This female-only, radical feminist variant of Wicca allows cisgender lesbians but not transgender women. William Wordsworth, "The World Is Too Much with Us", lines 9-14, One of the origins of modern pagan movements lies in the romanticist and national liberation movements that developed in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries. According to this view, human society was formerly a matriarchy, with communities being egalitarian, pacifistic, and focused on the worship of the Mother goddess,[117] which was subsequently overthrown by violent and warlike patriarchal hordes - usually Indo-European pastoralists who worshipped male sky-gods,[117] and continued to rule through the form of Abrahamic religions, specifically Christianity in the West. Author Richard Rudgley discusses similar themes in his book The Return of Odin: The Modern Renaissance of Pagan Imagination, where he looks at this notion of a pagan revival primarily through the workings of Carl Jung's idea of an "Odinic archetype." In essence, the holdovers from ancient evolutionary ideas deep within the human mind (or . [82] It typically involves offerings including bread, cake, flowers, fruit, milk, beer, or wine being given to images of deities, often accompanied with prayers and songs and the lighting of candles and incense. At one end is reconstructionism, which seeks to revive historical pagan religions; examples are Heathenry (Germanic), Rodnovery (Slavic), and Hellenism (Greek). Most people who have explored the medieval architecture of Western Europe have heard a tour guide explain that a particular carving or decorative feature is a pagan image obtruding itself subversively in a Christian sacred space. [3] Scholars of religion may characterise these traditions as new religious movements. [19] This is because the term pagan originates in Christian terminology, which individuals who object to the term wish to avoid. (eds), Learn how and when to remove this template message, secret pagan religion had survived the witchcraft persecutions, Union of Slavic Native Belief Communities, Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, other expressions of gender and sexuality, Religious discrimination against neopagans, The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies, Religion data from the 2001 Canadian census, "University of Victoria chaplain marks solstice with pagan rituals", "Invented Culture/Invented Religion: The Fictional Origins of Contemporary Paganism", 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198722250.003.0016, "Old Europe: Sacred Matriarchy or Complementary Opposition? Increasing academic interest in paganism has been attributed to the new religious movement's increasing public visibility, as it began interacting with the interfaith movement and holding large public celebrations at sites like Stonehenge. Many years after the last inscriptions to the Eastern divinities had been dedicated in the provinces, such dedications were sufficiently numerous at Rome, particularly so during the closing years of the fourth century, when the pagan revival reached its culmination. Contemporary paganism has sometimes been associated with the New Age movement, with scholars highlighting both their similarities and differences. Theologian Jone Salomonsen noted in the 1980s and 1990s that the reclaiming movement of San Francisco featured an unusually high number of LGBT people, particularly bisexuals. [169], In India, a prominent figure who made similar efforts was the Hindu revivalist Ram Swarup, who pointed out parallels between Hinduism and European and Arabic paganism. Pagan; Paganism: . A proposal to erect a pagan "Amazonian love god" statue near a cathedral in the English city of Wakefield has drawn the ire of residents who claim its placement mocks Christianity. sir describes a particular category or subset of deities in Norse mythology. OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE View All There is "considerable disagreement as to the precise definition and proper usage" of the term modern paganism. [29] In 2015, Rountree opined that this lower case/upper case division was "now [the] convention" in pagan studies. [109], In the 1990s, Wiccan beliefs and practices were used as a partial basis for a number of US films and television series, such as The Craft, Charmed and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, leading to a surge in teenagers' and young adults' interest and involvement in the religion. Some modern forms of Paganism have their roots in 19th century C.E. [lower-Greek 1][lower-Greek 2][bettersourceneeded], The United States government does not directly collect religious information. Well, it's home to one of the most dynamic revival preachers in Europe, Jean-Luc Trachsel, whose ministry in Oron is growing steadily and regularly sees conversions in the hundreds. The Pre-Druidic Period. ", Letcher (2001) "The Scouring of the Shire: Fairies, Trolls and Pixies in Eco-Protest Culture", Arena - Atlas of Religions and Nationalities in Russia, Europe's Last Pagans Worship in Mari-El Grove, "Christians! [150], The sociologist Regina Oboler examined the role of gender in the US pagan community, arguing that although the movement had been constant in its support for the equality of men and women ever since its foundation, there was still an essentialist view of gender engrained within it, with female deities being accorded traditional western feminine traits and male deities being similarly accorded what western society saw as masculine traits. [83] [100], In