient figures to carry on within the culture without disrupting the religious view of the ruling class (because we know that religious change occurred from the top down) which could land the peasantry in hot water with both church and secular authorities (which were often closely linked). Religion is often political, and that is as much true for previous periods of history as it is in our current epoch.

“Thomas the Rhymer” (in Vol III of this series) showed us that certain aspects of pre-Christian spiritual practice were still engaged in in post-conversion Europe.

Thomas' journey and interaction with the Queen of Elphame demonstrates not only the continuation of a goddess figure who lingered on in the folk tradition, but that there was still an intuitive understanding of shamanic practice living on amongst the peasantry.

And, reading “The Star Money,” strikes one as an overt lesson in Karma.

The Star Money: And a European View of Karma

This piece has been excerpted from Volume IV in the European Fairy Tales Series, "The Star Money: And a European View of Karma ."

Each volume explores some of the deeper cultural elements found within the tale followed by a re-telling of the story.

Explore the series and download Volume I for FREE here!

M y name is Carolyn Emerick, and I write on the history, myth, and folklore of Northwestern Europe.

Explore this website for more on European history, mythology, and folk tradition. Please check out the section for my books!

]]><![CDATA[Dvoeverie – The Slavic Double Faith]]>Sat, 09 Sep 2017 22:39:16 GMThttp:folkloricforays/dvoeverie-the-slavic-double-faith*This article is an excerpt from "The Three Golden Hairs: Slavic & Germanic Myth in Czech Folklore," European Fairy Tales Series Vol VI.

"Firebird and Princess Vasilisa" artist unknown

I argue quite strongly that the phenomenon of holding a hybrid form of religion occurred clear across Northern Europe, from Britain clear to Russia. However, the manifestation of it occurred much more strongly in Slavic lands than elsewhere. In fact, the ancient faith of the Slavs was so overtly prominently practiced by the peasantry that the Slavs began to be referred to as the people of two faiths. Dvoeverie is a Russian word that is typically translated as “dual belief” or “double faith.”

Social Circumstances Kept Slavs More Culturally Isolated

Unfortunately for English speakers interested in Slavic groups other than Russian, the vast bulk of material available in English only covers Russian culture, especially as it pertains to mythology and folklore.

However, as mentioned above, the slow nature of the separation of Slavonic languages means that Slavic mythology likely retained a strong continuity between various Slavic language speakers. Therefore, studying scholarship on Russian folklore will still help us understand lore and practices of other Slavic groups.

There are other similarities between the different Slavic groups that allowed them to remain both closely related and tied closely to their indigenous folkways. One important factor is that most of the Slavic lands remained quite rural and agrarian based, so they were less abruptly affected by the kind of urbanization elicited by the Industrial Revolution in the West.

Illustration for "Copper Mountain Hostess" by Russian writer Pavel Bazhov. artist Vyacheslav Nazaruk

In addition, the Slavic nations remained strongly Orthodox in the East and Catholic in the West (Poland, Bohemia), and so they were not affected by the purge on native practices that was brought with the Protestant Reformation in the West. It is also worth mentioning that the Renaissance was a decidedly Western phenomenon. So, we can see that most of the Slavic people were insulated from several movements that shook things up in Western Europe.

We are so removed from these events today that we may not immediately understand their cultural ramifications.

Urbanization drastically reduced the rural peasant population in Western nations, which had an eroding effect on the preservation of rural folk customs.

Prior to that, the Protestant Reformation attacked not only Roman Catholicism, but also all of the indigenous European beliefs and practices that had been allowed to continue to flourish under the Catholic Church.

While native European belief did certainly live on after those events, it certainly took quite a hit by both social movements

Illustration for "Copper Mountain Hostess" by Russian writer Pavel Bazhov. artist Vyacheslav Nazaruk

Lastly, the role that the U.S.S.R. played in preserving Slavic culture also must be emphasized. Much has been said about communist attacks on religion, how it promoted atheism, and pushed homogenized thought upon its people. This is all true. However, the other thing that Soviet rule did is wall the Slavs off from Western cultural influence.

Without foreign mass media breaking through to lure people away from their culture, the Soviet Union essentially placed Slavic people in a time capsule for several decades.

While religion was frowned upon under Soviet rule, nationalism was encouraged. Fairy and folk tales seemed innocuous enough to communist leaders, so they were not suppressed in the same way that Christianity was.

In fact, fairy and folk tales served as a vehicle by which Russian and other Slavic writers and artists could express themselves during an age when self-expression was severely limited.

So, therefore, the magical realm of fairy tales and folklore continued to flourish and inspire ballets, film, artwork, and literature.

Art by Nikolai Kochergin

The Folklore Boom Allowed for the Study of Russian Peasants

The period when this double faith was especially noted was during the period of folklore collecting in the late 19th century. The field of folklore boomed throughout Europe at this time. Though there had been some examples of earlier collecting of folk belief in the West, there was no field of study dedicated to it until the Romantic Era of the 19th century influenced a boom of interest in folk tradition and European native culture. The folklore craze moved into Russia a little later than elsewhere, but soon enough folklorists could be found in the field collecting peasants’ tales in the same way that the Grimm brothers had done in Germany.

Art by Boris Olshansky

It has been noted that virtually every ethnographic study of Russian peasant belief made a point to acknowledge the strong presence of paganism in the daily life and beliefs of the common folk. One researcher commented that one thousand years of Christianity had only penetrated the Slavic consciousness superficially, while their indigenous paganism comprised the deep roots of Slavic daily life and belief.

Yet another researcher found himself recording folklore from a rural Russian fellow who claimed to have never before heard of Jesus Christ!

The notes record that he had heard something about God from his parents but, no, nothing about Christ.

What this demonstrates is that in very remote and rural areas of Russia into the late 19th and probably early 20th century, there were still peasants who had never been converted to Christianity and were still practicing a form of native faith.

And in fact, we know that there are still some groups in Russia today who still have not converted, most notably the Mari El people, known as “Europe’s last pagans.”

Maria the White Swan, by Sergei Solomko 1917

That example is extreme, and it does not seem to speak for the majority of Slavic peasants. But, it is worth noting as it speaks to how much more slowly belief changes trickled out into the vast remote areas in Slavic lands as opposed to the smaller and more urban-industrialized Western nations. And, researchers who noted that their Slavic subjects did attend church regularly made sure to note that their research subjects were Christian on Sundays but returned to their pagan ways as soon as they returned home.

"The Russian Princess" by Charles Robinson, 1913

The Merging of Paganism with Christianity

In addition to belief about nature spirits, rituals (sometimes lingering as superstitions), tales, and other ways that native belief carried on among the peasantry, a great deal of pagan imagery remained a constant within Slavic folk art. Images and symbols traced back to ancient pagan gods are still common motifs in Slavic folk crafts.

"Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf" by V. Vasnetsov

The phenomenon of pagan deities being transformed into Christian saints is observed clear across Europe. But, as mentioned above, the Slavs did not experience a Protestant Reformation to wash away their cult of saints. So whether Catholic or Orthodox, the pantheon of Christian saints was yet one more way in which the attributes of pagan deities could carry on in the Slavic folk consciousness in a way that died off in northwestern Protestant Europe.

One point that speaks volumes is that when scholars look at recorded sermons from the time of conversion to Christianity (roughly the 10th century, varying by locale) and then compare them to the notes made by ethnographers recording folk traditions in the late 19th and early 20th century, they find many of the exact same practices that Christian priests rallied against at the pulpit were still being practiced by Slavic peasants a good millennium later.

In some of my other work, I have pointed out that one source of information to understand native European practices that have since died out is to look at church sermons, papal bulls and edicts, and other Church communications written closely to the time of conversion.

"For the peace of" by V. Rassohin - Depicting a Orthodox Russian Ritual

In my article, “The Hidden History of Christmas Carols,” I mentioned that one piece of evidence for the tradition of Christmas caroling having a pagan origin (although only Christian carols survive today) is that there is written documentation very close to the period of the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons that rallies against the practice, and that the Church actually tried to ban it.

So that certain practices described in Church sermons from the point of nominal conversion were still being practiced by Slavic peasants a good one thousand years later speaks volumes about the notion of a living dual-faith that carried on unbroken.

Art by Konstantin Vasiliev

The Three Golden Hairs: Slavic & Germanic Myth in Czech Folklore

This piece has been excerpted from Volume VI in the European Fairy Tales Series, "The Three Golden Hairs: Slavic & Germanic Myth in Czech Folklore ."

Each volume explores some of the deeper cultural elements found within the tale followed by a re-telling of the story.

Explore the series and download Volume I for FREE here!

]]><![CDATA[Fate, Destiny, & Guardian Spirits in European Fairy Tales]]>Fri, 08 Sep 2017 17:18:33 GMThttp:folkloricforays/fate-destiny-guardian-spirits-in-european-fairy-tales

Art by Galileo Chini

Since starting the European Fairy Tales Series, I've been struck with just how much of the ancient native European worldview is embedded within our folk and fairy tale tradition. There are several ways that this appears, but one important theme found in a majority of fairy tales is the concept of fate and destiny.

So far in the European Fairy Tales Series, and there are six volumes at the time of this writing, we have seen how ancient mythological figures live on in hidden ways in fairy tales. But, they almost always seem somewhat connected to the fate and destiny of the protagonist.

In Vol I, "The Three Heads of the Well," we saw the Teutonic figures known as the Norns, analogous to the Greek Moirai or the Fates, who played a role in directing the fate of the protagonist in that tale.

In Vol III, Thomas the Rhymer, we saw Thomas' fate altered by his experience with the Queen of Elphame. In Vol IV, "The Star Money," we explored the notion of Karma. It was explained that while Europeans did not have a specific word for "Karma" as such, that we certainly did have a cultural notion about fate that lent to a karma-like understanding.

Art by Hans Zatzka

Then, moving on to Vol V, "Aschenputtel," we explored the indigenous European belief in ancestral guardian spirits who watched over their descendants to guide them on their life's journey. All before circling back again to the Fates in Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs."

Art by Edward Reginald Frampton

Establishing an Indigenous Spirituality Framework

Part of the reason that the true spiritual essence of fairy tales is lost upon us is that we are so very disconnected from our own indigenous spiritual understandings. I work within the European cultural tradition, but the fundamentals of how this works will be universal, so I urge people of ALL cultural backgrounds to look into both the indigenous faith of their ancestors and then look to their own folk and fairy tale tradition. Once you have an understanding of the mythic world of your ancestral culture, it makes fairy tales endowed with the kind of depth that you never imagined was there.

Japanese Fairy Tale illustration by Warwick Goble

The idea of researching ancient faith sounds daunting to those who have no familiarity with it. In some cases, there are long established and respected religions which still retain indigenous shamanic elements, such as Japanese Shintoism and Indian Hinduism. In those cases, diving into the faith is very easy and there is an abundance of source material to help you explore those long established ethnic-world-views.

