On Returning to the Old Gods

Magic Is Not a Game

People really don't understand that magic is not a game and that blood should be treated with particular care, especially when it comes to your own blood.

Magic is a practice that requires thoughtfulness and understanding, yet people often forget that physical actions and materials are just as important as intention. If you put your own blood into a poppet, seal it inside a jar, and leave it to rot, you should at least consider the symbolism behind what you're doing.

Blood naturally decomposes, and on a symbolic level, you're allowing a part of yourself to decay. What kind of message do you think that sends? You're literally using a part of yourself in a ritual that represents decay, confinement, and stagnation, and then people wonder why they feel as though they've invited something negative into their own lives.

Intention isn't everything. You need to understand the materials you use, the symbolism behind your actions, and the consequences those actions may represent. It's not enough to know what you want to achieve. You also need to consider what your actions mean.

Be careful. Don't blindly follow rituals from TikTok or other sources simply because someone presents them as effective. Think critically and logically, study the symbolism and materials you use, and consider what your actions mean rather than focusing solely on your intention. Intention is no substitute for understanding, and magical practice requires responsibility, thoughtfulness, and respect.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

From October 20 until the end of the month, I will dedicate my writing to our ancestors, their place in our traditions, and the customs through which previous generations preserved their memory.

October is the perfect time to remember our roots, explore our ancestral heritage, and gain a deeper understanding of the customs and beliefs passed down through generations.

Before I begin this series of posts, I encourage you to read my two previous posts on this subject: Zadušnice: Honoring Ancestors and The Oldest Cult of Our People.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

The Kolo and Ancestral Spirituality

After thousands of pages of ethnological and anthropological literature, one thing became clear to me. Some things are simply in our blood.

People are sometimes unaware that at weddings, celebrations, and parties, while dancing to music, they make movements that resemble the traditional Serbian kolo. They rarely think about where these steps come from or how long similar movements have been part of their people's traditions.

Our ancestors danced the kolo. Their ancestors danced it before them, generation after generation, going back hundreds of years.

This is where the fascinating connection between tradition, ancestry, and a sense of belonging begins. Heritage is not only made up of family names and stories that have survived. It is also passed down through customs, songs, movements, and the ways people gather to celebrate important moments in life.

When we say that something is in our blood, we often speak of a deep connection to our heritage. Our DNA connects us to our biological ancestors, while customs and cultural patterns are passed down through families and communities, from one generation to the next.

We can also understand the kolo as a form of cultural memory. Even when we do not know how our great grandmothers and great grandfathers danced it, we are still participating in a tradition that existed long before we were born and can continue long after us.

This becomes particularly interesting when we speak about ancestral spirituality. Spirituality did not exist separately from everyday life. It was connected to communities, customs, festivals, rituals, and practices whose meanings were passed down through generations. To understand the spiritual world of our ancestors, we must also understand the cultural world in which they lived.

This is why our own traditions should not be considered less valuable or less potent than those of other peoples. The shamanic traditions of Latin America, Hinduism, and our Slavic heritage have been shaped by different histories, beliefs, and practices. Each tradition has its own context and its own ways of understanding the world.

The idea that we are all one may express a sense of human connection, but it should not erase the differences between our cultural and spiritual inheritances. Our shared humanity does not mean that all traditions are the same, nor does it mean that we must look beyond our own culture to find spiritual meaning.

The kolo connects us to a heritage that existed long before us. Perhaps it is time to ask ourselves what we have inherited without even realising it.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

I don’t know them personally, but their story touched me and I wanted to help in whatever way I could. I hope my contribution makes things a little easier for them.

This little man needs our help!

Hammy is the grandson of one of the Wolfpack's most cherished families and we ask our folk to help this family and give this young man a shot at life and more time with his family. Please do what you can to help this young guy, whether that's donating, or sharing this post.

A gift begets a gift.

https://gofund.me/4598d8a40

In Serbian folk belief, there is an interesting belief about fairies and horses.

When I was younger, my father told me, while looking at our mare and her mane, that the little braids I kept finding in her mane had been made by fairies. He told me that fairies came at night and rode the mare while people were asleep, leaving those strange little braids behind in the morning.

