Slavic Pagan Beliefs
Pagans and Witches
The information on this site deals with two fairly separate systems.
On the one hand we have the Old Faith of the ancient Slavs, their Gods, holidays, and folklore. Much of the material here is gleaned from historical reference and some from Neo-Pagan Reconstructionist Practice and Belief. Although not very popular in the English speaking Pagan communities, the old Slavic Faith has a very strong Neo -Pagan following in it's native countries. In it's countries of origin, the Slavic faith is most commonly called "Native Faith" by its adherants or "Rodnoverie, Ridna VIra, or Rodzimej Wiary in Russian, Ukrainian and Polish respectively.
Those praciticing the ancient Slavic Faith in Engish speaking countries, however, can not use the term "Native Faith" with any practicality, so many use the term Slavianism. I prefer the term Stara Vira - "Old Faith" in Ukrainian. The term Stara Vera may also be used as a more universal term to encompass those of any or a combination of more than one Slavic System, as this Russian term is identical to the proto-Slavic.
On the other hand we have the Witchcraft tradition that has survived up through the present day and its practices regarding healing and magic. This system, although still decidedly Heathen, has adopted the usage of many Christian Prayers and Traditions in order to ensure the survival of its practitioners.
We are using the term "Witchcraft" here, not merely as a word to describe the use of magic. Sorcery is a better word to describe magic without spirituality. Witchcraft, therefore, is a word used to describe a system of magic used in conjunction with a belief in the spiritual and supernatural, sometimes self-taught but usually either inherited or passed on.
There are about as many names for Witches in Slavic languages, as there are Witches themselves. One of the more common terms is 'ved'ma' Russian or 'vid'ma" Ukrainian for a female witch, the root word being "vid" or "to know". Less common is Vedun for male witch, the more popular word being 'Koldun', Koldun'ia, the feminine. A magic healer may be known as a znakhar, male, or znakharka, female . This word usually has more positive connotations. In the Ukraine, a modern male witch is usually referred to as a "Molfar".
There is a very big distinction between users of darker magic and users of lighter magic. However, it is fairly easy to confuse the two as their magical responsibilites do a great deal of crossing-over, and one magical working done could easily sway public opinion as to the moral nature of the witch. Therefore it is very probable that this distinction only arose after Christianity was adopted and witches suffered a loss of status within the community.
Traditional Slavic Witches are either born as witches, or inherit their powers from existing practitioners. In any case, it is a living tradition that is still very much a part of Slavic Culture.
Who were the ancient Slavs
The Slavic peoples are not a "race". Like the Romance and Germanic peoples, they are related by area and culture, not so much by blood.
Today there are thirteen different Slavic groups divided into three blocs, Eastern, Southern and Western. These include the Russians, Poles, Czechs, Ukrainians, Byelorussians, Serbians,Croatians, Macedonians, Slovenians, Bulgarians, Kashubians, Albanians and Slovakians. Although the Lithuanians, Estonians and Latvians are of Baltic tribes, we are including some of their customs as they are similar
to those of their Slavic neighbors.
The Romanians and Hungarians are also not Slavic, but much of their folklore, especially that of the Carpathian mountains, is indistiguishable from that of the Ukrainian Hutsul who also live there.
In the study of Slavic Paganism, these three separate blocs seem to be most strongly exemplified by the Western Polabians and Wendts, whose temple ruins may still be found on the German isle of Rugen, the Kievan Rus of the Eastern Ukraine, the original center of Russia, and the Southern Balkans, where some of the strongest pieces of ancient practice and folklore have survived.
Slavic Runes were called "Runitsa", "Cherty y Rezy" ("Strokes and Cuts") and later, "Vlesovitsa". The Cyrillic system ("Cyrillitsa") was created in the 9th century by Sts. Cyril and Methodius based on a combination of the Greek alphabet and the Slavic Runes. Vlesovitsa continued to be used by the Pagans, while Cyrillitsa was used by the Christians. During the "war" against Paganism, the Christians destroyed each document that contained Runic instead of the Cyrillic writing, usually along with its owner. This was done so effectively that according to most sources, the ancient Slavic peoples had no written language at all. Therefore nearly all records of the rituals, temples and idols/gods of the ancient Slavs come from the very people sent to destroy them. This, along with the fact that very little information on Slavic Mythology and Magick has
been translated into English, makes studying the subject extremely difficult.
