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Ratings: 6.38/10 from 60 users.

PagansIs paganism a living tradition with roots deep in prehistory or just a collection of superstitions, magic tricks and witches' spells? Pagans explores the origins, history and beliefs of Europe's ancient religions.

Sexy Beasts - Looks back to a time before sex was taboo, when humans saw themselves as an integral part of the natural world. Through history and prehistory, the representations of the ancient gods and traditions followed by pagans have been marred by propaganda from other religious groups eager to rein in those they defined as wild barbarians. In truth, the word pagan is a Roman term meaning 'country folk', and the general concept of paganism is of oneness with nature and a quest to fully understand the world around us.

Magic Moments - Today magic is used as a form of entertainment. It still thrills us to see an apparently impossible phenomenon happen before our eyes. Reaching back through to prehistoric times, the pagan magicians, who could conjure material from nothing or predict the future, would almost certainly have been held in the highest regard.

Band of Brothers - According to Roman records, the Iron Age Celtic peoples of Britain consisted of war-like tribes - but this could well be propaganda of the age. In 43 AD, as now, invaders found ways of justifying their subjugation of the native people whose country they colonized and whose land they took. Whatever the reality, the image of rough, heavy-drinking hooligans and evil barbarians is what we have been left with.

Sacred Landscape - A strong pagan belief is that the natural world is embedded in all of us. One method of defining the landscape is by building monuments. The construction of tombs at the boundaries of territory illustrates to outsiders that the area is rightfully yours, since it belonged to your ancestors. A succession of ritual monuments known throughout prehistoric Europe, from wooden trackways to henges (stone or wooden circles), suggest the strong influence of altering the landscape as a way of defining territory within the pagan belief system.

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102 Comments / User Reviews

  1. Haha I’m with Rachel... does anybody know where I can find this series? I’ve searched all over but can’t locate it anywhere. It’s like it’s banned in the USA (which I wouldn’t doubt with dip currently at the helm).

  2. @Tina

    Sorry but I just needed to say this STFU!!
    It's like you are only picking out the bits of information that people give you that you think you can argue a point on and its really irritating.
    If you are a Christian and have such a strong opinion against Pagan beliefs, why are you even watching this documentary? Because you clearly aren't looking to be enlightened or have any interest in changing your closed minded way of thinking.
    Nobody is trying to force you to change religions so why are you getting so angry and defensive.
    People are actually trying to help you understand.
    You're making yourself look stupid and acting like a bit of a dick.

  3. tobias macrobie, with all do respect:
    PAGANUS

    Of or pertaining to the countryside, rural, rustic.
    (by extension) rustic, unlearned
    (substantive) villager, countryman
    (substantive) civilian
    (substantive, Ecclesiastical Latin) heathen, pagan
    how can pagan mean not christian, when judaism came before christianism...are you trying to say that muslims are pagans???

    that is an insult.

  4. The description reveals an inaccuracy. Pagan was not a Roman word for country folk - they have this confused with Heathen (of the heath, the barren country, outlanders, despots) a term originally used by hebrews to insult christians. Pagan is simply a term that means "not christian", to include islaam, buddhism, jewish, etc etc. ALL pagans. So.. take this doc with a grain of salt, there is likely not much accuracy in detail, and I doubt much evidence for the sensationalism it portrays in the titles.

    1. You're the ill-informed one. "Paganus" originally meant country dweller and was used to refer to civilians in general by the army. Heathen is not a Hebrew word, but does mean of the heath.

    2. I second that motion.

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  6. @Tina
    I think you're part of the biggest cult of all! Who are you to judge Pagans based on people you know? I am a Pagan, I don't sleep with my son, or my cat! I don't summon the devil, and the horned one isn't the devil he is the Sun God! He is born on Yule and dies on Samhain which is pronounced Sew-in and the cycle repeats every year. We are nature loving, and we believe in unity, not dividing. And just to be clear, I have watched many documentaries over the years and the only thing I have seen is a book with stories in it when it comes to your religion. There are paintings on walls and many witness accounts for Paganism and many religions before Christianity, but only a book of yours and then the cult followers.... So before you start saying that my religion worships the devil maybe you should look at your own! Because I don't believe in your devil therefore I cannot worship him, but YOU believe in him, which means you worship him every time you claim he's the reason for murders and pagans. Just saying....

    1. Isn't neo-paganism the right term? At least seems like that could be true with you and how you mix together things like Yule (Scandinavian/Germanic mid-winter celebration) with a sun-god (Egyptian mythology?) and Samhain (celtic).

    2. Yes, but we say Pagan. I don't understand why everyone has preconceived ideas about Neo-Paganism... We don't know what the real worship was we only know an idea of it through Gardner... What I worship and how I worship isn't anything like this... And from all the research I've done no one knows how they worshiped... It's all assumed, but no facts because everything was destroyed... Are you Neo-Pagan?

    3. I agree with you. I get so tired of people saying that I'm going to burn in hell because I am a Witch. I simply tell them "It's your hell, you go burn in it. I have found that Christians are some of the biggest hypocrites. Jesus says love everyone no matter who they are. Wouldn't be nice if they followed their own teachings instead of being so ,hàteful and worrying about the Gods and Goddesses I and others Pagans worship.

  7. P Yang you said that buddhist are not terrorists,,, so tell me isn't Burma is a buddhist country???? Why they killed thousands of muslims there in Burma????

  8. just dont put to much thought on what the christians say. they are among the most devious of religions, more power hungry than caring, most do not even oblige to what their bible tells them to. Not to mention they separated us from the rest of the world.