Almost every morning, I would find tiny braids in her mane, even though none of us had made them. At the time, I did not think much about it, but my father's story stayed with me.

In folk belief, these braids were not simply considered tangled hair. They were believed to be a sign of the fairies' presence. Fairies would come to horses and mares at night and ride them while people slept, leaving their presence woven into the mane.

A horse that had been visited during the night could be tired and sweaty in the morning, while its mane would be full of small knots and braids.

Fairy braids are therefore part of the beliefs about fairies that were passed down through oral traditions and stories of their encounters with people and animals.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

This video is a folkloric reconstruction of the Rusalje ritual, based on preserved descriptions and traditional elements of the ceremony. It shows the trance, music, dancing, special cries, and other parts of the ritual to give an idea of how it was performed.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

Homolje Rusalkas: Part I

After a short break from social media and writing, I am returning with new texts about folk beliefs, folklore, old customs, and traditions that have survived over time in different parts of the Balkans. For my return, I chose one of the most fascinating rituals of eastern Serbia, the ritual of the Homolje Rusalkas, a custom associated with the holiday of Pentecost and the Vlach population of the Homolje region. At the center of the ritual is the Rusalka, a woman who enters a trance while music, dancing, and special ritual practices take place around her.

This is the first part of the story of the Homolje Rusalkas, their ritual, the beliefs surrounding them, and the testimonies of women who experienced this tradition themselves.

The Rusalka Ritual

In the area around the village of Duboka, in Homolje, people would gather in front of the cave on the holiday of Pentecost. Musicians would play, people would dance the kolo, and the leader of the dance would guide the dancers while carrying a sword and greenery in his hands. During the ritual, one of the women would fall into a trance and become a Rusalka. While she was in this altered state, the music and dancing continued, and the other participants addressed her with special cries. Among them were Epša jaraša and Mudata jaraša, expressions whose meaning has been explained as again, once more, or one more time. These cries were part of the ritual and accompanied the Rusalka while she remained in her altered state.

After some time, the Rusalka would begin to calm down. She would then be refreshed with water from a gourd, a traditional vessel made from a dried gourd that was used for storing and carrying water. A sword and greenery would be crossed over her. After this, she would get up and join the kolo again with the other participants. The entire ritual followed a set sequence in which the music, dancing, movements of the participants, water, greenery, and sword each had their own place.

Rusalkas and the World of the Dead

In the Vlach beliefs of this region, Rusalkas are associated with the spiritual world and the boundary between the world of the living and the dead. In some records, the name itself is connected with spiritual beings and the otherworld. Entering a trance was understood as a state in which a woman could communicate with the dead or convey messages from the world of the deceased.

Attempts to Stop the Ritual

The Rusalka ritual was not always accepted in the past. According to older records, there were attempts to forcibly bring women who had fallen into a trance back to their normal state. It is recorded that gendarmes would prick them with needles and burn them with fire, believing that pain would interrupt their trance. According to the same records, these methods did not produce the expected result.

Over time, the social position of the custom began to change. The Rusalka ritual gradually lost its former function and began to be maintained primarily as part of folklore. Even in more recent performances, however, the boundary between a folkloric performance and a genuine experience was not always completely clear. There are records of women becoming so deeply immersed in the ritual during performances that they once again entered a state resembling a trance.

Mileva Nikolić

One of the women who gave testimony about this tradition was Mileva Nikolić. According to her account, she first entered a state of trance during Pentecost, several decades before a later folkloric performance. She spoke about her earlier experiences and the physical reactions that accompanied these states.

During one of her earlier trances, she bit her own hands, leaving scars that remained visible later. In a later period, she became a member of a folklore group that sought to present the custom as authentically as possible. It was also recorded that during one such performance, she experienced the ritual so intensely that her consciousness became clouded and she fell into a genuine trance again.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

Happy Autumn Equinox! 🍂

Autumn is officially here, a time of colder days, longer nights, and slowly turning inward. Enjoy the season, light a candle, make something warm, and let summer go on its way.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

Slavic culture ♥️👩🏻

Source

👉Slavic World👈

Researching Slavic Paganism

Different Traditions Across the Slavic World

When I first started researching Slavic paganism, I made one major mistake: I took information from all kinds of sources and tried to put everything together into one complete picture. I assumed that the religion was more or less the same among all Slavic peoples, with only different names, customs, and local variations. Today I realize that this was one of my biggest mistakes.