contrast to the eclectic traditions, Polytheistic Reconstructionists practice culturally specific ethnic traditions based on folklore, songs and prayers, as well as reconstructions from the historical record. Having suffered years of oppression through Soviet secularism and facing an ongoing threat from the current government, the Mari people are unique and strong. "[13], Discussing the relationship between the different pagan religions, religious studies scholars Kaarina Aitamurto and Scott Simpson wrote that they were "like siblings who have taken different paths in life but still retain many visible similarities". [14] Rountree wrote that it was wrong to assume that "expressions of Paganism can be categorized straight-forwardly according to region", but acknowledged that some regional trends were visible, such as the impact of Catholicism on paganism in Southern Europe. [60][73] In contrast, some contemporary pagans believe that there are specific spirits that inhabit various features in the natural world, and that these can be actively communicated with. [177], The first international academic conference on the subject of pagan studies was held at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, North-East England in 1993. [65] Many pagans believe adoption of a polytheistic world-view would be beneficial for western society replacing the dominant monotheism they see as innately repressive. Vote 1 1 comment sorted by Best The word " Asatru " combines the words "Asa," which refers to Norse gods, and "tru," meaning "faith.". 12 October 2016. The Goddess movement draws some of its inspiration from the work of archaeologists such as Marija Gimbutas,[113][114][115][116] whose interpretation of artifacts excavated from "Old Europe" points to societies of Neolithic Europe that were matristic or goddess-centered worshipping a female deity of three primary aspects,[117] which has inspired some neopagan worshippers of the Triple Goddess. Contemporary paganism has therefore been prone to fakelore, especially in recent years as information and misinformation alike have been spread on the Internet and in print media. The Mari native religion in fact has a continuous existence, but has co-existed with Orthodox Christianity for centuries, and experienced a renewal after the fall of the Soviet Union. [16] They noted that in these latter regions, pagan groups placed an emphasis on "the centrality of the nation, the ethnic group, or the tribe". [48] Concern has also been expressed regarding the utility of the term "reconstructionism" when dealing with paganisms in Central and Eastern Europe, because in many of the languages of these regions, equivalents of the term "reconstructionism" such as the Czech Historick rekonstrukce and Lithuanian Istorin rekonstrukcija are already used to define the secular hobby of historical re-enactment. [59], Religious studies scholar Graham Harvey noted that the poem "Charge of the Goddess" remains central to the liturgy of most Wiccan groups. [14] But there has been much "cross-fertilization" between these different faiths: many groups have influenced, and been influenced by, other pagan religions, making clear-cut distinctions among them more difficult for scholars to make. [131] A similar number was claimed by Victor Schnirelmann, for whom between a quarter and a half of the Mari either worship the pagan gods or are adherents of neopagan groups. [24] Critics have pointed out that such claims would cause problems for analytic scholarship by lumping together belief systems with very significant differences, and that the term would serve modern pagan interests by making the movement appear far larger on the world stage. The first account of the gods of Irish myth to take in the whole sweep of Irish literature in both the nation's languages, the book describes how Ireland's pagan divinities were transformed into literary characters in the medieval Christian era--and how they were recast again during the Celtic Revival of the late nineteenth and early twentieth . [] The overall numbers of people self-reporting as pagan rose between 2001 and 2011. [144] They have also been supported by Pagan studies scholar Graham Harvey. Historians now reject Murray's theory, as she based it partially upon the similarities of the accounts given by those accused of witchcraft; such similarity is now thought to actually derive from there having been a standard set of questions laid out in the witch-hunting manuals used by interrogators. The original Heathens were the pre-Christian North European peoples who . Religious studies scholar Sarah Pike asserted that in the United States, there was a "significant overlap" between modern paganism and New Age,[163] while Aidan A. Kelly stated that paganism "parallels the New Age movement in some ways, differs sharply from it in others, and overlaps it in some minor ways". [40][41], Although they acknowledged that it was "a highly simplified model", Aitamurto and Simpson wrote that there was "some truth" to the claim that leftist-oriented forms of paganism were prevalent in North America and the British Isles while rightist-oriented forms of paganism were prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe. Christmas day (December 25th) was usurped and inaccurately fixed by Christians from the Roman festival of Mithra. "[155][156], Transgender existence and acceptability is especially controversial in many neopagan sects. Instead, she argued that "in most cases", converts first become interested in the movement through "word of