Paganism: A Melting Pot of Spirituality

Similar to how many adult children of my generation answer the question of what they want to be when they grow up, defining Paganism - even to a practicing Pagan - is a struggle.

Before the start of this semester, I had no idea what it meant to be a Pagan. I had only heard the term tossed around in conversation a handful of times, never really curious as to what it meant. Religion is one of the topics that makes me uncomfortable, I’m sure a lot of you are on the same boat.

After reading about it and watching videos, Paganism started to grow on me.

If you have time and you were still interested after reading from The Practical Pagan, I recommend you watch this. If you don’t have 45 minutes to kill, or don’t feel like learning about one of the earliest and most productive civilizations of the Neolithic era, I’ll give a brief summary.

Pagans were wandering hunter/gatherers from over 6,000 years ago in the Scottish archipelago of Orkney. The islands did not have many trees, so Pagans had to be creative. They built homes and other structures out of sedimentary bedrock from the land. Structures built in a very similar manner to the homes were found to contain large quantities of human bones. This showed that the deceased were kept around and possibly worshiped by Pagans. Other structures, such as Stonehenge and nearby Woodhenge, were found to be created using the same methods.

Since there is no kept record of what went on in the history of the Pagans, archaeologists and historians had to make educated guesses as to what all of their findings were for. The more we find out about these structures, the more interesting the practices associated with them become. As the ancient world fell to Rome, so did nearly all the practices of Paganism. (Watch the video, it’s pretty cool)

The Practical Pagan also sheds a lot of light on what being a Pagan is. A few definitions from traditional sources get brought up immediately, but show some holes to the author. Some common themes to most general definitions include polytheistic people (people who believe in multiple gods) and non religious or limited religion people.

Some modern Pagans of today define their spiritual beliefs as being “Earth-based.” To these Pagans, “Deity can be a form of transcendent consciousness or the supreme pattern of energy in the Universe.” (The Practical Pagan) The Wheel of the Year was created by the Pagans and highlights the changing of the seasons and the annual greening of the Earth. The equinoxes are highlighted (days when the time of day and night are equal), along with the longest and shortest days of the year. The cycles of the moon are also highlighted in some practices by Wiccans or Witches (the book points out that there is a difference between Wiccans and Witches, but they are normally treated as one in the same, so the author doesn’t specify to save time).

Some Pagans define themselves only by what they are NOT. Some Christians refer to anyone not Christian as Pagan. Believe it or not, people from different religions sometimes don’t get along. There are some striking similarities to holidays celebrated by Christians when you compare them to Sabbats, or holy days on the Wiccan Wheel of the Year.

Samhain, the festival of the dead for Pagans. When livestock is slaughtered, the meat salted in preparation for the approaching winter season. Also known as “Witches’ New Year,” Samhain is traditionally celebrated on October 31. Not that Halloween is a religious holiday, but I had no idea it was passed down from Pagans.

I’m probably not supposed to just summarize the readings that we were supposed to do and I feel like I am doing a little bit of that. The moral of the story is, Paganism was very influential, but also very primitive. If Pagans were smart, they would have spent their time creating weapons to fight off enemies. Pagans didn’t create a method to live by in order to influence any other people. Pagans remind me of Native Americans.

There is a lot more to all of this, and I’m sorry if I’m missing anything really essential for this blogpost. I encourage you to look deeper. I’m excited about it! This could literally go on forever it seems.

Maybe Paganism still exists today because people are sick of religion, but still feel like there is something out there that is really in control. I can understand that. We’re all from the same place, we have to be connected somehow. What greater power is out there, if not the Earth itself? Itself or Herself?

In honor of the Pagan holiday Imbolg, which is today (Feb. 2), also happens to be my last half-birthday of my twenties. This is probably what most people think about when they think of Paganism, but we all know SO much more about it now, right?

Love,
Tyler