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.
Keywords: witch shop spell ever happiness today cunning folk great invocation witch multitude sefer zohar sifra comselha macrocosmic witches religious after evil witchcraft witch robes philosophy magical ceremonies
