| Amazingly Useful Scribblings |
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| * PAGANISM * |
  | If I say the word "Pagan" what does it mean to you? What about "Witch" or "Druid"? These terms have become incredibly loaded over the years, and no doubt words like "witch" and "druid" will summon up typical images of old hags on broomsticks, or old men in robes. The thing is, NONE of the stereotypes will match any (or at least 99%) of pagans you will ever meet (you may not even realise that you have met them).
Pagans come from all walks of life, are of all ages, all kinds of social backgrounds, and will look like just about anyone else you know. There's a reason for that; pagans ARE just ordinary people, and are exactly like the people you know and meet every day. Paganism is a broad term that covers shamanism, witchcraft, druidry, and many more. At the heart of most pagan belief systems however, you will find some common characteristics:
* Nature-based spirituality
* Belief in a balance between masculine and feminine energy
* A belief in being free to be yourself, as long as you do no harm to others
A lot of myths surround paganism, and much of these stem from ancient history, or from those exceptions where a peculiar form of paganism is to be found. Generally speaking though, pagans do not worship satan, nor do pagans sacrifice babies, adults or animals.
While you will find some pagans practice highly developed rituals for honouring nature, you will find as many, if not more, whose pagan practices are hardly noticable. Honouring nature for them will take the form of walking within the local landscape, sitting a while contemplating, meditating and connecting with the earth.
No matter what your own personal belief system may be, I would urge you to read a little about what paganism actually is. A lack of understanding, and a fear of the unknown, is the cause of so much pain, anger, death and suffering in this world, so any steps we can take to prevent that will be good.
Personally speaking, I knew the established religions didn't resonate with me around the age of 7, I almost found my way around the age of 18 but missed the signposts. Everything finally dropped into place about 5 or 6 years ago and the really weird thing, for me anyway, is that exploring my pagan nature, and reading up on various pagan-related topics, I actually started to understand established/formal religion a lot more. At the heart of modern-day religions, if you go back to the origins, you can see a lot of common ground with the pagan belief systems that stretch back into pre-history.
I could probably go on all night, but for now at least, here are some links on topics such as "What is Paganism?", so please have a look, and please do so with an open mind. Please also post comments and let's see if we can have a good discussion on this subject.
I hope I give you food for thought anyway.
Bright blessings to you all from a normal, down-to-earth Pagan :)
Gaz
http://www.paganfederation.org/paganism.htm
http://elevated.freeyellow.com/page25.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism
http://paganinstitute.org/PI/what_is_paganism.html
http://www.witchcraft.org/info.htm
http://www.angelfire.com/realm2/amethystbt/witchcraftwhatisit.html
http://www.thedance.com/wicca101/wtblv.htm
http://www.reclaiming.org/about/witchfaq/faq.html
| | Posted: 20 June 2008 at 09:41 | Read 50 times | 6 comments | Leave Comment |
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