Rodnovery 101: entry requirements

Recently it’s becoming more and more popular to abandon the dominating for centuries Judeo-Christian tradition, in order to discover and pursue the original, pagan roots of humanity. The internet, and social media in particular are full of questions about how to be pagan, what is paganism and how to follow a pagan religion, including the Slavic Native Faith or Rodnovery. To answer those questions the Witia’s team decided to create a sort of guide for those, who want to follow the Rodnovery faith, but don’t know how to go about it.

A shield and a sword

The Slavic Native Faith and its moral and philosophical system were created by our ancestors as a defence against death from the hands of the Slavic Gods and other supernatural beings. Our ancestors did not know physics, chemistry, biology and other sciences, they did not have modern transportation, building materials or medicine and they had to live in a world that every single day attempted to murder them in a more or less brutal way. The nature – so glorified by modern urbanites, who see the nature as soothing and healing (hence the success of placebo-powered natural “medicine” or “remedies”) – for our ancestors (and, to be honest, for us in a way too) the nature was a serial killer capable of slaughtering whole villages with wind, drought, flood or a call from the ancient enemies of humanity like Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Vibrio cholerae, smallpox, or poliomyelitis. Of course, our ancestors did not know that they were being killed by a clash of atmospheric fronts, fluctuations in air temperature in the stratosphere, or a bacteria, which can be easily killed by cooking. In the eyes of pre-Christian Slavs the killers were the Gods or other supernatural beings (zmeys, vodyanoys, strigas, rusalkas), motivated by revenge, the need to get even or just pure malice. So, to defend themselves against the vicious attacks of the nature, pre-Christian Slavs created a system of rituals, prayers and believes, which increased their chances of survival – by not angering the Gods, not creating new demons (e.g. vampires), finding supernatural allies (the ancestors) as well as building strong interpersonal bonds, which increased the chances of receiving help, if other defence mechanism (against, for example, famine or disease) failed.

Thanks to science and technology the modern humanity found many very efficient ways to fight of the most prolific serial killer – the Nature. Unfortunately, as the prosperity, sponsored by science and technology, as it grew, the humanity encounter one more mortal enemy – ourselves. The events of the last 100 years showed that, lets call it, “traditional” Judeo-Christian moral and ethical systems do not come with a good, build-in anti-human defence mechanism. This is why more and more often people seek less known and almost forgotten, pagan ways of surviving. Rodnovery, the Slavic Native Faith is one of such defence systems. It is a shield (and a sword!), strong enough to stop the auto-aggression of the humanity, but at the same time light enough to be portable and usable in a day-to-day operations.

But the Slavic way of thinking and interacting with the environment is not universal. To be able to carry and use efficiently the shield and the sword created by our ancestors, one has to fulfil certain entry requirements and (in most cases) develop a discipline of both thinking and acting in the world. The Slavic faith is not universal and cannot be followed by everyone. Below we will list the three main requirements necessary to fulfil before becoming a Rodnover.

The roots

The veneration of the ancestors is one of the most important, if not the most important pillar of the religion of out ancestors. For pre-Christian Slavs the ancestors – the deceases members of the family – were the source of support, wisdom. They were the allies, who helped to mediate the interaction with the supernatural. The rituals focused on veneration of the ancestors were held regularly by both the community (for example while celebrating Dziady) and the individuals (like individual prayers or rather – conversation with the ancestors). Therefore, those who wish to follow the Slavic Native Faith, should start with finding in theirs genealogical tree at least one ancestor, who could help to build the bonds or communication channel with the Slavic Gods or other supernatural beings.

Many preachers of Slavic Native Faith claim that the veneration of the ancestors is the reason why only “ethnically pure” Slavs can be “proper” Rodnovers. However, how history and logic shows, is not an accurate statement.

The historical sources leave no doubt that in the IX century the inhabitants of Kievan Rus’ were not ethnically pure Slavs. Ethnically the people who inhabited the land of Kievan Rus’ were of mixed Finnic, Scandinavian and Slavic descent. The adoption of Slavic identity took place at the end of X century, and the historical sources do not mention about any sort of ethnic cleansing accompanying this change in ethic and religious identification. So the history shows us that in the X century there were people who considered themselves Slavs, despite not being ethnically Slavic. And somehow it didn’t bother anyone. Therefore a not-ethnically-Slavic Rodnover should not bother us – the modern heirs of the tradition of our ancestors.

