October 20th 2017
You hear me talking (or writing) about Paganism a lot, but what actually is it? It’s probably easier to define what Paganism isn’t, rather than what it is. It is not one of the three Abrahamic ‘organised’ religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) which all developed from the traditional teachings of the prophet Abraham.
Paganism is an umbrella term that we apply to a lot of different traditions, such as Modern Pagan Witchcraft (or Wicca), Druidism, Heathenism, etc. These religions all usually have some form of believe about the Divine being found in Nature, so ‘Nature worship’ is usually at the centre of their practices. This doesn’t mean we worship rocks and believe they are gods! It means that we have a different set of beliefs about where the Divine is to be found. While the Abrahamic religions may believe that God created the world and then withdrew, we commune with the Divine through time in nature. For us, the Divine is not something we believe in, it is something we experience for ourselves.
What makes it more complicated is that each individual Pagan will have a different idea about the Divine, and Nature, and they will also have a different perspective on how their spiritual beliefs are practiced. You may start to see now how we are seen as a ‘non-organised religion’.
