[174] Thus, many pagans keep their religion private to avoid discrimination and ostracism. Four groups come to mind: 1. The ECER has made efforts to establish mutual support with Hindu groups, as has the Lithuanian Romuva movement. [143] Further support for Adler's idea came from American Wiccan priestess Judy Harrow, who noted that among her comrades, there was a feeling that "you don't become pagan, you discover that you always were". This is connected with a belief in either pantheism or panentheism. Common pagan devotional practices have thus been compared to similar practices in Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodox Christianity, but contrasted with that in Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam. At one end is reconstructionism, which seeks to revive historical pagan religions; examples are Heathenry (Germanic), Rodnovery (Slavic), and Hellenism (Greek). [31] Pagan as a self-designation appeared in 1964 and 1965, in the publications of the Witchcraft Research Association; at that time, the term was in use by Wiccans in the United States and the United Kingdom, but unconnected to the broader, counterculture pagan movement. [32], According to Strmiska, the reappropriation of the term "pagan" by modern pagans served as "a deliberate act of defiance" against "traditional, Christian-dominated society", allowing them to use it as a source of "pride and power". We all need to heed these prophetic and timely warningsand avoid being drawn into this pagan revival! In Soviet Russia, all religion was banned. Author Richard Rudgley discusses similar themes in his book The Return of Odin: The Modern Renaissance of Pagan Imagination, where he looks at this notion of a pagan revival primarily through the workings of Carl Jung's idea of an "Odinic archetype." In essence, the holdovers from ancient evolutionary ideas deep within the human mind (or . [173] They also express disapproval of Christianity's continued missionary efforts around the globe at the expense of indigenous and other polytheistic faiths. [56], Eclectic paganism takes an undogmatic religious stance [57] and therefore potentially sees no one as having authority to deem a source apocryphal. 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.[112]. Further, some convents only accepted women of the nobility or those who . Pagan practices in Europe by then were very rural, isolated, and irregularly organized and were only disappearing as the days passed. "[44] Strmiska argues that these two poles could be termed reconstructionism and eclecticism, respectively. [98] On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [91], The Romantic movement of the 18th century led to the re-discovery of Old Gaelic and Old Norse literature and poetry. [152][153], In response, groups and sects inclusive of or specific to LGBT people have developed. In fact, while the Nazis initially tried to coopt Christianity, their goal was to. In places like the UK pagans like Druid and Wiccan's doubled in size from 2001 and 2011 and definitely still growing. Some modern forms of Paganism have their roots in 19th century C.E. SS leader Heinrich Himmler designed the . Heathenry is a term used to describe the religious practices of two main groups of people, one historical and one modern. Is a Pagan revival possible in Europe? T hey don't look very Christianthose strange faces made of leaves, and those women displaying cartoonishly enlarged genitals on the walls of medieval churches. [10] A second, less common definition found within pagan studiespromoted by the religious studies scholars Michael F. Strmiska and Graham Harveycharacterises modern paganism as a single religion, of which groups like Wicca, Druidry, and Heathenry are denominations. Many such pagans aim for an explicitly ecocentric practice, which may overlap with scientific pantheism. For other uses, see, Naturalism, ecocentrism, and secular paths, "The very persons who would most writhe and wail at their surroundings if transported back into early Greece, would, I think, be the neo-pagans and Hellas worshipers of today." [8] Most scholars describe modern paganism as a broad array of different religions, not a single one. [109], In the 1990s, Wiccan beliefs and practices were used as a partial basis for a number of US films and television series, such as The Craft, Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leading to a surge in teenagers' and young adults' interest and involvement in the religion. The evidence of the religious activities of the prehistoric inhabitants of western Europe is remarkable: on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea in Wales, the Paviland caves have revealed one of the earliest magico-religious sites in the world, where around 26,000 years ago a group of humans carefully interred a skeleton, wrapping the body in red cloth or rubbing it with . They have also suggested that these could all be included under the rubric of "paganism". 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. [108], Historian Ronald Hutton identified a wide variety of different sources that influenced Wicca's development, including ceremonial magic, folk magic, Romanticist literature, Freemasonry, and the witch-cult theory of English archaeologist Margaret Murray. C hristianity is declining in Europe. [66] In fact, many American neopagans first came to their adopted faiths because it allowed a greater freedom, diversity, and tolerance of worship among the community. [75], All pagan movements place great emphasis on the divinity of nature as a primary source of divine will, and on humanity's membership of the natural world, bound in kinship to all life and the Earth itself. [58] Strmiska asserts that contemporary paganism could be viewed as a part of the "much larger phenomenon" of efforts to revive "traditional, indigenous, or native religions" that were occurring across the globe. The decentralised nature of paganism and sheer number of solitary practitioners further complicates matters. Here is an article about the pagan revival: Unlike in western Europe, paganism among the Mari constitutes an unbroken tradition rather than a New Age construction. