💾 Archived View for gemini.spam.works › mirrors › textfiles › occult › PAGAN › pgnsm.txt captured on 2022-06-12 at 16:39:01.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Paganism
by
Eric S. Raymond.
I. Introduction
The neopagan phenomenon is a loose collection of religious
movements, experiments and jokes that offers a healthy alternative to
the dogmatism of the Judeo/Christian/Islamic mainstream (on the one
hand) and the mushy- mindedness of most 'New Age' groups (on the
other).
This article, prepared at the request of a number of curious
net.posters, offers a brief description of neopagan thought and
practice. A list of good sources for further study are listed at
the end.
II. What is a neopagan?
I used the term 'religious' above, but as you'll see it's actually
more than somewhat misleading, and I (like many other neopagans) use it
only because no other word is available for the more general kind of
thing of which the neopagan movement and what we generally think of as
'religion' are special cases.
Neopaganism is 'religious' in the etymological sense of 're
ligare', to rebind (to roots, to strengths, to the basics of things),
and it deals with mythology and the realm of the 'spiritual'. But, as we
in the Judeo/Christian West have come to understand 'religion' (an
organized body of belief that connects the 'supernatural' with an
authoritarian moral code via 'faith') neopaganism is effectively and
radically anti-religious. I emphasize this because it is important in
understanding what follows.
Common characteristics of almost all the groups that describe
themselves as 'neopagan' (the term is often capitalized) include:
1. Anti-dogmatism
Neopagan religions are religions of practice, pragmatism and
immediate experience. The emphasis is always on what they can help the
individuals in them to *do* and *experience*; theology and metaphysics
take a back seat, and very little 'faith' or 'belief' is required or
expected. In fact many neopagans (including yours truly) are actively
hostile to 'faith' and all the related ideas of religious authority,
'divine revelation' and the like.
2. Compatibility with a scientific world-view
This tends to follow from the above. Because neopaganism is centered
in experiences rather than beliefs, it doesn't need or want to do vast
overarching cosmologies or push fixed Final Answers to the Big Questions
-- understanding and helping human beings relate to each other and the
world as we experience it is quite enough for us. Thus, we are generally
friendly to science and the scientific world-view. Many of us are
scientists and technologists ourselve (in fact, by some counts, a
plurality of us are computer programmers!).
3. Reverence for nature, sensuality, and pleasure
Most neopaganisms make heavy use of nature symbolism and encourage
people to be more aware of their ties to all the non-human life on this
planet. Explicit worship of 'Gaia', the earth ecosphere considered as a
single interdependent unit, is common. Veneration of nature dieties is
central to many traditions. Ecological activism is often considered a
religious duty, though there is much controversy over what form it
should take.
By preference, most neopagans hold their ceremonies outdoors under
sun or moon. Seasonal changes and astronomical rhythms (especially the
solstices, equinoxes and full and new moons) define the ritual
calendar.
Ritual and festive nudity are common; to be naked before nature is
often considered a holy and integrating act in itself. Sex is considered
sacramental and sexual energy and symbolisms permeate neopagan practice
(we like to contrast this with Christianity, in which the central
sacrament commemorates a murder and climaxes in ritual cannibalism).
4. Polytheism, pantheism, agnosticism
Most neopaganisms are explicitly polytheistic -- that is, they
recognize pantheons of multiple dieties. But the reality behind this is
more complex than it might appear.
First, many neopagans are philosophical agnostics or even atheists;
there is a tendency to regard 'the gods' as Jungian archetypes or
otherwise in some sense created by and dependent on human belief, and
thus naturally plural and observer-dependent.
Secondly, as in many historical polytheisms, there is an implicit
though seldom-discussed idea that all the gods and goddesses we deal
with are 'masks', refractions of some underlying unity that we cannot or
should not attempt to approach directly.
And thirdly, there is a strong undercurrent of pantheism, the belief
that the entire universe is in some important sense a responsive,
resonating and sacred whole (or, which is different and subtler, that it
is proper for human beings to view it that way).
Many neopagans hold all three of these beliefs simultaneously.
5. Decentralized, non-authoritarian organization; no priestly elite
Neopagans have seen what happens when a priesthood elite gets
temporal power; we want none of that. We do not take collections, build
temples, or fund a full-time clergy. In fact the clergy-laity
distinction is pretty soft; in many traditions, all members are
considered 'in training' for it, and in all traditions every participant
in a ritual is an active one; there are and can be no pew-sitting
passive observers.
Most neopagan traditions are (dis)organized as horizontal networks
of small affinity groups (usually called 'circles', 'groves', or
'covens' depending on the flavor of neopagan involved). Priests and
priestesses have no real authority outside their own circles (and
sometimes not much inside them!), though some do have national
reputations.
Many of us keep a low profile partly due to a real fear of
persecution. Too many of our spiritual ancestors were burned, hung,
flayed and shot by religions that are still powerful for a lot of us to
feel safe in the open. Down in the Bible Belt the burnings and beatings
are still going on, and the media loves to hang that 'Satanist' label on
anything it doesn't understand for a good juicy story.
Also, we never prosyletize. This posting is about as active a
neopagan solicitation as anyone will ever see; we tend to believe that
'converts' are dangerous robots and that people looking to be
'converted' aren't the kind we want. We have found that it works quite
well enough to let people find us when they're ready for what we
have to teach.
6. Reverence for the female principle
One of the most striking differences between neopagan groups and the
religious mainstream is the wide prevalence (and in some traditions
dominance) of the worship of goddesses. Almost all neopagans revere some
form of the Great Mother, often as a nature goddess identified with the
ecosphere, and there are probably more female neopagan clergy than there
are male.
Most neopagan traditions are equalist (these tend to pair the Great
Mother with a male fertility-god, usually some cognate of the Greek
Pan). A vocal and influential minority are actively feminist, and
(especially on the West Coast) there have been attempts to present
various neopagan traditions as the natural 'women's religion' for the
feminist movement. The effects of this kind of politicization of
neopaganism are a topic of intense debate within the movement and
fuel some of its deepest factional divisions.
7. Respect for art and creativity
Neopaganism tends to attract artists and musicians as much as it
attracts technologists. Our myth and ritual can be very powerful at
stimulating and releasing creativity, and one of the greatest strengths
of the movement is the rich outgrowth of music, poetry, crafts and arts
that has come from that. It is quite common for people joining the
movement to discover real talents in those areas that they never
suspected.
Poets and musicians have the kind of special place at neopagan
festivals that they did in pre-literate cultures; many of our best-known
people are or have been bards and songsmiths, and the ability to compose
and improvise good ritual poetry is considered the mark of a gifted
priest(ess) and very highly respected.
8. Eclecticism
"Steal from any source that doesn't run too fast" is a neopagan
motto. A typical neopagan group will mix Greek, Celtic and Egyptian
mythology with American Indian shamanism. Ritual technique includes
recognizable borrowings from medieval ceremonial magic, Freemasonry and
pre-Nicene Christianity, as well as a bunch of 20th-century inventions.
Humanistic psychology and some of the more replicable New Age healing
techniques have recently been influential. The resulting stew is lively
and effective, though sometimes a bit hard to hold together.
9. A sense of humor
Neopagans generally believe that it is more dangerous to take your
religion too seriously than too lightly. Self-spoofery is frequent and
(in some traditions) semi-institutionalized, and at least one major
neopagan tradition (Discordianism, known to many on this net) is