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As you read this FAQ you will, no doubt, object to some of the definitions and beliefs. This mailing list is large and many different people with different beliefs subscribe to it. Just remember this:
"We are not evil. We don't harm or seduce people. We are not dangerous. We are ordinary people like you. We have families, jobs, hopes, and dreams. We are not a cult. This religion is not a joke. We are not what you think we are from looking at T.V. We are real. We laugh, we cry, We are serious. We have a sense of humor. You don't have to be afraid of us. We don't want to convert you. And please don't try to convert us. Just give us the same right we give you -- to live in peace. We are much more similar to you than you think."
This FAQ exists to get information out, so please repost this as you wish. Please post in its entirety, or attribute the Pagan Digest if you extract pieces from it.
There is currently no official maintainer for the FAQ. If you would like to do the work, feel free to volunteer. To offer changes for the FAQ while we're waiting for a maintainer to emerge, post to the Pagan Digest mailing list (see Section 5.1 below) with a subject line like Re: FAQ.
Pagans practice spiritualities and religions that derive from, reconstruct, or are inspired by various indigenous and folk religions around the world. "Pagan" comes to us from Latin, meaning "dweller on the land." It got its first religious meaning in a Christian context. Christianity gained ground swiftly in Roman cities. A "pagan" was a country dweller who still clung to the Old Religion, too dumb to fall in line with the new trend of the cities.
A more positive sense can be derived from this original meaning: the dwellers on the land worked out the oldest and most primal religious intuitions from their first-hand relationship with the land. It is that intuition that modern Pagans seek to rediscover. I discovered when I set out to write this introduction that it's much easier to define what Paganism isn't than what it is. This is primarily because the term "Paganism" encompasses a large number of different beliefs and practices, and partially because Pagans are, by and large, more concerned about being and doing than they are about doctrinal purity or a rigid belief system. I'll resist the urge to begin every sentence with "Most of the time. . ." and to end with ". . .but of course, there are exceptions." Just take it as given.
One thing I have heard from many Pagans, from many different groups and backgrounds, is that when they first discovered Paganism, something just clicked inside them and it felt like they'd found something they had been looking for all along. Whether you find that you feel that way or not, I encourage you to learn more about us, for knowledge is the best antidote to fear and ignorance, which are two of the chief enemies not only of Paganism, but of all humankind. If it turns out that our way is yours, I welcome you with great joy to our diverse number; if not, I wish with equal sincerity that you find whatever way in this world brings meaning into your life.
Beyond reading this FAQ and participating in the Pagan Digest, I recommend that you dig into the resources listed in Section 5. Ask around! You might like what you find.
Most Pagans use one of two approaches to the god/dess/es. Either we consciously use deities and deity names as ways to approach transcendent understandings of reality that are very difficult to approach in logical ways, or we use one of the traditional pantheons of older Pagan cultures. We may use traditional gods in non-traditional ways. Alternatively, we may attempt to use archeology to discover what the original peoples really meant by their gods, and how their actual belief and practice differ from the literary layers of later myths.
We have common ground in pantheism, loosely interpreted as the belief that deity is found everywhere in the world, and in polytheism, which approximately means that deity is expressed in more than one form or personality. Some Pagans believe "all the gods are one god", but distinguish this belief from monotheism as found in the West.
A co-creative relationship with our god/dess/es is common. We accept responsibility for our own actions. We also accept responsibility for what kind of a world we get when we cooperate with the Goddess and each other to bring it about.
We honor the Earth, all peoples and other lifeforms in her, and all other things and aspects of created being. For many of us (who describe ours as a nature religion), honor includes worship. Ecology is a high ethic for all of us.
We choose relationships with each other that permit and encourage the God/dess to manifest. Our ethical choices in society are guided by the Wiccan Rede and the Threefold Law (described below). But more important than these checks and balances is the positive desire to bring about the best relationships, the best culture, that we can get.
To bring about our desires, we learn both practical crafts and magical crafts. Most Pagans believe that all beings practice magic, whether they recognize it or not. Most Pagans work consciously with magic in order to be more responsible and create more positive results than if we left it at an unconscious level.
