Nuggets from Occult Invasion

Since the days of Constantine, Roman Catholicism has always and everywhere accommodated itself to the pagan religions of those peoples which it Christianized. In his monumental study of paganism, Evans-Wentz makes this interesting comment:

“Perhaps most of us will think first of all about the ancient cults [worship] rendered to fountains, rivers, lakes, trees, and … stones. There can be no reasonable doubt that these cults were flourishing when Christianity [Roman Catholicism] came to Europe. … It was too much to expect the eradication of the old cults after their age-long existence, and so one by one they were absorbed by the new religion. In a sacred tree or grove, over a holy well or fountain, on the shore of a lake or river, there was placed an image of the Virgin or some [Catholic] saint, and unconsciously the transformation was made as the simplehearted country-folk beheld in the brilliant images new and more glorious dwelling-places for the spirits they and their fathers had so long venerated.”