And, because so many Europeans have awoken to the short-comings and overtly uncomfortable feel that Judeo-Christianity has on the European psyche, many ethnic-Europeans have looked Eastward and embraced these faiths. However, a great deal of material is now available to reconnect ethnic-Europeans with our own ancestral faith.

Art by Edward Robert Hughes

That said, indigenous ancestral faiths of almost every ethnic group under the sun have been revived in recent years. The Mexican native faith never really died, it was just married with Catholicism in that country, and this is seen in much of South America.

African native faith, and faiths that developed by Africans in the New World which stemmed from African origins, have a growing following. Egyptian religion has a movement, and even the ancient faith of the Canaanites of the Bible has been revived.

Essentially, people of virtually all ethnic backgrounds who wish to break free of Abrahamic mono-thought have a path to reconnect with their own native faith. It's simply a matter of knowing your own roots and then looking up the ancient beliefs of your cultural heritage. Start with mythology, read the old myths, read legends, sagas, folklore.

Indian fairy tale illustration by Warwick Goble

We can certainly enjoy myths, legends, folk and fairy tales from all world cultures. But, without the deeper spiritual understandings, you will miss some of the important spiritual components found within the tale. Having that understanding is what takes these stories from being simplistic children's fantasy stories into being faith-infused mythic tales that give us inspiration, motivation, and direction for living.

Indian fairy tale illustration by Warwick Goble

So, by all means, enjoy myths and legends of all the wide world, there is a rich tapestry of myth and folklore out there and we can enjoy it all.

But if you want to delve deeply into the spiritual worldview of your ancestors, because it is a part of you, and it will help you better understand both the world and your own psyche, then be sure to focus on your own heritage, no matter what your heritage is. And then explore the folk and fairy tales within your own ancestral cultural tradition.

Once you have a grounding and a framework to place the tales in, things will pop out at you that bring so many layers of deep meaning that you've been missing all these years of hearing these age old stories.

You will also find variations of the tales and entirely new tales that carry layers of intuitive understandings that were missed in the Disney versions.

Amerindian fairy tale illustration by H. J. Ford

What Fairy Tales Tell Us
About the Native European Spiritual View of Fate

Well I should preface this again by saying I work in the Northern European, that is Teutonic, Celtic, and Slavic, culture groups. You will see similarities with Southern European cultural mythos, to be sure, but you will also see distinctions and differences.

You will certainly see differences between the Celts, Teutons, and Slavs, of course. But these three groups tend to share more similarities to each other while Greco-Latin cultures of Mediterranean Europe share more similarities with each other.

Greco-Roman mythic tradition tends to depict a harsher view of fate. Northern European peoples were more fiercely independant with a strong emphasis on the strength and self-determination of the individual, and this is reflected in the view of fate that appears in their mythos and folk tradition.

Greco-Roman mythical figure known as Pan, illustration by Helen Stratton

Again, this is why I emphasize focusing on the culture you want to know well. We're being told today that ethnicity and culture is irrelevant, but it couldn't be further from the truth. There are some similarities found worldwide, but there are also both stark and fine tuned differences. By failing to respect ethno-culture, we're missing the depth and nuance found in unique cultures worldwide.

Celtic-Christian mythical art by Edward Reginald Frampton

A Self-Directed View of Fate

So far in the fairy tales series, personal agency and self-determination has been one major theme, and this always has a direct affect on the protagonists we've encountered. Apart from Thomas, in "Thomas the Rhymer" (it was explained in that volume that this story is not a "fairy tale" in the strict definition of the genre), who was sort of hijacked into the realm of Fairy, the rest of the protagonists we've encountered all made decisions that determined their course in life.

"The Three Heads of the Well" was a princess fairy tale, similar to "Cinderella" and "Snow White" in that the young woman was hated by her step-mother and step-sister who together made her life a misery.

However, rather than waiting to be thrust into the arms of fate, the heroine made the decision herself to leave this toxic situation. This example of self-determination is echoed again and again in European fairy tales, especially as we look at different versions or tales that are closer to the oral tradition than, say, Disney.

"Per Gynt" is a Norwegian tale we explored in Vol II. Although it does not fit 100% with the definition of fairy tale, I chose it specifically for its portrayal of the Northern European ideal of masculinity.

Illustration for "The Three Heads of the Well" by Arthur Rackham. Click image to download the book for free.

The protagonist, called Per Gynt, portrays an example of manhood that our people once prided ourselves in, and that I saw exemplified in the men of my Northern European heritage family, but that which is sadly under attack by Western liberal cultural assault today. And, again, we see self-reliance and determination of the individual a key theme of the tale.

Per Gynt is the quintessential hero of legend. While the countryside is beset with malicious trolls, it is Per Gynt who takes the initiative to confront these otherworldly beasties. It is down to his own determination and confidence that he saves the day and his neighbors can sleep soundly.

In fact, the notion that your own decisions and your ability to take control of your situation and guide your own fate is seen in every tale in the series, apart from "Thomas the Rhymer," as mentioned.

Teutonic hunter depicted by artist, Julius Mařák Myslivec. Click to view this book.

Yes, Europeans Believed in Karma

As explained very clearly in Vol IV, "The Star Money," Europeans absolutely had a concept of Karma, they just didn't have such a word for it. But, we did have very complex views of fate and destiny, and how your own actions affect your fate, as explained above regarding self-determination. We discussed the Anglo-Saxon concept of Wyrd in Volume I (available as a free download here) and the Baltic concept of Darna, analogous to Hindu Darma, in Vol IV, "The Star Money."

The Anglo-Saxon concept of Wyrd held that your fate is sort of an interdimensional web where your life is plotted out in the otherworld. The Norns, as discussed in "The Three Heads of the Well," are the three Fates who weave your Wyrd.

However, one big difference between Teutonic and Greek concepts of Fate is that you can affect your Wyrd and re-chart your course. There are various means by which you can do this.

Self-determined agency, by which you have the gumption to take matters into your own hands, is one way. Karma (since we don't have a specific European word for this concept) is another way. And appealing to higher powers is a third way.

The Three Fates by Paul Thumann

What we see time and time again in European fairy tales, and even in the Disney renditions, is that the good characters are rewarded while the evil and self-centered characters are punished. The most obvious example that comes to mind is "Cinderella." The same storyline is presented in "The Three Heads of the Well." In "The Star Money," we don't see the punishment of bad figures, but we see that a poor little orphan who had lost her parents and had nothing was rewarded for her generous spirit.

The message is always the same: Be a good person, be kind and generous, also, be cheerful and have hope, and good things will come your way.

The Spirit World Watches and Guides You

I think that one of the most important, and yet the most difficult, aspect of indigenous European faith for modern folk to wrap their head around is the cosmology and spiritual realm.

I published an excerpt from Fairy Tales Series Vol V, "Aschenputtel," that discusses how the modern person has to recalibrate their worldview to understand the how our ancestors viewed the world. I do recommend reading that in full, but we shall have a quick discussion here.

Abrahamic monotheism, in any manifestation that it presents in, and the subsequent atheistic rationalist view that has pervaded Western thought since the erosion of Christianity began, both view the world in a linear fashion, in black and white.

Whether we're talking religion or a cold and clinical scientific view, it is a view dom inated by dogma and a very restricted lens.

Click to view the series

This was also discussed briefly in Vol VI of this series, "The Three Golden Hairs." The spirit world that is depicted in the European folk tradition is one that shifts, blends, merges, separates. We are trained to be singularly focused and to seek black and white answers. The reality that I have arrived at, and I assert this in all areas whether it's medical science or spirituality, is that the rigid linear mindset is restrictive and misses the mark.

Art by Henry Meynell Rheam

In fairy tales we see memories of ancient indigenous European deities who assist us on our life path, as shown in Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs." We see ancient archetypes appearing, such as a wizened old man appearing as a beggar in Vol I, "The Three Heads of the Well." This is a famous guise of Odin.

The Fates turn up far more than you would ever imagine in the fairy tale canon. They appeared in Vol I and Vol VI of this series, but you will have seen them as the three fairies in Disney's "Sleeping Beauty" and most likely had no conception of what they represented.

Vol V, "Aschenputtel," showed us a very clear example of ancestor veneration that lingered on in the European cultural consciousness well into the modern era. We discussed in that volume how the archetype of a fairy godmother is tied to ancestral guardian spirits.

But, as we moved into Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs," we saw that the fairy godmother archetype was also tied to the figures of the Fates.

Returning to the notion of recalibrating our worldview, these shifting connotations could be very confusing when viewed through a lens that wants to view the world in a linear format. We have to break our training that tells us to see the world, and therefore our religious conception, as black and white. It's not "this or that." Rather, conceptions can shift, blend, and blur.

The hearth is associated with the maternal as well as with spiritual visitation. Cinderella illustration by an unnamed artist, 1909

We live in a society that, in my view, is completely skewed in perception. On one hand, society is telling us to eschew definitions that our ancestors always held dear, like our very own ethnic identity, or biological gender. This society is telling us to demonize our own ancestors. But, conversely, while it is shunning definitions that we have always held as universal truths, it asserts a cold, dogmatic, black and white philosophical view of the universe - be it Abrahamic monotheism or atheistic rationalism, the boxed-in lens is the same.

Traditional tales teach us respect for ancestral heritage and to honor those who came before us. Art by John Everett Millais

So what I'm getting at, is it matters very little how the spiritual interactions that are represented in the fairy tale tradition are labeled. Are they mythological archetypes? Yes. Are they specifically the Fates? Often, yes. Are they ancestral guardians? Often, yes. These manifestations are not necessarily independent of one another. The point that matters is that indigenous European worldview believed that there were protective spirits in the Otherworld who looked out for us.

You Have A Fairy Godmother, Too

It is topsy turvy, indeed, when we have a society hell bent on denying us our own identity, but that wants to put rigid definitions on the fluid world of spiritual mystery. In any case, one thing is clear: the fairy tale tradition tells us that the spirits who watch over you are connected to YOU.

In "The Three Golden Hairs," a Czech tale, we explored how cultural history shapes the folklore of a people.

We also looked at the Fates as a pan-European conception. We looked at how ancient goddesses lived on in the fairy godmother archetype.

But, as mentioned above, your female ancestors were also thought to linger on as protective fairy godmother figures.

Native European spirituality is like animistic faiths of other worldwide indigenous people.

It is rooted and grounded in ancestor veneration. It would take another article to go into how this relates to deity.

Click to view this series

The important thing to take from this is that there are protective spirits who watch over you. They are tied to your heritage, your ancestral line, and your culture. MOST, if not all, ethnic groups in the world believed this at one time. The Shintoism of Japan is one such example. Even Disney's representation of the Chinese legend of "Mulan" represents this nearly universal concept.

