Apparatchiks, ideologues and the meek

There are many different interpretations of what the term Pagan actually means. many assume that being interested in the Wiccan ways is a pre-requisite. Others would argue a more purist approach in that worshiping idols and a belief in polytheism are constituent components of paganry. There is also a school of thought that associates the bloody sacrificial system with pagan ideals, as practiced by Romans, Aztecs, Greeks and early forms of worship in the Levant. Contemporary pagans are often assumed to be represented by New Age megalith enthusiasts, complete with narcotic induced spirit journeys. All in all, the individual interpretations of what paganism actually means are innumerable. However the literal definition has never changed. It has merely been co-opted by various pejorative influences throughout the past two millennia. The clearest definition of what it means to be a pagan has always referred to experiencing formative years in rural areas. In other words a pagan is simply someone who has grown up in the countryside.

Examining this inelegant truth, it begins to reveal the disdain shown toward rural inhabitants throughout civilised history. Long before Akhanaten and Horus In the Horizon, there were city states practicing worship of polytheistic pantheons. These city dwellers probably looked down their nose at country bumpkins then, as they do now. Administrations of Jerusalem persecuted pagans at various points and refused them the right of worship at the ancient holy sites within the city walls. Despite both these belief systems containing extensive Pagan knowledge encoded within them, it was perceived (and still is by many) as the duty of the devout monotheist to prosthelytise Pagans at every given opportunity. Much of the conflict between the fractured communities of India and Pakistan is based on this fervent religious extremism.

Today we seemingly live in somewhat more liberal times. Most European nations have gradually lapsed in their previous Christian beliefs. Secular worship has become the norm with the individual denominations of all three Abrahamic belief systems having been disseminated among multiple splintered sects. The history of inhumanity practiced against people of the same belief systems would fill more pages than are contained in the Vatican archives. Due to the diluting of Christian beliefs across hundreds of individual factions, it accounts for the most lapsed worshipers of all the Abrahamic faiths. Similarly Judaism and Islam both include multiple different sects all of whom have serious (and often irreconcilable) differences.

Separation of Church and State is not recognised in the majority of countries claiming to have foundations of a religious nature. The behaviour tolerated by the Muslim administration of Turkey is vastly different from the observance expected in Saudi Arabia or the UAE. Likewise Britons who have grown up in the relatively unobservant south, will find their ideas of Sunday lunch down the pub with a few pints of beer seriously challenged when they show up in Stornoway.

The question of what has happened to all the Pagans remains. Perhaps they've all been converted, or simply died out over the past two millennia. Except that isn't really accurate at all. With the enormous amount of overt Pagan knowledge encoded into Roman Catholicism, most Pagan festivals are still recognised on a global level. Furthermore the ringing of church bells speaks to a cymatic fertilisation process which replaced the reliance on megalithic enclosures. Bell ringing was opposed by the Lutheran church and subsequently ushered in the thirty years of continental warfare we call 'The Reformation'. Bell ringing was once a critical component of our agrarian civilisation. Combining the bell peels rung out across the fields with the singing of hymns inside the church expressed a symbiotic relationship between the people and the land. High octane emotional energy produced in the churches through worship and singing, was collected in the sacred architecture, channeled out through the spires and injected into the local atmosphere. Anyone living near a church where quarter peels are regularly rung will attest to the tangible change felt in the environment. It is by any measure a primordial connection between structured sound frequencies, spirituality and fertility.

This hidden ritual encoded into the practices of the RC Church (and subsequent splinters) is by no means the only remnants of Paganism maintained by the Abrahamic faith systems. A belief in entities of a non deity archetype exists in the Islamic faith. The Jinn or Djinn are believed to be supernatural entities of a profound nature. Existing everywhere and representing an esoteric being unencumbered by constraints of the physical realm. Similarly the Sufis represent possibly the most mystical sect of Islam and practice a transcendental method of worship which places them in an altered state of perception. Judaism incorporates numerous obfuscated Rabbinical rituals which pertain to the practices of the fundamental characters in their scriptures. The wrapping of the Teffilin leather cords around the arm, has been suggested to have existed several thousand years before Christianity emerged.

Most relevant to this article is the existence of 'crypto' followers. Christopher Columbus is considered to have been one of the most famous Crypto Jews. Given the persecution of Jews in Europe, Columbus worshiped as a Christian but was in fact a Sephardi Jew. This hidden cult mentality has existed in western monotheism since its earliest days in Egypt. The followers of Amun infiltrated dynastic culture at the highest of levels. Again these dualists were of a hidden faith system but were seen to be worshiping in line with the mainstream religion.

Today we see people of all faiths engaged with performing the rituals of hidden, secret societies. The ubiquitous cult of Freemasonry requires that the acolyte has belief in an intelligent creator. Conventionally this would require adherence to a Judaeo-Christian faith, but has expanded over the past centuries to include followers of Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and even worshipers of Baal. Many of the rituals associated with freemasonry have their roots in overtly pagan practices that predate widespread monotheism. The celebration of the Holly tree in pagan fertility worship has even endured after being transplanted to the New World. The magi of HollyWood still practice their deceptive arts with highly popular and elaborate spectacles of sound and light. Despite a professed distinction between freemasonry and religion, the practitioners of Freemasonry practice a similar ideology in their rituals. In addition they require that acolytes adhere to a creator belief system which they can use to signal their piety. This is in many ways, uncomfortably similar to the practices of those that 'discovered' America.

Much of the practices of secret societies rely on blurring the distinction between good and evil in order to facilitate mind control. The majority of these blurring practices are in direct contravention of the tenets of the Abrahamic faith system and pretty much every other organised religion. This is what accounts for much of the clandestine nature of globalised secret societies. Certain clandestine practices contradict many of the ten commandments and as such, the practitioners maintain an attitude of their method being separate from any religion.

Society has been guided into practices and belief systems which represent a major divergence from those practiced by our predecessors. Much of scripture contains polarised attitudes which have become less relevant to anyone other than fundamentalists. The distance between the religion controlled states of the past and modern secular states has lead to substantial incursions (by the state) into areas of morality. These areas were  previously considered the remit of religious institutions. One of these areas would be the health and well being of the population. This can be witnessed today in the remnants of terminology and iconography still active in professional healthcare. Nurses still use the Convent title "Sister" and the Pagan Caduceus symbol is still used to denote the fraternity of physicians.

To quote a random Youtube comment from 2018:

Just remember that in the forthcoming tribulations, those pot smoking hippies round Stonehenge are the good Pagans.