What is Paganism?

[Myst]

Paganism is a term with many different meanings. In general it is thought of as a group of religions or paths that may or may not adhere to common beliefs, or just any path that is non-Christian, nor Muslim, nor Jewish.

http://www.gingerbreadhouse.demon.co.uk/pages/pagan.htm
http://aren.org/faq.html
http://www.religioustolerance.org/paganism.htm
http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/dissent/defpagan.htm
http://www.anglo-saxon.demon.co.uk/Skvala/notreligion.html
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/4782/whatis.html
http://www.bloomington.in.us/~pen/boilertext2.html#definitions
http://www.clubs.psu.edu/silverc/paganism.html
http://www.draknet.com/proteus/Pagndef.htm
http://www.scarletwoman.org/scarlett/v_1/apagan.htm
http://www.notelrac.com/whuups.dir/pagan.dir/what_paganism.html
http://www.lightmatrix.org/Pagan_World/Pagan_World.shtml

Thoughts?

(P.S. - just to make sure this is clear - this thread is not about forcing beliefs but discussing personal beliefs)

[Myst]

To me Paganism is most strictly a group of religions that are not primarily Christian, Muslim, or Jewish (Paganism can integrate with them though).

It is a religion or path with some other common denominators, as best described on this page - http://elevated.freeyellow.com/page25.html ;
- polytheism
- pantheism
- animism
- cycles and rebirth
- harmony with nature
- development of spiritual/personal potential
- awareness and manifestation of self divinity
- recognition of divinity in various forms and various ways (ie. God and Goddess, one God or Goddess, All, energy, life, self, etc. through ritual, ceremony, church going, meditation, etc.)

Pagans often incorporate most or all of these beliefs in some form. In general the only strict belief that holds true is that everyone who considers themselves Pagan probably is practicing some form of it. Personal opinions and beliefs are usually tempered with the recognition that everyone has their own interpretations.

[Danustouch]

Agreed, Myst. There are, imo, certain common denominators, amongst MOST pagans. There will always be those who fall a little outside some of the denominators, however, usually, there are at least SOME similarities.

I've also heard the debate...over whether or not you MUST use magick to be a Pagan.

IMO....you can, indeed, be pagan, without ever practicing magick. Magick is an "Act" you perform. Being "Pagan"..is a set of beliefs. So...in reverse...if you do Magick, are you necessarily a Pagan. No. Many paths perform magick, and yet, do not consider themselves Pagan. Many cultures, for instance, incorporate magick into their Christian beliefs, such as in parts of rural ireland, where folk magick "cures", "simples" "charms" etc, are still used, despite it being a strictly catholic household. In other parts of the world as well.

MY personal definition of Pagan, is one who believes in the Sacredness of Nature, the Devinity of all beings, Aknowledges, and follows the passings of the Seasons (equinoxes, solstices),
aknowledges the presence, and power of the Elements, Believes in *Some* sort of higher power, be it a God, Goddess, or a more Indiscript *Energy* Form, and believes in the existence of lives, and plains of existence, other than the one we see, in the here and now. Some will use Magick, others will not. So Magick to me, is not a signifying factor, in Paganism. Just..One of the things one MIGHT choose to do.

[amberlaine]

IMO....you can, indeed, be pagan, without ever practicing magick

Oh, that's more than an opinion. That is an absolute fact :)

[bansidhe]

i agree with everything said so far :) so im not going to reguirtitate it!
basically, yeah, i go with 'any religion/ way of life/ belief systems/ etc that is not abrahamic in descent.

[John]

Dear Myst,

I agree with your general defintion of paganism: any religion that is not Judaism, Christinaity or Islam. And, for example, that includes such religions as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, the primal rleigions and so on.

It also includes us.

But, what makes us, us? What about us justifies describing ourselves as Pagans (with an uppercase "P"), as a religion or, at least, a religious movement?

This a question I have been pondering for some time and I admit that I don't have a ready answer (yet).

But, I will make one observation. IMO, it seems that Paganism (our paganism, i.e. in the West) is a religion (or a religious movemement of similar religions) that have two sets of factors in common.

Set1: Hierophany.
Pagans seem to have as a hierophany ("encounter with the Sacred") Nature, the Balance and Magick. In other words, Pagans seem (amidst all their variety) to encounter the Sacred in / as

--Nature (especially as the interconnectedness of all),
--the Balance within all Nature (especially people: the Female as well as Male), and
--Magick (the ability to interact with the interconnectedness of all to cause Willed change).


Set 2: Membership
Hence, Pagans (i.e., the new Pagans of the West) seem to be people who have had the above heirophany *and* who are religious misfits -- they cannot fit into the mainstream religions of the West. So they are creating/reviving their own religions. Put another way, the new Pagans of the West seem to be people who are too monistic to be monotheistic, too Western to be eastern and too religiously inclined to be nothing.

But, I'm thinking out loud. Comments anyone?

Blessed Be.

--John

[ReverendAJS]

great observations. Maybe we should have a defining here of magick/magic/majik/so on... to see where it fits into the greater Paganism.