Once the whole world was Pagan. Paganism is not an artificial man-made religion created by a prophet or guru but one that continually evolves out of a spiritual relationship with the natural world; traditional societies have always recognised that the spiritual and the physical are intertwined. For the Pagan, the physical world is a manifestation and reflection of the sacred one.
Paganism’s many gods and goddesses represent the diversity of that natural world, indwelling divinity present in all things, the great matrix of Nature whose spirit flows throughout creation, connecting it into a unified, sacred whole. Their magic flows throughout the world - every uncurling oak leaf in spring, every humming summer bee, every rutting stag, every misty shore. The land beneath our feet is not merely dirt, but a fountain of energy that sustains animals, plants and people. All space is sacred space. We are not separate from Nature - or above it - but part of it.
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.
We are alive and vital in the Mother’s beautiful creation, able to see, hear, touch, taste and feel. Life is not a punishment or a fallen state in which the soul has become imprisoned in matter, but a wonderful gift to be explored and enjoyed. Life is a sacred journey.
We are not disconnected strangers within creation, but an integral part of the whole, connected to the flow of life. Divinity lies within us, and we are a manifestation of divinity, but we must learn to honour the divinity in all things if we are to honour the divinity in ourselves. All life, all creation is sacred. This is a truth that we cannot challenge or change without diminishing ourselves. All life is equal; if the deaths of animals and plants are meaningless, then so is ours. Pagan spirituality is about wholeness; it values life in all its diversity.
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.
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