What does a reconstructionist pagan believe?

Question

My current boyfriend is a reconstructionist pagan, and he refuses to tell me anything about it for fear that he may corrupt me. I am a Catholic Christian. I would just like some sort of explanation about what this demonination of Pagans believe and do. I don't mean to sound ignorant, if i do, I'm just unaware of any other way to state this question.

Answer 1

As a Happy Pagan Person, I have no idea....good question...I've never heard of a reconstructionist Pagan....maybe he makes houses for folks like Habitat for Humanity? Yeeek? Actually, this web page actually answered my question. I'll pass it along to you. Very informative actually. Blessings on you, my Dear One.

http://www.ecauldron.com/reconindex.php

Good luck. I don't think he's into anything "bad" that will corrupt you.

Answer 2

A reconstructionist digs into history books, as well as archeology and tries to Reconstruct the actual religions of the ancient people. They don't lean on the modern Paganism, as a lot of that is merely the old stories that have been kept whole mixed with a lot of assumptions about what they mean.

As for what he believes, I couldn't tell you. If he was reconstructing the Celtic beliefs, I might be able to steer you towards some books you could read about it. This is where I stand right now. I'm not crazy about the modern paganism, though I don't have a problem with it either. I just don't believe it's actually whole, as the ancients used to have. It's a lot of hard work to do this and I admire your b/f for doing it.

You do not sound ignorant. I know many pagans who have no clue what Reconstructionism is and the ones that have heard of it usually scowl and say "but we already have it".

Feel free to email me if you want more info.

Answer 3

You have already received some excellent answers. Without knowing what culture your boyfriend is a recon of, there is no way to say what beliefs and practices he may have. I am surprised that he thinks it would "corrupt" you to know about his beliefs. I've never really thought of my beliefs corrupting anyone.

You don't sound ignorant at all---it's great to ask and learn new things. I question everything. Besides, there are many pagans who are unfamiliar with the Recon paths.
---a Celtic Reconstructionist

Answer 4

Reconstructionalist Paganism isn't just one denomination, it is a lot of paths because there are many ancient Pagan religions out there that people are trying to reconstruct. That's basically what reconstructionalism is: It's the attempt to take an ancient path, and recreate it and adapt it to modern life. An example of this would be Asatru, which is Norse Reconstructionalist Paganism....it is the effort to take what we know of the religions of the Norse Pagan peoples, and bring those beliefs including the worship of the Gods and the codes of ethics those people lived by and bring them to today, to modern life. You also have Greek Recon, Celtic, Egyptian, Roman, etc...any ancient path/religion you can think of.

We all believe different things and do different things depending on the religion being reconstructed. Asatru has their beliefs and rituals, the Greeks have theirs, the Romans, etc. The only thing they really have in common is that they wish to worship ancient Gods in the here and now as close to how the ancient peoples did it as reasonably possible.

Answer 5

Reconstructionists are a group of neo-pagans–people who look to pre-Christian cultures for their faith–different branches of which worship the gods of ancient Norse, Roman, Egyptian, and Druid peoples. And while scholars say their numbers are only a fraction of the neo-pagan community, they also say they are a vibrant illustration of the rejection of traditional religion in the United States. And, in a curious boomerang effect, they are part of a movement away from the more eclectic forms of neo-paganism, like Wicca, taken up by pagan pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s.

Blessings )O(

Answer 6

A Reconstructionist Pagan is one who attempts, to the greatest extent practical, to worship the ancient gods in the same way as the ancients did. He/she attempts to "reconstruct" the ancient religion, hence the name.

Describing what a Reconstructionist Pagan (AKA "Recon Pagans") believes really depends on what particular pantheon/culture the particular Pagan worships. In general, Recons tend to focus their practice on "reciprocal worship", where they offer libations, sacrifices, festivals, poetry, and whatnot in an attempt to curry favor with various deities. It's sort of a "scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" type of relationship that the practitioner attempts to create, which was very typical of ancient Pagan practice.

