Neopaganism
Encyclopedia
Neopaganism is an umbrella term
used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements
, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan
beliefs of pre-modern Europe. Although they do share commonalities, contemporary pagan religious movements are extremely diverse, and there is no set of beliefs, practices or religious texts shared by all of them.
Contemporary paganism has been characterised as "a synthesis of historical inspiration and present-day creativity", in this manner drawing influences from pre-Christian, folkloric and ethnographic sources in order to fashion new religious movements. The extent to which contemporary pagans use these sources differs; many follow a spirituality which they accept is entirely modern, whilst others attempt to reconstruct
or revive indigenous, ethnic religions as found in historical and folkloric sources as accurately as possible.
Neopagan movements emerged in Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, influenced by the wider occult movement; these included Thelema
, Wicca
and Adonism
. With the rise of the counterculture during the 1960s, paganism continued to adapt and spread, particularly throughout the U.S., where radical new approaches emerged that dealt with contemporary social issues and interests, such as neoshamanism
, the Goddess movement
and the Radical Faeries
. At the same time, some ethnic nationalist groups began to adopt pagan religions during the 20th century, leading to the rise of forms of Heathenry and Slavic neopaganism
. Today, paganism remains particularly strong in the United States
and the United Kingdom
, although there are also groups active across Continental Europe and to a lesser extent other parts of the world.
Although the pagan movement is extremely disparate in its beliefs and practices, a number of sociologists and religious studies scholars have highlighted commonalities shared within many, if not all, pagan groups. Most modern pagan groups hold to a theology
that embraces such beliefs as polytheism
, animism
, and pantheism
, although there are groups who have instead advocated forms of Goddess-centred monotheism
, agnosticism
or atheism
. Similarly, beliefs about an afterlife vary widely, as do conceptions on ethics and morality. Ritual plays a prominent part in pagan religious movements, where it is typically employed to induce an altered state of consciousness in the participants. The choice of festivals and days of special commemoration again differs widely among pagans, although a majority adhere to a set of eight seasonal-based festivals, which are collectively referred to as the Wheel of the Year
.
and Romanticist Hellenophile classical revivalism.
"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 "revivalist Witches" in the United States and the United Kingdom, but unconnected to the broader, counter-culture Pagan movement. The modern popularisation of the terms "pagan" and "neopagan", as they are currently understood, is largely traced to Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
, co-founder of "the 1st Neo-Pagan Church of All Worlds
" who, beginning in 1967 with the early issues of Green Egg
, used both terms for the growing movement. This usage has been common since the pagan revival in the 1970s, and is now used by academics and adherents alike to identify new religious movement
s that emphasize pantheism or nature-worship, or that revive or reconstruct aspects of historical polytheism. Increasingly, scholarly writers prefer the term "contemporary paganism" to cover all new polytheistic religious movements, a usage favoured by The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, the leading peer-reviewed
journal
in the field.
The term "neopagan" provides a means of distinguishing between historical pagans of ancient cultures and the adherents of modern religious movements. This category of religions includes syncretic or eclectic approaches like Wicca
, Neo-druidism
, and neoshamanism
at one end of the spectrum, as well as culturally specific traditions, such as the many varieties of polytheistic reconstructionism
, at the other. Some Reconstructionists reject the term "neopagan" because they wish to set their historically oriented approach apart from generic "neopagan" eclecticism. "Heathen", "Heathenism" or "Heathenry" as a self-designation of adherents of Germanic neopaganism
(Theodism in particular) appeared in the late 1990s.
noted that Pagans "rarely indulge in theology."
, the belief in, and veneration of, more than one god and/or goddess. Polytheism was a trait common to the pre-Christian religions of Europe, and is also common to a wide variety of religions around the world, from which contemporary pagans draw on.
For many in the pagan community, these polytheistic deities are however not viewed as literal entities, but as Jungian archetypes
that exist in the human psyche. Many pagans adopt attitudes similar to that of American theologian David Miller, the professor of religion at Syracuse University
who argued, in his book The New Polytheism, that the adoption of a polytheistic worldview would be beneficial for western society, replacing the dominant monotheism
that both Miller and many pagans believe is by its very nature politically and socially repressive. Adler remarked that many pagans informed her of how they had adopted polytheism because it allowed a greater freedom, diversity and tolerance of worship amongst the community than that permitted in monotheistic religions. Adler noted that it was this belief in polytheism that had allowed the "multitude" of different pagan religions to "exist more or less in harmony", as in enabled them to accept the existence and worship of one another's deities. Indeed, most pagans adopt an ethos of "unity in diversity" regarding their religious beliefs.
In Wicca, (especially Dianic Wicca
) the concept of an Earth or Mother Goddess
similar to the Greek Gaia
is emphasized. Male counterparts are usually also evoked, such as the Green Man
and the Horned God
(who is loosely based on the Celtic Cernunnos
.) These Duotheistic philosophies tend to emphasize the God and Goddess' (or Lord and Lady's) genders as being complementary opposites analogous to that of yin and yang
in ancient Chinese philosophy
. Many Oriental philosophies equate weakness with femininity and strength with masculinity; this is not the prevailing attitude in paganism and Wicca. 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. Other neopagans reject the concept of binary gender role
s.
. For modern pagans, this "is used to imply a reality in which all things are imbued with vitality." Many pagans believe that there are specific spirits which inhabit various features in the natural world, and that these can be actively communicated with. Some pagans have reported experiencing communication with spirits dwelling in rocks, plants, trees and animals, as well as power animals or animal spirits
who can act as spiritual helpers or guides. Animism was also a concept to common to many pre-Christian European religions, and in adopting it, contemporary pagans are attempting to "allow their participants to reenter the primeval worldview, to participate in nature in a way that is not possible for most Westerners after childhood."
and panentheism
, both beliefs that divinity and the material and/or spiritual universe are one and the same. For pagans, it means that "divinity is inseperable from nature and that deity is immanent in nature."
Dennis D. Carpenter noted that the belief in a pantheistic or panentheistic deity has led to the idea of interconnectedness playing a key part in pagans' worldviews. The prominent Wiccan priestess Starhawk
related that a core part of goddess-centred pagan witchcraft was "the understanding that all being is interrelated, that we are all linked with the cosmos as parts of one living organism. What affects one of us affects us all."
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.
or soul that inhabits the human body and which survives bodily destruction.
, which states that those who follow it should "do as you will, as long as you harm none". First developing in the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca, the Rede spread throughout much of the pagan movement in the 1960s.
Alternative ethical codes can also be found within the pagan movement. The pagan religion of Thelema
, founded in 1904 by the English occultist Aleister Crowley
, instead advocated the law of "Do What Thou Wilt", arguing that Thelemites should attune themselves to follow their own True Will
, and therefore the Cosmic Will of the universe.
came to the conclusion, based upon her ethnographic fieldwork in California, that certain pagan beliefs "arise from what they experience during religious ecstasy".
Sociologist Margot Adler
highlighted how several pagan groups, like the Reformed Druids of North America
and the Erisian movement
refuse to take their rituals seriously, instead incorporating into them a great deal of play
. She noted that there are those who would argue that "the Pagan community is one of the only spiritual communities that is exploring humor, joy, abandonment, even silliness and outrageousness as valid parts of spiritual experience."
).
and the practice of magical rituals are followed by a "significant number" of contemporary Pagans. Among those who do believe in it, there are a variety of different views as to what magic is, but many Pagans adhere to the definition of magic provided by the founder of Thelema, Aleister Crowley
, who defined it as "the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will." Another related definition accepted by many Pagans is that purported by the ceremonial magician Dion Fortune
, who declared that "Magic is the art and science of changing consciousness according to the Will."
Among these are Wicca, Neoshamanism, Neo-Druidism, and other pagan belief systems, the rituals of which were at least initially partially based upon those of ceremonial magic
.
, and the reintroduction of Classicism
and the resurgence of interest in Graeco-Roman polytheism in the wake of works like the Theologia mythologica
of 1532 as well as a revived interest in Greco-Roman magic, studied systematically in Renaissance magic
. Although apart from the practice of magic, this was not a revival of pagan cultic practice, the Renaissance was a "rebirth" of the philosophy of pagan antiquity especially Platonism
(or Neo-Platonism, Plotinism
), but also Epicureanism
, re-introduced by Baroque philosopher Pierre Gassendi
, described as a "new paganism" in the history of philosophy
.
The Romantic
movement of the 18th century led to the re-discovery of Old Gaelic and Old Norse literature
and poetry. Neo-druidism
can be taken to have its origins as early as 1717 with the foundation of The Druid Order
. The 19th century saw a surge of interest in Germanic paganism
with the Viking revival
in Victorian Britain
and Scandinavia
. In Germany
the Völkisch movement
was in full swing. These pagan currents coincided with Romanticist interest in folklore
and occultism, the widespread emergence of pagan themes in popular literature
, and the rise of nationalism
.
, Neo-druidism
and various Western occult groups emerged, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
and the Ordo Templi Orientis
, who attempted to syncretize "exotic" elements like Egypt
ian cosmology and Kabbalah
into their belief systems, although not necessarily for purely religious purposes. Influenced by the anthropologist Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough
, several prominent writers and artists were involved in these organizations, including William Butler Yeats
, Maud Gonne
, Arthur Edward Waite
, and Aleister Crowley
. Along with these early occult organizations, there were other social phenomena such as the interest in mediumship
, magic
, and other supernatural beliefs which was at an all time high in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Another important influence during this period was the Romantic
aesthetic movement, which venerated the natural world and frequently made reference to the deities of antiquity. The Romantic poets, essayists, artists and authors who employed these themes in their work were later associated with socially progressive attitudes towards sexuality
, feminism
, pacifism
and similar issues.
theorized that a Witchcraft
religion existed underground and in secret, and had survived through the witchcraft prosecutions that had been enacted by the ecclesiastical
and secular courts. Most 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-hunt
ing manuals used by interrogators. Murray's ideas nevertheless exerted great influence on certain pagan currents; in the 1940s, Englishman Gerald Gardner
claimed to have been initiated into a New Forest coven
. Gardnerian Wicca
is used to refer to the traditions of neopaganism that adhere closely to Gardner's teachings, differentiating it from similar traditions, such as Alexandrian Wicca
or more recent Wiccan offshoots.
In the meantime, Germanic mysticism
in Germany and Switzerland had developed into baroque forms such as Guido von List
's "Armanism", from the 1900s merging into antisemitic and national mysticist (völkisch) currents, notably with Lanz von Liebenfels
' Guido von List Society and Ostara
magazine, which with the rise of Nazism
were partially absorbed into Nazi occultism. Such distortions of Germanic mythology were denounced by J. R. R. Tolkien
, e.g. in a 1941 letter where he speaks of Hitler's corruption of "...that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved and tried to present in its true light." Because of such connections with Nazism, interest in neopaganism was virtually eclipsed for about two decades following World War II
.
Other Germanic mysticist groups, such as the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft of Ludwig Fahrenkrog
were disendorsed by the Nazi regime. Another of these German neopagan groups was Adonism
, founded in the nineteenth century.
and Ásatrú
in the United States
and in Iceland
. In the 1970s, Wicca
was notably influenced by feminism
, leading to the creation of an eclectic, Goddess
-worshipping movement known as Dianic Wicca
. 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.
With the growth and spread of large, pagan gatherings and festivals in the 1980s, public varieties of Neo-Wicca continued to further diversify into additional, eclectic sub-denominations, often heavily influenced by the New Age
and counter-culture
movements. These open, unstructured or loosely structured traditions contrast with British Traditional Wicca
, which emphasizes secrecy and initiatory lineage.
The 1980s and 1990s also saw an increasing interest in serious academic research and reconstructionist pagan
traditions. The establishment and growth of the Internet in the 1990s brought rapid growth to these, and other pagan movements.
is referred to in some of its varieties as Forn Sed ("Old Custom"). Such emphasis on the antiquity of religious tradition is not exclusive to modern paganism, and is found in many other religions. For example the terms Purana, Sanatana Dharma, and the emphasis on the antiquity of the Ancient Egypt
ian sources of the Hellenistic Mystery religion
s.
Some claims of continuity between contemporary paganism and older forms of paganism have been shown to be spurious, or outright false, as in the case of Iolo Morganwg
's Druid's Prayer
. Wiccan beliefs of an ancient monotheistic Goddess
were inspired by Marija Gimbutas
's description of Neolithic Europe
. The factual historical validity of her theories has been disputed by many scholars, including historian Ronald Hutton
.
While most pagans draw from old religious traditions, they also adapt them. The mythologies of the ancient traditions are not generally considered to be literally factual by pagans, in the sense that the Bible
and other Abrahamic texts are often thought of by their followers. Eclectic pagans in particular are resistant to the concept of scripture or excessive structure, considering personal freedom to be one of the primary goals of their spirituality. In contrast, some Reconstructionist movements, like those who practise Theodism, take a stricter religious approach, and only recognize certain historical texts and sources as being relevant to their belief system, intentionally focusing on one culture to the exclusion of others, and having a general disdain for the eclectic mentality.