  9. I say watch all three parts before you start posting!

  10. While RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM takes the blame, it is two different words that explains our ills, "CORPORATE GREED"

  11. 1. I found this documentary to be very boring.
    2. Tina, satanist my dear, are christians trash, being that satan is a christian being or character. All modern religions seperate people from each other and nature which is bad for Earth as a whole. Our disconnection from nature has lead us down a path leading to extinction. It is the reason so many are depressed. I am not going to attack you or call you names, you are just misinformed and brain washed

    1. "All modern religions seperate people from each other and nature which is bad for Earth as a whole....."

      Why would you blame religion for the bad condition of the Nature or our world? It is not the MUllahs or Pastors poluting the earth, creating useless land for the pupose of breading animals for meat, it is not the religion which is waging war or invading countries fo the purpose of power, it is not the religion which is explointing people and stealing there resources. Religion is not creating threat of the ill state of the world or nature. Think hard who is brain washed.

    2. Your answer can be told with only TWO world.....RELIGIOUS FUNDAMENTALISM

    3. oops, "two words"

  12. I recognise that we are still living in a time where we are lied to, cohered and manipulated by christians, who also burned many thousands alive for non compliance to their wants. Also, we are now killing many more animals for food, and on many occasions, slaughtering is not done in honour or with any regard for the animals, at all. If we are to blindly forget the atrocities committed by the christians, it puts a perspective on this documentary that practices documented here was indeed acceptable then, despite the fact that it is not acceptable today.

  13. You must see this as the Pagans saw this all those years ago... Before sex was a perversion it was a mystical thing where two connect... I'm not saying I approve of having sex with animals but then it was ok. Honestly I disapprove more of the slaughtering of the poor horse then having sex with it...

  14. Modern day Brits are still shagging sheep, not brave enough for horses anymore : ) Certain African tribes still have sex with monkeys as a ritual, Middle easterners are well known for their "goat love" and I recall reading a story while living in China about a man sodomizing a moon bear in captivity. Crazy people are everywhere. Just look inside your local prison to see how depraved sex can become!!

    All religions make their competitors look like savages. It was done then and it is done now. Nothing changes just the players!!

    P.S. Tina, you are a nut :-)

    1. How many "cavedwellers" has the West slaughtered since 9/11. The demonization and stigmatization is alive and well in the corporate media. Read the reports on Libya lately?
      Yours,
      RR

    2. Not only since 911 but those cavedwellers have never slaughtered west/white. Corporate media is feeding the **** and main stream people would eat it without ever questioning it.

  15. They keep showing the mushroom but refuse to talk about it-

    Add psychedelics to this and you have the full picture

  16. @ Achems Razor

    Agreed. I've always thought that religious stories had their roots in reality. People of those times would retell these incidents but would inject metaphysical interpretations of why these things happened. It was the way people perceived the world back then.

    When the ice ages ended it was a time of great climactic changes. Earthquakes, tsunamis, and incredible floods would have terrified everyone. It would seem logical that stories of such calamitous events would have been passed down from generation to generation. It would also explain why so many ancient cultures relate stories of great floods. Some people did survive and the people of one culture called him Noah. It doesn't mean he put all the animals in a great ship and that God gave us rainbows to remind us that he would never send floods again. However, I'm sure that the survivors would have had quite the stories to tell their grandchildren and we now still read about them today, although so distorted that the truth of those events are hidden behind exaggerations and mythology.

    1. i always wondered if our legends of humanlike creatures were inspired by other hominids. like trolls & ogres from neanderthals... or something.

    2. I would think a more reasonable answer to these stories are that they are mentally and physically handicapped individuals who were abandoned at a young age. They managed to survive by scavenging and theft but being cut off from their society they never even learned to communicate. They would seem like wild animals and legends would build up around them. "Don't go to that section of woods because an ogre lives there" or "Behave or the wild man will get you" might become the beginnings of some wild stories.

    3. i agree, but its an interesting thought for armchair speculation. :) and something im thoroughly fascinated with. it also occurs to me that the mentally and physically handicapped are not exactly well suited for survival in the woods all alone. and some of these stories are about communities of such, which admittedly may be about different human cultures, but still... an interesting thought. but im no professional anthropologist, so i may be completely off base with such.

    4. Another phenomena that I would think is not just a modern one is the sexual predator. People of the past would not have the sophistication to understand one in their midst and might come up with all kinds of stories to explain missing women and children. Their predilections can be quite bizarre and isolated communities may start a mythology that may morph into our modern wolfman or vampire legends. I've often wondered how medieval peasants would explain sexually mutilated bodies. It must have been quite frightening if you're already superstitious and quite ready to believe that real monsters are living on the outskirts of town. That they are human monsters or predators would have been unthinkable. Come to think of it, it's even hard today to think that there are people who would do such things.

    5. This documentary should not be taken as fact. Many of the people interviewed here are merely speculating and not true historians. Example: Santa and his reindeer is a Christian adaptation of the wizard in a trance flying. Not true. Reindeer didn't become associated with Santa until the 1800s when the Sami people went on tour with their reindeer as part of a marketing campaign for the sale of reindeer meat. The season was winter and the advertisements before Christmas decided to use these images with Santa and thus birthed the first association with reindeer and Santa.

  17. @jack 1952

    Perhaps, but no real evidence such a person/the man existed.

    Christ is a deity to the religious, but saying that he is a deity still does not make it real, that is just a supernatural supposition, to give the religious their empetus.