This style of worship differs markedly from the typical Wiccan or Neo-Pagan practice were worshippers rarely offer sacrifice or attempt to curry favor, or merely offer lip-service to it with a watered down "cakes and ale" (which in truth, is more for the attendees and not the gods) at the end of a ritual. Moreover, the casting of spells was viewed by many ancient cultures (especially the Greeks and Romans) as either suspicious or even dispicable, and thus spellwork is often either absent from or merely a peripheral part of Recon Paganism. By contrast, spellwork tends to be very central to most Wiccan and/or general neo-Pagan practice, with some Neo-Pagans even feeling that any ritual is incomplete without some sort of magical spell working. Moreover, general Neo-Pagan ritual practices like "casting a circle", "calling upon quarters", and "summoning deity" are all modern inventions and not at all ancient Pagan practices, and thus are missing from Reconstructive ritual practice.

The above, however, are generalities. There are those non-recon Neo-Pagans and Wiccans who do offer sacrifice, but who do not attempt to worship in a manner that replicates ancient practice. They're perfectly fine casting a circle, calling quarters, and making their offerings in a Wiccan-style ritual setup. There are some Recon religions where spellwork is more accepted, with Egyptian Paganism being a notable example. For specifics, you would have to research specific Reconstructionist religions such as Hellenismos (Ancient Greek Paganism), Asratu (Ancient Norse Paganism), or reconstructed practices from other cultures like the Romans, Egyptians, or Celts.

Answer 7

Historically, Paganism is divided into three periods: Paleo-Paganism, which is Paganism before the arrival of the Christians; Meso-Paganism, which is Paganism combined with Christianity; and Neo-Paganism, which is a modern movement to create a Paganism without the Christianity for the modern world. The re-constructionists are an offshoot of the neo-pagan movement who have undertaken to reconstruct Paleo-Paganism as exactly as possible. They research folklore, surviving myths, local customs, and all available historical or archaeological evidence, because they believe the Ancient ways still have relevance for Modern Society. Many of them concentrate on a specific culture or region, usually their ancestral one, because they feel it brings them closer to their heritage and fore fathers. I do not understand your boyfriends reticence, many Christians and Protestants are involved in the movement purely as a scholastic endeavor. One can learn to understand the views of others without embracing them. One last thing, never apologize for not knowing something, the only stupid question is the one you don't ask.

Answer 8

The answers so far are on the ball - the resources from eCauldron are good, the stuff from Beliefnet (as an ex-Beliefnet host) is pretty much accurate too, though occasionally Bnet messed a few details up.

Don't worry about not knowing about us - we are pretty rare. Celtic Reconstructionists, for example, we're guessing we number less than a thousand.

Answer 9

I commend you for asking, and all of your answerers for their insight. (I'm not going for best answer, here, I just want to offer my two cents and some resources.) I'm a Celtic Recon (as rare as we are, that seems to be the most common flavor on answers) and I live with a Sumerian Recon and a Kemetic (Egyptian). The local pagan community where we are REALLY doesn't understand, or want to, as I was reminded when I went to a pagan gathering this past weekend. Quoth a Wiccan: "But your gods are just aspects of mine". How do you argue with that?

Anyway you've been given the gist of it by the previous respondents, so i won't go over that again, and instead will give you a list of websites on various kinds of recon paganism so that you can see for yourself what these are about.

For Celtic, you might try Nemeton-L, an email list, or this is a good site for Celtic info.
http://www.digitalmedievalist.com/

A good Kemetic organisation: http://www.per-ankh.org/

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that the top link on a couple of search engines for "sumerian reconstructionism" and "aztec reconstructionism" turned out to be this yahoo group, to which I belong. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TabletofDestiny/

The cauldron site already given to you has a good comparison and contrast between wicca and Asatru (Norse recon paganism) linked to it, and that's worth checking out. It's hard to find good info on Asatru thanks to the fact that a couple of bad apples have given everyone the wrong impression about it.

Anyway, if you want to find out more about your boyfriend's particular beliefs, it may be as simple as figuring out what culture he's really into- he can't POSSIBLY hide that too well, and seek out information on reconstructing the religion of that particular culture. I'm guessing he just didn't want to talk to you about it because he respects your beliefs and doesn't want to turn you away from them.

Good luck.

Answer 10

Epona Willow said it best. =]