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    Pagan 101

    Defining Paganism


    What *is* a pagan?

    Well...one way to look at it is that it is anyone that calls themselves a pagan .

    Or, if you go the dictionary route:
    The word pagan, according to Mirriam-Webster arises from 14th Middle English variation of the Latin paganus, meaning civilian or country dweller or from pagus, meaning country district.




    Other Views and Definitions:

    Our Ongoing, Never ending and somewhat tedious Debate on the Subject

    A Pagan or NeoPagan is someone who self-identifies as a Pagan, and whose spiritual or religious practice or belief fits into one or more of the following categories:
    *Honoring, revering, or worshipping a Deity or Deities found in pre-Christian, classical, aboriginal, or tribal mythology; and/or
    *Practicing religion or spirituality based upon shamanism, shamanic, or magickal practices; and/or
    *Creating new religion based on past Pagan religions and/or futuristic views of society, community, and/or ecology;
    *Focusing religious or spiritual attention primarily on the Divine Feminine; and/or
    *Practicing religion that focuses on earth based spirituality.
    from http://www.paganpride.org/who/who.html

    http://www.ourladyswarriors.org/dissent/defpagan.htm







    A look at paganism, its affinity for nudity, and how it differs from mainstream religions.
    Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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    #2
    Re: Pagan 101

    Defining Witchcraft
    Witchcraft, traditionally, the exercise or invocation of alleged supernatural powers to control people or events, practices typically involving sorcery or magic. Witchcraft thus defined is an imaginative stereotype that has a long history and has constituted for many cultures a viable explanation of evil in the world.


    This is the category where your questions about witches and witchcraft as a spiritual path should go. Based on an ancient shamanistic way of life, witchcraft is a spiritual system known as "The Craft of the Wise" and were a valuable part of villages and communities. Practitioners were the healers an...





    Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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      #3
      Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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        #4
        Re: Pagan 101

        Eveyonce in a while I come across what this or that person advises to some new soul that has just discovered paganism...sometimes the advice is good, sometimes it is fluff, and sometimes it is so freaking critical and mean it makes me wonder how anyone has a converstation with this person in the first place.

        So this is my two cents...my 7 step program to becoming pagan, so to say--really, IMO, to BEING pagan, since I really don't think you should ever stop doing any of these things...

        Thalassa's Guide for Newbies

        1. Read. Read everything. Read the boring academic stuff that puts you to sleep and read the fluff. Read what other people call crap--keep in mind that sometimes you can find something useful buried in it. Read what other people recommed, keep in mind that sometimes its crap. Read about mythology, philosophy, other religions, neuroscience, psychology, history, biology... Keep reading...and then use the stuff between your ears and think about it.

        2. Think. Think critically. Keep a journal to keep track of your thoughts, of the things you learn and of the things you like or dislike and why, of the things you agree with or don't and why. Make lists of the things that interest you. If you something interesting, research it--if you don't find it interesting, research it anyway...its always good to know what others think and why.

        3. Observe. Watch nature, follow her cycles. Learn about the place you occupy, geographically and ecologically. People watch. Find a group--or two---or ten that allow non-members to go to rituals, see how they do things. Go to a pagan festival or two, or ten--just to meet and talk to people and see what they do and why...you may learn something, you may not.

        4. Meditate. Meditate in whatever method and manner works for you, but try new things. Use visualization and guided imagry. Meditate to music, meditate to silence, meditate indoors and out. Try tai chi, or trance dance, get a drum, learn to play no matter how crappy you think you are. Use meditation to order your thoughts and your place in the cosmos. Be proficient in achieving a meditative state.

        5. Practice. Find what works for you. If it doesn't work the first time, try it again a few times. If it just doesn't work for you, find something that does. Practice only that which follows your sense of morality and ethics. Try new things. Try old things in new ways.

        6. Discuss. Exchange ideas. There few things that work as well for ordering thoughts and ideas and information that discussing them with others. Find someone to talk to about what you learn, find more than just someone to exchange ideas with if you need to. Take what everyone says with a grain of salt--for some people, you might need the whole shaker ...

        7. Remember: When you think you know everything is when you are the most ignorant.
        Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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          #5
          Re: Pagan 101

          A big list of (some) Traditions and Paths in Contemporary Paganism:


          This list is by no means comprehensive...it is meant just to illustrate the diversity of contemporary Pagan traditions.