The Essentials of Native European Worldview of Fate

The essentials that I have gleaned from the European fairy tale tradition thus far, as it pertains to our individual fate and destinies, is that we are visited by the Fates shortly after birth. This belief is found clear across Europe, and across language barriers. The Fates bless us with gifts. These gifts might seem like burdens, but we will grow from them (as seen in Vol VI, "The Three Golden Hairs, where Plavachek is "blessed" that he will meet many dangers).

The "three weird sisters" depicted in an early screen rendition of Shakespeare's "MacBeth." The "weird sisters" were a memory of the Norns who weave Wyrd.

But, what is also made clear in the tradition is that, while we are directed by the Fates on a path, that there are forces rooting for us, provided that we are proactive in striving for self actualization.

The fairy tale tradition shows us that there will be those who wish to thwart us on our journey.

We discussed the common princess tale, where "evil step-mothers" are the nemesis. But, Vol VI in the series, "The Three Golden Hairs," demonstrated this in another way.

In this tale, it was a king who could not accept that the lowly peasant boy would marry his daughter, and thus, he worked hard to thwart the young man's destiny.

The hero of that tale, called Plavachek, rose to the challenge. He accepted the call to prove his worth. He embarked on a Hero's Journey. And, he showed he was worthy of his destiny. Thus, he was self-actualized to his fate.

Art by Frank Pape

But, other tales show us that when we are presented with unfortunate circumstances, that if we are steadfast and true, if we believe, (above all, belief is important), if we seek assistance from our spiritual guardians, if we are aware of guides and listen to them, and if we act in a way that is honorable with integrity, courage, and kindness, that we will self-actualize to the destiny that the Fates have in store for us.

"Twilight fantasies" by Edward Robert Hughes

Join Me in Digging Deeper into Indigenous European Faith

]]><![CDATA[The West's Greatest Sin is Betraying Ourselves]]>Sat, 19 Aug 2017 18:22:26 GMThttp:folkloricforays/the-wests-greatest-sin-is-betraying-ourselves

We have been here before.

These are dark days. Thousands of people are being caught up in mob mentality and literally attacking people for thoughts that they find "abhorrent." Whether these mobs are using internet bullying, harsh words, or literal physical assault, the effect is the same. We are being told that there is an institutionally approved narrative and those who don't get in line will singled out to be ruined by the mob. We have been here before. So, let us take a peek at what we can learn from history, shall we?

A Look at Population Shifts Through Top-Down Coercion

The telling of history has ALWAYS been done with an agenda.

I have observed many people scoffing at the idea that there is something contrived going on here. They call it a "conspiracy theory." They say that anyone believing that we are being manipulated is a tin-foil hat wearing nutcase. And, because the folklore/pagan community is so heavily dominated by people who identify is left wing liberals, there is an especially great logical disconnect in the community whom I originally set out to write for.

I am finding it inconceivable that people in the pagan and folklore community can all nod their heads in unison when we're talking about the Christian Church's campaign against indigenous European culture, and how it can be understood that the entire landscape of belief was changed from the top down through means of political persuasion, conversion, and even military campaigns during the conversion process, but they fail to even entertain that the exact same process could be happening to us now.

Are we so different now than human beings ever were in the past? How could we be immune to processes that have been used before?

Historians had long said that indigenous European belief was dead by the time of the witch trials.

But, as we have been discussing for years now on my website, and through the work of scholars making major headway in witch trial analysis, we now know that this is not true.

Historians once said that the notion that the witch trials were a crack down on native European spirituality was laughable. We now know that this is not true.

Scholars like Emma Wilby, Carlo Ginzburg, Eva Pocs, and others, have demonstrated quite incontrovertibly that in many instances throughout Europe that the witch trials WERE, indeed, a campaign against individuals holding beliefs and engaging in practices that local church leaders condemned.

CLICK to view this book!

EUROPEANS LOST THEIR OWN NATIVE SHAMANIC AND ANIMISTIC WAY OF LIFE DUE TO TOP DOWN IDEOLOGICAL WARFARE.

In the Middle Ages and up until the advent of the printing press, the Church and elites controlled virtually all education and written records.

Churches were used as our mass media is today, to get the right messaging out to the rabble. And, anyone deviating from proper church prescribed behavior could be subjected to persecution. People were persecuted for what amounts to thought crimes.

The tactics then are the same as now. This is always institutionalized at the top. Those who have vast wealth are the nobility of our current epoch. And they are able to influence politicians through campaign contributions, they own virtually all of the mainstream media, and they also influence academia through both donations and media pressure.

So we have a populace who largely now rejects church indoctrination. Does that mean we are not indoctrinated? We are sending our children to educational institutions who have an active agenda. We are watching media that is pushing that same agenda. Our news sources are all owned by multi-billionaires. And our politicians are all bought off by those same billionaires and their multi-national corporations.

THIS IS NOT CONSPIRACY THEORY. THIS IS VERIFIABLE FACT.

Elites Have Always Used Strategic Population Displacement

If we look to the Roman Empire, we see that Roman citizens were brought to settle in newly conquered Roman territories. This happened more recently in the Soviet Union. For those who don't know, the Soviets moved large numbers of ethnic-Russians into Soviet satellite states, and the remnants of these communities have faced difficulty in their predicament after the fall of the U.S.S.R.

Dispersion of ethnic-Russians settled in Soviet controlled nations.

Elites shift population for several reasons. It helps them retain power and control the masses if a larger percentage of the population is on their side. But, sometimes population shift is used BEFORE a takeover. Interestingly, I happened to watch British television documentary series last night that discussed this very notion.

The historical series "Fact or Fiction: Episode 03 - King Harald" makes mention of the political maneuvering taking place before the Norman invasion of 1066.

It is explained that Normans had been brought into England well before the invasion, some of which had key positions of influence, such as the high status of bishop. Nobles had also been brought in and given land.

What is interestingly revealed in this episode is that the English king, Edward the Confessor, seemed very naive to the consequences of this. Because he had lived in exile in Normandy for some time before returning to assume the English crown, he thought he was surrounding himself by allied friends. But, it turns out that letting foreigners into his nation in key strategic positions was a disastrous mistake that all of the English would pay for, and arguably still pay for today. Watch the video linked here to see how bringing in the foreign Normans set the English up for disaster.

Had the English not been so naive, the Norman Invasion may have ended differently.

Today, population shift is being used to elicit broadscale changes that will benefit only those at the very top, the globalist elites. And the media that THEY CONTROL, as well as the politicians who are IN THEIR POCKET, are all telling us that the only reason to oppose massive population shifts is due to racism.

Well, I'm here to tell you that this is a strawman argument and a logical fallacy. Racism is completely irrelevant to the discussion. In fact, the real racism is the seething hate-speech hurled at any ethnic-European who opposes their demographic displacement in their own nations.

The Ethno-State is the Norm in Non-European Nations

I have brought this up before, but it is important to keep talking about it. We are being told that the idea of an ethno-state is racist white supremacy. But, I ask you, have you ever actually LOOKED at any other parts of the world? There is not one East Asian nation that I can think of that is NOT an ethno-state. Israel is an ethno-state. Most of the Arab nations are similar to ethno-states in terms of preservation of culture by theocracy.

I recently saw a mainstream news piece about Japan, "'CBSN: On Assignment' explores Japan's future of humanoid robots." PLEASE WATCH THIS.

Click to go to CBS and watch this short documentary.

When I first saw this video, I was initially excited to see them discussing Japanese animism, as that is closer to the topic I started this website to discuss. Despite the assumptions that are being made about me, I actually quite love world cultures and have always had a deep interest in them. But, as the documentary unfolded, there was something else very crucial being said that nobody seems to be paying attention to.

Journalist Adam Yamaguchi says very plainly in this video that the Japanese face a declining population, BUT THEY REFUSE TO TAKE IN MASS NUMBERS OF IMMIGRANTS. Why? Because the Japanese FEAR bringing in large numbers of people who do not understand their culture and way of life.

The Japanese would rather create robots to do menial labor than bring in foreigners. Straight up. Th ere is no argument. This is a reality. The Japanese will tell you this.

And, today, I came upon this lovely little gem, a right nugget of a truth bomb you might say...

Click to read this article on The Spectator

Carola Binney reports the following:

"The history of China is also the history of proud isolationism: it has been keeping outsiders outside for generations. China was long the most developed country in Asia, and just as the Greeks stigmatised their neighbours as barbarians, the Chinese scorned theirs. The turn of the 20th century brought the grudging acknowledgement of western technological superiority, and with it a shift from the general policy of viewing all foreigners as inferior: an exception was made for westerners."

"China’s government says it is ‘a unified multi-ethnic country’. It is not. To a British visitor, China appears astonishingly ethnically homogeneous: the Han ethnic group make up 92 per cent of the population, but walk the streets of almost any city and you’ll wonder where the other 8 per cent are hiding. The answer is: in ethnic minority enclaves on the fringes of some of the country’s poorest provinces. China has almost no citizens of non-Chinese descent: it is extremely difficult for expats to secure Chinese citizenship, so most are forced to leave as soon as their employment visas expire."

You mean, the Chinese are protectionist isolationists who wish to preserve their ethno-cultural integrity???!!! THEY MUST BE WHITE SUPREMACISTS!!! Or... something.

Another tidbit of relevant context I came across is regarding the Israeli ethno-state. Sometimes you have to read between the lines. Very often truth bombs are dropped but the journalists choose not to emphasize them, spotlight them, exaggerate them, and shame the speakers the same way they do when Westerners speak very similar sentiments. The CBSN piece on the Japanese is one such example. Please watch that short 11 minute documentary and note how the Japanese interviewed are NOT shamed for their desire to preserve ethno-state.

And then, if you will, watch this 30 minute Vice documentary on European Jews immigrating to Israel. Several important points will be said, but ignored by the journalists.

1) Population displacement is discussed. The movement of Arab Muslims who commit violence against Jews in Europe is mentioned.

An Israeli immigration official says, very plainly, that the Muslim influx into Europe has been GOOD for Israel. The movement of one population into Europe is pushing another population, European Jews, into Israel. Oh, but they very honestly give us some other very important context.

2) The Israel immigration official very plainly says (paraphrase) "well, we must keep a Jewish majority if we wish to remain a democracy." --- Read that again. And read it one more time before reading on.

What that sentence means is that the immigration official understands VERY WELL that DEMOGRAPHICS are how you CONTROL DEMOCRACY.

Politicians failing to address it? THEY ARE ENCOURAGING IT! Why? Click image to read this article at The Telegraph.

So let's rewind up to the top about historical reasons for population shifts. Why would they be purposely trying to shift our demographics, you ask. This sounds like a conspiracy theory, you might scoff.

