This is another of those definitions that I quake in my boots at the thought of writing - or rather, I would if I wasn't bare footed (again ... still :) ). I'm going to cheat here, and just throw up something I wrote a while ago, as an interim "definition". If you want something else, here are a few other links:
Paganism is often described as an earth-based religion – which means,
reverence for the Earth, Nature and the seasons. This is a bit of a
simplification, as “Paganism” is often used as an umbrella term covering Wicca,
witchcraft, Druidry, ‘the Old Religion’, the knowledge of ‘the cunning
man/woman’ of the village from one or two millennia ago, etc – but NOT Satanism, as that is an off-shoot
of Christianity (in fact, being a Satanist will get you booted out of many
pagan groups).
A separate umbrella term is becoming more widely used for a similar
group of religions: “Heathenry”, which covers adherents of the old northern
European Deities such as Odin, Thor, Tyr, etc.
The Deities that Pagans revere are quite varied: some people revere the
Gods and Goddesses of particular pantheons (such as Heathenry, or those who
follow the Kemetic path, who revere the old Egyptian Deities; some explain
paganism as ‘the Old Religion’ of Europe, and state that they are reclaiming
their heritage this way); some (particularly Wiccans) revere a male God and
female Goddess in honour of the yin-yang polarity found within all of us and
most of life, others simply revere a female Goddess – more or less a female
version of the Christian God. All of these religions honour women, and quite a
few people found their way to paganism because of dissatisfaction with
Christianity on this (or other) aspects. Many of these practitioners also tend
to be very eclectic – meaning, they take what is meaningful to them from any
source, and tend to blend it together.
There is a Wiccan creation myth called the Vangelo delle Streghe, attributed to an Italian form of witchcraft
(the Aradian tradition): I’ve copied my study notes on this in below.
The Wiccan Code of Ethics is termed ‘the Wiccan Rede’. The most
commonly quoted form of this comes from a long poem: “An’ it harms none, do as ye wilt.” Basically – do not harm others
(sometimes also expressed as ‘the law of Threefold Return’ – which is similar
to karma, but magnified), but other than that, no specific constraints. The
full length version of the poem also refers to celebrating the key phases of
the Moon, and also – if I recall correctly – includes the phrase “All acts of
love and pleasure are sacred to me”.
That phrase shows how important this world, and embracing life in this
world, is to Pagans: it is sacred. It also includes open, unashamed sexuality,
which is another aspect of Christianity that led some to convert to Paganism
(this was well illustrated in the TV mini-series “The Four Pillars”; in the Middle Ages and until quite recently
[and still the case in some versions of Christianity], the official Christian
attitude tends to be that sex is for procreation, whereas the pagan view is
that sex is for pleasure, intimacy and, if chosen, procreation). To further
illustrate the difference between that view and the official Christian view, an
analogy that is often used is:
the Christian Deity is the potter that made
the world, and then put it aside, whereas, to a Pagan, the world is the cloak
that the Goddess (i.e., the female creative Deity) puts on in order that we may know Her.
- earth-centred (which I’ve discussed
above);
- self- centred (including those seeking
personal growth: my training as a Priestess was that we live in order to
experience life, and thus should embrace it and seek beneficial
experiences, and generally seek to be ‘all that we can be’; this group
also includes those who revere the statement attributed to the Goddess
“all acts of love and pleasure are sacred to me”);
- Deity- centred, which includes those who
revere the Goddess, the God and Goddess (often referred to as Lord and
Lady or the Lady and Her Consort), and polytheists, who are subdivided
into two further categories:
- those who see the Deities as archetypes (termed ‘soft polytheists), and
- those who see the Deities as being as real as the Christian God (termed
‘hard polytheists’).
