Paganism

Paganism is not a man-made religion created by a prophet or guru but one that continually evolves out of a spiritual relationship with the natural world.

Once the whole world was Pagan. Paganism is not a man-made religion created by a prophet or guru but one that continually evolves out of a spiritual relationship with the natural world. Paganism’s many gods and goddesses represent the diversity of that natural world, indwelling divinity present in all things from a blade of grass to a stream, a mountain and a human being to a galaxy; for the Pagan, the physical world is a manifestation of the sacred one. Pagan spirituality does not depend on accepting some scripture as literal truth, but on experiencing the sacredness inherent within the rhythms of nature, the turning of the stars, the changing of the seasons, and the mysteries of birth, life, death and rebirth.

When we turn our backs on nature, we feel a sense of alienation, of spiritual and emotional loss, because we are cut off from our divine source. In the western world we are programmed by a consumer society to value the self above all, to take without need and to measure people by what they own; our beautiful planet is treated as merely a resource to be exploited rather than being honoured as our living Mother, the fount of the sacred energy that nourishes us.

A Pagan takes responsibility for his or her actions and their consequences in this world, seeking to cause no harm and to tread lightly upon the earth. To honour the sacredness of the earth, we must incorporate our spiritual practice, beliefs and ethics into our daily lives or we are doing nothing more than paying lip service to them. Pagan spirituality is about wholeness; it values life in all its diversity.