Pagans & Christians?

Question

Well for starters im down with Christians. But I want learn more about Pagans & compare the two because im really bord. So far I heard that y'all don't worship the devil. And I find that easy to believe because that's the satanism religon. So what exactly is the witchcraft & spells about? I heard that you worshipped the earth. Is that true? And If so then why?

Answer 1

The term "Pagan" is an umbrella term that covers a wide variety of religions. Its traditional definition is "any non-Abrahamic religion".

What you might be thinking of is more accurately called Neo-Paganism -- again, it's an umbrella term, but this time it covers a range of more or less modern religions that are generally earth-oriented and often polytheistic.

I can only speak as a Wiccan. No, we do not worship Satan -- that is part of the Christian cosmology, not ours.

Here are some basic articles on what Wicca is, and is not.

A relatively objective (non-Wiccan) set of articles on what Wiccans do and believe:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/witchcra.htm

Another useful article:

http://www.religionfacts.com/neopaganism/paths/wicca.htm

A good site by Wiccans:

http://wicca.timerift.net

And the US Army Chaplains Handbook excerpt on Wicca:

http://www.religioustolerance.org/wic_usbk.htm

Witchcraft is a technique which, like prayer, is practiced in a wide variety of religions. Wicca is one of the religions in which most practitioners are witches. We see witchcraft as working with the Divine energy that permeates the world to bring about change. In accordance with the Wiccan Rede ("If you harm none, do what you will"), the vast majority of Wiccans will not curse or perform magic to bring harm upon anyone else.

As for worshipping the earth... this is a common misconception, so I don't blame you for it. Wiccans, at least as I was taught, don't worship nature per se. We believe that the universe is the body of God/dess, and therefore that all things contain Divine energy and that the world itself is sacred.

There can be no separation from God/dess. All things not only proclaim Their glory, but ARE Their glory. It's therefore more accurate to say that we worship the Divine as manifest in nature; we worship the Creator, IN the Creation.

Hope this helps.

EDITED TO ADD: As far as books go, I'd recommend "Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner" by Scott Cunningham as a beginner's book, and "Triumph of the Moon" by Ronald Hutton for a non-Wiccan historian's account of the rise of modern Pagan witchcraft. I advise you to stay away from anything by Silver Ravenwolf, for reasons outlined in the following essay:

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

EDITED TO ADD 2: In response to last_red_dragon's post... er, no, not all Neo-Pagans live by the Wiccan Rede ("If you harm none, do what you will"). Please do not generalize our tenets to apply to all Neo-Pagans. :-)

Answer 2

Well, Paganism's a bit of a broad category. There's a number of different religions under the "umbrella" of Paganism, and while some are close siblings, others can be very different. So, it's kinda hard to give a specific set of features that apply to all Pagan religions. At best, you can speak in vague generalities - if you're looking for hard details, it's best to focus on a particular Pagan religion. Some of the more well-known Pagan religions include Wicca (which seems to be what most non-Pagans are referring to when they talk about Paganism) and Asatru.

Some Pagans do worship the earth, in a manner of speaking - typically, they believe the earth to be the physical embodiment of a deity, though some believe in deities of certain places (such as a goddess of a particular river, etc.) However, that's not true of all Pagans, and some will even resist the label of "earth-based" for their religion.

Answer 3

I think it is easer to sum up some of the tenats of the pagan religions than it is to explain what it is. Paganism in general is a nature based religion that veneates the changing of the season. The basic tenant of the religion is harm ye none and do what thou will. Baiscly don't hurt, maime, kill, or break someone's will and you can do what you want. We have tons of gods and goddesses. The one a pagan worships is a personal choice not dictated by a religious leader. As far as leardership goes you are your own preist/ess. You can do the whole coven thing if you want or go so-lo.
The greatest thing about the religion as a whole is you make the choices of what you do and how you do it. Some would say do what feels right.
Some books I would recomend are any thing by Silver Ravenwolf for your basic guilds. Raven Grimassi for any historical information. Grimassi's The Witches Craft is a great book on the history of both tracing the discrimination of pagans, and tracing the roots to indo-europeans tribes that worshiped both a Female and Male deity. Ellen Dugan is good too. Her books tend to be more advanced though.
I hope this helps you some.

Answer 4

Well im wiccan which is one of the many pagan religions. Wiccans do not worship the devil bcuz there isnt even a devil in the religion. Most wiccans do spells but it is only white magick .

Answer 5

Paganism is WAY too broad a topic to define. It holds a whole bunch of religions. Pick a smaller topic and maybe i can help

Answer 6

That's a broad term to ask for inforation about. Try Witchvox, there is a lot of information there, particularly Wicca. The others you will have to search for individually.