This is the Wiccan Rede. This phrase, and variations on the same, has a long history in Paganism, which I will leave to others to elaborate upon. The thought, however, in whatever form it is enumerated, is accepted by a large number of Pagans as an essential tenet of their religious beliefs. Basically, it reduces notions of morality and "sin" to, "do what you want to do, what makes you feel whole and right, SO LONG as you bring no harm to others." Discussions of what constitutes "harm" and other intricate analysis of the "meanings" of the phrase can and have been done at great length in any number of books, so I won't repeat them here. See the references in this FAQ for a starting place for more information.
A large number of Pagans also believe in the Three-Fold Law: "Whatever you do will come back to you three-fold", which is just another way of saying, "what goes around, comes around." It makes the tenet of causing no harm to others not only the moral thing to do, but also in your own best interests, since your actions will come back and visit you with whatever intent you had towards others, good or bad.
We believe death is a natural gift, to be welcomed at its proper season. Most Pagans expect to be reincarnated, and believe that coming back is a great gift. Many of us maintain some sort of relationship with loved ones who have passed over to the Summerland. Though some of us treat the Afterlife purely as a metaphor, most of us expect our relationships with our Goddesses and Gods to expand after death.
The "cross-quarter days", which fall halfway between each of the quarter days, are important to those inspired by Celtic traditions. These are Imbolc (approx. Feb. 2, Christianized as Candlemas), Beltane (approx. May 1, known as May Day), Lammas (approx. Aug. 2), and Samhain (approx. Oct. 31, Christianized as Eve of All Saints -> All Hallows' Ev'en -> Halloween).
Others may follow any of a variety of traditional celebrations, from the Greek Eleusinian Mysteries to Druid feast days.
Historically, most "magic" had to do with the cycles of the Earth, with fertility of humans, livestock, and the land, and with health, happiness, and human relationships. The magic in Gardner's revival of modern Witchcraft was mostly drawn from the Western Ceremonial Tradition (see section 4.2).
Many Pagans are rediscovering the natural magics and folk magics. You don't see a lot of "High Wizards" out there trying to levitate the Empire State Building or take over the world Futures in pork bellies. You're more likely to see: a group celebrating the new life and fertility of the Earth at Beltane (May Day), a person seeking for the joy and blessing of a life- partner, a circle of healers working to help someone overcome a drug addiction, a group seeking success in a new business endeavor, a couple being "married" or bonded together within the love, support and good wishes of their fellow Pagans, people remembering those of their friends who have passed from this life, or several friends getting together and celebrating the fact that the moon is full and their spirits are high!
While the most "serious" kinds of magic are usually done within a controlled, ritual setting, magic is also another name for being in touch with the world around you, in touch with the energies by which we are all bound to the Earth and to each other, and in touch with the ability to share in those energies and thereby bring joy into our lives.
While various Pagan groups take inspiration, knowledge and sometimes ritual from different peoples, places and times around the world, including the Celtic, Norse, Saxon, Egyptian, Greek (and many other) cultures, a large portion of the specifics of the practices followed by (non-Native) Pagans today have been developed during the last 20, and certainly the last 150 years. There have been various attempts to claim unbroken lineage of certain beliefs and practices from ancient times, but my personal opinion is that it makes no difference whether a given religious practice is 5 years old or 5000, if you find it to be valid today. A religion is a living thing, and to continue to live, it must change and grow in response to the changes in the character, circumstance, culture and technology of its adherents. Any religion which is unwilling or unable to change and react to change, locks itself into a doctrinal straight-jacket which can prevent it from continuing to meet the needs of its people. And it is the people, after all, who are the only difference between a living religion and one you can only read about in a book. Of course, your mileage may vary. I would suggest, though, that a portion of the recently increased interest in Paganism, of which you may be a part, is a response to some failure in many popular religions to meet the changing needs of human beings in modern times.
There has been some disagreement over what defines a Witch. Many Pagans use "Witch" to reclaim the word from centuries of Christian propaganda. Modern Witches claim in that name the power of personal responsibility for being part of the action of the Goddess. Some Pagans who share the same religious beliefs, but are less interested in the magical practices that make up the Craft in Witchcraft, choose to call themselves Goddess worshippers, Pagans, or other labels rather than Witches.
