What Does "Pagan" Mean to You?

     

The etymology of Pagan is strange, considering its history. Derived from Latin paganus was an adjective that meant “rustic”, ‘rural”, or “of the country”. When the term was used as a noun, to call someone a “country dweller, villager”, was the modern equivalent of calling someone a country bumpkin or a hillbilly.

Just how the term “Pagan” came to describe generally non-Christian beliefs is hazy. It is thought to have likely occurred in the 4th century. Christianity spread quite fast in urban areas. However, this was not the case in rural areas. ‘Pagan” then became a term for the ancient idolatry that lingered in rural areas of the Roman Empire after Christianity was already generally accepted. It has since become synonymous with someone “Not a Christian.”

In modern usage the word is used to refer broad range of spiritual or cultic beliefs, along with all polytheistic religions, & just about anything not of Abrahamic religion, i.e. anything not Christian, Islamic, or Jewish. Thus, someone in Japan practicing the indigenous religion of Shintoism is as much of a Pagan as someone practicing modern Wicca with the inclusion of an ancient god(s) or goddess(es) by these definitions.

However, there is some cases of the Abrahamic beliefs winding up in a bunch of syncretize forms of Neo-paganism, including Wicca. This poses a dilemma, as many Neo-pagans and Wiccans have come to detest anything Abrahamic, particularly Christian. It seems to become “cool” to bash Christians and Christianity, while boasting how “old” your religion, god/dess, and beliefs are. Sometimes this gives rise to anti-Semitism and with anti-Patriarchal beliefs. Other than detestment for Christianity and everything Abrahamic, there is also a large resentment and animosity aimed at Satanism and Satanists in the Neo-pagan community. If it’s not that, then, it seems that there’s this political correctness agenda to make it seem as though Paganism in general is in many ways similar to Christianity or another Abrahamic religion and that Pagans are just about “all the same”, as are all “Pagan” religions.

Unfortunately, all of these views are incorrect. Many modern forms of Wicca are very syncretic and encourage to just believe what ever you wish or to syncretize what ever god from what ever pantheon. This is in contrast to the original Wicca that Gerald Gardner founded in the 50’s. Let’s start off with some history of Wicca and modern Neo-pagan beliefs. It is known today that Wicca is the most influential and popular of all the Neo-pagan religions. In fact many books on Neo-paganism and New Age today seem to incorporate at least one aspect found in Wicca.

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