What is the difference between Paleopaganism and Neopaganism?

Question

How do modern Pagan religions, such as but not limited to Wicca, differ from the ancient pre-Christian religions of Europe in beliefs, practices, and world-view?

gibbjaw, human sacrifice is closeted? LOL! Human sacrifice is completely non-exsistant in Neopaganism! You've seen too many episodes of Geraldo in the '80's!

Gardner is Neopagan. I feel I should define these terms, which were coined by Isaac Bonewits -- Neopagan refers to the modern revival of Paganism, and the religious movements that attempt to reconstruct (or reinvent) Paganism. Paleopaganism refers to the actual, ancient pre-Christian religions of any culture. There is also Mesopaganism, which refers to earlier attempts at reconstructing the old religions, and anything that blends Pagan and Christian symbolism such as the Golden Dawn, the 18th and 19th century Druid revivals in England and Wales, even Voodoo is sometimes labeled Mesopagan, and I would assume Gnosticism would fall into that category as well.

I realize, of course, that Neopaganism is a fairly loose umbrella term covering a very diverse group of modern Pagan religions. I also realize that there was no one single Paleopaganism -- each ancient culture had its own religious beliefs, and in some ancient civilizations (such as the Greeks and Romans) there were many different cults with their own beliefs, practices, and worldviews.

I guess a better way of asking this would be -- what is your source material? How much of Neopaganism actually draws from European Paleopaganism, and how much of it is drawn from Western Occultism, Eastern Philosophy, the New Age movement, and Jewish and Christian mysticism? Also, how plausible is it to adapt ancient beliefs and practices to the modern world?

Answer 1

Well, we don't get to bog anybody these days, and it's been . . . let me check . . . yep, two whole millennia since we sacrificed three entire Roman Legions and their weapons to Odhinn.

*G*

I'd say that in heathenry, as far as beliefs go, some neoheathens are closer to paleoheathens than others but only a few are clear out in left field. Fortunately, our left fielders are larger concentrated in the SF Bay area . . . :-)

Practices are reconstructed, and generally adapted. While animal blotar sometimes still occur, for most it's just not practical, even though this is the ONE practice we have the most detailed instructions regarding.

Worldview, we have a VERY firm foundation, from Gronbech to Simek to Bauschatz to Pollington to Dronke . . . but despite the talk many make of "thinking like a heathen" I don't think most are as far along as they could be. Worldview reconstruction is like becoming fluent in another language . . . Bil Linzie got me started two full years ago, I guess it's been, and I've still got a long way to go.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

Paganism and Neopaganism, in modern terms, are pretty much the same thing. Wicca is a specific belief system that is under the umbrella of 'Paganism'. So Wicca is to Paganism, what Lutheran is to Christianity. Essentially. As for a clear understanding of the basic differences... Well - there are as many different flavors as there are leaves on a tree. Because it's a decentralized and unstructured religion, anyone is free to set their beliefs and follow them. The best way to learn about it is to read, read, read.

Answer 4

Certain practices (cultural or religious) have fallen by the wayside, but I expect that those practices would have been abandoned even if the religion had continued uninterupted.

Some Neo-Paganism draws direct inspiration from Paleo-Paganism, so while not a direct continuation, it qualifies as a direct descendant. Other forms of Neo-Paganism is, at most, inspired by Paleo-Paganism, and uses whatever draws its attention as source material.

Technology and science do have an effect upon the worldview - but I don't see them as being an impediment to Neo-Paganism. Certain things like pre-packaged food can distance people from the natural world and its cycles, but there are plenty of things that can be done to correct that. Likewise, not all forms of Paganism center on the natural world, so that's not necessarily the largest concern.

Answer 5

Without doing any other research, I'd always associated paleo-paganism with Old, and Neo-paganism as New. So on that assumption, you would not find a Paleopagan who followed Gardner so to speak, but a Neo-Pagan could. I think the further back down the lineage you go, the more earth centric things become. More lunar worship for the good of the farm and folk, that type of thing. You don't see as much of that today with all the Urban pagans out there. That's just my take.

Answer 6

neo = A Western religious movement begun in the mid-Twentieth Century in which people rebelled against the dominant Judeo-Christian religions and began to explore the world-wide pagan heritage as sources of valid religious material and experiences.

Neopaganism is comprised of a wide variety of small groups called Traditions which include Wicca, Asatru, Faerie, Orders of Ceremonial Magic like the OTO, Discordianism, Santeria, Voudoun, Satanism and many revivalist groups focussed on specific classical pantheons like Greek or Egyptian. Some common themes are include Goddess worship, polytheism, magic, anti-clericalism, anti-hierarchicalism, and non-dogmatism.

pale = Paleopaganism is used to refer to the original, polythesistic tribal faiths of the World, when they were (or, in non-Western areas, are still) practiced as intact belief systems. Of well known world religions, Hinduism, Taoism, and Shinto may be considered Paleopagan beliefs, making Paleopagans a fairly large group of people.

It is rather unlikely that many of the practitioners of Western pagan paths (Wicca, Druidism, Asatru) are practicing an actual, handed down ancient faith.