mouth, a discussion between friends, a lecture, a book, an article or a Web site". Eastern European area, 2011 Census, Key Statistics for Local Authorities in England and Wales, "2011 Census QuickStats: All people usual residents", Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, "QuickStats About New Zealand's Population and Dwellings", Castro culture/Proto Gallaecian-Lusitanian, INFORM (Information Network Focus on Religious Movements), Academic study of new religious movements, Religious discrimination against Neopagans, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Modern_paganism&oldid=1141001863, Short description is different from Wikidata, Articles needing cleanup from November 2022, Cleanup tagged articles with a reason field from November 2022, Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from November 2022, Articles containing Chuvash-language text, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2011, Articles with unsourced statements from May 2020, Articles lacking reliable references from March 2013, Articles with incomplete citations from December 2019, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Claimed to have completed some college or less, This page was last edited on 22 February 2023, at 21:30. According to the most recent Pew poll, only 71 percent of Europeans still identify as Christian, though 81 percent were raised in the faith. Modern Paganism, also known as Contemporary Paganism and Neopaganism, is a collective term for new religious movements influenced by or derived from the various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe, North Africa and the Near East. [10] A second, less common definition found within pagan studiespromoted by the religious studies scholars Michael F. Strmiska and Graham Harveycharacterises modern paganism as a single religion, of which groups like Wicca, Druidry, and Heathenry are denominations. [1] Strmiska described paganism as a movement "dedicated to reviving the polytheistic, nature-worshipping pagan religions of pre-Christian Europe and adapting them for the use of people in modern societies. [104] While potentially considered a peculiar form of Tengrism, a related revivalist movement of Central Asian traditional religion, Vattisen Yaly (Chuvash: , Tradition of the Old) differs significantly: the Chuvash being a heavily Fennicised and Slavified ethnicity and having had exchanges also with other Indo-European ethnicities,[105] their religion shows many similarities with Finnic and Slavic paganisms; moreover, the revival of Vattisen Yaly in recent decades has occurred following neopagan patterns. The Greco-Roman traditions were a thing for the literati, and even then the understanding of it was devoid of a clear historiography and influenced by Christian values. [32], According to Strmiska, the reappropriation of the term "pagan" by modern pagans served as "a deliberate act of defiance" against "traditional, Christian-dominated society", allowing them to use it as a source of "pride and power". The word is commonly understood to mean "sir belief.". Goddess Spirituality revolves around the sacredness of the female form, and of aspects of women's lives that adherents say have been traditionally neglected in Western society, such as menstruation, sexuality, and maternity.[112]. Strmiska also suggests that this division could be seen as being based on "discourses of identity", with reconstructionists emphasizing a deep-rooted sense of place and people, and eclectics embracing a universality and openness toward humanity and the Earth. [79] American folklorist Sabina Magliocco came to the conclusion, based upon her ethnographic fieldwork in California that certain pagan beliefs "arise from what they experience during religious ecstasy". It actually dates back much longer than that: it has roots in Hinduism and old Persian beliefs, but it moved to Northern Europe and mingled with indigenous beliefs . [123] Nevertheless, there is a slow growing body of data on the subject. In discussing Asatro a form of Heathenry based in Denmark Matthew Amster notes that it did not fit clearly within such a framework, because while seeking a reconstructionist form of historical accuracy, Asatro nevertheless retains a strong christian influence; with a modern construction of dogma, practices, religious titles, literature & an over emphasis on acknowledging & the worship of only the sir gods; as well as strongly eschewing the emphasis on ethnicity that is common to other reconstructionist groups. In both beliefs, divinity and the material or spiritual universe are one. [11], Contemporary paganism has been defined as "a collection of modern religious, spiritual, and magical traditions that are self-consciously inspired by the pre-Judaic, pre-Christian, and pre-Islamic belief systems of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. Contemporary pagan ritual is typically geared towards "facilitating altered states of awareness or shifting mind-sets". [147], Based upon her work in the United States, Adler found that the pagan movement was "very diverse" in its class and ethnic background. Unitarian Universalists look for spiritual inspiration in a wide variety of religious beliefs. Pagan religions commonly exhibit a metaphysical concept of an underlying order that pervades the universe, such as the concept of harmonia embraced by Hellenists and that of Wyrd found in Heathenry. Further, some convents only accepted women of the nobility or those who . Organised by the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Lancaster, North-West