What Is Paganism?

Today I was led to talk about paganism. What is it and where did it originate? The word PAGAN comes directly from the Latin PAGANUS which basically meant "rustic or someone from the countryside as opposed to a city dweller". So, when you think of that, you think of someone who is close to the land? A farmer perhaps?

The term pagan wasn't attached to a group of people until in the fourth century when Christians in the Roman empire who practiced polytheism or other ethnic religions used it to refer to these people who did not adhere to their own religion. As I have said in previous posts, religions were established by man to put rules and laws upon people to control them. And that is coming from a person who was raised by a Catholic mother and a Protestant father. Both worshiped the same God, but the rules were much different. But that is a topic for a different day.

It is important to understand that pagans did not use this term to describe religions such as Wicca or Druidism and their many offshoots until the early 20th century. Paganism did not originate as a religion; it was a practice just like one would practice witchcraft. However, like most things, it has been thrown into a cauldron of terms and stories and rules and understandings and brewed into what people call it today.

Early pagans did not see themselves as heathens or followers of the occult. What they did was honor the earth with all its creatures and elements. They planned their lives around the turning wheel of the year with the passing of the seasons. They knew there was a divine origin of everything living and they saw that divine as the earth. The earth that nourished and from which life thrived. They lived off the land and understood the necessity of elements such as earth, wind, fire, water and how they worked together to support life.

With the onset of the religions of man, these people were seen as peasants by those who subscribed to the rules of Christianity, Judaism, and others. They were looked upon as being "less than" or outsiders to these new civilized 'rule followers' even though these people were far from being uncivilized. They just wanted to be left alone to live their lives the way that they were accustomed to living.

Perhaps this is how we got to the point where certain groups of people turned on the natural healers and midwives who wouldn't subscribe to their Puritan or Christian ways. They wouldn't follow the religions of man. So, they went after them in centuries of witch hunts and executions. These gentle pagan people who healed with herbs and paid homage to the earth and communed with the animals and the trees as they had done for centuries before man created religions as a means to push mankind into convenient little boxes which they could control.

I'm going to wrap this up with this...paganism is not a religion. It is the practice of honoring the earth and everything the Creator has put on the earth to live in harmony. And if everyone understood that there would be no need for religions or rules because there would be peace like we have not known in our lifetimes. Many blessings...go take a walk and enjoy the earth....