Paganism

Our word "Yule" comes from the Scandinavian word "Jul" which is the ancient festival associated with the winter solstice, December 21. The celebration of Christmas absorbed most of the pre-christian solstice festivals and put them into a Christian context. This happened to the Yule festival, with its traditions of a "Yule log" and so on, so that "Merry Christmas" in Swedish is "God Jul".

To Transcendent means to rise above the self, the ego & the mind to higher states of consciousness.

Transcendentalism isn't a religion in itself but a logical & rational ideal that can be applied to religion itself. It seems to be a mix of literature, religion, culture and philosophy.

Its main philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the material.

The word "Easter" originates from the Old English word "Eostre" or "Eoaster", which refers to "Eostur-monath" or the month of Eostre, the pagan goddess of dawn for the Anglo-Saxons. This month was roughly equivalent to April, which is often the month Easter occurs during in modern days. Also, the goddess Eostre is connected to several Germanic folk customs such as hares and eggs, which have carried over to the Christian holiday of Easter. Scholars speculate that the feasts held in honor of Eostre in pagan religions evolved into the Christian celebrations of Easter, the rising of Jesus from the dead.

Many religious historians also say that pagans worshipped a god named Attis (sometimes also known as Tammuz), who was born from a virgin and died and was resurrected, which the pagans celebrated around the Spring Equinox every year. These attributes are very similar to that of Jesus, whose resurrection Christians celebrate on Easter. Historians believe that the pagan traditions/beliefs were transferred onto Jesus to make Christianity more acceptable to the pagans. Thus, Easter was likely a pagan celebration originally that evolved into the Christian holiday we know today.

More of a belief system, actually. Could be a name you call someone.

Eye of neat and beak of gizzard,

Blend these together to become a wizard.

After consumption you must know,

past threes trials you must go.

Knowledge is the first task thou shall face,

to pass you must return all to thy base.

Second thou must be strong in spirit,

for without it thou may not encroach near it.

Lastly thou must have courage,

for it is necessary for what thou shall scourge.

After these tasks three is the power that you seek,

but be warned , it shall not what it appears as at first peek.

Read the first chapter of Romans carefully and run the references. All what we call religion today comes from man's wisdom and God informs that the wisdom of men is a foolishness before him and he will take the wise in their own craftiness. There is only one time religion is mentioned in the bible, like this: true religion and undefiled before God is that a man visit the widows and orphans in their need and to keep himself unspotted from the world. The church Jesus built, is building is called "the faith". read Romans ch 1 but there are other ways of explaining this, as the KJV language can be tiresome for impatient or lazy readers, though I myself like the KJV, but many prefer NASB and NIV, among others. Pagans are what they are because they know the truth, or at least that there is a God, and that there still is plenty of beauty and design in nature, because if they didn't realize that, they wouldn't even consider worshiping something that is not worth their time. Therefore, pagans are willfully ignorant, deceiving their own selves, as many people do today, trying to think of the common man as innately good, instead of utterly depraved right to the rotten core, the soul, outside of Christ. Pagans know the truth, but choose to reject it, damning their own selves. Perspective of a Pagan First off, the word pagan means anyone who does not believe in the God of Abraham which implies Christianity, Judism, and Muslim. So not all pagans believe in nature based religions, but all nature based religions are considered pagan. Second of all, the reason that people believe in nature based religions, is because all things in this universe is nature, and all things, living and non-living, are bound by Nature's Law, the Natural law in which God has created. Also, when you ask God for help, who provides? NATURE!

The pentagram, a five pointed star (not to be confused with the Jewish Star of David) represents the 5 elements. Yes, five. The top point represents Spirit. Going clockwise, Air, Earth, Fire & Water. The pentagram is drawn with a single interwoven line. A pentacle is a pentagram with a circle drawn around it. The meanings of this vary. To me, it symbolizes the need for balance in your life and how your actions resonate in the world. You cannot live your life without any of these elements. The pentagram has been used for thousands of years as a form of protection from evil. Yes, protection FROM. It is only until recently that the meaning has been twisted to scare people and make movie money. Even the Church, long ago used the pentagram in the Middle Ages. Pentagrams have been found by archeologists dating back to 3500 B.C.E. Early Christians saw the pentagram as the five wounds of Christ. Knights wore the pentagram in the Middle Ages to symbolize chastity, chivalry, courtesy, generosity, and piety. A police officers star is a pentagram. Knights of Columbus - pentagram. The countries Ethiopia and Morrocco use the pentagram on their flag. Many pagans choose to wear one, some don't. As in every religion it is a preference. There are those who wear huge bling pentagrams with studs and skulls just because it was on sale at Spencers, there are those who wear their protection on their hearts. Some are adorned with stones that are special to the wearer. Some have the crescent moon on either side to show the aspects of the Goddess. All are beautiful in their own way.

