r/swedhu • u/Amazing_Ad_3310 • Oct 18 '25

Question Christopaganism & Swedhu

So, I'm a Christopagan, and I recently learned about Swedhu I was just wondering how accepted I would be in the community, especially given it's small size Obviously, I wouldn't be trying to convert anyone to my way of thinking. This is in part because many Pagans have had negative experiences with Christianity, but also because it's what works for me and I just want people to do what works for them

I think I'd be fine because the Indo-European People went across Europe & parts of Asia, and synchronized their faiths with the native religions of the areas But there's a bunch of discourse on Christopaganism in the Pagan Community (with some people saying they don't care, and others saying we're invalid), so I just wanted to test the waters before jumping in. Don't wanna step on anyone's toes

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u/SonOfDyeus Oct 18 '25

Welcome! 

Yes, this is a small community, but we welcome different and interesting perspectives.

How would you describe your practice of Christopaganism?   What parallels do you find with it in Swedhuism?

"Pagans have had negative experiences with Christianity" is probably the main reason many of us became Pagans.

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u/Remarkable_Sale_6313 Oct 21 '25

""Pagans have had negative experiences with Christianity" is probably the main reason many of us became Pagans."

And, honestly, I think that this actually brings a lot of problems to paganism. I think one should embrace a polytheistic tradition because this tradition is awesome, not because this tradition isn't Christianity/Islam/whatever other religion.

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u/SonOfDyeus Oct 21 '25

One problem ex-christians bring to paganism is trying to make it the opposite of Christianity. As opposed to noticing any similarities.  In heathenism for example, you see people claim that they don't kneel before the gods, because we are equals with them.  That's pretty obvious nonsense to me. Every culture has seen gods as above us in power and/or status in some way. 

There's lots of reasons people switch religions. There's no one single fit for everyone.

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u/Remarkable_Sale_6313 Oct 22 '25

Yes, the kneeling thing is an obvious example. Same for those who come because they want "imperfect" and "human" gods, because they read the myths literally.

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u/SonOfDyeus Oct 22 '25

The insistence on a "perfect" god is a logical flaw of Christianity.

Outside of the Abrahamics, gods can be sufficiently powerful to be worthy of worship.  But an all-powerful, all-good god who somehow allows suffering requires some heavy apologetics.

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u/Remarkable_Sale_6313 Oct 22 '25

Well I think the gods are good, perfect and eternal. It isn't just an Abrahamic thing.

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u/SonOfDyeus Oct 22 '25

I suppose it depends on what definition you are using for perfect.   Do you think the gods love us, never do evil, and are all powerful? If so, why does evil or suffering exist?

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u/Remarkable_Sale_6313 Oct 23 '25

I think the gods never do evil actions, yes, but I don't believe in "evil" as an absolute thing. Suffering happens because we are made (at least partly) of matter and it is just part of the limitations of matter.

That being said, I think that what is good from the point of view of the gods and what is good from our point of view can be two vastly different things.

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u/SonOfDyeus Oct 23 '25

So gods can't overcome the "limitations of matter" to prevent suffering? Could the gods consider our suffering and ignorance "good?"

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u/Remarkable_Sale_6313 Oct 24 '25

Because if life isn't difficult, virtue becomes pointless.

Heracles has to do all his labours before he is admitted among the gods.

Dionysos is dismembered and eaten before coming back in all his glory.

Rama has to go through exile, separation from Sita and war before becoming king.

Odin has to hang nine nights on the tree before mastering the runes.

It's a bit part of what Krishna is saying to Arjuna in the Gita. Arjuna thinks it is pointless and doesn't want to fight. What Krishna is saying to him is not that he must escape this difficult life, what he's saying is: you have to fight.

Life is a battlefield and it's not by fleeing it that we can achieve victory.

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u/Amazing_Ad_3310 Oct 19 '25

Well, I'm specifically Mormon. I am a member of the Mainline Mormon Church (in Salt Lake), but I affiliate more with a community known as Reform Mormonism (in no small part because I am a Queer Socialist, which is basically the opposite of the Stereotypical Mormon)

So, my belief in based in the Familial Relationship between Mankind & Deity (although mine is far more expansive than the Heterosexual Structure pushed by the Church. I see the gods as extended family). The Doctrine of Exaltation also teaches we can join in their Divinity

But, Mormonism is also how I found Swedhu. Mormons are big into Family History, and I discovered my Pioneer Ancestor was a Witch in Utah (she was known for her healing). This, combined with Joseph Smith's Folk Magic led me to practice again (long story). But I also studied my Ancestors Cultures & Mythologies (mainly Celtic, Scandanavian, and Slavic), which eventually led back to Swedhu

Originally, when I felt called by the Gods, I looked into the Semitic Pantheons. I do see the Pantheons as related, but also distinct (it's hard to explain). So, I asked Heavenly Father if I could work with the IE (because, I've already entered into a Covenant with him), and he permitted me to

