The rise of modern paganism - and the persistence of the real thing. Modern Paganism is a reaction against modern day, Patriarchal religions like Christianity, Islam and Judaism 2,000 years of worshiping a male God only has created quite the unbalance. To say it another way, modern Paganism is one of the happy stepchildren of modern, "Neopagan practices highlight the centrality of the relationship between humans and nature and reinvent religions of the past, while New Agers are more interested in transforming individual consciousness and shaping the future. [59] The English academic Graham Harvey noted that Pagans "rarely indulge in theology". Both masculine and feminine deities have light and dark aspects. Also accepted by many is the related definition purportedly provided by the ceremonial magician Dion Fortune: "magic is the art and science of changing consciousness according to the Will". As a result, Pagans believe the essence of their spirituality is both ancient and timeless, regardless of the age of specific religious movements. [157] Similarly, the New Age movement typically propounds a universalist message which sees all religions as fundamentally the same, whereas Paganism stresses the difference between monotheistic religions and those embracing a polytheistic or animistic theology. [118][119], Beit Asherah (the house of the Goddess Asherah) was one of the first Neopagan synagogues, founded in the early 1990s by Stephanie Fox, Steven Posch, and Magenta Griffiths (Lady Magenta). Since the 1960s and '70s, paganism and the then emergent counterculture, New Age, and hippie movements experienced a degree of cross-pollination. "[12], Discussing the relationship between the different Pagan religions, religious studies scholars Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson wrote that they were "like siblings who have taken different paths in life but still retain many visible similarities". Patti Wigington is a pagan author, educator, and licensed clergy. Some modern forms of Paganism have their roots in 19th century C.E. Wikipedia.com lists the following two primary elements of pagan beliefs. Some modern forms of Paganism have their roots in 19th century C.E. [93] The 1979 publication of Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon and Starhawk's The Spiral Dance opened a new chapter in public awareness of paganism. While this is by no means a complete list, it's a good place to get started. Human logic might say that one can do anything to show personal religious faith as long as the intent is to worship God. Hanegraaff suggested that whereas various forms of contemporary Paganism were not part of the New Age movement – particularly those who pre-dated the movement – other Pagan religions and practices could be identified as New Age. [25] Doyle White writes that modern religions that draw upon the pre-Christian belief systems of other parts of the world, such as Sub-Saharan Africa or the Americas, cannot be seen as part of the contemporary Pagan movement, which is "fundamentally Eurocentric". Traditional Christianity, characterized by what they view as tyrannical doctrine, has become of stone of offense to the devotees of this neo-pagan phenomenon. Magliocco noted that it was this world that pagans "strive to re-create in some measure". As a result, fairly detailed breakdowns of Pagan respondents are available. The 2001 UK Census figures did not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the Pagan heading, as a campaign by the Pagan Federation before the census encouraged Wiccans, Heathens, Druids and others all to use the same write-in term 'Pagan' in order to maximise the numbers reported. Numerous pagan groups – primarily Wiccan and Druidic – exist in Ireland though none is officially recognised by the Government. [37] Strmiska notes that Pagan groups can be "divided along a continuum: at one end are those that aim to reconstruct the ancient religious traditions of a particular ethnic group or a linguistic or geographic area to the highest degree possible; at the other end are those that freely blend traditions of different areas, peoples, and time periods. For other groups, all the gods and goddesses are r… One issue that comes up often for people learning about Pagan and Wiccan spirituality is the concept of appropriate worship. [62], One view in the Pagan community is that these polytheistic deities are not viewed as literal entities, but as Jungian archetypes or other psychological constructs that exist in the human psyche. Although they share similarities, contemporary Pagan religious movements are diverse, and do not share a single set of beliefs, practices, or texts. 