The Slavic rituals of veneration of the ancestors require bonds of blood (and not ethnically “proper” ancestors) and opening a sort of communication channel with the afterlife or the world of the dead. The Slavic beliefs do not see the ancestors as some metaphysical, mysterious beings, but see them as real people, who, despite not having a corporeal form, still want to support the living members of the family. This is why the important element of the veneration of the ancestors were (and still are) feasts held for and with the participation of the deceased members of the family. To facilitate the ancestors passing from the afterworld to the world of the living those feast were organised in certain times and places and the actual contact with the ancestors required a particular ritual, which was designed to open the communication channel and, let’s call it, “summon” the participants of the feast from the world of the dead.

And here we get to the place where we have to use logic (not history) to explain why having ethnically Slavic ancestors is not necessary to become a Rodnover. Most certainly not in the XXI century.

It goes without saying that open and understandable communication is most likely to happen if the people who wish to communicate can speak the same language and know/understand the same cultural symbols or norms. In the early medieval ages pretty much every Slavic man or woman (well, maybe with exception of Kievan Rus’ in the X century) had at least one ancestor who followed the original Slavic Paganism. This is why the communication between, let’s say, an early medieval Slav and his deceased grand grandmother was significantly easier. Both sides – the living Slav and his deceased grand grandmother – they knew the same rituals, symbols and words during the celebration of Dziady. The Slav knew how to properly invite his grand grandmother for the feast, he knew the right words or gestures. The grand grandmother also knew those words and gestures, she could recognise it, and – most importantly – she knew what to expect and how to “behave” after passing to the world of the living.

However in the XXI century this mutual understanding between the living Rodnovers and their ancestors is not, unfortunately, possible. Pretty much every known by name ancestor of the modern Rodnovers, knows the Dziady ritual as much as they know the religious rituals of the Eskimo. So not at all. Vast majority of the deceased parents, grand-, and grand grandparents of the XXI century Rodnovers, were not pagans but either Catholic or Orthodox Christians. Our “youngest” ancestors – those who lived in XIX, XX or XXI century, those, whose names we can still remember and call out, they don’t know the symbols or norms of the Slavic Paganism. They don’t know how to recognise the words or symbols of the Dziady ritual. Without this most basic platform of cultural communication, the field between the ethnically “pure” and “not-pure” is levelled. Because of hundreds of years of Christianisation, in the XXI century it does not matter at all if you are a Rodnover of Slavic or not Slavic ethnicity. Your “youngest” ancestors, those whose help you need and call upon, they won’t understand your pagan ways anyway.

So, if you want to follow the Slavic Native Faith in the XXI century, regardless of whether you are ethnically Slavic or not, you have to find in your family history an ancestor (or ancestors) who is (or who are) willing and able to support you with their wisdom, to help you out in your struggle with both the plain, day-to-day and the supernatural. This ancestor (or ancestors) you should address with respect, remember often, you should know their name, if possible, the story of their life, which you should reflect upon and analyse to draw the wisdom of their life experience.  

Thou shalt not call the name of thy Gods in vain

Judeo-Christian religions, which most of us were born into, are religions requiring frequent prayers. It’s no wonder then that, following this tradition we all grew up with, many, if not most of Rodnovery neophytes when starting with Slavic paganism, make building an altar and establishing a prayer routine their first “point of order”. Those frequent and solemn prayers are recited from memory or read from mythical internet sites, publishing the “real” and “one and only” invocations to the Slavic Gods. Of course, the neophytes, while praying, make also various sacrifices (most commonly small amount of meal, grain or honey/mead), which – again: of course – are vigilantly photographed and published on the social media.

It is not possible to explain in one or two sentences how wrong is this approach to Slavic Native Faith. To deal with this topic we have published three post on Wittia’s blog. So, here, only very briefly, I say this:

Slavic Gods, although present in the day-to-day life of our ancestors, were not interested in monitoring or supervising Slavs in a way Judeo-Christian Gods do it. Contrary to what Jahwe, Allah of Jesus are believed to be, the Slavic Gods were (and still are) the Gods of the land and the forces of the nature. It means that, according to the believes of our ancestors, Veles, Perun or Mokosh had (and still have) more important things to do, than watch over every step of their human believers. Human believers which were (and still are), form the point of view of a God, not much more important than sparrows, ants or frogs. What more, there are indications that our ancestors did not want to be watched by their Gods – why else would they, as reported Ebbo, cover the eyes of Triglav?

So, if you want to become a Rodnover, first and foremost you have to stop bothering the Gods with your prayers. If you can’t manage your compulsion to pray – pray to your ancestors, who are more likely to listen to you, share their wisdom with you, or help you out in some other way. To the Gods – the mighty rulers of the Nature – pray only when you really have no other choice. And, of course, make sure that you are willing and able to pay the price for the attention and help of the Slavic Gods (you can find examples of appropriate sacrifices here).

