Paganism: An Introduction to Earth- Centered Religions

by River Higginbotham, Joyce Higginbotham

Overview

A comprehensive guide to a growing religious movement

If you want to study Paganism in more detail, this book is the place to start. Based on a course in Paganism that the authors have taught for more than a decade, it is full of exercises, meditations, and discussion questions for group or individual study.

This book presents the basic fundamentals of Paganism. It explores what Pagans are like; how the Pagan sacred year is arranged; what Pagans do in ritual; what magick is; and what Pagans believe about God, worship, human nature, and ethics.

• For those who are exploring their own spirituality, or who want a good book to give to non-Pagan family and friends
• A hands-on learning tool with magickal workings, meditations, discussion questions, and journal exercises
• Offers in-depth discussion of ethics and magick

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780738717036
Publisher:	Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Publication date:	05/08/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	167,841
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Joyce and River have taught Paganism classes throughout the past decade. They have planned and organized local and national Pagan gatherings, written articles for Pagan publications, appeared on radio and television broadcasts, spoken at Christian and Unitarian churches, and attended interfaith councils. They also helped found the Council for Alternative Spiritual Traditions, which hosts public Pagan and alternative events in the Midwest.

Joyce and River have taught Paganism classes throughout the past decade. They have planned and organized local and national Pagan gatherings, written articles for Pagan publications, appeared on radio and television broadcasts, spoken at Christian and Unitarian churches, and attended interfaith councils. They also helped found the Council for Alternative Spiritual Traditions, which hosts public Pagan and alternative events in the Midwest.

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Read an Excerpt

What is Paganism?

Paganism, also called neo-Paganism, is a new religious movement whose adherents are found throughout the world. Paganism is an umbrella term that describes a variety of denominations—known to Pagans as traditions—which for the most part organize themselves and operate without a centralized religious body or a standardized dogma. While variety of belief and practice is a source of pride for Pagans, it can sometimes be a source of confusion for others. In the pages that follow we present what we believe to be the fundamentals of Paganism. We explore such questions as why Paganism is called an earth-centered religion, how many Pagans there might be in the United States, what Pagans are like, how the Pagan sacred year is arranged, what Pagans do in ritual, what magick is, and what Pagans believe about God, worship, human nature, and ethics.

Over the years we have met thousands of Pagans throughout the United States. We have watched the Pagan movement grow from a fairly small, insular movement to one that may now number more than a million in the United States. We have spoken to numerous Pagans individually, participated in discussions and debates about the nature and future of the Pagan movement, and helped organize local and national Pagan events. For more than a decade we have explained and taught Paganism to many people in a variety of likely and unlikely places. We've taught Sunday school at Christian churches, given the main address at Unitarian churches, attended interfaith councils, taught world religions classes, demonstrated Pagan ritual for Mensa, given retreats, spoken at festivals and conventions, and provided newspaper, radio, and TV interviews on the subject. For most of these years we've also offered private class instruction in Paganism at beginning and intermediate levels. It is from this source of accumulated personal experience that we have collected and developed the concepts we present in this book. While elements of the topics covered here can be found in other books on Paganism, the beliefs we identify as fundamental to Paganism and how we interpret them are uniquely our own.

We have on occasion been asked to name the most important belief or concept of Paganism. This is difficult given the many traditions within the movement. However, if we could reduce Paganism down to its essentials, we believe its two most central concepts are interconnectedness and blessedness.

The belief that every part of the universe is profoundly interconnected shapes how Pagans view the nature of the Divine, the sorts of relationships possible with the Divine and the universe, and forms the Pagan approach to prayer and magick. Most Pagans believe that all parts of the universe, whether "animate" or "inanimate," are connected at very deep levels that extend beyond the boundaries of space-time as we know them. Because of this interconnection, many Pagans believe they are able to interact with the universe and the Divine as co-creators. This concept is further explored in chapters 5 and 6.

