Editor’s note:
No surprise Epicurus decided to quit. On sonar21.com, he has been called “a dick” and “dickless.” (Hmm … how can he be both!). The Dark Gorgon (aka “Ariadna”) has “argued” that his views and opinions are not worthy of respect. And the usual, ubiquitous and boisterous gaggle of Christians have tried to degrade him in their own characteristically infantile way.
So the guy has had enough. He is already on the road to celebrate the greatest Pagan holiday, the Return of the Sun, by revisiting the burial site of Edward Abbey (a secret place described vaguely in, for example, Doug Peacock’s book “Was It Worth It?”). He is also, like me, going to soak his aging body in Apache hot springs to connect with Chiricahua freedom fighters like Victorio, Geronimo and Cochise, the last free Americans. (I have briefly described the ritual in my short essay “Apache Magic.”)
Anyhow, here’s Epicurus’ final rant:
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“There is a season (turn, turn, turn): A time to be born, a time to die … A time to kill, a time to heal …”
And a time to move on …
This being the greatest Pagan-Slavic Holiday, the Winter Solstice of 2023—the Return of the Sun—I would like to offer season greetings. And a few closing remarks.
Ready for a long, final rant? Fasten your seat belt.
When Larry Johnson, editor/owner of sonar21.com, argued a few weeks ago that Russia’s roots are Christian, I didn’t argue that they are not; I stated that they are not. What I said is a statement of fact, not a statement of argument. Pagan-Animistic beliefs, for example, predate the introduction of Christianity to Russia about a thousand years ago by tens of thousands of years. Maybe 30,000, maybe more. Certainly, since recorded history.
(As a side note: There are probably still many people living in remote areas of Russia who embrace the ancient animistic beliefs. Probably the best-known Pagan-Animist Russian of recent history is Dersu, a Nanai Tribe trapper from the early 20th century Manchuria, who was described and befriended by the famous Russian writer/explorer Arseniev in his book Dersu the Trapper. (Japanese film-maker Kurosawa made a successful film in 1975 based upon Arseniev’s book.)
But the origins of Christianity in Russia date only as recently as the 10th century, when the first Christian communities were organized at Kiev and when “St.” Olga, the regent of Kiev, was baptized around 950.
What then did the millions of Slavs and Native peoples who lived in pre-Christian times in what is now Russia believe in and worship for tens of thousands of years before the 10th century? Certainly not Yahweh, or Jesus, or Virgin Mary or any other Jewish gods or “saints” for the simple reason that there was—for tens of thousands of years—no religion called Christianity, which came—or rather—was invented only at the beginning of the new era by some Jewish guy called Saul from Tarsus, who chose for himself the Latin version of his name, Paulus, and has since been known, bizarrely, as “St. Paul.”
But even if 1000 years seems like a sufficiently long time to adapt/adopt a foreign religion and even to claim it as one’s own, there is also the fact that for hundreds of years ordinary Slavic people were not Christians even after their countries officially accepted—or were forced to accept—Christianity. The new religion was limited mostly to the narrow ruling class: the kings, their families, the feudal lords, etc.
In Poland, for instance, the Pagan custom of saluting the Sun by pointing two fingers towards it (“errectis versus solem duobus digitis”) is well documented and confirmed. Variations of this Pagan Sun oath are also recorded in other Slavic countries—Russia, for instance, or the Czech Republic—as late as the 15th century. And later.
So, perhaps, one could argue that Christianity was finally entrenched in Slavic countries—that is to say, it was simply shoved down the throats of the helpless but stubborn Pagan peasantry, the alternative being often punishment by death—only about 500 years ago, not nearly enough to claim that Russia has now returned to its “Christian roots.”
Ergo, it is factually wrong to claim that Russia’s roots are Christian and that she has now, under Putin, returned to these roots. The roots of Russian culture are not Christian.
But when I pointed this out in my comments, all Christian hell broke loose. A guy called “Sentient” said that I seem “like a real dick”; another “non-dick” called “Curious” told me to stop “being a dick.” Yet another expert on “dicks,” “Alexei,” elaborated by claiming that actually I am not a “dick” but “dickless.” And the Editor himself called me a “dude” and told me to “calm down.”
