Pagan Religon?

Question

What exactly do pagans believe in? They've said to be the base of alot of religons (Is this true?) Do they practice witchcraft? How old is the religion?? Does it still exist?

Answer 1

A pagan is a person that follows a religion that isn't one of the major world religions (e.g. not Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism). They can be irreligious and just have pre-Christian beliefs. Wicca is a pagan religion essentially. Druids are also considered pagans as are Asatru etc. There are no set rules for pagans, as their beliefs can vary from person to person. A lot do follow the rule of three, anything you give out comes back threefold, regardless of whether it is good or bad.

Although there is a lot of misinformation regarding witchcraft which is the practice of magic by witches as wizardry is the practice of magic by wizards. Both are magic, its just that they are often classified in this way according to their gender. A general term is magician which is simply a practitioner of magic and is also synonymous with the word wizard. So all who practice magic are wizards (when using the word in a general context) although a male magician is a wizard and a female magician a witch. Magic isn't a religion though it is the art of altering events and circumstances of a person using the powers possessed within them. Another point is that magic ought not to be spelt with a "k", the idea of doing so comes from the "need" for some to justify magic and differentiate from stage trickery and hocum. Well there is no need. Only those who are magical (witches and wizards) need worry about magic not non-magical people. However, not all Wiccans are witches/wizards and vice versa.

The basic principle is; "An Ye Harm None, Do As Ye Will" (although this has many versions) which means that as long as what you do harms no one then it is acceptable.

Within some pagan religions/spiritualities there are eight festivals celebrated annually;
Samhain 31st October
Yule c.21st December Winter Solstice
Imbolg 2nd February
Oestara 21 March Spring Equinox
Beltane 1st May
Litha c.21st June Summer Solstice
Lammas 1st August
Madron 21st September Autumn Equinox

Some pagans also celebrate The Wheel of The Year, as it is a called. It originates from both the Celts and Norse. The Norse celebrated only four of those as did the Celts, Wicca incorporates both to mark the seasons and mid-seasons.

Paganism is often mistaken as a religion, however this is not so. Paganism is the practice of being a pagan and encompasses many beliefs, pantheons and practices. Paganism is most certainly thousands of years old and has roots from all around the globe. Often people think that it is the same as heathenry which again is incorrect. I myself am a heathen. A heathen is a person who follows a religion that is not established. Although similar to paganism is not the same because not all pagans follow set beliefs and religions etc. Some pagans do venerate a Mother Goddess and also a God, however some equally worship impersonal Gods and refer to the Devine or the Universe. Most pagans have a great love and respect for nature and like heathens believe that we are all part of nature. A handfasting is a type of pagan wedding, there are others, but the most popular are handfastings where the couple jump over a broomstick thrice and swear to be together for a year and a day, after that they are free to go their separate ways, as the lore says. However nowadays most declare to be with one another until the end of their days, some even swearing to do so in the next life. The word pagan itself is an insult, although today some do not see it that way, originating from the Christians to mean a person not following their religion. Ancient practices of the Greeks, Egytians, Norse, Celts, Native Americans etc. are considered pagan and are as old as time. One cannot date it precisely as paganism is not a religion and the practices differ from place to place. All that is known is that pagan practices go way back in time.

Answer 2

Pagan is an umbrella term and not one individual religion. For example, followers of the teachings of Abraham are considered Abrahamic faiths, which would include the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim faiths. A Pagan faith is none of these as it doesn't follow the teachings of Abraham.

As far as what do Pagans believe, that differs from person to person. And not everyone within an individual Pagan faith will believe the same way. Much as a Catholic and a Baptist are both Christian their views can and will be very different. If there is an individual Pagan faith you are curious about, ask, most likely one of us will at least know to point you in the right direction for an answer you seek.

Technically the term Pagan means non-Abrahamic so yes there are faiths that pre-date the bible, for example, shamanism, animalism, druidism, etc. and most if not all religions have taken elements from the older religions to make their newer ones.

I wouldn't say that they all practice witchcraft, it would be better to say that a lot of them do believe in magic and do magical working. To a lesser extent, magic is not all that different from modern prayers.

Yes there are still a lot of Pagan religions and there is also what is called neo-pagan religions. There are some Pagan religions that never died out, found in remote corners of the world, there are some Pagan religions that have returned in the form of recreationalist religion where people are striving to recreate the faith of old based off of what information survives, and then there are religions that are new but decidedly Pagan because they don't follow the teachings of Abraham.

Bright Blessings )O(

Answer 3

Paganism is a collection of non-Abrahamic religions. There's a handful of major Pagan religions (Wicca, Asatru, etc), and a much larger group of smaller ones.

