FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions
An interview with Paolo Rustichelli on Neopagan.com and Neopaganism
by Rebecca Haugh

Rebecca Haugh (RH) : What does the term Neopagan mean?
Paolo Rustichelli (PR) : Neopagan is a general term to describe a huge and varied number of people who follows contemporary Pagan paths traditions based on the ancient Pagan doctrines and religions. Furthermore I consider all the world religions, philosophies and cults as natural derivations from the ancient Pagan's practice, so that everybody can participate now at Neopagan.com coherently and celebrate together the new unified modern Pagan path.

RH : What is the real value or necessity of Neopaganism ?
PR : Neopaganism is a link to our past and also the natural change-transformation from the ancient beliefs, through the contemporary religions and doctrines, in order to create a new belief for our current requirements.
Parallel to that we have a problem of manipulation of the initial message. In some case the real meaning of the ancient religions doctrine was little by little lost and modified by their followers. Or like in the case of Neoplatonism, at first glance can sounds kind of awkward and complicated so that we need to give it a new modern update to simplify it. In Roman Mithraism, the religion that literally created Christianism, we have a case of a total conversion from the previous one (Mithraism) in the new one, with a total erasure of the first.
That’s why we need to re-discover the essence of those powerful religions and philosophies, dusting off the powder of the ages and re-activating them for our physical and spiritual life needs, including really special attention, devotion and celebration that is due to our endangered planet Earth.

RH : Who are Neopagans ?
PR : Cool people that like freedom of speech and thinking.  They love nature and they believe the earth (Gaia) being a living entity that needs to be preserved from indiscriminate pollution and loved as our natural mother. They feel the magical side of life as a hidden energy that can be directed for their own good at their will. They believe in an eclectic mix of physical and spiritual celebration, related to the double nature of our universe.

RH : What is the nature of Neopagans  ?
PR : The range of Neopagans is a complete full spectrum, starting from new age folks to Wiccans to Harvard geeks … Neopaganism, melding together science, philosophy, magick, religions, cults, arts and culture, doesn't really have pre-defined borders : It can definitely include the majority of us …

RH : What is Neopagan.com ?
PR :Neopagan.com incarnates and indicates what I believe is the right path for the contemporary spiritual and material needs. It finally contains a homogenous doctrine and practices that can lead the individual to achieve superior states of consciousness and material achievements through a natural theurgical magical system. The Theurgical/Magical tools and related doctrines spread out in this site are really approachable and easy to use.
In the future it is also my intention to expand the site with a more advanced section, in addition to the main site, for people that like to explore more in depth the nature of the Universe and the rules hidden within, from a material and spiritual, physical and metaphysical perspective.
I consider, as the ancient Greek-Roman philosophers did, the Universe being just one, with no separation between the material and spiritual status of matter ....

RH : Do you want to give Neopaganism a distinct unique doctrine ?
PR :Through the years the major problem Paganism experienced was the lack of unity. It is surely a peculiarity of Paganism to have a freedom of faith and an enormous pantheon of cults and deities, but this was also the reason of Paganism fragmentation and consequent downfall. My invitation to the all Pagan community is to join their forces together, taking as reference what I believe being "the best of ancient Paganism". This also doesn't mean to abandon your previous beliefs, but to unify the various Pagan cults under a new one. It is also known that the various spiritual entities or Gods are embedding similar energies under different names ....
Finally, after many years of incubation and attempts, it is time to revised the whole Pagan corpus of doctrines to create an unifying powerful singular belief !

RH : Do you intend Neopagan.com only as a reference site for the Pagan community ?
PR : Yes, but also I definitely feel strongly the need for a new revision of the ancient Pagan doctrines, re-tuned for our contemporary perspective.

RH : Are you concerned about Global Warming and environmental issues ?
PR : Absolutely yes, we have a special section dedicated to this problem. Neopagans think that the Earth is a living entity that needs to be worshipped as our mother, respected and preserved as a precious and delicate gift from Nature.