I did not pay enough attention to the historical and geographical context of what I was reading. Only later did I realize how deeply certain beliefs and customs are connected to specific peoples, regions, and their own cultural traditions.

Because of this, finding a certain custom in Russian folklore is not enough to assume that the same custom existed among Serbs, and the same applies in reverse. Similarities between different Slavic traditions certainly exist, but a similarity by itself does not mean that a custom was shared by all Slavs or that it had the same meaning everywhere.

Historical Sources and Modern Reconstruction

Another important lesson for me was learning to distinguish between a historical source and a modern reconstruction. In the past, I would often read a claim online without thinking enough about where it actually came from. Today, it is much more important to me to know whether something was genuinely recorded in a historical, ethnographic, or folkloric source, or whether it is a conclusion someone reached by combining different pieces of information.

The fact that we can reconstruct a certain custom or religious idea today does not automatically mean that we have proof that it was actually practiced in exactly that way in the past. A reconstruction can be interesting and have a strong basis, but it is still a reconstruction. There is a difference between saying that something was recorded in a source and saying that, based on the available evidence, we can assume that it may have been that way. That distinction often escaped me before.

When an Assumption Becomes a Fact

It becomes especially problematic when the same assumptions are repeated so often that they eventually begin to look like historical facts. On the internet, it is very easy to lose the distinction between what we actually know, what we can reasonably conclude, and what is a modern pagan interpretation. That is why I now try to keep these things separate.

Historical and Regional Context

In the past, I mixed Serbian, Russian, Polish, Ukrainian, and other beliefs together and treated them as parts of one unified religion. In reality, I was sometimes creating a tradition that existed only through my own combination of different sources.

Today, I first look at a specific people, region, and historical period. Then I look at where the information comes from, and only after that do I look for similarities and differences between other Slavic traditions.

This helped me understand that Slavic paganism should not be viewed as one completely uniform religion that looked the same everywhere. There were many different local traditions, and some of them are much better documented than others.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

Make the Slavic countries pagan again.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

I'm one of those people who believe that words are some of the last forms of magic that exist.

Our ancestors attributed far more power to words than we often do today. They believed that a spoken word was not merely a sound, but could carry an intention, a wish, a blessing, or a curse. Because of this, people were careful about what they said, especially in moments of anger, grief, or strong emotion.

It is fascinating how traces of this way of thinking have survived in everyday speech. When someone angrily says Bog te ubio, meaning May God kill you, they may immediately add da te ne ubio, meaning may He not kill you. It is almost as though the curse has to be taken back and cancelled as soon as it has been spoken. This is more than simply an expression of anger. It reflects an older belief that words could have consequences, and that it mattered what a person wished for or spoke aloud.

In folk tradition, a curse was not necessarily seen as an empty sentence spoken in a moment of rage. It was believed that a spoken word could take hold, especially when it came from someone with a reason to utter it and when it was spoken with genuine intention.

That is why I find the old warning to be careful what you wish for and what you say so interesting. Even when something is said as a joke or in the heat of the moment, the words have still been spoken. Perhaps not everyone today believes that words possess supernatural power, but the idea that words carry weight is clearly deeply rooted in our folklore.

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Did you know that Njegoš planned to mint a coin in 1851 called PERUN?

The Golden Perun was intended to be the first Montenegrin currency, but due to Njegoš’s death that same year, the project was never fully completed. A wax impression of the proposed coin has survived, bearing the inscriptions GOLDEN PERUN and MONTENEGRO 1851.

The design is especially interesting because it features a snake biting its own tail, the ouroboros, an ancient symbol of eternity, endless cycles, and renewal.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

I really like this topic, and this is just my personal opinion on it.

