Putting It Out There

The following is a post that I had written for another blog:

When CJ came to me a while ago and asked me to write a guest post about my religion for her blog, my initial reaction was that it was quite an honor. My next reaction was, "Oh no, what should I write????" I am Pagan and have been for almost 11 years. My religion has a bad reputation and is widely misunderstood, so having the opportunity to explain things is both exciting and daunting.

I'll start off by clearing up a few common misconceptions. Pagans do not worship Satan. Pagans do not eat babies. Pagans do not sacrifice people or animals. Pagans are not interested in converting you, your children, or anyone else to our religion. If you've seen the movie, "The Craft," then you've seen a perfect example of what we are not.

Talking about what Paganism is, well, that's a lot more challenging. Paganism is an umbrella term that covers a wide range of belief systems. At the core of all of them is the concept that God/Goddess/Deity/Universal Spirit (or whatever you want to call him/her/it/them) is imminent. Divinity is present in the earth and in all living and natural things. That means that god is within me, within you, within my cat, within the trees, within the soil, within butterflies, within spiders, within the food we eat, even within the mountains and stones. God is not to be found, however, in man-made creations such as plastic, vinyl, or polyester, etc. Because of this belief, you'll find that most Pagans have a very strong sense of environmentalism, social justice, and a reverence for life and nature.

From there, it branches into multitudes of sub-religions. Paganism is an non-illuminated religion; there are no holy texts or prophets. It's about your personal experience with the divine, so there are almost as many variations as there are Pagans. It's common to find Pagans who are polytheistic - ranging from as few as 2 deities to as many as thousands. Some believe in only one god or universal spirit, and some believe that all gods are facets of one overarching power. Most of us believe in reincarnation, and few, if any, of us believe in eternal damnation. Some believe that they are practicing truly ancient traditions that have been handed down from generation to generation, dating back to pre-Christian times. Others have done their best to reconstruct what they think was practiced in ancient times based on archaeological evidence and texts. Still others, myself included, think that we are worshipping ancient gods in a completely new way that is pertinent to modern life. Some of the more common Pagan traditions are Wicca, Druidism (or neo-Druidism), Asatru, Witchcraft, Shamanism, and Order of the Golden Dawn.

One of the most controversial practices common in Paganism is the use of magic. The word conjures images of wart-faced hags chanting evil things over a massive cauldron filled with vile substances like eye of newt and tongue of bat. The reality is much less dramatic, and much less scary. At its core, magic is putting your will into the universe in order to affect change. Many Pagans ask for their spells to be blessed by a deity or deities. In fact, prayer is one very potent form of magic. Making a wish and blowing out the candles on a birthday cake is another somewhat less potent form of magic. At its core, magic is not evil or good. It is a tool, and just as a chainsaw can be used constructively, it can also be used for nefarious purposes. Fortunately, Pagans have very strict ethical codes regarding magic. The most common rule boils down to: do what you want, as long as it doesn't harm anyone. This means that curses and hexes (spells intended to hurt someone), and even most love spells are forbidden. The most common spells are those of healing, good luck, and in today's economy, help finding a job. The second most common rule is that you may never cast a spell on someone or for someone without their knowledge and consent. Another is the "rule of three," which states that whatever you do comes back to you three times. It's basically karma - if you do something good, good things will happen to you, but if you do something bad, bad things happen to you. It's a very strong motivator to only cast benevolent spells!

Obviously, this post only touches on the smallest fraction of what Paganism is. www.witchvox.com is a great online resource for additional information if you're interested.