RH : Is there a connection between Neopaganism and Satanism ?
PR : There is not any direct correlation.
I see the Satanic path being really eclectic, with a lot of different folks entering paths that are extremely different to the point that I don't know what that really means... Like a Crowleyan follower can differ from a LaVey follower. Or if you like : was Aleister Crowley really a Satanist ? I'm not sure what is the real nature of the word Satan.
It can be used as a path of fire, meaning a fire that can kill, or at the opposite enlighten you, purify you. This is the alchemical aspect of the "Nigredo", the part of the alchemical process that is under the siege of the telluric energies, or Satanic energies if you like ... This kind of Satan is now not anymore the Satan of crimes and bloody black masses, but a principle of purification that precedes enlightenment.... So that in the end the "Satan" phenomenon has many different level of views and meanings, from the most low level to the highest.
Consequently if you mean that being Neopagan is being Satanist, this is absolutely a false invention.
Another problem arises with the nature of the figure of Satan; it has to be said that this is an arbitrary representation of a horned devil that was used by the Roman Catholic Church, based on the semblance of the horned Pagan God Pan, changing Him into the evil Satan in order to demonize everything different from Christian icons, especially the God Pan that was the God of ecstasy and sexual pleasure under the aspect of Dyonisus.

RH : What about those who call themselves Neopagan and follow a Satanic path?
PR : As I said we need to see what kind of Satanists they are, but some of them are surely part of the Neopagan family... Following the distinction on this delicate path, we need to enter a new idea of Satanism that can represent those folks. On the other hand, like in every good family, there can be always a "black sheep" or if sounds outrageous a "different" child, but I'm not Jesus Christ goin' searchin' to redeem them ......
To get back to your main question, a Neopagan can enter the "dark" side of the One or the Universal creation. From a perspective of the return to the One, not even talking in a moralistic way, this path needs careful consideration before entering it. The related energies that will become empathetic with you are primitive and egotistical. They can "enchain" you to a long karmic trip in the low level, material horizontal loops of the Universe. Everything that is related to dark-telluric forces, including the sexual power, needs to be counterbalanced by an opposite force. You can obtain that with vertical thought, spiritual contemplation, metaphysical speculation, vertical flight of the soul and so on ....
This will be explained in detail in the Neomagik section.

RH : Do Neopagans believe in God?
PR : I will say generally yes ! Especially considering Neoplatonism, which was the peak of ancient Paganism, believed in a One-God source and creator of the universe. However a lot of Neopagans believe in a more pantheistic universe that may or may not embody the need for a God. I personally see and believe in a God as the primeval energy that creates the Universe.  It is by no means a person or a physical body, but Supreme Energy. He created the whole Universe, and we are part of Him, participating in His creation with our body and soul.

RH : What do you consider the nature of God ?
PR : It is impossible to describe it. It may be easier to think of Him as an infinite source of power-energy-love auto manifesting. From a metaphysical point of view it can be considered as existing or not existing, and His manifestation is happening outside space and time.

RH : How could God be considered existing or not existing?
PR : Since the One-God is manifesting Itself outside time and space the natural consequence is that He is out of our reach.  Being unreachable He becomes of no interest from our material perspective, consequently He can be considered not existing from our view.  In simple words, He is for us like an enormous and powerful entity that is invisible to us, so that can also be seen paradoxically as not existing.  Finally I believe that in reality we cannot neglect His being.

RH : This seems to be more like the Atheist’s approach?
PR : As Neopagans we don’t perceive God through an act of blind faith but instead through a rational, philosophical deduction. That may be in some way closer to the Atheist vision, creating a new deeper perspective for the non-believers, with a completely new natural and rational approach to the whole God problem-dilemma.

RH : Is God merely seen as an energy ? …
PR : We can consider this energy merely as a natural product of the Whole.
It manifests itself in time and space through stages of emanations, which start from the core of the One and emanates out on a chain of levels until reaching our physical plane. During this process it becomes differentiated from being one to many. At the same time, with each level of emanation, He also becomes “fragmented” with lessened power from His initial status. The power at His core is infinite and far beyond our human comprehension. At this point you can name it anything you like….

RH : How can we be sure then of God’s existence ?
PR : Through the creation of the universe, we can see His manifestation-emanation.  That’s an undeniable truth and reality in front of us, so that the real problem is not about if God exists, but what is God?

