Being Pagan

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Being Pagan

by Ravenshadow Phoenixwolf, March 22nd 2001

Used with permission

I am Pagan because I am a polytheist, I believe in multiple individual deities as did the ancient pagan faiths, (note: This can be evidenced by the use of different words in some cultures to refer to a foreign god of a particular office, such as Helios is "a foreign sun god." Another example found in Irish mythology is the practice of swearing an oath "by the gods my people swear by" suggesting that they are separate from the gods of other peoples,) I do not have a problem with people believing in other gods than the gods to whom I am devoted because it does not infringe upon the existence of my gods.

I am a Pagan because I am an animist. I believe there are spirits which reside in places, I believe there are natural formations and occurrences which are the presence of a divine being. ("Vesta IS the flame" "the river Boyne IS the goddess" "The flame IS the presence of the gods.") Indo-European religions abound with river goddesses in which case the river is the body of the goddess.

I am Pagan because I believe in an otherworld which is intrinsically linked to this one. I believe there is a world of gods from where religion and myth stem. Stories of journeys to other worlds abound in Indo-European mythology. Descents into Hades, The Fenian Cycle, The Imramma tales, the Echtra Tales and others show an otherworld which we can interact with.

I am a Pagan because I believe in holy places where the worlds meet. I would imagine that when animism (possibly in many cases an aspect of local religion?) met with the cosmic religion of the Indo-Europeans the concept of another world and the concept of holy land features merged, and brought us the concept of sacred sites which are holy because they are both in this world and the other world.

I am Pagan because I commune with nature. People often discuss Paganism as an earth religion or a nature religion. Truly Paganism contains many different religions and isn't a religion itself, it's a religious grouping. Some of the Pagan religions are nature based in that they are centered on the earth and worshiping based on natural rhythms. I think this is a simplification. Yes the earth has natural rhythms which influenced life and the placement of holidays for the ancients. But at least in the case of Indo-European religions, large aspects of the religion were cosmic in that they called upon otherworldly gods who controlled these tides and happenings and gave order (cosmos) to the world. This is not to say that nature became unimportant, but that nature did not simply mean mother earth. Everything which exists is part of nature. When we eat, sleep, breath, talk to our neighbors, talk to our gods, make love, make war, walk in the woods, stare at the sky, anything at all, we are interacting with nature and we may take small moments to commune with it. While going off to commune with some forest may be invaluable, so is your interaction with those things in your mundane life. To paraphrase Ceisiwr Serith, Pagan religions have to do with the environment you're in and not some far off imagined one. The religion of the ancients was centered in interacting with the ancient world; the religion of today must interact with the world of today. Otherwise we are simply Sunday wheelers lost in the misunderstanding of our own dogma.

In this same idea we find the purest Karma, the Artus. Western Karma is not the Hindu usage of the word which refers to the results of following or not following your Dharma, or the duties of your caste. We do, however, find personal responsibility in Paganism. Because we are part of an ordered cosmos our actions have results, and we must live with those results. Our actions build the world around us, which then becomes the environment of the situations and occurrences which build us, and our responses, which further builds the world. It is a symbiotic cycle illustrated in many Indo-European myths. In the famous Adventure of Cormac we see after Cormac arrives in the otherworld the classic symbol of the well and the tree. The three drops five acorns into the well which feed the well, and five streams flow from the well and feed the tree. (The use of five here is connected to the five senses.) So in looking at how the world is built, we see again a Pagan connectivity with nature.

I am a Pagan because I believe in the conflict between order and chaos as integral to the universe. Many Pagans run from the idea of conflict in the heavens and feel this is too reminiscent of Satan for it to be Pagan. However, Indo-European religions traditionally have a conflict between the cosmic gods of order and the outsider gods of chaos. The Aesir and the Frost Giants, the Tuatha de Danaan and the Fomors, the Gods and the Titans. There is always a conflict. Satan comes to Christianity mimicking Zoroastrian mythos of a war between two gods. Zoroastrianism developed from Iranian Paganism which was Indo-European, Zoroastrianism was simply a new monotheistic idea grafted on to the old Pagan ideas. The war in heaven is obviously not Jewish. So by accepting that there is a conflict between two sorts of gods in Paganism we are not somehow being like the Christians, we are just being more authentic in our reprisal of the old ways.

I'm sure there is more, but this is what I can think of now. Of course this is only touching upon my beliefs not my actions. Looking this over though I'd like to take a moment and thank Ceisiwr Serith for all he's taught me about IE-Paganism.

