What do Pagans believe?

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I realised that I don't know much about paganism and was wondering if anyone on WP who is a paganist would like to share their beliefs.

i think they worship the earth and have 5 gods and use circles. there afterlife is called summerland, and salt is holy to them

The term pagan comes from an old word meaning rural person or farmer. Christianity spread fastest in the cities, and they used pagan as a derogatory word for people who didn't convert. So it can be any non-Christian religion, especially pre-Christian ones.

Most people in the US who identify as pagans tend to be nature oriented. They might be polytheistic (many Gods) or animistic (see spirits or forces in everything). In Scandinavia, the pagans tend to be the old religion of Thor, Odin, Freya, etc. They may or may not literally believe in these Gods - some see them as merely representations of different parts of reality.

The Scandinavian version of paganism is probably best known as Ásatrú (pronounced Ow' sa troo, and roughly translated as 'Faithful to the gods'). Rather than calling ourselves pagan, a lot of us prefer the term heióinn ('heathen').

I'm an agnostic Ásatrúar and see the Aesir, Vanir and Jotnar as representing society, nature and chaotic force, respectively. They may or may not be actual beings, but even as archetypes they inspire and encourage me.

I used to be a paganist. They are basically nature-worshippers. They believe that Majickal (sic) rituals will call the spirits of the natural processes to their aid in life. Paganism has the advantages of being ancient, a little subversive, and fun, coupled with the disadvantage of being kind of silly.

it is more of a disadvantage to cause wars and slaughters and strife for centuries rather than to be thought a bit silly, I suppose.


Merle

Yes.
Circles are a pagan symbol, which is why the Bible teaches that pi=3 to prevent people from accidentally creating pagan circles.
Salt is a sacred sacrament to pagans, every time they speak or hear of pagan rituals and beliefs they take them with a grain of salt.

so what does that mean? i know salt is good on food but using it for holy purposes was confusing to me aswell

The phrase and meaning is thousands of years old, the Latin equivalent phrase is "cum grano salis".

what he was saying is there is no Pope of Pagans, there is no 'one ritual' that distinguishes a Pagan from any other spiritual belief. Even the designation of 'pagan' is a name NON pagans call them, not a name for a cohesive group.

so he was saying we 'take other people's ideas of us with 'a grain of salt'

With a grain of salt means "with a healthy dose of skepticism, suspicion, and caution"

Salt is now an inexpensive and readily available commodity. But it was once very valuable due to its high demand as a food preservative and relative scarcity.
Salt was thought to have healing properties and to be an antidote to poisons. To take (eat or drink) something "with a grain of salt" was to practice preventive medicine. One would do this if they were suspicious that the food might be poisonous or may cause illness.

True, true!

Wikipedia to the rescue:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neo-Paganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wicca

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polytheist ... ructionism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celtic_Rec ... t_Paganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hellenic_neopaganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemetism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_neopaganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_neopaganism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judeo-Paganism

Most Neo-Pagan stuff seems like pop New Agey fluff to me, basically stuff that improves the cash flow of the con-men that write the New Age stuff I see in bookstores (my local Barnes and noble has more New Age Spirituality books then it does science books, yuck).

yeah, gimme that Old Time religion!


Merle

I'm an Atheist, actually.

Then these verses (of "Gimme that Old Time Religion") are for you.

Call Him God, or call him Allah
The priest will take your dollah
Easy living from -your- follah-
-wers, but sorry, -not- from me!

You can keep your Old Religion,
It's for suckers and for pigeons!
I don't buy it! Not a smidgen!
I'm an atheist, you see!

Chorus:Gimme NO kind-a religion
Gimme NO kind-a religion
Gimme NO kind-a religion
It simply ain't for me!