What is Paganism? Celtic Paganism? PLEASE do NOT look it up online, just answer what you believe/or think?

Question

This is a survey/poll type of question. Please do not go and look up the definition before answering or it will not be accurate. If you have no idea what either is, then please put that. If you have a slight idea, or know exactly what it is thats fine, put whatever you believe or have heard. Negative or positive comment ok. I would like some quotes to put in my paper, so if you could answer in full sentences that would be perfect! . Also, please put down where you live, a state/country whatever! THANKS so much for your help!!

Answer 1

Paganism is a collection of pre- and post-Christian religions of Europe and the European Diaspora.

Celtic Paganism is a catch-all for Senistrogaria, which is spelled wrong, but you said don't look it up, and other forms of CR and Celtic folk magic. These things are all too often based on ENGLISH Victorian ideas of Celtic. It does not include Wicca.

Stonehenge wasn't built by the Celts.

New York State, 70-45 mins from Toronto, depending on border conditions.

Edit: The word I was looking for was senistrognata, lol.

Answer 2

Witch_Druidess (T. D. Hartman from Denison, Iowa, USA)
Paganism is any religious belief that is not Christian, Jewish, or Islamic. I know this because lots of books on Paganism say it.
In general, Contemporary Paganism has sprung from ancient European beliefs and is a blend of Nature Worship and honoring Deities from various Pantheons that still exist today. Pagans adhere for the most part to a moral code that says we should do what we can to help stop the destruction of Earth's Environment and do good things for all the people and animals that live here. Other than that, Paganism covers several hundred separate religions from Wicca, Witchcraft, Druidry, and Asatru to Buddhism, Shinto, Hinduism, a strange knock off of Wicca called PectiWitta and something called Druidian, too. There are literally hundreds of different kinds of Witches, from Hellenic and Celtic to those that blend Native American Shamanism with Vodun. I am a Hellenic Witch, and that means I mainly honor and worship Deities from the Ancient Greek (Hellene) Pantheon. But I am also studying Druidism. Paganism to me means finding one's own path to religious enlightenment and fulfillment.

Answer 3

In todays society Paganism has several meanings, the one I prefer the most is: A blanket term that covers any of several polytheistic religions. A polytheistic religion has followers that believe in more than one God. Some neo-pagan religions have as few as two gods, others have large pantheons of gods.

Celtic paganism is a polytheistic religion that worships the gods of the Celtic pantheon. For me true Celtic polytheism goes even farther, it studies the history and the culture of the Celts and the gods of the celts. A Celtic pagan does rituals the way the Celtic ancestors did them with as little adjustment as necessary to comply with modern mors and law. Celtic pagans give honor to the Celtic Gods, the ancestors, and the spirits of lands,sea, and sky.

Answer 4

Paganism is the nature religion of the ancient world, often worshipping a multitude of gods who embodied the forces of nature like storms and earthquakes, but also the human aspects of fitting into the natural world like giving birth, harvesting, and dying. Paganism was rural for the most part because city dwellers had lost touch with nature and philosphy had developed understandings which often led to belief in one god. The word "pagan" originally meant country dweller or peasant. Celtic peoples stretching originally from modern day Turkey to the British Isles had a list of divinities which included a father-type god, a messenger type god, a god of battlefields, a god of dreams and meanings, a god of households and family life. Celtic pagans could choose from a variety of gods to suit needs and occasions of life that reflected the semi-rural life of the several centuries before and after Christ. Greek and Roman writers often lined up Celtic gods with their own gods and might say Zeus is like the Dagda etc. because both performed similar tasks. Religious worship had more to do with correct practice of sacrifice and lifestyle rather than intellectual belief or what we might call faith. Paganism was so involved and almost exhausting because of the wide list of gods in various places and circumstances that people including the Celts were willing to abandon their old gods when the Christian faith was presented to them. Often the old gods went underground and became the leprechauns or fairies who played tricks on people but could no longer harm them. When the Celts turned to Christianity there was no bloodshed involved unlike the collapse of paganism in Rome. Since city life and national identity played such a big part in the Roman Empire worshipping Roman gods was an act of patriotism rather than a religious conviction.
Cleveland Ohio U.S.A. here. I'm Irish btw.