RH : What are “the Gods” ?
PR : Like the One-God, similarly the Gods are intended as natural spiritual forces that emanate from the One-God directly. They are the first level of emanations directly from God in the Universe, and they are also the messenger-architects ( shaping the universe ) of the One. Being the first emanations from God, they embody an overwhelming power, even if in a lesser ratio compared to their Creator.  They can be scientifically described as the distinct powers embedded in natural universal forces.

RH : Are the Gods helpful for us?
PR : Since we cannot reach the outside time-space dimension of the One-God, they become then our primary source of energy and power. We need them to operate Magick at its full extent. They can assist us and help us for our material and spiritual life, if we activate the channel with them.

RH : They seem to be similar to the Saints of Christianism etc …
PR : Yeah, kind of … but their own power is tremendously more superior to Saints, which are preceded also by Angels and Daimones …

RH : What are Angels ?
PR : Angels are messengers and channels towards the Gods. They were called also “Daimones” in ancient Greece. The Angels are closer to our level than the Gods , and they can help us reach them.

RH : Why do we need to reach the Gods ?
PR : In being incarnated Souls, the goal of our trip is to get back to the One-God, and we cannot get back to him without going through the Gods ( see the Schema ).  Also we need them to perform celebrations with “Gods related” ecstasy and to perform magick & spells.

RH : What do you believe is the meaning of our life ?
PR : We are incarnated in this body to experience and celebrate the beauty, happiness passion and joy of our physical life. Similarly, we will prepare our future spiritual incarnation through a conscious expansion of our soul.

RH : How can you, or do you need to re-incarnate into a higher status if you are a soul ?
PR : You need to always return to a physical plane where you can consciously develop, at will, the “art” of stretching your soul. This way your next incarnation will always be in a superior spiritual state from the previous one …

RH : Why do we want to expand or stretch our soul …?
PR : Because we need to return to God and our spiritual body can be just our soul.
Therefore we will reach the status of the Gods first, intending to become part of Them. After that we can finally be re-embedded, by the power of attraction of a superior power, into the One-God Himself.

RH : What’s the meaning of Magick for a Neopagan ?
PR : A Neopagan is a free spirit and thinker, and believes Magick is part of a complete conceptual system made by science, philosophy and religion melded together. We also believe that our Magick is a part of an ancient superior knowledge belonging to an ancient so called “Tradition”. This type of Magick is natural, superior and positive because it follows the natural laws of the universe and it’s not in contrast with science, but is part of it.

RH : Why does science deny Magick ?
PR : Because Magick and philosophy are investigating the intangible parts of the universe.  But quantum physics is going in this direction.  Many new discoveries will be made so that science is not a good tool to judge magick because it’s out of science’s jurisdiction.  If you want to paraphrase Jesus, give to Caesar what is due to Caesar and give to God what is due to God.  We can say give to Magick what is to be given to Magick, and give to science what is due to science. 

RH : How does Magick work ?
PR : There are different kinds of magical principles that can work. We believe in a superior kind of Magick that follows the general universal rules of electro-magnetism. Those rules are almost unbreakable, unless forced to break by the very energy that controls them.  Magick uses the same hidden overwhelming power to unbreak them. This power, if properly evocated, materialized and focalized by the operator-Magus, can perform so-called miracles.  It is to be said that the whole process is subject to the law of Karma.

RH : What do you mean by the word “power” ?
PR : The word Power is intended in magick and philosophy as energy. I believe the One-God is the source of this energy. The One has an infinite potency of energy, when He starts in manifesting Himself in the universe He becomes differentiated in many from one, consequently this energy in being little by little more distant from his core-center become also to be less. The highest source of energy-power achievable from us is the one from the Gods, which are the first emanations in the universe of the One-God. Then in a retrograde way this power starts in lessen down until our physical plane. This is way Neopagan.com with his magick based on the Gods can re-direct you to the most powerful and purest source of  “power” !

RH : What are spells ?
PR : In essence a spell is basically an attempt to empower a request to a superior entity-energy in order to get a physical or spiritual advantage. It is also interesting that a spell can be seen as a “way to speak” or creating an appropriate language in order to invoke a spiritual entity and has an evident similarity with the modern meaning of the word spelling or to spell. The Spells are also powerful tools to protect yourself. In that way they can be used as magickal tools to defend yourself from any kind of injustice, reversal of luck and so on ...

