About Paganism...?

Question

Can someone explain to me exactly what Paganism is?

Would any Pagan be willing to teach me a little about Paganism because I'm kind of exploring relions right now. I would like to be able to talk to someone over email or Yahoo messenger about it...

Answer 1

I'd be willin' to talk about this with ya' if ya' like. I'd give out my personal information if this wasn't a public forum. Look me up in messenger and when you first try to contact me give some sort of message note reminder as to who you are so I don't ignore ya' too quickly.

Paganism an unorganized form of religion based around the existance of nature and or patterns of life and death.

Also known as:
Witchcraft
Sorcery
Hippees
New Age
Demonology
Satanism
Devil worship
heathens
Magic
Spellcasters
witchery
and fundie haters

These are just labels and in no way serious or true, unless either you are not really asking a fair question or the pagan practicioner is some sort of nose blow flake.

pagan is a word derived from latin, meaning peasant and came to be used to describe the people practicing the peasant's religion when the nobility was priveldged to something more worthy of their sacrifice and such.

Over the years pagans came to be known as the scary witch in the woods living all alone because they became hunted by those that didn't understand them or feared them for their mass amounts of power...ooooh scary.

In today's world, pagans are a classification of religious OR philosophical minded peoples who attempt to live their lives based on what they know, more aptly put, live their lives by living and not by being guilted or any of that nonsense from other religions or ways of thought. Not every definition of paganism is about religious overtones, some actually mention the philosophical ideals like Buddism and Zen-ism.

A lot of people will state plainly a pagan is a follower of the old ways. Someone who worships a pantheon of gods and goddesses and/or casts spells. Therefore worthy of all the hatred that can be thrown their direction for not falling suit to societies norms and "standard religious practices", however this is not always the case. A pagan can be a witch, if you'll pardon the vulger term, casting spells that have neat captions like eye of newt and toe of frog. They can be odd hippee-esque tree huggers who feel the need to define themselves by the renaissance fairs and just basically spend money. They can be real people following suit of focus and concentration to better the world without the black robes and chanting incantations. They can be "normal people" who like to think of themselves as Earth Healers. Or they can be childish playing DND with their buddies like they always have for the past 30 years in the creepy basement, only venturing forth to run to the store for another bottle of soda and cheetos. Either way, there ya' go.

Answer 2

You can talk to me.
Pagans aren't part of any organized religion. We take bits and pieces that work for us from many religions and pantheons, modern and ancient. Usually pagans are polytheistic (worshiping more than one god) or pantheistic (everything is god) or both. The female spirit is revered as much as or even more than the male spirit. The Earth is honored as our Mother or the Goddess or the Mother Goddess.
Our church is the forest or the meadow or the beach or the mountaintop (we use Unitarian buildings too). We can be solitary or part of a group, extensively trained and formally initiated or self-taught. Every pagan I've ever met is unique and yet we all have a bond that's hard to put into words. When I see someone with a pagan bumper sticker I beep and wave and pull forward so they see MY bumper stickers. I say "blessed be" when I see someone with a pentacle on. I park next to other cars with pagan stickers if I can. It's like having a Jeep--that kind of fraternity. Not that every pagan is a wonderful perfect person. Lots of them (us) are jerks. but they are OUR jerks, you know?
BTW, Wiccans are a sub-group of pagans but all pagans aren't Wiccan. Druids are also pagans.

Answer 3

Paganism is the oldest form of religion in the world. It involves the worship of many gods, not just one, as most other religions follow. Im not to sure what else is involved, but I know that Judiasm emerged after paganism because G-d told moses to go save the Hebrew slaves from the egyptians at the burning bush. This was when the idea of one G-d started.

Answer 4

it's an ancient religion that basically worshipped nature.

Makes more sense to me than worshipping some dude with a beard.

Answer 5

its a religion, they believe in different gods for different things