"The Pythagoreans, as we learn from the extracts from Nicomachus, denominated the hexad [i.e., 6], the 'form of form, the only number adapted to the soul, the distinct union of the parts of the universe, the fabricator of the soul, and the producing cause of the vital habit. Hence also, it is harmony, the perfection of parts, and is more properly Venus herself.' ... With respect to its being denominated Venus herself, we learn from Martianus Capella lib. 7, that it was thus called, 'because it may be shown that it is the source of harmony. For 6 to 12, says he, forms the symphony diapason; 6 to 9 the symphony diapente; and 6 to 8 the symphony diatessaron; whence it is said to be Venus the mother of harmony.'"

Thomas Taylor, The Theoretic Arithmetic Book 3 Chapter VIII [emphasis mine]

"'The heptad [i.e. 7] is called Minerva, because similar to what is said of the goddess in fables, it is a certain virgin and unmarried; being neither begotten from a mother, which is the even number, nor by a father which is the odd number; except, that as Minerva was produced from the summit of the father of all things, so the heptad proceeds from the monad which is the head or summit of number. And it is as it were a certain virile Minerva.'"

Thomas Taylor, The Theoretic Arithmetic Book 3 Chapter IX

"Why wonder that men can comprehend heaven, when heaven exists in their very beings and each one is in a smaller likeness the image of God himself?"

Marcus Manilius, Astronomica 4.893-896

"...One ought then to sing the praises of the intelligible gods, and then above all of these, of the great king [i.e., the One] of that world whose greatness is revealed most especially in the multiplicity of the gods. For what those who understand god's power do is not to reduce divinity to a single god but to show that divinity is as profuse as god himself shows it to be when he, while remaining who he is, creates all the numerous gods who depend on him and derive their existence from him and through him."

Plotinus, Enneads 2.9.9.34-39 [emphasis mine]

“There is, then, no moral error in anything of this sort for a human being, but only the occasion for morally perfect acting. The focus is not on being exempt from moral error, but on being god.” Plotinus, Enneads 1.2.6

"Sin should be abstained from, not through fear, but for the sake of the becoming." The Golden Sentences of Democrates 7

Many people suffer because they have a burdensome and guilty concept of sin. This concept does not exist in our tradition.

Rather, the conception is, basically, health versus sickness.

"Virtue seems, then, to be a kind of health, fine condition, and well-being of the soul, while vice is disease, shameful condition, and weakness." Plato, Republic 444e

To be good is to be a healthy, flourishing human being whose actions flow out of good health, and to be evil is to be a sick human being whose actions flow out of sickness.

If you want to be healthy, this often entails ridding yourself of illness, but focusing on sickness is itself a sickness. It is spiritual hypochondria. The focus should be health and what it means to be healthy. Our tools for dealing with spiritual sickness are exactly like the procedures and medicines of a doctor - nothing more.

Therefore, strive to become like the sources of health: the Gods, and ultimately The Good itself.

What this requires, in part, is for you to set your soul in order; that is, to properly balance the different parts of your soul:

1. Intuition and Reason : King
2. Will : Military
3. Appetites, desires, etc. : Peasantry

Having achieved this balance, you will imitate Jupiter, King of the Gods, whose mind forms and orders the universe.

You are not cut off from the divine, hopelessly in need of salvation. No, there is divinity within you: "the race of man is divine" (Golden Verses 63). All you need to do is remember your divine lineage.

"Just shut your eyes, and change your way of looking, and wake up. Everyone has this ability but few use it. Go into yourself and look. If you do not yet see yourself as beautiful, then be like a sculptor who, making a statue that is supposed to be beautiful, removes a part here and polishes a part there so that he makes the latter smooth and the former just right until he has given the statue a beautiful face. ... Just open your eyes and see, for this alone is the eye that sees the great beauty." Plotinus, Enneads 1.6.8-9

"For the association of a father with his sons bears the form of monarchy, since the father cares for his children; and this is why Homer calls Zeus 'father'; it is the ideal of monarchy to be paternal rule."

Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1160b25

The months and their associated Gods, according to some ancient Roman sources.

Charlotte R. Long, The Gods of the Months in Ancient Art p. 3

"It is clear, then, that the world would be a living thing and possessed of intellect; for in wishing to make it best, it follows that God endowed it with both a soul and an intellect, for the ensouled product in general is superior to the soulless, and the intelligent to that which lacks intelligence."

Alcinous, The Handbook of Platonism 14.4

Where are the Vedas of Europe?

They are in front of us and have been with us for millennia: we only need to recognize them for what they are.

Orpheus, Homer, Hesiod, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Virgil, Ovid, Plotinus, Proclus, and all the rest - these form the Golden Chain of Western spiritual wisdom.

- CWT Admin

"The intellect derived from philosophy is similar to a charioteer; for it is present with our desires, and always conducts them to the beautiful."

