A pagan path

"My Pagan Path" is a de facto lecture by YouTube personality Thomas Sheridan in which he explains his particular version of modern paganism. It´s quite interesting, Sheridan´s path being more individualist and "secular" than classical paganism, not to mention monotheist faiths such as Christianity or Islam. The only tradition he seems to explicitly identify with is Chaos Magic, a current I know very little about. 

In Sheridan´s worldview, the gods are not literal personal beings, but symbols or archetypes for certain forms of energy or consciousness, both within man and "out there" in the cosmos. For this reason, even fictional characters such as Ziggy Stardust can be venerated by pagans, provided they are based on archetypal forces. Sheridan completely rejects Christianity and Islam, which he sees as dogmatic, scriptural, missionary and intolerant. Islam is the worst and can´t really change at all, whereas Catholicism at least had to adapt to its pagan surroundings in order to survive. Ultimately, however, Sheridan rejects Catholicism, too. He is also extremely critical of Judaism, and sees both Christians and Muslims as a kind of ersatz Second Temple Rabbinical Jews. Jehovah is probably an evil force!

Since the gods aren´t personal beings, they can´t be "worshipped", nor do they "destroy sinners". The lecturer attacks an article in an Irish newspaper which suggests that Earth is a goddess (Gaia) and punishes humanity for climate change by way of the corona virus. This is simply covert Judeo-Christian monotheism. Instead of worship or prayer, sacrifice is important. Sacrifice to the community, for instance in the form of poor or sick relief, is the true worship of the "gods". Everyone has morality (or immorality, for that matter), this has nothing to do with the Bible. All men are responsible for their actions, so you can´t blame "the devil" for your own immorality. Sheridan emphasizes that "the gods move in mysterious ways", the world is unpredictable, and Nature can´t always be tamed. If there is a divine archetype summing up existence as a whole, it is Discordia or Chaos. Creation can follow destruction, and there is also reincarnation. Another important "god" is Nemesis. Rather than bemoan our fate, however, we should always strive to learn from it. In this way, we can get in touch with the untapped potentials of the universe. My impression is that Chaos is both literal chaos, fate *and* creative potential at the same time, dependent on what attitude the individual takes towards it. 

Despite being a modern pagan and magician, Sheridan has little patience for mainline Neo-Paganism. He is particularly scathing towards Druidry, especially British Druidry, but also rejects Wicca and Asatru. This is "denominational paganism" too closely modelled on Christian Churches. It´s also frequently politically leftist. Interestingly, the lecturer also attacks Wicca for trying to invoke gods (such as Diana). In his opinion, gods cannot be invoked and certainly not controlled. Demons are invoked, and pretend to "serve" the magician the better to lure him to his destruction. Sheridan´s preferred archetypes are Irish or "Celtic", but he also has a soft spot for "the esoteric Lucifer" and the fictional gods in H P Lovecraft´s fantasy stories. He wants Ireland to be secular, both the government and the school system. 

While Sheridan often sounds apolitical, the general tendency of his Kulturkritik is "right-wing". In the lecture, he interprets an ancient Irish legend as a prophecy of our own time. He attacks trans-people, SJWs, NPCs and "cultural Marxism". Sheridan does believe in climate change, but see it as a good thing! It leads to more plants, more fruit and more rain forests. Since Nature is divine, increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere should be celebrated. The current events in the United States, with ANTIFA running amuck, are caused by sun spots and the full moon. Indeed, they can even be seen as recurring pagan archetypes. The young activists of "BLM" and ANTIFA can be seen as embodying Dionysian madness. Seen in this way, present events suddenly look less threatening and can even make you laugh! To Sheridan, humor and satire are important and almost play a kind of spiritual function. Life is an adventure, both a blessing and a curse.

There are few factual errors in the clip, which I as a super-nerd couldn´t help noticing. The first crusade really was against Muslims (and Jews), the Albigensian crusade being a later event. The Hassidic Jews in New York City are called Lubavitcher, not "Labayevich", there is no "Book of Ham" in the Bible, and what on earth is the "Kepler belt"? 

Still, a relatively interesting presentation! See it before it gets cancelled...