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The mythological
sources of the various pagan traditions are similarly varied, including Celtic
, Norse
, Greek
, Roman
, Sumerian, Egyptian
and others. Some groups focus solely on one cultural tradition, while others draw from several. For example, Doreen Valiente
's text The Charge of the Goddess
used materials from The Gospel of Aradia by Charles G. Leland (1899), as well as material from Aleister Crowley's writings.
Some pagans also draw inspiration from modern traditions, including Christianity
, Buddhism
and others, creating syncretisms like "Christian Witchcraft" or "Buddheo-Paganism". Since many pagan beliefs do not require exclusivity, some pagans practise other faiths in parallel.
Eclectic pagans take an undogmatic religious stance, and therefore potentially see no one as having authority to deem a source "apocryphal". Contemporary paganism has therefore been prone to fakelore
, especially in recent years as information and misinformation alike have been spread on the Internet and in print media. A number of Wicca
n, pagan and even some "Traditionalist" or "Tribalist" groups have a history of "Grandmother Stories" – typically involving initiation by a Grandmother, Grandfather, or other elderly relative who is said to have instructed them in the secret, millennia-old traditions of their ancestors. As this "secret wisdom" can almost always be traced to recent sources, tellers of these stories have often later admitted they made them up.
or eclectic approaches are often inspired by historical traditions, but not bound by any strict identification with a historical religion or culture. These are contrasted by a focus on historicity (reconstructionism
), on folklore
, or on occultist or national mysticist claims of continuity from racial memory.
Gardnerian
and Alexandrian Wicca
, British Traditional Wicca
, and variations such as Dianic Wicca
are examples of eclectic traditions, as are Neo-druid
groups like Ár nDraíocht Féin
.
", a term that came to be adopted in the early 1960s, although in the late 1970s and 1980s certain Pagan Witches began to instead use that term purely in reference to specific traditions of the Pagan Craft, and in the contemporary pagan community both definitions are now employed, causing some confusion.
The Wiccan religion revolves around the veneration of a Horned God
and a Goddess, elements of a variety of ancient mythologies
, a belief in and practice of magic
and sometimes the belief in reincarnation
and karma
.
The scholar of Religious Studies Graham Harvey
noted that a poem known as the Charge of the Goddess
remains central to the liturgy of most Wiccan groups. Originally written by Wiccan High Priestess Doreen Valiente
in the mid-1950s, Harvey noted that the recitation of the Charge in the midst of ritual allows Wiccans to gain wisdom and experience deity in "the ordinary things in life".Harvey 2007. pp. 36-37.
The historian Ronald Hutton
identified a wide variety of different sources that influenced the development of Wicca. These included ceremonial magic
, folk magic, Romanticist literature, Freemasonry
, and the historical theories of the English archaeologist Margaret Murray
. The figure at the forefront of the burgeoning Wiccan movement was the English esotericist Gerald Gardner
, who claimed to have been initiated by the New Forest coven
in 1939. Gardner claimed that the religion which he discovered was a modern survival of the old Witch-Cult described in the works of Murray, which had originated in the pre-Christian paganism of Europe. He claimed it was revealed to him by a coven of witches in the New Forest area of southern England. Various forms of Wicca have since evolved or been adapted from Gardner's British Traditional Wicca or Gardnerian Wicca
such as Alexandrian Wicca
. Other forms loosely based on Gardner's teachings are Faery Wicca
, Kemetic Wicca, Judeo-Paganism or "jewitchery", Dianic Wicca
or "Feminist Wicca" – which emphasizes the divine feminine, often creating women-only or lesbian-only groups.
In the 1990s, Wiccan beliefs and practices were used as a partial basis for a number of U.S. films and television series, such as The Craft
, Charmed
and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
, leading to a dramatic upsurge in teenagers and young adults becoming interested and involved in the religion.
Neo-Druidism forms the second largest pagan religion after Wicca, and like Wicca in turn shows significant heterogeneity. It draws several beliefs and inspirations from the Druids, the priest caste of the ancient pagan Celts. With the first Druid Order
founded as early as 1717, the history of Neo-Druidism reaches back to the earliest origins of modern paganism. The Ancient Order of Druids
founded in 1781 had many aspects of freemasonry
, and practised rituals at Stonehenge
since 1905. The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
was established in 1964 by Ross Nichols
. In the United States, the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) was founded in 1912, the Reformed Druids of North America
(RDNA) was established in 1963 and Ár nDraíocht Féin
(ADF) in 1983 by Isaac Bonewits
.
Adherents of the Goddess Spirituality movement typically envision a history - or "herstory" - of the world that is different from traditional narratives about the past, emphasising the role of women rather than that of men. According to this view, human society was formerly a matriarchy
, with communities being egalitarian, pacifistic and focused on the worship of the Goddess; such a society was subsequently overthrown by violent patriarchal
hordes who worshiped male sky gods and who continued to rule through the form of Christianity. Adherents look for elements of this mythological history in "theological, anthropological, archaeological, historical, folkloric and hagiographic writings", particularly the writings of Lithuanian-American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas
.
Many Heathen groups adopt variants of Norse mythology
as a basis to their beliefs, conceiving of the Earth as being situated on a great world tree called Yggdrasil
. Heathens believe in multiple polytheistic deities, all adopted from historical Germanic mythologies; the majority of Heathens are "polytheistic realists", believing that the deities are real entities, whilst others view them as Jungian archetypes
.
Forms of Heathenism have also been adopted by white separatist
and white supremacist groups. In the 1990s, Swedish historian Mattias Gardell
studied the white separatist Heathen community in the United States, noting that it had become one of the "most dynamic trends" within the "radical-racist milieu" of the U.S., surpassing more traditional white separatist groups like the Ku Klux Klan
in "terms of numbers and influence".
and Hippie
movements in the 1960s to 1970s. Reconstructionism rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s. The majority of pagans are not committed to a single defined tradition, but understand paganism as encompassing a wide range of non-institutionalized spirituality, as promoted by the Church of All Worlds
, the Feri Tradition
and other movements. Notably, Wicca in the United States since the 1970s has largely moved away from its Gardnerian
roots and diversified into eclectic variants.
Paganism generally emphasizes the sanctity of the Earth
and Nature. Pagans often feel a duty to protect the Earth through activism
, and support causes such as rainforest
protection, organic farming, permaculture
, animal rights
and so on. Some pagans are influenced by Animist
traditions of the indigenous Native Americans
and Africans
and other indigenous or shamanic traditions.
Eco-paganism and Eco-magic, which are off-shoots of direct action
environmental groups, have a strong emphasis on fairy
imagery and a belief in the possibility of intercession by the fae (fairies, pixies, gnome
s, elves
, and other spirits of nature and the Otherworlds
).
Some Unitarian Universalists
are eclectic pagans. Unitarian Universalists look for spiritual inspiration in a wide variety of religious beliefs. The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans
, or CUUPs, encourages their member chapters to "use practices familiar to members who attend for worship services but not to follow only one tradition of paganism."
community. Margot Adler noted how there were many pagan groups whose practices revolved around the inclusion and celebration of male homosexuality
, such as the Minoan Brotherhood, a Wiccan group that combines the iconography from ancient Minoan religion with a Wiccan theology and an emphasis on "men-loving-men", and the eclectic pagan group known as the Radical Faeries
. Similarly, there are also groups for lesbians, like certain forms of Dianic Wicca
and the Minoan Sisterhood. When Adler asked one gay pagan what the pagan community offered members of the LGBT
community, the reply was "A place to belong. Community. Acceptance. And a way to connect with all kinds of people, gay, bi, straight, celibate, transgender, in a way that is hard to do in the greater society".
Other forms of Wicca have also attracted queer people, for instance, the theologian Jone Salomonsen noted that there was an unusually high number of LGBT, and particularly bisexual individuals within the Reclaiming tradition of San Francisco when she was doing her fieldwork there in the 1980s and 1990s.
, which branched into Ariosophy
and related currents of Nazi occultism. Outside Germany, occultist neopaganism was inspired by Crowleyan Thelema and Left-Hand Paths, a recent example being the "Dark Paganism" of John J. Coughlin
.
In 1925, the Czech esotericist Franz Sättler founded a pagan religion known as Adonism
, devoted to the ancient Greek god Adonis
, whom Sättler equated with the Christian Satan, and which purported that the end of the world would come in the year 2000. Adonism largely died out in the 1930s, but remained an influence on the German occult scene.
In the United States, ethnic mysticist approaches are advocated in the form of anti-racist Asatru Folk Assembly
founder Stephen McNallen's
"metagenetics" and by David Lane's openly white supremacist Wotanism
.
Occultist currents persist in neo-fascist and national mysticist neopaganism, since the 1990s revived in the European Nouvelle Droite
in the context of the "Integral Traditionalism" of Julius Evola
and others (Alain de Benoist
, Werkgroep Traditie; see Neopaganism and the New Right).
are very culturally oriented and attempt to reconstruct historical forms of paganism, in a modern context. Thus, Hellenic, Roman
, Kemetic
, Celtic
, Germanic
, Baltic
and Slavic
Reconstructionists aim for the revival of historical practices and beliefs of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome
, Ancient Egypt, the Celts
, the Germanic peoples
, the Balts
and the Slavs
, respectively.
In the early 2000s, a "Traditionalist" or "Folklorist" current of neopaganism emerged in Scandinavian neopaganism
, advocated by Jon Julius Filipusson (of Foreningen Forn Sed, Norway), Paul Jenssen (Denmark) and Keeron Ögren (Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed
, Sweden), which rejects Reconstructionism and syncretism alike, advocating a strict focus on regional folklore
and folk religion
.
noted that it is rare for pagan groups to proselytize in order to gain new converts to their faiths. Instead, she argued that "in most cases", converts first become interested in the movement through "word of mouth, a discussion between friends, a lecture, a book, an article or a Web site." She went on to put forward the idea that this typically confirmed "some original, private experience, so that the most common experience of those who have named themselves pagan is something like 'I finally found a group that has the same religious perceptions I always had'." A practicing Wiccan herself, Adler used her own conversion to paganism as a case study, remarking that as a child she had taken a great interest in the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, and had performed her own devised rituals in dedication to them. When she eventually came across the Wiccan religion many years later, she then found that it confirmed her earlier childhood experiences, and that "I never converted in the accepted sense. I simply accepted, reaffirmed, and extended a very old experience."
Folklorist Sabina Magliocco
supported this idea, noting that a great many of those Californian pagans whom she interviewed claimed that they had been greatly interested in mythology
and folklore
as children, imagining a world of "enchanted nature and magical transformations, filled with lords and ladies, witches and wizards, and humble but often wise peasants." Magliocco noted that it was this world which pagans "strive to re-create in some measure." Further support for Adler's idea came from American Wiccan priestess Judy Harrow
, who noted that amongst her comrades, there was a feeling that "you don't become pagan, you discover that you always were." They have also been supported by Pagan studies scholar Graham Harvey
.
Many pagans in North America encounter the movement through their involvement in other hobbies; particularly popular with U.S. pagans are "golden age"-type pastimes such as the Society for Creative Anachronism
(SCA), Star Trek
fandom, Doctor Who
fandom and comic book
fandom. Other manners in which many North American pagans have got involved with the movement are through political and/or ecological activism, such as "vegetarian groups, health food stores" or feminist university courses.
Adler went on to note that from those she interviewed and surveyed in the U.S., 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 and/or feminism, and a sense of freedom.
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 who find artistic inspiration in folk and indigenous spiritual traditions."
The sociologist Regina Oboler examined the role of gender in the pagan community of the United States, arguing that although the movement had been constant in its support for the equality of men and women ever since its foundation, there was still an essentialist
view of gender engrained within it, with female deities being accorded traditional western feminine traits and male deities being similarly accorded what western society saw as masculine traits.
estimates that there are roughly one million pagans worldwide (as of 2000), including "Wicca, Magick, Druidism, Asatru, neo-Native American religion and others".
High estimates by pagan authors may reach several times that number.
A precise number is impossible to establish, because of the largely uninstitutionalised
nature of the religion and the secrecy observed by some traditions, – sometimes explained by fear of religious discrimination
.
found that an estimated 140,000 people self-identified as pagans; 134,000 self-identified as Wiccans; and 33,000 self-identified as Druids. This would bring the total of groups largely accepted under the modern popular western definition of pagan to 307,000.
A study by Ronald Hutton
compared a number of different sources (including membership lists of major UK organizations, attendance at major events, subscriptions to magazines, etc.) and used standard models for extrapolating likely numbers. This estimate accounted for multiple membership overlaps as well as the number of adherents represented by each attendee of a pagan gathering. Hutton estimated that there are 250,000 neopagan adherents in the United Kingdom
, roughly equivalent to the national Hindu
community.
