"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

"They say that in the beginning, when the animals were being formed, they received their endowments from Zeus. To some he gave strength, and to some speed, and to others wings. Man, however, was still naked so he said to Zeus, 'I am the only one that you have left without a gift.' Zeus replied, 'You are unaware of the gift you have obtained, but it is the greatest gift of all: you have received the gift of speech and the ability to reason, which has power both among the gods and among mortals; it is stronger than the strong and swifter than the swift.' Man then recognized the gift he had been given and bowed down before Zeus, offering him thanks."

Aesop, Zeus and Man

"By paying honor and respect to one’s kinfolk and all who share in the worship of the gods of the tribe and who also share descent and blood, a person will also enjoy the favor of the gods of the household who will be well disposed toward his own begetting of children."

Plato, Laws 729c

If you're the academic type, I encourage you to consider pursuing philosophy (or other relevant disciplines) academically. As paganism grows, there will come a time when we will need intellectually elite defenders of paganism representing us in academic institutions.

I'm not usually so blunt, but this needs to be said bluntly: interpreting mythology in a literal manner is idiotic.

Realizing that the myths have deep and eternal meaning - expressed non-literally - does not make you some sort of anti-traditionalist.

If you literally believe that Zeus turned into a swan and impregnated the queen of Sparta whose children then hatched from eggs, the only tradition you're participating in is the tradition of being stupid.

In fact, the tendency to historicize myth is most strongly associated with Abrahamic traditions, not pagan ones.

Esoteric readings of the myths are absolutely legitimate and within the mainstream of pagan spirituality.

- CWT Admin

The Powers of the Soul

NOTE: The outline presented here is drawn from the Platonic literature.

The soul is the immaterial substance by which the living differs from the nonliving.

Beginning from this simple definition, we can, by observation and analysis, develop a more sophisticated model of the soul, outlined below.

We observe that there are many ways to be alive. For example, comprehension, perception, sensation, self-movement, nourishment, and growth. We further observe that some living things live in all of these ways (like humans), while other living things live in only some of these ways (like plants).

Therefore, the powers of the soul are arranged hierarchically, with those characteristic of e.g. plant life at the bottom, and those characteristic of more divine natures at the top, and the animal nature midway between the two.

Since living virtuously (i.e., in imitation of the Gods) is our life's purpose, this hierarchy is important because virtue is the perfection of the powers of our soul.

The virtue of the rational soul is Wisdom; the virtues of the nonrational soul are Courage and Temperance; and the virtue that ties them all together is Justice.

🔸Rational:
Intellect: Mental sight. That which knows fully and immediately. Its energy is weak in those who are not spiritually advanced.
Reason: That which moves from premise to conclusion and knows the "why" of things.
Opinion: That which knows data. It knows that something is, but it doesn’t know why something is.
Intention (or Will): That which has a voluntary directedness or orientation towards the good.
🔸Nonrational:
Imagination: That faculty which has a kind of internal image of sensory information.
Sensation: That which apprehends external phenomena present to the individual.
Passion (Gr. thumos): That which nonrationally opposes the harmful or obstructive and rejoices in overcoming them. Concerned with preservation.
Desire (or Appetite): That which seeks what is (or appears to be) good. Concerned with acquisition.
Vegetative:
Reproduction: In imitation of the immortal Gods, mortal creatures generate beings like themselves, one after the other.
Growth
Nourishment

"The connection also of males with males defiles, because it is an emission of seed as it were into a dead body, and because it is contrary to nature."

Porphyry, On the Abstinence from Animal Food 20

You need to be using your talents, whatever they are, for the greater good of European spirituality.

Of course, some people will be able to do more than others, for various reasons. I'm just some guy who reads philosophy and poetry after work, and I try to share some of that with you. But we all have to contribute as much as we can, in whatever ways we can.

If you're artistic or musical, make art and music. If you're into history, use that knowledge to educate and defend. If you're into philosophy, use it to clarify, defend, and elaborate European spirituality. If you're good at planning and organizing, plan and organize meetings and the like.

Ideally, use your talents, not simply for self-expression or your own enjoyment, but for the betterment of the community. Make music for us. We need a common music. We need prayer books. We need solid defenses against common objections. We need guides, devotionals, journals. We need everything.

And in everything you do, hold yourself to a high standard. Do it as if your descendants will be using it for centuries. Put everything you can into it.

There's something for everyone to do.

- CWT Admin

"According to [Platonic] theology therefore, from the immense principle of principles [i.e., The One], in which all things causally subsist, absorbed in super-essential light, and involved in unfathomable depths, a beauteous progeny of principles [i.e., the Gods] proceed, all largely partaking of the ineffable, all stamped with the occult characters of deity, all possessing an overflowing fullness of good. From these dazzling summits, these ineffable blossoms, these divine propagations, being, life, intellect, soul, nature, and body, depend; monads suspended from unities, deified natures proceeding from deities. ... Thus all beings proceed from, and are comprehended in the first being; all intellects emanate from one first intellect; all souls from one first soul; all natures blossom from one first nature; and all bodies proceed from the vital and luminous body of the world."

Thomas Taylor, Introduction to Proclus' Theology of Plato

"The supervisor of the universe has arranged everything with an eye to its preservation and excellence, and its individual parts play appropriate active or passive roles according to their various capacities. These parts, down to the smallest details of their active and passive functions, have each been put under the control of ruling powers that have perfected the minutest constituents of the universe. Now then, you perverse fellow, one such part - a mere speck that nevertheless constantly contributes to the good of the whole - is you, you who have forgotten that nothing is created except to provide the entire universe with a life of prosperity. You forget that creation is not for your benefit: you exist for the sake of the universe. Every doctor, you see, and every skilled craftsman always works for the sake of some end-product as a whole; he handles his materials so that they will give the best results in general, and makes the parts contribute to the good of the whole, not vice versa."

Plato, Laws 903b-d

When you are offended at any man's fault, turn to yourself and study your own failings. Then you will forget your anger.

Epictetus