What is Paganism? Part 1
Since trying to answer the question “What is Paganism?” can be an exercise in frustration for all parties involved, I’ve decided to try to simplify the question by breaking down what Paganism is to me.
The problem with the question “what is a Pagan?” stems from the fact that it is actually an umbrella term for a wide variety of religious paths. It also tends to be heavily reliant on the personal experience of the individual Pagan. It’s sort of like asking a drummer, a violinist, and a singer to each demonstrate “what is music?” and expecting to get the same demonstration from all three. It just isn’t going to happen.
Likewise, ask a Wiccan, an Ásatrú, and a Kemetic Re-constructionist what they believe, and you will likely end up more confused than when you started.
So allow me to attempt, in very broad strokes, to paint a general picture of the Pagan landscape as I see it.
The Pagan Spectrum
In very general terms, Pagans tend to fall into two groups, each marked by two extreme opposites. There are modern, new age “Neo” Pagans, and there is die-hard, orthodox re-constructionists. This is more like a sliding scale, and an individual Pagan can live anywhere between these two extremes. In fact, most pagans will slide around on this scale over the course of their individual Pagan journey.
I would argue that a major dividing line between Pagans is scholarship. At one end of the spectrum, you have the people who take their lore very seriously. These Pagans are very quick to point out what is “factual” and what is “fluff.” Taken to its extreme, these hard-line re-constructionists view ancient texts as sacred, and virtually infallible. In fact, this tends to be where you run into groups that try to alienate themselves from the term Pagan. They are (fill in the blank), they follow the teachings of (fill in ancient text/group of texts/specific pre-christian culture, etc.) to the exclusion of all else, and therefore cannot possibly be Pagan (according to themselves.)
At the other end of the spectrum is an unfortunately large group of (generally) brand new pagans who have picked up a random book, or bunch of books, by (insert random ridiculous High Priest/ess name, usually including the name of various flora, fauna, and fantasy characters.) These books generally have no scholarly basis whatsoever, however they tend to claim some form of undying lineage going all the way back to (the 1950’s/the burning times/pre-christian Europe etc.) These individuals, after reading a single book of dubious credibility, suddenly know everything there is to know about all things Pagan and/or magickal, and automatically become “High Priest(ess) Bunny-thistle Dumbledor.” What this group lacks in scholarship, it tends to make up for in dramatic flare.
It’s my opinion that neither end of the spectrum is a good place for a Pagan to be. A healthy dose of skepticism, some book smarts, and a lot of elbow grease should find a pagan somewhere roughly in the middle. Not a complete airhead, but not a slave to archaeology and anthropology either.
Modern Pagans and Ethnic Religion
In answering the question “Who is a modern Pagan?” I find that it helps to try to understand the aims and objectives of following a Pagan path.
Modern Paganism is still in its relative infancy. In the 1800’s there was a period of interest in spiritualism and the occult. This was brought on in part because science was advancing rapidly. For once, people had something other than traditional “because God says so” answers to many of life’s questions. Unfortunately, science has a blind spot.
Where science was able to answer many questions about the world around us, it couldn’t cover people’s spiritual needs. Death is one of life’s only guarantees, and science is only able to give a shallow description of what happens to the physical body at the point of death. With Christianity losing it’s hold on the general populace, people sought answers elsewhere.
Of course, most of the spiritualism and occult practices that came out of the Victorian era were still heavily tied to the Abrahamic religions. These first attempts at questioning the standard beliefs of their time did, however, open the door to those who would follow.
The introduction of Wicca in the middle of the last century was a direct result of these Victorian spiritual thinkers. The massive social, cultural, political, and religious shifts that took place in the 1960’s and 1970’s further expanded what was considered acceptable within Pagan circles. Likewise, the internet gave these new beliefs and ideas a voice. Pagans are now able to communicate with each other, study, share ideas, and strengthen the Pagan community as a whole.
One thing that hasn’t changed much is the idea of tribalism. Many Pagans, whether solitary or belonging to a coven, grove, or kin, tend to have strong ties to a central core group of people. A modern-day equivalent to the ancient tribes. This can be as simple as an informal online forum or chat group, or as complex as an actual group of families, sworn to each other by bonds of shared faith.
This brings us back to the idea of the modern Pagan and ethnic religion. Humans are social creatures. We group together for survival. The more “modern” Paganism has become, the more it has started to mimic the Paganism of the old world (that is, the pre-Christian world.) We group together based on a shared sense of community. We form modern tribes.
The most common way that we identify ourselves and our tribes is through our “hearth cultures.” Many Pagans have a hearth culture that is based on an ethnic group. There are Native American, Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, Germanic, Norse, Iberian, Roman, Greek, Mesopotamian and Egyptian Pagans, as well as many others that I’m sure I’ve missed. Likewise, I’d argue that, while not based on ethnicity, there are groups of Pagans out there that have formed a sort of modern tribe based on a set of common beliefs/ideologies. For example, Goddess worship, feminism, the Faye, etc. are each used as the basis for a variety of pagan schools of thought.
Going back to my musical example, I’d compare these groupings to the “ethnic” groupings in music. Jazz, the blues, country, classical, Reggae, etc. each have their own origins in the culture of a specific group of Peoples. In the same way that a person doesn’t have to be African-American to appreciate Delta Blues, a person doesn’t have to be of a certain ethnicity (Egyptian, let`s say) to have an appreciation of, or belief in , that form of Paganism. Many Pagans are well read, and generally have a broad understanding and acceptance of other forms of Paganism, just like a musician who may play jazz, but has a respect and appreciation for flamenco.
If someone tells you a they are a musician, you automatically get a picture in your head of what they mean. Sometimes you can guess based on what they are wearing, but not always. The same thing goes for Pagans. In fact, many Pagans tend to blend into society very well. For some, it’s a matter of keeping their faith under wraps due to family or society pressure from non-Pagans. For others, it’s a matter of maintaining appearances and a professional demeanor due to career choices. It may come as a total shock, but many Pagans are completely “normal”! As with most things in life, it always seems that the obnoxious, loud, embarrassing 1% of a group somehow ends up being the stereotype that the rest of the group has to live with. It is unfortunate, but some Pagans stay “in the closet” for fear of being branded as a weirdo, due to how they think that they will be received by society.
Personally, I think that you should be the you that you are, not the you that someone else thinks you should be.
Old Barn Owl 