Answer 7

Paleopaganism is a term used to discribe all ancient polytheistic belifes, so it's hard to quantify what it is as a whole. The French paleopagans for example carved very fat fertility goddesses and worshipped bison spirits whereas the Greeks carved women holding snakes in their hands and ancient Egyptians worshipped the Sun, the Nile river etc....


Neopaganism also refers to a wide range of things from the "rebirth" of the things I just mentioned. ( IE: Many people nowadays have started to worship the old Egyptian gods) to religions such as Wicca. Wicca itself is a hodgepodge of old belifes, the most central being that the Earth is a Goddess, our mother.

So to sum up I think you need to figure out what you're actually trying to find out and ask more specific questions about specific religions.

Answer 8

All the answers have made good points, and I basically agree with all... except ****PRAIRIE CRONE**** is delusional... they think that "homesteading" and living "off the grid" includes the INTERNET!!!... LOL LMAO ha ha ha!!!

I TOO grow most of my own produce... I do it organic and bio-dynamic (according to the lunar cycles) but I also buy an imported pineapple, avacado, wheel of Brie cheese, Nori, sesame oil etc at the store every now and then, and I don't/can't grow my own wheat, rice, cumin, canola, sugar cane, saffron, oranges, grapefruit, garbanzo beans, ginger, chocolate, coffee, tea, lemon grass, ginseng, olives etc and I don't ferment my own soy sauce, make my own tofu, catch my own lobster, or brew my own beer either (do you? do you actually go without all of the things you don't produce yourself, or and that can't be grown and bartered for within your local community? Didn't think so). When the growing season is over, I go to the grocery store for fresh fruits and veggies or for a much-coveted chocolate bar anytime... and since I never actually have to experience the deprivation and complete reliance on the Earth that the ancient pagans did, I think it is impossible for me to feel as much sincere reverence for the Earth as they did... even though I try to be mindful of it and consider myself a "neo-pagan"...

Most importantly, I don't fool myself into thinking I am "living off the grid" because I also have a digital watch, a car, electricity, a phone, internet, a modern hospital that saved my life with an emergency C-section (instead of me and my son dying during my attempted natural homebirth -- over 41 hours of contractions 30 seconds or less apart... while praying to Artemis... who didn't bless me with a birth, but the Catholic MDs at Samaritan Hospital did!), a washing machine, watch DVDs, listen to my iPod, wear comfy Nike Air shoes, take vitamin supplements, cell phone, have modern toilet facilites, plastic Tupperware and a fridge to keep my food fresh, take a hot shower whenever I want to, etc, etc, etc. I am NOT 100% at the mercy of Nature, I DON'T leave my fate 100% in the hands of the pagan gods and goddesses I reverence, and I am part of the technological/non-Earth-based society that rules this world. At least I can admit it!

LMAO LMAO...OMG I just can't stop laughing... ****PRAIRIE CRONE**** is "off the grid", and "on the internet"!!! Go through the McDonald's drive thru and answer some more Yahoo questions online... and keep telling yourself that you are "off the grid"!!! LMAO...

Answer 9

I give props to Neo-Pagans for trying to respect the old ways of life... but in my experience with Neo-Pagans, they are somewhat crippled by the loss of knowledge and continuity caused by the Dark Ages/Roman Catholic Church.

My impression is that they are living "Pagan" lives based upon what they gather from media and the little bits of fictionalized information... in other words, they are trying to re-create something that no one in the Western World has TRULY experienced for millennia. Because the culture has been lost and the last shards of it have been driven underground, people get their information from things like D&D, Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Alestair Crowley (who was just a modern nut-job), books about Wicca written by people with no more experience living IN a Pagan society than anyone else in the modern era -- it is almost more like a "role-playing" game than a real life... because within the outside world, Neo-Pagans are still living in a culture dominated by Christianity and Technology, and hostile toward the Earth and the old ways.

This isn't really Neo-Pagans' faults... the old ways have been virtually destroyed, and there is no way to truly live an authentic Pagan lifestyle in the modern world in the way that the ancients did. Also, since we are all so disconnected with the Earth (no one really grows their own produce or raises their own animals for food anymore) it is hard to connect to an Earth-based way of thinking.

Ancient Paganism was not so much a religion as it was the culture and way of life and survival for entire societies. People truly relied upon the Earth for their lives, and this resulted in much more reverence for Nature than what we feel today. People lived according to the rhythms of the lunar calendar; the cycles of planting, harvesting, and dying; and honored the divine in Nature... and there was really no choice in it -- in order to eat, to keep track of time, to understand the world around them -- they had to live this way. Ancient Paganism was based upon man's relationship with nature, and considering that we are now almost completely disconnected as a society to the Life Source, Neo-paganism just isn't the same.

When our civilization collapses (as all civilizations do over time) and people are sent back to ways of living that are self-sufficient and dependent upon the Earth, Paganism will truly rise again to fill the need to harmonize with Nature in order to survive in the Natural world.

Answer 10

difference paleopaganism neopaganism