The Similitudes of Demophilus 34

"Let us look first, if you agree, at our own bodies and see what the cause is that moves them and nourishes them and ‘weaves them anew’ and preserves them. Is this not also the vegetative power [of the soul], which serves a similar purpose in the other living beings, including those rooted in earth [i.e. plants]? ... If, then, not only in us and in the other animals and plants, but also in this whole world there exists, prior to bodies, the single nature of the world, which maintains the constitution of the bodies and moves them, as is also the case in human beings – for how else could we call all bodies ‘offspring’ of nature? –, this nature must be the cause of connected things and in this we must search for what we call fate. ... Thus we have discovered the meaning of fate and how it is the nature of this world, an incorporeal substance, as the patron of bodies, and life as well as substance, since it moves bodies from the inside and not from the outside, moving everything according to time and connecting the movements of all things that are dissociated in time and place. According to fate mortal beings are also connected with eternal beings and are set in rotation together with them, and all are in mutual sympathy. Also nature in us binds together all the parts of our body and connects their interaction, and this nature can also be viewed as a kind of ‘fate’ of our body."

Proclus, On Providence 11 & 12

Ladies,

As you've probably noticed, the community of genuine European spiritual practitioners is (as far as I can tell) majority male, and so the aesthetics, focus, and presentation naturally tend to be oriented towards the masculine.

What that probably means is that, for any interaction with a given piece of content, the viewer is more likely to favorably respond if they are a man.

But this movement will only go so far without women. Not only do we need women, but we need women who are engaged and feel like this tradition speaks to them and offers them something.

If you go to a bookstore and browse the Christian section, you'll notice all kinds of materials for women - daily devotionals for women, study Bibles for women, journals for women, etc.

We need to start thinking about and developing this sort of content as well.

I encourage everyone, but especially the women reading this, to start brainstorming. Share your ideas and promote any and all good content that you feel will resonate more with women.

- CWT Admin

It’s fascinating to me how it seems every mystic tradition seems to point back to platonism.

"Platonism and the Objects of Science" with Professor Scott Berman.

This is an interesting interview of a contemporary defender of a strand of platonism.

It isn't (and never has been) my goal to push a particular school of philosophy, but rather to promote the European classical spiritual tradition as a whole.

But platonism continues to receive a lot of negative press in certain pagan circles, usually for silly reasons, and so I do think it's important to show that platonism is a very intellectually serious position to take (one with deep pagan roots), and it should not be arbitrarily dismissed.

This interview focuses on the power of platonism to adequately explain science. Sharing this does not imply I must endorse every detail of what Scott Berman says - but he does a good job of explaining some tricky concepts clearly. Worth a listen!

https://youtu.be/ZrDMkQQ6aGg

I believe that the classical spiritual tradition, and most of what comes along with it, is the common inheritance of European peoples.

You do not need to be ethnically Greek or Italian to appreciate it or use it, nor is it somehow illegitimate for, or closed to, people of e.g. Northern European ancestry.

It's already here with us - it's already yours - and it forms a major pillar of our civilization(s).

Furthermore, the classical tradition does not exclude other ethnic European pagan expressions. It isn't an enemy of Germanic or any other European spirituality. Instead, it can strengthen and inform them by providing a deep theoretical and mystical foundation for them, as well as a great deal of practical information.

But it isn't merely an external tool for reconstruction, it's a part of your heritage.

More than anything else, this is the message I want to spread. Simple as it is, this idea has the power to revolutionize European spirituality.

- CWT Admin

"If only one could be properly convinced of this truth, that we're all first and foremost children of God, and that God is the father of both human beings and gods, I think one would never harbor any mean or ignoble thoughts about oneself."

Epictetus, Discourses 1.3.1

"Any man whom you see resenting death was not a lover of wisdom but a lover of the body, and also a lover of wealth or of honors, either or both."

Plato, Phaedo, 68c

The sun illuminates, bestowing the ability to be seen by the eye with its light, as goodness illumines the intelligible with truth.

Plato

Some Thoughts About the Gods and Their Goodness

For a long time, I was confused by the pagan approach to the divine.

But something clicked with me one day that helped make all the texts I was reading a little more intuitive, a little less puzzling.

It seemed odd to me that things like Beauty or Justice or Love could be divinities. Not to mention, say, a God of wind (Aeolus). What could that even mean? Perhaps my default conception of God was still based in the Christianity I was brought up with.

It was the sort of realization that sounds so obvious afterwards that I wondered how I didn't see it sooner: the divine, to them, is (I think) that which is basic, foundational; it's the principle and source underlying some aspect of reality, or of reality itself.

A god of wind isn't some guy with a fan. A god(dess) of love isn't (simply) a god that loves everything a lot.

Rather, the Gods are living metaphysical sources of reality. They are what allow for and cause all the other instances of love or beauty, or even wind, to be, or to continue, or to thrive.

For anything good in reality, a God is ultimately at the source of it - even seemingly mundane things.

But why "good"?

If, as the platonists thought, goodness is the most metaphysically basic principle of reality - The Good, or The One -, then it becomes easier to see why the Gods must be good. If Goodness Itself is the source of everything, then surely those closest to the Good must also be good.

- CWT Admin