New Age Vs. Old Age Diversity In Religion

Many people are turning away from subjectively "trained" religions, and becoming their own thinkers, choosing more old world beliefs that go back beyond their more recent relatives, embracing the energy and thought patterns of more ancient ancestors.

What is considered to be "New Age" is actually beliefs of the old age, and vice versa. Modern day Christianity, Judaism, etc., have adopted stories and practices that have been widely used amongst pagans and other old religions for thousands of years before them.

For example, Saturnalia...

Besides the traditionally seasonal weather, the Winter Solstice brings along with it a magical, wintry, wonderland of holiday festivities with friends and family. From as early as 217 BC, Saturnalia was an Ancient Roman festival that was publicly celebrated anywhere from December 17 to December 23, often extending to December 25, in the form of feasts and banquets. Saturnalia is one of the oldest spiritual celebrations in existence, even inspiring other yule time holidays such as Christmas.

Saturnalia was celebrated in honor of the divine and celestial Saturn, with festivities including but limited to banquets, gift giving, merry social activities, and lavish epicurean dining. Those that enjoyed the holiday festivities ranged from Emperors to commoners, noblemen to slaves, with many pagan literary figures during that time also making their presence to honor their tradition and write about it.

Gifts ranged from writing tables, to perfumes, to practical objects to exotic animals. However, the most common and customary gifts given were actually candles, as the powerful illumination from candles symbolized the true meaning of Saturnalia, which was to welcome the renewal of light into the coming New Year as we continuously evolve and search for enlightened wisdom and truth.

Being that this time of the year also marks the earth's change of seasons, with the Winter Solstice wistfully approaching, Saturnalia was once simply a farmer's festival, marking the end of their autumn planting, with hopes and wishes for a bountiful new harvest to joyously come along in the spring time and throughout summer.

According to Ancient Roman mythology, Saturn was the father of Zeus. After Zeus defeated the Titans, Saturn traveled from Mount Olympus to Italy, in order to establish a new order in which all crops and resources would be plentiful. In Latin, Saturnus comes from the word "satus" which means to "sow". With that said, Saturn became an agricultural deity that was believed to reign over the world during a dazzling, celebratory Golden Age when all living beings enjoyed the rich and bountiful fruits, vegetation, and other sparkling treasures on earth.

Interestingly so, Saturday is an English word meaning "Saturn's Day", which is naturally named after the planet Saturn. In Science, Saturn is the second largest planet, with a diameter ten times that of earth, and is the sixth planet away from the sun. Saturn was observed and recorded by Galileo in 1610 to be a planet encircled by a large system of flat, circular rings, predominantly comprised of rock fragments and tiny ice crystals. The rings are unstable and believed to be fairly recent at that time, possibly created by shattered moons and asteroids. Saturn has many moons, its largest named Titan, which is the second largest moon in the solar system.

So Saturn, in the eyes of Ancient Rome, was indeed a rather large and very important form of matter, making Saturnalia an intensely practical, spiritual, celestial holiday celebration.

And then there's Ostara...

Ostara, also known as Ēastre (Old English), Ēostre (Anglo-Saxon), and Ôstara (Germanic), represents an ancient divinity, the omnipotent "goddess of the dawning light", and a time for welcoming a new season of life, hope, peace, and enlightenment. In celebration of the Spring Equinox, many believers have been known to light a candle, symbolizing the illuminated energy and spiritually charged beginning of a new era, the greater good to come.

Now according to ancient folklore, one time the goddess Ostara arrived late, only to find a poor dying bird in the middle of the forest, with wings frozen from snow. Ostara became filed with compassion and turned the little bird into a furry rabbit, yet honoring the bunny's prior life with an ability to lay eggs as if it was still a bird, but magical eggs in all of the colors of the rainbow.

At some point, Ostara became enraged with the animal and cast it amongst the stars, landing under the feet of the constellation Orion, "The Hunter". The rabbit remains there to this day, known to us now as the constellation Lepus, "The Hare".

Eventually Ostara calmed her rage and granted the hare with the gift of returning to earth once a year to give away magnificently colored eggs to children attending the Ostara festivals held every Spring.

So there you have the origin of the Easter Bunny.

Nowadays, just like people are becoming more and more accepting and welcoming of diversity in cultures, they are also becoming more respectful and educated in regards to individual preference in religions, as it should be.

Note the term "religious tolerance" is not being used because that word should never be used when it comes to religion, as sacred beliefs should be honored, more than "tolerated", as if someone is doing something wrong by practicing their rightful faith, but being allowed to do so as if what they are doing is wrong.

Religion is energy. Beliefs are just as colorful as nature. We as living beings on earth must come together to understand that energy and nature are an indelible, unified existence, as religion is a belief from one's very own spirit, not what we are taught or programmed to practicing.