Research must then be done through the study of folklore and folk customs. Fortunately, the medieval Slavic peasant did not embrace Christianity on any more than a surface level. This gave rise to what the Russians call dvoeverie (dvoh-yeh-VAIR-ryeh) or "double-faith". According to one historian, Christianity so shallowly masked the surface of the true Pagan beliefs, many a peasant did not know the name of the man on the cross to whom he prayed.
Dualism and the
Origins of Slavic BeliEf
The origins of Slavic belief, like that of the rest of the world's, reside in animism and ancestral worship. The farthest we can trace back it seems that the first two types of spirit to emerge were called the beregyni - female spirits that bring life and are the forerunners of the Rusalki, and Upyr - the spirits of death who eventually became our modern Vampire (Wampyr).
From this original dualism sprang belief in all of the nature spirits, and eventually in the Rod and Rozhenitsa, the God and Goddess who imbue the newborn child with a soul and his/her fate. Although nearly all deities were originally ancestral, Rod and Rozhenitsa eventually pulled the Slavic mind out of animistic/ancestral thinking and opened the doorway for the later "Indo-European" structure, although the original "Old European" mindset kept a stronger hold on the average Slav.
Dualism permeates all of Slavic Pagan spirituality and actually seems to be the basis for most of it. This should not be confused with the dualistic good against evil beliefs of the Christian religion which have unfortunately seeped into the Slavic spirituality of today. It is a system of complimenting opposites such as darkness and light, winter and summer, female
and male, cold and hot more similar to the yin/yang. The God-brotherss Bialybog"white-god" and Czarnebog "black-god" who rule the sky and underworld respectively, are further illustrations of this polarity. Unfortunately, because of the introduction of Christianity, these two gods later became confused with Jehovah and Satan.
I should mention here that Bialybog and Czarnebog are not actual deity names but Taboo names to describe the gods of the earth and sky resepctively.
Other examples of dualism in the myths of the ancient Slavs are - the two Rozhinitsy, the mother and daughter fates who visit the newborn to decide their destiny, the spirits of midnight, Polunocnitsa and noon, Poludnitsa - both times seen to be equally as frightening, and the Zorya - Goddesses of dusk and dawn.
The Elements
The ancient Slavs had a deep sense of reverence for the four elements. Fire and Water were seen as sacred duality on the horizontal or earthly plane. Often pots of water were offered to the stove and similarly bonfires ritually set up near areas of water, in both these cases, one as a sacrifice to the other.
Earth and Sky were seen as a more vertical system of duality. High places such as mountaintops or treetops, especially birch, linden and oak, became sacred as meeting places the Sky father and the Earth
mother. Where they met, they would join their procreative forces, usually in a flash of lightening and clap of thunder.
The winds were seen as the grandchildren of the God, Stribog, and many different myths and rituals mention the winds by name. Rivers were treated with respect lest they should drown you on your next visit. There are records of human, as well as other sacrifices being made to rivers such as the Dneiper and the Volga. Although many bodies of water had their own deities, most of them were ruled by spirits known as Rusalki or Vodanoi, sometimes the Water Tsar himself. Fire was personified by the god, Ogon Svarozhich and it was considered nearly criminal to spit into athe flame. Mat' Syra Zemlja or Mother Moist Earth, however, seems to have been given the greatest amount of respect.
No one was allowed to strike Mat' Syra Zemlja with a hoe, until the Spring Equinox, Maslenica, as she was considered pregnant until then. Earth was considered so sacred that oaths were sworn while holding a piece of her, sometimes in the mouth and ancient wedding vows were taken while swallowing a small clump of Earth or holding it on the head. The custom of asking the Earth's forgiveness before death was still being observed far into the 20th century and when a priest could not be found it was considered appropriate to confess sins to the Earth.
In a variation to the water/fire and earth/air pairings, water was seen as a gateway to the underworld, especially wells, and fire as a child of the skygod, a Svarozich, "son of Svaroh". This also made partners of the denser terrestial elements and the lighter celestial elements. One could use water to enter the world of Nav, the underworld, or fire to contact the world of Prav, the laws of the Gods. Both these paths were equally as purifying and could be equally as frightening and dangerous.
By taking live coals of three seperate and separately gathered woods and adding them to the ritually gathered waters of three different springs, one could go full circle and create a powerful magickal agent called the "Water of Life".
Animal Totems
Like the native Americans, it seems that each Slavic tribe had a totem animal that the clan was usually named after. It was considered taboo to kill or eat this animal except for specific religious rituals. Each member of the tribe was thought to have an animal twin, and the death of that twin could cause the death of the tribe member.