Well, watch the Vice documentary linked above which clearly lays out two demographic shifts going on RIGHT NOW, how an ethno-state is benefiting by gaining large numbers of the ethnic group they want to populate their nation, and how they want only this one specific ethnic group coming in large numbers and remaining the majority "if they are to remain a democracy."

If you can't see how importing people from non-traditionally Western demographics is done with a political agenda, look at voting statistics. The Leftist politicians are NOT bringing in foreigners from incompatible cultures out of benevolent compassion. They are doing it because they will then pander to them and increase their voting block.

It is All Smoke and Mirrors, Trickery with Agenda

"The Slave Market" by Otto Pliny depicts the Arab sex slave market where European women were sold as sex slaves for over 1,000 years.

Now, for a long time the West has been under complete assault by left wingers who have been disparaging our cultural heritage. An entire book could be written about the exaggerations, misrepresentations, missing contextual background, and even outright lies that are being told to our impressionable young people to make them hate their own heritage.

We can give countless examples of non-European, non-white, empires who engaged in colonization of others, of slave traders who were non-white, of how non-white slave traders, namely Arab and Africans, were trading in slaves long before and well after Europeans got in and and out of that market.

We can talk about how Arab ships stormed European shores for hundreds of years to kidnap European women to bring home as sex slaves. We can even talk about the white Irish slaves who worked side by side with the black slaves in the Caribbean. And, believe me, we are going to talk about these things soon.

What we see before our very eyes is an entire generation being programmed to hate themselves. They are programmed to hate anyone who loves their European heritage. They are programmed to operate without logical consistency on which rules apply to which ethnic groups. They are programmed to believe the rest of the world did not engage in the inherently HUMAN behaviors that Europeans have.

We Have A Right To Exist, Like Everyone Else Does

The bottom line is this. In 50 years African nations will still be African. Asian nations will still be Asian. Arab nations will still be Arab. But we in the West are being told that "we live in a multicultural world." Tell me how this makes any sense whatsoever? Multiculturalism ONLY EXISTS IN ETHNIC-EUROPEAN COUNTRIES! WHY? Ask yourself why is that?

Scroll up and read the article on China. Watch that video on Japan. And the video on Israel. If you are operating under the conditioning telling you to hate your own kind, I beg you to start informing yourself.

The desire to preserve our unique ethno-cultures does not stem from racial superiority or hatred. That is a complete lie. Why, then, are the Japanese, Chinese, and Israelis not accused of ethnic-superiority? THEY STILL HAVE THEIR ETHNO-STATES.

The kind of "multiculturalism" being forced in the West is ethno-cultural suicide. This does not preserve diversity. THIS IS KILLING DIVERSITY. The ethno-states such as seen in Japan, China, Israel, and virtually all non-Western regions of the world, those are the people preserving their cultural diversity.

And do I hate those people? No! I RESPECT THEM. I respect their desire for self preservation. I respect their love of their own heritage. I respect that they are asserting the right to protect and preserve themselves.

Our Future, or Our Collective Extinction, is in Our Own Hands

Folks, the bottom line is, we need to wake the hell up. We've got thousands of little girls being raped all across Europe because we're too afraid to call a spade a spade.

Click here to listen to this interview from The Independent.

Are we really going to let our children be raped, let our cultures be wiped away, and let our own ethnic group be wiped away from the nations we have built because we're afraid of being called silly words? A WORD'S ONLY POWER IS THE MEANING YOU GIVE IT. And I, for one, made the conscious choice to no longer be ruled by words when I woke up to the realities we are now faced with.

Will they call you a "white supremacist?" Yes. Absolutely they will. Does that mean you are one? ABSOLUTELY NOT. These are the tactics that they employ to make us cower and go silent like sheep to our own slaughter.

Your Homework:

If all of this is new to you, I urge you to take this opportunity to begin to open your eyes. Google the following topics, start digging, don't stop. We must all wake up or we're dead. That is the bottom line.

Google: Saul Alinsky. The Frankfurt School. George Soros. Bolshevism. The Bilderberg Group. And, maybe the most important and the most shocking, the Kalergi Plan.

None of these are conspiracy theories. These are all documented. And if most of those words, people, groups, and terms are new to you, prepare to turn your entire world upside down. You must be brave, you must have courage, you must be willing to face things you have been conditioned to reject if you want to survive the assault we're under.

Just released! Europa Sun:
A magazine dedicated to a positive celebration of
European cultural heritage

Click here to check it out!

]]><![CDATA[The Slavic Mystery: Searching for the Lost Myths of the Slavs]]>Tue, 08 Aug 2017 20:38:08 GMThttp:folkloricforays/the-slavic-mystery-searching-for-the-lost-myths-of-the-slavs

Sirin (left) and Alkonost (right) "Birds of Joy and Sorrow" by Viktor Vasnetsov'

When I set out to look more deeply into Slavic mythology to understand how it survived in fairy tales, such as was the case in the Western European paradigm, I discovered that the language barrier means that there is not a great deal of research on this topic available in English to the general public. So, I've been collecting the books that I can find, and wanted to give you a bit of information on what I've learned thus far and a rundown of a few of the best books that I've yet found for people who want to learn more about the Slavic folk tradition.

The Slavic Mystery

Not only is there a dearth of information available in English (comparatively to other cultural studies), but the beliefs of the early Slavs are shrouded in even more mystery than many of the other language/culture groups on the European continent. And there are several reasons for this.

While the Teutonic people used the runic writing system and the Celts used a system called Ogham, the situation for pre-Christian Slavic writing is more mysterious.

Some scholars believe the Slavs had no form of writing at all, while others believe that they did but it has since been lost to time.

Fairy tale illustration by Ivan Biliban

Because the Slavs are known to have written on birch bark in the earliest days after conversion, it is likely that if they did have another script prior to adoption of first Glagolitic and later Cyrillic, that it was also written on birch bark, which is a material very susceptible to decay and therefore very unlikely to survive.

Interestingly, when Christianity was adopted by groups such as the Anglo-Saxons, eventually runic script was banned as it was seen as a pagan writing system with magical connotations (which is, actually, accurate). But, luckily for us, rune stones have survived which add to the lexicon of what we know about the Teutonic peoples.

Baščanska ploča, the oldest evidence of the glagolitic script. Found in 19th century Croatia, dated to about 1100AD.

In any case no written texts of the Slavs have survived in the historical record until the advent of the Glagolitic and Cyrillic writing systems. Some people may not be aware that the name "Cyrillic" is thusly labeled after the Christian Saint Cyril. Cyril is said to have invented the previous Glagolitic script. Letters from both the Greek alphabet and Cyril's Glagolitic script were combined to form the Cyrillic alphabet. Some scholars believe this was done by disciples of Cyril who named it in his honor.

Since the very alphabet itself was invented by a religious missionary for the purpose of reaching the Slavic people for conversion missions, it may be that there was a greater impetus to use the language strictly for Christian writings. Which brings us to the next reason the beliefs of the ancient Slavs are such a mystery.

Artist's interpretation of Snorri Sturluson writing down the Norse Eddas, by Hauki Stefánssyni

In both the Celtic and Teutonic cultures, and to our great benefit, several individuals took it upon themselves to write down the myths and legends of their ancestors for the sake of posterity. Ironically, it was Christian monks working in Ireland who felt the stories of their pagan forebears were worthy of preserving. And, it was another Christian by the name of Snorri Sturluson who wrote down the myths of the Norse.

It is to our great loss that no such individual preserved the myths of the Slavs in the same way. Therefore, mainly all we have to go on is fragmentary evidence in the folk tradition.

Russian Dvoeverie - The Double Faith

Folklore to the rescue! As is seen clear across Europe, the old ways died hard. In fact, they really did not die at all. European peasants found ways to incorporate their native folkways into their daily lives so that their old folkways could linger on.

Once the conversion had been in place for several generations, the peasantry eventually had no conception that they were engaging in pagan activities. They viewed themselves as strictly Christian, yet many of their beliefs and practices were overtly pagan.

But, Slavs, just like other Europeans, kept their old beliefs alive in their folklore, customs, songs, legends, arts and crafts, and so on.

Art by Ivan Bilibo

I strongly assert that this is the case far and wide throughout Europe. And, indeed, this same phenomenon can be seen throughout the world in places where a new religion is superimposed upon a populace. However, ethnologists and other scholars have long noted that the old faith lingered on in a very powerful, and even overt, way among the Slavs. This is referred to as "Dvoeverie" or "double faith."

The double, also referred to as dual, faith was so intense that it still lingers on in many Slavic nations today, but it is most often studied and discussed in relation to Russia.

However, most individuals living in traditional Slavic societies today typically have no idea that certain beliefs, symbols, images, and stories that they continue to share are representative of paganism.

This is not unusual. In fact, it is the norm. And we see it quite strongly through the ages in Western Europe as well.

What this means is that the ancient beliefs were allowed to linger on and evolve naturally and organically with the culture. We may not know certain epic myths of the Slavs in the same way we know of the exploits of the Norse gods, but we can still get to the heart and the soul of Slavic indigenous belief by studying their folk and fairy tales.

"Ivan Tsarovich Riding the Grey Wolf" by Viktor Vasnetsov

Digging for the Heart of the Slavs

If you are really interested in indigenous Slavic belief, of course I would tell you to read folk and fairy tales. However, it's really helpful to approach the lore with a foundational knowledge in the culture. The wonderful thing about fairy tales is that they reach our inner psyches without any research necessary. One tale can have countless interpretations. Their role is really to touch us as individuals and guide us through life's obstacles. So your own personal interpretation of what a tale means to you is valid.

But, if we're looking for more from the fairy tale canon, and especially looking for how our own ancient native faith lived on through these tales, it's helpful to have some background knowledge.

Because there aren't any ancient full length myths to reference directly, the "Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend" is great to keep on hand. Scholars have reconstructed some Slavic myth from evidence surviving in the folk culture of Slavic Europe.

Piecing together these sources is a painstaking process, so having this research handy can help us make some sense of certain images, figures, and motifs that come up in the folk and fairy tale tradition. In addition, certain symbols that are related to deities also come up in Slavic folk art that is still created by traditional artists today.

I'm just a big nerd for these kinds of reference books and I will buy as many as I can and use them often in my research.

CLICK to view this book

"Slavic Folklore: A Handbook" is written as a textbook for folklore students. However, the author's prose flows smoothly so that it reads quite easily.

This book gives a solid discussion on broad Slavic culture in relation to the folk tradition. She also addresses certain problems we have in getting to the roots of Slavic myth as outlined above.

For th ose looking for some of the history of folklore, who exactly has been recording and preserving the folklore of Slavic peoples and the methodologies used, this is pretty much THE essential book on the subject.

CLICK to view this book

"Russian Magic: Living Folk Traditions of an Enchanted Landscape" is the kind of book that makes my heart beat fast. The author is a woman after my own heart. She has a passion for Russian culture and has spent years studying it deeply.