Answer 5

Paganism is the spiritual philosophy of the non-mainstream, usually composed of celebrating life and revering nature. It promotes living in harmony, valuing peace, and avoiding causing harm.

I'm a Taoist but I celebrate pagan holidays and with pagan symbols (so I am a pagan too). It makes a very deep kind of psychological sense to celebrate holidays throughout the year by celebrating the corresponding phase of the life cycle. It reinforces cyclical thinking and has a sublime harmony to it. Besides being just plain fun, it feels right to embrace the natural rhythyms of life.

Celtic paganism tries to honor the old Celtic traditions, as well as we can understand them, because most of the positive knowledge is lost. They use old Celtic deities and symbols in their spiritual life.

Answer 6

Here is a view into my path.
Go to witchvox.com for great essays, news, poetry anything you want to know or ask about is there.


God of Infinite Faces

Steve Corn

July 12, 2007

The One, the Son, the Sun are but a few.
I see you in Nature’s morning dew.
My yellow swallowtail;
at the creek to greet me without fail.

My Sisters teach me well.
Imitate Beauty: in my Soul, they dwell.
Their Mother guides me away from folly.
I see you in the faces of people who are jolly.

Diana and Apollo,
our Mother and Father, so easy to follow.
Jesus, Buddha and Plato knew you too.
They all are part of you, how true.

The Father Son and Holy Ghost
The church has abused these the most.
You were once there.
They no longer see you anywhere.

Here in our new lands,
the Great Spirit stands.
You are there as a Turtle or within the Myrtle.
Your love is fertile.

The Moon and Stars can move me; it seems.
You are there to guide my dreams.
My Celtic roots begin to sprout.
Myrddin will be my guide I shout!

You gave us roses for our eyes and noses.
There you are one supposes.
Renewal in Mother Nature the first of every May;
I celebrate, play and pray.

Thoreau, Emerson and the Unitarians
know when you can see God everywhere, you can’t sin.
I know Beauty and Harmony;
What else need be?

Answer 7

"Paganism" is a term that has different meanings depending on who you talk to. For some people, it means any non-Christian religion. For modern Pagans (that is, practitioners of religions based on pre-Christian or indigenous European faiths), it refers to a family of religions that are generally earth-oriented and polytheistic; it is sometimes called Neo-Paganism to differentiate it from the genuinely ancient religions that inspired it.

As I recall, Celtic Paganism in particular is a reconstructionist religion based on the pre-Christian religious practices of the Celtic peoples (who were spread out over most of Europe).

And I live in Manitoba, Canada.

Answer 8

I suppose it is the ancient pagan beliefs from the British Isle. Interesting considering Stonehenge and other sites around Britain.

Answer 9

I think that paganism is about recognising that we are linked with nature, we are not dominated by it, we have to care about it and we that a part of it.

I do not think it is necessary to 'worship' any diety in order to be a pagan (although many do), For myself, recognising the interconnectedness of all things is what makes a pagan path a spiritual one, even a religious one.

Being a pagan means having faith in that which is unknown, that which is uncertain in life. It is about growing emotionally and by this growth we achieve awareness of this interconnectedness

Being a pagan doesn't mean that we reject science (although we have the right to disagree with scientific discovery) in preference to revealed truth.

Being a pagan is, for me, not about donning fancy robes, taking part in laborious ceremonies or rituals. Neither is it about casting spells or such (though some believe that spells work). magic is about sensing this interconnectedness, realising that we are a part of that 'magic' and that at various levels of existence we influence 'it' in our daily lives. Some are conscious of this interconnectedness some choose to ignore it.

Personally, magic is about positive thought, sensing the future by tapping into this interconnectedness. some people call this psychic ability.

hmm. can't think of anything else.

Answer 10

Paganism is an umbrella term for any non-Abrahamic religion. Primarily, it refers to earth based revival religions such as Wicca, Asartru, and Shamanism. Also, Neopaganism. Generally, it does not refer to other polytheistic religions such as Hinduism, unless used in it's strict scholarly definition.