A number of similarities can be seen between the concepts, rituals, and the gods and goddesses of pagans across the world. This beautiful song from the band Faun depicting the Beltane festival shows a priestess conducting the marriage of the god Cernunnos with the triple crescent goddess, a ritual that marks the beginning of springtime which the pagans celebrate with maypole dancing and bonfires. The union of Cernunnos and the mother goddess symbolizes the renewal of life in spring.

There are theories speculating that Cernunnos is Pashupati – the Lord of the Animals, one of the forms of the God Shiva, and that the triple crescent Goddess who is sometimes associated with Lilith is Lalitha Tripurasundari, a form of the mother Goddess Parvati who is worshipped in many temples across India in all three forms: as maiden, mother, and crone. The costume of Cernunnos in the song above is strikingly evocative of the way Shiva is portrayed in Indian iconography. Shiva and Parvati are considered to be allegories for consciousness and energy, with their union depicted as a divine dance which is the basis of all creation.

While there are many theories which hypothesize on how and why the pagan Gods and Goddesses around the world are so similar, more than anything else they seem to imply that we are all interconnected. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, as the Upanishads say.  We are all brothers, and the world is a family.