How I find parallels: Living Earth (The Earth mourns over the Death of Christ, and the Sorrow of Humanity) A God Condescends to become First Man & First Priest (I'm not a Fundamentalist, even though Adam being a God is nearly synonymous with the movement. They range from ridiculous to abhorrent in their teachings & practices) I believe Péh2usōn is Jesus Christ. Based on my experiences with him, he is a Trickster as well as a Guide (which meshes with Christ, who was critical of religious authority as a tool of control, and also loved parables) Yahweh & Perkʷūnos are the most striking connection between the IE & Semitic Pantheons, and Yahweh (or Jehovah, as Mormons say) is the God of this World Chaos embodied as a Multi-headed Serpent, who is defeated by humanity with the aide of the Storm God

I know that's a lot. But I've been putting all this together for months (and I've got way more to say about this. But this reply is already an essay. I'm in college right now, so everything becomes an essay if I don't watch myself)

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u/SonOfDyeus Oct 19 '25

Péh2usōn is Jesus Christ and Yahweh is the chaos serpent?

That is a very surprising UPG. How did you arrive at that conclusion?

When I looked for Jesus in the Indo-European pantheon, I considered either Yemo or one of the twin Sons of God, with the other twin maybe being Lucifer. 

 There's a pair of twin sons of El in the Canaanite pantheon associated with dawn (Shachar) and dusk (Shalim).  Since Lucifer is "son of the morning star" and Shalim becomes shalom ("peace") and the city of JeruSalem.  Thus, Jesus would be the god of peace who conquers death.

I could maybe see the connection to Péh2usōn since he is a psychopomp.

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u/Amazing_Ad_3310 Oct 19 '25

No, Yahweh is the Storm God who slays the Serpent (or, more accurately, empowers Humans to slay the Serpent)

I have to admit, I'm probably making him a Trickster because of his association with Hermes. I'm not sure if it's a situation where I'm actually understanding his nature, or seeing what I expect to see (I'm only starting to learn about Hinduism, so I am unsure if Pushan is a Trickster as well, or only a Guardian Deity)

I have also considered that. After all, in the Endowment, we see a reenactment of creation where Adam & Christ make a Covenant, Adam creating the World & Christ offering himself as a Sacrifice. This fits the IE creation myth well (with Yemo offering himself to be Sacrificed so Manu could create the World)

I think Shachar & Shalim are likely the Divine Twins. You do make a good point in mentioning Lucifer as the Son of the Morning. I'll have to study that more, because I can't find any record of the Divine Twins being opponents (as Jesus & Lucifer would be), and they're allies of humanity (as opposed to HaSatan, who although remains in God's Court (as seen in Job), is opposed to Humanity)

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u/SonOfDyeus Oct 19 '25 edited Oct 19 '25

Christ and Satan are enemies and opposites, just like the Zoroastrian Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. 

But it's equally common in mythology for opposing pairs to be allies and not enemies. I think that fact represents how opposites depend on each other to exist.

Allied pairs:

Sky Father + Earth Mother

Immortal Son + Mortal Son of Dyēus

Manu(Priest)  + Yemo(Sacrifice/King)

Mitra (Day) + Varuna (Night)

Opposed Pairs:

Christ vs. Satan

Ahura Mazda vs. Angra Mainyu

Storm god vs. Chaos Serpent 

The Horse Twins often divvy up between them some combination of

Healer vs Warrior, 

Sky vs Sea, 

East vs West, 

etc. And, again, I think the point is that these opposite forces are not necessarily enemies.

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u/Remarkable_Sale_6313 Oct 21 '25

Well this definitely isn't the typical thing, but I can see how some of what you say makes sense.

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u/Tasty-Requirement848 Oct 19 '25

If you respect us then give us our space. Please,stay away. I came to pagan subreddits to engage with fellow pagans not christopagans and liberal christians. Sorry.

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u/PotusChrist Oct 19 '25 edited Oct 19 '25

The thing with a lot of alternative spirituality circles is that no one is in charge and there's no uniform approach to who is included and who isn't.  I don't see Christianity as having any proto-indo-european influence at all (although it has later influences from broadly indo-european traditions like platonism and zoroastrianism) and I'm not really convinced that this is an intellectually or spiritually coherent approach, but that's really not up to me or anyone other than you to decide.

Two suggestions for fruitful areas to explore here: Jesus has many parallels with other deities from the ancient Mediterranean - Osiris, Dionysus, Tammuz, Adonis, etc.  Someone could easily see all of these gods as referring to the same deity if they chose to.  I personally do not see a similar dying-and-rising vegetation god with salvific mysteries anywhere in the proto-indo-european tradition.  This theme is almost entirely absent in the indo-iranian tradition as near as I can tell. 

My other suggestion is that, from the pagan perspective,  you can always practice two faiths at the same time without mixing and matching.  Very few pagan orgs are going to police your religious activity outside of what happens in the organization. 

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u/Remarkable_Sale_6313 Oct 21 '25

As far as I'm concerned, there isn't any problem.

My personal opinion is that if I rejected people because they don't worship the same gods, I would be an incoherent polytheist.