(Note: I came across this piece information so long ago, I do not remember where I orignally found it. Hopefully I'll be able to reference this soon.)
Bees: Images of Bee Goddesses are very common in Trypillian art. The Bee is highly respected and offerings are made to the hives every summer. In Bulgaria, this holiday is on the 8th of July.
Birds: Creation myths most often speak of birds which helped to create the world, or eggs from whence either Gods or spirits hatched. The Alkonost Bird, the Firebird and Mater Sva are birds which have a strong presence in Slavic myth. Mater Sva (or Mother Slava) is said to have flown out of the creator's mouth during the creation of the universe. She is seen often, as the voice or soul of God. Birds still figure strongly in the symbolism of the Slavs today. One can easily see this in the two headed White Eagle of Poland.
Bears: The Bear may be the most important totem to the people of North Eastern Europe. It still symbolizes the whole of Russia. Travelling minstrels, believed to be the survivors of the ancient priestly class, were known for their dancing bears. Some feel this connection goes back to the times of the Neolithic Bear cults.
Horses: The people of the steppes were the ultimate horse warriors. The horse was a very important and respected animal to the ancient Slavs. Temples to various gods usually had a horse that belonged to the deity who would be used for means of divination. Swiantowit's horse in Arkona would be let through crossed swords before a battle to foretell how well, or poorly, it would go.
Serpents: Symbols of Serpents come to us from Pre-historic Trypillian times and are a fairly universal Earth symbol. The King of the Serpents also features strongly in many myths. Snakes are also a big symbol of healing and medicine, whether this is due to Greek influence or is from earlier times, I don't know. Visitors to the ancient Ukraine spoke of an Earth Goddess, half snake, worshipped by the Scythians there.
Spiders: In the Ukraine, Spiders are , surprisingly, a symbol of the sun, their legs as it's rays. They are seen as a solar design on many pysanky, coloured eggs, and golden spiders are the primary ornament for the Yule Tree.
Wolves: Wolves have always been a big part of Slavic folklore and custom. The name of the Pagan Priests, the Volkhvy, comes from the word for wolf, Vielk. One chronicler stated that all the people of Russia had the ability to turn into wolves.
The World Tree
The Slavs believed that the world tree was divided into three parts; The roots existed in the realm of the underworld, "Nav", and were where the zaltys lived. The main section existed in the mundane world and the uppermost branches reached into the land of the sky Gods. A magical bird was said to live in the branches. Although the Slavs did have Viking influence, the world tree beliefs seem to come more from the native Siberians. These Asian peoples each keep a tree, usually a linden, near their home and see it as a sort of "telephone" to the other realms.
Some Slavs believed that the Earth was an Island floating in water that the sun was immersed in every evening. At the center of this Island stood the world tree or mountain. The roots of this tree extended deep into the underworld and the branches reached high up into the realm of the sky gods, Irij.
Nav was the underworld, realm of the dead from whence it gets its name. Weles/Wolos, the God of cattle and wealth and Lada, Goddess of springtime were also said to reside here. This is not really surprising, considering that most cthonic deities, such as Pluto, Saturn and Ops were also associated with wealth and that the crops are pushed upward from inside the Earth. Also, Lada would return from the underworld in the spring, much like Kore, Persephone and Ostara of the Teutons did.
slavic Creation Myths
According to the "Book of Veles", the progenitor, Rod, floated in the abyss trapped in a primordial egg. Lada, or the personification of Love, was the first of the Gods created, and with her help, Rod was able to break out of his prison.
Rod then begins to create all of the universe and the Gods and Goddesses by pulling from himself, his eyes, his mouth, his brow...until he finally seems to disappate and leave the running of all his creation to the God, Svarog.
Since no one knows how reputable this source is as a glimpse back into our ancient past, we are best off looking in to the myths that survived to see how the original beliefs survived the onset of Christianity.
In doing such research it is important to note that in none of the native creation myths of the Slavic people, does God create the universie without help.
This help usually takes the form of his "twin" brother, Satanail, an obvious example of the pre-christian Slavic sense of duality and how it was strong enough to not only survive into even recent times, but strong enough to lend the devil a positive and creative persona that often looks more benign that of God's
(Russian 1071 CE - the transcript of Lavrentij) - A Slavic magi (volkhv) was recorded as saying:
"We know how man was created: God was washing in the bathhouse and, after sweating, he wiped himself with a towel that he threw onto the ground; then Satan entered into dispute with God as to who should make man out of this towel; and God breathed a soul into him, therefore after death man's body returns to the soil underworld, and his spirit to God."
