What I Wish I Knew Before I Became a Pagan
13 years ago I left Christianity and began exploring world religions. I studied the Sutras and the Vedas, the Quran and the Torah. I even delved into Esoteric orders such as Gnosticism and Hermeticism. For many years I wandered, seeking truth and cosmic order. Then I found Paganism.
Pagans have a tenuous relationship with definitions. Most labels used to describe us are not those we choose but instead what Christians have thrust upon us. “Pagan” comes from the Latin pāgānus, which translates to "country dweller" or "villager." As Christianity spread in the Roman Empire, the rural folk who clung to their traditional customs were seen by urban Christians as backwards country bumpkins who hadn’t heard the “good news” yet.
Despite this pejorative origin, we still need definitions and terms to self identify. I identify as a Pagan.
Paganism is a broad term and there are hundreds if not thousands of sects that could be classified as such. I am writing this article as a guide to newcomers; the following is information I would have shared with my younger self if I could travel back in time to when I first began practicing.
The Two Categories of Paganism: Neopaganism vs Reconstructionism
With a few exceptions almost all modern expressions of pre-Christian revival practices fall into two categories:
Neopagans are primarily concerned with reviving the spirit of pre-Christian practice by creating a new religion. They are not opposed to syncretism (borrowing from other traditions). They prefer an experimental approach over strictly adhering to historically accurate rites and rituals.
Examples of Neopagan religions are Wicca, Eclectic Paganism and Goddess Spirituality.
Reconstructionists are primarily concerned with preserving ancient religions as faithfully as possible. They generally oppose syncretism and only innovate in the service of re-creating rites and rituals more accurately.
Examples of Reconstructionist Pagan religions are Hellenistic Paganism (Greek), Kemeticism (Egypt) and Heathenry (Norse).
There is a lot of overlap between these two groups, but understanding the basic difference between them (and in turn what you want from a spiritual practice) will help guide you in your decision. If you don’t particularly care about following the old rites to the letter you may be drawn to Neopaganism. However, if you want to preserve the old customs you’ll want to pursue reconstructionism.
You’ll be Doing a Lot of Homework
Christianity has the Bible, Islam has the Quran, Sikhism has the Guru Granth Sahib. These singular volumes guide the entire religion and serve as the rulebook. Pagan traditions rarely have a dedicated “holy book”. Because of the decentralized and pluralistic nature of Paganism, there is almost never one definitive source of religious orthodoxy.
Most practices have to rely on fragmented primary source documents and/or volumes written by contemporary authors. Some of these primary sources were written by Christians long after the religions were suppressed or died out.
Unfortunately for us modern practitioners, the clergy and political leadership of the Abrahamic faiths did an excellent job of executing cultural genocide on peoples with different worldviews. A tactic often used was Interpretatio Christiana—the practice of renaming indigenous sacred sites after saints or the Virgin Mary to sever the people’s connection to their ancestral traditions.
The amount of available source material varies by tradition; some have lots of source material and others have little to none. For example, Hellenistic Paganism has a particularly high volume of source material.
For source texts we have the Homeric Hymns, the Theogony of Hesiod and the works of Platonists and Stoics. Unlike many other traditions, we also have information for rituals: Details of how sacrifices were done, epithets used to invoke deities and The Civic Calendar of Athens for timing. Bias concerns are lower because these records were created and preserved by the Greeks themselves; no need to worry about a medieval Christian monk changing the meanings.
On the other hand, we can look to Baltic Paganism (Romuva) for an example of a tradition with almost no source material. The vast majority of surviving historical records were written by the very Christians who were conducting the Northern Crusades to erase the local religion. Sacred groves were cut down to break the people's connection to the land.
Because of this erasure of written and cultural sources, adherents and scholars use two methods to extract ancient worldviews: First, practitioners treat the millions of archived Dainas/Dainos (folk songs) as a "folk archive" that preserves a Pagan layer of belief. Romuva use these archaic polyphonic songs to recreate ancestral rituals.
Second, Linguistics is used to "strip away" the Christian overlays. By looking at the roots of words, scholars can identify the original functions of prayers, spells and deities. Researcher Marija Zavjalova used this method to identify a "special prayer" that constitutes a separate group of spells. She notes that in these texts, the Moon is addressed as a "separate independent character" and a "bright god of heaven" rather than just a celestial object:
"Mėnuo, Mėnuo, Mėnulėli, dangaus šviesus dievaitėli, duok jam ratų, man sveikatų, duok jam pelnystį, man Perkūno karalystį."
(Moon, Moon, Moonulėlis, bright little god of the heaven, give him a circle, give me health, give him completeness, give me the kingdom of Perkūnas the Thunderer).
Returning to the subject at hand: if you so chose to follow a Pagan path, you’ll be doing a lot of your own research. You’ll almost certainly find yourself purchasing many books on your chosen spiritual direction. You may also have to get creative about discovering hidden truth if your path has little source material.
Don’t Worry too Much About “Doing Paganism Wrong”
At the beginning of your journey into Paganism it can be overwhelming to consider the vast amount of information and the lack of structure. A common mistake is to become obsessed with researching how to do things “correctly” and thus delay actually practicing rites and customs.
The antidote to this paralysis is to simply begin practicing.
At this stage, you shouldn’t worry too much about getting everything 100% correct; you’ll learn by doing. Be skeptical of online gurus (yes, even me), especially those who give overly complicated instructions or warn you away from trying things out for yourself. Try to strike a healthy balance between learning and doing.
If you find yourself overwhelmed by information and don’t know quite how to start your first ritual, below is a formula for a Pagan prayer. This three-step framework is common to most Pagan religions; you can customize it to your particular tradition.
The Perennial Pagan Prayer
Invocation:
Address the deity or spirit by name
Example: “Oh Thor, Thunderous One; Protector of Man and Slayer of Giants.”
Request
Bring a specific request to the one you are invoking
Example: “Grant me strength and success in my endeavors.”
Offering
Pagan prayer is always accompanied by an offering depending on the scale of the ask.
This could be incense, libation, food, a precious item or for the biggest requests; animal sacrifice.
To start, do something small. Light a candle or give a coin.
Example: “Accept this offering in exchange for your favor.”
That’s it, a simple rite anyone can do in their own home. Simply substitute the name of your preferred deity and offering and you have a Pagan prayer.
I hope you found something useful in this essay. You can find me on most social media @asktheamericanpagan.
Stay curious.
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