What Ivanits writes about Rod as god, does this attribute come from the later, Christian concept? When it's about the etymology he might be just a personification of the family lineage, or a symbol of all our people, like folk (rod- narod). Which is worth respecting or even veneratating, especially in the modern times, when people try to find their identity, but… although he is mentioned in the sources with Rozhanitsy, it doesn't seem like he was veneretaed as deity, maybe like a minor spirit. Surely he wasn't a chief god, that's Rybakov’s invention…
First of all, when understanding Slavic Pagan tradition it is important to get rid of the concept of ‘chief god’. There is no evidence that pre-Christian Slavic religion had such concept.
Any ‘chief’/’superior’ Gods described in chronicles were very regionally specific and, given how diverse, tribe- and region-specific pre-Christian Slavic Paganism was, it is extremely unlikely that a ‘chief’ God among, say Obodrites was also a ‘chief’ God among Drevlians.
Secondly, Rybakov’s inventions are just that: Rybakov’s inventions. Which, BTW, Ivanits makes clear. As I explained in the post above, there is not enough preserved in sources for pre-Christian Slavic religion to know much/anything for sure with regards to Slavic Gods and most certainty any pantheons, hierarchies or family trees of Slavic Gods are and will be pure speculation, and if spread as certainty: fakelore.
I agree. We don’t need some monotheistic concept borrowed from Abrahamic religions. However, we can find Perun almost everywhere among Eastern and Southern Slavs, and there is Prov in the West. Slavs probably believed in some celestial deity or a deity of higher heavens that is above others in a physical sense. That is a universal Indo-European concept of the Sky-Father and Svarog also fits into that concept. That “highest” deity had different names or functions, as You already mentioned. Beside that, there had to be some kind of hierarchy since the Slavic world is based on different layers of existence, from the highest, most spiritual and lightest level (“the White world”) to the lowest, material world.
Slavic embroidery motifs suggest that there was also a hierarchy among female deities, and I don’t mean goddesses like Mokosh or Zhiva, or other attributes of Mother Earth. It’s just a philosophical concept, not related to Rodnovery, but it might interest You. So, on Slavic embroidery, we have the Goddess as a source of everything, an abstract power from whose body the whole universe sprung (the Tree of Life). Then, there are her “daughters” - anthropomorphized motifs depicted beside the Goddess-Tree. It has nothing to do with family relations and other elements of fakelore, but we can say that these two are created and She is the creation. That's already some kind of hierarchy since her realm is on the highest level of existence.
Sorry for the long answer, but I have studied philosophy and I like these abstract things, haha... If You have time, read the newest article on my page; I did some research about the Slavic Tree of Life and the cosmic hierarchy…
With exception of the first 2 sentences I wholeheartedly disagree with everything you wrote. My whole substack explains why I disagree, so I will not repeat myself here. You can maybe start with translations of Brückner and go from there:
I've read far to much already about the cosmic hierarchy stuff, so, respectfully, will not be reading more. It's all fakelore anyway 🤷
Also, I am sorry to write that, but it does seem to me that you are experiencing chronic fakelore toxicity. But the good news is: there is a curated, fake-lore free reading list (in English) on my substack. You can start the detox here:
Very enlightening, thanks for writing
Thank you!
What Ivanits writes about Rod as god, does this attribute come from the later, Christian concept? When it's about the etymology he might be just a personification of the family lineage, or a symbol of all our people, like folk (rod- narod). Which is worth respecting or even veneratating, especially in the modern times, when people try to find their identity, but… although he is mentioned in the sources with Rozhanitsy, it doesn't seem like he was veneretaed as deity, maybe like a minor spirit. Surely he wasn't a chief god, that's Rybakov’s invention…
First of all, when understanding Slavic Pagan tradition it is important to get rid of the concept of ‘chief god’. There is no evidence that pre-Christian Slavic religion had such concept.
Any ‘chief’/’superior’ Gods described in chronicles were very regionally specific and, given how diverse, tribe- and region-specific pre-Christian Slavic Paganism was, it is extremely unlikely that a ‘chief’ God among, say Obodrites was also a ‘chief’ God among Drevlians.
Secondly, Rybakov’s inventions are just that: Rybakov’s inventions. Which, BTW, Ivanits makes clear. As I explained in the post above, there is not enough preserved in sources for pre-Christian Slavic religion to know much/anything for sure with regards to Slavic Gods and most certainty any pantheons, hierarchies or family trees of Slavic Gods are and will be pure speculation, and if spread as certainty: fakelore.
I agree. We don’t need some monotheistic concept borrowed from Abrahamic religions. However, we can find Perun almost everywhere among Eastern and Southern Slavs, and there is Prov in the West. Slavs probably believed in some celestial deity or a deity of higher heavens that is above others in a physical sense. That is a universal Indo-European concept of the Sky-Father and Svarog also fits into that concept. That “highest” deity had different names or functions, as You already mentioned. Beside that, there had to be some kind of hierarchy since the Slavic world is based on different layers of existence, from the highest, most spiritual and lightest level (“the White world”) to the lowest, material world.
Slavic embroidery motifs suggest that there was also a hierarchy among female deities, and I don’t mean goddesses like Mokosh or Zhiva, or other attributes of Mother Earth. It’s just a philosophical concept, not related to Rodnovery, but it might interest You. So, on Slavic embroidery, we have the Goddess as a source of everything, an abstract power from whose body the whole universe sprung (the Tree of Life). Then, there are her “daughters” - anthropomorphized motifs depicted beside the Goddess-Tree. It has nothing to do with family relations and other elements of fakelore, but we can say that these two are created and She is the creation. That's already some kind of hierarchy since her realm is on the highest level of existence.
Sorry for the long answer, but I have studied philosophy and I like these abstract things, haha... If You have time, read the newest article on my page; I did some research about the Slavic Tree of Life and the cosmic hierarchy…
With exception of the first 2 sentences I wholeheartedly disagree with everything you wrote. My whole substack explains why I disagree, so I will not repeat myself here. You can maybe start with translations of Brückner and go from there:
https://witia.substack.com/p/perun-according-to-bruckner-12
https://witia.substack.com/p/perun-according-to-bruckner-22
I've read far to much already about the cosmic hierarchy stuff, so, respectfully, will not be reading more. It's all fakelore anyway 🤷
Also, I am sorry to write that, but it does seem to me that you are experiencing chronic fakelore toxicity. But the good news is: there is a curated, fake-lore free reading list (in English) on my substack. You can start the detox here:
https://witia.substack.com/p/recommended-reading-in-english