A smaller number is suggested by the results of the 2001 Census
, in which a question about religious affiliation was asked for the first time. Respondents were able to write in an affiliation not covered by the checklist of common religions, and a total of 42,262 people from England, Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be Pagans by this method. These figures were not released as a matter of course by the Office of National Statistics, but were released after an application by the Pagan Federation
of Scotland. From a British population of 59 million this gives a rough proportion of 7 Pagans per 100,000 population. This is more than many well known traditions such as Rastafarian
, Bahá'í
and Zoroastrian
groups, but fewer than the 'Big Six' of Christianity
, Islam
, Hinduism
, Sikhism
, Judaism
and Buddhism
. It is also fewer than the adherents Jediism
, whose campaign
made them the fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
The UK Census figures do 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. The PaganDASH campaign actively worked with the ONS
to amend the rules for The 2011 UK Census, allowing pagans to write their denomination in the form "PAGAN — path". This was to reduce problems as encountered in the 2001 Census such as a range of neopagan paths being counted under atheist.
Census figures in Ireland do not provide a breakdown of religions outside of the major Christian denominations and other major world religions. A total of 22,497 people stated 'Other religion' in the 2006 census; and a rough estimate is that there are 2,000–3,000 practicing pagans in Ireland as of 2009. Numerous pagan groups – primarily Wiccan and Druidic – exist in Ireland though none is officially recognised by the Government. Irish Paganism is often strongly concerned with issues of place and language.
Paganism in Scandinavia is dominated by Ásatrú
(Forn Sed, Folketro). The Swedish AsatruSociety
formed in 1994, and in Norway the Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed formed in 1999. They have been recognized by the Norwegian government as a religious society, allowing them to perform "legally binding civil ceremonies" (i.e. marriages). In Denmark Forn Siðr also formed in 1999, recognized in 2003 and in Sweden Nätverket Gimle formed in 2001, as an informal community for individual Heathens.
Nätverket Forn Sed formed in 2004, and has a network consisting of local groups () from all over Sweden.
In German-speaking Europe
, Germanic and Celtic paganism co-exist with Wicca and neoshamanism. Paganism in Latin Europe
(France, Italy, Spain) focuses on Neo-Druidism and Esotericism based on megalith
culture besides some Germanic Pagan groups in areas historically affected by Germanic migrations (Lombardy
). Paganism in Eastern Europe
and parts of Northern Europe
is dominated by Baltic
and Slavic
movements, rising to visibility after the fall of the Soviet Union (except for Latvian Dievturība
which has been active since 1925). Since the 1990s, there have been organized Hellenic groups practising in Greece.
The Church of the Guanche People
is a pagan sect founded in 2001 in the city of San Cristobal de La Laguna
(Tenerife
, Canary Islands
, Spain
). According to its followers this organisation aims to revive and spread the Pagan religion of the Guanche people. It was founded by a group of Canarian citizens, devotees of the goddess Chaxiraxi
. The Church of the Guanche People performs baptisms and weddings according to aboriginal Guanche forms. On December 14, 2003, the first wedding for more than 500 years was held according to the aboriginal Guanche rite on the island of Tenerife. In 2008 the group had approximately 300 members.
, whilst the academic publishers AltaMira Press began release of the Pagan Studies Series. One of the books AltaMira released was Researching Paganisms, an anthology edited by Jenny Blain, Douglas Ezzy and Graham Harvey
in which different Pagan studies scholars discussed their involvement with the subject and the opposition that they've faced.
Umbrella term
An umbrella term is a word that provides a superset or grouping of concepts that all fall under a single common category. Umbrella term is also called a hypernym. For example, cryptology is an umbrella term that encompasses cryptography and cryptanalysis, among other fields...
used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements
New religious movement
A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...
, particularly those influenced by or claiming to be derived from the various pagan
Paganism
Paganism is a blanket term, typically used to refer to non-Abrahamic, indigenous polytheistic religious traditions....
beliefs of pre-modern Europe. Although they do share commonalities, contemporary pagan religious movements are extremely diverse, and there is no set of beliefs, practices or religious texts shared by all of them.
Contemporary paganism has been characterised as "a synthesis of historical inspiration and present-day creativity", in this manner drawing influences from pre-Christian, folkloric and ethnographic sources in order to fashion new religious movements. The extent to which contemporary pagans use these sources differs; many follow a spirituality which they accept is entirely modern, whilst others attempt to reconstruct
Polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
or revive indigenous, ethnic religions as found in historical and folkloric sources as accurately as possible.
Neopagan movements emerged in Europe during the 19th and early 20th centuries, influenced by the wider occult movement; these included Thelema
Thelema
Thelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...
, Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
and Adonism
Adonism
Adonism is a Neopagan religion founded in 1925 by the German esotericist Franz Sättler , who often went by the pseudonym of Dr. Musalam. Although Sättler claimed that it was the continuation of an ancient pagan religion, it has been recognised by academics as being "instead the single-handed...
. With the rise of the counterculture during the 1960s, paganism continued to adapt and spread, particularly throughout the U.S., where radical new approaches emerged that dealt with contemporary social issues and interests, such as neoshamanism
Neoshamanism
Neoshamanism is a term signaling a "new" form or a revival of an old form of "shamanism", a system that comprises a range of beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spiritual world....
, the Goddess movement
Goddess movement
The Goddess movement is an overall trend in religious or spiritual beliefs or practices which emerged out of second-wave feminism, predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand in the 1970s...
and the Radical Faeries
Radical Faeries
The Radical Faeries are a loosely-affiliated, worldwide network and counter-cultural movement seeking to reject hetero-imitation and redefine queer identity through spirituality. The Radical Faerie movement started in the United States among gay men during the 1970s sexual and counterculture...
. At the same time, some ethnic nationalist groups began to adopt pagan religions during the 20th century, leading to the rise of forms of Heathenry and Slavic neopaganism
Slavic neopaganism
Slavic Neopaganism is a modern fakeloric, polytheistic, reconstructionistic, and Neopagan religion; its adherents call themselves Rodnovers , and consider themselves to be the legitimate continuation of pre-Christian Slavic religion.- Rebirth of Slavic spirituality :The pre-Christian religions...
. Today, paganism remains particularly strong in the United States
Neopaganism in the United States
Neopaganism in the United States is represented by widely different movements and organizations. The largest Neopagan religion is Wicca, followed by Neodruidism. Both of these religions were introduced during the 1950s from Great Britain. Germanic Neopaganism and Kemetism appeared in the US in...
and the United Kingdom
Neopaganism in the United Kingdom
An estimated 40,000 to 250,000 people make up the Neo-pagan movement in the United Kingdom, which includes a variety of paths and traditions such as Neo-Druidism, Germanic Neopaganism, and Wicca, accounting for roughly a quarter of Neo-pagans worldwide...
, although there are also groups active across Continental Europe and to a lesser extent other parts of the world.
Although the pagan movement is extremely disparate in its beliefs and practices, a number of sociologists and religious studies scholars have highlighted commonalities shared within many, if not all, pagan groups. Most modern pagan groups hold to a theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
that embraces such beliefs as polytheism
Polytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
, animism
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
, and pantheism
Pantheism
Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...
, although there are groups who have instead advocated forms of Goddess-centred monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
, agnosticism
Agnosticism
Agnosticism is the view that the truth value of certain claims—especially claims about the existence or non-existence of any deity, but also other religious and metaphysical claims—is unknown or unknowable....
or atheism
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
. Similarly, beliefs about an afterlife vary widely, as do conceptions on ethics and morality. Ritual plays a prominent part in pagan religious movements, where it is typically employed to induce an altered state of consciousness in the participants. The choice of festivals and days of special commemoration again differs widely among pagans, although a majority adhere to a set of eight seasonal-based festivals, which are collectively referred to as the Wheel of the Year
Wheel of the Year
The Wheel of the Year is a Neopagan term for the annual cycle of the Earth's seasons. It consists of eight festivals, spaced at approximately even intervals throughout the year. These festivals are referred to as Sabbats...
.
Terminology and definition
The term neo-pagan was coined in the 19th century in reference to RenaissanceItalian Renaissance
The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 13th century to about 1600, marking the transition between Medieval and Early Modern Europe...
and Romanticist Hellenophile classical revivalism.
"Pagan" as a self-designation appeared in 1964 and 1965, in the publications of the Witchcraft Research Association
Witchcraft Research Association
The Witchcraft Research Association was a British organisation formed in 1964 in an attempt to unite and study the various claims that had emerged of surviving remnants of the Witch-Cult, such as those of Gerald Gardner, Robert Cochrane, Sybil Leek, Charles Cardell and Raymond Howard.It had been...
; at that time, the term was in use by "revivalist Witches" in the United States and the United Kingdom, but unconnected to the broader, counter-culture Pagan movement. The modern popularisation of the terms "pagan" and "neopagan", as they are currently understood, is largely traced to Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
Oberon Zell-Ravenheart
Oberon Zell-Ravenheart is a co-founder of the Church of All Worlds, as well as a writer and speaker on the subject of Neopaganism. He completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri in 1965...
, co-founder of "the 1st Neo-Pagan Church of All Worlds
Church of All Worlds
The Church of All Worlds is a neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that provides a context and stimulus for reawakening Gaia and reuniting her children through tribal community dedicated to responsible stewardship and...
" who, beginning in 1967 with the early issues of Green Egg
Green Egg
Green Egg is a Neopagan magazine published by the Church of All Worlds from 1968 through 1976 and 1988 through 2000, and restarted in 2007. It was created and edited for most of its existence by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart....
, used both terms for the growing movement. This usage has been common since the pagan revival in the 1970s, and is now used by academics and adherents alike to identify new religious movement
New religious movement
A new religious movement is a religious community or ethical, spiritual, or philosophical group of modern origin, which has a peripheral place within the dominant religious culture. NRMs may be novel in origin or they may be part of a wider religion, such as Christianity, Hinduism or Buddhism, in...
s that emphasize pantheism or nature-worship, or that revive or reconstruct aspects of historical polytheism. Increasingly, scholarly writers prefer the term "contemporary paganism" to cover all new polytheistic religious movements, a usage favoured by The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, the leading peer-reviewed
Peer review
Peer review is a process of self-regulation by a profession or a process of evaluation involving qualified individuals within the relevant field. Peer review methods are employed to maintain standards, improve performance and provide credibility...
journal
Academic journal
An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...
in the field.
The term "neopagan" provides a means of distinguishing between historical pagans of ancient cultures and the adherents of modern religious movements. This category of religions includes syncretic or eclectic approaches like Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
, Neo-druidism
Neo-Druidism
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...
, and neoshamanism
Neoshamanism
Neoshamanism is a term signaling a "new" form or a revival of an old form of "shamanism", a system that comprises a range of beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spiritual world....
at one end of the spectrum, as well as culturally specific traditions, such as the many varieties of polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
, at the other. Some Reconstructionists reject the term "neopagan" because they wish to set their historically oriented approach apart from generic "neopagan" eclecticism. "Heathen", "Heathenism" or "Heathenry" as a self-designation of adherents of Germanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
(Theodism in particular) appeared in the late 1990s.
Beliefs
Beliefs and practices vary widely amongst different pagan groups, however there are a series of core principles common to most, if not all, forms of contemporary paganism. The English academic Graham HarveyGraham Harvey
Graham Harvey is an Australian actor, best known for his roles in television soap operas.His credits include: The Sullivans , The Young Doctors , Return to Eden , E Street and Neighbours .-External links:...
noted that Pagans "rarely indulge in theology."
Polytheism
One of the "most important principles" of the pagan movement is polytheismPolytheism
Polytheism is the belief of multiple deities also usually assembled into a pantheon of gods and goddesses, along with their own mythologies and rituals....
, the belief in, and veneration of, more than one god and/or goddess. Polytheism was a trait common to the pre-Christian religions of Europe, and is also common to a wide variety of religions around the world, from which contemporary pagans draw on.
For many in the pagan community, these polytheistic deities are however not viewed as literal entities, but as Jungian archetypes
Jungian archetypes
Carl Jung created the archetypes which “are ancient or archaic images that derive from the collective unconscious” Also known as innate universal psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic symbols or representations of unconscious experience emerge...
that exist in the human psyche. Many pagans adopt attitudes similar to that of American theologian David Miller, the professor of religion at Syracuse University
Syracuse University
Syracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
who argued, in his book The New Polytheism, that the adoption of a polytheistic worldview would be beneficial for western society, replacing the dominant monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
that both Miller and many pagans believe is by its very nature politically and socially repressive. Adler remarked that many pagans informed her of how they had adopted polytheism because it allowed a greater freedom, diversity and tolerance of worship amongst the community than that permitted in monotheistic religions. Adler noted that it was this belief in polytheism that had allowed the "multitude" of different pagan religions to "exist more or less in harmony", as in enabled them to accept the existence and worship of one another's deities. Indeed, most pagans adopt an ethos of "unity in diversity" regarding their religious beliefs.
In Wicca, (especially Dianic Wicca
Dianic Wicca
Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
) the concept of an Earth or Mother Goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
similar to the Greek Gaia
Gaia (mythology)
Gaia was the primordial Earth-goddess in ancient Greek religion. Gaia was the great mother of all: the heavenly gods and Titans were descended from her union with Uranus , the sea-gods from her union with Pontus , the Giants from her mating with Tartarus and mortal creatures were sprung or born...
is emphasized. Male counterparts are usually also evoked, such as the Green Man
Green Man
A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit...
and the Horned God
Horned God
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in some European pagan religions. He is often given various names and epithets, and represents the male part of the religion's duotheistic theological system, the other part being the female Triple Goddess. In common Wiccan belief, he is...
