Alicja (and Artemida and Mara, see bio)I was raised Christian Catholic and I'm sure it impacted my worldview to a big extent, including in good ways.
But it's kind of fucked that in the end we know so very little about pre-Christian Slavic (and Polish) beliefs. We have glimpses, bits and pieces, and it forms a compelling picture to me. Even aside from any worship or honouring of gods, the few scraps we have of our pre-Christianity pantheon indicate something as intricate and fascinating and full of powerful stories as the Greek or Egyptian or Norse mythology.
And all this stuff was just swept away. It survives in folk stories, sure. One "Christian" devil from Polish folklore is named Boruta, that literally is an old-timey way of saying "one who dwells in the forest". Another "devil", Rokita, is said to live in hollowed-out willow trees.
Yeah, the creature that is so important to forests and the creature that lives inside old trees are definitely *Christian* devils from the *Christian* version of Hell. Sure, Jan.
As an aspiring witch, I feel affinity towards the Greek goddess Hekate, but I lament that I know so little of Marzanna and of Weles. I do not necessarily think I would honour them (although who knows), but it's fucked that I am cut off from my deeper cultural roots.
Like, most Greeks are probably Christian or areligious nowadays. But the fact that the Greek pantheon survives in collective memory is good. That has influenced global culture, including modern popular culture.
And it forms a long cultural chain into the past.
I wish my knowledge of what my ancestors believed was as robust. But it isn't. We can only reconstruct and speculate.
And seriously, our mythology sounds like it was so cool and so beautiful.
It just sucks to not have it.
Nina Zina
David Bridger
Devon Ellington
elluenda
Lydia Vvinters
Diotima