  18. @ Achems Razor

    That Christ was a deity; no. That Christ was a man; probably. He appeared to a charismatic individual and when the political aspirations of his followers were dashed because of his death, these followers created a new destiny for him and themselves. They couldn't let go of their faith in him even when he died. The power of cult leaders can be very strong. His apostles may have felt lost after his death until they found a way to continue in the life that they had become accustomed to.

  19. I'm surprised more people aren't commenting on the quality of the doc itself. I thought it was a crock. It's very short on information. Whoever made it obviously had a decent budget, but they seem to have wasted most of it on ridiculous video loops of animations and re-enactments. And when it comes to historical insight surely there are more knowledgeable people to be talking to than that crazy couple that moved out into the woods inspired by some pagan "sagas". I'm getting to the point where i can barely make it through these bigger budget docs, like BBC, Discovery, History Channel, etc make because they are so short on the one thing you would expect them to give you: information. Spare me all the cheesy video tricks and just interview the chomsky's and dawkins' of the field (or better yet the Jacques Fresco's of the field if he exists) and maybe i'd actually walk away knowing a little more than i did when i started watching it. Instead i'm left a little irritated that they wasted no telling how much money on this when there are people out there making great docs and having to do it with no budget.

  20. @Tina:

    How can I be anti-christ, when there was no christ, just the latest in a long line of deities.

    All religion stems from one cloth, just the christians in USA seem the most predominate.

    "All religion" is the scourge of mankind. Is that better?

    1. could you back that up, that Christianity stems from one cloth.....because history says otherwise!!

  21. @Achems Razor

    Why do you only attack Christians it's because you're an anti-Christ. Why don't you attack Muslims, Buddhists, and Hindus, Scientology, Jews. etc... while you're at it; they're organized religions also.

    1. It has nothing to do with organized religion. It has to do with Christians being the most evil and oppressive of all those. Muslims are equally as ignorant, but nowhere near as oppressive. Buddhists are hardly a religion as a belief structure. Hindus believe that their god could be flawed, and even an alien, so they're not oppressive in the slightest. Scientology is a joke, seeing as how L. Ron Hubbard was quoted in saying 'I would like to start a religion some day. That's where the money is at.'. and Jewish people are yet another Abrahamic religion that is incapable of admitting the flaws of it's people, and though a corrupt church, full of corrupt history, it has nowhere near the oppression and blood on it's hands as Christians and Catholics.

      It's pretty obvious, if you ask me.

    2. There are groups of Buddhist terrorists (Tamil Tigers, for one, I think), and Hindi and Muslim societies have had their fair share of oppression. Anytime you get a large enough group of people (probably around 5...), there's gonna be a power-hungry a--hole who wants to take advantage of others or find a way to be considered "better" than everyone else. Religion, inherently, isn't the problem. The problem is that people, in general, are selfish bastards.

    3. The Tamils practice Hinduism...

    4. tamil tigers are not buddhist. .. there arent any terrorist who practise buddhism. plz dont WRITE wrong information..

    5. Islam is an Abrahamic religion.

  22. @Scott Henthorn:

    At least one thing that I agree with you on..."Christians have been some of the most resistant to technological innovations infiltrating every space of our lives,"

    Thank goodness no more burning at the stake, we would not even have these computers, so we can write back and forth. EH?

  23. This is very poorly done.

    Can’t say there was anything like conclusive information about much of anything.

    But that is not the point of this kind of presentation. It is just a framework for anti-Christian propaganda. Un-sourced claims. Broad generalizations. Easy vilifications.

    Early and ME Christians were not “removed from the earth”. 90 +% of the world was agriculturally based in those times. A first century Christian knew that milk came from a cow, not the supermarket. To blame Christianity for the current distance most of us have from the source of our food and other goods is fundamentally anachronistic. Technology not religion has distanced us from the earth. Christians have been some of the most resistant to technological innovations infiltrating every space in our lives, for which we get called ignorant.

    So give it to us coming and going I guess. We separated man from the earth and we are standing in the way of the progression of that distancing. The general rule is, if there is something wrong you can probably find a way to blame the Christians.

  24. @Vilewoman

    Ha, Ha you say one man; but the video showed a whole tribe of people getting together.
    What world are you living in how do you know your daughter will be with only one man; today it's common to sleep with multiples at the same time and with different sexes and yes they do drugs and drink. My friends who have teen daughters are in denial like you are, boys don't want to marry them so they have a kid to try and hook one. Just don't be shocked if it happens to you.
    And don't blame Christ for the troubles of the world cause God stopped intervening along time ago; it's humans who are screwing everything up and then complaining or taking it out on this and that.

  25. The image of paganism has been tarnished over centuries, and this doc with its condescending "hang on, give 'em the benefit of doubt" overtone does more disservice to the truth than shed much light ... for starters, you can't club diametrically opposite practices and bunch them ... putting together the horse slaughter/bestiality and nature worship and calling the set 'paganism' is like saying "the devil was worshipped, and so was jesus ... and that's 'christianity' for the uninitiated .."

  26. White people and horses.... tsk tsk

  27. @Tina

    You say you know people like this,huh? Wow, and how did you come across these fine people that do this sort of things?

