Bad Words

Growing up Christian, the terms Pagan and Heathen have a slightly different meaning than they do to someone who is a Pagan or a Heathen. No one actually told me what they meant, but I gleaned over the years that they described someone that wasn't Christian. And therefore, by comparison, not as good. Christians sometimes have this "if you're not with us, you're against us" mentality. But that's just part of the Christian faith. Christians believe that they are following the one true path to God, and that if you don't follow that same path then you must be unenlightened (or hell bound).

I'm not trying to say anything against Christianity. Many religions believe they are the one true path to God, whichever god that might be. It just irks me a little that Christianity, whether consciously or not, vilified certain terms, that in antiquity, meant something else entirely.

If you were to look at the word's Latin roots you would find that Pagan and Heathen mean nothing more than "country dweller." Here's what Dictionary.com says about the origins of the word pagan:

Origin: 
1325–75; Middle English  < Medieval Latin, Late Latin pāgānus worshiper of false gods, orig. civilian (i.e., not a soldier of Christ), Latin:  peasant, noun use of pāgānus  rural, civilian, derivative of pāgus  village, rural district (akin to pangere  to fix, make fast);

So those are the origins. Let's take a look at what Dictionary.com defines the word pagan as:

pa·gan

   [pey-guhn]  Show IPA

noun

1.

one of a people or community observing a polytheistic religion, as the ancient Romans and Greeks.

2.

a person who is not a Christian, Jew, or Muslim.

3.

an irreligious or hedonistic person.

We'll tackle the polytheism in a second. Colloquially the term has come to mean "not Christian," or to expand that further "not part of the Abrahamic traditions" (Christianity, Judaism, Islam). By this definition we can include most eastern traditions: Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism, Shintoism, indigenous religions of Austrailia, Africa, and the Americas. That's a lot of pagans. Most pagans, however, do not use the term that broadly. The term Pagan as a modern day term tends to signify religions based around earth worship or those based on the indigenous religions of western Europe.

It's this last definition that makes me a little mad. The term Pagan, whether used broadly or as a term for Neo-Pagans, encompasses many people of many different faiths who are deeply religious and selfless. (For those unaware, the term hedonist refers to a person whose life is devoted to self gratification.)

When I was growing up the term heathen and the word heretic were interchangeable, but I've learned that they are slightly different. A heathen as we've learned is a person outside of the Abrahamic tradition. A Heathen can also be a term to describe a person who follows the religion of the ancient-germanic peoples, most notably the Norse religion. A heretic on the other hand, is a person within the faith who goes against the church's teachings.

I also thought that the terms pagan and polytheist were interchangeable. Which they kind of are, but not exactly. The Abrahamic traditions are the three major religions that are based in monotheism. That's not to say that they're the only monotheistic faiths, they just happen to be the most notable. So, by that logic you could say that all other religions (aka Pagan religions) must be polytheistic. And for the most part they are, but that doesn't mean they have to be. You could be a monotheistic pagan if you wanted to. Heck, you could be an atheist and still be Pagan.

Confused yet?

Today you've learned what the words mean. Stay tuned, because I hope to shed some light onto what the names Pagan and Heathen mean in terms of religion and spirituality.

As always, Blessid Be!

A Pagan Journey

I decided to create this blog as a journal of sorts to contain my thoughts as I continue on my Pagan journey.

A little about me:

I started down the Pagan path in the beginning of 2011. Before then, I guess you could say I was Christian, but really, I just went through the motions. I was raised Catholic and attended church almost every Sunday for about 15 years. I don't know about you, but to me, church was an excruciating experience growing up. I had to get up very early on a Sunday to spend an hour doing the same thing I did every other Sunday morning. When I was younger, I didn't understand the significance of the rituals in the Catholic Church, and on some days it felt like the rest of the congregation didn't understand them either. My favorite part of Mass was the Eulogy, when the Priest got up and talked about the Gospels. It was the only part of the Mass that was different from week to week, and therefore more interesting. Around middle school I became an alter server and then in high school I joined the church choir. I was almost through my confirmation training when I realized that I hadn't become more involved with the church because of my belief, I had become more involved because I needed something to do to keep me awake during Mass.

So I decided not to be confirmed. I know my parent's were disappointed and I often felt jealous of all those who had found community within the church, but I could not, in good faith, bind myself to a religious path that I did not believe in. This was during high school when I was attending a Catholic private school. So even though I no longer attended church with my parents I was forced to attend it at school. Though...forced really isn't the correct term. I am not implying that I had anything against the Catholic faith. I was raised as a Catholic, so I still considered myself a part of the institution, I just didn't choose to practice it actively. I guess you can say this was the beginning of my agnostic phase, where I just took a break from religion. Most of my friends, being part of the counter culture, were proclaimed atheists; though by this I believe that they were merely denying the existence of the Christian God than denying the existence of any type of deity.

Catholic high school didn't just mean uniforms and mass on holy days. It also meant religion classes, and I was lucky enough that at my school sophomore year meant World Religions. This was the first time that I was really exposed to other religions. Unfortunately Paganism or Wicca wasn't included in the curriculum. We did, on the other hand, learn about Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Shintoism, Taoism, and Hinduism. Its one thing to not believe in something that your religion preaches. Its another thing when ideas from other faiths start making sense. I took another world religion class in college and then my life became too hectic and my personal religious journey was put on the back burner. It was after I graduated college that I realized I had no idea what I believed in or what belief systems I identified with. And then I found Paganism.

This blog is not meant to be evangelical in anyway. I believe deeply that everyone walks their own spiritual journey. What works for you may not work for me and vice versa. I am writing this to detail my journey along the Pagan path and to allow those who wish to, to walk with me. For those of you who have just started their pagan journey or are currently wandering their own spiritual path I hope that we can share in moments of confusion, excitement, fear, joy, disillusionment, and magic. And if you are just looking to learn more about Paganism, I'm here to share my experiences with you, along with the knowledge that I pick up along the way.

So welcome. Won't you walk a while with me?

In perfect love and perfect trust, forever, blessid be.