England, it was entitled "Nature Religion Today: Western Paganism, Shamanism and Esotericism in the 1990s", and led to the publication of an academic anthology, entitled Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World. [18], Some practitioners eschew the term pagan altogether, preferring more specific names for their religion, such as "Heathen" or "Wiccan". First, it can refer to a belief that everything in the universe is imbued with a life force or spiritual energy. [57], Dennis D. Carpenter noted that the belief in a pantheistic or panentheistic deity has led to the idea of interconnectedness playing a key part in pagans' worldviews. Hutton estimated that there are 250,000 neopagan adherents in the United Kingdom, roughly equivalent to the national Hindu community. [71] For pagans, pantheism means that "divinity is inseparable from nature and that deity is immanent in nature". [70], A key part of most pagan worldviews is the holistic concept of a universe that is interconnected. [82] [101], Many Heathen groups adopt variants of Norse mythology as a basis for their beliefs, conceiving of the Earth as on the great world tree Yggdrasil. [152][153], In response, groups and sects inclusive of or specific to LGBT people have developed. [55] Strmiska stresses that modern paganism is a "new", "modern" religious movement, even if some of its content derives from ancient sources. . In places like the UK pagans like Druid and Wiccan's doubled in size from 2001 and 2011 and definitely still growing. It was organised by two British religious studies scholars, Graham Harvey and Charlotte Hardman. Adherents of the Goddess Spirituality movement typically envision a history of the world that is different from traditional narratives about the past, emphasising the role of women rather than that of men. ", Religious studies scholar Michael Strmiska[55], Although inspired by the pre-Christian belief systems of the past, modern paganism is not the same phenomenon as these lost traditions and in many respects differs from them considerably. For the last several centuries, Europe and America have become increasingly secular as pre-Christian ideas and traditions have gained acceptance. Go home": A Revival of Neo-Paganism between the Baltic Sea and Transcaucasia, "How Do Pagans Feel About Homosexuality? [61] This has been interpreted in two distinct ways among the pagan community. [160], "Neopagan practices highlight the centrality of the relationship between humans and nature and reinvent religions of the past, while New Agers are more interested in transforming individual consciousness and shaping the future. In the 1970s, Wicca was notably influenced by feminism, leading to the creation of an eclectic, Goddess-worshipping movement known as Dianic Wicca. As this secret wisdom can almost always be traced to recent sources, tellers of these stories have often later admitted they made them up. The PRC has also begun to report on Pagan identity. The up-to-date handbook introduces you to a breadth of Pagan traditions and core beliefswelcoming you to this inclusive movement with a myriad of ways to deepen your personal spirituality. [68], It is its inclusion of female deity which distinguishes pagan religions from their Abrahamic counterparts. [4] Among the critics of the upper-case P are York and Andras Corban-Arthen, president of the ECER. One is eclecticism or syncretism, in which elements of historical ethnic religions such as the ancient Norse religion are combined with modern movements such as Wicca, Theosophy or other New Age philosophies. [174] Thus, many pagans keep their religion private to avoid discrimination and ostracism. Eugenius restored the Altar of Victory and funded other pagan projects. [146], Adler went on to note that from those she interviewed and surveyed in the US, she could identify a number of common factors that led to people getting involved in paganism: the beauty, vision and imagination that was found within their beliefs and rituals, a sense of intellectual satisfaction and personal growth that they imparted, their support for environmentalism or feminism, and a sense of freedom. [45] Reconstructionists do not altogether reject innovation in their interpretation and adaptation of the source material, however they do believe that the source material conveys greater authenticity and thus should be emphasized. [121], In 1925, the Czech esotericist Franz Sttler founded the pagan religion Adonism, devoted to the ancient Greek god Adonis, whom Sttler equated with the Christian Satan, and which purported that the end of the world would come in 2000. "[1] Thus it has been said that although it is "a highly diverse phenomenon", "an identifiable common element" nevertheless runs through the pagan movement. The evidence of the religious activities of the prehistoric inhabitants of western Europe is remarkable: on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea in Wales, the Paviland caves have revealed one of the earliest magico-religious sites in the world, where around 26,000 years ago a group of humans carefully interred a skeleton, wrapping the body in red cloth or rubbing it with . [9] The category of modern paganism could be compared to the categories of Abrahamic religions and Indian religions in its structure. [90] At the time, it was commonly believed that almost all such folk customs were survivals from the pre-Christian period. . Paganism is the ancestral religion of the whole of humanity. Regarding to European paganism, In