How does Paganism measure time?

Question

answer asap plz. its for a project. thank you

Answer 1

For contemporary Neo-Pagans, we "measure" time the same way as others--with standard chronometric terms.

But, as I think you mean, how do we describe and how do we conceptualize time--that's a different subject.

How Pagans describe time:
We describe years using, much as many non-Christians in the West do, the CE/BCE designations for years. This is not 2006 Anno Domini (Our Lord)--for the Christian figure Jesus is not our Lord. For us, as for Jews, it is the year 2006 Common Era, and similarly Hesiod wrote in the 8th century BCE (Before Common Era).

How Pagans conceptualize time:
Time is essentially cyclical, with some linear features. The same basic processes repeat themselves endlessly in the Universe, but there is also change and a narrative progression (this latter process would be historical change, which we see as real but secondary to cosmological cyclicality).

The most important units of cyclical time:
(1) The Wheel of the Year: too complex to discuss at this length, the Wheel of the Year is the basic time motif of Pagan thought. It is the procession of the seasons, the lunar and solar year, and the eight Wiccan waypoints along the year.
(2) The Ages of the Person: human life-cycles are also part of the unfolding of time. Most Neo-Pagan traditions use the life-cycle of the human individual to talk about our individual lives in the larger flow of time.
(3) The Lunar Cycle: The 28-day lunar cycle is, like the solar year, one of the two pillars of the Pagan liturgical calendar. It maps the principle of cyclical flow, the hidden and mysterious qualities of Being.
(4) The Day: Like the Year and the Ages of the Person, each Day corresponds to the Wiccan magical circle (East/South/West/North), traveling from Dawn to Noon to Twilight to Midnight and back to Dawn. The solar Day, the lunar Month, and the lunar-solar conjoined Year together with the individualized Life-Cycle describe our interdependent relationship with the Earth and Heavens around us, our inextricable place in the Great Web of Being.

There is much, much more to be said about this. But Yahooo Answers lends itself to the terse version.

Answer 2

By the movement of the sky....the stars, planets and the moon.

Stonehenge was an observatory that measures the seasons with amazing accuracy. The measurements of time used today were all noticed and used long before Christ was born.

Answer 3

I thought, they used the positions of the sun, (not just like noon, 6am 6pm. But actual sun positions at those times to determine the month and year. Based on their location (being constant), the suns height and location at these times will change based on the month.

Stonehedge is a good example because the columns represent the areas that the sun with rise and fall helping you determine the month.

Answer 4

Eh?

What do you mean? Uhm... the Mayans had their calendar? The Egyptians used the Sun and the stars? The Celts used the stars?

._.? I'm not sure what you're asking.

- 16 yo Pagan

Answer 5

We believe time is cyclic(spelling). That explains reincarnation.

Answer 6

Could you please explain your question further? I do not understand what you mean. Are you asking about hours, or months, or years, or something else?

Answer 7

they probably use a stopwatch.