If you stopped and asked your average Joe Schmoe on the street this question you would get a few different responses. Well first, he would probably be wondering why some random stranger is quizzing him on theology, but that's irrelevant. In truth, he most likely will have little to no idea. His response may be something along the lines of "something people use to believe a long time ago?". Wow, thanks Joe...or maybe he is better informed than we assumed and replies, "a common religion among the civilizations of the Classical Era." Much better Joe! But these responses have a common theme...
Used to believe, long time ago. Not anymore. Paganism is a thing of the past, is it not? Nobody still believes in that stuff, right? No no, my friend, I'm afraid you are mistaken. Paganism is still very much around and never really went anywhere! Sure, it faded greatly here in the Western world, but many people forget that many Eastern religions are considered to be a form of Paganism!
Paganism is actually the -oldest- religion in the world, a religion in which every culture once followed. It was the sacredness of the fire that we gathered ourselves about, it was the sacredness of the waters we bathed in, and it was reverence to the earth itself for providing such bounty. Imagine for a moment that you are ancient man...or woman! To see the world around you in unspoiled beauty, to find wonder in each plant and animal, and to touch and feel the elements around you all the time. You were alive. The air filled your lungs, clean, crisp, and clear. The sky; raw, new, expanding the entire heavens. Each leaf glistening like a thousand diamonds in the morning dew. This is your world, and the world is sacred unto you.
The word Paganism itself is an umbrella term. Kind of like the word Christianity is as well. Many people call themselves a Christian, but they may further specify with Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic, etc. Those are merely forms or branches of Christianity. Just like you can be a Pagan, and you can then say you're Asatru, Wiccan, Hindu, etc. Or maybe you don't want label yourself as any one denomination, opting to find your own path with influences from multiple groups. And that's ok! Hey, some would even say normal. The beauty of a path such as this is that it's all about you. What makes sense to you. What feels right to you. So explore, study, experiment!
But wait a minute? I thought Paganism and Wicca were the same thing!
And this is where it can get confusing for some people, and this actually took us quite a while to understand ourselves, but we will do our best to break it down simply. All Wiccans are Pagans, but not all Pagans are Wiccans! On the grand scale of Religions, Wicca is fairly new. It was popularized in the 1950s in Britain by Gerald Gardner, and later in the 1960s by Alex Sanders. They would eventually create their own traditions and covens which would be respectively known as Gardenarian Witchcraft and Alexandrian Witchcraft. It was these groups who would take the love of "The Craft" to their American cousins! From there Wicca caught on, especially on the west coast. The San Francisco Bay area became a hot spot for the "Neo-Pagan" community and it was these Americans who would establish Wicca as an official state recognized religion in the 1970s!
So while Paganism itself is older than Wicca, Wicca helped open the doors for greater religious understanding and gave those who sought the pagan path the ability to do so. Now, we don't usually like to get sappy here at Swishe & Flicke but, we just wanted to take a minute to say, "Thank you." Thank you to all of the pagans who came before our generation, thank you for championing for our rights, and thank you for paving the way. Swishe and I were lucky enough to grow up in a generation where we may have been looked down upon for our religious choices, but we were never bullied for it, or ostracized. And it's thanks to everyone who came before us that allowed us to start our blog, have an amazing pagan community, and to practice our religion the way we choose. So, if your lucky enough to have elder pagans in your community, make sure that you send them an extra special thank you today!
Stay tuned Darlin's! We will be posting more this week!
