Tag Archives: pagans

To Those Who Discriminate Against Pagans

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Dear Discriminator:
If you ever dropped a friendship because you found out your friend was Pagan, if you ever fired someone (or encouraged someone else to fire someone) because they wore a pentacle to work, if you ever told your kid not to play with someone because your family were witches, if you ever yelled at a stranger for worshipping the devil because they had a “my other car is a broomstick” sticker on their car, if you every called someone a witch, this letter is for you.

I don’t know what it is that you believe and I don’t care, because it is my opinion that religion does not make a person a good person. That seems to be where my beliefs differ from yours. Many folks seem to believe that your religion makes you a good person and if you are in the wrong religion, you are a bad person. That, and I expect that you don’t know or understand anything about Paganism. You probably just heard “pagan” as a bad word priests and pastors tend to use for non-believers. You probably heard the section of the bible that reads “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live”. So all you knew from this was that Pagans and witches were bad. They were people to avoid.

Most Pagans are not like you. They just want to worship how they want to worship and be left alone about it. They don’t want to convert you. They aren’t interested in anything other than acceptance. Unfortunately, acceptance is difficult to come by. There are so many Pagans, myself included, who have to hide what we are from the world because we are afraid of some very real repercussions. I have been fired twice for being Pagan. I know parents who have had their kids dropped by friends whose parents don’t want them playing with a Pagan. I have had strangers see my pentacle and yell at me for being a devil worshipper (back when I used to wear it in public). I just want to be myself and be left in peace. I don’t know why, but that doesn’t seem to be possible for people like me.

Pagans, in general, believe in multiple deities and are nature worshippers. The deities vary from one generic Goddess and one generic God to all of the gods from a pantheon (such as Greek, Norse, Celtic, Egyptian, etc.) Is that really that scary? Sure, some cast spells, but it’s really just focused prayer. We can’t turn people into toads. We just feel like a prayer is more likely to manifest if we do it with candles, incense, and crystals.

Pagans, in general, arrange their own worship. We are our own priests and priestesses. We don’t have churches and prefer to be out in nature. We are really very harmless. Most believe in the rule of three (everything you do comes back to you times three), similar to the Golden Rule (do unto others what you would like others to do unto you).

A lot of modern holidays were based on Pagan ones. Halloween was based off of Samhain, the Pagan celebration of the dead. At Christmas the wreaths, decorated tree, the jingle bells, the candles, and the gift-giving came from a number of Pagan holidays from Yule to Saternalia. Easter egg dying and chicks and bunnies came from Pagan holidays welcoming the spring. Sure, most modern Pagans have a few other holidays that also focus on the seasons of the year, but our holidays focus on what is going in nature at the time. Many also follow the moons and celebrate either the full or new moon.

So in conclusion, Pagans aren’t people to be feared, we are pretty harmless, we just want to be accepted. For those of you who have a faith, please do what your faith would consider to be right. If Jesus could accept and hang out with prostitutes, you can accept and hang out with Pagans.

If you have any questions about a Pagan in your life, please ask them rather than shun them.

Brightest Blessings,
Autumn Stoneflower

Rituals (How Pagans Worship)

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Just like other forms of worship, there is usually an order in which everything is done.  Because Paganism is a broad term encompassing many different religions, this is just a broad, generalization and may not be true for every tradition. In my experience, the sections with the asterisks next to them are included in just about every ritual.  This can be done alone or in a group.  Advanced practioners can simply sit there and accomplish this all energetically without moving or speaking, but that’s pretty rare.  Most people tend to use movements or words aloud to symbolize what they mean to do.  While there are formal ways to be trained in some traditions of Paganism, some people will also just call themselves a Priest or Priestess without any training, so you have to be wary.  Some traditions have a specific High Priest and High Priestess to lead all rituals, some traditions take turns leading, and yet others have different people do different parts of the ritual.  I know this is very vague, but it’s difficult to make broad generalizations on such a vast array of practices!

Smudging
The participants wave a cleansing incense at each other in turn, often white sage.  If this is done by a solitary practioner, the person smudges themselves.

Grounding
This is a whole other topic unto itself, but it’s the act of taking unnecessary energy and putting it into the ground.  Advanced practioners can do this on their own, but less experienced people may need guided visualization, actually touching the earth, or a grounding tool such as hematite to help them.

Casting the Circle*
This can be done in many ways, but it’s usually done by walking in a circle counter clockwise, either by one person around all of the participants or the whole group (if there is a group).  Sometimes an athame or wand is used (see ritual tools). 

Calling the Elements*
All of the elements: Earth, Air, Fire, and Water are called to join the circle.  They can be called by different people or just one.  The wording varies.

Calling the Deities*
Whatever deities are appropriate can be called now.  The wording varies.

The Purpose of the Ritual*
Whatever the purpose of this ritual is completed now.  It could be to celebrate the full moon or a sabbat (holiday).  It could be to get wisdom and guidance for a purpose.  It could be to do energy work or a spell (focused prayer).  There are many many reasons to have a ritual.

Cakes and Ale
Food and drink are consumed for a sacred purpose, which varies depending on the purpose of the ritual.

Releasing of the Deities*
Whatever deities that were called are thanked for attending the ritual (often called Circle) and for helping with the purpose of the ritual.  A common phrase at this point is, “Go if you must, stay if you will.  Hail and farewell.”

Releasing the Elements*
The elements are thanked for attending the ritual and for helping with the purpose of this ritual.

Taking Down the Circle*
Whatever was done to cast the Circle is undone, usually in reverse.