"Witch" in Western Europe clearly meant a person who practiced magic. Although some modern anthropologists claim it has always implied malevolent magic, there is a lot of evidence in the folk tales and written records to suggest that local magic workers were respected, "ordinary", productive members of their communities. There was often overlap of witches, herbalists, midwives, other healers, and religious leaders - most commonly, women.
This began to change around 1400 CE, when Christian society redefined pagans, magic workers, witches, and others (largely females) in political disfavor as pawns of the Christian devil. Somewhere between a few hundred thousand and many millions of people were murdered in a Burning Time that reached as far as the Massachusetts Colony in the 1690s.
Since then, Western culture has carried the image of the witch as an ugly, evil woman who practices harmful magic and consorts with the devil. Even after the appearance of Satanism within Christianity (in which people who believed in the devil did try to worship it), it is not certain that there was actually an individual who fit the storybook stereotype of a "witch". Modern Neopagans explicitly reject the Christian stereotype, and reclaim the older role of the Witch in the tribal community.
"Wicca" comes from old Anglo-Saxon, though there is disagreement over its exact ancient meaning. It may carry the meaning "to bend", and is thus connected to the concept of magic as a way to change things. It may also have been the name of an Anglo-Saxon tribe. It is used by many Pagans and Witches because it is a connection with the Old Religion that has not been redefined and misused in the way the word "Witch" has.
The word "witch" has also been used in English as a translation for many different styles of magic-users found in different cultures. They are often vastly different from the European history of what a Witch was, or is.
Another kind of group for like-minded Pagans to gather in is called a circle. The ties between coven members are as close as those between members of a family, and in some cases, closer. A circle is similar to a group of friends -- you like to do things together, but the bonds between members are not as serious as between coven-members.
Shamanism is any one of a large number of religious practices originating in original, indigenous cultures around the world. Its most visible characteristics are the solitary shaman acting as community guide/healer/expert on the Other Worlds (no organized priesthood); the primacy of experience rather than doctrine or teaching (teaching is important, but can be overridden at any moment by an actual contact with the Other Worlds); ubiquitous spirit beings filling the mundane world and also defining one or more Other Worlds (this is typically a more broad concept that specific deity forms); and the shaman going forth into the Other Worlds as a representative of the community, to gain benefits from spirit beings. See alt.shamanism.
Modern Druids attempt to recapture the insights of historical Druids. At least one Druid group, ADF, puts a high value on research to rediscover the authentic beliefs and practices of the original Druids. Others look to the literary tradition descended from the Druids as a primary stream in the Western tradition of occult wisdom.
This branch of modern Paganism has suffered because some people following Hitler's teachings of racial purity have chosen modern Norse Paganism as their religious vehicle. Old Naziism included a fringe mixture of occult tradition and myth that used a Germanic (not Norse) Pagan background (which it mistakenly claimed was Aryan). There are also groups who emphasize Northern European cultural identity, but treat it separately from racial identity.
Asatru and many other Norse groups welcome everybody who hears the Gods speak with a Norse voice. Do your homework carefully to be sure of the group you are researching.
This has led many non-Indians to look to the revival of Indian spirituality, learn from it, and adopt it. Most Pagans agree that it is a good thing to pay attention to the wisdom of the Native American cultures.
Sensitivity is also needed. Native Americans often find their religion treated as one more tourist attraction, or as fodder for one more bestseller in white bookstores. Some tribes have recently explicitly asked Indians to resist this trend. That request specifically criticized those who combine Indian practices with other occult teachings. Eclectic Pagans, since they combine many diverse styles of spiritual practices, should consider all sides of this issue.
Women's Spirituality grew out of recognizing that most Western religious thought is defined, and limited, by white male religious authorities. It seeks to redefine spirituality from female, and feminist, perspectives.
For more, consult the _Principia Discordia, or How I Found Goddess, and What I Did to Her When I Found Her_.
Donald Michael Kraig addresses this question in _Modern magic: Eleven Lessons in the High magical Arts_. This is a good, if somewhat generalized, introduction to ceremonial magic for beginners. While Kraig is no historical scholar, I think his answer to your question is as valid as any; and I will paraphrase it for you...
