jess

Pagan is from the latin paganus for country dweller. It was used by the Roamns to describe the people in the hills who followed their own religions.

Although I live in a city, I have no problem with that.

What would you prefer?

Gurdur

I'm not too sure it's such an important issue.
I think what you mean is not the beliefs themselves, but rather how they were regarded.
?

Hedwig

Is it the big blue book? I have that one. I also *hangs head in shame* have two Ravenwolf books. Hey, I was young and didn't know any better.

I will say that I find some literature found in the new age section of Barnes and Noble to be useful. Despite the overwhelming feminism (I'm semi-active in NOW but, come on...) in Starhawk's "Spiral Dance" there are a few good points (I emphasize a FEW.) And I like Adler's more anthropological (if not horribly dry) "Drawing Down the Moon".

I love a good Midsummer. I have to celebrate it every year now. It's when my now deceased joy of my life, my kitty Xe, and I found each other.

Edited to include that I'm currently trying to make it through the "Malleus Mellefecarum" and it is quite a tedious task...I am a masochist.

[ January 04, 2002: Message edited by: MeanderThroughLife ]</p>

jess

Gurdur:

Yes, the belief in demons and witches were there--- but not quite the negative, more as a regular part of life. Most demons gained their power after Christianity arose, and many were taken from 'negative' pagan imagry--- satyrs, etc. Witches and magicians and sorcerors were all one of a breed- just possibly different levels.

So I do think we could agree on that. I didn't think it would be worth fleshing out... unless it becomes center to an issue...

MTL:

Actually it is a little one... the one with the cute gypsy on the cover...

Adler and Starhawk are good places to start. Most of us did start with them, I guess, unless we have family in it...

Why the Hammer? wow, I respect you. Maybe you could summarize bits of it for us?

Hey lurkers, any questions, comments? Cookies?

LianaLi

&lt;surfaces&gt; Actually, anyone got recommended books? I probably shouldn't ask that, since I have a ton of books (including the entire tolkien series, and a book covering the history of China) set up for myself to read. But information on history and practice for paganism would be nice. And the difference between pagans and wicca? I know wicca's supposed to be a fairly new sort of religion, but I'm not fully aware of of its origins.

A closet pagan, whose desk drawer of "dangerous/devil" books is going to get full if she gets too many responses,
Liana

Hedwig

Liana, the ones I mentioned, as Jess said, are good places to start. Adler's "Drawing Down the Moon" is a dry read but very informative.

I'd recommend reading anthropological stuff first. Maybe even some Joseph Campbell. He started me on my love affair with mythology and theology. And I highly recommend the website <a href="http://www.witchvox.com" target="_blank">www.witchvox.com</a> which is a wonderful and very comprehensive site dedicated to neo-paganism. They can direct you to even more good literature. It's hard to sift the crap from the credible sometimes but you can learn to sniff out the excrement pretty quick.

Jess, I'll give you the bare bones as I read it. As you can probably guess, it's pretty damn intimidating and very difficult to read. A lot of the stuff they say about women is just comic. I keep forgetting that it's supposed to be serious. At least I'm not reading it in Latin (took Latin in high school...only thing that stuck was "cogito ergo doleo"..."I think therefore I am depressed.")

jpbrooks

As far as the "Right Hand Path" non-Christian religions are concerned, I personally like Vivianne Crowley's perspective. But I don't know what category, traditional or "regular", she would fall into, (although she probably would fall into the category of authors who write "beginner's books"). She seems to place Wiccan concepts into a Jungian context which, having a great deal of respect for Carl Jung and his work, I find informative. I 'm looking forward to obtaining more of her books.

However, if were a Pagan rather than a Christian, I would, without much doubt, be a Satanist of some kind; probably a "Setian", because Satanism focuses on the importance of "embracing" the "shadow" side of reality, which is essential, (from a psychological standpoint), to the attainment of psychological wholeness.

[ January 05, 2002: Message edited by: jpbrooks ]</p>

Mad Kally

I've read this thread and it's confusing to me. I have one question. Do any of you believe in supernatural things?

jpbrooks

jpbrooks:

I suppose it depends on your definition of "supernatural".
If, by "supenatural", you mean existing outside of the natural "order" altogether, then I would say that Pagans, in contrast to Christians, are not "supernaturalists" in this sense.

-John Phillip Brooks

[ January 05, 2002: Message edited by: jpbrooks ]</p>

LianaLi

It's kind of hard to pin down, "supernatural." I believe in things I can't logically explain. I'm fully aware that I cannot logically or reasonably explain them, or reproduce them reliably enough to justify a skeptical sort of belief in them. You could reasonably say I take these things on faith.

Furthermore to me, they aren't "supernatural" in the sense that they aren't a part of a natural order. The events/phenomenom in which I believe, I think, simply haven't been explained or tested yet. Of course, logical explanations could be I'm schitzophrenic, epilepsy, or another thing. That's fine. I'm not going to assert that x is true and everyone has to believe me. It's really more of a personal belief than anything else.


Hope that helps,
Liana