How Many Pagans? (page 2)

SYN

To me it feels like the whole planet is one giant sentient organism, with a mind so far beyond our teeny little ones that we cannot even realize it exists, in much the same way that ants do not know about the Special Theory of Relativity. So I guess this makes me a bit of a Pagan, although I hesitate to affiliate myself with any worshipful group whatsoever...and technically, according to the Dictionary, I'm a full-blown Pagan, i.e. I have no religion!

SYN

Note: I am 100% "behind" Wiccan Chicks doing naked circle-dancing in the forest under a full moon.

Xander

feels like the whole planet is one giant sentient organism

I liked the way this was presented in the 'Final Fantasy' movie - the souls of the life inhabiting a planet are tied to it and return/are recycled from it.

naked circle-dancing

Yeah, I bet. (Incidently, most witches seems to prefer calling that 'sky-clad' rituals)

JW are far from anything close to christians

Wouldn't go that far. After all, they believe in one god as the creator, only a select group of people are his representatives, and everyone else dies or suffers in judgement. That pretty much sums up christianity.

That's what makes paganism better. No one suffers judgement or is rewarded based on the whim of some singular divine being whose temper is notably short.

Jewel

I'm pagan. The jury is still out as far as type. Wherever my path takes me, I'm not the organized type-much prefer solitary exploration (talking spiritual stuff here! <G>)

MrMoe

I WILL say this much, my Goddess is Isis.

Kisses,

Moe

arachnia

I describe myself as agnostic with Reconstructionist Pagan leanings. ;) I'm still defining my belief system - it's an ongoing process.

I like my friend Ceisiwr Serith's take on the word "Pagan." Although the etymology has been attributed to the Latin paganus, "thos of the earth", "country dweller," he takes it a bit further in a way that makes good sense to me.

"I have read of an etymology that makes more sense to me. The difficulty with the "country dweller" etymology is that at the time when Pagans first were called that the literati were both Pagans and urbanites. It doesn't make sense that Christians would have started calling such people "country dwellers."

The alternate suggestion I have seen is that the word comes from "pagus," "district," and refers to the fact that Pagan religions are connected with particular areas and ethnic groups, as opposed to Christianity which was the "universal" religion. This makes more sense to me, and avoids the question of how a Pagan religion can be adapted to city life. There is no need to worry about that, since "Pagan" wouldn't necessarily, under this etymology, have anything to do with the countryside." ---Ceisiwr Serith

Cheers,
~Trase

Xander

arachnia:

Well, from http://www.xrefer.com/entry/442472 we get:

Latin also had the descendant of pag- in pagus (staked-out boundary); a dweller within such a boundary was a paganus , a villager or rustic. The figurative sense gives us pagan directly from the Latin; the literal sense remains in peasant , from the same word by way of French.

I still like the 'country dweller' interpretation myself. While I like the 'big city' to visit (that's where all the arts are, after all), I certainly would NOT want to live there long-term. At least, not without being right on a river or very, very near some nice dense, forest.

MrMoe:

Well, I just noticed on another thread you got a digital camera, yet my inbox still emtpy. My ego says I should stop talking to you now and go sit in a corner and pout.

arachnia

Hey Xander...

I understand what you mean about preferring life in the countryside versus the big city. I wasn't trying to suggest that being Pagan has any geographic requirements. ;) I just personally think Cei's definition probably more accurately describes the origin of the word. Many sources will just stick with "country dweller" and that's cool, it's just I think it goes a little deeper than that as Cei describes. He's an Indo-European Reconstructionist and one of the original members/founders of ADF, a published author, and Ronald Hutton even quotes him in one of his books. (Hutton is a Historian from Bristol University who has penned several historical titles that are of interest to Pagans.) I consider him a mentor and really respect what he has to say. I know that this is all word-of-mouth recommendations here though so the value to anyone else may vary. :)

Cheers,
~Trase

TheContagion

SYN

To me it feels like the whole planet is one giant sentient organism, with a mind so far beyond our teeny little ones that we cannot even realize it exists, in much the same way that ants do not know about the Special Theory of Relativity. So I guess this makes me a bit of a Pagan, although I hesitate to affiliate myself with any worshipful group whatsoever...and technically, according to the Dictionary, I'm a full-blown Pagan, i.e. I have no religion!

I feel the same way. In terms of evolutionary theory, ant colonies are best treated as single organisms. I personally couldn't imagine how you could do otherwise. I think though that "worship" needs to be redefined nowadays. Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, believed in God, they were pagan and both deeply religious. I too in the same way and i would say that i do worship. Worshiping doesn't have to be associated with ignorance or superstition.

seedy3

Hey folks,
I consider myself a Pagan, I never really have followed a path, I would think I would be an agnostic pagan. I reciently read the description of a Pantheist and pretty much found that is the basic ideal of what I beleive. So I guess I beleive in pantheism with witchcraft thrown in LOL. I studied Wicca for a while, But I dunno, it didn;t quite fit with me to be considered part of a group with rules and doctrines (what few any of them have), So for a long time I drifted calling myself an ecclectic neo-pagan. Which is more or less what I still am, except when I call my self pantheist people have no idea what I am talking about LOL.

Seedy

How Many Pagans?

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