Pagan Myth

Any path is composed of two binary components: its ideology (Myth) and its rules (Law).

We will begin examining the features of the Path of the Volkhv by first outlining, in broad strokes, the key concepts of the Myth of this Path.

First, the pagan worldview proceeds from the understanding that at the root of every event lies a particular Will that brings forth the necessity of that event.

A clear, though ramified, hierarchy of such Wills is discernible, beginning with the Infinite Will of the Most High and ending with the differential will of a single energy of the cosmos.

Moreover, such hierarchy does not in itself imply strict subordination; it merely indicates a place within the overall system. What in a monotheistic religion is deemed a terrible sin (for example, the rebellion of lower beings — angels — against the higher — God), in paganism is not only not condemned, but often, on the contrary, acquires a heroic quality (and here it is not only the classical image of Prometheus that is meant, but also the slaying of Ymir, and the eviction of the Tuatha Dé Danann by the Milesians, and so on).

This understanding gives rise to the next feature of the pagan worldview, which is its profound anthropocentricity. The human being is never acknowledged within it as the summit of creation, yet is fully capable of challenging the gods and even subjugating them.

At the same time, there remains a clear sense of the necessity of harmony in the cosmos; but this harmony is understood somewhat differently than in monotheistic religions: as a harmonious co-existence of the higher with the lower, in which the rightness or wrongness of each side is determined not only by its status, but by its correlation with the essence of the World Process. A god may be accused, judged, and even punished.

This type of relationship lays down one of the earliest models — that is, Myths — of conduct upon the Path.

The pagan worldview is, in its very essence, a radically free gaze upon the world. Humans, gods, spirits form within it a single symphony, and in this symphony every note is absolutely necessary; and, in the final account, one cannot say that one note is more important than another. Of course, there are sounds that take the lead and those that recede, yet any element — even the most insignificant at first glance — contributes to the overall system, and with its loss or alteration the entire system is transformed.