Nietzsche and Zoroaster

I said that Nietzsche misrepresented Zoroaster. Adriana Pena comments: "It would not surprise me that Nietzsche misrepresented Zoroaster. The fact is that in his rejection of Christianity, he had to make appeal to a different religion, and since there were few Zoroastrians who could set him right, or challenge his right to speak for them, he used Zoroaster to bolster his claims...

It was not the only attempt to try to claim an ancient legacy for a newly created non-Christian religion. Gerald Gardner did that with the old paganism for his Wicca religion. Earlier on, the neo-gnostics from which the Masonic lodges and neo-pagans sprang, first claimed ancient Egypt as a source (as in Isis unveiled by Madame Blavatsky). The ancient Egyptian religion had the advantage that there was no one to tell them that they had got it wrong, but except for a few people, it did not arouse antagonism, since its worshippers had disappeared. Then they tried Judaism, which had living worshippers who could share their wisdom with the rest of us. Unfortunately, Judaism was too much like Christianity, and for people bent on denying Christian morality, it was jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Finally they discovered Hinduism, and much nonsense was then written about the "wisdom of India", most of which existed only in the fevered imagination of its proponents..."

RH: On Gerald Gardner, see A Biography of Gerald Brosseau Gardner,  Gerald Gardner is the founder of modern Wicca; this page is my attempt to review the highlights of his life. Gerald Gardner, from ... www.bcholmes.org/wicca/gardner.html - 13k - Cached - Similar pages
On Helen Blavatsky, see Blavatsky Study Center: Website on HP Blavatsky & Theosophy ... This website contains extensive material on the life, writings and teachings of Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (1831-91), founder of modern Theosophy. ... www.blavatskyarchives.com/ - 10k - Cached - Similar pages