What is paganism anyway?

A lay Sermon given at the UU Church of Nashua in the summer of 1995, by Alan Aldrich

I have been a UU and a self identified Pagan for about the same amount of time, 6 years. It so happens that I discovered Paganism or Neo-Paganism through my partner Nika’s involvement in the Cakes for the Queen of Heaven curriculum for Adult RE at this church. As I have since come to learn, this curriculum was developed by UU women who were already felt a connection to ‘Earth Centered Spirituality’ through the study of Women’s spirituality. This phenomena has manifest in an endless number of organizations around the world, reclaiming their ancestral roots through the study of Goddess based religions and incorporating those philosophies and practices into their own religious traditions. As it turns out, the UU version of this general upswelling of interest in ‘Nature based religions’ resulted in the formation of a national organization called CUUPS, the Covenant of UU Pagans, about 10 years ago.

Since that time, CUUPS has become the fastest growing arm of the UUA with a current membership of close to 3,000 members and is in fact a now a national affiliate of the UUA. So what, you may well ask again, is a Pagan?

This is not an easy question to answer. It is somewhat like answering the question, what is a Unitarian Universalist. Just as there is a different answer for the UU question, depending on who you ask, so you will get a different answer from any Pagan that you ask. So I will try to answer in very general terms and if there are any Pagans out there who want to clarify or correct a point, please feel free to jump in.

Part of the reason for confusion on the part of those who are not familiar with Paganism is in the word itself. The dictionary definition, in most standard dictionaries will tell you that a Pagan is 1) a heathen or 2) a non-believer in Christian, Jewish or Muslim beliefs, or 3) a hedonist. Come to think of it, this sounds like a lot of UU’s I know.

While these definitions are correct for some pagans, they don’t describe what paganism is really about. Some newer dictionaries actually include a definition which says ‘believers in any number of pantheistic religions’, which is much closer to the mark. There are also some pagans who ARE Christians.

Margot Adler, a National Public Radio reporter and prominent UU pagan, wrote a book several years ago called Drawing Down the Moon, which attempts to chronicle the forming and evolution of the Pagan or Neo-Pagan movement in this country. The book describes a variety of religious groups and sects including Wicca, whose adherents are commonly known as witches, in all of it’s varieties. The Church of All Worlds, re-formed Druidic movements and of all things the Covenant of UU Pagans, are also included in the study. She points out that many of the common threads between these diverse groups are pantheism, the belief in a multitude of God/Goddess spirits or life forms and/or Gaia, that is visualizing the earth herself as our mother and a living organism. This latter concept also tends to sweep many native american and other native cultural traditions and practices under the umbrella of Paganism as well. Ms. Adler tends to prefer the term neo-paganism as a label, I believe to indicate that most modern pagans do not pretend to be practicing any ancient cultural religion as it was practiced then, but are instead creating new religious beliefs and practices for themselves , based on egalitarian and non-hierarchical systems and the belief that divinity is as likely to manifest in female form as male, and that if there ARE guiding forces in the Universe that they could well manifest in a multitude of forms, as opposed to the ONE TRUE GOD of the major world religions at this point in history

Well.. I have to tell you that for me, the more I read about what Pagans believed and were into religiously, the more it made sense to me, so I ended up concluding that I was indeed a Pagan and became a member of CUUPS. I must say that I am still not without some ambivalence about the term. because of the negative connotations it has for so many people ,and the association with Witches, which has an even more negative connotation for many people. But the adherents of Wicca and Paganism feel that it is important to Reclaim the terms and educate people that have the negative connotations about their true meaning. I would guess, out of a feeling of social responsibility to all of the millions of people who were persecuted, tortured and killed by the adherents of the of the ONE TRUE GOD cultures that took power over the lands and brought their own religions with them. The ‘evil’ witches of Christian folklore were actually no more than simple country women and men who practiced their nature based religions. The term witch was actually rooted in words meaning ‘wise one’ or ‘to bend’ depending on who you ask. But the words are in reference to their ability to use ritual ‘magic’ to heal and counsel. Ritual magic, or what I think of as holistic healing, and invoking of nature spirits was commonplace once, but as the dominant Christian cultures arrived to overtake the countries where these practices took place, the priests and practitioners of these religions were painted with the status of ‘evil’ and ‘powerful enemies’ to be avoided and feared at the cost of ones soul.