(who is loosely based on the Celtic Cernunnos
Cernunnos
Cernunnos is the conventional name given in Celtic studies to depictions of the horned god of Celtic polytheism. The name itself is only attested once, on the 1st-century Pillar of the Boatmen, but depictions of a horned or antlered figure, often seated in a "lotus position" and often associated...
.) These Duotheistic philosophies tend to emphasize the God and Goddess' (or Lord and Lady's) genders as being complementary opposites analogous to that of yin and yang
Yin and yang
In Asian philosophy, the concept of yin yang , which is often referred to in the West as "yin and yang", is used to describe how polar opposites or seemingly contrary forces are interconnected and interdependent in the natural world, and how they give rise to each other in turn. Opposites thus only...
in ancient Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy
Chinese philosophy is philosophy written in the Chinese tradition of thought. The majority of traditional Chinese philosophy originates in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States era, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought", which was characterized by significant intellectual and...
. Many Oriental philosophies equate weakness with femininity and strength with masculinity; this is not the prevailing attitude in paganism and Wicca. 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. Other neopagans reject the concept of binary gender role
Gender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s.
Animism
Another pivotal belief in the contemporary pagan movement is that of animismAnimism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
. For modern pagans, this "is used to imply a reality in which all things are imbued with vitality." Many pagans believe that there are specific spirits which inhabit various features in the natural world, and that these can be actively communicated with. Some pagans have reported experiencing communication with spirits dwelling in rocks, plants, trees and animals, as well as power animals or animal spirits
Animal spirits
Animal spirits may refer to:*Animal spirits , the Keynesian term indicating the emotional component of economies represented in consumer confidence...
who can act as spiritual helpers or guides. Animism was also a concept to common to many pre-Christian European religions, and in adopting it, contemporary pagans are attempting to "allow their participants to reenter the primeval worldview, to participate in nature in a way that is not possible for most Westerners after childhood."
Pantheism and panentheism
A third pivotal belief in the pagan community is that of pantheismPantheism
Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...
and panentheism
Panentheism
Panentheism is a belief system which posits that God exists, interpenetrates every part of nature and timelessly extends beyond it...
, both beliefs that divinity and the material and/or spiritual universe are one and the same. For pagans, it means that "divinity is inseperable from nature and that deity is immanent in nature."
Dennis D. Carpenter noted that the belief in a pantheistic or panentheistic deity has led to the idea of interconnectedness playing a key part in pagans' worldviews. The prominent Wiccan priestess Starhawk
Starhawk
Starhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion...
related that a core part of goddess-centred pagan witchcraft was "the understanding that all being is interrelated, that we are all linked with the cosmos as parts of one living organism. What affects one of us affects us all."
Such views have also led many pagans to revere the planet Earth as Mother Earth
Mother Earth
Mother Earth may refer to:*Mother Nature, a common metaphorical expression for the Earth and its biosphere as the giver and sustainer of life*Mother Earth , a Slavic deity*Gaia , the Greek mythological goddess personifying the earth...
, who is often referred to as Gaia
Gaia
- Mythology :* Gaia , the primal Greek goddess of the Earth* Gaia, the Earth in New Age Gaian spirituality- Science :* Gaea , a crater on Amalthea, a moon of Jupiter* Gaia hypothesis, concerning the stability of Earth's natural systems...
after the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth.
Afterlife and the soul
A number of pagan religions purport the existence of a spiritSpirit
The English word spirit has many differing meanings and connotations, most of them relating to a non-corporeal substance contrasted with the material body.The spirit of a living thing usually refers to or explains its consciousness.The notions of a person's "spirit" and "soul" often also overlap,...
or soul that inhabits the human body and which survives bodily destruction.
Ethics and morality
Views of ethics and morality differ widely throughout the pagan movement. The most prominent and widespread moral code to be found in the contemporary pagan movement is the Wiccan RedeWiccan Rede
The Wiccan Rede is a statement that provides the key moral system in the Neopagan religion of Wicca and other related Witchcraft-based faiths. A common form of the Rede is An it harm none, do what ye will....
, which states that those who follow it should "do as you will, as long as you harm none". First developing in the Gardnerian tradition of Wicca, the Rede spread throughout much of the pagan movement in the 1960s.
Alternative ethical codes can also be found within the pagan movement. The pagan religion of Thelema
Thelema
Thelema is a religious philosophy that was established, defined and developed by the early 20th century British writer and ceremonial magician, Aleister Crowley. He believed himself to be the prophet of a new age, the Æon of Horus, based upon a religious experience that he had in Egypt in 1904...
, founded in 1904 by the English occultist Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, instead advocated the law of "Do What Thou Wilt", arguing that Thelemites should attune themselves to follow their own True Will
True Will
True Will is a term found within the mystical system of Thelema, a religion founded in 1904 with Aleister Crowley's writing of The Book of the Law. It is defined at times as a person's grand destiny in life, and at other times as a moment to moment path of action that operates in perfect harmony...
, and therefore the Cosmic Will of the universe.
Practices
Ritual
Contemporary pagan ritual is typically geared towards "facilitating altered states of awareness or shifting mind-sets." In order to induce such altered states of consciousness, pagans utilise such elements as drumming, visualization, chanting, singing, dancing, and meditation. American folklorist Sabina MaglioccoSabina Magliocco
Sabina Magliocco , is a professor of Anthropology and Folklore at California State University, Northridge . She is an author of non-fiction books and journal articles about folklore, religion, religious festivals, foodways, witchcraft and Neo-Paganism in Europe and the United States.A recipient of...
came to the conclusion, based upon her ethnographic fieldwork in California, that certain pagan beliefs "arise from what they experience during religious ecstasy".
Sociologist Margot Adler
Margot Adler
Margot Adler is an author, journalist, lecturer, Wiccan priestess and radio journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio .- Early life :Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Adler grew up mostly in New York City...
highlighted how several pagan groups, like the Reformed Druids of North America
Reformed Druids of North America
The Reformed Druids of North America is an American Neo-Druidic organization. It was formed in 1963 at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota as a humorous protest against the college's required attendance of religious services. This original congregation is called the Carleton Grove, sometimes...
and the Erisian movement
Discordianism
Discordianism is a religion based on the worship of Eris , the Greco-Roman goddess of strife. It was founded circa 1958–1959 after the publication of its holy book the Principia Discordia, written by Malaclypse the Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst after a series of shared hallucinations at a...
refuse to take their rituals seriously, instead incorporating into them a great deal of play
Play (activity)
Play is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...
. She noted that there are those who would argue that "the Pagan community is one of the only spiritual communities that is exploring humor, joy, abandonment, even silliness and outrageousness as valid parts of spiritual experience."
Festival
Most modern pagan religions celebrate the cycles and seasons of nature through a festival calendar that honours these changes. The timing of festivals, and the rites celebrated, may vary from climate to climate, and will also vary (sometimes widely) depending upon which particular pagan religion the adherent subscribes to (see Wheel of the YearWheel of the Year
The Wheel of the Year is a Neopagan term for the annual cycle of the Earth's seasons. It consists of eight festivals, spaced at approximately even intervals throughout the year. These festivals are referred to as Sabbats...
).
Magic and witchcraft
The belief in magicMagic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
and the practice of magical rituals are followed by a "significant number" of contemporary Pagans. Among those who do believe in it, there are a variety of different views as to what magic is, but many Pagans adhere to the definition of magic provided by the founder of Thelema, Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
, who defined it as "the Science and Art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will." Another related definition accepted by many Pagans is that purported by the ceremonial magician Dion Fortune
Dion Fortune
Violet Mary Firth Evans , better known as Dion Fortune, was a British occultist and author. Her pseudonym was inspired by her family motto "Deo, non fortuna" , originally the ancient motto of the Barons & Earls Digby.-Early life:She was born in Bryn-y-Bia in Llandudno, Wales, and grew up in a...
, who declared that "Magic is the art and science of changing consciousness according to the Will."
Among these are Wicca, Neoshamanism, Neo-Druidism, and other pagan belief systems, the rituals of which were at least initially partially based upon those of ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by...
.
Renaissance and Romanticism
The roots of contemporary paganism begin with the RenaissanceRenaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, and the reintroduction of Classicism
Classicism
Classicism, in the arts, refers generally to a high regard for classical antiquity, as setting standards for taste which the classicists seek to emulate. The art of classicism typically seeks to be formal and restrained: of the Discobolus Sir Kenneth Clark observed, "if we object to his restraint...
and the resurgence of interest in Graeco-Roman polytheism in the wake of works like the Theologia mythologica
Theologia mythologica
Theologia mythologica is a 1532 book by Georg Pictorius. It was one of the first treatises of Classical mythology in the German Renaissance. Pictorius interprets the Greek pantheon as allegory, e.g. Cybele as the Earth, her chariot wheels as symbolizing the rotation of the Earth.editions*Theologia...
of 1532 as well as a revived interest in Greco-Roman magic, studied systematically in Renaissance magic
Renaissance magic
Renaissance humanism saw a resurgence in hermeticism and Neo-Platonic varieties of ceremonial magic.The Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, on the other hand, saw the rise of scientism, in such forms as the substitution of chemistry for alchemy, the dethronement of the Ptolemaic theory of...
. Although apart from the practice of magic, this was not a revival of pagan cultic practice, the Renaissance was a "rebirth" of the philosophy of pagan antiquity especially Platonism
Platonism
Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism...
(or Neo-Platonism, Plotinism
Plotinus
Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...
), but also Epicureanism
Epicureanism
Epicureanism is a system of philosophy based upon the teachings of Epicurus, founded around 307 BC. Epicurus was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of Democritus. His materialism led him to a general attack on superstition and divine intervention. Following Aristippus—about whom...
, re-introduced by Baroque philosopher Pierre Gassendi
Pierre Gassendi
Pierre Gassendi was a French philosopher, priest, scientist, astronomer, and mathematician. With a church position in south-east France, he also spent much time in Paris, where he was a leader of a group of free-thinking intellectuals. He was also an active observational scientist, publishing the...
, described as a "new paganism" in the history of philosophy
History of philosophy
The history of philosophy is the study of philosophical ideas and concepts through time. Issues specifically related to history of philosophy might include : How can changes in philosophy be accounted for historically? What drives the development of thought in its historical context? To what...
.
The Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
movement of the 18th century led to the re-discovery of Old Gaelic and Old Norse literature
Old Norse literature
Old Norse literature refers to the vernacular literature of the Scandinavian peoples up to ca. 1350. It chiefly consists of Icelandic writings.See:* Old Norse poetry* Edda* Norse saga* Icelanders' sagas* Kings' sagas* Legendary sagas...
and poetry. Neo-druidism
Neo-Druidism
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...
can be taken to have its origins as early as 1717 with the foundation of The Druid Order
The Druid Order
thumb|upright|alt=Druids at Tower Hill|Druids at Tower HillThe Druid Order is a neo-druidic group in the United Kingdom. It is also called An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas or, in English, The Druid Circle of the Universal Bond. Members are called companions....
. The 19th century saw a surge of interest in Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
with the Viking revival
Viking revival
Early modern publications dealing with Old Norse culture appeared in the 16th century, e.g. Historia de gentibus septentrionalibus and the first edition of the13th century Gesta Danorum , in 1514...
in Victorian Britain
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was the formal name of the United Kingdom during the period when what is now the Republic of Ireland formed a part of it....
and Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
. In Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
the Völkisch movement
Völkisch movement
The volkisch movement is the German interpretation of the populist movement, with a romantic focus on folklore and the "organic"...
was in full swing. These pagan currents coincided with Romanticist interest in folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
and occultism, the widespread emergence of pagan themes in popular literature
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
, and the rise of nationalism
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
.
19th century
During this resurgence in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, Neo-druidism
Neo-Druidism
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...
and various Western occult groups emerged, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn
The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was a magical order active in Great Britain during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which practiced theurgy and spiritual development...
and the Ordo Templi Orientis
Ordo Templi Orientis
Ordo Templi Orientis is an international fraternal and religious organization founded at the beginning of the 20th century...
, who attempted to syncretize "exotic" elements like Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
ian cosmology and Kabbalah
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
into their belief systems, although not necessarily for purely religious purposes. Influenced by the anthropologist Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging, comparative study of mythology and religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir James George Frazer . It first was published in two volumes in 1890; the third edition, published 1906–15, comprised twelve volumes...
, several prominent writers and artists were involved in these organizations, including William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright, and one of the foremost figures of 20th century literature. A pillar of both the Irish and British literary establishments, in his later years he served as an Irish Senator for two terms...
, Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne
Maud Gonne MacBride was an English-born Irish revolutionary, feminist and actress, best remembered for her turbulent relationship with William Butler Yeats. Of Anglo-Irish stock and birth, she was won over to Irish nationalism by the plight of evicted people in the Land Wars...
, Arthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite
Arthur Edward Waite was a scholarly mystic who wrote extensively on occult and esoteric matters, and was the co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. As his biographer, R.A...
