Is there a Pagan "Bible"? What do Pagans read?

Question

This is for Pagans only- what, exactly, do you read? What do you use to learn more about Paganism? Most of what I've found are new books by Pagans who share their own experiences (which is cool), but... is there any sort of "guide book" or anything like that? I know there are a lot of different types of Paganism, so this is fairly general, I'm sorry!

VINCENT- it says you don't allow people to email you =)

Answer 1

I can only speak for Wicca, but Wiccans, at least, have nothing equivalent to the Bible. (The various "witches bibles" that have come out over the years are the opinion of those who wrote them and do not count as documents universally accepted within the religion as divinely inspired.) We have certain pieces of liturgy that are widely accepted -- the Charge of the God and the Charge of the Goddess, for example -- but even those tend to have many different versions.

http://www.wicca.utvinternet.com/BOS/bos4.htm
http://www.wicca.utvinternet.com/BOS/bos3.htm

The only universal phrase that all Wiccans (at least in my experience) share is the Wiccan Rede, again variously phrased, but boiling down to: "If you harm none, do what you will". Most Wiccans also believe in the Law of Threefold Return, also called the Rule of Three: "Whatever you do, for good or ill, will come back upon you three times over."

Some other pieces of commonly accepted liturgy can be found at:

http://wicca.timerift.net/laws/documents.shtml

A Book of Shadows is the working journal of an individual or a coven. In the case of a coven, the BoS is passed down to each initiate, usually by being hand-copied by the initiate themselves. A solitary practitioner creates their own BoS based on what works for them -- rituals, pieces of liturgy, God/Goddess names, elemental correspondances, songs and chants, recipes, spells, and so forth. There is no universal BoS that all Wiccans possess or follow.

When people come to me as beginners, the first book I recommend is "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" by Scott Cunningham. It is a relatively easy read and gives you the basics to begin practicing solo. I also recommend that they read "The Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton, which is a non-Wiccan history of the modern Pagan witchcraft movement.

I tell people to stay as far away from Silver Ravenwolf as possible, for the reasons outlined in this article:

http://wicca.timerift.net/ravenwolf.shtml

Answer 2

Well the only form of Paganism I know anything about would be Wicca. I don't know a whole lot but I know that they have what's called the Wiccan Rede and they have a Book Of Shadows. That's if I'm not mistaken. Anyway there are different forms of Paganism. And that's what I have been told so far from an open Question that I have for Pagans.

Answer 3

Paganism is not one religion, its many different religions. Depending on what you are looking for there are lots of books availabe, but you'd have to narrow it down a little. Two common Pagan Faiths are Druidism and Wicca.

I'm Wiccan. We have a set code of beliefs and there are several allegorical stories, but unlike Biblical Christians, we don't consider our mythology to be scientific fact. We consider the mythologiies of the past to be allegorical in nature. That is stories that explain more complex ideas, Therefore, most books instead focus on the present. Ritual, Worship, Meditation, Magick, Gods/Goddesses

When it comes to Wicca, there are a few authorities in the writing world. Check out books by Raymond Buckland, Scott Cunningham, Vivienne Crowley, Edain McCoy.

Hope this helps

Answer 4

Well, keep in mind that Paganism covers a bunch of different religions.

There are written sources which are useful to us because they contain much of our sacred lore in the form of myths and examples of right conduct, but we do not accept them as infallible or inspired documents. Any religion which does this is deceiving its members about the purity and precision of the written word. The various competing factions of Middle Eastern religions are proof of this. Their conflicting interpretations can not all be correct!

There are two real sources of holy truth, and neither expresses itself to us in words. One is the universe around us, which is a manifestation of the underlying divine essence. The other is the universe within us, passed down from our ancestors as instinct, emotion, innate predispositions, and perhaps even genetic memory. By combining these sources of internal and external wisdom with the literature left us by our ancestors, we arrive at religious truths. This living spiritual guidance is better than any dusty, dogmatic "holy book", whose writings are often so ambiguous that even clerical scholars disagree and whose interpretations change with the politics of the times.

The closest thing to a 'bible' in my particular faith, Asatru, is the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda which tell the holy stories of the Asatru faith. But no one would ever decide these books were the literal, last word on the Asatru-folk's relations with their Gods. People evolve, after all.

Answer 5

This is a problem that many Pagans have found. There's precious little past the "101" books.

There's no "Bible", but for me, I've progressed by reading specialized books--mythology, history, books about the lands my Pantheon came from, herbals, etc. I have even gotten insight from books about barbecuing and surfing, believe it or not!

You can find many books on many subjects reviewed at these links below.

Answer 6

Well the Asatru Read The Eddas.

The Kemetics Read The book of coming forth by day.

The Wiccans Read The books written/inspired by Gerald Gardener or the people from his coven.

And I'm not sure what the druids read.

That's pretty much all i know.

Answer 7

You may want to start by researching Wiccan websites, which are all over the web. Aside from that, pagan only really means non-christian, so it is kind of vague. Feel free to email me if you'd like. I could explain it alot better through the email then on here.

I notice that I recieved a couple of 'thumbs downs' on my answer. If it's because I listed Satanic websites, then keep in mind that denying knowledge is presicely what Christianity, Islam, and other anti-pagan religions do. You really believe in freedom of religion?

Sorry about that, I'm still kind of new at this.
I changed my settings, now you can email me!

Answer 8

Pagans read computer books, love books, magazines, sci-fi books, newspapers, their mail, dumb things on the web and lots of other stuff..... just like you do! Oh...... By the way I' not a pagan.