I haven't looked into the author's background, so I don't know her academic credentials. It doesn't read like a scholarly book, per se. She comes off more as an enthusiast than a scholar on Russian studies. That said, she certainly comes off as very knowledgeable, very intelligent, and as someone who reads scholarly work in order to make sense of her own observations.

CLICK to view this book

So, as someone who values scholarship on cultural studies, I do find this author to be reliable. Her observations and thoughts on Russian culture jibe with my own deep study on indigenous European spirituality from the Germanic and Celtic perspectives.

Last but not least, for years I have been recommending Jacqueline Simpson's "European Mythology" as highly as I can. This book is not about the great epic myths of ancient times, but rather about folk beliefs, customs, and traditions which demonstrate how mythology remained vibrantly alive in the European consciousness through the ages.

Simpson emphasizes the continuity of belief and worldview which transcends language barriers throughout Europe. So, she discusses examples from many different European cultures (including Slavic) but reminds us that just because a practice is mentioned in one culture group does not at all mean that the same (or similar) practice does not occur in other culture/language groups throughout Europe.

Click to view this book

Touch the Hand of a Seer to See as They See

One common motif found in Celtic folklore is the notion that if you hold the hand of someone who has the ability to see the Faerie Realm, that their gift will be transmitted through their hand to yours and you will be able to see what they see (until you let go of their hand).

My supernatural gifts are quite modest. But, I have spent years studying the European folk tradition, and I have been told that I have a knack for relaying what I have learned with others.

So, I invite you to come along with me for this journey while we dig deeply into the European folk tradition to discover our lost folkways.

What we find when we make the effort to look is that our native folkways never actually died at all. They just became encoded within folk culture.

Slavic fairy tale art by Konstantin Vasiliev

And, as as urbanization, industrialization, and now globalization, have taken our eyes off of our own cultural identities, we have lost the lenses with which to see our own native worldview.

I am working very hard at crafting new lenses so that all people of European heritage can find the focus we've lost. And, the steps and techniques that I'm using can be utilized by any person of any cultural background to find their own native cultural worldview in exactly the same way. If we value diversity on this Earth, it is important that each and every one of us cherishes, protects, and preserves our own unique ancestral heritages.

The European Fairy Tales Series

Click to view the Fairy Tales Series page

It is for this reason that I have started the European Fairy Tales Series. Each month we take a deep look at a different European fairy tale, often they are tales that you likely never heard before! The booklets give introductions which explore culturally significant topics that help us understand what is represented in the tale, followed by a re-telling of the tale. Every booklet is richly illustrated in color.

These books are available in print and Kindle via Amazon, and also available in PDF. However, for a $1 subscription, you can receive them in PDF as they become available each month. Higher tier subscriptions receive more content as it becomes available.

More importantly, your subscription sponsors research into our lost native folkways. I am working on the August 2017 volume now, and as you may have guessed, we'll be delving into the Land of the Slavs!

]]><![CDATA[The Shaman's Journey in Religion, Myth, and Fairy Tale]]>Sun, 30 Jul 2017 16:14:30 GMThttp:folkloricforays/the-shamans-journey-in-religion-myth-and-fairy-tale

Researching European shamanism, and then delving into the fairy tale tradition and observing how indigenous European spirituality lingered on in the folk tradition, has opened new doors of reflection. Joseph Campbell was one of the first mythologists to discuss myths as deeply intuitive messages from our ancestors with important messages for our own personal growth. His "Hero's Journey" theory has been hugely influential on subsequent storytellers. But, there is another important journey that we see depicted by certain figures in myth and fairytales; the shaman.

The Shaman's Journey and Why it Matters

The Shaman's Journey shares quite bit of overlap with the Hero's Journey. The important difference is that the Shaman's Journey is inherently spiritual, and it is directly tied to our lost indigenous worldview.

Again, I will keep reiterating that our own native spirituality was never truly lost, it just went undercover and was encoded.

By studying the folk tradition that has been with us right along, we can open our eyes to insight that has been with us on a subconscious level and bring it forward into our aware consciousness.

And, by doing so, we can realize the deep insight of our ancestors and harness it to elicit a more holistic sense of psychological well-being.

"The Witch's Maiden" by Jennie Harbour

Rewind: European Shamanism Was a Thing?

The term "shaman" itself tends to elicit debate. It was originally used to refer specifically to Siberian animistic cultures, from whence the word "shaman" itself derives. Researchers soon realized that "primitive" cultures still found in the world today have figures in their communities that use very similar practices to the Siberian shamans.

By "primitive" I mean people still living closely with nature, often with less reliance on technology, in smaller social groups, and who still believe in animistic spirituality.

Therefore, though the word itself originated in Asiatic language, we use the term to apply to these figures worldwide, although they will have their own word to describe their role in the language of their own native culture.

However, there is another reason the word "shaman" has been problematic when looking at our own European cultural history. It has long been asserted in academia that most European cultures were not shamanistic. Some scholars vehemently stick to this assertion, while others have more recently challenged it.

In my recent studies looking into indigenous European shamanism, I have found evidence that shamanism was certainly present in European society. My view is that European culture simply advanced beyond "primitive" societies very early on, and thus the role of the shaman evolved before our history records begin.

What I mean by that is that we shifted from hunter gatherer nomads to stationary farmers which allowed us to build stable communities which in turn had the ability to grow in size. This means instead of a small tribal group, we moved into civilizations. Of course, this happened even earlier in the Mediterranean regions where temperate climate makes settled farming life much easier.

Art by Frank Pape

So, therefore, my best assessment is that as European culture evolved, as we gained greater technological advancement, larger settled communities that grew into civilizations, that the role of the shaman evolved with the community. The tricky part is that by the time we started recording history, we had already moved out of the quintessential shamanic phase. In other words, our historical records begin recording after our shamans had already evolved into other figures, though they still carried with them some shamanic elements and techniques.

As mentioned above, every culture will have their own term for the role of the shaman. We now use the term "shaman" as a universal title for the role of this figure, like doctor, or lawyer. African shamans will have their own titles from their own respective languages, and so on in any given culture.

Click to view this book

In the English language, our words were "witch" and "wizard," also "sorceror." Other words come up as well, and they are discussed in the article "Magic in Anglo-Saxon England." Also see "Scottish Witchcraft: Background and Practices" for a discussion on "Cunning Folk."

The Shaman in Context of Shamanistic Cultures

One important element of the "Shaman's Journey" is that while shamans were unique individuals within their societies, and they underwent their own special training that sometimes involved ordeals for personal transformation, that part of their role also serves to assist other members of the community in their own personal transformations.

In tribal warrior societies, it is common for boys on the cusp of manhood to go through a warrior initiation ceremony. Very often similar rites of passage existed for girls who cross into the sphere of womanhood. Usually these rituals are gender specific, so all the men or all the women gather together to initiate the young person in their symbolic passage to adulthood.

Where shaman figures are still present in the culture, a shaman is often there to lead the ceremony, especially when a spiritual component is involved.

Shamanistic cultures are also typically animistic spiritually. So, while the shaman may have the special training and spiritual gifts to negotiate with the spiritual realm, the belief in the spiritual realm and some level of purposeful interacting with it will be universal throughout the society.

Native American shamanic experience, by H. J. Ford.

In other words, everyone within the society will hold a shamanistic worldview and engage in some level of shamanic practice.

An analogy would be that today if a child scrapes his knee, it is nearly universally understood that the parent would clean the wound, usually keeping rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or some other disinfectant on hand, perhaps smear on an antibiotic or antiseptic ointment, and then cover with a bandage.

One does not need to be a doctor to have a basic understanding of hygienic medical treatment of a surface wound. However, if the cut is excessive and it is beyond the skills and understanding of the parent to tend to it, then they will bring their child to a physician for treatment.

As we live in the Scientific Age, and in societies ruled by rational reason, we have certain basic scientific knowledge and understandings even when we are not trained scientists or medical doctors ourselves.

Click to view this book

Just so, people living under a magical and animistic worldview will all have a basic understanding of the magical ways in which they believe the world functions. But, when the situation reaches beyond their own ability to cope, then they seek out the help of the shaman.

So, as we can see, while the shaman themselves is a distinct figure within the society, shamanism is also intertwined within the community on an intrinsic level.

What is a Shamanic Journey?

I propose that the "Shaman's Journey" is a process that not only the shaman his or herself undertakes, but it had symbolic meaning for all individuals who lived within a shamanistic society.

The steps are very close to Joseph Campbell's "Hero's Journey,"outlined in his masterpiece, "The Hero with a Thousand Faces."

The difference is that the Hero's Journey functions almost more like a literary formula repeated over and over again in stories both ancient and modern.

Of course, Campbell also pointed out that this formula can be used as a metaphor us in our own lives.

Click to view this book

The Hero's Journey is undertaken by someone separate from ourselves, off in the distance, whom we admire and want to emulate; while the shaman was once a member of our own community who worked with us and whom we personally observed engaging upon his own journeys, and who assisted us in engaging in our own spiritual journeys of self-transformation.

The process in becoming a shaman often involved steps quite similar to the steps outlined in Campbell's Hero's Journey. In watching interviews with people who have spent intensive time studying shamans in modern times found in remote cultures around the world, we find that their experiences somewhat match the Hero's Journey.

Campbell's outline has three main stages with sub-stages, adding up to a 17 point pattern.

The big difference between the "hero" and the "shaman" is that the hero's journey is not necessarily undertaken for spiritual purposes, and it can be solely for his or her own benefit. Whereas the shaman's journey is inherently spiritual, and the shaman is tasked with the larger role of obtaining gifts that he or she will then share with their communities.

I haven't worked out an entire intricate pattern like Campbell's, but I have noticed some recurring elements that turn up in shamanic figures. These are found both in real living shamans as well as shamanic figures in myth and religion. And these are only slight variations upon the original Hero's Journey that seem specific to the shaman archetype.

The Call of Spirit

Fairy Tale illustration by Warwick Goble

So, Campbell's Hero will initially hear the "Call to Adventure." But, the Shaman hears the call of Spirit. People who have studied modern shamans in world cultures today often find that shamans begin experiencing spiritual phenomena that others do not experience. This could be in the form of hearing voices, in dreams, or so some other similar phenomenon.

Very often, just as the Hero refuses the call, the Shaman-to-be will also refuse it. As discussed in the videos linked in this piece above, many people do not desire to be a shaman. In fact, they often want nothing to do with it! But, they are plagued by dreams, visions, voices, etc, that they cannot turn off.

In this case, they themselves seek out the help of a shaman who then tells the individual that they, too, have been called to this path. This is not the only way someone is called to the life of a shaman, but it is one common way.

In some cultures and instances, a shaman is identified at birth and then raised up in his or her pathway.