, and Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
. Along with these early occult organizations, there were other social phenomena such as the interest in mediumship
Mediumship
Mediumship is described as a form of communication with spirits. It is a practice in religious beliefs such as Spiritualism, Spiritism, Espiritismo, Candomblé, Voodoo and Umbanda.- Concept :...
, magic
Magic (paranormal)
Magic is the claimed art of manipulating aspects of reality either by supernatural means or through knowledge of occult laws unknown to science. It is in contrast to science, in that science does not accept anything not subject to either direct or indirect observation, and subject to logical...
, and other supernatural beliefs which was at an all time high in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Another important influence during this period was the Romantic
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
aesthetic movement, which venerated the natural world and frequently made reference to the deities of antiquity. The Romantic poets, essayists, artists and authors who employed these themes in their work were later associated with socially progressive attitudes towards sexuality
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
, feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, pacifism
Pacifism
Pacifism is the opposition to war and violence. The term "pacifism" was coined by the French peace campaignerÉmile Arnaud and adopted by other peace activists at the tenth Universal Peace Congress inGlasgow in 1901.- Definition :...
and similar issues.
Early 20th century
In the 1920s Margaret MurrayMargaret Murray
Margaret Alice Murray was a prominent British Egyptologist and anthropologist. Primarily known for her work in Egyptology, which was "the core of her academic career," she is also known for her propagation of the Witch-cult hypothesis, the theory that the witch trials in the Early Modern period of...
theorized that a Witchcraft
Witchcraft
Witchcraft, in historical, anthropological, religious, and mythological contexts, is the alleged use of supernatural or magical powers. A witch is a practitioner of witchcraft...
religion existed underground and in secret, and had survived through the witchcraft prosecutions that had been enacted by the ecclesiastical
Ecclesiastical court
An ecclesiastical court is any of certain courts having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. In the Middle Ages in many areas of Europe these courts had much wider powers than before the development of nation states...
and secular courts. Most 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-hunt
Witch-hunt
A witch-hunt is a search for witches or evidence of witchcraft, often involving moral panic, mass hysteria and lynching, but in historical instances also legally sanctioned and involving official witchcraft trials...
ing manuals used by interrogators. Murray's ideas nevertheless exerted great influence on certain pagan currents; in the 1940s, Englishman Gerald Gardner
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
claimed to have been initiated into a New Forest coven
New Forest coven
The New Forest coven were a group of Neopagan witches or Wiccans who allegedly met around the area of the New Forest in southern England during the 1930s and 1940s...
. Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
is used to refer to the traditions of neopaganism that adhere closely to Gardner's teachings, differentiating it from similar traditions, such as Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in the 1960s...
or more recent Wiccan offshoots.
In the meantime, Germanic mysticism
Germanic mysticism
Germanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria* various modern systems of runic magic...
in Germany and Switzerland had developed into baroque forms such as Guido von List
Guido von List
Guido Karl Anton List, better known as Guido von List was an Austrian/German poet, journalist, writer, businessman and dealer of leather goods, mountaineer, hiker, dramatist, playwright, and rower, but was most notable as an occultist and völkisch author who is seen as one of the most important...
's "Armanism", from the 1900s merging into antisemitic and national mysticist (völkisch) currents, notably with Lanz von Liebenfels
Lanz von Liebenfels
Adolf Josef Lanz aka Jörg Lanz, who called himself Lanz von Liebenfels was an Austrian publicist and journalist...
' Guido von List Society and Ostara
Ostara (magazine)
Ostara or Ostara, Briefbücherei der Blonden und Mannesrechtler was a German nationalist magazine founded in 1905 by the occultist Lanz von Liebenfels in Vienna, Austria....
magazine, which with the rise of Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
were partially absorbed into Nazi occultism. Such distortions of Germanic mythology were denounced by J. R. R. Tolkien
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
, e.g. in a 1941 letter where he speaks of Hitler's corruption of "...that noble northern spirit, a supreme contribution to Europe, which I have ever loved and tried to present in its true light." Because of such connections with Nazism, interest in neopaganism was virtually eclipsed for about two decades following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Other Germanic mysticist groups, such as the Germanische Glaubens-Gemeinschaft of Ludwig Fahrenkrog
Ludwig Fahrenkrog
Ludwig Fahrenkrog was a German writer, playwright and artist. He was born in Rendsburg, Prussia, in 1867. He started his career as an artist in his youth, and attended the Berlin Royal Art Academy before being appointed a professor in 1913. He taught at the School of Arts and Crafts in Bremen from...
were disendorsed by the Nazi regime. Another of these German neopagan groups was Adonism
Adonism
Adonism is a Neopagan religion founded in 1925 by the German esotericist Franz Sättler , who often went by the pseudonym of Dr. Musalam. Although Sättler claimed that it was the continuation of an ancient pagan religion, it has been recognised by academics as being "instead the single-handed...
, founded in the nineteenth century.
Late 20th century
The 1960s and 1970s saw a resurgence in Neodruidism as well as the rise of Germanic neopaganismGermanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
and Ásatrú
Ásatrú
is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....
in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and in Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
. In the 1970s, Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
was notably influenced by feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, leading to the creation of an eclectic, Goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
-worshipping movement known as Dianic Wicca
Dianic Wicca
Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
. The 1979 publication of Margot Adler
Margot Adler
Margot Adler is an author, journalist, lecturer, Wiccan priestess and radio journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio .- Early life :Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Adler grew up mostly in New York City...
's Drawing Down the Moon and Starhawk
Starhawk
Starhawk is an American writer and activist. She is well known as a theorist of Paganism, and is one of the foremost popular voices of ecofeminism. She is a columnist for Beliefnet.com and On Faith, the Newsweek/Washington Post online forum on religion...
's The Spiral Dance
The Spiral Dance
The Spiral Dance: a Rebirth of the Ancient Religion of the Great Goddess is a best-selling book about Neopagan belief and practice written by Starhawk. It was first published in 1979, with a second edition in 1989 and a third edition in 1999...
opened a new chapter in public awareness of paganism.
With the growth and spread of large, pagan gatherings and festivals in the 1980s, public varieties of Neo-Wicca continued to further diversify into additional, eclectic sub-denominations, often heavily influenced by the New Age
New Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
and counter-culture
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
movements. These open, unstructured or loosely structured traditions contrast with British Traditional Wicca
British Traditional Wicca
British Traditional Wicca is a term used to describe some Wiccan traditions which have their origins in the New Forest region of England...
, which emphasizes secrecy and initiatory lineage.
The 1980s and 1990s also saw an increasing interest in serious academic research and reconstructionist pagan
Polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
traditions. The establishment and growth of the Internet in the 1990s brought rapid growth to these, and other pagan movements.
Historicity
Many pagans and pagan traditions attempt to incorporate elements of historical religions, cultures and mythologies into their beliefs and practices, often emphasizing the age of their sources. Thus, Wicca in particular is sometimes referred to by its proponents as "The Old Religion", a term popularised by Margaret Murray in the 1920s, while Germanic neopaganismGermanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
is referred to in some of its varieties as Forn Sed ("Old Custom"). Such emphasis on the antiquity of religious tradition is not exclusive to modern paganism, and is found in many other religions. For example the terms Purana, Sanatana Dharma, and the emphasis on the antiquity of the Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
ian sources of the Hellenistic Mystery religion
Greco-Roman mysteries
Mystery religions, sacred Mysteries or simply mysteries, were religious cults of the Greco-Roman world, participation in which was reserved to initiates....
s.
Some claims of continuity between contemporary paganism and older forms of paganism have been shown to be spurious, or outright false, as in the case of Iolo Morganwg
Iolo Morganwg
Edward Williams, better known by his bardic name Iolo Morganwg , was an influential Welsh antiquarian, poet, collector, and literary forger. He was widely considered a leading collector and expert on medieval Welsh literature in his day, but after his death it was revealed that he had forged a...
's Druid's Prayer
Druid's Prayer
The "Druid's Prayer" or "Gorsedd Prayer" is a prayer composed by Iolo Morganwg which is still a staple in the ritual of both gorseddau and Neo-Druidism...
. Wiccan beliefs of an ancient monotheistic Goddess
Goddess
A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....
were inspired by Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas , was a Lithuanian-American archeologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe", a term she introduced. Her works published between 1946 and 1971 introduced new views by combining traditional spadework with linguistics and mythological...
's description of Neolithic Europe
Neolithic Europe
Neolithic Europe refers to a prehistoric period in which Neolithic technology was present in Europe. This corresponds roughly to a time between 7000 BC and c. 1700 BC...
. The factual historical validity of her theories has been disputed by many scholars, including historian Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton is an English historian who specializes in the study of Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. A reader in the subject at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio...
.
While most pagans draw from old religious traditions, they also adapt them. The mythologies of the ancient traditions are not generally considered to be literally factual by pagans, in the sense that the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
and other Abrahamic texts are often thought of by their followers. Eclectic pagans in particular are resistant to the concept of scripture or excessive structure, considering personal freedom to be one of the primary goals of their spirituality. In contrast, some Reconstructionist movements, like those who practise Theodism, take a stricter religious approach, and only recognize certain historical texts and sources as being relevant to their belief system, intentionally focusing on one culture to the exclusion of others, and having a general disdain for the eclectic mentality.
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
sources of the various pagan traditions are similarly varied, including Celtic
Celtic mythology
Celtic mythology is the mythology of Celtic polytheism, apparently the religion of the Iron Age Celts. Like other Iron Age Europeans, the early Celts maintained a polytheistic mythology and religious structure...
, Norse
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, Greek
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...
, Roman
Roman mythology
Roman mythology is the body of traditional stories pertaining to ancient Rome's legendary origins and religious system, as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans...
, Sumerian, Egyptian
Egyptian mythology
Ancient Egyptian religion was a complex system of polytheistic beliefs and rituals which were an integral part of ancient Egyptian society. It centered on the Egyptians' interaction with a multitude of deities who were believed to be present in, and in control of, the forces and elements of nature...
and others. Some groups focus solely on one cultural tradition, while others draw from several. For example, Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente , who also went under the craft name Ameth, was an influential English Wiccan who was involved in a number of different early traditions, including Gardnerianism, Cochrane's Craft and the Coven of Atho...
's text The Charge of the Goddess
Charge of the Goddess
The Charge of the Goddess is a traditional inspirational text sometimes used in the neopagan religion of Wicca. Several versions exist, though they all have the same basic premise, that of a set of instructions given by a Great Goddess to her worshippers...
used materials from The Gospel of Aradia by Charles G. Leland (1899), as well as material from Aleister Crowley's writings.
Some pagans also draw inspiration from modern traditions, including Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
and others, creating syncretisms like "Christian Witchcraft" or "Buddheo-Paganism". Since many pagan beliefs do not require exclusivity, some pagans practise other faiths in parallel.
Eclectic pagans take an undogmatic religious stance, and therefore potentially see no one as having authority to deem a source "apocryphal". Contemporary paganism has therefore been prone to fakelore
Fakelore
Fakelore or Pseudo-folklore is inauthentic, manufactured folklore presented as if it were genuinely traditional. The term can refer to new stories or songs made up, or to folklore that is reworked and modified for modern tastes...
, especially in recent years as information and misinformation alike have been spread on the Internet and in print media. A number of Wicca
Wicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
n, pagan and even some "Traditionalist" or "Tribalist" groups have a history of "Grandmother Stories" – typically involving initiation by a Grandmother, Grandfather, or other elderly relative who is said to have instructed them in the secret, millennia-old traditions of their ancestors. As this "secret wisdom" can almost always be traced to recent sources, tellers of these stories have often later admitted they made them up.
Encompassed religions and movements
The term "Contemporary Paganism" encompasses a very broad range of groups and beliefs. SyncreticSyncretism
Syncretism is the combining of different beliefs, often while melding practices of various schools of thought. The term means "combining", but see below for the origin of the word...
or eclectic approaches are often inspired by historical traditions, but not bound by any strict identification with a historical religion or culture. These are contrasted by a focus on historicity (reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
), on folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
, or on occultist or national mysticist claims of continuity from racial memory.
Gardnerian
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
and Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in the 1960s...
, British Traditional Wicca
British Traditional Wicca
British Traditional Wicca is a term used to describe some Wiccan traditions which have their origins in the New Forest region of England...
, and variations such as Dianic Wicca
Dianic Wicca
Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
are examples of eclectic traditions, as are Neo-druid
Neo-Druidism
Neo-Druidism or Neo-Druidry, commonly referred to as Druidism or Druidry by its adherents, is a form of modern spirituality or religion that generally promotes harmony and worship of nature, and respect for all beings, including the environment...
groups like Ár nDraíocht Féin
Ár nDraíocht Féin
Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, Inc. is a non-profit religious organization dedicated to the study and further development of modern, Neo-druidism practice....
.
Wicca and Pagan Witchcraft
Pagan Witchcraft is the largest contemporary pagan religion, having originally developed in the United Kingdom and since spread across the world. It is commonly called "WiccaWicca
Wicca , is a modern Pagan religious movement. Developing in England in the first half of the 20th century, Wicca was popularised in the 1950s and early 1960s by a Wiccan High Priest named Gerald Gardner, who at the time called it the "witch cult" and "witchcraft," and its adherents "the Wica."...