  28. Tina. What dystopian nether realm do you live in? While there may well be occult groups in the world today, wholesale rape and slaughter of infants would not go under the radar. If that is or was happening it would become world news no matter where it occurred. If what you claim is in any way true perhaps rather than telling us you should call your local police department. While freedom of religion is upheld in most places the right to sexually abuse ones daughters is tolerated just about nowhere.
    As to the topic hundreds and hundreds of years old = middle ages like I said. If you want proof pertaining to pre-Roman paganism in northern Europe come back with a book closer to 2-3 thousand years old.

  29. @everyone
    I don't need to do research. I have know REAL satanists and they love to do evil. They not only indulge in perverted sex, they ruin peoples lives and take anything and everything they can get. One I knew slept with all of his 3 daughters, and he never bathed as not to cleanse himself. He loved to slaughter animals for rituals. And If you wanted to sell your soul he would help you do that too.
    In Europe there are whole communities devoted to satan who all live together. Some mothers lose their children forever to these perverted cults. They arrested a bunch of satanists as a lot of times they find bodies of babies raped and slaughtered and people dead with particular markings on them. Of course there is satanism from the past they pass that stupid book of rituals from generation to the next. Some of those books are hundreds and hundreds of years old. They do believe in an eternal after life they think that the devil is going to spare them the suffering when they go to hell. What Witches evoke are not gods they are Demons - call them by their rightful name. Do you want a list of them.
    Believe me you people are sugar coating these people-unpeople.

    1. bull s***, to quote a Roman maxim; "Quod gratis asseritur gratis negatur" or in modern internet parlance "pictures or it didn't happen".
      That post comes off like ham-handed propaganda by a Straussian neo-conservative from the American midwest, you're not related to Fred Phelps are you?
      As far as the evils of religion go, all the paganism in the world now and in the past could not hold a candle to the pure evil of the Abrahamic faiths* which also includes Satanism because that is a Judeo-Christian idea and can only exist as a concept if you accept Christianity in the first place(pretentious crypto-Christian douchebags that Satanists are).
      (*that have only been mitigated by civilizations' secular offices/philosophies)

  30. @ Tina

    I'm sorry I didn't mean to confuse you. No offense but if you can't keep up with the coherent arguement I have put forth this is probably a waste of our time. You seem bent on believing the word of the exorbitant and often uneducated public anyway so, have at it I suppose. But you cuold feel very safe to tell your friend she is mistaken if she thinks she is practicing true witchcraft by worshipping satan or any demons. It is not uncommon for people seeking attention or thinking withcraft or satanism can be whatever they say it is to start covens and say they are satanist, but they are not. These are established religions recognized by our government, having tax numbers, and having formal central structures and dogmas. You can't just decide you are Wiccan, which is modern day witchcraft, or a Satanist and be one.

    The reason I broght up the jews is because they were the first to ever concieve of the christian god, and of course the devil didn't come along before god or even closely after so it is impossible for the man in question to be a satanist. Even if the concept had of arisen before or during his time, satanism did not come about in any legitimate form until the sixties. Witchcraft is not the worship of satan nor his so called demons. It is the worship of nature and includes many supernatural beliefs and gods, but no satan. The practice of witchcraft is centered aroung certain rituals and incantations to evoke these gods or center energy from the practitioners toward a common goal. they often use the creedo "So mote it be" which is a ritual phrase used by Freemasons. It means "so may it be" or "the will of Gods may be done". It may be said at the end of a prayer in a similar way to "amen". The phrase appears at the end of the 14th century Halliwell or Regius Manuscript.

    Satanist believe in the divinity of man, or the fact that we are god. They say we should feel free to indulge all our base desires for sex, revenge, personal gain, etc. They believe we should do it to others before they do it to us and believe in a sort of social darwinism, kind of like Sara Palin and her bunch (LOL) (Never thought about that but it is true.) The reason they say we should feel free to do this is because they believe in no eternal after life, so we might as well do as we like. They think pleasure and your own happiness, however that is achieved, should be your primary goal.

    Once again I invite you to do your own research and see for yourself, we are not making this stuff up. Why would we want to disagree with you and mislead you? I think you are confusing people getting together and playing religion with legitimate recognized religions. Try and see if you can find any historical record of stanistic parctice in the distant past, it doesn't exist.

  31. @Tina; Again you are quite mistaken. Witchcraft is a term created by christians, the true religios practice is Wicca. Wicca is probably most closely compared to shamanism. They had no deities and no Devil or satan. They were herbalists and spiritual healers. The closest thing to deity they had was Mother earth and good and ill spirits. There was no Devil or leader of evil. Some pagan beliefs have a coparable figure in their lore such as Loki and Hades But even they were not "Satanic" They were lesser gods who happened to preside over the reaalm of the dead. Not the damned but the dead. You are projecting the definition of whichcraft as defined in the dark ages, in the pages of the Maleus Malificarum (sp). That book and that definition of Wicca into whichcraft is a comparably modern invention when in context with the pagan belief and wicca. I am not sure why it is that you hold so strongly to these beliefs of yours. It was fear in the hearts of ignorant peasants that created this negative image. You however live in a time of readily available enlightenment so have no excuse to fear through ignorance. Your ignorance is self imposed and deliberate or just ingrained into you from childhood. There are no witches waiting to transform you into a newt. If you believe Satanists and by extension Wiccans are in congress with the devil you are by default stating that the devil is more powerfull than god. Since there are no current examples of anyone having a one on one chat with god. As waldo has said Satanists tend to be social misfitts who embrace their beliefs solely because it does scare you. It is their childish way of rebelling against a society they feel shunned by. A sort of "in your face I worship the bad guy".
    If you are willing to realy see this issue for all that it is read the Maleus Malificarum (sp) and the history of it's author. Also read about the state of society at the time of it's creation in order to get a grasp on why such a truely insane and barbaric text became dogma to so many.

