With the pervasive beliefs in the human population to believe myths, why don't people sacrifice (continue)?

The fact that most people don't worship those gods is proof that some of us recognize a myth when we see one.

As a follower of Hellenismos I can tell you that your understanding of myth is skewed and wrong. You assume that myths can be interpreted literally ... this EVERY Hellenic will tell you is wrong. The myths cannot and should not be interpreted literally.

If you assume that the myths should be interpreted in a literal manner than I have got news for you .. you are at least 2500 years out of date.

Since 500BCE the priest, mystics and philosophers have attacked the literal interpretation of the myths. In fact as far back as Pindar people who interprets the myths literally were scolded.

The mystics and philosophers realized one thing .. the myths are not of the Gods .. the myths however do point to the Gods. That is why they are sacred.

If the myths point to the Gods .. then it is not the content of the myths that matter but rather where the myths point to, The myths therefore cannot be taken literally but must rather be interpreted through reason and be seen as allegories.

I will give you an example

-----

It is said that after Adonis got slain by the boar he died. As He died His blood fell onto the ground. From His blood sprung forth the anemone.

----

Now any thinking individual would realize how absurd the above tale is if taken literally. How can a flower spring out from blood? This makes no sense. This violates basic biology. Even the ancients as far back as 500BCE realized the absurdity of this.

The other absuridity is the death of a God. Adonis unlike Herakles was always a God .. not a Hero. Gods are Deathless.

However if we think carefully it is not so absurd.

Let us look back at the myth and see what Adonis represents. Adonis is the God that represents the transiency of physical beauty. Adonis represents that which is very beautiful is also very transient. His death represents that all beautiful things must come to an end.

The anemone further emphasizes this. The anemone is a very beautiful flower but gets damaged very quickly by just a moderate breeze ( the petals gets blown off ).

So the myth has nothing to do with the genesis of anemone or the death of the God ... the myth here represents that Physical Beauty is transient . for that is what Adonis represents.

If you want to see how Hellenist have been interpreting the myths in general since 500BCE, read the work of Sallustius, a 400CE author who is basically drawing upon traditions of philosophers from as far back as 500BCE.

This is the basic text we get all new Hellenist to read.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/2923/sallustius1.htm...

This is by the way another interpretation of the myth of Adonis.

http://www.neosalexandria.org/gift_adonis.htm

I believe there are still oriental religions which "sacrifice". At least I have seen something of that nature. When I visited Hawaii I saw numerous people throwing money and flowers into the "Goddess Pele" - the volcano.

I'm pretty sure people do still pray to all the above mentioned. Perhaps this is all in the realm of Wicca as you say - a group that generally decries the "borrowing" of their practices by other religions - I find this mildly ironic.

I couldn't tell you if there are any actual Alchemists out there, but I think it safe to assume there must be some who are trying very hard to change metals into gold, especially since the popularization of alchemical terms in latter media (Harry Potter, The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho--awesome book btw, it's fantastical appearances in popular video games, etc,.)

Edit: cavassi, I think your additional question has more to do with human ego and the desire to be super-human and posess more strength than all the others, or to become invulnerable. You could probably start up an enitre psychological debate on that one subject. Why do people think, believe and do anything? Usually there is more than one reason.

In the time of those myths, there were some who questioned the existence of gods. Known simply as "thinker" or "philosophers", today these people would be referred to as scientists.

Science, obviously, was created to answer questions. It has done so, but at the same time, it created more questions. The reason why people see these characters as myths now is because science has completely proved their non-existance. For instance, science proved that lightning was a product of nature, not of a man who sat on clouds and threw bolts at people he didn't like.

However, science still can't completely disprove our modern gods. This is why relgion exists.

Oh but it is continuing at an alarming rate

The Human Race is being decimated by Reptilians even as I type

Human with capital H btw

edit

Science just gives the Illuminati view If they fail to do so the funding ceases Sometimes they may resort to the "Orange Patch " I suppose this could be viewed as a form of Alchemy although the victims may not share this view

edit

Telepathy

Telepathy is used by Reptilians

They can not only read our thoughts They can also make their thoughts seem like our thoughts too but Humans are capable of this We only need when sanding in a line to mentally say over and over to the person standing in front Turn around It is not long before they comply It is claimed We had this ability to a very high degree when we had twelve stranded DNA Unfortunately we were duped into accepting a double helix

I practice alchemy on this super sweet online game... :P