", a term that came to be adopted in the early 1960s, although in the late 1970s and 1980s certain Pagan Witches began to instead use that term purely in reference to specific traditions of the Pagan Craft, and in the contemporary pagan community both definitions are now employed, causing some confusion.
The Wiccan religion revolves around the veneration of a Horned God
Horned God
The Horned God is one of the two primary deities found in some European pagan religions. He is often given various names and epithets, and represents the male part of the religion's duotheistic theological system, the other part being the female Triple Goddess. In common Wiccan belief, he is...
and a Goddess, elements of a variety of ancient mythologies
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
, a belief in and practice of magic
Magic and religion
Magical thinking in various forms is a cultural universal and an important aspect of religion.In many cases it becomes difficult or impossible to draw any meaningful line between beliefs and practices that are magical versus those that are religious, but in general the term religion is reserved for...
and sometimes the belief in reincarnation
Reincarnation
Reincarnation best describes the concept where the soul or spirit, after the death of the body, is believed to return to live in a new human body, or, in some traditions, either as a human being, animal or plant...
and karma
Karma
Karma in Indian religions is the concept of "action" or "deed", understood as that which causes the entire cycle of cause and effect originating in ancient India and treated in Hindu, Jain, Buddhist and Sikh philosophies....
.
The scholar of Religious Studies Graham Harvey
Graham Harvey
Graham Harvey is an Australian actor, best known for his roles in television soap operas.His credits include: The Sullivans , The Young Doctors , Return to Eden , E Street and Neighbours .-External links:...
noted that a poem known as the Charge of the Goddess
Charge of the Goddess
The Charge of the Goddess is a traditional inspirational text sometimes used in the neopagan religion of Wicca. Several versions exist, though they all have the same basic premise, that of a set of instructions given by a Great Goddess to her worshippers...
remains central to the liturgy of most Wiccan groups. Originally written by Wiccan High Priestess Doreen Valiente
Doreen Valiente
Doreen Edith Dominy Valiente , who also went under the craft name Ameth, was an influential English Wiccan who was involved in a number of different early traditions, including Gardnerianism, Cochrane's Craft and the Coven of Atho...
in the mid-1950s, Harvey noted that the recitation of the Charge in the midst of ritual allows Wiccans to gain wisdom and experience deity in "the ordinary things in life".Harvey 2007. pp. 36-37.
The historian Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton is an English historian who specializes in the study of Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. A reader in the subject at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio...
identified a wide variety of different sources that influenced the development of Wicca. These included ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic
Ceremonial magic, also referred to as high magic and as learned magic, is a broad term used in the context of Hermeticism or Western esotericism to encompass a wide variety of long, elaborate, and complex rituals of magic. It is named as such because the works included are characterized by...
, folk magic, Romanticist literature, Freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, and the historical theories of the English archaeologist Margaret Murray
Margaret Murray
Margaret Alice Murray was a prominent British Egyptologist and anthropologist. Primarily known for her work in Egyptology, which was "the core of her academic career," she is also known for her propagation of the Witch-cult hypothesis, the theory that the witch trials in the Early Modern period of...
. The figure at the forefront of the burgeoning Wiccan movement was the English esotericist Gerald Gardner
Gerald Gardner
Gerald Brousseau Gardner , who sometimes used the craft name Scire, was an influential English Wiccan, as well as an amateur anthropologist and archaeologist, writer, weaponry expert and occultist. He was instrumental in bringing the Neopagan religion of Wicca to public attention in Britain and...
, who claimed to have been initiated by the New Forest coven
New Forest coven
The New Forest coven were a group of Neopagan witches or Wiccans who allegedly met around the area of the New Forest in southern England during the 1930s and 1940s...
in 1939. Gardner claimed that the religion which he discovered was a modern survival of the old Witch-Cult described in the works of Murray, which had originated in the pre-Christian paganism of Europe. He claimed it was revealed to him by a coven of witches in the New Forest area of southern England. Various forms of Wicca have since evolved or been adapted from Gardner's British Traditional Wicca or Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
such as Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca
Alexandrian Wicca is a tradition of the Neopagan religion of Wicca, founded by Alex Sanders who, with his wife Maxine Sanders, established the tradition in the United Kingdom in the 1960s...
. Other forms loosely based on Gardner's teachings are Faery Wicca
Faery Wicca
Faery Wicca, or Fairy Wicca is an umbrella term that refers to any tradition of modern Wicca that places an emphasis on the Fey , their lore, and their relation to the natural world....
, Kemetic Wicca, Judeo-Paganism or "jewitchery", Dianic Wicca
Dianic Wicca
Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
or "Feminist Wicca" – which emphasizes the divine feminine, often creating women-only or lesbian-only groups.
In the 1990s, Wiccan beliefs and practices were used as a partial basis for a number of U.S. films and television series, such as The Craft
The Craft (film)
The Craft is a 1996 American supernatural teen horror film directed by Andrew Fleming and starring Robin Tunney, Rachel True, Fairuza Balk and Neve Campbell. The film's plot centers on a group of four teenage girls who pursue witchcraft and use it for their own gain...
, Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...
and Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is an American television series that aired from March 10, 1997, until May 20, 2003. The series was created in 1997 by writer-director Joss Whedon under his production tag, Mutant Enemy Productions with later co-executive producers being Jane Espenson, David Fury, David...
, leading to a dramatic upsurge in teenagers and young adults becoming interested and involved in the religion.
Neo-Druidism
The Druid Order
thumb|upright|alt=Druids at Tower Hill|Druids at Tower HillThe Druid Order is a neo-druidic group in the United Kingdom. It is also called An Druidh Uileach Braithreachas or, in English, The Druid Circle of the Universal Bond. Members are called companions....
founded as early as 1717, the history of Neo-Druidism reaches back to the earliest origins of modern paganism. The Ancient Order of Druids
Ancient Order of Druids
The Ancient Order of Druids is a fraternal organization founded in London, England in 1781 that still operates to this day. It is the earliest known English group to be founded based upon the iconography of the ancient druids, who were priest-like figures in Iron Age Celtic paganism...
founded in 1781 had many aspects of freemasonry
Freemasonry
Freemasonry is a fraternal organisation that arose from obscure origins in the late 16th to early 17th century. Freemasonry now exists in various forms all over the world, with a membership estimated at around six million, including approximately 150,000 under the jurisdictions of the Grand Lodge...
, and practised rituals at Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
since 1905. The Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids
The Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids or OBOD is a Neo-Druidic organisation based in England, but based in part on the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards...
was established in 1964 by Ross Nichols
Ross Nichols
Ross Nichols was a Cambridge academic and published poet, artist and historian, who founded the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids in 1964. He wrote prolifically on the subjects of Druidism and Celtic mythology.- Work :...
. In the United States, the Ancient Order of Druids in America (AODA) was founded in 1912, the Reformed Druids of North America
Reformed Druids of North America
The Reformed Druids of North America is an American Neo-Druidic organization. It was formed in 1963 at Carleton College, Northfield, Minnesota as a humorous protest against the college's required attendance of religious services. This original congregation is called the Carleton Grove, sometimes...
(RDNA) was established in 1963 and Ár nDraíocht Féin
Ár nDraíocht Féin
Ár nDraíocht Féin: A Druid Fellowship, Inc. is a non-profit religious organization dedicated to the study and further development of modern, Neo-druidism practice....
(ADF) in 1983 by Isaac Bonewits
Isaac Bonewits
Phillip Emmons Isaac Bonewits was an influential American Druid who published a number of books on the subject of Neopaganism and magic. He was also a liturgist, singer and songwriter, and founded the Druidic organisation Ár nDraíocht Féin, as well as the Neopagan civil rights group, the Aquarian...
.
Goddess movement
Goddess Spirituality, which is also known as the Goddess movement, is a Pagan religion in which a singular, monotheistic Goddess is given predominance. Designed primarily for women, Goddess Spirituality revolves around the sacredness of the female form, and of aspects of women's lives which have been traditionally neglected in western society, such as menstruation, sexuality and maternity.Adherents of the Goddess Spirituality movement typically envision a history - or "herstory" - of the world that is different from traditional narratives about the past, emphasising the role of women rather than that of men. According to this view, human society was formerly a matriarchy
Matriarchy
A matriarchy is a society in which females, especially mothers, have the central roles of political leadership and moral authority. It is also sometimes called a gynocratic or gynocentric society....
, with communities being egalitarian, pacifistic and focused on the worship of the Goddess; such a society was subsequently overthrown by violent patriarchal
Patriarchy
Patriarchy is a social system in which the role of the male as the primary authority figure is central to social organization, and where fathers hold authority over women, children, and property. It implies the institutions of male rule and privilege, and entails female subordination...
hordes who worshiped male sky gods and who continued to rule through the form of Christianity. Adherents look for elements of this mythological history in "theological, anthropological, archaeological, historical, folkloric and hagiographic writings", particularly the writings of Lithuanian-American archaeologist Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas
Marija Gimbutas , was a Lithuanian-American archeologist known for her research into the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures of "Old Europe", a term she introduced. Her works published between 1946 and 1971 introduced new views by combining traditional spadework with linguistics and mythological...
.
Heathenry
Heathenism, also known as Germanic Neopaganism, refers to a series of contemporary Pagan traditions that are based upon the historical religions, culture and literature of Germanic-speaking Europe. Heathenry is spread out across north-western Europe, and also North America and Australasia, where the descendants of historic Germanic-speaking people now live.Many Heathen groups adopt variants of Norse mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
as a basis to their beliefs, conceiving of the Earth as being situated on a great world tree called Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
. Heathens believe in multiple polytheistic deities, all adopted from historical Germanic mythologies; the majority of Heathens are "polytheistic realists", believing that the deities are real entities, whilst others view them as Jungian archetypes
Jungian archetypes
Carl Jung created the archetypes which “are ancient or archaic images that derive from the collective unconscious” Also known as innate universal psychic dispositions that form the substrate from which the basic symbols or representations of unconscious experience emerge...
.
Forms of Heathenism have also been adopted by white separatist
White separatism
White separatism is a separatist political movement that seeks separate economic and cultural development for white people. White separatists generally claim genetic affiliation with Anglo-Saxon cultures, Nordic cultures, or other white European cultures...
and white supremacist groups. In the 1990s, Swedish historian Mattias Gardell
Mattias Gardell
Hans Bertil Mattias Gardell is a Swedish scholar of comparative religion. He is the current holder of the Nathan Söderblom Chair of Comparative Religion at Uppsala University, Sweden....
studied the white separatist Heathen community in the United States, noting that it had become one of the "most dynamic trends" within the "radical-racist milieu" of the U.S., surpassing more traditional white separatist groups like the Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan
Ku Klux Klan, often abbreviated KKK and informally known as the Klan, is the name of three distinct past and present far-right organizations in the United States, which have advocated extremist reactionary currents such as white supremacy, white nationalism, and anti-immigration, historically...
in "terms of numbers and influence".
New-age syncretism and eco-paganism
Contemporary paganism emerged as part of the counter-culture, New AgeNew Age
The New Age movement is a Western spiritual movement that developed in the second half of the 20th century. Its central precepts have been described as "drawing on both Eastern and Western spiritual and metaphysical traditions and then infusing them with influences from self-help and motivational...
and Hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
movements in the 1960s to 1970s. Reconstructionism rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s. The majority of pagans are not committed to a single defined tradition, but understand paganism as encompassing a wide range of non-institutionalized spirituality, as promoted by the Church of All Worlds
Church of All Worlds
The Church of All Worlds is a neopagan religious group whose stated mission is to evolve a network of information, mythology, and experience that provides a context and stimulus for reawakening Gaia and reuniting her children through tribal community dedicated to responsible stewardship and...
, the Feri Tradition
Feri Tradition
The Feri Tradition is an initiatory tradition of modern traditional witchcraft. It is an ecstatic, rather than a fertility, tradition stemming from the experience of Cora and Victor Anderson...
and other movements. Notably, Wicca in the United States since the 1970s has largely moved away from its Gardnerian
Gardnerian Wicca
Gardnerian Wicca, or Gardnerian Witchcraft, is a mystery cult tradition or denomination in the neopagan religion of Wicca, whose members can trace initiatory descent from Gerald Gardner. The tradition is itself named after Gardner , a British civil servant and scholar of magic...
roots and diversified into eclectic variants.
Paganism generally emphasizes the sanctity of the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
and Nature. Pagans often feel a duty to protect the Earth through activism
Activism
Activism consists of intentional efforts to bring about social, political, economic, or environmental change. Activism can take a wide range of forms from writing letters to newspapers or politicians, political campaigning, economic activism such as boycotts or preferentially patronizing...
, and support causes such as rainforest
Rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by high rainfall, with definitions based on a minimum normal annual rainfall of 1750-2000 mm...
protection, organic farming, permaculture
Permaculture
Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that is modeled on the relationships found in nature. It is based on the ecology of how things interrelate rather than on the strictly biological concerns that form the foundation of modern agriculture...