The belief that every part of the universe is blessed in its nature, and that there is nothing wrong with the universe or with you, means that the purpose of Pagan spiritual practice differs from that of religions focusedon issues of purification and salvation. Paganism takes the position that human beings are unflawed in their natures, are not spiritually doomed or damned, are born with all the tools and skills necessary to live ethically and spiritually, and are naturally oriented toward their own greatest growth and development. No part of Pagan belief, practice, ritual, or sacrament is designed to "save" Pagans from a flawed or corrupt nature, or to avert supernatural punishment arising from such supposed flaws. Elements of this concept are developed throughout the book, particularly in chapter 7.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments / xi

Introduction / xiii

1 What is Paganism? 1

General Characteristics of Paganism / 3

What Does "Pagan" Mean? / 6

Who Is a Pagan? / 7

How Many Pagans Are There? / 12

Where Pagans Come From and What They're Like / 13

What Pagans Do and When They Do It / 15

An Earth-Centered Religion / 16

The Wheel of the Year / 16

Rites of Passage / 25

What Is a Ritual? / 30

What Happens in a Ritual? / 30

Ritual Tools and Symbols / 33

Is Ritual All Pagans Do? / 38

What Do Pagans Believe? / 38

Principles of Paganism / 39

2 You Are What You Believe 45

How Do Beliefs Work? / 46

What Is a Belief System? / 54

Claiming the Power to Choose Your Beliefs / 58

Search: Paganism's Spiritual Foundation / 66

3 A Pagan View of deity 75

Concepts of Deity / 78

What Do Pagans Believe About Deity? / 79

The God Map / 80

A God Map Story / 92

4 What About Satan? 101

How Do Pagans View Satan? / 102

Pagans, Witches, and Bad Reputations / 103

Why Witch-hunts? / 106

What Happened to the Accused? / 108

A Look at the Biblical Witch Bias / 108

A Fabricated Image / 109

The Social Roles of Satan / 111

The Mythological Roles of Satan / 113

Who Is a Satanist? / 120

Can a Satanist Be a Pagan? / 121

5 The Living Universe 131

The Current Western Mindset / 132

Unbroken Wholeness: Science and a Magickal Universe / 135

The Ground of Being: Mysticism and a Magickal Universe / 145

The Universe as a Cosmic TV / 155

Personal Experience and a Magickal Universe / 161

6 Magick 163

The Mechanics of Magick / 165

The Iceberg / 172

The Applications of Magick / 179

The Limitations of Magick / 184

Your Magickal Pager / 187

7 Ethics and Personal Responsibility 197

Who Are You? / 197

The Multidimensional Self / 199

The Afterlife / 201

Ethics: What Are They? / 206

The Western Religious Ethic / 207

Ethics: The Pagan Approach / 210

Pagan Ethical Systems / 214

Notes / 225

Glossary / 231

Bibliography / 235

Recommended Reading / 239

Index / 245

Editorial Reviews

Most pagan primers jump right into the seasonal calendar, Celtic strands, pentagrams, spell casting and the like. True to form, this offers a judicious overview of the calendar and the general characteristics and essentials of Paganism as the Higginbothams see it interconnectedness and blessedness. To their credit, though, the authors have crafted a very different kind of book, one of great spiritual depth that could be of genuine and lasting service to anyone who is interested in sorting out the whats and whys of belief. Early on, they outline the "big tent" of Paganism that shelters a dozen or more passageways (Wicca, Druidism, Shamanism, Santer!a, etc.), comparing it to Christianity and its popular denominations (Methodist, Roman Catholic, etc.). Throughout, they employ calm and rational prose that seeks not to proselytize as much as to aid discernment, making good on the authors' claim that, "Whether or not you decide to be a Pagan once you finish [the book] is not as important as providing you with tools to help you identify your values and goals." The seven chapters are nicely paced with illustrations, diagrams, visualization exercises, discussion points and journal prompts, all of which can be used by individuals or groups. The authors tackle the charge of Satanism head-on with success, but even more progressively (and clearly) they weave new discoveries in physics into the life fabric of belief and action. The final chapter explores ethics, and similar to the others, serves the broadest common good. (July) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

The founders of both a pagan church and the Council for Alternative Spiritual Traditions, the Higginbothams here offer an overview of the belief systems comprising neopaganism. Included in the discussion are Wicca, Shamanism, Asatru, Celtic traditionalism, Druidism, Santeria, Voodoo, and other forms prevalent in paganism today. The authors proceed from central concepts of interconnectedness and blessedness, to a definition of neopaganism and a discussion of personal responsibility for one's beliefs, to concepts of Deity, Satan, the living universe, "magick," and ethics. The format is similar to that of many self-help books, with text, diagrams, discussion questions, and meditation exercises. This clear, rational, and sympathetic introduction to neopaganism for nonpagans will be helpful to all readers interested in exploring their spirituality. This first book by the Higginbothams complements existing introductions, such as Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon and Graham Harvey's Contemporary Paganism: Listening People, Speaking Earth, at least one of which libraries should already have. Recommended for public and undergraduate libraries and for religion collections. William P. Collins, Library of Congress Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal