What It Is
Have you ever heard the saying 'ask ten different people and get ten different answers'? Well
that is what will happen when you ask people to define Paganism. There are some facts though:
- The term Pagan is from the Latin term 'paganus', an adjective originally meaning "rural",
"rustic", or "of the country." As a noun, paganus was used to mean "country dweller, villager." In
colloquial use, it could mean much the same as calling someone today a 'bumpkin' or a 'hillbilly'.
- Paganism is a term which, from a Western perspective, has come to connote a broad set of
spiritual or cultic practices or beliefs of any folk religion, and of historical and contemporary
polytheistic religions in particular.
- Paganism has been previously defined broadly, to encompass many or most of the faith
traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. If the
Dharmic religions are included, then 50 percent of the worlds religions would be considered
pagan.
Now that's about as close to the right answer as you'll get, if there was one. With Paganism there is no
'right answer', only the truth that goes with all other things: all people are different and
they will all see it in a different way. Even Christians will define their faith differently, having a Holy
Book doesn't change the fact they will all interpret it in their own way.
In the 'modern world', many people would define Paganism as being any religion that shares one
or more of the following:
- A belief in multiple deities, including male and female deities.
- A revival of ancient or ancestral beliefs.
- Animism and a belief in spirits.
- A belief in the soul.
- A sense of equality or brotherhood with other living things.
- A belief that your actions will return to you in kind.
- An observance of the cycles of Nature.
Consensus does not make it the norm though and this page is not about trying to define Paganism
but to talk about my personal religion and faith as I see it.
What It Is Not
Many people have a problem with my views on this because, while I list the standard answers,
I also list the ones that most people don't want to hear. Many people like to generalize and try to
be something their not because they think it makes them more important... it doesn't.
Standard answers:
- NOT all Satan worshippers, even though Satanism does fall under the category of Paganism.
- NOT a cult: many of the religions under the Paganism category are the fastest growing
religions in the world.
- NOT all green-skinned, cackling, fly on brooms, out to kill you people. Just ordinary people
that could be sitting next to you on the bus or at work.
- NOT about sacrifices or hurting others. Although this is generally speaking as the Paganism
category pertains to many different religions and I can't say anything about the individuals who
practice them.
- NOT all about spells and magic. This is the craft of the Witches and NOT a religion. This also
goes into my not so standard list of answers...
- NOT about sexuality and dancing around a fire naked. While some people practice their
religion this way, it does not mean that the whole of the group does.
I am sure there are more I could list, but you get the idea.
Now the not so standard answers:
- NOT Wicca!!! Wicca is a new age feminist religion under the Paganism category. While
Wiccans can call themselves Pagan, not all Pagans can call themselves Wiccan. Paganism is
many different religions and no one religion can lay claim to the title.
- NOT Druidic or Celtic. While some origins of some of the Paganism religions have come from
that region, not all of them have. Shinto (a religion from Japan) is in the Paganism category and they
are certainly not Celtic.
- NOT all nature based, worship the Goddess, new age religions. Wicca is that kind of religion,
but Paganism includes all sorts of different religions from Shinto to the religions of the Australian
aboriginals.
- NOT Witchcraft!!!! Witchcraft is A CRAFT NOT A RELIGION!!!!
It incorporates all sorts of other crafts as well (such as astrology and herbology) and, while it may
be associated with many Paganism religions, it is not synonymous with any.
- NOT a religion in its own right. Paganism is a name given to a category of different religions.
It is more like a type of faith rather than the faith itself.
I might be missing a few, but that works for now.
Paganism is different religions that all have different types of faiths and practices. It can not be
defined by any one of them.
Why I Am
For me it was the right choice because I was never one to follow any strict rules of how my faith
must be applied in order for it to count. That is the important thing after all, simply that you have
faith. It doesn't matter how you practice or who you pray to, just that you have faith in something.
I have always believed that there must be a balance in all things to keep everything from falling
apart. I do not believe that there can be only one god who is all knowing, all seeing, and all
powerful because that does not balance out. Without balance we can not appreciate nor understand
our opposites. Man/woman, light/dark, good/evil, hope/fear, night/day, etc. Without hate we would
never understand what love really was, we would never be able to appreciate it.
This belief in balance is something I hold very close to me and think about with everything that
goes on in my life. It helps when dealing with hard times because I know, somehow someway,
things will get better. It is a belief similar to karma but on a much larger scale as I
do not just see myself, I see myself in this huge universe of people and emotions and experiences.
Yes what I do, good and bad, will affect me later in life but it will also affect everything around me.
It is a belief in the balance in everything, not just me. I could be doing something that balances
out someone else's deeds, there is no way to know how my actions will effect the grand scheme of things.
My faith resides in this belief of balance rather than any particular deities or any certain way of
practicing religion. And while I do practice witchcraft, remember, that is my craft not my religion.
I am best described as an Agnostic Pagan. I am someone who chooses not to trying and define what the
higher power is and yet I still believe there is one. I believe that the characteristics of the higher
power should be balanced but I choose to reserve the finer details (such as who it will be or what they
want from me) for when we meet. I simply live my life in a way that I feel will be looked upon by anyone,
higher power or not, as good and generous.
|