And, of course, there were dozens of other such comments, although not as vulgar, admittedly. But they were either abysmally naive, as for instance those by hopeless Christers (and ardent ass-kissers) like Chris McMorrow or “bonbon” and many other such mental slaves of Crosstianity. Or they were poisonous comments, as for example, those offered by a virago called “Ariadna,” aka the Dark, venom-spewing Gorgon.
One would think that when an editor, any editor, finds that commentators on his or her blog use gratuitous vulgarisms, then the editor should step in and either tell the yapping jackasses to apologize or to ban outright the foul-mouthed bumpkins like Sentient, Curious and Alexei from the blog. What argument is advanced by calling a bona fide commentator a “dick” or “dickless”? And saying nothing else? Do editors and bloggers really want to be dragged into a verbal cesspool?
That is bad enough. But what is really disappointing is Larry’s disturbing silence, a silence that speaks louder than the best penned critique of editorial indifference or irresponsibility. Doesn’t this editor or any “bona fide son of the American Revolution” want to always treat “bona fide commentators” respectfully? Does he want to allow vulgar verbal abuse, which always demeans and degrades the target of such vulgarism? Shouldn’t those who don’t comply be promptly shut out and their comments remain buried in the electronic trash heap?
Not on sonar21.com.
And there is another problem, another angle in this discussion that has been completely overlooked by all the non-dicks, all the agitated Christers, and all the Gorgons on sonar21.com.
I have never indicated in my comments that I am promoting Paganism or that I believe in Pagan Gods, like Perun (in Russia) or Odin (in Sweden) or Svetovid (in Poland). I simply state as a fact that my ancestors, as the ancestors of Russians, were Pagans. Many of them, needless to say, were bad dudes. No doubt. No members of Homo sapiens can claim the high moral ground just because they believe in any of the thousands of gods, all invented by human beings.
Neither have I argued that we should return to Paganism and worship Pagan gods. I, myself, don’t. I am indeed a Slavic Pagan, but I am a cultural Pagan or an agnostic Pagan. (Even these are not entirely accurate terms, but one has to be labeled somehow, I assume. Perhaps a “secular Pagan humanist” might be a little more accurate, but what would an average uninformed, undereducated, uncouth American make of such a complex label? Nothing.
As a cultural Pagan, unlike a Christer of whatever kind, I neither forget nor forgive. (Unless, that is, I receive what I would have to consider a sincere apology). Unlike Christers, I don’t worship any gods. And unlike Christers, I don’t love my enemies, I hate and despise them. And I consider myself as free as pre-Christian Pagans used to be. Or as free as Chiricahua Apache, the last free Americans, were in the nineteenth-century before they had nearly been annihilated by American Christers in 1886.
But how can you explain this to Christers? Or to any close-minded religionists? You cannot.
Anyhow, to return to the song by the Byrds and to my season greetings: the glorious Sun, our first and the only visible God, is returning and now is the time for Slavic Pagans like me to prepare for regeneration in the new year, (which, btw, begins on Dec. 21, of course, right after the winter solstice—never on January 1) by getting rid of accumulated material, psychological, and pseudo-intellectual garbage.
And that, Amigos, means I am moving on, leaving behind all that piling-up mental and material trash that is now bringing me down. I will be on the road for the next weeks to celebrate the Return of the Sun by doing what Pagans used to do when they were free people, free from foreign dogmas and religions, and free from fat priests, imams, rabbis, or ministers. And free from morally hideous, homicidal politicians. I need to get rid of the toxins that have accumulated on this and other blogs which I have followed. And I need to be a little happier again.
This means, most likely, that I will never read your comments again and that most likely I will never return. But I will remember that there are those here who like AP, Slonym, Suzy, or A Slav did offer memorable comments, which I much appreciate. Thank you. But they are very few and far between.
Pozdro, Epicurus.
PS. I, too, will disconnect from politics for some time, a result of my winter solstice Pagan regeneration rituals (including some tough Apache techniques). So I, too, will most likely miss at least some of the comments. Maybe, like Epicurus, I will also move on if my other projects require more time and dedication. Even the best party has to end sometime, as L.H. Mencken used to say. (And there’s been a few great, adventurous intellectual rides on sonar21.com! A particularly memorable intellectual adventure was Larry’s editorial: “The Ukrainian Army Has Been Defeated. What’s Left Is Mop-Up”).
Oh well, Fortuna, the Goddess of the unexpected and the unpredictable, will decide—as always.
And that is that. Regards, KD.