P. Sufenas Virius Lupus (his spiritual name) is a practicing polytheist and scholar. He is author of A Serpent Path Primer, Ephesia Grammata: Ancient History and Modern Practice, The Phillupic Hymns, The Syncretisms of Antinous, and other devotional books. Under his legal name of Phillip Bernhardt-House, he is author of Werewolves, Magical Hounds, and Dog-Headed Men in Celtic Literature. He is on the social science faculty at Skagit Valley College in Mount Vernon, Washington.

Here he notes that, in actual practice, polytheistic traditions are similar to those of the Catholic Church with its many devotional rites regarding saints. As certain humans are elevated to sainthood, so various polytheistic traditions have elevated other humans to the status of deities. Ancient Roman and Greek polytheism also included elements of satire – and even materialism. He, personally, maintains a clear distinction between the Jungian notion of archetypes that psychologists often associate with the pantheons of ancient religions and the living presence of willful, non-corporeal entities that are the foundation of polytheistic engagement.

(Recorded on July 2, 2016)

Published on July 11, 2016