When the shamanic figure is identified in infancy, often the "call of Spirit" is some supernatural element pertaining to their conception or birth.

In the case of Christianity, it was the Virgin birth. Sometimes it might be a birthmark on the infant's body that symbolizes their special status.

Being born with the caul was sometimes seen as the child being marked supernaturally.

Fairy tale illustration by H. J. Ford

Crossing the Threshold of Nature

Illustration by Warwick Goble

One common element of shamanic training is taking a journey alone into the wilderness. A shaman's function is to bridge the barriers between the human and spirit worlds. To do so, they need to leave the world of humans and connect with Spirit. Often, this is an ordeal wherein the shaman-in-training journey's out into the wilderness alone. There he must survive by relying on his senses, his relationship with Nature, and thereby strengthen his ability to communicate with the spirit realm.

Jesus in the desert as depicted by Ewen MacGregor

Many figures from mythology and world religions also depict storylines that match both the Hero's Journey and elements of shamanism. It might shock some people to view the figure of Jesus Christ as a shaman. Yet, like shamans in some cultures, he was identified at birth as special and set apart from ordinary humans.

Like some Native American shamanic (medicine man) training ordeals, we are told that Jesus spent forty days alone in the wilderness where he wrestled with temptation and supernatural forces.

The Ordeal - A Suffering

Once a shaman begins their journey, they often undergo some kind of personal suffering which must be endured so that their spiritual gifts can be realized.

These ordeals are also present in shamanic societies in rites of passage undertaken by members of the culture group. The "Vision Quest" is one such ordeal that is found in some Native American cultures, and similar rites are found in warrior-tribal societies throughout history.

While the shaman may engage in an ordeal to obtain his own shamanic gifts, his role is then to guide the community in such cultural rites of passage that they may engage in.

Shamanic figures in mythology are seen to suffer to obtain gifts that they then pass on to adherents of the faith that venerates them.

Odin by "darktear83" on DeviantArt

So, we see Odin sacrificing his own eye to obtain wisdom and hanging from the World Tree in order to learn the secrets of the runes, which were then revealed to his followers. Jesus Christ's story tell us that suffered on the cross as a gift to humanity.

Symbolic Death & Rebirth

Illustration by Warwick Goble

We see death and rebirth enacted in shamanic elements of cultural myth as well as in the rituals of many world religions. In the Christian myth, Jesus Christ died and experienced a resurrection. Just so, his followers engage in a ritual of symbolic death with their rite of baptism. In the Christian tradition, baptism is meant to symbolize the death of one's former life and a rebirth of their new life as a Christian.

This also serves as an initiation ritual as the individual is being initiated into their faith.

While some sects initiate infants into their religion, other Christian sects couple the rite of baptism with a rite of passage into adulthood.

In some Christian traditions, an individual is not baptised until they have reached "the age of reasoning." This is meant to say that the person is no longer in the "innocence" (or obliviousness) of childhood, but has reached a maturity level of psychological understanding and responsibility.

When they have reached this maturity level, then they have the ability to make choices and understand consequences.

Jesus' later death and resurrection was a repetition of the motif seen previously with his own baptism.

Therefore, their baptism is a death and rebirth ritual symbolizing their own moving into a new phase of life where they are responsible for their choices in addition to the religious symbolism that the rite entails.

Heroic & Shamanic Journey Elements in Fairy Tales

As we've been explo ring stories in the European Fairy Tales Series, elements of shamanism, a shamanic worldview, and shamanic/heroic journeys have appeared. In "The Three Heads of the Well," an important element of Campbell's Hero's Journey not discussed above is shown: supernatural assistance. This is a recurring element within fairy tales, and one example of how the Hero's Journey is played out over and over again in the fairy tale tradition.

Other shamanic elements were discussed in the booklet "Thomas the Rhymer." Thomas' character can also be seen as engaging in a Shamanic Journey.

He was "called" by a spiritual "guide" to go on a journey. The steps along his journey can be seen as symbolic of death and rebirth, as he went through a desolate desert (death) through a dark cavern tunnel resulting in his arrival in Elf-land (which can be seen as a metaphor for a paradise or afterlife), and then journeyed back again through the tunnel (birth canal) and ultimately arrived back to Middle Earth.

While in Elf-land, Thomas had to go through an ordeal. This particular example seems a bit mild compared to others at first glance, but there are some strong parallels to other shamanic/spiritual/religious traditions.

Click to view this book

Thomas was told by his spiritual guide that he was not allowed to eat anything apart from one apple that she gave to him. This parallels the use of fasting seen in other mythical shamanic journeys (Christ fasted in the wilderness, Odin fasted as he hung on the tree). In addition, fasting is still used in various religious rites and rituals around the world today. Hindu spiritual people sometimes use fasting, as do Christians and Muslims.

The other part of Thomas' ordeal was that he was told he must remain silent while in Elf-land.

While this seems simple, it was implied that there would be negative consequences if he did not, so there was an element of danger involved.

Silence is more difficult than it seems, and for this reason it is part of the religious experience of only the most serious devotees of certain paths.

Silence is used in various Christian traditions, most well known with Catholic monks who take a vow to remain silent for a certain period or even their entire lives.

It can also be found among Buddhist monks. And, the practice of silence is key to yoga and transcendental meditation of the Hindu tradition.

Art by H. J. Ford

By successfully following the directions of his spiritual guide and completing the ordeal, Thomas was allowed to be "re-born" as he re-entered the mortal world, and he was blessed with supernatural gifts which he then used for the benefit of his own community.

Shamanic Cultural Worldview Evidenced in Fairy Tales

We explored animism in Grimms' "Aschenputtel." This story is a great representation of how Europeans absolutely were immersed in a "shamanic" cultural worldview.

The archetype of the shaman exists within the broader cultural paradigm. I would argue that even when the "profession" of shaman is no longer present, that the archetype of the shaman may still appear in the mythos of a given society wherein the profession had once previously existed.

And, that society will hold a worldview that is inherently spiritual, animistic, and which views the Earth as "magical" in nature. This worldview is evidenced quite strongly in the European fairy tale tradition.

Click to view this book

The symbolism of death and rebirth also appears frequently within fairy tales. We've not covered it yet in the Fairy Tales Series, but we surely will. You will already be aware of this theme through well known tales like Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and others.

While death is symbolized in those tales just mentioned through a deep sleep, or a sleep that mimics death, it sometimes appears in more veiled ways (as described above in Thomas the Rhymer), or more overt and gruesome ways. For instance, I have seen beheading used as a mode to elicit transformation in several tales.

Most of you will be familiar with "The Frog Prince," wherein the girl must kiss the frog in order to break his curse. Other variants of this tale, such as an English version called "The Well at the World's End," require the girl to chop off the frog's head in order to break his enchantment and return him to his original form.

I have seen this motif in other tales, and I plan on exploring this more in future Fairy Tales Series volumes.

A Treasure Trove of Deep Spirituality

Every day I delve deeper into our indigenous European spirituality and discover that our spiritual inheritance runs deeper than I ever imagined.

We're only beginning to scratch the surface. The Fairy Tales Series is allowing me to study elements of European folk religion methodically, and share my research with you as it is uncovered.

Ultimately, my plan is to bring all of this research together in a full length book that uncovers our deep indigenous spiritual roots and how they lived on in our culture right along.

Illustration by H. J. Ford

Follow along with the series by subscribing on Patreon to receive each booklet in PDF as they come out each month. The series is made available as low as a $1/month subscription so that anyone of any financial circumstance can read along. Higher tiers receive additional material.

More than that, the higher tiers are supporting this ongoing research so that I may keep unearthing important insight from our shared heritage and share it with you. Subscribers at all levels are very much appreciated!

]]><![CDATA[Have Heart; For We are on the Cusp of a Great Cultural Revolution]]>Fri, 28 Jul 2017 20:04:59 GMThttp:folkloricforays/have-heart-for-we-are-on-the-cusp-of-great-cultural-revolution

Storm in the Rocky Mountains, by Albert Bierstadt, 1886

The times in which we are living are more polarizing than ever in recent memory. Thus, people are separated by extrem es, reactivity, and heated emotion. But, at the same time, a Great Awakening is under way, and it is important to highlight some important points, re-calibrate, and focus our directive moving forward.

Why Are So Many "White People" Angry?

Making TV shows disparaging white people is not racist, it's mainstream.

It behooves us to veer a little into the political sphere that I typically avoid in my writing because many people are either unaware or completely misinformed by the exploding shift that has occurred over the past couple of years, and many just can't make heads nor tails of it.

My assessment is that the formerly dominant political agenda had been pushed with ever increasing frequency, intensity, and hostility until which point that it over-saturated society to the degree that many people, myself and many of you reading this, became exceedingly frustrated. Meanwhile, rhetoric coming out of the mouths of people promoting mainstream views were becoming increasingly hateful toward ethnic-Europeans and disparaging about Western culture.

This isn't racist. But saying the same thing inserting "black" instead of "white" would be.

White men, in particular, have been made targets of horrific hate speech. It's become the norm for college professors and mainstream media figures to blame all of the ills of society upon "white men" and make disparaging remarks about congress or other institutions that are run by "old white men." It had been reported that leaders in the Black Lives Matter movement had been posting horrific things on social media, such as "kill all white babies."

We had seen white people targeted for abuse, physical attacks, and even rape, by non-white perpetrators who had been heard saying that they were targeting their victim because they were white. One of the rapists was reported to have actually said "this is payback for slavery!" as he raped his white victim. And all the while, the local police forces and judges dealing with these crimes had stated that they do not count as racially motivated hate crimes.

This is not hate speech. But questioning whether we should let these people come into our countries is.

Of course, this was all occurring at the very same time that mass terror attacks had been occurring all throughout the West on a large scale. These attacks are by and large all being carried out by one particular demographic. This self same demographic rallies in the streets of London carrying signs that say "DEATH TO BRITAIN." But, that is also not considered a hate crime or hate speech. However, merely observing that this group is literally killing us in massive numbers IS a hate crime.

Furthermore, it has been reported that in multiple cities in Europe, this same demographic has been operating sex gangs where ethnic-European girls and women are groomed and targeted for prostitution. Thousands of little girls have been abused, raped, and then threatened and beaten if they try to escape. These men have been recorded saying such things as "white women exist to be our whores." But that is not considered hate speech.

So, for those who do not understand the rise of far right populist politics, I would urge you to take a more honest look at the situation in which we find ourselves. And I would urge you to look at yourself if you are one of these people who throws around the word "racist" at every person who is legitimately angry about what is happening in our nations. Why is it racist to not want our little girls raped? Why is it racist to point a finger squarely at the group committing these horrific crimes at statistically astronomically higher rates than other groups? Why is it racist to demand that we re-assess our immigration policies to address the statistical realities of certain demographics that we are inviting into our shires? Why is it racist to have the desire to protect ourselves and preserve our cultural inheritance?

