Introduction to Rodnovery
By Marko
Rodnovery, also known as Slavic Native Faith, is one of the lesser-known modern pagan religions. It is a modern revival of the pre-Christian Slavic polytheistic religion and is now considered a new religious movement.
Practitioners of Rodnovery are mainly located in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe, where they are adopting the belief system of their Slavic ancestors with an open-minded approach.
The word Rodnovery is a derivative, forming from a combination of the word Rod (kin, lineage) and Vera (faith). As many similar European Pagan Religions have both a theology and a cosmology, Rodnovery is no different.
Our Theology
Pagan paths in Rodnovery have a monistic theology, which consists of a vision of a transcendental, celestial supreme God who brought the Universe into existence. This God, Rod, generated a multiplicity of deities who are independent consciousness of the supreme God itself.
A very popular dictum in Rodnovery is that “God is singular and plural”. This means that the universe is described as an unfolding manifestation of Rod, the single transcendental beginning, and each subsequent creation of Rod, deities, and entities, are endowed with freedom and spontaneous will to life and co-creation with the supreme order of God.
A Polish Rodvover outdoors altar. Photo by Pola Lilla
Cosmology
According to Rodnovery Cosmology, the supreme God created the Universe from the primordial chaos, where he gave rise to the circular pattern which is constantly generating new worlds. The reality of dynamism is depicted as black and white, or dark and light. In harmony with the beliefs of creation, we can identify three different dimensions in which reality exists, called Prav, Yav, and Nav.
Prav (“right”) is the highest level, the universal cosmic order that permeates and regulates the other two realities and that generates entities according to the supreme order of Rod, the projection of the future, similar to the idea of “heaven” from Christianity;
Yav (“actual”) is the level of matter and appearance, it is the here and now in which we exist;
Nav (probability”) is the level of our ancestors, spirits, consisting in the memory of the past. On some occasions it’s also called the Underworld reality, similar to the idea of “hell” from Christianity.
Now that we have examined the idea of Rodnovery, we can move to something more practical and see how the religion looks today, with the aforementioned in mind.
Where is Rodnovery practiced?
Rodnovery, which is the native religion of Slavic people, is mainly practiced in areas of the world where the people live, such as areas of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe in Slavic countries. Also worldwide where Slavic people live.
The main hubs of the religion are in some of the bigger Slavic countries such as Russia, Ukraine, and Poland, but the movement is slowly growing also in the Balkans. As for the diaspora, Rodnovery can be found in Australia, UK, Canada, and the US, mainly among Ukrainian people.
Rodnovery Beliefs
When it comes to the ethical thinking of Rodnovery and its beliefs there is an emphasis on the good of the collective over the right of the individual. The attitudes towards sex and gender are generally conservative and the emphasis is that the religion is bound to the Slavic ethnicity.
In modern times, young practitioners are breaking these barriers and being very open-minded with both sex and gender attitudes. Solitary practice is bringing the right of the individual into focus and spreading the religion amongst people that are not ethnic Slavs.
Celebration of Kupala Night by Serbian Rodnovers. Photo by Staroslavac.
Rodnovery Practices
The religion and its practice and tradition are very much naturalistic. Many concepts of the practice come from nature itself, which brings another level of connection between a practitioner of the religion and nature.
Rodnovery follows the natural cycles, aligning important holydays and deities to things that happen in nature annually, such as the Summer and Winter Solstice, Spring and Autumn Equinoxes.
During the holidays the practitioners are motivated to go outdoors, as the majority of rites and practice happens there, in nature, bringing the connection even closer.
Rodnovery Rituals
The rituals in Rodnovery, as mentioned above, mainly happen outdoors, in nature, and do not have an alternative. It motivates practitioners to connect with nature more deeply.
Practitioners celebrate holidays with certain rites outdoors but also incorporate deities (gods) into the practice. A unique thing is that people do not choose a certain deity to worship. Rather we worship all of them equally, good and bad because our lives can be influenced by both and we need a favor from both to prosper.
Rituals also include sacred fire, going to lakes and rivers, hiking to mountains, and walking the meadows.
Guest Author, Marko, is a young pagan from Southeastern Europe, specializing his pagan path in his Native Faith called Rodnovery and dwelling into Wiccan solitary practices. Years of research and practice, from a very young age when curiosity blooms, gave Marko a good level of expertise on the topic of the Rodnovery religion.