It's a little hard to give beliefs that they'll all believe in. Many are non-monotheists in some way, shape, or form - polythiest, animists, pantheists, etc. Many of the beliefs are drawn from the ancient mythologies, so all the stories about Zeus, or Thor, etc - that's what you'll see some Pagans basing their beliefs from.

A number of Pagans practice witchcraft or magic, though many do not. Depends on the religion (some have magic as a more integral part than others) as well as the individual in question.

Paganism, as a category, stretches into prehistory. Most of the modern neo-Pagan religions find their roots around 2-3 thousand years ago, though the revival (or birth) of most of them occurred within the last century. (There are, of course, exceptions, and continuing folk practices can skew the dates.)

Answer 4

'Tis an umbrella term for a bunch of different religions. Kind of like saying monotheist religions.

Anyways, each Pagan faith has their own beliefs and traditions. Each religion has a different age; you have Neo-Pagans and Reconstructionalist Pagans. Not all Pagans practice witchcraft. Some do and some don't. I happen to be Asatru, which is actually more Heathenry than Pagan but most people still think of it as Pagan. Basically Pagan religions tend to be polytheistic and nature based, they also draw their beliefs from Pre-Christian religions.

EDIT: And to the poster "Nora w" a few answers above me: Wicca is NOT the only Pagan religion! And Wicca is older than 25 years. Do some research will you.

Answer 5

Paganism is the oldest religion, and there are many religions that fall under the name paganism. A lot of these religions are still practiced, most are gaining in numbers now. Some practice witchcraft, some don't. Pagans believe in a lot of different things, there are literally hundreds of pagan religions. Most have some reverance for the Earth and the universe and express that through keeping old rituals that worship and honor the earth. You can email me for some more speciic information, this is a broad topic.

Answer 6

Paganism 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. - wikipedia

It is true that many ideas that are present in modern religions were present in pagan religions. For example, many Christian holidays fall on or around Pagan holidays. Easter is near the spring equinox.

Some pagans practice witchcraft. This could mean something as simple as a ritual of blessing.

Paganism is as old as religion.

There are many Pagans to this day.

Answer 7

You have to understand that the early christian church used "pagan" as a sort of smear to describe any religion that's not christian. So you could say that muslims, buddhists, and atheists are "pagans." It also goes back as far as religion has ever existed.

But the pagans you're speaking of are from a whole bunch of different religions. The greek gods, the norse gods (Wotan and Thor), the egyptian gods, and so on are considered pagan beliefs, so are gods like bacchus, and etc.

And the western religions do have significant pagan influences. Christianity especially was based almost in total on pagan rituals and beliefs, and most "christian" holidays (such as Christmas and Easter) are actually bastardized pagan festivals and beliefs. Jesus supposedly wasn't born on December 25th - that date is actually the birthdate of several pagan gods. The christmas tree, the presents, the easter eggs, the rabbit - it's all based on pagan mythology. Also most of the jesus story like turning water to wine, being crucified for our sins, coming up three days later, being born of a virgin and visited by 3 wise men, and a lot more was all earlier pagan myth.

They do not practice withcraft per se... Wiccans are the types to do that. But it varies. of course wiccans can fall into the "pagan" category as well.

Various paganisms still exist. Certainly the non-christian religions persist, but there are still some who believe in Sophia, the Greek gods, and all kinds of things.

Answer 8

Remember Wicca is new in terms of Paganism. Created by Gerald Gardener in the early 1950 s to help eradicate the Witchcraft laws in England (which it did). Wicca is a combination of witchcraft and Pagan Goddess/God beliefs. A lot of influences from past Pagan practices were incorporated into Wicca. So while some of the practices and beliefs in Wicca are old; Wicca itself and as a religion is not.

Answer 9

You are talking about a huge group of people here - one without a central belief system, such as Christianity.

One could be anything outside of Judaism/Christianity/Islam and be considered a Pagan.

Pagans can be monotheistic, dual (two Gods) or polytheistic. They can practice magic/witchcraft or they may not in any way shape or form. Their beliefs are as varied as the design of snowflakes.

Most Pagans we see now base their beliefs off the mythologies that we have of older societies. They take what we know of these groups and incorporate them into more modren practices. It is a mesh of new and old - mostly a modernization of ancient ideas.

Pagan, by the way simply means country dweller. It was used as an insult to those who dwelled outside of the cities. It became common to use this word as an insult to those unsophisticated and still practicing old beliefs.

And yes - the term is stilled used today as these groups still exist.

Answer 10

There are many different pagan beliefs. Greek, Celtic, Roman, Egyptian Pantheons are the more well known pantheons worshiped by Pagans. Yes some consider it witchcraft. Some pagans beliefs stem all the way back to 2000 B.C. and farther. It still exists.