which symbolizes the god, salt to represent earth, incense to represent air, water, and a candle to represent fire. There may also be other items that a pagan may place on their alter to help them with their rituals.
Pagans do “rituals” at major sabbats, esbats, or sometimes for other reasons such as handfastings (pagan marriages), wiccanings (pagan baptising!), or other special occasions. Ritual usually only involves casting a circle, calling upon the diety, calling upon the 4 elements, and carrying out the ritual itself (such as thanking the diety for the harvest, etc). Now, mind you, rituals and ways of doing ritual vary greatly between denominations and individual pagans.
Some pagans do belong to a “coven”, which is a group of pagans who worship the same diety, and have the same purpose and mindset in doing magick. Although some pagans belong to covens, the majority of pagans are solitary, which means they work alone.
These are the basics of what paganism is. Obviously I cannot cover every topic on paganism without writing an entire book, but I hope that this article helps you to understand the truth of paganism.
Stephanie Davies is a 27 year old Missourian with a loving husband and an 8 year old son. She currently owns her own business, Mystickal Incense & More, and sells handmade candles, incense, bath & body products and more at http://www.mystickalincense.com
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