The Pagan Faith

Thankyou for the responses guys, very interesting.

I have a few friends who call themselves pagan/wiccan (there seems to be a thriving culture in Aust.), but when I ask them about their beliefs they don't seem to delve much deeper than various gods/goddesses, tarot and drinking mead. I don't know whether they just havn't thought about it, or because I'm putting them on thew spot or whatever. I am a fairly outspoken atheist so that could also be something to do with it...

Perhaps I should refine my questions, in light of your answers....

What are your interpretations of paganism? Of pagan philosophy? And what's the difference between a pagan and a wiccan?

Thanks again;

The RP

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With each gift that you share
You may heal and repair
With each choice that you make
You may help someone's day
Well I know you are strong
May your journey be long
Now I wish you the best of luck

To find pagans that haven't thought things through isn't uncommon. Also, as the structure tends to be experiential rather than explanatory, communicating the "why" can be troublesome.

I define paganism as either new religions based outside of the Abrahamic paradigm (Church of the Subgenius, Discordianism, Thelema, Feri, Wicca) or efforts towards reconstruction of pre-Christian religions (The Troth, Druidism, Kemetic Orthodoxy). These definitions aren't hard and fast - Thelema, for example, uses a lot of Gnostic and Christian imagery but in a radically different context.

My personal interpretation was based out of Thelema - Follow your True Will, highest aspiration, etc. What that led me to was creating through my own experimentation a system that closely resembles - by pure chance - the Feri Tradition. The concept of "fey" as "outside the norm, beyond the expected" is rather important - I'd rather be fey than conform. That got me into reading about the faerie ideas of various cultures, and led to the inclusion of some reconstruction of early Irish devotions within my own context.

Largely, I'm focused on enjoying life and being true to myself, and giving homage to those spirits and deities which encourage me in this. Not worship...I'm known to backtalk, argue, and totally disregard those forces I contact.

That's hard to answer. I had a thread on here a few years back about explaining Thelema that might go better...I got more in depth about my philosophical view in there. But, in short, I believe that each person is a Star - a unique entity, self-contained, moving in a particular orbit. By our choices we can either follow our True Will (our orbit) or stray from it. By straying, we cause conflict and upset the balance of the Universe. By following our Will, we gain momentum and the assistance of the Universe. If you're following your Will, then nothing has the right to oppose you.

Or, google "Liber OZ" for the Thelemic Declaration of Rights.

Wicca is a particular branch of paganism. All Wiccans are pagan, not all pagans are Wiccan. Wicca it just the most well-known of the branches.

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