The community

Living in a community was another incontestable element of the life of our Slavic ancestors. Pre-Christian Slavs were not loners. They lived in smaller or larger, more or lass based on kinship groups and in those groups they cooperated, helping each other and protecting each other from the death, Gods’ anger or just bad luck. Even the “loners” we know about – wandering dziady or lirniks, which often conducted the Dziady celebrations, even those “loners” stayed in close and regular contact with other people and maintained good relationships with more settled communities. Therefore you also, if you want to follow the path of the Slavic faith, you have to find yourself a community and within it build and maintain interpersonal relationships, based on mutual respect, trust and goals, focused on the benefit of both the community and the individual.

But the community that can allow you to follow the path of your ancestors cannot be just any, because, what cannot be doubted, the communities built by pre-Christian Slavs were very different from the society know to most of the modern people.

The society of our ancestors, as pretty much all of the pre-Christian, early medieval societies, were built by people, whose personalities and attitude towards life are not commonly seen nowadays. After all how many of us, modern people, get to experience real hunger, real famine, not curable (in Medieval Ages) diseases such as cholera, tetanus or even pneumonia? How many of us experienced or witnessed, so common in the past, new-borns’ or children’s death, death in labour, death from gangrene or peritonitis? How many of us have ever singlehandedly killed an animal and then proceeded to skin, eviscerate and eat it? How many killed another human being in a sacrifice to the Gods? All of those, unimaginable for most of us events, were a part of day-to-day life for our ancestors. Those events shaped personality and character traits, which are seen only very seldom in the modern societies.

Our ancestors were born, grew up and lived among strong, though people, who, at the same time, were fully aware of their weaknesses; among people who were proud and determined, but at the same time humble towards the forces of nature; people hell bent on surviving, but ready to die every day. Our ancestors did not spent their days agonising over: the best colour of candles or other altar’s decorations, the most appropriate words for a religious incantation, or the proper way of starting a sacrificial fire – which seem to be the most important and discussed topics among the modern Slavic pagans. Our ancestors had real problems and if they did not have them, they most certainly did not create them, as we, the modern Rodnovers, seem to be doing on a daily basis.

So, if you want to become a Rodnover, apart of your ancestors, you also should find a community of reasonable, responsible people, able to cope with their life, able to tell apart a real problem from an imaginary one, capable of appreciating and seeing their life and the world in general for what they really are. Only a community of sensible, reasonable and mentally/emotionally stable people can provide a safe haven and protection against the dangers, which modern science and technology cannot protect us from – the auto-aggression of the humanity.

On the crossroad

Those who want to follow the Slavic Native Faith do not want to follow it without a reason. Usually the reason is disappointment or feeling lost or rebelling against the dominant religion, philosophy or lifestyle. Often the neophytes of the religion of the Slavs seek a sense of belonging, self-worth or (unfortunately) want to feel superior towards others. And – again, unfortunately – many of those people do find the “superiority” by corrupting the tradition of our ancestors and twisting it into a mould of the totalitarian ideologies of the XX century.

There are many paths on the crossroad of loss, disappointment, rejection and rebellion. If you want to follow a path that’s nice, easy and enjoyable, I will strongly recommend that you do not follow the path of the old, Slavic Gods. Firstly because the Slavic Faith is not and has never been nice, easy and enjoyable. Rodnovery – a modern religion reconstructed from trace and vague evidence left by our Slavic ancestors, without any scriptures, sagas, eddas or any other uncontaminated written sources, without any living original believers, preachers or prophets – it requires constant research, constant looking out for sources of knowledge and ways of interpreting it. It requires thinking, analysing, questioning and discussing. The modern Slavic Faith is like a river – constantly changing, demanding vigilant attention and looking out for whirlpools, leading into a muddy totalitarian trap of corruption. The second reason why Rodnovery is not an easy path is the fact that the original Slavic Faith was created by and for people who were much stronger, tougher and resilient than we – the “softies” spoiled by the unbearable lightness of living in the XXI century.

However, if you are ready to take the hard path out of the crossroads; if you’re prepared to push yourself intellectually, emotionally and physically; if you’re determined enough to find your ancestors, understand them and accept their help; if you can get up from your knees, stop praying and start deciding and acting for and on your own, stop following the rules of scriptures, commandments, preachers and a God’s him/herself; if you are brave enough to befriend sensible, responsible and capable people and build a community as strong as those of pre-Christian Slavs – then, and only then can you join the Slavs, take the shield and the sword forged by your ancestors, and use those weapons to fight off all the things, that made you feel lost, disappointed and rejected.

So, think about it. Consider the requirements above and decide if you are willing to fulfil them. If you are – stay with us, because in the next post we will be discussing how to actually be a Slav. And for now:

Slava!

The wisdom of the ancestors, art by Małgorzata Lewandowska