Religions Reviewed

“Paganism” is a term historically applied to any and all religions outside the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and in particular to the polytheistic religions indigenous to Europe. In the 20^th century, various species of revived, reconstructed, and invented paganism have gained adherents throughout Europe and North America. This modern self-identified Paganism, or Neo-paganism, is diverse in its sources and its manifestations. 

ORIGINS AND HISTORY

The first developments of modern paganism are evident in the Romantic movement of the 19^th century. Other contributions come from occult magic as developed by the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, the Woodcraft societies which attempted to adopt ritual elements from Native American culture, various ideas popularized from academic anthropology, folklore studies, and the witch-cult theories of Margaret Murray.

In England during the 1940’s and 50’s, Gerald B. Gardner led a small group in the development of a system of religious witchcraft, which he alleged to be a perpetuation of an earlier initiatory tradition. With the repeal of the 1736 Witchcraft Act in 1951, it became possible for the initiates of Gardner’s system to undertake various sorts of publicity, in addition to Gardner’s own books on the topic. Gardner’s coven, its successors, allies, and kindred rivals eventually formed a large and varied movement sometimes denominated as Wicca or Wicce, which became a cornerstone of later Paganism, and served as a model to many other Pagan groups.

            The Gardnerian witches and their imitators maintained that their religion was a revival of suppressed pagan worships from earlier ages, and they identified themselves with the pre-Christian religions of Europe, and with those condemned by medieval and Renaissance witch trials. In modern Pagan lore, those trials assumed vast proportions, and supported a narrative in which modern witches viewed themselves as survivors of genocide. More recently, some Wiccan adherents have become critical of their received history, acknowledging the inventive aspects of Gardner’s organizing, and the mythic dimensions of the “burning times” story.

            With migration outside of Britain, and by becoming engaged with the mass counterculture of the 1960’s, Neo-pagan witchcraft became more diverse, and it was joined by a variety of other groups that rallied to the generic Pagan banner. Some of these were efforts to reconstruct ancient pagan religions on the basis of historical or archeological ideas, focusing on one or another ethnic or historical window, such as the Druids, ancient Egypt, Hellenic mystery cults, or pre-Christian Scandinavian religion. In addition, some Pagan groups were confessedly inventive, such as the Church of All Worlds, which named itself after a religion in a science fiction novel (Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land). Discordianism is a Neo-pagan religion dedicated to the ancient Greek goddess Eris, founded on the basis of an alleged vision in a bowling alley. Inventive Paganisms often included environmentalist and feminist ideologies among their motives.

ORGANIZATION

Many contemporary Pagans describe themselves as “solitaries,” and maintain no ongoing affiliation to any group. Their practices may be entirely private, and can be learned from book study, contacts on the Internet, and classes or workshops that require no membership investment.

            When groups are organized, the most typical form is a “coven” or comparable association of fewer than twenty members, all of whom know each other personally. Such small groups can be extremely ad hoc with their own eclectic ritual agendas and doctrines, or they may participate in a “tradition” with well-defined organizational filiation and standards of orthodoxy and orthopraxis. Some such “traditions” are themselves institutionalized as larger-scale organizations, but many are not. Gardnerian witchcraft is highly decentralized and offers no administration above the coven level.

There have been various efforts create larger-scale coalitions and umbrella groups to include differing sorts of Pagans, but none has been universal, and few have been enduring. Camping festivals throughout North America and in Britain have served as important venues for expressions of pagan community, and opportunities for different Pagan groups to interact. The work involved in the production of such festivals has resulted in a number of persistent groups that are focused on festival organizing, maintaining land for camping events and rituals, and regional networking.

DOCTRINES

            Pagan groups vary in the emphasis they place on doctrinal belief. Some are extremely open to diversity of opinion, while others are tightly catechized. Among those who do define their creeds, the beliefs vary from group to group.

            Most Gardnerian-derived Pagans maintain that all gods and goddesses are reflections of a single God and Goddess pair. In practice, the Goddess tends to predominate, with the God often relegated to a consort role. In Dianic Wicca and some other feminist Pagan groups, thealogy  (sic) emphasizes the Goddess to the exclusion of the God. Pagan reconstructionists often subscribe to polytheism without any sort of emanationist or symbolist apologies.

            Pagan religions typically emphasize some form of nature spirituality, many times taking on environmentalist tenets as religious doctrine. They often adopt non-mainstream positions on gender and sexuality. They usually advocate magic (or “magick”) as a spiritual practice. Some promote the idea of reincarnation, or theories about the “astral plane.” None of these features are universal, however.

RITUALS

There is a great diversity of ritual forms within Paganism. The effort to distinguish among rival “traditions” of recent vintage, the creative demands of reconstruction, and the openness to innovation in inventive Paganisms, all have led to a variety of ceremonies and systems of practice that resist uniform categorization.

            Gardnerian witchcraft involves a three-degree system of initiation that is in many respects reminiscent of Freemasonry. These rituals enjoin formal secrecy on their initiates. Other features of Gardnerian ritual—many of them adopted by other Pagan groups—include working in a circle, ritual nudity (“going skyclad”), and addresses to the four quarters of the compass identified with the four classical elements of fire, water, air and earth. Ritual implements of various traditions include the dagger or athame, wands of several designs, cups, knotted cords, cauldrons and swords. A superficially eucharistic ceremony of “cakes and ale” is not uncommon.

            Covens or other small groups may meet monthly for ritual work. In Wicca, it is common for such meetings to be timed to the phases of the moon. Seasonal rituals are also present among the Gardnerian practices, and prominent among the customs of Paganism generally. Celebrations may be held for the equinoxes and solstices, and even more commonly for the calendar midpoints between them.

            Ceremonies may include ritual designated as magical in its intent. The most common sort of magic among Pagans is directed towards healing, whether for a sick individual, social conditions, or environmental pollution. Other magic may be intended for a wide variety of individual or group benefits. Pagans generally acknowledge the possibility of malign magic, but insist that wise practitioners will abstain from such conduct.