paganism

The term paganism originates from the Latin word paganus, originally meaning country dweller but later on a pagan. It is analogous with heathenism and heathenry. Paganism is a rather new concept, formed in the pre-Christian Europe by Christians to describe the ideology of those who weren't Christians. The latter lived most often in the countryside, while the first Christians lived in cities. Hence the expression paganism.

Nowdays, paganism includes many old polytheistic, shamanistic, pantheistic, animistic and indigenous folk religions, and also some newer ones such as neo-paganism. Common for them all is belief in many gods, lack of need for converting others and a richness of mythology .

Nowadays paganism is no longer merely a pejorative term used by monotheistic religions, and the blogosphere is saturated with pagan content. Find out about the relationship between Catholicism and Witchcraft or about different kinds of practitioners of paganism. One can also align oneself with the rhytms of the earth, learn about old pagan myths or about Candlemas according to the old traditions.

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Latest blogosphere posts tagged “paganism”

 

• Famous Roman Tomb May Have Actually Been A Temple

  
  Gadling — Authority: 635
  Filed under: History , Learning , Europe , Spain At the Roman necropolis in Carmona, Spain , visitors are led to the popular "Elephants Tomb," a large underground chamber that gets its name from a crude sculpture of an elephant found there. Now archaeologists are saying it may not be a tomb at all, but ...
  5 days ago

• The Rune Eolh

  
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  Pagan Lore : Another rune that appears to be connected with an older symbol-the splayed human hand which it resembles, an instinctive sign for warding off harm. Outlines of the human hand have been discovered in caves where prehistoric men once lived. The American Indians used this sign for peace. similar symbols, but ...
  6 days ago

• Four Years

  
  The Jaded Hippy — Authority: 100
  In a couple days it will be four years since my aunt was murdered by her partner.  It has been almost four years since I wrote  this post .    FOUR.   YEARS. Her murderer sits in a jail cell awaiting trial.  A trial I am quite sure he knows damn well he cannot win.  For a crime I am quite sure he is still ...
  1 week ago

• The Fifth Sacred Thing – Thoughts From Starhawk

  
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  In my prior post, I discussed the latest efforts from The Fifth Sacred Thing Film Project – the group which is working to bring this novel to the screen. Written by Pagan leader, teacher, and author Starhawk, the book centers around an ecotopian society in the San Francisco Bay Area. Set in the year 2048, […]
  1 week ago

• Access and Inclusion In “The Fifth Sacred Thing”

  
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  In this blog post, Ocean talks about Starhawk’s novel The Fifth Sacred Thing, how it incorporates American Sign Language as part of the concept of access and inclusion for all, and the current efforts underway to bring the novel to the screen.  This post also contains a video which is captioned for the Deaf and ...
  1 week ago

• A Quick Encounter between Fire and Thunder

  
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  Jekabs Bine (1895–1955) “Perkons (Thunder),” 1941. Oil on canvas, 53 x 65 cm. The Janis Rozentals Saldus History and Art Museum, Latvia. The next issue of The Pomegranate will include a special section on the revival of Paganism in Latvia , a revival that blossomed in that Baltic nation’s first period ...
  1 week ago

• Devo Magix: Recent Shenans

  
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  I’ve written guides on how to do various magix, but I wanted to show some of the various magix bits I’ve been up to lately. Hopefully some of these can be used to give you ideas on some of the things that you could do for your own magix! Spoon Magix I talk a lot about spoons. How to keep them, how to spend ...
  1 week ago

• Suddenly

  
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  It happens every year. I plan on celebrating Samhain, using the mid-point between the Solstice and Equinox as a base. I buy a Butternut Squash, or a Crown Pumpkin, disembowel it, carve it into a JackoLantern. I grind up resins, roots and oils to make the incense. After a supper featuring Pork and Pumpkin, I ...
  1 week ago

• The Apotheosis of The Little Mermaid

  
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  The following is an image and thread procured from Tumblr. Unfortunately, the “first” person in that thread (that I could find) didn’t bother to source the artist, so I have no idea who to credit —I thought it looked like … Continue reading →
  1 week ago

• Call for Papers: Current Pagan Studies Conference

  
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  Below is the CFP for the 10th Conference on Current Pagan Studies, February 8–9, 2014, at Claremont, California. Relationships With The World What is our relationship as contemporary pagans with the rest of the world at this point in history? What is the nature of our relationship with ourselves? With others? ...
  1 week ago

• Review: Neolithic Shamanism, by Raven Kaldera and Galina Krasskova

  
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  Neolithic Shamanism: Spirit Work in the Norse Tradition , by Raven Kaldera and Galina Krasskova Destiny Books, 9781594774904, 342 pp. (incl. index, plus 8 pages of colour plates), 2012 The title, Neolithic Shamanism , may be a bit misleading as there is not a lot careful exploration of the stone age, but the ...
  2 weeks ago

• Queen of the May

  
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  O Mary! we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May, O Mary we crown thee with blossoms today, Queen of the Angels, Queen of the May. “Bring Flowers of the Rarest” is an extra-liturgical … Continue reading →
  2 weeks ago

• A few things…

  
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  Fundraising for Poverty Next week I will be living on a strange diet of cheap foodstuffs as I participate in ‘Live Below the Line’. Basically I eat for $2 a day (AUD), experience a brief window into poverty and raise money via donations for those who are REALLY experiencing it. You can find out all about [...]
  2 weeks ago

• Little People Can Change the World, Too

  
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  by SamahR via Flickr Little People Can Change the World, Too. You Don’t Have to be a “Big-Name Pagan” to be a Trend-Setter and Enact Greater Change in the Kemetic community. When you look at the Kemetic community as a whole, what flaws, hindrances, and negative trends do you see at work? Where would ...
  2 weeks ago

• The Wyrd

  
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  Dear Terence McKenna; still making me laugh out loud 14 years after his death. Oh, and he is so right. The Shaman is the interface between the Culture and the Other, in human societies. Paraphrasing the Bard: "OK, you...you can go and be weird. Well give you a hut on the outskirts of the village and -yes - when ...
  2 weeks ago

• Samhain 2013

  
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  "When the pale white moon is climbing slow, Through the stars to the heavens height, We hear Thy hooves on the wings of night! As black tree branches shake and sigh, By joy and terror we know Thee nigh. We speak the spell Thy power unlocks, At ...
  2 weeks ago

• Gay Beltaine

  
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  Beltane is coming up, with all its "Tra-la, Its May!" imagery. If you do an image search on Pinterest for "beltane" or "beltaine" you get lots of saucy pictures of white folks dressed in scanty scraps of green, with crystals or elk horns stuck on their foreheads. Or you get suggestively posed trees. Theres some ...
  2 weeks ago

• Utterly Wicked: Curses, Hexes & Other Unsavory Notions

  
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  Hexes, curses and other unsavory notions. Most magical practitioners won’t even discuss them. Why? Because they’d much rather find a positive solution that benefits all concerned. And, there’s nothing wrong with that. Occasionally, though, our problems are such that nothing in the positive solution arena will ...
  2 weeks ago

• The Devil- Self-Imposed Limitations

  
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  The Devil (Robin Wood Tarot) Number= 6 Astrological Sign= Capricorn Hebrew= Ayin  Keywords/Phrases= The power of negative thinking. Finding it hard to let go. Pessimism. Excessive dependency. Unnecessary guilt. Heavy commitments. Confronting personal demons. Darkness. Vanity. Selfishness. Unhealthy attachments. ...
  2 weeks ago

• Freedom Day

  
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  "I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites" Nelson ...
  3 weeks ago

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