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation's languages, the book describes how Ireland's pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era--and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth . Most of what is considered Christian Europe is actually pagan Europe . Faith, ethics and loyalty . Although the movement is small, there is a religious movement attempting to revive the worship of the ancient Greek gods . [81], Domestic worship typically takes place in the home and is carried out by either an individual or family group. Conflict naturally arises, however, as some neopagan belief systems and sect ideologies stem from fundamental beliefs in the male-female gender binary, heterosexual pairing, resulting heterosexual reproduction, and/or gender essentialism. She further recounted her mother's abandonment of Sioux religion and the unsuccessful attempts of a "native preacher" to get her to attend the village church. Pay Less. [82], The belief in magical rituals and spells is held by a "significant number" of contemporary pagans. Religio Romana is a modern Pagan reconstructionist religion based upon the ancient faith of pre-Christian Rome. ", Letcher (2001) "The Scouring of the Shire: Fairies, Trolls and Pixies in Eco-Protest Culture", Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia, Europe's Last Pagans Worship in Mari-El Grove, "Christians! Butler, Jenny, "Irish neo-paganism". Historians now reject Murray's theory, as she based it partially upon the similarities of the accounts given by those accused of witchcraft; such similarity is now thought to actually derive from there having been a standard set of questions laid out in the witch-hunting manuals used by interrogators. [77], Such views have also led many pagans to revere the planet Earth as Mother Earth, who is often referred to as Gaia after the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth. Inside Iceland's pagan revival. Writing in the 1430s, Matteo Palmieri of Florence celebrated "this new age, so full of hope and promise" with a greater collection of "nobly-gifted souls" than the world had seen in a thousand years.Like others of his day, Palmieri believed he was living in a special time, a period of tremendous intellectual and artistic creativity inspired by the . Among modern Pagans, there are two approaches to reviving pagan practices. [120], Some Unitarian Universalists are eclectic pagans. [164] Ethan Doyle White stated that while the pagan and New Age movements "do share commonalities and overlap", they were nevertheless "largely distinct phenomena. This includes animism, nature religion, Druidism, pantheism, and Wicca/Witchcraft. [60] The English academic Graham Harvey noted that pagans "rarely indulge in theology". At the other end are eclectic movements, which blend elements of historical paganism with other religions and philosophies; examples are Wicca, neo-Druidry, and the Goddess movement. Polytheism, animism, and pantheism are common features of pagan theology. Pagan Definition. Why is Paganism and other Occult beliefs booming in Europe, America and beyond? Neopaganist beliefs and practices are extremely diverse, some tending towards syncretic melding of once-diverse practices and beliefs, others bordering on the historical reenactment of meticulously . 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. 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". Oh, and there's nothing Pagan in "Harry Potter." The only religion even implied in any of the HP books is Christianity. [148] She went on to remark that she had encountered pagans in jobs that ranged from "fireman to PhD chemist" but that the one thing that she thought made them into an "elite" was as avid readers, something that she found to be very common within the pagan community despite the fact that avid readers constituted less than 20% of the general population of the United States at the time. [6] The academic field of pagan studies began to coalesce in the 1990s, emerging from disparate scholarship in the preceding two decades. Acceptance. [136] Up to 0.4% of respondents answered "pagan" or "Wiccan" when polled. . Aby Warburgbibliophile, scholar, library founderhas become known as one of the most original and brilliant art historians of the twentieth century. It actually dates back much longer than that: it has roots in Hinduism and old Persian beliefs, but it moved to Northern Europe and mingled with indigenous beliefs . Eco-paganism and Eco-magic, which are offshoots of direct action environmental groups, strongly emphasize fairy imagery and a belief in the possibility of intercession by the fae (fairies, pixies, gnomes, elves, and other spirits of nature and the Otherworlds). While the pagan community has tremendous variety in political views spanning the whole of the political spectrum, environmentalism is often a common feature. National holidays are often accompanied by fireworks, and sometimes processions and official ceremonies. A neopagans movement drawing from various syncretic practices that had survived among the Christianised Mari people was initiated in 1990,[133] and was estimated in 2004 to have won the adherence of 2% of the Mordvin people. These currents coincided with Romanticist interest in folklore and occultism, the widespread emergence of pagan themes in popular literature, and the rise of nationalism. As a result, pagans believe the essence of their spirituality is both ancient and timeless, regardless of the age of specific religious movements. It is also fewer than the adherents of Jediism, whose campaign made them the fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.