A Christmas Carol from Galica explains:
When there was in the beginning no world
Then there was neither heaven nor earth.
Everywhere was a blue sea,
And on the midst of the sea, a green plane-trees
On the plane tree three doves,
Three doves take counsel,
Take counsel as how to create the world.
"Let us plunge to the bottom of the sea.
Let us gather fine sand;
Let us scatter fine sand,
That it may become for us black earth.
Let us get golden rocks;
Let us scatter golden rocks
Let there be for us a bright sky,
A bright sky, a shining sun,
A shining sun and bright moon,
A bright moon, a bright morning star,
A bright morning star and little starlets.
In other recorded versions of this song, there are two doves not three, two oaks instead of a plane tree or blue stones instead of golden ones. Much later versions have God, St. Peter and St. Paul riding the doves as the actual creators.
A sLavic Creation Myth
In the beginning, there were no earth and no people, only the primordial sea. Bielobog flew over the face of the waters in the shape of a swan and was lonely. Longing for someone to keep him company, he noticed his shadow, Chernobog and rejoiced.
"Let us make land" said Bielobog.
"Let us," said Chernobog, but where will we get the dirt?"
"There is dirt under the water, go down and get some," answered Bielobog, but before you can reach it, you must say 'With Bielobog's power and mine'."
Chernobog dived into the water, but said "With My Power", instead of what he was instructed to say. Twice he dived down and neither time did he reach the bottom. Finally, the third time he said "With Bielobog's Power and Mine" and he reached the dirt. Scraping some up with his nails, he brought it to the surface but hid a grain of dirt in his mouth in order to have his own land.
Bielobog then took the dirt from him and scattered it upon the water. The dirt became dry land and began to grow. Of course, the land in Chernobog's mouth also began to grow and his mouth began to swell. Chernobog was forced to spit and spit to rid himself of all the earth and where he spit, mountains were formed.
Angered that he was cheated out of his own land, he waited for Bielobog to fall asleep. As soon as the god was sleeping peacefully, Czernobog lifted him up to throw him in the water. In each direction he went, but the land had grown so much, he could not reach the ocean. When Bielobog awoke, Czernobog said "Look how much the land has grown, we should bless it."
..And Bielobog said slyly, "I blessed it last night, in all four directions, when you tried to throw me in the water."
This greatly angered Czernobog who stormed off to get away from Bielobog once and for all. In the meantime, the earth would not stop growing. This made Bielobog very nervous as the Heavens could no longer cover it all, so he sent an expedition to ask Czernobog how to make it stop.
Czernobog had since created a goat. When the expedition saw the great god Czernobog riding astride a goat, they couldn't stop laughing. This angered the god and he refused to speak to them. Bielobog then created a bee, and sent the bee to spy on Czernobog.
The bee quietly alit upon Czernobog's shoulder and waited. Soon, she heard him say to the goat "What a stupid god! He doesn't even know that all he has to do is take a stick, make a cross to the four directions and say 'That is enough earth'. Instead he wonders what to do."
Hearing this, the bee buzzed off in excitement. Knowing that he'd been heard, Czernobog yelled after the bee, "Whoever sent you, Let him eat your excrement!".
The bee went directly to Bielobog and said "He said All you need to do is make a cross to the four directions and say 'That is enough earth.' And to me he said 'let whomever sent you eat your excrement'.
So god stopped the earth from growing and then said to the bee "Then forever after, let there be no excrement sweeter than yours."
This myth is a combination of myths from Bulgarian and Ukranian sources. Although the versions of these myths use God and Satanail as the dual creators, Slavic scholars agree that the myth is a later form of the original dualism of Czernobog and Bielobog. Because of this I have replaced the names.
The First Witch
Long ago, when the world was still fairly new, a young woman ventured into the woods to pick mushrooms. In no time at all, the skies opened up upon her and narrowly escaping the rain, she ran beneath a tree, removed all of her clothing, and bundled them up in her bag so they would not get wet. After some time, the rain stopped and the woman dressed herself and resumed her mushroom picking. Weles, Horned God of the forest happened upon her, and asked her what great magic she knew in order to have kept dry during the storm.
