The other threads are so interesting, I thought it was time the pagan cysters started a similar thread! I'll get this going but if anyone else wants to chime in, that would be fantastic, as we pagans are such a diverse lot, and no one 'branch' can speak for another!
I'd love to see what questions non pagans of all denominations (atheist and agnostics too!) have and where I can't give you an informed answer, I'm sure we have other pagan cysters who can. No question too small or 'daft' - if you ask it, let's see what the pagan cysters can do to clarify!
I'm no more qualified to start this than any other pagan here. But communicating about our belief systems to people who are not of our faith is interesting to me as I spend most of my life 'preaching to the converted' as a writer, writing in various pagan magazines, for pagans! Be intriguing to see what other pagan cysters have found to be misconceptions - although from the pagan sites I am on, I think I've an idea! (For the UK cysters I've written a lot for 'Triple Spiral' and 'Pentacle', amongst others!)
There are very many things we have in common, prejudices we deal with, and negative misconceptions non pagans have developed, via the media. Also, unlike all the other major world religions, we come from a culture of secrecy - Western Mystery Traditions - which means we have often not been very good at passing on info to anyone beyond our own, initiated circles.
I am an Ovate with the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids. (Druidry). My own order is an offshoot of the original druid revival group that met in a pub in London in 1717. I'm part Romani and came to paganism originally via a love of Tarot, which was in the blood! Ovate is the second grade - we study healing and divination. I do not have any real deities, and am a pantheist - I believe the gods are everywhere, here on earth, all round us in the land and the stones and trees.
Druidry is probably the oldest branch of pagan revivalism. An early chief of the first Order was the poet William Blake (He wrote 'Tyger, tyger burning bright' and something which ironically is often sung as a hymn in church in the UK, 'Jerusalem'!)
One big misconception is that all pagans are wiccans. Not so. Wicca has become the beloved of the media in the past few years, (Charmed, Buffy, various teen shows are to blame!) but in a sense it is the soft, safe face of paganism. 'Wicca' is not an old religion, but the invention of retired civil servant, Gerald Gardner and dates back to the 1950s. Wiccans believe in the Lord and the Lady, a god and goddess. There are three degrees a coven initiate can pass through. Traditionally, the first degree took a year and a day although it varies from coven to coven, now. Wiccan rites are often based around the moon. Druid rites centre around the sun - both balance male and female. In the post feminist age, many women are attracted to paganism simply because it honours the feminine when major monotheistic religions are perceived as male-orientated.
Witchcraft is different to wicca - it is the surviving 'old religion'. Some witches work with others, many are solitaries. Some have no religious side, just do spells and divination. Others worship their gods as well as manifest magic. Some witches practice what outsiders would call *white witchcraft* ( a term most pagans seem to reject). Others do the positive and the negative. Wiccans have something called 'the threefold law' which suggests that if you do something negative to a person, then it will come back to you threefold. Wiccans also have this saying: *An it harm none, do as ye will*. ('So long as you aren't hurting anyone - do what you like'). Many witches wouldn't hold to this. I, for one, don't buy the threefold law but amongst the pagans I know, I'm probably in a minority!
Druidry, wicca and witchcraft all have nothing to do with 'satan' or the devil, as that is a later, Middle Eastern concept, not a European one and as such has no meaning for us. There is no evidence for the native European religions having a firm 'dark side' - although you get the odd trickster god, like Loki, he's more of a pain in the bum than out and out evil!
The whole good/evil duality thing is not relevant in paganism as the world tends to be seen in a subtle sense, hard for me to convey here what I mean, but I'll try another time!
In druidry we also have three degrees, and you must pass through them in order, but no one is implicitly more important than any other. In my own Order, the first grade (bard), takes a minimum of a year, usually half a dozen years. Ovate takes several more years. Druid is the final grade. Once you have completed the grades, you can return to the level you want to be, and reconsecrate yourself at that level.
