Can someone please explain paganism to me?

Question

I'm not interested in converting to paganism or hearing put downs about paganism, I am simply interested in knowing what it is so I can better understand those who refer to themselves as "pagan" Thankyou :)
Oh, and I am not googling it because I want to hear the explanation from some actual praticing pagans, not a dictionary definition.

Also, if you ARE a pagan, what motivated to choose paganism?

Answer 1

Paganism is the broad term used to describe any religion or belief that is not Christian, Jewish or Muslim. Paganism can be traced back to Neolithic times and survived up until the middle ages when Christianity became powerful enough to erase it from existence. Paganism is an earth based religion which lays emphasis on the worship of all aspects of nature. Paganism appeared very early on in the history of the world. Examples of early paganism, can be seen in ancient Greek and Roman religions, as well as in ancient Goddess worship and Druidic religions.



Ancient people believed that everything had a spirit and were polytheistic and they placed great importance on the worship of many Gods, Goddesses and Deities. Gods were a part of everyday life and great emphasis was placed on placating them through worship and ritual. Pagans believed that the Gods were immanent and entered every aspect of their society, influencing everything from laws and customs to the general workings of their community.

"The magic circle"

As Pagans were polytheistic they had gods and goddesses of the forests, the sea and of all aspects of nature. Pagans began to personify the energies of the land, sky and other elements by giving specific responsibilities to individual Gods. As ancient civilizations began to develop and change, the Gods grew and changed with the people. New Gods appeared, one's which were relevant to village life, for example, gods of milling and smithcraft. The old gods remained, but aspects of them changed to conform to the changing people. For example, as war became more prominent, so too did the gods of war, such as Ares and Mars.



Pagans held no belief in heaven and hell as Christians do, rather they believed in reincarnation. They believed that when the body could be re-incarnated in another form. There are many varying beliefs relating to re-incarnation, however the theme remains the same in most forms of Paganism.



Some of the more prominent forms of Paganism include; Ancient Roman Religion and Ancient Greek Religion. In recent years there has been an upsurgence in the practice of paganism. The name given to this new movement is Neo Paganism. There are several forms of neo-pagan traditions which have taken their roots from ancient pagan practices, these include Neo- Drudism and Wicca.

Answer 2

While this isn't really an answer to your question- the Catholic church declared a Public Relations war on paganism about 1000 years ago. It attributed all kinds of horrific practices to pagans (as a group) and included terms such as 'devil worship' into the lexicon of paganism. Most of which couldn't have been further from the truth.

However - the stigma remains today, when the word Pagan is heard- people still think of something 'evil', when most of the pagan religions were rather peaceful traditions that were very nature based. You could say they worshipped mother nature (rather than an old book). For instance- the Druids believed that the spirits lived in trees- from where we get the expression to "knock on wood" when we're hoping for good luck.

Answer 3

Pagan refers to a group of religions. These religions have similar characteristics in that all of them are polythesitic and often nature or earth-based (i.e. the natural world). It's often easier to say, I'm Pagan, rather than name the religion itself because in many instances you end up having to explain your specific beliefs. Other Pagans don't really fit into a specific religion's mold.

Wiccans are Pagans. But not all Pagans are Wiccans.

I am Pagan and I practice a religion called Daemonolatry. What motivated me to choose a Pagan religion is that I explored numerous beliefs and non-beliefs and Daemonolatry fit me best. If you want my complete spiritual path story, check out my Yahoo 360 profile and it's in my blog only a few entries down.

Answer 4

OK... without a long speech I think I can Help. My family is christian and this is what I told them....

Paganism is a general term meaning now-a-days that we believe in more then one god or goddess. We are down to earth in more ways then one, and are peace loving in nature... each path will take it's own look at things and make there minds known, but we try to understand more of other religions to keep that balance. Most of the time we are no different the you. we have holidays, we have party's, and we even go on dates. most of us think Christ was a good guy but not the son of a god.

I hope this helps you. a good book to read if you want more detailed info is.... The Practical Pagan.

Answer 5

Paganism is loosely any religious practice not originating through Abraham. So, basically everyone from a Hindu to those practicing indigenous beliefs are considered pagans, except for asatru who are Heathens.

I choose to be a pagan (wiccan) after coming to the conclusion that I really didn't believe the stories in the Christian bible were any more valid than any other belief in the Divine was.

Paganism for me addressed the balance of the universe instead of a one-sided male dominate view. I found this to be very liberating and it resonated very strongly with my inner being.

Answer 6

The term pagan comes from pagani, which mean "country." Paganism is an "earth religion." Pagans worship in and through nature, many are polytheistic, and they believe and live through the Old Ways.

Answer 7

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "a country dweller, rustic") 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 polytheism religions in particular.

The term can be defined broadly, to encompass the faith traditions outside the Abrahamic monotheistic group of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The group so defined includes the Dharmic religions, Native American religions and mythologies and Shinto as well as non-Abrahamic ethnic religions in general. More narrow definitions will not include any of the world religions and restrict the term to local or rural currents not organized as civil religions. Characteristic of pagan traditions is the absence of proselytisation, and the presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice. Sacrifice plays a central part in pagan and non-pagan religion alike.

The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "goy" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Christian or Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among westerners, comparable to heathen, infidel, and mushrik and kafir (كافر) in Islam. For this reason, Ethnologists avoid the term "paganism", with its uncertain and varied meanings, in referring to traditional or historic faiths, preferring more precise categories such as polytheism, shamanism, or animism.

Since the later 20th century, however, the words "pagan" or "paganism" have become widely and openly used as a self-designation of adherents of polytheistic reconstructionism and neopaganism.

Answer 8

I am not a pagan, but I had a coworker who is and she talked with me about it. According to her as I had also investigated it is about Earth worship, natural sciences so to speak. She considered herself to be a wicken(witch) who did chants and spells. She would take natural erbs and spices and say that certain things would happen. Not really sure if they did, just kind of humored her about it. She used to hand out gifts all the time and we used to think it was cool until we found out she used to put spells on gifts as a controlling factor, then we just through them away. More or less paganism is just considered Earth worship but some like to take it to the next level, which could be bad.

Answer 9

i am an atheist pagan, and no, it is not an oxymoron. i chose it because it describes how i see & understand the world & life in general.
pagan is very broad, but you seem to want more specific, individual pagan views. here's part of what i believe in:

the transcendental power of the universe (commonly called God, or the various god/desses by religions) cannot possibly be personified, and any personification made by prescribing it to a deity is symbolic of certain aspects of it. but to deify it over simplifies it and removes some meaning. the power/force itself drove the creation of existance, and is made of the sum of all things in the universe, and the sum is greater than all of the parts. it is the force of nature, the laws of the universe, life itself. and it connects all things that exist, as all things are part of it.

as i find the divine in nature, and in the universe, and i see it described in everything that describes the natural laws of both.

Answer 10

Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "a country dweller, rustic") 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 polytheism religions in particular

;)