There are also problems within Pagan groups/religions, as there within
every group/religion. One of these is coming to terms with the changes that
inevitably happen to all faiths over time – for instance, in much the same way
that most Christians don’t follow most of Leviticus literally, the idea of
sacrifice is reinterpreted by most Pagans in a way that avoids the taking of
life (in fact, many Pagans are vegetarian or vegan to honour animal life; I’m
not, as I also view plant life as sacred).
Another major problem for many Pagans is the active suppression of
anything that wasn’t Christianity through the Dark Ages and Middle Ages. This
was particularly problematic when people started trying to recreate the old
ways in the 19th century, which was best known by the recreation of
Druidry. Oddly enough, most of the magickal and ritual practices used by
Wiccans traces back to the ancient Greeks (Socrates, Plato and Aristotle were,
in effect, Pagan philosophers) via the religion of ‘Hermeticism’. I’ve not seen
much that I would attribute to the ancient Romans, but they were definitely
Pagans in the modern sense of the word – which is ironic, as the word is
derived from the Roman term of contempt for a ‘country dweller’: pagani.
The rites and rituals of modern Paganism generally focus on celebrating
the seasons – for instance, we’ve just celebrated Mabon, which marks the end of
the harvest season and the beginning – and the phases of the Moon, which could
be viewed as being, in part, a celebration of the Female Principle of life.
There is also a particular form of marriage, termed Handfasting. Many forms of
Paganism are initiatory – meaning you have a series of initiations to go
through to attain membership and then, if you wish, become a Priest/Priestess. In
my case, I am initiated as a Priestess in the Correllian Tradition of Wicca,
and First Elder of another Wiccan tradition called ‘the Tel’Ennyn Asur’. My
training, incidentally, included things like the ‘prayer’ or spell for
protection copied in below; my work as a Priestess also included facilitating
the creation of the Hope, Peace, Love and Prosperity Spell also copied in
below.
An Englishman by the name of Gerald Gardner did much to create the
modern religion known as Wicca, which is largely based - as best he could after
nearly two millennia of suppression - on ‘the Old Religion’ of Europe, but also
included working ‘sky clad’ (i.e. naked) – in my opinion – because of Gardner’s
practice of ‘naturism’ (i.e. he was a nudist). My reason for that opinion is
that working sky clad outdoors in Europe in winter would probably kill you.
Nevertheless, the openness about sexuality and reverence towards the
physical world were part of the specific oppression exerted by the Dark Age/Middle
Age Christian Church on Pagans. To illustrate the oppression, consider the
fairly well known burning of alleged witches (many were the victims of jealousy
and spite, and not witches, but a significant number were witches or ‘cunning
men’) at the stake (called ‘the Burning Times’ by many modern Pagans), and also
‘the Massacre of Verdun’, when Charlemagne had 4,500 Saxons who refused to
convert to Christianity beheaded. I have read suggestions that the reasons the
Vikings started raiding included a desire for revenge against the Christians,
who were starting to impinge on Scandinavian lands from around that time.
(There were other reasons for the raids as well.)
Incidentally, one of the put downs thrown at Pagans by the Christians
was that we were (still are, probably, to some) seen as idol worshippers. That
it is not the case, any more than a Christian genuflecting to a Crucifix is:
symbols and allegories are known to be such by most Pagans, but the reverence
for this world is real. The accusation of being ‘idol worshippers’ came from
the Old Testament and was carried on by Christians of the Dark Age/Middle Age
era.
The past history between Christianity and Paganism tends to be very
significant to many modern Pagans. To some extent this comes out of the
differing views about the world (Sacred, to a Pagan, vs. to be conquered and
used – particularly in the Protestant view), but also issues of sacrifice
(Christianity evolved at a time when animal sacrifice was common; on the other
hand, many Pagans are uncomfortable with the reverence shown to a symbol of
torture and death [i.e. the Crucifix] and the notion of drinking Christ’s blood
and eating Christ’s flesh [even if symbolically] in Mass).
Many pagans are, however, focusing on who they are, and how best to
live their values and beliefs, and constructive ways to overcome problems such
as prejudice.
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