          Wicca
          British Traditional Witchcraft
          Gardnerian Wicca
          Alexandrian Wicca
          Blue Star Wicca
          Georgian Wicca
          Correllian Wicca
          Dianic/Femenist Wicca
          Seax-Wicca*
          Faery Wicca
          Tameran Wicca (Egyptian)*
          Kemetic/Egyptian Wicca
          Celtic Wicca*
          Norse Wicca*
          Eclectic Wicca
          Celtic Paganism*
          Celtic Reconstruction**
          Druidry/Druidism
          Norse/Germanic Paganism*
          Heathenry/Asatru**
          Egyptian Paganism*
          Neos Alexandria (egyptian-greek syncretic)
          Kemetic Reconstruction
          Yoruba (West African indigenous religion)**
          Syncretic African Traditions**
          Cadomble
          Santeria
          Vodoun
          Hoodoo
          Shamanism***
          Neoshamanism
          Peruvian/Andean Shamanism
          Huna (Hawaiian)
          Reclaiming
          Feriferia
          Satire Traditions****
          Discordianism
          Subgenius
          FSM
          Greek/Hellenic Paganism*
          Hellenic Reconstruction**
          Roman Paganism*
          Roman Reconstruction (Religio Romana)
          Christo-Paganism
          Ceremonial Magick
          Thelema
          Golden Dawn
          Witchcraft Traditions
          Green Witchcraft
          Hedge Witchcraft
          Kitchen Witchcraft
          Italian Witchcraft (Strega/Stregaria)
          Pow-Wow
          Appalacian Granny Magic
          Eclectic Paganism
          Unitarian Universalist Pagan
          Mesopotamian Traditions


          Religions that are not a contemporary Pagan path, but are sometimes included under the Pagan umbrella
          Taoism
          Confucianism
          Shinto
          Hinduism
          Buddhism




          *Eclcetic traditions that predominantly incorporate a particular culture or pantheon
          **practitioners may choose not to self-identify as Pagan, but some will
          ***various cultues have their own 'type' of shamanism
          ****this is a personal categorization, not an official one, but it works
          ***** This is formed from a fusion of a few paths, or is syncretic

          Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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            #6
            Re: Pagan 101

            Wow is my head spinning.
            Tons of useful information and very well presented. This will take me sometime to process all that you have written on your post/tread. Been trying to figure out were I fit in and I'm sure this will help me.

            Thanks
            Gargoyles watch over me...I can hear them snicker in the dark.


            Pull the operating handle (which protrudes from the right side of the receiver) smartly to the rear and release it.

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              #7
              Re: Pagan 101

              Well done. Thanks for the lesson. It's good for all of us to revisit the basics from time to time.
              Sleep, my friend, and you will see
              That dream is my reality

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                #8
                Re: Pagan 101

                [quote author=Monk link=topic=37.msg23279#msg23279 date=1292682859]
                Been trying to figure out were I fit in and I'm sure this will help me.

                Thanks
                [/quote]Somewhere right between A and Z ...
                I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them ... John Bernard Books


                Indian Chief 'Two Eagles' was asked by a white government official; "You have observed the white man for 90 years. You've seen his wars and his technological advances. You've seen his progress, and the damage he's done."

                The Chief nodded in agreement.

                The official continued; "Considering all these events, in your opinion, where did the white man go wrong?"

                The Chief stared at the government official for over a minute and then calmly replied.. "When white man find land, Indians running it, no taxes, no debt, plenty buffalo, plenty beaver, clean water. Women did all the work, Medicine Man free. Indian man spend all day hunting and fishing; all night having sex."

                Then the chief leaned back and smiled; "Only white man dumb enough to think he could improve system like that."



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                  #9
                  Re: Pagan 101

                  This is the URL to a symbolism dictionary, it's the best list I could find atm... if I find a better one or a completive one, I'll change/add the URLs, unless I am suggested one by PM or PPP message.

                  http://symboldictionary.net/

                  And also a Encyclopedia Mythica dictionairy to help you understand names and terms we use on this forum.

                  http://www.pantheon.org/
                  Last edited by Taiga Pagan; 12 May 2011, 06:21.

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                    #10
                    Re: Pagan 101

                    Great Pagan 101 lesson, very informative!

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                      #11
                      Re: Pagan 101

                      Great Pagan 101 lesson

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                        #12
                        Re: Pagan 101

                        For some insight, both in terms of rituals and history, check this out...
                        Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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                          #13
                          Re: Pagan 101

                          Geeze Thalassa I love the stuff you post!
                          http://catcrowsnow.blogspot.com/

                          But they were doughnuts of darkness. Evil damned doughnuts, tainted by the spawn of darkness.... Which could obviously only be redeemed by passing through the fiery inferno of my digestive tract.
                          ~Jim Butcher

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                            #14
                            Re: Pagan 101

                            Originally posted by Maria de Luna View Post
                            Geeze Thalassa I love the stuff you post!
                            thanks!

                            /10 char
                            Wonderful Life: The Burgess Shale and the Nature of HistoryPagan Devotionals, because the wind and the rain is our Bible
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                              #15
                              Re: Pagan 101

                              Thanks. Found one of your definitions useful for my mate he now realizes he is a diest. Now if I can figure out what I am we'll be set lol...thanks for this topic.

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