Your pagan DNA roots

[Unus Mundus]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

-snip-

Are you familiar with Jung's idea of the collective conscious? It sounds like that is the direction in which you are going...

My thoughts exactly! Honestly this whole thread is a bit Jungian, the very essence of spirituality lies in the unconscious to some extent for Jungians (which in turn is affected by various experiences of people in general and ancestors possibly).

[Auseklis]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

Interesting comments... and some great food for thought. I have seen evidence where children have been able to speak ancient languages and know information about the past usually reserved for researchers who have an almost OCD for the subject. I personally witnessed a 2 year old who was speaking in Aramaic yet the family did not know anything of the language. The child was telling accurate information from a particular time including geographic detail and it was spoken as if the child lived in the time and was very comfortable with the whole situation. I felt it was genetic residue from the child's bloodline.

[Vigdisdotter]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

I felt it was genetic residue from the child's bloodline.

Or is it residue from past lives? Nothing says past lives are limited to one genetic lineage.

[Auseklis]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

Or is it residue from past lives? Nothing says past lives are limited to one genetic lineage.

Possibly... something to contemplate for sure. I don't subscribe to reincarnation (in the typical sense) however it can all cross over with the while DNA/genetic lineage etc.

[Yazichestvo]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

I think you can inherit a spiritual legacy. Not so much that DNA can transmit memory. We are talking about a physical, concrete molecule here. Not some ethereal energy.

Consider that many pagan rituals were communal, and were performed for the good of the entire family or tribal unit, not just individuals. Some may have been intended to grant benefits to a particular clan or bloodline. I don't think ancestry is necessary to follow any tradition, but it may be a factor for some.

I have done my best to research my roots. I've even gone so far as to get a Y-chromosomal haplotype test done, which came back with a pretty typical Polish R1a1. My mother's side has a lot of Jewish ancestry, although I suspect a Slavic element there too. (Also R1a1, and blue eyes.) Considering that they're Ashkenazi Levites though, some people have suggested Khazar influence. I do find the nomadic pastoral life pretty fascinating. I never was drawn to Tengrism though, or Judaism.

Still, I wish I had more. I do have a longing to really know who my ancestors were, and what their lives were like. Wouldn't it be great if I could draw upon a past life experience?

[Briar]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

Originally people's spirituality came from how they lived their lives. So if you fished to feed your family you would worship sea god/desses to keep you safe and to fill your nets. If you farmed you worshiped weather spirits or crop spirits. The Abrahamic God is a herding god, creating the world in 6 days or about the time it took to move a herd from waterhole to waterhole. On the seventh day he rested like the great herds and their shepherds did. His traits are very much like a shepherd, in fact he is called one by many of his followers.

It was only after civilization became the dominant force in the human race that the meaning of our deities shifted. After many generations past we forget the original reasons the gods came into being, to protect us and help us in our lives. Or because we feared them and wanted to keep them happy so they wouldn't destroy what we worked so hard to build.

So do we genetically carry our pagan past. Of course. Maybe not the exact gods, but what they originally meant. To be here means that our ancestors were the ones that survived. The ones that didn't survive didn't have a whole lotta kids. So we carry that way of survival in us, including the spiritual aspects of it.

There are many scars of evolution that show is this. An easy one to show is if you own a house with a yard. Why do yards have the same general characteristics? For the most part we have low plants so we can see and if our climate supports it, a few shade trees scattered about. This is because we are trying to recreate a habitat like the Serengeti Plains, where all of our ancestors come from. Our species feels at home in a grassland and we try to recreate it. Real estate people will often tell you to "tidy" up the yard if you want to sell your home. Clean flower beds lining an open yard, with shade trees will sell a house faster than desert ground or a jungle of plants. This is an ancestral memory we carry in our genetic code.

We did a study in college that showed this as well, such as having people build their imaginary dream home, complete with yards and/or gardens. Every person built a home that their ancestors might have recognized.

It is only today, when we do not fight for our own survival, that we view gods and spirits the way we do, more vaguely than specific, worried more about the name and what others tell us that god or spirit represents. Back when we survived we had god/desses that were our allies in our lives (or at least we tried to make them so). In that way most do carry their ancestral need to survive with them and therefor their ancestor's need to appease or control the uncontrollable world around them.

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

I like this perspective, it's really interesting and gave me new things to think about. But I am wondering about the vague vs. specific relationship with god/goddess. I get where that's coming from, because I would venture to say that I'm in the "vague" deck of cards. But, think on this: We live in a globalized world where we are exposed to many different people and places and their beliefs. If I see one god and how if works for a certain people, I would take the good from that god and add it to my own deck of cards to reference. Many early native americans "collected" beliefs this way- which is why there was a lot of confusion with the early missionaries. They had their tribal gods and this new, nice Abarahamic god as well.

To me, it would be difficult to select one god based on my culture and position on the map- as a natural resources worker in Appalachia, it would not doubt be some kind of forest entity. But I feel like it would be a disservice to myself and the other gods to not practice in their name for certain things, because if you know they're there and willing to help, why not?

Also, I think a MAJOR contributor for convert pagans (umbrella term, you might call yourself something else, sorry!) is that as converts, many of us are grasping at straws trying to figure this whole thing out. I AM vauge- because I did not grow up pagan. So I read about other peoples rituals and traditions and symbols and take what a like from them to shape my own practice. It's a trial and error thing as you grow into your own. You won't agree with every part of every book, but they certainly are informative When you didn't grow up steeped in your family's tradition, it's hard to replicate such dedication to one specific flavor when there is still a world of beliefs out there to experience and grow with.

[Rowanwood]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

I used to think that it was all nurture and personal choice that controlled both our personalities and our inclinations, but I'm not so sure anymore. I'm regularly told how my adult behavior and sense of humor is "just like your dad" (in a complimentary way thankfully) despite my dad dying when I was only 7. My daughter also, I see behaviors we haven't taught her, but that I recognize from myself and my own childhood.

If our personalities can be so influenced by genetics, so then its likely that our spiritual interests would be influenced too -- since we all have to think our personalities play a role in that.

Is it memories in the sense of something concrete and cultural? Probably not, but are there genetic predispositions? In my opinion, most definitely.

[Medusa]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

If I were connected to my 'pagan' past, I'd be a bloody savage killing my enemy and drinking their blood. But at least I'd be eating chocolate too.

I'm an atheist. Meh

[Sondst]

Re: Your pagan DNA roots

I have a very strong welsh background. My family has a record of our family going past year 0 into the bc timeline.

Mostly Saxon and Celtic. My pagan faith is placed with the celts. I connect strongly with that side of my family.