Are There Any Celtic / Greek / Norse / Aztec / Pagan Reconstructionists In The House?

[caelum_rainieri]

I'd like to hear how you define Reconstructionism in your particular tradition. Or perhaps, like the Yahoo group Tablet of Destiny, you believe that there is only one approach to Reconstructionism, regardless of the ancient religion involved. Whatever your beliefs are, feel free to post them

Comments

[wire_mother]

for me, "reconstructionism" is a term i use to describe (in this context) a sort of "anthropological forensics", by which we "reconstruct" the nature of religious expression among a chosen group (in my case, mostly q-Celtic-speaking tribes in Ireland during the late iron age) by use of available evidence, comparative religious studies, and other defined intellectual tools.

this process is, in the case of the modern polytheist communities, directed at providing a model from which to derive a practical structure for modern religious practices. the reasons for using the reconstruction process are various, including (but not limited to): a desire to protect the natural religious expressions from a particular cultural context; a desire to make use of the insights of previous polytheists as a guide for a modern polytheism; a desire for a more sustainable lifestyle built around cultural models which are unrelated to the modern, "imperial" Western culture; a combination of all of these and other factors.

[caelum_rainieri]

Thanks for your answer, wire_mother. I'd like to delve a little deeper into your definition. How do you handle the gaps in primary source material (i.e., an incomplete record of religious practice)? Further, how do you measure the impact of the gloss applied by translators to that source material?

[wire_mother]

"How do you handle the gaps in primary source material (i.e., an incomplete record of religious practice)?"there are several ways to approach that problem, with varying degrees of "fault-tolerance", as it were. the most useful, when it can be applied, is to look to closely-related cultures for comparison. this is more difficult than it initially sounds, though (an incomplete example: both Scandinavian and Gaelic cultures make reference to a cosmic world-tree which stands in relation to a cosmic well; however, the Scandinavian tradition emphasizes the tree almost to the exclusion of the well, while the Gaelic tradition emphasizes the well almost to the exclusion of the tree), as it is difficult to simply apply lore from one culture directly to the other, and requires much more interpretive work. the most valuable insights can be gained by finding from such cross-cultural comparisons those areas which are "shadows", as it were, in the lore. that is to say, those aspects which are present in one culture, but not extant in our knowledge

[wire_mother]

"how do you measure the impact of the gloss applied by translators to that source material?"

ideally, by working from untranslated materials first and foremost. it is absolutely essential, when working with cultural practices, to gain at least some knowledge of the language (or languages) of the primary sources. relying on other people's translations is to subject oneself to those translators' purposes (which is rarely, if ever at this point, polytheist reconstructionism).

[ladytairngire]

I am a student of/sympathezier of Celtic Recon, but wouldn't go so far as to name myself one. Still want my definition?

moot

[ladytairngire]

though I pretty much defer to wire_mother's response, anyway...

[caelum_rainieri]

Sure!