I don’t think Gods infinitely divide every time a group of people moves somewhere else and develops a different culture. It makes much more sense to me that the same God can have different names, stories, characteristics, and ways of being worshipped across different cultures while still being the same God.

But of course, not all Gods are the same just because they have similar functions. Perun and Thor, for example, are both associated with thunder and storms, but that alone doesn’t mean they are the same deity. Similarity isn’t enough to identify them as the same.

But if someone were to argue that Perun and Thor are actually the same God, understood by different peoples through their own cultural lenses, then we come back to that question: what makes the identity of a God stable enough for us to still consider it the same deity despite all those changes?

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

Are the Gods infinitely divisible?

If the answer is "no" the obvious conclusion is that the Gods don't just become something different or split into totally separate Gods when a group moves to a new place and their culture changes.

If "yes" then there would have to be a complex splitting as well as points of convergence.

And the true answer to this question is what determines whether or not any of the Gods of different people groups can be the same God understood through a different cultural lense.

@Folk_Spirit

Raskovnik, the plant that opens every lock

I have to admit that I have somewhat unfairly neglected Raskovnik. I have wanted to dedicate a post to it for some time, because it is one of those plants from our folklore surrounded by so many interesting stories that it deserves to be talked about.

What is Raskovnik?

In Serbian folk belief, Raskovnik is a magical herb believed to open any latch, lock, or padlock. Its name is very evocative. Raskovnik means the one who breaks open, unties, or opens. Because of this, the plant also gained a symbolic meaning. It represents removing obstacles, gaining freedom, and finding a way where there seems to be none.

Raskovnik and buried treasure

Its power was especially associated with buried treasure. People believed that money hidden in the ground, particularly large amounts of it, could be sealed so that it could not be opened or taken without Raskovnik. Because of this, the plant became closely connected with stories about hidden wealth.

The search for Raskovnik

In Zemun, there is a story about a merchant who wanted to find the plant. According to a story recorded by Vuk, he put an old woman in leg irons and sent her out into a meadow at night. It was believed that wherever the leg irons opened by themselves, Raskovnik would be found.

Another legend tells of the treasure of the mythical Emperor Radovan. His treasure is said to be hidden inside a building whose doors are secured with locks and padlocks. Only Raskovnik can open them, but the plant cannot be found.

The hedgehog who knows Raskovnik

According to folk belief, the hedgehog knows the secret of Raskovnik. In some versions, the turtle has this role instead. The story says that baby hedgehogs should be placed inside a chest. The hedgehog will then find Raskovnik, use it to open the chest, and free its young.

But there is a catch. After opening the chest, the hedgehog swallows the plant, making it impossible for the person to take it.

Raskovnik in folklore

Raskovnik was discussed by Š. Kulišić, P. Ž. Petrović, and N. Pantelić in the Mythological Dictionary, where different folk beliefs about the plant were recorded.

Although its name and magical purpose are well known, its actual appearance remains uncertain. This is one of the reasons Raskovnik has remained such a mysterious figure in Serbian folklore.

Where is Raskovnik found?

Today, Rtanj is often mentioned as one of the places where Raskovnik grows. The Homolje region and other mountains of eastern Serbia are also associated with the plant and with stories about searching for it.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods

Vampires in the 14th Century

Did you know that traces of beliefs we associate with vampires today can be found even in the Dušan’s Code, one of the most important legal monuments of medieval Serbia?

Article 20 of Dušan’s Code speaks of people who, through “witchcraft,” dug up the dead from their graves and burned their bodies. A village that participated in such practices could be fined, while a priest who took part could lose his priesthood.

What is particularly noteworthy is the fact that such a practice was included in the code of Emperor Dušan, in the 14th century. Beliefs concerning the dead, graves, and the possibility of the deceased somehow returning among the living were evidently part of the folk beliefs of that time.

Also, one more fact: Dušan’s Code is more than a century older than the historical Vlad III Dracula, who lived in the 15th century.

Traces of beliefs that we associate with vampires today can be found in Serbian historical sources even before the time of Vlad Dracula.

@OnReturningtotheOldGods