The rise of the occult, discussing paganism and its many branches.

Everyone's propbably noticed the pagan revalution and the rise of neo-paganism in recent years. I am a convert to wicca, i was once a catholic but i find this new belief ssytems spiritually fulfilling and rewarding as christianity for me did not.
i'd like to know you're opinions on this, you're encounters with it and experiences you may have. i'd to know if there are any more neo-pagan's out there that i can share views with.

please do not come into this thread if you say it is devil worship, which it isn't, and wish to 'save my soul' and 'turn me from my dark ways'

wicca is one of the many branches of paganism, which actually means rural dweller not heathen. there are many paths and each is individual and tread solely.

Firstly i'd like to establish what wicca is before i have combat against what it isn't

Wiccans beleive in the duality of deity. God and Goddess followed by a partheon of many dieties from many religions. the Goddess is Herself Maid, Mother and Matron with the waxing, full and waning moon.
the God or the Horned God is seen as her Son, Lover and Consort.

many pagan sacred days have been changed to Christian ones. Easter, Lady Day, Christmas and such are derrived from the Old Ways.

and unlike the Abrahamatic religions, pagans do not have a central book like the bible, torah or Koran. we also do not believe in the Original sin and that humans are sinful.

Life is a gift, a thing of onder and a journey imbued with the power of the Goddess. there is the duality of positive and negative, but yo have more control over where you life is going and what you can do to change it.

 

There aren't that many religions that have original sin. I know Buddhists don't believe in it.

That negative-positive, light-dark, order-chaos duality sounds a lot like Chinese philosophy. Wicca's a continually evolving religion, right?

 

right, we are ready to embrace new concepts, it evolves because every person's perspective of it is different.

like most witches, i practise solitary but i'm doing a course where i can get more information to see aspects of it.

but i won't turn back, i;ve felt the power of the Goddess on a full moon, once you embrace that there is not turning back.

i have to go for a few hours but i'll be back, but thanks for the input

 

I'm not a practicing pagan,but that's mostly because i'm lazy. I am a pagan at heart,and i believe that we can control our destinies through choice in this life,and after this life. I believe in reincarnation,and that we make choices in the after life for our next one. I do not consider myself a devil worshiper,and anyone who calls me one is just a narrow minded individual,and it doesn't bother me. The only thing that bothers me at all is that people are so myopic,because that's sad. My fate,my destiny is in my hands,and i'm living out the choices i already made. Nice thread Katana_Geldar

 

as for what you said about budhims, they don't beleive in the original sin yet the first of the four noble truths says all life is suffering

 

Merry meet Katana! Nice to see someone on here who shares my beliefs

 

merry meet raven_star!

it is nice to see others here, i know another person on here who is.

unfortunatly this thread has gone dead, which is less than i have hoped for

 

Isn't it more accurate to refer to any paganesque western religion solely as neo paganism? Despite their first amendment violations, Christianity of the time was rather effective at stromping out or driving underground pagan worship.

As for as I have seen it is less of a continuation and more of an adaptation of a myriad of pagan practices.

I feel it is disengenuous in the extreme for neopagans to pretend they're continuing an ancient religion.

 

what makes you say this? i'm open to all views here

 

i've been a wiccan for several years, i have several witchy friends and we do spells and rituals and stuff

magic, or rather magick, does work. but it is then intent of your spell rather than what you do which makes your magick work.

like if you were told to light a pink candle each day for a week durring the full moon and you would get love, unless you truly know it will work and focused your thoughs on it nothing will happen

 

Farraday how do you know this are you a pagan yourself? I agree with the christian stomping things underground. I read somewhere that in the middle ages christians killed 200,000 witches,so yeah i agree,but how do you know the modern practices have nothing to do with the incipient form of the religion.

 

farraday hasn't been back to confirm the argument

As for as I have seen it is less of a continuation and more of an adaptation of a myriad of pagan practices.

as i said to neo earlier, paganism does change, beliefs have to change at least in outward appearance so they are made appealing to others.

there are many different paths of paganism like there are many different paths of wicca. Dianic, Alexandrian, Gardnerian to name a few

the core values remain the same, isn;t that so with outher religions as well?

durring the burning times witches had to go underground it wasn't until the 1950's that we started to emerge from the broom closet

 

That's what i was getting at. The basic beliefs are the same even though there are the many paths as you described.

 

you're on the right track Neo, how come you haven't gotten more involved.

it's so fullfilling and envigorating

 

Like i already said i'm lazy. When i was younger and my family told me i was christian i never went to church,and if i became a witch i wouldn't celebrate the days of power,and have full moon rituals even though a big part of me wants to do these things i just don't. If i had experienced people to do it with,and guide me i think i would really like it,and not be so lazy.

 

good point raven_star

intent is important, i did a spell once that was bordering on manipulation, but because i did not intend to manipulate anyone that it had no negative effect on me and did it's purpose

anyways, the best spells are the ones you do yourself, don't copy one out of a book, it's not intended to be used that way

 

you don't really have to do a lot to celebrate the esbat or the sabbats. sometimes just lighting a candle or some incense and saying a few words to honour the Old Ones is suffice.

one of the best parts of being wiccan is being with people of the same faith, you share experinces and have fun together. do you like doing those things?

 

Well Raven_Star i was never into church going people/stuff,but i think i would be into hanging out with wiccans. They are more open minded,and i like that.

 

Paganism and other earth-based religions world-wide are ultimately derived from "Hindu" beliefs, although practicioners of pagan and other earth religions will most certainly get a spiritual benefit.

 

The whole thing should be refered to as neo-paganism, but people should realise that within that definition there are thousands upon thousands of seperate belief systems.

Most neo-pagan groups are eclectic in terms of their spirituality and the beliefs that they have chosen for themselves.

As for the whole medieval killing of witches, please don't believe everything you hear. Although a lot of people were killed, most of them were christians and not pagans at all (let alone 'witches'). Many were single men or women of marriageable age, who were considered outsiders by the community.

I'm a religious studies major and have studies paganism, wicca and the new age movement. I've also studied demon possession and the witch burning times during the early modern english period. To top that off I live with a former neo-pagan and a good deal of my friends would consider themselves pagans.

So if you want to know something from an academic perspective...ask away.

Kithera

 

I'm in a similar position to The1Neo on this one. It's pretty much the only set of beliefs that have ever hit a personal note with me, and my own personal philosophy has always been pretty much identical to the Wiccan Rede. Just too lazy to make it any part of my life.

 

I agree with Kit, it has nothingto do with the witch hunts and everything to do with the way christianity pervaded life in europe down to it's core. Pretending that they are a continuation of earlier beliefs would be akin to someone starting a bull jumping religion and saying they're practicing an ancient Minoan religion.

Adopting the titles and names of anceint pagan practices doe snot make their beliefs yours.

 

Adopting the titles and names of anceint pagan practices doe snot make their beliefs yours.

Yeah, it probably makes you a Christian.

 

Ooooh burn you got me good.


Too bad all you have when discussing neo paganism is trying to make christianity look bad, one would almost think you didn't know enough about the subject to contribute.

Now I give you full license to amend and extend your statements before the edit time expires and you're stuck with looking foolish.

 

Just an observation. Quite a few of Christian rituals/customs come from Pagan ancestry. That's all I was saying.