  32. @Tina:

    Have no idea what you are talking about.

    Will let @Waldo see if he can make some sense of what it is you are trying to say.

  33. @Waldo and Achems Razor

    Are we talking about Pagans or Jews? I don't know what Jews did but the film was about Pagans. I'm not Jewish and if they were disgusting I don't know. What are you implying that was a Jew slaughtering a horse and having intercourse with it. You should research Satanism better as it's been around forever-what is withcraft? Isn't it the worship of satan and the rest of the underworld. Witchcraft does not only worship nature you are mistaken; their father is satan and they worship him. My friend is a pagan and she told me, after asking her repeatedly, that she does not worship the devil nor partake in witchcraft.

    1. please go see your god, already.

    2. @ Tina

      In the world you occupy, is there really something as outlandish as Satan, the Devil? Is this truly part of your reality? If so, please tell me how a human creature of the 21st Century comes to such a 'space' as yours.

      I am not being facetious. I sincerely want to know.

      Thanks.

      0z

    3. You're wrong! Our father, is the sky father, the creator, and your Christian religion took his image and made him the devil, he is known as the horned one, the forest father, he looks like a dear because he dwells in the forest.... I don't know what the hell you're on but he is not the devil... We don't believe in evil or sin. We believe in a balance, everything is naughty and nice because the universe is made up of natural viciousness and compassion. You need to wake up little girl....

  34. So...they did have sex with horses. Some things never change.

    1. ""SEX WITH HORSES?" I bet the horse was bummed!

  35. Well, watching this documentary made me to see the paralels in my own native culture ( Latvian) , which is still quite active nowadays, the night of the living dead "Ve?u laiks" , still being celebrated and appreciated, a time when people dress as animals and appreciate the goods given by nature "M?rti?diena". Midsummer night celebration, winter solstice and dragging a log though town in order to collect all the bad deeds, unfortune and everything bad to collect it in the log and burn it, so the sun will be awaken to give us daylight once again to grow crops.
    And yet these traditions still are popular here, no one seems to be creeped out,we still retain a lot of our native anciestry.

  36. @ Tina

    You are flat wrong, you are simply twisted by religious b.s. I get my info from the theology degree I worked very hard to earn, and from the official web site of the only government recognized church of satanism based in California. I am not attacking you so chill. It is perfectly normal to think the things you do about satanism, most people think the same thing. But, they are wrong as well. Satanism has not been around forever at all, it came about in the sixties. Witchcraft has been around a very long time, but it is a far cry from worshiping Satan as well. Witchcraft worships nature, much like the pagan religions of old. In fact it is a pagan religion of old. Like I said there have been isolated incidents of people getting together and worshiping Satan and calling it satanism, but they are just theatrical attention seekers and have never been officially recognized as a religion.

    Besides all of that, the guy you accuse of being a satanist did whatever he did long before the concept of the christian God or Satan came about. The Christian God came about with Moses and the so called exodus, which as far as historians can tell never took place at all. It is also often credited with being the first monotheistic religion, this is also false. Zoroastrianism was the first monotheistic tradition, and many scholars believe that Christianity and Judaism borrowed much from this popular religion. Reasons Voice is also right about the sacrificial practices of the early Jews, they were barbaric and disgusting. Luckily I do not believe they took place on near the scale that is reported in the bible.

    I know this all comes as a shock to you, it did to me when I started studying the real story of the Judea-christian tradition. But it is all verifiable with an open mind and some simple historical research. Don't take our word for it, find out for yourself.

  37. @Mike: Felt I had to step in in defense of the skirt - I don't think the revealing was the problem so much as the restriction. The skirt wasn't giving her much room around the thighs to move, and doing any sort of farm work would have been impractical.
    Also, they never stated that the skirt is what they wore ALL the time - just that this particular person was dressed in the garb of a dancer, which does lend itself well to the concept of a fertility dance.

    1. I say, RETURN TO "HOT PANTS!?

  38. Firstly @Tina; Actually "anointing ones self with the blood of a sacrifice was practiced and mentioned quite often in the old testament. They also slathered the blood of lambs on their door-jams every time it got foggy. As to sex with animals that was only mentioned once in the bible so cudos to you.
    @VileWoman; I think you have it backward and that it may be you who needs to review. When he interviewed the couple and the woman was talking he interupted her twice just blurting out "Horse penis". To which she gave him a look she reserves for mildly handicaped 14 year olds who keep yelling BONER at the dinner table.

  39. what i dont understand is why he keeps calling the story of the guy f*****g a horse then killing it and bathing in its blood "Christian anti-pagan propaganda" when he him self confirmed it happend.
    what? how is a religus ceremony where you f--k a horse in front of people kill it and bath in its blood is not the same as -> f*****g a horse in front of people killing it and bathing in its blood.

  40. @Tina:

    So you figure because they did not intercourse with the animals that makes it all right do you?

    As in "blessed be the one who dashes the little ones against the rocks"
    or "kill everyone and all the men child's, but keep all the little girls for yourselves" etc: I could go on with more and give you the specific scriptures, but I'm sure you get the rift.

  41. @Reasons Voice

    "And if sacrificing an animal is satanism the that would mean Abraham, Moses, Kane, Elija, etc, etc were all satanists. wow"

    Yah!!! but they didn't have intercourse with the animals before they slaughtered them and then slathered their bodies with their blood, or didn't you watch the video?