, animal rights
Animal rights
Animal rights, also known as animal liberation, is the idea that the most basic interests of non-human animals should be afforded the same consideration as the similar interests of human beings...
and so on. Some pagans are influenced by Animist
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
traditions of the indigenous Native Americans
Native American mythology
Native American mythology is the body of traditional narratives associated with Native American religion from a mythographical perspective. Native American belief systems include many sacred narratives. Such spiritual stories are deeply based in Nature and are rich with the symbolism of seasons,...
and Africans
African Traditional Religion
The traditional religions indigenous to Africa have, for most of their existence, been orally rather than scripturally transmitted. They are generally associated with animism. Most have ethno-based creations stories...
and other indigenous or shamanic traditions.
Eco-paganism and Eco-magic, which are off-shoots of direct action
Direct action
Direct action is activity undertaken by individuals, groups, or governments to achieve political, economic, or social goals outside of normal social/political channels. This can include nonviolent and violent activities which target persons, groups, or property deemed offensive to the direct action...
environmental groups, have a strong emphasis on fairy
Fairy
A fairy is a type of mythical being or legendary creature, a form of spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural or preternatural.Fairies resemble various beings of other mythologies, though even folklore that uses the term...
imagery and a belief in the possibility of intercession by the fae (fairies, pixies, gnome
Gnome
A gnome is a diminutive spirit in Renaissance magic and alchemy, first introduced by Paracelsus and later adopted by more recent authors including those of modern fantasy literature...
s, elves
Elf
An elf is a being of Germanic mythology. The elves were originally thought of as a race of divine beings endowed with magical powers, which they use both for the benefit and the injury of mankind...
, and other spirits of nature and the Otherworlds
Other World
The Otherworld is a concept in Celtic mythology, referring to a realm of the dead, the home of the deities or spirits....
).
Some Unitarian Universalists
Unitarian Universalism
Unitarian Universalism is a religion characterized by support for a "free and responsible search for truth and meaning". Unitarian Universalists do not share a creed; rather, they are unified by their shared search for spiritual growth and by the understanding that an individual's theology is a...
are eclectic pagans. Unitarian Universalists look for spiritual inspiration in a wide variety of religious beliefs. The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans
Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans
The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans is an association of Unitarian Universalists who define themselves as Pagans or Neopagans.-History:...
, or CUUPs, encourages their member chapters to "use practices familiar to members who attend for worship services but not to follow only one tradition of paganism."
Queer paganism
In the western world, distinct forms of paganism have developed for members of the LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community. Margot Adler noted how there were many pagan groups whose practices revolved around the inclusion and celebration of male homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
, such as the Minoan Brotherhood, a Wiccan group that combines the iconography from ancient Minoan religion with a Wiccan theology and an emphasis on "men-loving-men", and the eclectic pagan group known as the Radical Faeries
Radical Faeries
The Radical Faeries are a loosely-affiliated, worldwide network and counter-cultural movement seeking to reject hetero-imitation and redefine queer identity through spirituality. The Radical Faerie movement started in the United States among gay men during the 1970s sexual and counterculture...
. Similarly, there are also groups for lesbians, like certain forms of Dianic Wicca
Dianic Wicca
Dianic Witchcraft and Dianic Feminist Witchcraft, is a tradition, or denomination, of the Neopagan religion of Wicca. It was founded by Zsuzsanna Budapest in the United States in the 1970s, and is notable for its focus on the worship of the Goddess, and on feminism...
and the Minoan Sisterhood. When Adler asked one gay pagan what the pagan community offered members of the LGBT
LGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
community, the reply was "A place to belong. Community. Acceptance. And a way to connect with all kinds of people, gay, bi, straight, celibate, transgender, in a way that is hard to do in the greater society".
Other forms of Wicca have also attracted queer people, for instance, the theologian Jone Salomonsen noted that there was an unusually high number of LGBT, and particularly bisexual individuals within the Reclaiming tradition of San Francisco when she was doing her fieldwork there in the 1980s and 1990s.
Occultism and ethnic mysticism
Historically the earliest self-identified revivalist pagans were inspired by Renaissance occultism. Notably in early 20th century Germany with Germanic mysticismGermanic mysticism
Germanic mysticism or Germanic occultism may refer to* Ariosophy* more generally, various schools of Esotericism in Germany and Austria* various modern systems of runic magic...
, which branched into Ariosophy
Ariosophy
Armanism and Ariosophy are the names of ideological systems of an esoteric nature, pioneered by Guido von List and Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels respectively, in Austria between 1890 and 1930. The term 'Ariosophy', meaning wisdom concerning the Aryans, was first coined by Lanz von Liebenfels in 1915 and...
and related currents of Nazi occultism. Outside Germany, occultist neopaganism was inspired by Crowleyan Thelema and Left-Hand Paths, a recent example being the "Dark Paganism" of John J. Coughlin
John J. Coughlin
The Reverend John J. Coughlin, O.F.M. was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1983. He is a Franciscan friar of the Order of Friars Minor of the Holy Name Province. He presently serves as Professor of Law and concurrent Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame...
.
In 1925, the Czech esotericist Franz Sättler founded a pagan religion known as Adonism
Adonism
Adonism is a Neopagan religion founded in 1925 by the German esotericist Franz Sättler , who often went by the pseudonym of Dr. Musalam. Although Sättler claimed that it was the continuation of an ancient pagan religion, it has been recognised by academics as being "instead the single-handed...
, devoted to the ancient Greek god Adonis
Adonis
Adonis , in Greek mythology, the god of beauty and desire, is a figure with Northwest Semitic antecedents, where he is a central figure in various mystery religions. The Greek , Adōnis is a variation of the Semitic word Adonai, "lord", which is also one of the names used to refer to God in the Old...
, whom Sättler equated with the Christian Satan, and which purported that the end of the world would come in the year 2000. Adonism largely died out in the 1930s, but remained an influence on the German occult scene.
In the United States, ethnic mysticist approaches are advocated in the form of anti-racist Asatru Folk Assembly
Asatru Folk Assembly
The Asatru Folk Assembly, or AFA, an organization of Germanic neopaganism, is the US-based Ásatrú organization founded by Stephen McNallen in 1994. Gardell classifies the AFA as folkish....
founder Stephen McNallen's
Stephen McNallen
Stephen A. McNallen is an influential Germanic Neopagan leader and writer. Born in Breckenridge, Texas, McNallen has been heavily involved in Ásatrú since the 1970s.-Life:...
"metagenetics" and by David Lane's openly white supremacist Wotanism
Wotanism
Wotanism is the name of an American Heathen religion or socio-political current based on Germanic paganism and the doctrines of David Lane. Wotan is the German name for the Germanic god known in Norse as Odin...
.
Occultist currents persist in neo-fascist and national mysticist neopaganism, since the 1990s revived in the European Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite
Nouvelle Droite is a school of political thought founded largely on the works of Alain de Benoist and GRECE .-Etymology and history:...
in the context of the "Integral Traditionalism" of Julius Evola
Julius Evola
Barone Giulio Cesare Andrea Evola also known as Julius Evola, was an Italian philosopher and esotericist...
and others (Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist
Alain de Benoist is a French academic, philosopher, a founder of the Nouvelle Droite and head of the French think tank GRECE. Benoist is a critic of liberalism, free markets and egalitarianism.-Biography:...
, Werkgroep Traditie; see Neopaganism and the New Right).
Reconstructionism
In contrast to the eclectic traditions, ReconstructionistsPolytheistic reconstructionism
Polytheistic reconstructionism is an approach to Neopaganism first emerging in the late 1960s to early 1970s, and gathering momentum in the 1990s to 2000s...
are very culturally oriented and attempt to reconstruct historical forms of paganism, in a modern context. Thus, Hellenic, Roman
Roman polytheistic reconstructionism
Roman polytheistic reconstructionism, also known as Cultus Deorum Romanorum , Religio Romana or Romano-Italic Tradition, is the contemporary movement which reconstructs or revives the traditional Roman and Italic religious cults.-Practices:Roman polytheistic reconstructionism is a revived...
, Kemetic
Kemetic reconstructionism
Kemetism is a term for Egyptian neopaganism, i.e. neopagan revivals of Ancient Egyptian religion which developed in the United States from the 1970s...
, Celtic
Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism
Celtic Reconstructionist Paganism is a polytheistic, animistic, religious and cultural movement...
, Germanic
Germanic neopaganism
Germanic neopaganism is the contemporary revival of historical Germanic paganism. Precursor movements appeared in the early 20th century in Germany and Austria. A second wave of revival began in the early 1970s...
, Baltic
Baltic neopaganism
The Baltic countries were the last part of Europe to be Christianized, and vestiges of paganism blend into a Neopaganism movement that is largely independent of Western Asatru.*Romuva in Lithuania*Dievturība in Latvia...
and Slavic
Slavic neopaganism
Slavic Neopaganism is a modern fakeloric, polytheistic, reconstructionistic, and Neopagan religion; its adherents call themselves Rodnovers , and consider themselves to be the legitimate continuation of pre-Christian Slavic religion.- Rebirth of Slavic spirituality :The pre-Christian religions...
Reconstructionists aim for the revival of historical practices and beliefs of Ancient Greece, Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, Ancient Egypt, the Celts
Celtic polytheism
Celtic polytheism, commonly known as Celtic paganism, refers to the religious beliefs and practices adhered to by the Iron Age peoples of Western Europe now known as the Celts, roughly between 500 BCE and 500 CE, spanning the La Tène period and the Roman era, and in the case of the Insular Celts...
, the Germanic peoples
Germanic paganism
Germanic paganism refers to the theology and religious practices of the Germanic peoples of north-western Europe from the Iron Age until their Christianization during the Medieval period...
, the Balts
Baltic mythology
Baltic mythology generally covers the pre-Christian mythology of the Latvians, Lithuanians and Old Prussians, which are thought to have at least some common roots....
and the Slavs
Slavic mythology
Slavic mythology is the mythological aspect of the polytheistic religion that was practised by the Slavs before Christianisation.The religion possesses many common traits with other religions descended from the Proto-Indo-European religion....
, respectively.
In the early 2000s, a "Traditionalist" or "Folklorist" current of neopaganism emerged in Scandinavian neopaganism
Neopaganism in Scandinavia
Neopaganism in Scandinavia is dominated by revivals of Norse paganism .-Norway:The Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed the fellowship has about 50 Faithful formed in 1999...
, advocated by Jon Julius Filipusson (of Foreningen Forn Sed, Norway), Paul Jenssen (Denmark) and Keeron Ögren (Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed
Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed
Samfälligheten för Nordisk Sed is a religious organisation of Nordisk Sed in Sweden. It is one of the proponents of the Folktro approach to Heathenry. The regional units where known as gäll until 2007 when the organisation was re-structured. Samfälligheten was formed in the early 1990s, originally...
, Sweden), which rejects Reconstructionism and syncretism alike, advocating a strict focus on regional folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
and folk religion
Folk religion
Folk religion consists of ethnic or regional religious customs under the umbrella of an organized religion, but outside of official doctrine and practices...
.
Propagation
Based upon her study of the pagan community in the United States, the sociologist Margot AdlerMargot Adler
Margot Adler is an author, journalist, lecturer, Wiccan priestess and radio journalist and correspondent for National Public Radio .- Early life :Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Adler grew up mostly in New York City...
noted that it is rare for pagan groups to proselytize in order to gain new converts to their faiths. Instead, she argued that "in most cases", converts first become interested in the movement through "word of mouth, a discussion between friends, a lecture, a book, an article or a Web site." She went on to put forward the idea that this typically confirmed "some original, private experience, so that the most common experience of those who have named themselves pagan is something like 'I finally found a group that has the same religious perceptions I always had'." A practicing Wiccan herself, Adler used her own conversion to paganism as a case study, remarking that as a child she had taken a great interest in the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, and had performed her own devised rituals in dedication to them. When she eventually came across the Wiccan religion many years later, she then found that it confirmed her earlier childhood experiences, and that "I never converted in the accepted sense. I simply accepted, reaffirmed, and extended a very old experience."
Folklorist Sabina Magliocco
Sabina Magliocco
Sabina Magliocco , is a professor of Anthropology and Folklore at California State University, Northridge . She is an author of non-fiction books and journal articles about folklore, religion, religious festivals, foodways, witchcraft and Neo-Paganism in Europe and the United States.A recipient of...
supported this idea, noting that a great many of those Californian pagans whom she interviewed claimed that they had been greatly interested in mythology
Mythology
The term mythology can refer either to the study of myths, or to a body or collection of myths. As examples, comparative mythology is the study of connections between myths from different cultures, whereas Greek mythology is the body of myths from ancient Greece...
and folklore
Folklore
Folklore consists of legends, music, oral history, proverbs, jokes, popular beliefs, fairy tales and customs that are the traditions of a culture, subculture, or group. It is also the set of practices through which those expressive genres are shared. The study of folklore is sometimes called...
as children, imagining a world of "enchanted nature and magical transformations, filled with lords and ladies, witches and wizards, and humble but often wise peasants." Magliocco noted that it was this world which pagans "strive to re-create in some measure." Further support for Adler's idea came from American Wiccan priestess Judy Harrow
Judy Harrow
- Biography :Judy Harrow was born in the Bronx also known as Judith Harrow and has lived the majority of her life in New York City.- Education :Harrow graduated from Bronx High School of Science in 1962. She then received a B.A. in American Government from Western College for Women in 1966. In...