It's one of the annual festivals celebrating paganism, modern witchcraft, and Wicca. See the links section for more details..

The order of the Rose, which I belong to. The balancers, or in some terms known as the Soul Society. Now if you're planning to create your own group, I suggest knowing more than just fighting evil as your reason to fight. If you only choose that you'll end up in a world you can't get yourself out of with only one person to blame. If you have any questions I'm on yahoo @ author_stonewolf@yahoo.com. I'm willing to help and teach when I can but I don't officially take students.

When Our Blessed Lord came to earth, He only taught for three years, and He never got far from home in Israel. We hear of Him having dealings with the pagans several times in the Gospels, the most noteworthy being, of course, His dealings with Pilate and the Roman soldiers. Also, there was the episode with the Samaritan woman in which He initially ignored her but did show pity and compassion when she continued to entreat Him.

150 million according to Lil B the Basedgod.

"Going to church" is a part of the Christian tradition and not part of Paganism. Paganism is an undogmatic, rustic tradition that predates Christianity by thousands of years. Historically, Pagans practiced their traditions and celebrations to mark cycles and seasons. Their meeting places were more likely to be forests and fields, caves and mountains, groves and waterfalls, rivers and springs and leafy glades . . . places in nature that they considered sacred. In fact, when the early Christians tried to wipe out Paganism one of the first assaults was to cut down sacred groves of trees that had been meeting places for hundreds of years.

Pagans meet wherever they choose.

The leader of a coven is a witch. Male of female, they are a witch first. In some groups they are called a High Priest and/or High Priestess. Generally speaking all practitioners are Priests/Priestesses as they all have the right and ability to speak directly to their deities, If you encounter a Witch Queen, you are talking to a woman who has created and lead three or more covens (circles or groups).

1.) There is no such thing as a 'shamanism religion'. Shamanism is a type of tribal faith system. Similar terms in the context of categorisation are monotheism, polytheism, and animism. It is a kind of religion, not a specific religion.

2.) Stop reading books published by Llewellyn Publications. They will rot your mind.

No. Though Paganism is the oldest faith in the world we celebrate 8 holy days a year, plus moon phases. November 1st (Samhain), December 21st (Yule/Christmas), February 1st (Imbolc), March 21st (Spring), May 1st (Beltane/Easter), June 21st (Summer), August 1st (Lughnasadh) and September 21st (Fall). So Christian celebrations that correspond to those dates tend to be Pagan bases, though they have been adapted to fit the Christian faith.

You were thought to be a witch if you were extremely secretive and lived on your own or if anything strange happened that may have been connected with you. If you were thought to be a witch, there were many types of punishment including hanging and burning (especially if case with treason). Also, to see if you were innocent or not, they would tie you hands together and throw you into a lake. If you floated, you were thought to be guilty, but if you drowned or started drowning, you were believed to be innocent, in which case you would try to be saved. However, many innocent people died when this method was used.

No. There is a major compatibility difference here. *** Why not? My husband and I are Christian/Pagan. If Christianity says to love thy neighbor why couldn't you? Saying two different religions cannot co-exist peacefully is like saying blacks can't marry whites. True Love knows no religion or color.

There are several...

The symbol used for Venus is commonly used (a circle with an equal armed cross at the bottom of it)

An equal sided triangle with one wide side down and a short vertical line rising from the top point

An upside down Y

A circle with a half circle on either side (the half circles are open to the outside )O( only they are all the same size and touching);

A stick person with arms raised and wide and legs wide sort of an X with a bit of a body in the middle and a small circle for a head.

Some groups have been known to use a Broom or a Cauldron or Chalice to represent women.

It varies from person to person, depending on their point of view. I personally believe the Goddess created the universe- giving birth to it, in a manner of speaking- and guides us along our respective paths. She does not force us to do anything, but suggests or shows us a path to travel on. We can decide not to. I know people might not subscribe to that belief and that is perfectly fine. This is just my view on things. Blessed be.

Probably dressed up to scare away the spirits?

There has been witches male and female since the days of pyramids.

The difference between rite and ritual are not easy to explain and define as it seems that the rite is the archeotype for any possible ritualization and the ritual is the concrete local experience of the rite.