  42. @Mike @Mad @Waldo
    Very nimbly and thoughtfully discussed on this doc,folks,and I enjoyed your posts a lot.Forums involving religious belief(or non-belief)typically deteriorate into some intellctual pissing-contest,pontificate slugfest!Religion faith personal belief is changing its role in our lives and societies now.Critical thinking and tolerance are now important virtues.Carry on.

  43. @ Waldo
    Yes indeed I agree with most of what your saying I suspect when you say eastern you mean Asian and yes their religions are a lot less intrusive in the development of mankind. Yea Christianity IS much simpler and easier to understand no rules except trust in Jesus and "god" or his holy spirit? I mainly looked into the Quran to see if the myths about Islam were true (which of course most of them weren't), I would recommend atheists to study different religions to dig deeper into other cultures and understand why people are as moved as they are by religions. Also this way you can have solid arguments and make well informed comments on what others deem to be "the word of god".

  44. i was looking foward to watching this documentary because i agree with the idea that history is written by the winners and the losers are often made to look barbaric, or even sub-human. In particular, the peoples of semetic religions proved very ignorant, arrogant, close minded, and hateful, towards every foreign culture they came in to contact with.

    For those reasons, I do not view the Pagans in the traditional western view - but, with that said, THIS DOCUMENTARY WAS HORRIBLE IN ITS ATTEMPT TO DEFEND THE PAGANS.

    Firstly, in an almost laughably ironic twist they used western standards of morality to judge whether or not the pagans are "savage" or not.

    For example the documentarian makes it a point to state that the pagan ritual involving a horse was about power and not promiscuity, power/supremacy/domination is more acceptable to westerners than sex, sex is only okay when tied to fertility, which is why he then goes out of his way to connect the sexuality of pagan women with fertility. For example, the sexy skirt could have only been used for a fertility dance because it was to revealing to do work in...okay maybe the pagans didn't care that it was revealing??? Many cultures have embraced nudity, skin, and the human body, much more than we have.

    Secondly, every society has grotesque and disturbing rituals, or practices, usually due to their religious, spiritual, or ideaological ignorance, so if we are to be ashamed of one culture for this reason, we should be ashamed of them all.

    Just too much speculation, too many assumptions, and the guy doesnt seem to be looking for the truth, but instead looking to make prove his point. Not enough concrete evidence, bad documentary - granted, i only saw the first part.

  45. @Reasons Voice

    "And if sacrificing an animal is satanism the that would mean Abraham, Moses, Kane, Elija, etc, etc were all satanists. wow. "

    Yah but they didn't f@#$ them before they killed them or did you miss that part in the movie.

    @Waldo
    "Most satanist don’t believe in god or satan. The whole dress up like a devil and dramatically praise satan bit was made popular by a bunch of Hollywood wanna bees in the sixties and seventies"

    WTF- Where are you getting your information? Satanism has been around forever. Satanists believe in the Devil and they are the first to believe in God.

    1. Sheol, or Hades, means the resting place of the dead, or grave/pit. The ONLY reference to a burning place of torment in the entire bible is in reference to Gehenna, an area of tar valleys outside of Jerusalem, where they threw the bodies of sinners and anti-believers, with the idea that once their bodies were consumed by the flaming tar pit below, that they would never be resurrected for the final judgement of YhWh. There is nothing in the entire Bible about a god named God. There is nothing in the entire bible about the devil being a red, horned guy that lives in the underworld and burns people. You don't even know your own religion, how are you gonna tell someone to do more research on theirs? Lucifer went from being God's right hand, though a little rebellious, to the most evil, corrupt and vile thing ever? Why? What loving god turns their child into a vermin because he questions his reign? And you people expect non-sheeple to believe that bullshit?
      I say it's time for a new crusade. This time AGAINST the Abrahamic believers. We're sick of the disgusting bloodshed and blatant disrespect to nature and our potential.

  46. Man, nature, sacred tree, exploitation, blue people... reminds me of Avatar

  47. I was married to a Wiccan. Pagans are not more wacked out than any other religious zealot.

  48. After watching the first set of vids, going to throw my two cents in.
    Christianity is to blame for "Global Warming", yep indeed. Taking our Pagan ancestors so far from Nature, which we at one point respected and even admired is to blame for the Earth "warming". We were taken too far from nature and forgot to respect her.

    @Paul This documentary even being done shows we are coming along. But a lawyer "heathen" is an oxymoron. Quitting your job and being a hippie would make you more respectable in my opinion. You lawyers have ruined the world.

    @ Reasons Voice I think I saw a different documentary than you did. I saw one that explained some of their views on sex in a positive light. Yes yes, when he interviewed the Swedish archaeologist they looked a bunch of male ****s on a rock. But seriously that any different from today? How many guys have had a penis drawn on his forehead at a drunken party? So the couple were goofy and having a good time, talking about sex..what the hell is so wrong with that? They also said nothing about having horse sex. I have read the Sagas as well, and their are funny sex poems in there. It's fantastic. The horse sex was never claimed to be in the Sagas. Like he said, he doubts the man had "real" sex with the horse, but it was more of a marriage to the land ceremony in which man showed his dominance. You're reasonable ears didn't hear that very well.