The term Pagan, in fact, was actually rooted in a Latin word meaning ‘country dweller’. Those people in the country, away from the influence of the church came to be known as Pagans. And heathens were those that dwelled on the heath.

So today’s neo-pagans use those terms to identify themselves as those who are attempting to rebuild a place in society for people who wish to worship in a different way

That is why I am a member of CUUPS. I see so many parallels in the Principles and Purposes of the UUA and the Pagan Movement. A free and responsible search for meaning is paramount in both movements. This is probably why so many pagans have gotten involved in the UUA as well, because we are probably the only legally recognized religion in the world who would welcome self proclaimed pagans into our congregations. I think it is important for UU’s to be aware of this connection and to encourage it

I am happy to report that there was an amendment passed at General Assembly this year to include a Sixth Source to our UU religious traditions, which proclaims Earth Centered Religions as one of the rich traditions in our religious heritage. I am happy to say this because I now feel that the UUA has acknowledged the presence of so many UU’s religious beliefs, that had previously been unspoken, and largely unacknowledged in our services and Religious Education. Some curriculums like Cakes for the Queen of Heaven and the new curriculum, Rise up and Call her Name, broach this type of education about our roots in Earth Centered or Goddess oriented traditions. I have always felt comfortable in this church with saying that I am a pagan and at one point we had a CUUPS chapter affiliated with this church. In the fall, I hope to reform that Chapter. I know that I will have your support on this even if you think this is all a bunch of froo-froo.

Certainly, no UU pagan that I know would want to try to convince you that nature spirits exist or that you should call the directions when you worship, if you worship. But as we honor Christian and Jewish traditions in our churches, I would also like to see us educate ourselves about Pagan cultures and traditions and honor those as well. I have seen some of this happening intentionally and spontaneously in our Religious Education classes with explanations about the Pagan origins of Easter and Christmas and other Religious Holidays with Pagan roots, but I would like to see even more of this, with emphasis on Adult Education as well

Most pagans, because of their belief in the Earth as our Mother, are very much ecologically aware and active, politically and socially, and this also melds well with UU purposes, pagan or not.

Witch’s have a REDE or governing thought which says, “an it harm none, do as you will”. Although all Pagans are not Wiccan, including myself, this philosophy is pretty much what Pagans hold to, and could even be said to convey much of what the UUA is about.

Oddly enough, with all of this said, I still get questions when I say I am pagan like:

Do you worship trees?

Well, I don’t see trees as all powerful, but I do see them as part of the independent web of which we are all a part.. yes?

Do you worship Satan?

No.. Satan is a christian concept. I don’t even believe in Satan, much less worship him. This notion was perpetrated by the christians and was enhanced in connecting Satan to Pagans based on the ancient rituals from the British Isles which included a ‘horned God’ in their symbology. Many pagans today also use the horned god in their symbology during ritual worship but they certainly have no notion of Satan when doing so.

Do you sacrifice animals?

No. Although it is certain that many ancient cultures used ritual sacrifice in their religious practices including humans, I do not know of any self identified Pagan group which today practices sacrifice of any animal, human or otherwise. It would go against the very foundation of our beliefs that all living things are connected, and besides, most if not all pagans do not have a notion of Goddess or God which requires obeisance or sacrifice to please them. Some would argue with this and say that followers of Santeria sacrifice animals, but this is just the exception that proves the rule and I do not believe that Santerians are self identified as Pagans anyway.

It is these kinds of questions and misunderstandings about Pagans, and what we do and believe that is part of the reason I am here today. Since the UUA and this church does have many pagans in it’s make-up, and many more who associate with pagans and do things like full moon rituals and drum circles, it is important to know that the persecution of Pagans still persists. Especially with the upsurge and power of the Christian Right..which is neither.

There have been recent cases of children taken away from their parents by State and Local government for the only reason that their parents were self identified pagans. I find this very scary, and if the trend continues, can see a day when people will start having to fight for their rights as UUs. We are about religious freedom and our tradition as UU’s has been to work for that. This makes it all the more important for us to be aware of who we are and what we are up against so we can stand together against injustice.

Well..that is about all I have to say about that..as Forrest Gump would say. So now I want to end by providing a bit of an experiential taste of what I do in Pagan Circles. First I will lead a meditation to help us all get our energies centered, then we will do a chant which will help us focus those energies, and then I will open the circle by releasing the nature and directional spirits which I invoked at the beginning of the service.