"If you show me the secret to your magic, I will show you how I kept dry." she said.
Being somewhat easily tempted by a pretty face, Weles proceeded to teach her all of his magical secrets. After he was done, she told him how she had removed her clothing and hid under a tree.
Knowing that he had been tricked, but had no one but himself to blame, Weles ran off in a rage, and thus, the first Witch came into being.
Slavic Ritual Recipes
Traditionally, ritual libation would have consisted of mead. There is currently a very good commercial Polish mead available called "Piast". It is produced and bottled in Poland and imported by Adamba Imports, Brooklyn, NY 11237.This brand of mead is SO Pagan that the back of the bottle boasts "Piast, a 9th century Polish prince quaffed his honey wine from the horn of a bison, the same way his forbears paid homage to their ancient god, Swiatowid." - the strange thing is that ...a 9th century prince would have been VERY Pagan as Poland was not Christianized until the year 966....the TENTH century. (Note: I have not seen this brand of Mead in a while. I may have to contact the importer to see if it's still available.)
Blini
Blini is not only a food appropriate for ritual, it is a traditional food offered to the dead.
Scald 2 cups milk.
When it has cooled somewhat, stir in 1 package yeast, 1 Tbs sugar and 1 1/2 cups flour.
Let this rise, covered, in a warm place for 1 hour.(the sponge)
beat 3 egg yolks with 1tsp salt,
1 Tbs melted butter and 1/2 cup flour.
Stir this into the sponge. Beat 3 egg whites until stiff and fold them into the batter. Cook small pancakes in melted butter. Serve with sour cream and maybe some caviar. (also very good with fruit)
Pierogi
These little moon-shaped dumplings are perfect for during and/or after any circle work.
mix 1 egg, 1 tbs oil, a pinch of salt and enough flour to make a good pasta dough.
Roll this out thin (best to use a pasta maker) and using a floured, upturned glass, cut circles out of the dough.
Place a small amount of filling in the center of the circle and fold over, wetting the edge to seal.
Boil in salted water until tender. You may then fry them in butter with sliced onions. Serve with sour cream.
Pierogi Fillings:
Seasoned Mashed potatoes
Seasoned mashed potatoes & sauer kraut
Seasoned farmer's cheese
Finely chopped mushrooms sauteed with onion
Ground meat mixed with 1 raw egg & some dillweed.
Assorted fruits
Other Recipes
Not specifically magickal, but any Slavic ritual should be followed by a good deal of eating....
Glumpki - Stuffed Cabbage
Core 2 or 3 heads of cabbage and immerse each one in boiling water for about 5 minutes each.
Peel off all the larger leaves and cut out the stalky parts at the bottoms. Set aside.
Mix together: 1lb ground beef, 1 lb ground pork, 1 2 cups cooked long grain rice (al dente), 1 large chopped onion, salt, pepper and a little oil.
In each cabbage leaf place about 2 Tbs of the meat mixture and roll up - first bring in the sides of the leaf then roll. Do this to all the meat mixture.
Line the bottom of a large covered casserole with some of the extra cabbage leaves.
Place the cabbage bundles tightly together in the pot and cover with a mixture of 1 large can crushed tomatoes and 2 Tbs cider vinegar.
You may want to add tomato juice to be sure all the cabbage bundles are kept wet during cooking. Cover with a layer of extra cabbage leaves and either bake for 1 hr or cook atop the stove for 50 minutes.
You may also omit the tomatoe mixture and use broth as some people can not tolerate the acids in the tomatoe sauce.
Latkas - Potato Pancakes
Peel and grate 1 lb of russet potatoes. mix with one egg, 1/2 to cup flower, salt, pepper and 1 or 2 chopped scallions.
Heat a mixture of butter and oil in a frying pan. fry the batter in small, flattened amounts. The latkas should be brown and crispy. Serve with sour cream.
You can cheat by using left over mashed potatoes instead of grated fresh ones. It still tastes pretty good.
Mushroom Kasha
mix 1 cup kasha (buckwheat groats) with 1 egg and 1/3 cup sliced, sauteed mushrooms. Stir-fry in 2 Tbs butter till the egg is cooked and buckwheat is separated. Add 2 cups boiling chicken broth, salt & pepper and simmer, covered, for ten minutes. Fluff with fork before serving.
These are all my family's recipes. I'm happy to share them, just please don't repost them on your own website.
Musical Selection is Macedonian, Mile Kolarov's "Kavalska ezgija"
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