    @ Tina, you, like he said about Christians at the time, missed the point. In these early days, girls got to a fertile age around 15. (It is believed it's younger today due to all the hormones we have been feeding our children). Of course you would want your baby to stay a baby forever, but! As a loving parent you would also want to see her happy and learning the joys of being a mother herself. (Also being alive long enough to watch her babies grow up.) She would be with ONE man not the whole tribe (more propaganda). Just like dating today, we would see the man that desires her. Just because it's today doesn't mean my (future) daughter's boyfriend isn't going to be thinking dirty thoughts about my kid. Even more so at the school dance! Accepting this as part of nature is the difference about you and me. You live in a boxed world in which that nasty stuff never happens, in my world it happens everyday and all the time.

  49. @ Mad

    I was aware that the Quran refrences Jesus, but they do not think he was god's primary messenger, as far as I know they give that distinction to Mohammed. I have a degree in theology centered around western religions mostly. But, I got that degree almost twenty years ago and never did a single thing with it, so I may be mistaken.

    One things for sure, they all are a bunch of fairy tales designed to seperate man from the rest of the animal kindom and make him feel safer about death, and to explain the origins of the universe and life itself (IMHO). We didn't spend very much time on Islam, we mostly studied the Judeo-christian traditions. The Jewish religion alone is so complicated and detailed it takes forever to explain its roots and rituals.

    The Christian religion seemed to be the most easily understood and least confusing of all three of them to me, but maybe that's because of where I grew up and the fact that I have been exposed to it all my life. I wasn't aware that they called Jesus Isa, though I did know they acknowledge his existance and see him as an enlightened profit.

    If you would like a refreshing change of pace as far as religion is concerned you should check out the eastern traditions. They are much more sane and less exclusionary, violent, and cut and dry. They do not evoke duality, for the most part, and take into consideration that we all experience life through our own perceptions that dictate our personal reality. They still do a poor job of explaining life or the universe in rational terms, but they are so different from western traditions they really made me rethink what religion was. They do not seem to seperate man from the rest of life, instead they suggest that we are a part of all living things. The thing I enjoyed the most about them is that they premote a balance that is lacking in western traditions, which tend to be very extreme and single minded.

  50. @Waldo
    Actually Jesus plays a major role in Islam except Quran references to him as Isa. Islam incorporates Mohamed, Jesus, and Moses. Their like one big happy family! I'm not religious just knowledgeable on religion mostly so I can learn more about humanities delusions. That's why I give this doc 2 thumbs up.

  51. The man killing the horse was Satanist? Wow I typically attempt to protect the christians on here but that was sad. You can't be a satanist if you don't even have a concept of satan. And if sacrificing an animal is satanism the that would mean Abraham, Moses, Kane, Elija, etc, etc were all satanists. wow. Surprised the old testement doesn't actually have horns.

  52. I am a practising Heathen and I have been for two decades. I am also a lawyer and not some hippie. Having said that, the documentary was not completely accurate. It will take a while before Paganism is mainstream enough and Pagans are involved in the media for a more accurate portrayal to come to light.

    As to the comment about Christianity purifying Paganism, that shows arrogance and ignorance to the highest degree.

  53. @ Tina

    Typical religiouse brain washed rubbish. Satan was not even concieved of at this point, he came along much later. Satan wasn't even part of early christianity. No, that made up scare tatic didn't come along until much later in the so called dark ages when the powers that be decided they needed some way of scaring people into belief and submission to the church. If you choose to believe the poppy cock religion has fed you all your life go for it, but don't expect educated objective people to pay it any attention.

    By the way, to be a satanist merely means you believe in indulgence instead of denying your instincts, not that you worship or even believe in satan. Most satanist don't believe in god or satan. The whole dress up like a devil and dramatically praise satan bit was made popular by a bunch of hollywood wanna bees in the sixties and seventies. The creepy child sacrifices and backward masking of rock music was popularized by the church itself, and never really existed either.

    Sure there has been a few isolated cases of confused attention desperate teens copying what the church claimed to be satanism, but the fault for that lies with the church for putting that silly lie out there in the first place. Christians sure lie alot to claim to be so morally superior. Not that you are lieing, but you are repeating lies you have been told by other christians. Do a little research from secular sources and you will not have to take my word for it. If you research through church propaganda it will only perpetuate your ignorance of this issue.

    It never fails to amaze me that when I tell people I do not believe in their god the first thing they say is that I worship the devil. (LOL) If I don't believe in god how could I possibly believe in the devil? Thats like saying you don't believe in cold and someone saying you must then believe in hot. The two concepts only exist in contrast to one another, do away with one and the other makes no sense.

    1. If they don't believe in Satan, why do they call it the "Church of Satan?"

      Read:

      Book of Job, written 5th century BC . . . It relates the story of Job, and his trials at the hands of Satan

      Gospel of Matthew, written 60-85 AD, earliest known fragment 150–200 AD . . . in Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness

    2. The whole bible is a story book! The only thing that is real in there is the flood... Just that, the flood... Noah never existed... None of the stories in the bible can be traced to fact, oh wait not true only David and galaith can... There was a pot found with a name on it... Other than that, there's no proof of Jesus or any one else mentioned... Or proof of what went on... So stop quoting things that don't have any relevancy.... ProudPagan- 13:13

  54. Tina:

    That stuff that you mention is already in the book of horror tales, the OT. Of course the OT goes much further! "Pagan" is lame compared to the OT. Have you ever read it? or are you cherry picking, Hmmm?

  55. That man killing the horse is a satanist not a Pagan.

    Oh yah, God created man; God created sex.

    If anyone feels that Christianity suppressed sexuality would anyone want to watch their children around a fire having sex with each member or your 13 year old daughter dancing sexy while you watch others desire her.??????

