The History of Paganism

A little over a week and a half ago I had posted in a Christian Witch group on Facebook asking for some feedback on my first blog post entitled “What is a Christopagan?”. Upon getting a response I was told that Paganism was influenced by Wicca which was started by Gerald Gardner in the 30s and leading up to the 60s. Although the commenter was correct I had stated that modern day Paganism that we know of today was started in the 60s. How are both correct and wrong at the same time? What is the true history of Paganism? What is modern day Paganism? If you want to read the full comment it is located on the left. The Cambridge dictionary defines the word pagan as “belonging or relating to a religion that worships many gods, especially one that existed before the main world religions (Pagan, n.d.)”. Just knowing the definition can open so many horizons. By this definition it means that even a Wiccan is Pagan. This means that a witch is a Pagan. In reality we know that this is not true. Can we narrow down the definition of Paganism so that it defines only Paganism and not multiple other religions as well? Pagan Federation International states paganism as “A polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshipping religion (Jones, 2011)”. The Oxford Learner’s Dictionary states pantheistic as a belief that God is present and available in all things (Pantheistic Adjective, n.d.). The one rule that a Wiccan has is that if you harm someone that harm will come back to you (Berger, 2021). This is basically karma stated a different way. Paganism doesn’t have a motto or slogan to follow. Although, many do follow that of the Wiccan Rede as stated above. At this point it doesn’t look as if we can narrow Paganism down much further. We can state the history of it. In an article entitled “Paganism is the Oldest, New Religion” written by Dave Roos for people.howstuffworks.com states that in 415 CE the Roman Empire made Christianity the state religion and started persecuting those who were in polytheistic religions (Roos, 2020). It is estimated that Paganism is one of the fastest growing religions (Roos, 2020). Modern Paganism (or Paganism as it is referred to) is said to have a background in Sumerian, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman Practices as well as, Wicca, ásatrú, and druidism (Roos, 2020). In Matthew Chapter 15 we see Jesus talking about a Pagan woman He commended for her faith. She knew nothing about Jesus, grew up with idols, and once she knew about Him she applied her faith heavily. He commended her because her faith was strong and it showed others that their faith could be strong and swayed away from non-Jesus worshipping religions. This is the earliest form of Paganism that we see. The Bible doesn’t actually call it Paganism. After Constantinople fell documents were found in 1453 showing people some religions from before the Middle Ages (History of Modern Paganism, 2002). In the 1600s England moved from Protestant to Catholic (History of Modern Paganism, 2002). People who didn’t align with this change were often called Witches and ended up being persecuted (History of Modern Paganism, 2002). After this movement ended Greek and Roman books entered into school curriculum (History of Paganism, 2002). In the 1400s documents were found stating other religions besides Christianity leading us to see that Paganism has to date back to before this time. Early witches were seen in the Bible around 931 to 721 B.C. (History of Witches, 2020). We don’t know or see much of Paganism until forwarding to the documents found in the 1400s. This lead to witch trials in which people were killed for being witches, killed for being accused witches, or killed for trying to protect witches. If you are wanting to learn about Paganism in its entirety the book “Paganism an Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions” by Joyce and River Higginbotham is a great start. On page 8 and 9 of the book they state that under the Paganism Umbrella you can find Wicca, Eclectic, and Blended Pagans such as Christopagan, Judeopaganism, and Buddhistpaganism. They state that Gardnerian Wicca begun in 1939 while Dianic Wicca started in 1921 (Higginbotham, pg. 9). Dianic Wicca is a type of Wicca in which Deity Diana is the main focus (Higginbotham, pg. 9). If we head a little further back we can see that a group called The Golden Dawn was an occult society that started in 1887 in Britain (Higginbotham, pg. 11). All of these things lead to Paganism being what it is today based on the books and papers that were published. Gerald Gardner is not someone I want to discuss in this post. He is important to shaping Paganism but isn’t the “ultimate” founder of Paganism. We can go back and forth about who founded Paganism but as for now we are simply looking at the history of it. Gardnerian Wicca and Alexandrian Wicca are two types of Paganism that deserve their own posts due to their vast history (most of which can’t be covered in this post). Both forms of Wicca will be discussed in other posts. As for now back to our original topic. All these forms of witchcraft have led to what we are seeing today when it comes to Paganism. Iceland has constructed a temple to worship Thor and Odin (Winnail, 2019). Thousands gather at Stonehenge every year to celebrate summer solstice (Winnail, 2019). In Scotland people dress as the devil to celebrate Fire Festivals and many gather to burn a wicker man (Winnail, 2019). Burning Man festivals are popular in America (Winnail, 