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Hi David, Yes, I agree with what you've said below. And I'm not saying "Pagans must be historically-correct and always look to the past" but that if one is going to be citing a "Pagan history" from the past - which is very much a part of Paganism today, referring to "the past" - and talking about gods and other supernatural beings *from past ancient socieites*, the least one could do was to actually research those deities from within the deities' own cultural and historical contexts. Not to say that the way particular deities were perceived by mortals stayed the same throughout their [the deities'] entire 'lifetimes" back in pre-Christian times, or that the everyday ancient pagan bothered to "research" their deities either, but I'd have thought that if people today were actually interested in "ancient Pagan deities" the least they could do was to exert themselves on a bit of research regarding those deities - or else to be truthful and say "Actually, I can't be bothered doing that, I'm just going to make it up", rather than make up stuff and not admit it? Which sort of reminds me of how Golden Dawn members used to scry the aethyr for the components of missing parts of rituals if they couldn't construct them from research. Which is fine... if you believe that you can obtain such material from that source. I certainly believe you can obtain *material* from scrying, but whether it is historically authentic ritual components, I'm feeling mroe sceptical about that. ~Caroline. >>I do find the blinkered approach to historical critique was a significant limiting factor. When people dealt with this upfront and engage with why and how they are making these distinctions it is much more honest and leads to better ritual practice. I really love how Thorsen does this in Asatru actually where he acknowledges its constructed nature and then has a discussion on how we engage with the past both in terms of literal history and where and how we can make our depatures. Its a very honest and authentic way to approach the issue of historicity I think and claims to historical authenticity and connection to the past lie at the heart of the very idea of contemporary Paganism.<<