  56. It seems to be exaggerated and nostalgic

  57. Seems like the documentarian was more obsessed with sex than the actual pagans. Even when he was interviewing the Sweedish historian and the pagan couple they were looking at him like he was a bumbling horn ball. The pagans of old were close to the earth and all of the natural aspects of life and yes that includes sex. If the goal here is to show how simillar we are to ancient pagans and that the common thought of what a pagan is has been perverted, on that segment he failed. An entire segment dedicated to his perceived theory that pagans were obsessed with horse c**k? Hardly painting a more positive picture. I have read loads of Sagas and not once have I come across horse sex. Demonstrations of verility and manhood, yes, Horse banging, no. Not saying it never happened but not so sure it was such a big deal like he seems to think.
    Too bad most of the modern pagans I have met have twisted the beliefs into a hippie dippy life style. You would be lucky to catch one of them taking a knife to a steaming hot tofurkey.

  58. @ hanselda

    Huh? This was pro pagan not propaganda against the pagan belief system. Besides saying pagan encompasses many many different belief systems, not one religion. Oh, and the muslim god is exactly the same as the christian god (omnipotent, all loving, and fake as h3ll), they only differ on who was his (god's) messenger here on earth back in the day, one says Jesus the other Mohammed. In fact three different religions arise out of a insane belief system that has been modified in several ways Muslim, Jewish, and Christian, who all worship the same God but have different ideas about how to worship him and whom was his messenger.

    @ James

    Yes, hubba hubba is an ancient expression meaning, "Boy I would BEEP to BEEP her BEEP in the BEEP and then take BEEP BEEP and BEEP it upside her BEEP, BEEP lubrication BEEP BEEP BEEP chipmonks and BEEP but BEEP weedeater and BEEP BEEP BEEP dipity doo and BEEP BEEP, (so on and so forth)" But it has been replaced with the modern day expression, "Maybe we could see a movie sometime?" Hope that clears things up for you.(LOL) Really, I enjoyed your post, cheers mate.

    P.S. If we all hold our breath long enough they have to put "Absolutely Fabulous" back on American t.v. eventually.

  59. This doc reminds me of the propaganda against Muslin in the western Europe right now. The image is very similar, they are lazy, dangerous, low income, stupid, dishonest and so on. They stick to their own way of living, making western people uneasy. And overall, they believe in different god.

  60. Oh yes , pagan chics............yum yum.

  61. Watched it. Liked it.

    @Sebastion

    Chrisianity , like all religion , is a plauge and a source for justifying the removal of free thought. It cleanses nothing but only polutes reality. And I see you are do for some real cleansing. This world as well is well over do for a BS bath. Been a long time since we got rid of said truths , being proven wrong. Time we all sat down showed our cards and let the best hand take the pot and the others leave the table.

    One thing to read and discuss religion/s another to deem them as truth. Truth and religion are total opposites.

  62. Here come the religee,s like a swarm of locusts, to try and spoil a perfectly good doc. About stuff that really matters, s@x for one thing!

    Religion is the enemy of free thought @Sebastion Liew: and the scourge of mankind! Nothing is free in religion, even if you say a hundred hail marys.

  63. Oh, no you don't,Sebastian,Don't you suggest that Christianity purified the world or is responsible for civilisation!Rubbish!Were there no advanced civilisations before Christianity?Aztecs,Mayans,Incas North and South American Tribes,the South Seas Polynesian cultures all rich with music ,art engineering skill,navigation astronomy not even the Greeks Persians Babylonians Egypt.Only remnants of some of these cultures remain after being rubbed out and crushed by the just hammer of Christianity..and we are proud of that,aren't we?damn shame

  64. Boy,this doc brought out the beast in all you boys,eh?frothing mongrels,no more "Cosmos with Carl Sagen"!I really enjoyed this doc a lot.Explores a period rich with mystery and magic.Man ,Nature and God(or the Gods)are one.And yes,cavorting nude Pagan babes.Hubba Hubba.Now THERE'S a phrase pre-dating Christianity..

  65. There are definite good things from some of the teachings of the Pagans, just like new age but we should not ignore the dark sides, the human sacrifice etc
    Thanks to Christianity which had purified the pagan beliefs and brings about modern civilisation.

  66. That was very nice! Enjoyed all four parts, thumbs up as well for the pretty pagan arse

  67. Great doc. watched S@xy beasts so far, "thumbs up" for s@xy pagan women.
    All s@xy women for that matter! (LOL)

  68. @ Waldo....u'r in luck. saami culture from North Sweden are a lot like (same) culture as North Native Americans, Mongols... have fun, buddy..

  69. Hubba hubba, I want to move to Sweden and become an archeaologist all the sudden. The Viking chic was awesome as well, very hot. Now this is some science I could get into, over an over again. You know that guy got lucky in the spa, if he didn't I need to give him some advice.

    @ Beckett

    Didn't seem creepy to me, maybe the beastiality and the defleshing of corpses and - Ok. it was creepy. But my god those Swedish archeaologists were sooooo hot!! I am majoring in archeaology and going for a minor in Native American studies right now, and I just figured out were I want to live when I am done. I wonder if we have any courses geared toward the Swedish pagan culture.

  70. Well it tries to be "Pro Pagan" but the Pagans still seem pretty creepy.

  71. Oooh this outta be super interesting, I can't wait to watch this whole thing. All I've ever heard was the "christian" side of the pegans, I hope this is nice and unbiased.

  72. My aunt is a pagan... and well... she's pretty cool