Take Your Head Out of Your Arse & Just Be Honest

The bottom line is that more and more people every day are breaking the social programming and realizing that these issues are REAL and that addressing them is not racist at all - it's simply common sense.

But, when we have this psychological breakthrough and at the same time we see "kill whitey" being used with impunity in the mainstream, it naturally makes us angry. When we are called racists for speaking out on legitimate issues, it naturally makes us frustrated. And so, there has been an understandable and large-scale reaction. I have been a party to it, and many of you have as well.

One by one we are breaking our conditioning and waking up.

Knee jerk reactions fueled by high emotion do not represent us at our best. Nor do they represent our views when they have been fully processed and reasoned. In these moments of reactivity, we say heated things that we might scale back, temper, and frame much differently when we're speaking with calm rationality. I am guilty of this. And, what we're seeing right now is an entire movement populated with thousands of other people who are also guilty of it.

The Alt-Right is a Reactive Movement

And, this reactive explosion has been natural and needed. The mainstream order will not be adjusted if it is not violently shaken up. However, now that we've had our collective outburst of raw emotion, now that we've really built the makings of a real movement that has the real potential to reshape our societies and change the course we had been pushed down, it is time take control of our movement and shape it into one that is guided by integrity and honor.

While there are some figures within the movement who are attempting to derail it and guide our people down a destructive path, there are many others of high caliber who have much to offer in terms of their high intelligence, their knowledge, and their positive energy.

In addition, we're seeing people with their technical, speaking, and writing skills begin to launch websites, alternative news, publications, film, and all manner of media to provide outlets for discussion and dissemination of information.

When certain crowd funding and artist funding websites have censored individuals for their unconventional views, now we're seeing our own people band together and put their heads together to begin to launch alternatives.

Caspar David Friedrich, Wanderer above the Sea of Fog, 1818

We Are Taking Control of Our Destiny

In essence, we have moved from the reactive and angry phase into the phase where we are taking control of the situation.

This is massive. This is far more profound than you think. What this is is literally a Great Awakening of our Folk. This is a tapping into our Collective Cultural Unconscious. Together, we are all linking in to the spirits of our ancestors who are guiding us for our Great Last Stand. We are using our skills and our talents to do something about our fate.

A cabal of globalist elites has a very dark future in store for us, and it is their agenda that has been guiding our media and education for several decades now. But, we are NOT willing to go like sheep to the slaughter. We are NOT willing see the cultures of our ancestors washed away. ALL of the people of this world have a right to protect and preserve their cultural heritage.

This Awakening is for ALL People in the World

This awakening is not restricted to ethnic-Europeans. I have long said that the West would be used as a launchpad to move East, and if you are paying attention then you know that the same attacks on culture that have been underway in the West are beginning in the East now. I speak frequently with Indian Hindus on this topic. I have spoken with Afghanis and Iranians about this. Mexicans and Chinese people have come to me to say that they see and understand exactly what the situation is.

Leftists are now lecturing Asians about their drive to preserve their ethno-cultures.

Preservation of ethnic-European culture is not racist. The globalist agenda which wants to destroy ALL diversity in the world is racist. Those who say that the English don't have a right to preserve England, and Germans don't have a right to preserve Germany in the exact same way that the South Koreans and Japanese preserve their ethno-culture are the racists. Those who are trying to say that there is no such thing as ethnic-English and ethnic-German are the racists. I'm here to tell you that ethnic-European distinctions deserve the same recognition, respect, and right to self-protection that ethnic-East Asians assert in their own nations.

The Great Awakening is Upon Us!

So, that so many of our Folk are not only realizing this, but that we have moved beyond the reactive phase and into the action phase is crucial. The Great Awakening is upon us now. And while we disseminate information through our own self-created venues, we must also make an initiative to revive our cultural arts.

We in the West have an incredible legacy to be proud of. While these cultural Marxists sneer at "old white men," instead we must look to our glorious past and remind everyone of the greatness that our Folk have been capable of. While the globalists push destruction of our culture, we must face it by celebrating our culture with more gusto than ever before. When they misrepresent our history, we must tell our OWN story with pride.

Today, together, we are taking a stand and making a pledge. We WILL use all of our talents and skills to preserve, protect, and promote the beautiful diversity on this Earth by defending our OWN cultural heritage. And we respect the right of others to do the same. Western cultural revolution starts now.

*I GIVE PERMISSION FOR ANYONE TO RE-POST THIS ARTICLE IN FULL ON THEIR OWN WEBSITE - just credit me and link back to my website :-)

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]]><![CDATA[Recalibrating Our Worldview to Understand the Past]]>Mon, 24 Jul 2017 02:24:43 GMThttp:folkloricforays/recalibrating-our-worldview-to-understand-the-past*This article is an excerpt from "Aschenputtel: Animism and Ancestor Veneration in Grimms' Cinderella," European Fairy Tales Series Vol V.

"Spirit of the Night" by John Atkinson Grimshaw

Understanding our lost native beliefs can be difficult for modern minds to wrap their heads around. We are so cut off from our deep roots that, today, our own indigenous belief system feels foreign to those who are unfamiliar with it.

Furthermore, both Abrahamic religion and science based rationalism (which tends to be atheistic) view the world in a linear and literal way that is incompatible with the flexible and more free flow understandings of organic ethnic-spirituality (which was the native spirituality of all indigenous peoples in the world before adopting “revealed religions”).

Westerners Respect Foreign Cultures but Deride Their Own

Animistic belief in Shintoism is respected by the same Westerners who deride, disparage, and mock native European animism.

Something that is quite disconcerting is that while ethnic-Europeans today will often look to indigenous animistic belief systems of other ethnicities in the world with a mixture of interest and respect, often the very same people look at the indigenous beliefs of their own ancestors with mockery and derision.

There is no real difference, in broad terms, between Japanese Shintoism, Polynesian animism, Native American spirituality, Indian Hinduism, and indigenous European belief.

Referring to the former groups' beliefs as “primitive superstition” with mockery is no longer socially acceptable.

The situation is actually quite the opposite. Laughing at Native American spirituality in today's political climate will render one labeled a bigot.

Yet, the West was first mired in Christian theological domination which slandered European gods as “false” and local land wights as “demons,” before switching to the new religion of science, the adherents of which often openly laugh at both paganism and Christianity.

Native American indigenous belief is respected. Why do Westerners mock European paganism with such hostility?

Clearly, there is a wide disconnect in the thinking of the contemporary Westerner and their understanding of their own cultural heritage, to the degree that they often treat their own heritage with open hostility.

"Will-o-the-wisp and Snake" by Hermann Hendrich 1823

Newsflash: Europeans had Animism, Too, Dude

I recently viewed a wonderful “TED Talk” video exploring animism as practiced by native Australians. It was called “The Power of Animism” by John Reid. His discussion was illuminating, but disconcerting at the same time.

His interest and understanding of an animist paradigm was spot on, and he gave a lucid discussion on the importance of an animistic worldview in nurturing a healthy societal respect for nature and environment; of being at one with nature instead of at odds with it.

However, he opened his talk by asserting that we have no such concept and, thus, no such vocabulary to describe these thoughts cogently in English.

This is something that breaks my heart, because it is demonstrative of a yearning for an ancient and organic spirituality but a simultaneous complete lack of understanding that we, too, had this.

Our Ancient Beliefs Did Not Die

Mermaid by Harold Glaze, 1939

The folk and fairy tale tradition demonstrates that we are not as removed from our ancient beliefs as we think. While particulars evolved, the crux of the beliefs, their important root core, carried on right up through to our current epoch. It's really a matter of breaking the thought process that had been imposed upon us in order to see with new eyes.

Returning to the first point, overcoming the hostility to paganism is only the first hurdle to understanding.

The beliefs of our ancestors cannot be understood if we are thinking literally, with a linear viewpoint that looks for rational order, and which views the world in the duality of black and white.

One point that I have long understood, but was especially driven home during my research for this piece, was the fluidity within the lexicon of indigenous European belief.

So, when we're speaking of animism, it is important to recognize that there is a stark overlap between the standard view of “animism” (i.e. all things in nature have a spirit) and ancestor veneration. In fact, overlaps and confluences in mythology and folk belief is the norm.

Fairy tale illustration by H. J. Ford

Organic Spirituality is Fluid, Not Linear

Ironically, whether one comes from a Christian mindset or a science based rationalist mindset, both groups are trained to think in absolutes. A thing is this way “because the Bible says so,” or “because the laws of physics say so.”

"The Fairy Dance" by Robert Alexander Hillingford

Under indigenous animism, irrespective of which culture you find it in, beliefs flow freely into one another.

You will find variations and divergences by region and time period, maybe even by individual person. But, there will almost always be a thread of familiarity and continuity that binds the variations together.

Fittingly, while this is true for folk beliefs in general, it is also true for the stories and tales in which they are preserved.

So, we might find slightly differing views of concepts told in a tale that itself has numerous variations.

Therefore it is crucial that one breaks their thought training in literal dogmatism if they wish to understand the rich spirituality that the European, or indeed any other culture's, folk tradition has to offer.

Illustration by Kay Nielsen

Animism and Ancestor Veneration in Grimms' Cinderella

This piece has been excerpted from Volume V in the European Fairy Tales Series, "Aschenputtel: Animism and Ancestor Veneration in Grimm's Cinderella."

Each volume explores some of the deeper cultural elements found within the tale followed by a re-telling of the story.

Explore the series and download Volume I for FREE here!

]]><![CDATA[Life Lessons Learned from Myth and Fairy Tales]]>Wed, 19 Jul 2017 22:27:40 GMThttp:folkloricforays/life-lessons-learned-from-myth-and-fairy-tales

Art by John William Waterhouse

Years pouring over the myths and tales passed down by our ancestors through centuries to millennia will lead to great personal revelation and insight to those who think deeply and contemplate what they've read. This is true for all cultures, and I firmly believe all people of all backgrounds have something very important to gain by delving deeply into the mythic tradition of their blood ancestors.

These stories have important insight to share with us if we move beyond the surface and look deeper. They provide guidance for our regular everyday lives. And, today, as I am processing a personal tragedy, I felt the urge to share how the rich lexicon of European folk belief helps me personally process bumps along the road and direct me upon my life's journey in the hope that this gift can be passed on to others.

Joseph Campbell - The Teacher of an Age

The author whom most people are familiar with when it come to revealing how myths are guideposts for life is Joseph Campbell.

For those who are unfamiliar with him, Joseph Campbell spent five years of his life in his youth holed up in a cabin in the woods just reading, and reading, and reading anything he could get his hands on. He read history, philosophy, great literature, and so forth.

It was only after this that he began exploring the world of mythology and then dedicated his life's work to it.

