Paganism an overview introduction - South African Pagan Council

Dis Pater
Dis Pater (Donn, In Dagda) is the Gaulish supreme deity, known from Roman
writings about the Celts where Dis Pater is named as the god of the underworld and
the dead. However, he many well be related to and equated with the Irish gods Donn
and In Dagda and though we do not have the Gaulish name for this deity, there are
many representations of this god throughout Gaul. Julius Caesar in his De Bello
Gallico VI, 18 (Gallic Wars) calls Dis the transcendant god amongst the Gauls, one
of the six in their pantheon, and asserts that all Gauls claimed him as their ultimate
ancestor. Thus we know of Dis Pater only through interpretatio romano; yet there
probably was a native Gaulish deity associated on whom the likeness with Dis Pater
was based and whose name is now lost. Dis Pater is thus used in place of the true
name of this original Celtic deity. The association of the Gaulish Allfather with the
Roman Dis Pater is associated with the Celtic emphasis on the continued existence of
the soul after death and the continuing cult of the ancestors that survives from the
Neolithic through the bronze age to the Iron Age of the Celts (which may well be why
ancient burial mounds and other ancient tumuli are regarded as the dwellings of the
departed, the sídh mounds of the gods and the enclaves of the Tylwyth Teg. However,
if the Dis Pater is also the ancestral deity of the people he may also be equated with
Teutates whose name is interpreted as “Father of the Tribe”. In southern Germany
and the Balkans inscriptions invoke Dis Pater along with the native deity Aericura.
The associated imagery reveals a goddess posessing all the emblems of a Celtic
mother deity; though her consort holds a scroll that may be the ‘Book of Life’,
symbolic of the passage from youth to old age. On a stele from Varhély, Rumania Dis
Pater is depictad with a three-headed canid; the native equivalent to Cerberus,
guardian of the netherworld.
http://www.celtnet.org.uk/gods_d/dis_pater.html
Throughout ancient Europe, Paganism thus evolved into a variety of forms, adapting
itself to local regions and venerating gods and goddesses anchored in specific places.
Ancient Paganism was not missionary in nature - in other words, Pagans did not travel
abroad, seeking converts to their way of life. When cultures were expansionist (as
were the Celtic, Greek and Roman), the motivation was political and economic rather
than religious or spiritual. Paganism has no (or little) sense of damnation and
therefore no urgency to convert other people to the “truth”. The defining feature of
ancient European Paganism was polytheism, which by its very nature stressed
tolerance and coexistence.
PHILOSOPHERS VISIONARIES
Paganism has no overall founding figure (such as Krishna, the Buddha, Jesus Christ,
or Muhammad) who functions as an object of worship or veneration. Because ancient
Paganism is prehistoric in origin, key figures from the beginnings of this religious
path are lost to the mists of time. However, various traditions and lineages within the
Pagan world can be traced to one or more key visionaries who founded (or
popularised) his or her particular community. It would be inaccurate, however, to see
any one of these figures as “founders” for the Pagan community.
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