Paganism is not one religion. It is a family of religions and spiritual paths that revere the natural world, usually honor many gods or see the divine in many forms, and take their inspiration from the religions practiced in Europe, North Africa, and the Near East before Christianity.
That is a broad definition, and it has to be. A Druid greeting the midsummer sunrise, a Heathen raising a horn to the ancestors, and a solitary Wiccan lighting a candle at the full moon are all Pagans, and they may agree on very little else. This guide explains what holds the family together.
Where the word comes from
The word comes from the Latin paganus, which first meant a villager or country dweller and later, in Roman army slang, a civilian. As Christianity spread through the cities of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, the word came to be used for people who kept to the older religions. For most of the next sixteen hundred years it was an insult.
In the twentieth century, people who were reviving or reimagining those older religions took the word back. Today it is usually written with a capital P when it refers to the modern religious movement, in the same way that other religions are capitalized. You will also see the terms contemporary Paganism, modern Paganism, and Neopaganism. They all mean roughly the same thing.
What most Pagans share
There is no Pagan creed, no central authority, and no single holy book. Even so, a handful of themes turn up again and again.
- Reverence for nature. The natural world is treated as sacred in itself, not as a backdrop for human life or a fallen copy of somewhere better.
- Many faces of the divine. Most Pagans are polytheists who honor many gods and goddesses. Others honor a Goddess and a God, or see divinity in everything (pantheism), or experience the world as full of spirits (animism). Some are not theists at all.
- The turning year. Pagans mark the seasons with festivals. Many keep the eight festivals of the Wheel of the Year. Others keep the calendar of a particular culture.
- Experience over doctrine. What you do and what you experience matters more than what you are told to believe. Two members of the same group may hold quite different beliefs.
- Ancestors and place. Many Pagans honor their dead and build a relationship with the land where they actually live, including its plants, weather, and history.
The main Pagan paths
The paths below are the ones you are most likely to meet. Our guide to traditions and paths describes them in more detail.
| Path | In brief |
|---|---|
| Wicca | A religion that became public in England in the 1950s. It honors a Goddess and a God, keeps the eight sabbats, and includes the practice of magick. See What Is Wicca? |
| Druidry | A path inspired by the priestly class of the ancient Celtic peoples. Modern Druidry emphasizes nature, poetry, wisdom, and seasonal ceremony. |
| Heathenry | The revival of the pre-Christian religions of the Germanic and Norse peoples, centered on gods such as Odin, Thor, Frigg, and Freya, and on ancestors and community. |
| Reconstructionist paths | Careful revivals of a specific ancient religion, such as Greek (Hellenic), Roman, Egyptian (Kemetic), or Celtic religion, based on historical and archaeological evidence. |
| Eclectic Paganism | A personal path assembled from several sources. This is probably the largest group of all, and many solitary practitioners belong to it. |
What Paganism is not
It is not devil worship. The devil is a figure from Christian theology, and Pagan religions have no place for him. The confusion comes from centuries in which every non-Christian god was described as a demon.
It is not the same as witchcraft. Many Pagans practice witchcraft and many do not. Witchcraft is a practice, and Paganism is a family of religions. Our guide to the three words untangles them.
It is not one organized body. Nobody speaks for all Pagans. There are groups, festivals, and networks, but each one answers only for itself.
Is Paganism old or new?
Both, and it is worth being honest about which parts are which. The gods, myths, and festivals that inspire Pagans are ancient. The religions that Pagans practice today are, for the most part, modern. They were pieced together or revived during the last two centuries from history, folklore, poetry, and personal experience.
Reconstructionists stay as close to the historical evidence as they can. Others adapt freely and say so. Neither approach is more authentic than the other, as long as nobody pretends that a twentieth-century ritual was handed down unchanged from the Stone Age. A religion does not have to be old to be true for the people who live it.
Is Paganism for you?
People who settle into Paganism often describe the same few feelings. They felt most at peace outdoors. They were drawn to old stories and old gods. They wanted a spirituality that included the body, the seasons, and the feminine as well as the masculine. And they wanted to be trusted to find their own way.
If that sounds familiar, you do not need to sign anything or announce anything. Keep reading, go outside, and notice what the year is doing. That is how nearly everyone begins.