High magic appeared with the widespread advent of cities. As cities evolved, so did the new phenomena of a middle class, who had considerably more leisure time than their rural neighbors. They were able to learn to read and study, and their magic thus tended to include long, complicated spells, correspondences, and preparations. Their magic was mastered through left-brain processes: long hours of study, mastery of arcane languages, Kabbala, etc.
Simultaneously, the people of the land were developing their own magical practices (as every culture will). Since they lacked the time and education to study ancient texts and learn correspondences, their lore developed around direct experience of Mother Nature. Their system recognized immediately the significance of the moon, of the four elements, and of plant essences. Wicca is a descendent of this body of lore, as is Santeria and "la veccia religione". The distinction between Natural or "Low" magic and "High" or Art magic becomes increasingly blurred with time -- a good thing, in my opinion. Both have been tied in past cultures with political organizations, often to their detriment.
I hope that we have at least begun to answer your question, it is one that plagued the Golden Dawn and precipitated the huffy departure of several of its members.
A good starting place, for people who are interested in the historical roots of European hermeticism (after Hermes Trismegistrus, an early author, or by association, after Hermes the messenger of the gods, patron of magic), would be Frances Yeats' books _Giordano Brono and the Hermetic Tradition_ and _The Art of Memory_, which while tracing a specific lineage of thought, tie in many others, and have terrific bibliographies.
WCTs include European (vs traditional Judaic) Kabbala, alchemy, traditional demonology/angelology, talismanic magic, ritual magic, Enochian magic. Traditions can encompass a lot of Masonic and Rosicrucian related traditions. These may be said to include the Golden Dawn, OTO, Thelema, and (with a small stretch) Gardnerian and Alexandrian Witchcraft. Most notable and notorious of the WC writers of this century is certainly Aleister Crowley, who reveled in his "bad boy" reputation, in a field not known for "nice guys." Don't try reading Crowley until you have a bit of symbolic vocabulary under your belt. His writing is full of "idiot filters" and in-jokes that come off rather badly if you don't know the background.
WC traditions range from openly Christian, avowedly Satanic, to radically ecumenical. These are the nerds and engineers of the Art. Most traditions openly pursue mystical enlightenment.
At the same time, there are some people who call themselves both Pagan and Satanist. These people are a far cry from the Hollywood image of Satanism. They tend to value pleasure as a primary motivation, or to find meaning in images which Christian churches attacked. For some of these people, reclaiming the word "Satanist" is an act of resistance against oppression.
Then there are other people who are clearly not Pagan, call themselves Satanist, and fit none of the descriptions we have given so far. For more information on Satanism as a religion, check out alt.satanism.
If what you're really wanting to know is do we sacrifice babies and worship evil incarnate, the answer's no.
Pagans, however, tend to see the world in shades of grey, rather than in blacks and whites, and few Pagan groups claim to be "The One True Way." Most Pagans view the beliefs and particular spiritual path they have chosen as appropriate for themselves, but not necessarily correct for anyone else. For this reason, few Pagans proselytize to others or attempt to gain "converts." Who are we to say what's right for you? If you like our ways, and it feels right to you, perhaps you'll join some of us; if not, we'll wish you joy in whatever path you find that suits you.
This is not even necessarily equivalent to the Hindu concept of, "all god/desses are aspects of the one god/dess." Many Pagans see that level of doctrinal synthesis as potential arrogance towards the beliefs of others.
There are few absolutes in Paganism and, consequently, a great deal of acceptance of the ways of others, even as many of those ways may not personally appeal to us. That is not to say that we're not serious and passionate about our own beliefs; however, there is so much universe out there, it would appear to contain room enough for all of us, and anything that helps an individual to make sense of it all would seem to be a Good Thing, so long as it involves no harm to others.
Some Pagans are polytheistic, some worship a single deity, some a God and Goddess pair, some places and things, some themselves, and any number of other configurations and variations. Despite the specific forms of worship and individual beliefs, most Pagans find the Wiccan Rede and the Three-Fold Law lead to tolerance for all churches, governments, and people who are bringing no harm to their neighbors.
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