What is Neopaganism?
Neopaganism, a modern revival of ancient polytheistic and nature-based religions of paganism, often celebrates sacred landscapes and emphasizes the spiritual significance of natural sites. Neopaganism became popular in the United States in the 1960s after it was popularized in the United Kingdom by Gerald Gardner (1884-1964). In this belief system, humans are seen as part of – not superior to – nature and the environment. Cycles such as birth and death carry spiritual meaning and are more than a function of biology.
Neopaganism differs from paganism because It is the rediscovery of pagan religions practiced in pre-Christian times; the “neo” has been used to differentiate modern pagans from pre-Christian pagans. Neopagan groups differ in their worship of deities, rites, and organization, but there are commonalities. Neopaganism can be identified by worshipping pre-Christian gods and goddesses at seasonal festivals and ceremonies.
Neopagan beliefs and rituals have been reconstructed from archeological evidence and pre-Christian ethnographic sources. For Neopagans, it is important to reconstruct the indigenous religions as accurately as possible. Some pagan movements seek strict reconstruction, and some are eclectic movements that withstand historical paganism and other religious philosophies. Examples of these diverse groups are Wicca and Neo-Druidry. In this way, Neopaganism is a collection of various religions and should not be considered a single, monolithic religion.
Neopagans Today
Currently, five well-known pagan groups are functioning in California:
- Founded in 1979, Reclaiming is a Neopagan tradition founded by two women of Jewish descent that focuses on social and environmental activism and has a strong presence in California.
- The Feri Tradition is a modern pagan tradition founded in the 1960s by Victor Henry Anderson and Cora Anderson. Feri Tradition draws on elements of ancient pagan religions and indigenous and African-American spiritual practices like Vodou and Hoodoo.
- The Covenant of the Goddess was founded in 1975 to represent Wiccans and Witches. It is a national organization representing many pagan traditions and has many local chapters and members in California.
- Circle Sanctuary was founded in 1975 by Selena Fox; it focuses on nature, spirituality, and environmentalism.
- The Troth is an American-based heathen organization dedicated to preserving and promoting the ancient spiritual practices of the Germanic peoples. The Troth is open to those identifying with Asatru, Urglaawe, Forn Sed, and Theodism.
Beliefs of the NeoPagan
Despite the diversity of neopagan groups, there are common principles of belief. For example, polytheism is practiced by venerating multiple deities representing nature, culture, and different states of human psychology. Most of the deities in Neopagan beliefs have faults and are imperfect. Furthermore, the Gods may be an archetype representing different states in the human psyche. An extensive belief system based on pantheism contributes to a holistic concept of an interconnected universe that acknowledges many gods. In some Neopagan groups, animism is accepted. Animism is the belief that everything in the universe has a spiritual life force; some environments, also known as eco-pagans, have specific spirits that can be communicated with, like mountains, rocks, and trees. This belief in a spiritual world unsurprisingly leads pagans to a natural environment to conduct rituals, which may be public or private.
Wicca is the most widely recognized form of modern paganism that has developed ceremonial and folk magic, literature, and a historical beginning noted by Gerald Gardner. Yet, there is no evidence of Wicca’s existence before Gardner’s involvement. Gardner was initiated in 1939 to the New Forest coven and helped revive a pre-Christian witch-cult described by English archaeologist Margaret Murray (1963-1963). The New Forest coven was supposedly a direct descendant of a pre-Christian pagan religion that worshiped the Horned God and Triple Goddess, similar to the Wiccans. However, evidence suggests this group was created in the twentieth century by Rosamund Sabine (1865-1948), a former member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, before establishing the New Forest coven. Wiccan sects include Garderian, Dianic, and Solitary practitioners. For Wiccans, the New Year begins with Samhain, followed by Yule, Imbolc, Ostara, Beltane, Litha, Lughnasadh, and Mabon.
Neopagan Rituals
Sacred spaces serve as an anchor in existence for conducting Neopagan rituals. People alienated in their societies with fringe belief systems may be lured to sacred spaces, particularly in natural landscapes. Natural landscapes are essential for people to identify and claim as sacred because these places become facets of individual and group identity. For Neopagan groups, sacred space is where events take place and where events can be controlled. Sacred spaces like festivals are simultaneously lived and experienced.
A sacred space is chosen by Neopagans who believe that the divine dwells there; it is an ordinary place transformed through rituals, which sets the site apart from the rest of the landscape as unique. The ceremonies conducted by Neopagans draw from ancient pagan practices and beliefs, which means the rituals can be highly individualized or performed in large groups for various occasions. Therefore, rituals are needed to practice control over these sacred places; otherwise, sacred places would exist apart from human control.
Yet, there are some commonalities of rituals. Many Neopagan rituals begin with casting a circle, a symbolic barrier separating the ritual space from the outside world. This is typically done by walking around the perimeter and invoking the elements and spirits to create a sacred space. Neopagan rituals often involve invocating deities, spirits, or other entities through prayers or songs. Offerings of food, drink, or gifts are usually made to the deities or spirits being honored. Neopagan rituals also incorporate tools and symbols, such as candles, incense, ritual knives, wands, and chalices. These tools and symbols represent various aspects of the natural world or the spiritual realm. Finally, Neopagan rituals typically end with the closing of the circle, which involves thanking the deities or spirits.