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The Lady of Shallot by John William Waterhouse

This is an experience that I can relate to as it mirrors my own experience in many ways. So, what I can attest to, is that this level of keen interest in knowledge of the wider world in general lends someone a grounding and insight to see deeper into the world of myth.

You see, myth is a phenomenon that emerges out of a primordial cauldron stirring together the ingredients of culture, history, the human psyche, coupled with our innate storytelling passion. Therefore, having a broad interest in the human experience in general as well as experience thinking deeply on literature lends someone the tools to unlock the secrets that mythology has to offer us.

What Joseph Campbell did was to explore world myth at a time when nobody else was really paying attention.

The great age of folk and fairy tale collecting had been over for several decades. In addition, nobody previously had really looked at how these myths are applicable to us today in our own lives.

Previous scholars had discussed myth in a removed way, as dead beliefs of an ancient past that we are long disconnected from, or in a sterile and academic way.

Campbell looked at these myths and thought about how they related to the human experience.

Whether a human being lives in the past or the present, we are still human beings and we are bound to our ancestors through many strands of connection.

"Pandora" by John William Waterhouse

Campbell is the teacher sent to me on my life's journey at just the right time to tell me "there's something more here. Something profound. Start digging." And, if you've read Campbell's work, you know already that we each are sent teachers and guides along our personal pathways, and it is up to us whether or not we heed the lessons they teach, or if we choose to dismiss the opportunity for growth and blunder on in ignorance.

From Campbell to Jung and Cultural Context

If I were to have one criticism of Campbell, it's that he missed the importance that cultural context plays in the relationship between myth and the individual. However, he opened the floodgates to allow mythology to reach the Western consciousness, so one can hardly criticize his work.

Aside from Campbell, the most important teacher to help explain why myth matters is Carl Jung. Unlike some others in the field of psychology, which strives ever more to be taken seriously as a "hard science," Jung respected spirituality.

Jung saw the links between spirituality to culture and how mythology formed the framework within the two operate.

Since the human psyche cannot but operate within the culture in which we are born, Jung rightly noted the important role that culture and spirituality (and, hence, myth) played on the psychology of the individual.

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Carl Jung coined the phrase "collective unconscious." I have re-phrased it as "collective cultural unconscious," because Jung's theory is dependant on how cultural memories influence the individual unconscious. In more recent years, science has been uncovering a great deal on genetic memory, and even more recently studies have discussed the so called "ancestor effect."

What recent evidence amounts to is that culture is tied to ancestry, and the psyche is tied to both. And what people like Jung and Campbell would really wish to impress upon the general public is that myths are a representation of culture's imprint upon the psyche and the psyche's manifestation of cultural heritage.

Art by John William Waterhouse

The Survival of Ancient Archetypes

Certain cultural guideposts are fairly overt in the mythic canon. We can see clearly that Thor is a masculine archetype. He's the epitome of strength and protector of the Volk. Frigga is the embodiment of motherhood and the maternal archetype. Odin represents paternal wisdom, but also much deeper and complex meanings such as warfare and death. Freyja is a symbol for female sexuality and magic, (which is also why she was so heavily targeted for repression by the Church during the forced conversion of Scandinavia).

And, these are things that are fairly obvious and easy for people to connect with and understand. What is more covert, however, is the ancient cultural guidance that is offered in the fairy tale tradition. To our great benefit, the wisdom of our ancestors endured through the ages, but to our equally great detriment, it was forced to be muted and somewhat obscured from our view.

It's becoming more widely known that the Wotan archetype was preserved in cultural figures such as Santa Claus. (And, we will have to explore this particular example more in depth at a later time, because it runs quite deep).

And the idea that feminine divinity was preserved in the folk tradition has been leaking out in the popular lexicon.

Masculine and feminine attributes have both been preserved within the Northern European mytho-spiritual paradigm.

When Europeans were forcibly converted to Christianity, initially the cults of the Virgin Mary and Catholic Saints provided a female presence within state-approved spirituality.

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But, when the Protestant Reformation raged across Northern Europe and suppressed not only Catholic practice, but also persecuted anyone whose beliefs and practices deviated from a strict puritanical interpretation of the Bible, then the feminine presence within fairy tales became even more important as a way to provide a female spiritual presence in the culture.

"Ophelia" by John William Waterhouse

It's also important to note that in the European worldview, male and female spiritual figures were equally important to both men and women. Yes, men get something specific from male archetypes, and women from female ones. But, both have important attributes to offer the other gender as well.

We know that Northern European men venerated female mother deities by inscriptions dedicated to the "Matronae" found throughout Europe which are signed by men. Indeed, the fairy tale canon holds many stories of male figures who are helped by supernatural women and even their own fairy godmothers.

The Fairy Tale Hero's Journey

One of Joseph Campbell's most popular theories is "The Hero's Journey." He outlines steps and stages that hero figures take as they embark on their mission. It's a cycle that is repeated over and over again in ancient myth and legend, and even used in modern fantasy stories such as The Hobbit, Star Wars, and Harry Potter.

Much of what Campbell observed in mythic heros is also echoed in the common fairy tale. The protagonist often finds themself in an unfortunate situation, and so they take it upon themself to change their destiny.

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Very often, they embark on a journey. And along that journey they are greeted by supernatural guides. Sometimes, they are given a test of character and their response determines whether the guide lends their assistance. Other times, the guide is simply there to help, such as Cinderella's fairy godmother.

Just as great heroes of myth have to face some kind of ordeal, the fairy tale figure is often confronted with challenges, and they are able to face these challenges typically with supernatural aid.

As shown in Campbell's Hero's Journey outline, the notion that there is symbolic death and rebirth is found in the fairy tale tradition as well. We see it in symbolic sleep, such as with Sleeping Beauty.

It's shown in other ways as well. For instance, the motif of beheading to elicit transformation occurs in some very tales.

"The Well at the World's End" is a "frog prince" story which features beheading the frog to bring about his transformation.

It's found in "The Well At the World's Head," a variant of the frog prince, wherein the frog can only return to his true form when he is beheaded by the girl he will marry.

Transformation to true form through beheading occurs in other tales, such as a Czech fairy tale featuring a male protagonist who must behead his guide as one of his tests upon his own journey, which then allows the guide to transform into his true form..

And, like in Campbell's outline, the fairy tale protagonist is usually rewarded for their good character while those who tormented them are often punished for their wickedness. The protagonist then either returns home having solved their problems, or goes off to live in a new home with the expectation of domestic bliss.

Lessons for Life in the Fairy Tale Tradition

So, what can we learn from these archetypes, motifs, and stages of the Fairy Tale hero's journey? Joseph Campbell emphasized that these myths are metaphors for our own lives. And, I assert that fairy tales serve the same purpose.

We all go through dark periods in life. We all have had the experience where we felt mistreated in some close relationship, be it family, friendship, or a romantic relationship gone sour.

We all experience highs and lows, financial setbacks, illness, loss of loved ones, etc. And, when we're in that situation, when things seem very bleak, we can feel rudderless and lost.

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Like the mythic tradition, the fairy tale canon teaches us that we are never as alone as we think we are. It may be difficult for someone opposed to spirituality to accept that we have supernatural guides and guardians, but many who are open to organic spirituality will know this to be true.

However, it's not crucial to view this in a mystical sense. The reality is that guides and teachers are here for us in the real world. Sometimes it's a person you meet in your life who offers help, or from whom you can learn, or someone who embodies certain archetypal figures in their own character and thereby acts as a role model.

And, of course, in the media age we can find teachers and guides through books and other media. Campbell, obviously, was a crucial guide for me along my journey. Without him, I would not be exploring fairy tales here with you.

One thing that we've seen repeated in the European Fairy Tales Series is that the protagonist often takes the initiative to change their fate. The princess in "The Three Heads of the Well" chose to leave her home by her own agency. Her destiny was altered by the guides she encountered along her journey and by the way she responded to them.

The story of Per Gynt deviated somewhat, as he received no supernatural assistance, but he overcame his obstacles through his own cunning and masculine strength. The character of Per Gynt serves as an archetype of the masculine ideal.

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The story points out that Per Gynt had his eye protectively on the dairy maids up on the hill and, although he had no relationship with them, he felt it was his duty to look out for their safety, which speaks to his character.

The Star Money, although it's a very short tale, holds really important inspirational insight for us. This fairy tale features a little girl who has been orphaned and rendered destitute.

Rather than crumbling or succumbing to despair, the little girl decides to go out into the world and seek out a new life.

Along the way she encounters people who are also poor and she gives away her own clothing to people she deems worse off than she is.

In the end, the little girl is rewarded with wealth for her generosity and kindness.

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Not only did this story afford us the opportunity to explore a native European view of karma (and I explain that such a view was present in the European worldview, although there is not a cognate for the actual word), but it gives us the reminder not to let negative circumstances get us down.

The message presented over and over again in fairy tales is that you can change your fate. And, if you take it upon yourself to embark on your own personal journey of transformation, as Campbell says, doors will open where you didn't know there were doors; doors that exist for nobody but you. Guides will appear, provided you have the wherewithal to recognize that they are, in fact, guides.

"Apparition in the Woods" by Moritz von Schwind

Of course, the hero of the legend or fairy tale cannot reach their transformation without courage, for they will be required to pass through the ordeal, meet challenges, and face their fears.

In the fairy tales featuring female protagonists often make the decision to leave an abusive situation and embark on their journey to seek a better life. Male protagonists are often shown engaging in more physically demanding challenges. But, in any event, the decision to make the change, or fight the troll, or seek the grail, or whatever it might be, is one that requires strength of character and determination.

Ultimately, the fairy tale tradition offers psychological-emotional encouragement to help us get through tough times in life.

Psychologist Bruno Bettelheim discusses this in his book "The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales." He explains that these tales are rife with rich symbolism and metaphor that has very primal origins, and the reason they have endured is because they touch us deep within our own psyches.

Bettelheim asserts that grounding children in their own cultural heritage through the telling of fairy tales is crucial for psychological development and well being.

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"Sleeping Beauty" by John William Waterhouse

The next volume in the Fairy Tales Series (Vol V) will explore some of the deeper insight of indigenous European spirituality as it was preserved within the fairy tale canon.

In the meantime, I encourage everyone to dig into fairy tales, adults and children alike. We can glean insight from tales found worldwide, but this is also one way to reconnect to the values that were deemed important for hundreds to thousands of years in our own unique and respective cultures. Therefore, seeking out tales from your own ethnic-cultural background is crucial for grounding and self-development.

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Join Me in Digging Deeper into Indigenous European Faith

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A magazine dedicated to a positive celebration of
European cultural heritage

Just released! Europa Sun:
A magazine devoted to a positive celebration of European cultural heritage.

Lessons for Life in the Fairy Tale Tradition