10 days ago. Their pleas and offerings are documented in the hieroglyphs that adorn the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs, in the carvings and inscriptions left for us to read by the philosophers and teachers of ancient Greece and Rome. [36] Some such groups feel a particular affinity for the pre-Christian belief systems of a particular region with which they have no ethnic link because they see themselves as reincarnations of people from that society. This, in turn, leads Modern Pagans to recognize that there is diversity in the divine realm as well. Caitlyn Dwyer's article, "Meet the modern-day Pagans who Celebrate the Ancient Gods," describes a revival of the ancient Druid religion in America's Pacific Northwest. [54] Strmiska stresses that modern Paganism is a "new", "modern" religious movement, even if some of its content derives from ancient sources. The Di Selecti were considered the 20 main gods, while the Di Consentes comprised the 12 principal deities at the heart of the Roman Pantheon.. [167], The first international academic conference on the subject of Pagan studies was held at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, North-East England in 1993. [56] Most Pagans adopt an ethos of "unity in diversity" regarding their religious beliefs. [137], According to Helen A. Berger's 1995 survey "The Pagan Census", most American Pagans are middle-class, educated, and live in urban/suburban areas on the East and West coasts. [124] Nevertheless, there is a slow growing body of data on the subject. He also had an influence on Western converts to Hinduism, notably David Frawley and Koenraad Elst, who both have described Hinduism as a form of paganism. Magenta Griffiths is High Priestess of the Beit Asherah coven, and a former board member of the Covenant of the Goddess. At the 2001 census, there were a recorded 21080 Pagans in Canada. It delivers the ideas from people who walk and live the pathway. Various forms of Wicca have since evolved or been adapted from Gardner's British Traditional Wicca or Gardnerian Wicca, such as Alexandrian Wicca. George Watson MacGregor Reid founded the Druid Order in its current form in 1909. Contemporary Pagan ritual is typically geared towards "facilitating altered states of awareness or shifting mind-sets". [147], Based upon her work in the United States, Adler found that the pagan movement was "very diverse" in its class and ethnic background. card. [166], The earliest academic studies of contemporary Paganism were published in the late 1970s and 1980s by scholars like Margot Adler, Marcello Truzzi and Tanya Luhrmann, although it would not be until the 1990s that the actual multidisciplinary academic field of Pagan studies properly developed, pioneered by academics such as Graham Harvey and Chas S. Clifton. [163] They also express disapproval of Christianity's continued missionary efforts around the globe at the expense of indigenous and other polytheistic faiths. I’m an Arab and I worship the pre-islamic Arab deities as my gods. [168] In April 1996 a larger conference dealing with contemporary Paganism took place at Ambleside in the Lake District. [34], For some Pagan groups, ethnicity is central to their religion, and some restrict membership to a single ethnic group. Designed primarily for women, Goddess Spirituality revolves around the sacredness of the female form, and of aspects of women's lives that adherents say have been traditionally neglected in Western society, such as menstruation, sexuality and maternity. According to The Pagan Federation: “Paganism is the ancestral religion of the whole of humanity.” It is an ancient religious outlook which remains active throughout the modern world and can be seen as a “threefold outlook” on the world and the universe (also known as The Rule of Three, Three-fold Law or Law of Return). [102] Reconstructionism rose in the 1980s and 1990s. In addition, it is the annual cycle of life, death, and rebirth of some of these deities that defines the Pagan year. Neo-Druidry dates to the earliest forms of modern paganism: the Ancient Order of Druids founded in 1781 had many aspects of freemasonry, and has practiced rituals at Stonehenge since 1905. [64] Among many Pagans, there is a strong desire to incorporate the female aspects of the divine in their worship and within their lives, which can partially explain the attitude which sometimes manifests as the veneration of women.[β]. The origins of modern Paganism lie in the romanticist and national liberation movements that developed in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most common forms Neo-Pagan deities take are the Mother Earth Goddess, the Triple Goddess of the waxing, full, and waning moons, and a duo-form Horned God of the Sun and animal life. There are also Pagans who worship no gods at all, but follow a path that honors their ancestors instead. [81] Common Pagan festivals include those marking the summer solstice and winter solstice as well as the start of spring and the harvest. [105], The western LGBT community, often marginalized and/or outright rejected by Abrahamic-predominant mainstream religious establishments, has often sought spiritual acceptance and association in neopagan religious/spiritual practice. Heathens believe in multiple polytheistic deities adopted from historical Germanic mythologies. [78] In order to induce such altered states of consciousness, pagans utilize such elements as drumming, visualization, chanting, singing, dancing, and meditation. [19], The term "neo-pagan" was coined in the 19th century in reference to Renaissance and Romanticist Hellenophile classical revivalism. A better starting point for defining “paganism” is T. S. Eliot’s essay “The Idea of a Christian Society,” written in the dark days of 1938, where he proposes that the greatest enemy of modern Christianity is “modern paganism.” Reno and Smith alike summon Eliot as a sober authority in perilous times, but neither presents Eliot’s own account of the term in question. 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