RH : Is Theurgy a form of spell ?
PR : It’s a more advanced form of spell. Theurgy is the practice of magickal and religious rituals, performed with the intention of invoking the Gods energy and the goal of uniting with the divine, consequentially achieving power ( or Henosis the Greek meaning of unity, which also mean power ... ).  The act of theurgy in essence transcends time and space. A contemporary example of a theurgical ritual can be the Roman Catholic mass, in which Jesus Christ is invoked and experienced by the communicants through the mass itself and the culminating moment of the Holy Communion with the consecrated host.

RH : How can spells online be effective ?
PR : Spells online have mainly a virtual impact and approach, but in reality the hidden part of the spell is at work in a different plane simultaneously, evocated by the power of attraction of the spell maker and of the corresponding God involved. In addition to the really simple and basic spell that you can perform in the various temple locations, I created the spelltron machine for a more deep immersion in a new kind of on-line spell.

RH : Is the Spelltron superior to the other common spell machines that you can find on Neopagan.com ?
PR : All of the spells are mainly based on the ancient Pagan traditions and are extremely powerful.  With the Spelltron ( still in preparation at the present moment ...) you can reach a superior state of theurgical union with the called God.  A superior state means an added power, and the final result turns into a more strong and deep spell. However the final result is made by the interaction from the spell with the personal karma and universal karma.

RH : What can a spell really do for you ? …
PR : It will put us in touch with the entities. It is not just merely about the spell.  We need always to remember that following the “schema” of the Universe we are absolutely an emanation of the One-God creator, and we are then able to control at will our karma and impact the universal karma. It is real in a theoretical status, but for the final positive realization we do need to achieve and continuously add power … it is like in a game - you just enter into a superior plane and come back with a gift. The spell is your tool to grab the gift !

RH : Why do we need to make a donation to make a spell ?
PR :  As we want to recreate the ancient way of entering a spell, we have you make an offer to the Gods like it was done in the temples in the past by our ancestors.
It is like entering an imaginary deal with the Gods and making them deliver the goods…. this is done through a Paypal donation for which you can decide your own amount.

RH : You are vegetarian. Do you suggest this diet in general ?
PR : Absolutely yes, I feel that this works fine for both spiritual and material aspects. As science demonstrates, meat can be a source of cancer and not be good for your bad cholesterol levels. Also from a strict point of magickal operation, a vegetarian diet can clean your subtle bodies from the low and heavy meat’s slag garbage, thus allowing an easy interaction-immersion in the realm of superior and pure energies and consequently giving you a stronger chance of success.
I suggest you support your vegetarian diet with L-Taurine ( at least 400 mg ) and Vitamin B12 supplements daily. By vegetarian diet I mean lacto-vegetarian, including animal products like eggs , milk etc … Every kind of meat from live beings is to be eliminated.

RH : Can you give me another good reason not to eat meat ?
PR : Yes, give due respect to animals for their right to live.  There is no need to eat them, our world is full of markets with plenty of vegetables ready to be eaten, and we don’t need to go through the hassle to kill animals. Also, many species are in danger of extinction, like in the case of caviar.
Personally I believe that a slice of roasted bread with capers and butter can really be a good replacement for caviar - by the way it is also much less expensive ( laugh …) !

RH : What is considered good or bad in your perspective and in general from a Neopagan point of view ?
PR :  From a physical and practical point of view I think that the common denominator can be what I call the infringement of a “third party’s freedom”. Good , intended as behavior, means do not do something that can be against the free will of your neighbor. Bad can be the opposite.
Instead in a broad vision metaphysical vision, good and bad can be a tricky issue, and be related to personal perspective, or to universal perspective. In either scenario the meaning of the terms can be reversible and changeable. The perspective becomes even more intricate from a karmic context …
This is a really general and short answer. Obviously your question deserves a more in-depth analysis with appropriate answers according to the various perspectives.

RH : What about Pagania Island Interactive game at Neopagan.com?
PR : The idea was to give some hints about the Gods and the Global Warming problem, experiencing also the fun of an on-line game situation. It is clearly a funny and cheesy approach, notwithstanding still being informative .... part one is already on-line, we are preparing part two for next year.