2019). No matter how you celebrate paganism you can see that it is taking a stronghold as a valid religion. In Greece deities such as Athena, Apollo and Zeus are still being worshiped (Winnail, 2019). At the Getty Museum in Los Angeles you can write prayers to Aphrodite or Venus (Winnail, 2019). Eastern-Europeans are celebrating with music, dance, and jumping over fires (Winnail, 2019). Why am I stating all of these traditions taking place in modern times? To understand Modern Paganism we must first look into the past just a bit. Traditions engrossed in Orisha worship, Hinduism, and even Native American practices can be seen as Pagan or “non Christian” which was a term created by colonizers (Composanto, 2019). Modern Paganism (Neo-Paganism as referred to) is changing traditional Pagan traditions to meet new-aged modern standards. “The revival of European paganisms is generally attributed to Gerald Gardner of the UK in the 1940s (Composanto, 2019)”. Once that form of Wicca that Gerald Gardner created came to the US it became entangled with the green and women’s rights movement (Composanto, 2019). If you look up green and women’s rights movements together on Google you will see a ton of articles talking about why green was the color used for the women’s movement on abortion rights. If you look up Green movement by itself you can see an article talking about a protest event in Iran in order to overturn political leaders. The women’s rights movement is about women gaining equality in the world where men have for far too long held power. Things such as taxing an item more because it’s pink, glass ceilings being as high as a woman can go, or the stereotypical thinking some males still have toward a woman’s place being in the kitchen with a full growing belly. The main reason most women turn towards a form of Paganism is due to the fact that it has female leads (deities or Goddesses). “Wicca began to be practiced in America in the 1960s by feminists, environmentalists and those seeking a non structured spirituality…(Pagliarulo, 2022)”. Books about witchcraft published in the 1980s and 1990s led to the production of shows like Charmed and The Craft (Pagliarulo, 2022). Helen Berger who is an academic expert on witchcraft and paganism states that the reason most people join these “cult type” religions is because of the freedom it gives you to do your own thing, doesn’t require you to think or believe in a certain way, and can pull inspiration from different cultural backgrounds rather than that of just Eastern European societies (Pagliarulo, 2022). Many assume that Paganism and other similar type religions might become the new official religion of America. Could this be true? Bigthink writer Molly Hanson seems to think so. Since the 1960’s neo-paganism is gaining popularity at a steady rate (Hanson, 2019). Trinity College ran 3 religious surveys from 1990 to 2008 and found that Wicca was on the steady rise during that time (Hanson, 2019). Pew Research Center also did a survey during this time and found out that nearly 1 to 1.5 million people identify as neo-pagan (Hanson, 2019). Are there many angles that Paganism can be looked at? Yes! Are several of them going to be explored here? Yes and no. In this specific post it’s just a simple overview of Paganism. Other posts such as that of Gardnerian Wicca, Dianic Wicca, and the belief that inanimate objects like plants and trees having a soul are topics to be explored at a later date. No matter how you identify in Paganism there is no wrong way to be religious. Whether you choose to be Christopagan, dive into Gardnerian Wicca, or are just exploring the path you can always find new and upcoming information about Paganism and the path of Witchcraft. References “Pagan.” Dictionary.cambridge.org, dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/pagan. ‌ Jones, Prudence. “What Is Paganism?” Pagan Federation International, 2011, www.paganfederation.org/what-is-paganism/. ‌ “Pantheistic Adjective - Definition, Pictures, Pronunciation and Usage Notes | Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com.” Oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com, www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/pantheistic. Accessed 27 Mar. 2023. ‌Berger, Helen. “What Is Wicca? An Expert on Modern Witchcraft Explains.” BrandeisNOW, 17 Sept. 2021, www.brandeis.edu/now/2021/september/wicca-berger-conversation.html. Roos, Dave. “Paganism Is the Oldest, Newest Religion.” HowStuffWorks, 16 Nov. 2020, people.howstuffworks.com/paganism.htm. “BBC - Religions - Paganism: History of Modern Paganism.” Bbc.co.uk, 10 Feb. 2002, https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/paganism/history/modern_1.shtml Higginbotham, Joyce, and River Higginbotham. Paganism : An Introduction to Earth-Centered Religions. St. Paul, Minn., Llewellyn Publications, 2002. Winnail, Douglas S. “The Rise of Modern Paganism.” Tomorrow’s World, 30 Oct. 2019, www.tomorrowsworld.org/magazines/2019/november-december/the-rise-of-modern-paganism. Composanto, Jacqueline. “A Non-Pagan’s Guide to Understanding Modern Paganism.” Medium, 14 Jan. 2019, medium.com/world-tree-heritage/a-non-pagans-guide-to-understanding-modern-paganism-6ee0cd3591fa. ‌ Pagliarulo, Antonio. “Why Paganism and Witchcraft Are Making a Comeback.” Www.nbcnews.com, 30 Oct. 2022, www.nbcnews.com/think/amp/rcna54444. Accessed 7 Apr. 2023. Hanson, Molly. “Could Neo-Paganism Be the New “Religion” of America?” Big Think, 30 Sept. 2019, bigthink.com/the-present/modern-paganism/.