Question by xcarlymeganx: What do pagans believe in?
When i think of pagans, i automatically think of people casting spells, and dressed in all black. (lol i dont mean to sterotype)
but what do pagans actually believe in, religious wise? do they believe in a god? Do all pagans cast spells etc?
Best answer:
Answer by Rai A
Short answer:
Pagan religions are Life affirming Indigenous (pre-Xian) European Spiritualities.
Kinda Longer answer:
Spells/”Magic” is no different from any other religious service.
Any longer I’d suggest checking Wiki.
.
Know better? Leave your own answer in the comments!
First off Rai A is dead wrong. Not all Paganism is just European Traditions. Actually Pagans are simply country dwellers, or Atheists, or non-abrahamic theists. Some are Wiccan. Some are Asatru. Some are Hellenic. It’s a matter of what belief system that person follows pertaining to what type of Pagan they are.
Atheists are Pagans in retrospect of not being Abrahamic Theists.
Some Pagans do spell work. Some don’t. Some Pagans aren’t even superstitious, some very much are. Paganism is such a broad range of belief system that it’s ridiculous to explain them all. I would suggest narrowing it down a bit.
Pagans are not one religion or one group.
Paganism refers to myriads of religions that are generally considered to be non-Judea Christian and non-Dharmic ( ie:- religions that excludes the big 5 religions of the world ),
There are many many Pagan religions.
The most famous and most represented of the group are the Wiccans and NeoWiccans. They are the ones that you generally think of spell casting etc.. NeoWiccans in general are duotheistic ( they believe in a God who is all Gods, Goddess who is all the Goddes) .. Initiated Wiccans along the Alexandrian and Gardnerian lineage are said ( though no one is truly certain since they are initiated ) to be polytheistic and undergoes degrees of initiation etc..
They are not to be mistaken for Stregas who follow the Italian folk religious belief.
Then you get the Druids who are very Earth centered and follow a general Indo-European religious theology.
Then you get Dianics and feminist orientated religions.
Then you get the Recons who follow the traditional polytheistic religions. The largest Recon group are the Asatrus/Heathens who follow the Norse religion. Then there are the Kemetics/Egyptian polytheist, Hellenics( also known as Hellenismos, Hellenistai, Threskia )/Greek polytheist, Religio Romana ( Roman religion ), Semitic polytheism ( polytheistic religion of the Near East ), Celtic religion etc.. etc.. etc..
Then you get the syncretic polytheistic religions like Greco-Egyptian, Greco-Roman, Greco-Persian, Celtic-Roman, Celtic-Norse, Egyptian-Semitic etc. etc..
Some Recon and polytheistic religion really frowns upon casting spells. Hellenismos in general frowns upon magic ( though supports mysticism ) and in fact practitioners of the religion consider magic hubristic.
well xcarlyme
im a pagan atheist (aka eclectic or neo pagan)
im non religious pagan , i dont believe in any gods or goddesses
i am very spiritual,
i believe in nature and fate as beings, conscious energy, life, similar to us, they are not gods or deitys just other life, that communicate with us
they are no more gods to us as we are to ants
i do spells, but not often, i do love black haha, but i love other colours too ;-D
*sigh*
Not all witches are pagan, not all pagans are witches. I do not practice magic and indeed many Heathens/Asatruar do not.
I don’t wear black unless I am going to the ballet. I’m more a jeans and flip flop kind of girl.
Pagans are usually, not always, polytheistic. We believe in many gods, the cosmos being the “ultimate” power but not “personified” in any way other then being what it is, like a tornado is a tornado or a flower is a flower.
And no not all pagan paths are European. Unless Egypt is suddenly in Europe.