[]. Most people who have explored the medieval architecture of Western Europe have heard a tour guide explain that a particular carving or decorative feature is a pagan image obtruding itself subversively in a Christian sacred space. Although they share similarities, contemporary pagan movements are diverse, and do not share a single set of beliefs, practices, or texts. [82] Later that year, attacks on immigrants reportedly doubled. The Pre-Druidic Period. According to this view, human society was formerly a matriarchy, with communities being egalitarian, pacifistic, and focused on the worship of the Mother goddess,[117] which was subsequently overthrown by violent and warlike patriarchal hordes - usually Indo-European pastoralists who worshipped male sky-gods,[117] and continued to rule through the form of Abrahamic religions, specifically Christianity in the West. [135], In the 2011 Australian census, 32083 respondents identified as pagan. The 19th century saw a surge of interest in Germanic paganism with the Viking revival in Victorian Britain[] and Scandinavia, and the Vlkisch movement in Germany. It draws inspirations from historical Druids, the priest caste of the ancient pagan Celts. Magliocco noted that it was this world that pagans "strive to re-create in some measure". [149] Magliocco came to a somewhat different conclusion based upon her ethnographic research of pagans in California, remarking that the majority were "white, middle-class, well-educated urbanites" but that they were united in finding "artistic inspiration" within "folk and indigenous spiritual traditions". The Celtic revival in Ireland is an example of a: a. revivalistic movement. As this secret wisdom can almost always be traced to recent sources, tellers of these stories have often later admitted they made them up. The animistic aspects of pagan theology assert that all things have a soul - not just humans or organic life - so this bond is held with mountains and rivers as well as trees and wild animals. [146], Adler went on to note that from those she interviewed and surveyed in the US, she could identify a number of common factors that led to people getting involved in paganism: the beauty, vision and imagination that was found within their beliefs and rituals, a sense of intellectual satisfaction and personal growth that they imparted, their support for environmentalism or feminism, and a sense of freedom. [] By the mid-1930s "neopagan" was being applied to new religious movements like Jakob Wilhelm Hauer's German Faith Movement and Jan Stachniuk's Polish Zadruga, usually by outsiders and often pejoratively. [26], Many scholars have favored the use of "neopaganism" to describe this phenomenon, with the prefix "neo-" serving to distinguish the modern religions from their ancient, pre-Christian forerunners. [160], "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. In this article, the author surveys the history of Neo-Paganism from the Romantic movement to the 20th-century revival of Witchcraft, Druidism, Asatru and other forms of Pagan religion. [86] English esotericist Gerald Gardner was at the forefront of the burgeoning Wiccan movement. [97] 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. Its statistics service only collects limited religious information each decade. [49] At the 2001 census, there were a recorded 21080 pagans in Canada. [70], A key part of most pagan worldviews is the holistic concept of a universe that is interconnected. I lived in Europe from 1992-2000, but was not pagan at the time. Religious studies scholar Sarah Pike asserted that in the United States, there was a "significant overlap" between modern paganism and New Age,[163] while Aidan A. Kelly stated that paganism "parallels the New Age movement in some ways, differs sharply from it in others, and overlaps it in some minor ways". What Paganism Is. In the early medieval ages, these religions were influential, and, in some cases, they were even the official . [104] Their main god is Tura, a deity comparable to the Estonian Taara, the Germanic Thunraz and the pan-Turkic Tengri. ", Religious studies scholar Michael Strmiska[43], Another division within modern paganism rests on differing attitudes to the source material surrounding pre-Christian belief systems. Because of these different approaches there is disagreement on when or if the term pagan should be capitalized, though specialists in the field of pagan studies tend towards capitalisation.[4]. This ancient religious outlook remains active throughout much of the world today, both in complex civilisations such as Japan and India, and in less complex tribal societies world-wide. Many years after the last inscriptions to the Eastern divinities had been dedicated in the provinces, such dedications were sufficiently numerous at Rome, particularly so during the closing years of the fourth century, when the pagan revival reached its culmination. 12 October 2016. Adherents rely on pre-Christian, folkloric, and ethnographic sources to a variety of degrees; many follow a spirituality that they accept as entirely modern, while others claim prehistoric beliefs, or else attempt to revive indigenous religions as accurately as possible. [172] Some pagans have claimed that Christian authorities have never apologized for the religious displacement of Europe's pre-Christian belief systems, particularly following the Roman Catholic Church's apology for past anti-semitism in its A Reflection on the Shoah. [166] Various differences between the two movements have been highlighted; the New Age movement focuses on an improved future, whereas the focus of Paganism is on the pre-Christian past. Greece is no exception. [144] They have also been supported by Pagan studies scholar Graham Harvey. [14] Rountree wrote that it was wrong to assume that "expressions of Paganism can be categorized straight-forwardly according to region", but acknowledged that some regional trends were visible, such as the impact of Catholicism on paganism in Southern Europe. He claimed to have been initiated by the New Forest coven in 1939, and that the religion he discovered was a survival of the pagan witch-cult described in Murray's theory. 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