Modern Paganism in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives Michael F. Strmiska writes that "in pagan magazines, websites, and Internet discussion venues, Christianity is frequently denounced as an antinatural, antifemale, sexually and culturally repressive, guilt-ridden, and authoritarian religion that has fostered intolerance, hypocrisy, and persecution throughout the world. This is due to Dianic belief in gender essentialism; according to founder Zsuzsanna Budapest, "you have to have sometimes [sic] in your life a womb, and ovaries and [menstruate] and not die". They are modern people with a great reverence for the spirituality of the past, making a new religion a modern Paganism from the remnants of the past, which they interpret, adapt, and modify according to modern ways of thinking. Born in 1866 as the eldest son of a leading family of bankers, he purportedly turned his birthright over to his younger brother Max in favor of committing some of the family's . Neo-Druidry dates to the earliest forms of modern paganism: the Ancient Order of Druids founded in 1781 had many aspects of freemasonry, and has practiced rituals at Stonehenge since 1905. Asatru is the name of a 20th-century revival of Norse paganism. [44] Eclectic pagans, conversely, seek general inspiration from the pre-Christian past, and do not attempt to recreate past rites or traditions with specific attention to detail. They have also suggested that these could all be included under the rubric of "paganism". and used standard models for extrapolating likely numbers. [87] Various folk beliefs have periodically been labeled as pagan and churches have demanded that they should be purged. You might argue that the most successful pagan revival movement in the 20th century was National Socialism. EU-wide celebrations are indicated in bold. She went on to put forward the idea that this typically confirmed "some original, private experience, so that the most common experience of those who have named themselves pagan is something like 'I finally found a group that has the same religious perceptions I always had'". [7] Even within the academic field of pagan studies, there is no consensus about how contemporary paganism can best be defined. This is connected with a belief in either pantheism or panentheism. Paperback. [148] She went on to remark that she had encountered pagans in jobs that ranged from "fireman to PhD chemist" but that the one thing that she thought made them into an "elite" was as avid readers, something that she found to be very common within the pagan community despite the fact that avid readers constituted less than 20% of the general population of the United States at the time. [157][158][159], Trans exclusion can also be found in Alexandrian Wicca, whose founder views trans individuals as melancholy people who should seek other beliefs due to the Alexandrian focus on heterosexual reproduction and duality. [38] Strmiska notes that pagan groups can be "divided along a continuum: at one end are those that aim to reconstruct the ancient religious traditions of a particular ethnic group or a linguistic or geographic area to the highest degree possible; at the other end are those that freely blend traditions of different areas, peoples, and time periods. SS leader Heinrich Himmler designed the . Some modern forms of Paganism have their roots in 19th century C.E. The Mari people are an indigenous group, recognized as the last surviving Pagans of Europe. Later that year, attacks on immigrants reportedly doubled. The 2011 census however made it possible to describe oneself as pagan-Wiccan, pagan-Druid and so on. [103], The Chuvash people, a Turkic ethnic group native to an area stretching from the Volga Region to Siberia, have experienced a pagan revival since the fall of the Soviet Union. Pagan comes from the Latin word "paganus," meaning villager or civilian and they have a polytheistic approach to life. [97] The 1979 publication of Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon and Starhawk's The Spiral Dance opened a new chapter in public awareness of paganism. [67] This pluralistic perspective has helped the varied factions of modern paganism exist in relative harmony. [65] Among many pagans, there is a strong desire to incorporate the female aspects of the divine in their worship and within their lives, which can partially explain the attitude which sometimes manifests as the veneration of women.[]. In the early medieval ages, these religions were influential, and, in some cases, they were even the official . Wicca, Druid, Jedi and all of them just a new age fad among bored Europeans. Aby Warburgbibliophile, scholar, library founderhas become known as one of the most original and brilliant art historians of the twentieth century. Pagan beliefs have survived alongside Christianity. [145], Many pagans in North America encounter the movement through their involvement in other hobbies; particularly popular with US pagans are "golden age"-type pastimes such as the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), Star Trek fandom, Doctor Who fandom and comic book fandom. Conversation With A European Pagan: Resurgence of European Paganism 32,796 views Premiered Jan 26, 2019 2.2K Dislike Share Save The Sham Sharma Show 741K subscribers Survive the Jive is a channel. [] In the academic community Wicca has also been interpreted as having close affinities with process philosophy. Due to this legacy, the Mari reject the word "pagan". 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