, who noted that amongst her comrades, there was a feeling that "you don't become pagan, you discover that you always were." They have also been supported by Pagan studies scholar Graham Harvey
Graham Harvey
Graham Harvey is an Australian actor, best known for his roles in television soap operas.His credits include: The Sullivans , The Young Doctors , Return to Eden , E Street and Neighbours .-External links:...
.
Many pagans in North America encounter the movement through their involvement in other hobbies; particularly popular with U.S. pagans are "golden age"-type pastimes such as the Society for Creative Anachronism
Society for Creative Anachronism
The Society for Creative Anachronism is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century...
(SCA), Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
fandom, Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
fandom and comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
fandom. Other manners in which many North American pagans have got involved with the movement are through political and/or ecological activism, such as "vegetarian groups, health food stores" or feminist university courses.
Adler went on to note that from those she interviewed and surveyed in the U.S., 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 and/or feminism, and a sense of freedom.
Class, gender and ethnicity
Based upon her work in the United States, sociologist Margot Adler found that the pagan movement was "very diverse" in its class and ethnic background. She went on to remark that she had encountered pagans in jobs that ranged from "fireman to Ph.D. 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. The folklorist Sabina MaglioccoSabina Magliocco
Sabina Magliocco , is a professor of Anthropology and Folklore at California State University, Northridge . She is an author of non-fiction books and journal articles about folklore, religion, religious festivals, foodways, witchcraft and Neo-Paganism in Europe and the United States.A recipient of...
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 who find artistic inspiration in folk and indigenous spiritual traditions."
The sociologist Regina Oboler examined the role of gender in the pagan community of the United States, arguing that although the movement had been constant in its support for the equality of men and women ever since its foundation, there was still an essentialist
Essentialism
In philosophy, essentialism is the view that, for any specific kind of entity, there is a set of characteristics or properties all of which any entity of that kind must possess. Therefore all things can be precisely defined or described...
view of gender engrained within it, with female deities being accorded traditional western feminine traits and male deities being similarly accorded what western society saw as masculine traits.
Demographics
Adherents.comAdherents.com
Adherents.com is a website that aims to collect and present information about religious demographics, established in 1998. It is the largest pool of such data freely available on the internet. As of January 2010, the site contains approximately 44,000 references on over 4,300 faith groups...
estimates that there are roughly one million pagans worldwide (as of 2000), including "Wicca, Magick, Druidism, Asatru, neo-Native American religion and others".
High estimates by pagan authors may reach several times that number.
A precise number is impossible to establish, because of the largely uninstitutionalised
nature of the religion and the secrecy observed by some traditions, – sometimes explained by fear of religious discrimination
Religious discrimination against Neopagans
Neopagans are a religious minority in every country where they exist, and have been subject to religious discrimination. The largest Neopagan communities are in North America and the United Kingdom, and the issue of discrimination receives most attention in those locations, but there are also...
.
North America
In the United States, the ARIS 2001 study, based on a poll conducted by The Graduate Center at The City University of New YorkCity University of New York
The City University of New York is the public university system of New York City, with its administrative offices in Yorkville in Manhattan. It is the largest urban university in the United States, consisting of 23 institutions: 11 senior colleges, six community colleges, the William E...
found that an estimated 140,000 people self-identified as pagans; 134,000 self-identified as Wiccans; and 33,000 self-identified as Druids. This would bring the total of groups largely accepted under the modern popular western definition of pagan to 307,000.
Europe
Ronald Hutton
Ronald Hutton is an English historian who specializes in the study of Early Modern Britain, British folklore, pre-Christian religion and contemporary Paganism. A reader in the subject at the University of Bristol, Hutton has published fourteen books and has appeared on British television and radio...
compared a number of different sources (including membership lists of major UK organizations, attendance at major events, subscriptions to magazines, etc.) and used standard models for extrapolating likely numbers. This estimate accounted for multiple membership overlaps as well as the number of adherents represented by each attendee of a pagan gathering. Hutton estimated that there are 250,000 neopagan adherents in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, roughly equivalent to the national Hindu
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
community.
A smaller number is suggested by the results of the 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
, in which a question about religious affiliation was asked for the first time. Respondents were able to write in an affiliation not covered by the checklist of common religions, and a total of 42,262 people from England, Scotland and Wales declared themselves to be Pagans by this method. These figures were not released as a matter of course by the Office of National Statistics, but were released after an application by the Pagan Federation
Pagan Federation
The Pagan Federation is a UK-based voluntary organisation, formed in 1971, which campaigns for the religious rights of Neo-pagans and educates both civic bodies and the general public about Paganism. It is active throughout Europe and organises a large number of Pagan events. The organisation...
of Scotland. From a British population of 59 million this gives a rough proportion of 7 Pagans per 100,000 population. This is more than many well known traditions such as Rastafarian
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...
, Bahá'í
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
and Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...
groups, but fewer than the 'Big Six' of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, Hinduism
Hinduism
Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
, Sikhism
Sikhism
Sikhism is a monotheistic religion founded during the 15th century in the Punjab region, by Guru Nanak Dev and continued to progress with ten successive Sikh Gurus . It is the fifth-largest organized religion in the world and one of the fastest-growing...
, Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
and Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
. It is also fewer than the adherents Jediism
Jediism
Jediism is a religious movement based on the philosophical and spiritual ideas of the Jedi as depicted in Star Wars media.-Belief:Practitioners identify themselves with the Jedi Knights in Star Wars, believe in the existence of the Force and that interaction with the Force is possible. Believers...
, whose campaign
Jedi census phenomenon
The Jedi census phenomenon is a grassroots movement that was initiated in 2001 for residents of a number of English-speaking countries, urging them to record their religion as "Jedi" or "Jedi Knight" on the national census.It is believed the majority of self-reported Jedi claimed the religion for...
made them the fourth largest religion after Christianity, Islam and Hinduism.
The UK Census figures do not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the pagan heading, as a campaign by the Pagan Federation
Pagan Federation
The Pagan Federation is a UK-based voluntary organisation, formed in 1971, which campaigns for the religious rights of Neo-pagans and educates both civic bodies and the general public about Paganism. It is active throughout Europe and organises a large number of Pagan events. The organisation...
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. The PaganDASH campaign actively worked with the ONS
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the Parliament of the United Kingdom.- Overview :...
to amend the rules for The 2011 UK Census, allowing pagans to write their denomination in the form "PAGAN — path". This was to reduce problems as encountered in the 2001 Census such as a range of neopagan paths being counted under atheist.
Census figures in Ireland do not provide a breakdown of religions outside of the major Christian denominations and other major world religions. A total of 22,497 people stated 'Other religion' in the 2006 census; and a rough estimate is that there are 2,000–3,000 practicing pagans in Ireland as of 2009. Numerous pagan groups – primarily Wiccan and Druidic – exist in Ireland though none is officially recognised by the Government. Irish Paganism is often strongly concerned with issues of place and language.
Ásatrú
is a form of Germanic neopaganism which developed in the United States from the 1970s....
(Forn Sed, Folketro). The Swedish AsatruSociety
Swedish AsatruSociety
The Swedish Forn Sed Assembly , formerly Swedish Asatru Assembly is a Heathen Neopagan organization, founded in 1994, practicing old Norse paganism and Norse mythology, called Forn Sed or Ásatrú nowadays...
formed in 1994, and in Norway the Åsatrufellesskapet Bifrost formed in 1996 and Foreningen Forn Sed formed in 1999. They have been recognized by the Norwegian government as a religious society, allowing them to perform "legally binding civil ceremonies" (i.e. marriages). In Denmark Forn Siðr also formed in 1999, recognized in 2003 and in Sweden Nätverket Gimle formed in 2001, as an informal community for individual Heathens.
Nätverket Forn Sed formed in 2004, and has a network consisting of local groups () from all over Sweden.
In German-speaking Europe
German-speaking Europe
The German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in West, Central and Eastern Europe...
, Germanic and Celtic paganism co-exist with Wicca and neoshamanism. Paganism in Latin Europe
Latin Europe
Latin Europe is a loose term for the region of Europe with an especially strong Latin cultural heritage inherited from the Roman Empire.-Application:...
(France, Italy, Spain) focuses on Neo-Druidism and Esotericism based on megalith
Megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. Megalithic describes structures made of such large stones, utilizing an interlocking system without the use of mortar or cement.The word 'megalith' comes from the Ancient...
culture besides some Germanic Pagan groups in areas historically affected by Germanic migrations (Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
). Paganism in Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
and parts of Northern Europe
Northern Europe
Northern Europe is the northern part or region of Europe. Northern Europe typically refers to the seven countries in the northern part of the European subcontinent which includes Denmark, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Finland and Sweden...
is dominated by Baltic
Baltic neopaganism
The Baltic countries were the last part of Europe to be Christianized, and vestiges of paganism blend into a Neopaganism movement that is largely independent of Western Asatru.*Romuva in Lithuania*Dievturība in Latvia...
and Slavic
Slavic neopaganism
Slavic Neopaganism is a modern fakeloric, polytheistic, reconstructionistic, and Neopagan religion; its adherents call themselves Rodnovers , and consider themselves to be the legitimate continuation of pre-Christian Slavic religion.- Rebirth of Slavic spirituality :The pre-Christian religions...
movements, rising to visibility after the fall of the Soviet Union (except for Latvian Dievturība
Dievturiba
Dievturība is a Neopagan religious movement, which claims to be a modern revival of the folk religion of the Latvians before Christianization in the 13th century. Adherents call themselves Dievtuŗi , literally "Dievs keepers", "people who live in harmony with Dievs".The Dievtuŗi movement was...
which has been active since 1925). Since the 1990s, there have been organized Hellenic groups practising in Greece.
The Church of the Guanche People
Church of the Guanche People
The Church of the Guanche People is a neopagan sect founded in 2001 in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna . According to its followers, the mission of this organization is to rescue and spread the pagan religion of the Guanche people...
is a pagan sect founded in 2001 in the city of San Cristobal de La Laguna
San Cristóbal de la Laguna
San Cristóbal de La Laguna is a city and municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, on the Canary Islands . The city is third-most populous city of the archipelago and second-most populous city of the island. It is a suburban area of the...
(Tenerife
Tenerife
Tenerife is the largest and most populous island of the seven Canary Islands, it is also the most populated island of Spain, with a land area of 2,034.38 km² and 906,854 inhabitants, 43% of the total population of the Canary Islands. About five million tourists visit Tenerife each year, the...
, Canary Islands
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
). According to its followers this organisation aims to revive and spread the Pagan religion of the Guanche people. It was founded by a group of Canarian citizens, devotees of the goddess Chaxiraxi
Chaxiraxi
Chaxiraxi is the native goddess known as the Sun Mother in the Guanche religion. The goddess Chaxiraxi was one of the principal goddesses of the pantheon of the Guanches. Chaxiraxi was later associated with an alleged appearance circa 1400 or 1401 of the Virgin of Candelaria on Güímar, on the...
. The Church of the Guanche People performs baptisms and weddings according to aboriginal Guanche forms. On December 14, 2003, the first wedding for more than 500 years was held according to the aboriginal Guanche rite on the island of Tenerife. In 2008 the group had approximately 300 members.
Pagan studies
In the latter decades of the 20th century, various academics from a variety of different disciplines began to take an interest in studying contemporary paganism, thereby creating the pagan studies area. Thus the publication of a peer-reviewed academic journal, The Pomegranate: A New Journal of Neopagan Thought (later renamed The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies), has begun, edited by American academic Chas S. CliftonChas S. Clifton
Chas S. Clifton is an American academic, author and historian who specialises in the fields of English studies and Pagan studies. Clifton currently holds a teaching position in English at Colorado State University-Pueblo, prior to which he taught at Pueblo Community College.A practicing Pagan...
, whilst the academic publishers AltaMira Press began release of the Pagan Studies Series. One of the books AltaMira released was Researching Paganisms, an anthology edited by Jenny Blain, Douglas Ezzy and Graham Harvey
Graham Harvey
Graham Harvey is an Australian actor, best known for his roles in television soap operas.His credits include: The Sullivans , The Young Doctors , Return to Eden , E Street and Neighbours .-External links:...
in which different Pagan studies scholars discussed their involvement with the subject and the opposition that they've faced.
Further reading
- Bonewits, Isaac (2006) Bonewits's Essential Guide to Druidism. New York, Kensington Publishing Group ISBN 0-8065-2710-2.
- Clifton, Chas and Harvey, Graham (2004), The Paganism Reader, Routledge, ISBN 978-0-415-30352-1.
- Rabinovitch, Shelley and Lewis, James (2004), The Encyclopedia of Modern Witchcraft and Neo-Paganism, Kensington Publishing Corporation, ISBN 978-0-8065-2407-8.
External links
- What Neo-Pagans Believe (beliefnet.com)
- Neopagan & Pagan religious traditions (religioustolerance.org)
- Wicca and Neo-Paganism (sacred-texts.com)
- The Pagan Federation (paganfed.org)