TopoftheAbyss said:
Damon said:
From
here
As I previously said it was only a honorary title and they did not believe these emperors were literally made gods. Cultures change and the meaning of the words changes with them.
The Chinese and other people have had ancestor worship cults for thousands of years. This does not mean their ancestors achieved Godhead.
What you said is filled with jewish bullshit.
No Pagan ever worshipped their dead reincarnated ancestors, they worshipped who achieved Godhead. What the church did is just a corruption.
Thinking the ancients couldn't finish the Magnum Opus is stupid.
No, they did ancestor worship- especially in northern, northeast and eastern Europe. Ancestor worship and veneration was an important part of all of those cultures and it should be so again. Slavish "worship" wasn't a part of it at that point.
The ones closer to the west as in the Celts I believe, were closer to the Magnum Opus. The others on the continent like the Suomenusko pagans were put under pressure by various things going on around them (conflicts etc.), they didn't have leeway as such, or as peaceful a situation to advance in.
I think in judging it you have to balance two important factors: Isolation from wars (which meant for the time we're talking, isolation from Rome and/or the Huns)
And access to the Eastern spiritual knowledge. In that case, there's no easy way to really pinpoint it.
With ancestor worship though, the first 'God' in your life is your father and mother. Ancestor worship is an important thing, especially if your ancestors were worthy and strongly pagan themselves.