Is Paganism good or evil?

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I used to have a pagan roommate. They seem like nice enough people.

I am an Old Believer. That came from before that upstart Baal,

Baal is I think the first retail religion. Sumarians had Gods, and stories told for millennium before written down.

Gilgamesh is older than anyone, and tries to put thought to the unknowable.

Sumarian knew they could not know, their Gods are wind and rain, sunlight and time.

Jewish, Christian, Islam, are but tribal centered collections taken from prior works.

Spirits in Nature is as close as we can reach for some truth. We will never know, but a single experience is enough to show that another larger world confines the one we live in.

The two paths, some claim to know, to be able to control reality through rites. Baal was the first one stop shopping who had an answer for everything. All churches and spiritualists claim total knowledge.

The Shamans say we are the disconnected piece in something larger, and at best we can see glimpses of the larger world. All things are connected, the birds and herds know when to go north, and come south before the force of winter catches them. They must leave while the weather is still good, travel at a speed for six hundred kilometers, and while no two years are the same, the herds will arrive at their safe southern pastures the day before winter takes all the lands they crossed.

Shamans were into Swans. Swans are the first to leave in Spring, and the last to return. When you see the Swans in Fall, Winter comes the next day.

Some places have a resident Spirit. Springs and Groves were long known to be the home of something. It is thought that in some places our reality touches another, and our worlds overlap. Sometimes it is seeing things that vanish, sometimes it is the people who vanish, and there is the story of the Green Children who showed up in England, a brother and sister, who spoke a language none could identify, had green skin, and when they learned to speak English, said they came from Saint Martin, where It is always twilight, they were herding cattle, then found themselves walking down an English road.

Stories of other creatures showing up are as old as stories. They are not human, but are intelligent. In most of the stories the creatures live in the wild and avoid humans. Some are very human, and live with wolves.

It has long been thought that they could bestow a blessing or a curse on humans.

Whole cultures were based on seeing the world beyond. People gathered, drank Soma, and watched like a movie, as the veils between the worlds were lifted. They all came away knowing that our world is but a part of a system of worlds. Do not let others define you, Pagan is a Motorcycle Club. Spirits are not other false gods, where they have been met in peace, they were said to be wise and friendly, but creatures like ourselves.

Not all Spirits take form, some have to be known to be seen. Shamanism is much more complex than Religion.

We have none of the answers, all of the questions, and the deeper in you look, the more complex it becomes.

For 10% of your income I will tell you I know everything, and can protect you from all the unseen forces.

I take Paypal.

Seriously, why the sudden need for money? The only reasons that I can think of why you need such a thing from me are:

1. You are scamming me (duh)

2. Shamanism is so dangerous/complex that it may take a great effort to teach it to someone else.

In the sense of reason #2 I might accept, but I just find this a little too suspicious.

^ I think it's a joke as advertising oneself is against forum rules and he was also very vague with saying "10% of your income" and not some exact figure. Also a lot of that stuff sounded like new age spirit science gibberish.

Security Check ate my post again.

I have magic beans for sale.They will grow as tall as your belief in them.So if they don't grow or germinate its becuse your faith was weak.

I'm with Hume and Inventor, earlier. One of the biggest social shifts history has seen is moving from polytheism to montotheism. None of the old gods were saints (haha) but they were interesting, human, emotional, and limited. People still got into wars in polytheistic times, but because people were already "poly" they assimilated and evolved their pantheon. Look at what Haitian and Creole religion did when it was taken over by christianity - really interesting mashup.

It's stricter if you're "mono". If you're going to promote a single god, then you have to enforce compliance - hence all the rules against false idols and burning witches and beheading journalists. Montotheism is also much better suited to centralized state power.

If I believed in that kind of thing, I'd enjoy polytheism much more - I could attribute life's randomness to a couple of gods and goddesses squabbling, rather than a single god working in "mysterious ways". It would be more interesting.

Yes, but even some of the most adamant monotheists get around the "mono" part with things like saints...sneaky/clueless/hypocritical.

I've had Pagan beliefs for over 20 years, I studied Wicca and I belong to a Druid Circle.
I study historical Pagans, the subject is fascinating.
It matters not what you believe; what matters is your actions.
Blessed Be.

"Perhaps the same could be said of all religions..."


Points for those who get this reference!

The guy is Satan, I suppose.

But what does that have to do with the subject?

Two modern nations where Paganism survived into modern times are Japan (Shinto), and Haiti (Voodoo). So study those two places to answer your question. Neither place seems to be obviously either morally worse, or morally better, than mainly Christian, or mainly Muslim, Countries, or Israel.

it was a Castlevania reference.

Never heard of "Castlevania". Is that some video game?

^Yes, it is a video game. I, at least, get the reference.
I think that it depends on what the person does with their religion. If they practice their beliefs for the good of themselves or others, then they are positive. If it is the opposite, then they are negative. I try to avoid generalizing terms like 'good vs evil'; it seems too black and white to me. I believe that the Universe is like YinYang: striving towards balance between positive energy and negative energy.

^^ Agreed. The way an individual follower of a given religion behaves/tries to behave is more important than whatever they profess their chosen religion to be or teach.

Obviously, nothing in life is as simple as good/bad, which is one of the reasons I think it's hard for me to answer the original question without qualifying it. Another biggie is that it's very difficult to specify exactly what "Paganism" is because there are so many branches or types of it that people can easily argue at length about exactly who is and isn't a Neopagan. Besides that, it's impossible for any religion to be practiced consistently and perfectly in line with its ideals, however good or well-intentioned they may be.

If you take a look at contemporary Pagan principles, you’ll find that a primary guideline for Wiccans that is often cited or echoed in essence by other Neopagans is Doreen Valiente’s Wiccan Rede: "And harm ye none, do what ye will," and it's generally understood/taught that that "none" includes the individuals practicing Wicca/Paganism themselves.

Many Neopagans define their path as Earth-based and therefore consider nature to play a crucial role in their spirituality. The Earth is inherently sacred, so they largely interpret their gods and/or goddesses as being in favor of giving the environment and its inhabitants considerable TLC. Some deities are even considered inseparable from nature, such as Greece’s Gaia and the Celtic Green Man/Cernnunos, so if someone cares about them, they should certainly care about and for the environment. Reconstructionist Neopagans like Druids worship the gods as literal beings, while Eclectics take them as archetypes, but still important representations of the central human-nature relationship.

Pagans today either worship or acknowledge too many deities with too many names/manifestations for me to describe here, but suffice it to say that Neopagans recognize deities that embody all aspects of nature and the human experience. You have harvest deities and seasonal gods/goddesses celebrated throughout the year as well as those represented by the phases of the Moon (Maiden, Mother, and Crone). Some gods and goddesses are warriors or hunters, some are healers, some represent death, and still others are linked with love and/or fertility.

Considering that many Pagan themes, like the seasons, the four alchemical elements, and all life here on Earth are about interconnectedness and/or balance, the concept of good versus evil is kind of inapplicable to Neopagans. For example: the predator’s fortunate to have caught lunch, while the prey is having what it probably considers its worst day ever. . Is anything or anyone good or bad/evil? It depends on your point of view.