Neopagan Festivals and Celebrations
Almost all neopagan groups follow a cyclical agricultural calendar. The most common festivals are the summer solstice, winter solstice, and spring and autumn equinoxes. In Wicca, there are eight seasonal festivals. Midwinter, also known as Yule in late December, marks the end of the shortening of daylight; Imbolc, which marks the first of spring for the year; Ostara, also known as the vernal equinox, the point when nights are no longer than days and nature begin to reawaken; Beltane which marks the transition from spring into summer; Litha, which marks the summer solstice; Lammas, which is the harvest festival marks the end of summer; the autumn equinox called Mabon; and, Samhain, which marks the end of the year. The winter and summer solstice festivals allow people to meet, sell goods, and join as a community. For younger people, it is a way to meet elders; for others, it is a time to share information and validate their spiritual beliefs through community and ritual. Festivals facilitate infrastructure and regional development by helping to unite people from different Neopagan groups into a common fellowship.
Celebration vs. Festival
A “celebration” and a “festival” are related terms. However, they differ in meaning and connotation. A celebration is any event or gathering commemorating an occasion or achievement. Celebrations can range from small, private gatherings among family and friends to significant public events that involve the entire community. Examples of celebrations include birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, graduations, and religious observances. On the other hand, a festival is a more specific celebration often associated with a particular cultural or religious tradition. Festivals typically involve multiple events and activities that are held over a period of time. Examples of festivals include Mardi Gras, Oktoberfest, Diwali, and Carnival.
Solstice celebrations are essential for Neopagans in that they connect humans to the rhythm of the seasons. There are often offerings to deities and land spirits that are an act of sharing, not necessarily tribute. Any transaction with a deity is usually an attempt to bring them closer to humans. Annual solstice celebrations have historical roots but are grouped under a modern framework of Wicca that has been developing since its creation by Gardner.
Witchcraft?
During the Enlightenment, Witchcraft was abolished, and those who perished in the witch trials were declared the victims of superstition. Karl Jarcke (1801-1852) argued that Witchcraft never existed, and the practitioners were the survivors of the old pagan ways before the onslaught of Christianity.
Paganism had flourished in the rural populations and was condemned by Christianity as Witchcraft to lessen the competition. It was Frenchman Jules Michelet (1798-1874) that argued witches had been pagans, who he thought loved the natural world and had self-expression. He claimed witches were primarily women and worshipped the god Pan, whom the Christians mistook for the devil. Michelet stated that the serfs eschewed Catholicism, as it represented the upper classes. In this way, Murray argued that the four quarter days that began the seasons survived ancient religions.
Doreen Valiente (1922-1999) was one of the first to note the celebration of the solstices and the quarter days in Neopaganism. She claimed to have been a member of a modern Druid group that observed solar feasts, where she adapted their liturgy to fit with Wiccan rituals. Valiente used the prayers from the Carmina Gadelica to construct prayers for these solstices, such as the Hebridean song that was used at Yule time. Consequently, the celebration of equinoxes was adopted on the Wiccan calendar in 1954 when Witchcraft Today first published about these witch festivals. Since this publication, the Wiccan template for solstice rituals has been copied throughout the western world. This is also a time when Neopagans choose to marry or practice ceremonies involving the theme of love.
Neopagans celebrate the winter solstice as a time of renewal, transformation, and the return of light. The winter solstice is known as Yule to Scandinavian models of Neopaganism, Alban Arthan to Druids, Mother Night to Anglo-Saxon models, and Saturnalia to Greek and Roman Neopagan followers. One account of celebrating the winter solstice is baking Mother Winter’s Wish Bread. A large candle burns all night to mark the longest night of the year, with coins around it to represent future prosperity. The candle itself represents a yule log. Each little dough ball that is made has a wish made. The candle is blown out when the sun rises, and the coins are given away.
Besides lighting candles and fires, Neopagan commonalities of celebration for this holiday include decorating with evergreens like pine or holly because it represents the continuity of life and the promise of spring. Many Neopagan communities gather for shared meals and gift exchanges during the winter solstice. Mostly, The Neopagan celebrations of the winter solstice tend to focus on themes of renewal, hope, and the cyclical nature of life.
In Wicca, the winter solstice is celebrated as the return of the great horned hunter god. This god represents nature, the life cycle, and sex. The summer solstice is known as Litha, or Midsummer, and is celebrated as a time of abundance, growth, and the peak of the solar year. The celebration honors the longest day of the year. One common neopagan practice is that there is reading about the season and what it means to nature and people’s lives. Bonfires are lit, and people jump over, making wishes that symbolize purifying and renewing themselves. This can be done in solitude or with a coven. Also, there are often outdoor rituals and ceremonies to connect with the natural world and honor the changing of the seasons, which involve music and dance. Many Neopagan communities gather for shared meals and feasting during the summer solstice. For example, the summer solstice is associated with the faerie realm and is seen as a time when the veil between the human and faerie worlds is particularly thin. Generally, Neopagan summer solstice celebrations tend to focus on themes of abundance, growth, and the celebration of life.
A sacred place holds multiple meanings but is powerful because it is owned, possessed, and appropriated. Through interpretation, numerous meanings can be applied to a place, so sacred places are often politically and religiously contested. In one way, Neopaganism celebrations of the solstices seem paradoxical – it is a new creation, yet it has transmissions from antiquity. It combines elements from different historical and cultural sources, often with different beliefs, practices, and worldviews from pre-Christian and non-Christian religious traditions; it may also draw inspiration from modern sources, such as environmentalism and feminism. Ultimately, Neopaganism reflects the complex landscape of religion and spirituality, and the diverse ways people seek to connect with the divine or spiritual realm.
Hugh B. Urban, New Age Neopagan and New Religious Movements: Alternative Spirituality in Contemporary America – book on Amazon
Doreen Valiente, The Rebirth of Witchcraft – book on Amazon.
Gerald Gardner, The Meaning of Witchcraft – Free Resources
Author: mountshastamyths
Lurking around here with more questions than answers