Did the Pagan religion originate from an earlier religion? Do Pagans worship mythological gods and goddesses?

Question

and nature's elements?

I would like to know more about this religion. Thank you.

It's hard to be specific because I don't know much about this religion, which is why I'm asking questions about it. How many different types of Paganism are out there? I guess I'd like to start by learning about the basic one, if there is such.

Answer 1

SOME Pagan religions originate from earlier religions and worship Classical Gods and Goddess from various cultures including the Greek, Norse and Egyptian. Others are more modern.

This is not a singular religion, but rather a group of religions.....

Answer 2

I am a North American Eclectic Wiccan. I am also the High Priest of Yarrow Coven, a small group of twelve people who come together to fellowship and worship on our Sabbats and sometimes on the Esbats. Each of us also have a personal spirituality outside of the group. Our coven Patron Goddess is Breed/Breet/Bret/Brigid. My personal Goddess is Epona. Pan and Lugh are the Patron Gods Of Yarrow. We worship these Gods and Goddesses because they speak to us. I personally did not choose my deities. They came to me with the offer of power and a accepted. We have a Covenstead that has been used for many years and has aquired much residual energy about it. It is also the home of several benevolent spirits. We have even given them names. Covens are small and are very much a family. It is difficult to join one because the members are so close and because even one vote against a Dedicant will generally be enough to not ask them to be Initaited into the coven. The alternative to a coven is one of the MANY spiritual communities that have sprung up over the last twenty years. These can have any number of members and some are very large. They generally meet for our holy days and host retreats and festivals and other religious and social activities. We will often write our own 'scripture' and there has been much passed down the last sixty years since Wicca was first established. We believe that we should keep that which works for us and discard what doesn't. I know that not all Wiccan traditions will agree with our way of worship and our ways of doing things and that's OK. We all follow the basic principles for the most part.

Answer 3

Well....pagan religion IS the earlier religion, but today's paganism draws HEAVILY if not COMPLETELY off of those religions. Especially the reconstructionalist. Many of our ways and our beliefs never really died at all. Read up on Norse Yule. It is all VERY familiar, I assure you.

To us the Gods are NOT mythical. They are very real. If you are a theist (I don't know if you are) and you have an experience with YOUR god, that is how WE feel. I have met my gods, they are VERY real to me. I am Heathen, also known as Asatru. My gods are my Elder Kin, my ancestors. Odin, Freyja, Thor etc. They are all separate individuals. They are not "representative" of any OTHER god or nature. Thor is god of thunder, he does not "represent" it. (One of my friends will be beyond thrilled I just typed that).
As questions beyond this and you would have to be more specific. You have to realize there are a ton of traditions (denominations) with in paganism. You have Wicca, Hellenistic, Asatru/Heathen,Romano, Celtic, Kemetic...see the gist? That's like asking what's the difference between Catholic and Baptist. Sure there is an underlying theme per say, but they are different. Make sense?

Answer 4

Pagan is a general, BROAD, term used to describe many different beliefs. The general definition is one who is not a Christian/Jew/Muslim. Another definition is a person who follows a Polytheistic Religion (which are many, not just one religion) As a Pagan, I do not believe the gods are Myths. I don't worship nature, but I do view nature as being Sacred.

www.witchvox.com

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

Answer 5

"Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "an old 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 polytheistic 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 Indian religions (such as Hinduism, Jainism), 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 proselytism, and the presence of a living mythology which explains religious practice.[1]

The term "pagan" is a Christian adaptation of the "gentile" of Judaism, and as such has an inherent Christian or Abrahamic bias, and pejorative connotations among Westerners,[2] comparable to heathen, and infidel, 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, pantheism, or animism."

Answer 6

I don't know much about paganism. But there are many types of paganism. Some focus on "witch craft" while others never do that sort of thing. Try to pick one type to focus on.

Try first learning about the ancient ones like in Greece and Rome.

Answer 7

There is no one Pagan religion. Paganism is the lak of Abrahamic monotheistic religion in a belief system.

Answer 8

All religions known today originated from mythological gods and goddesses, and the the beginnings of religion throughout the world originated with fear and superstition. Not much has changed, has it?

Answer 9

ALL worship of deities is worship of mythological deities. Pagans do not fall under some easy umbrella, however, so you'll have to be more specific.