So paganism is not something you 'become' or covert to overnight. It takes many years of study, meditation, and practice, to work your way through the grades. You have to learn how to cast a circle, 'do' magic, meditate, and maybe many other things besides. There is no canon of literature, no firm liturgy, no gurus, and as Western Mystery Traditions, we don't actively preach or convert as we don't require 'bums on seats' to keep a priesthood/buildings/infrastructure afloat.
The history of paganism has often lent itself more to only admitting a select few to orders, and even today covens strictly regulate who is allowed to join, who can come to closed or open circles, as the group dynamic is valued. We also don't ever, under any circumstances, try to 'recruit' anyone under 18 - although it seems to have a fascination for young people, and a certain glamour. People must come to these paths in adulthood, of their own accord, in their own time. It is not a numbers game. As very many pagans (certainly all druids) don't believe in war, there is no reason to try to convert, or persuade, or change anybody. Many druids (not all) believe in reincarnation, so the buddhist idea that people come back to learn life lessons and evolve gradually over lifetimes, is one a lot of us buy into. For this reason, you couldn't convert or persuade anyone as if they don't come to us of their own accord, they're not at the point where it's going to happen.
Another significant branch of paganism are the 'heathens'. Heathens follow the Old Germanic gods - usually Norse or Anglo Saxon. These gods were worshipped for centuries across Europe until the coming of christianity, so many Europeans can identify with their native gods and when they seek to re-connect with a religion they can identify with, Odin and Co are a natural choice!
We have developed rituals but also often create our own, too. The wiccans here could tell you a lot more about their liturgy than I can, as although I have many wiccan friends, I've yet to get to one of their open circles.
Some pagans choose to work in covens, orders, or groups and others work as 'solitaries'. Some are initiated, some self initiate. Some believe in the Lord and the Lady, others whole pantheons of gods, others are pantheists and don't have any gods but believe that the earth, trees, the whole of nature is holy. Many pagans have their own 'special' god or goddess, to whom they dedicate themselves. Some witches have no religion at all, just do the workings ('spells') and many see druidry not as a religion at all, but a philosophy. Within my own order, there are ordained christian priests as well as pagans, all studying the same material, all learning from eachother. There are, apparently, even 'christian witches' although I have never met one, I understand there is such a thing.
One things all pagans have in common is a love of nature and the land. Most of us - whatever deities we believe or disbelieve in - hold in common a belief that not only people, but animals, even places have souls.
Our reputation as bloodthirsty virgin sacrificers probably comes from the Romans, as our own druidry was effectively wiped out by them in the 1st Century AD. Unfortunately, the only written sources of info about druidry come from classical sources and it's impossible to know how much they are exaggerating, as the victorious side.
The one misconception I think most pagans (druids, witches and wiccans alike) would love to see laid to rest is the one that we are all 'devil worshippers'. Paganism is not the same thing as satanism. In fact, from a pagan point of view, satanism is a sub-branch of christianity, as it takes characters from the bible and uses them as its deities. As pagans, we don't believe in the devil, so could not possibly worship him! The confusion of the concept of 'devil' with our own gods is very sad. Cernunnos, or 'the horned god' can be found in one version or another right across Europe, long before any Middle Eastern religions were imported. As new religions come, the old have to be demonized but amazingly, this confusion has survived into the 21stC. We have not helped ourselves with our culture of secrecy but then, that is also a deeply felt part of what we are, as pagans. Also, pagans had to develop secrecy in order to survive in a hostile culture for so long.
There are so many forms of paganism it's like trying to herd cats, trying to cover all the bases here. So other pagan cysters please jump in and give us your views!
And if anyone has any questions about the above, or a new question - ask it! Maybe you want to find out about something you always wanted to know but daren't ask! Because our beliefs and practices have been shrouded in mystery for so long, it's not surprising that non pagans know very little about us. So ask away!
Love and 100 watt Light, Polly x