What is philosophical and theological basis of neo-pagan religions? Do you think they are as legit as traditional ones?
The ones that have as such typically borrow extensively from Greek pagan philosophers.
The works of historians, mythographers, poets, priests, ancient philosophers, etc. for the reconstructionists, combined with artifacts, calendars, statues, temples, and other iconography.
In the case of the NEO-pagans, you frequently deal with the works written by Carl Jung on the collective unconscious, in which the gods and mythological figures are reinterpreted as archetypes.
They are religions that are compatible with a physicalist understanding of the world, as opposed to those the apologists of which debate atheists and agnostics over cosmology.
Why wouldn't they be?
Also, pagan religions kinda are the traditional ones, if you catch my drift.
I kid you not, neopaganry is so weak and lacking theology that I feel compelled to release videos on polytheism out of pure intellectual honesty, since at the moment neopagans simply seem histrionic.
I'm relatively convinced that polytheism is coming back anyway as westerners are starved of mysticism and ritual, a hole caused by atheism as a fashion statement. I feel I might as well subvert it from the beginning and have my name on it, as well as be the guy to create many monotheistic criticisms against it.
Anyway, some key ideas or rituals are enthusiasm (search for the original Greek meaning)/tantric meditation, which is form of self identity hack or more appropriately super identity assumption, at its simplest it's about choosing a set of virtues. Another is about polytheism in media and fiction, which Marvel seems already privy to, and is essentially an aid for authors and writers in character creation and development, if you were to take it seriously the characters would take on a life of their own, thus becoming existent. I'm still coming up with more, I've found Hinduism is very resistant to study due to its extreme diversity and the Christian churches have shit on Hellenic polytheism so badly it's basically impossible to ressurect. Asatru/Norse seems almost entirely about literature, so I'll actually avoid it entirely, worse still the prose eda is dripping with Christian revisionism. Egyptian polytheism seems to be about anthropomorphising things that allowed crops to grow, like the sun (Ra) and the river (Isis) and even animals, plus whatever fiction could be created from their interactions.
I'm very interested in talking about polytheism from a sociocultural perspective, I'm very interested in any questions or comments you can provide me with.
If you're a Hindu or have your own interest in European polytheism, I'm especially interested in your opinions, which is actually why I usually lurk /pol/ because the Indian flags generally indicate Hindus.
I enjoy practicing some old norse traditions/holidays with my buddies. It's a good reason to get everyone together a few times a year whenever I can manage to fly home. Besides that my knowledge of the mythology extends only so far as the basic stories and poems tell.
Would love to learn more about pagan/neopagan practices and how other people use them so heres a bump for interest.