Paganism, Primer

The thread started by K626 is here: http://mistsofavalon.invisionplus.net/?mforum=mistsofavalon&showtopic=117

Paganism is a loosely knit, unorganized religion. There is no one person or group that controls Pagans. Each person, or group, is independent, allowing for a diversity that cannot be found in any other religion.
Pagan Word Meaning

Pagan comes from the Latin word paganus and means villager, rustic, or belonging to the country. Roman soldiers would use the word as an insult to civilians. Later, the term was adapted by Christians to mean unclean and ungodly.

What Gods Do Pagans Worship

There are many people who identify themselves as Pagan. They may each choose a pantheon that they feel closest to, such as the ancient Egyptian deities or the Greek deities. Some Pagans pick and choose a number of deities from different pantheons.

There are no right or wrong gods and goddesses to choose from. Each Pagan chooses the deities that she or he feels closest to. For example, a Pagan who loves animals might choose to have the Egyptian cat goddess Bast, the Celtic horse goddess Epona, and the Roman goat god Pan represented on his altar.
Nature Worship

Above all else, Pagans are in awe of nature. They love the raw energy of the Earth, the strengthening heat of the sun, and the mysterious coolness of the moon. Some Pagans choose not to worship any specific deities, and focus, instead, on nature’s energies.


Magic

The world is a magical place, however not all Pagans practice magic. There are Pagans that view their path as a spiritual one. Their time on Earth is spent observing and learning to work in harmony with nature. The world is already full of natural magic and they feel no need to meddle with what nature intends.

Some Pagans, such as myself, do practice magic. We recognize that the world is a magical place and we join in, adding our own individual touches to our personal landscape. We feel that by becoming in tune with nature’s energies, we are able to control our luck or destiny.

Back to the Land

Most Pagans feel a strong need to get back to basics. They enjoy learning basic survival skills such as gardening, baking from scratch, and hammering together their own furniture. Many Pagan individuals and groups are concerned about the environment and take action to reduce their own energy use by switching to solar panels, reducing their need for batteries by buying hand-cranked radios and flashlights, and reducing their need for fossil fuels.

Pagans Are United

While Pagans share many beliefs, a common thread unites them: nature. Each Pagan will readily admit that she or he does not have all the answers and that her or his path is not the only path to follow. They celebrate diversity as well as welcome all people, without discrimination, to join them in their reverence of nature.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKVIRIH6j0Y

Hi all..

Intresting youtube clip, it indeed (to me)seems that most religions have their base in acient nature religions that goes back in times immemorial.
Michael Tsarion example is one who have been speaking about this amongst many others.
"Pagans" understood that life energy is everywere and that energy is allways personal.

That is a great understanding which many lack today.

In fact, many people dont treat them selfs as a person but as a robot and lot could be said about that...

Here is a song about Finnish summer Goddess Suvetar.
In Finnish language of cource...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLTrKuK_Wg&a=gfB-eUBEeys&playnext_from=ML

Peace and summer
sk

No has posted here in some time to this thread, so I feel a calling to do so.


Some origins of the word "Pagan"

During the various conquest of lands and people were greatly influenced by by religion and primarily by that of early Christianity. The word pagan is derived from the following evolutionary process. Originally from the Latin paganus, or country dweller, civilian. Latin turned into a Roman derivative, heathen, or one without a religion. What was the source peoples of early pagan cultures throughout the world never referred to themselves as pagan, yet were called so by those of organised religion, as in the constant reference to "pagans". Thus the very discrimination and division of people by creating an us and them because of a simple difference in their way of life. During the middle ages, the word pagan took on a additional label for those who were thought to have practiced witchcraft, herbology, or any other suspicious activity, that was once again not a ritual of church and state(sound familiar to current day worldly situations?). This is an all too common downfall of human behaviour throughout history. From the origins of African slave trade to its final closure in America during the civil war, were any indigenous culture was referred to as savage by the Caucasian races. Even in biblical times, anyone who was a prophet, or prophesied was usually condemned by the Romans, as was John of Patmos, the writer of The Book of Revelations, whom was sent to the island of Patmos for prophesying.

So with this in mind, the word pagan is a questionable name given to people through persecution, just as names were given to African Americans under their times of persecution. However, in modern times, the word Pagan has revived itself with more positive meaning through education and communication, thus giving it a new meaning.

This could definitely be elaborated on more, just wanted to add to the primer, a "root" source in history to the word it self and its origin.