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	Smiling Panther's Den \| home Being Pagan by Ravenshadow Phoenixwolf, March 22nd 2001 Used with permission I am Pagan because I am a polytheist, I believe in multiple individual deities as did the ancient pagan faiths, (note: This can be evidenced by the use of different words in some cultures to refer to a foreign god of a particular office, such as Helios is "a foreign sun god." Another example found in Irish mythology is the practice of swearing an oath "by the gods my people swear by" suggesting that they are separate from the gods of other peoples,) I do not have a problem with people believing in other gods than the gods to whom I am devoted because it does not infringe upon the existence of my gods. I am a Pagan because I am an animist. I believe there are spirits which reside in places, I believe there are natural formations and occurrences which are the presence of a divine being. ("Vesta IS the flame" "the river Boyne IS the goddess" "The flame IS the presence of the gods.") Indo-European religions abound with river goddesses in which case the river is the body of the goddess. I am Pagan because I believe in an otherworld which is intrinsically linked to this one. I believe there is a world of gods from where religion and myth stem. Stories of journeys to other worlds abound in Indo-European mythology. Descents into Hades, The Fenian Cycle, The Imramma tales, the Echtra Tales and others show an otherworld which we can interact with. I am a Pagan because I believe in holy places where the worlds meet. I would imagine that when animism (possibly in many cases an aspect of local religion?) met with the cosmic religion of the Indo-Europeans the concept of another world and the concept of holy land features merged, and brought us the concept of sacred sites which are holy because they are both in this world and the other world. I am Pagan because I commune with nature. People often discuss Paganism as an earth religion or a nature religion. Truly Paganism contains many different religions and isn't a religion itself, it's a religious grouping. Some of the Pagan religions are nature based in that they are centered on the earth and worshiping based on natural rhythms. I think this is a simplification. Yes the earth has natural rhythms which influenced life and the placement of holidays for the ancients. But at least in the case of Indo-European religions, large aspects of the religion were cosmic in that they called upon otherworldly gods who controlled these tides and happenings and gave order (cosmos) to the world. This is not to say that nature became unimportant, but that nature did not simply mean mother earth. Everything which exists is part of nature. When we eat, sleep, breath, talk to our neighbors, talk to our gods, make love, make war, walk in the woods, stare at the sky, anything at all, we are interacting with nature and we may take small moments to commune with it. While going off to commune with some forest may be invaluable, so is your interaction with those things in your mundane life. To paraphrase Ceisiwr Serith, Pagan religions have to do with the environment you're in and not some far off imagined one. The religion of the ancients was centered in interacting with the ancient world; the religion of today must interact with the world of today. Otherwise we are simply Sunday wheelers lost in the misunderstanding of our own dogma. In this same idea we find the purest Karma, the Artus. Western Karma is not the Hindu usage of the word which refers to the results of following or not following your Dharma, or the duties of your caste. We do, however, find personal responsibility in Paganism. Because we are part of an ordered cosmos our actions have results, and we must live with those results. Our actions build the world around us, which then becomes the environment of the situations and occurrences which build us, and our responses, which further builds the world. It is a symbiotic cycle illustrated in many Indo-European myths. In the famous Adventure of Cormac we see after Cormac arrives in the otherworld the classic symbol of the well and the tree. The three drops five acorns into the well which feed the well, and five streams flow from the well and feed the tree. (The use of five here is connected to the five senses.) So in looking at how the world is built, we see again a Pagan connectivity with nature. I am a Pagan because I believe in the conflict between order and chaos as integral to the universe. Many Pagans run from the idea of conflict in the heavens and feel this is too reminiscent of Satan for it to be Pagan. However, Indo-European religions traditionally have a conflict between the cosmic gods of order and the outsider gods of chaos. The Aesir and the Frost Giants, the Tuatha de Danaan and the Fomors, the Gods and the Titans. There is always a conflict. Satan comes to Christianity mimicking Zoroastrian mythos of a war between two gods. Zoroastrianism developed from Iranian Paganism which was Indo-European, Zoroastrianism was simply a new monotheistic idea grafted on to the old Pagan ideas. The war in heaven is obviously not Jewish. So by accepting that there is a conflict between two sorts of gods in Paganism we are not somehow being like the Christians, we are just being more authentic in our reprisal of the old ways. I'm sure there is more, but this is what I can think of now. Of course this is only touching upon my beliefs not my actions. Looking this over though I'd like to take a moment and thank Ceisiwr Serith for all he's taught me about IE-Paganism. Background for this page provided by: All contents of this site are © 2000-2005 except where otherwise noted, such as in the case of graphics or other content not created by Smiling Panther. Original author/creator retains all rights in those instances. All rights reserved.