Pagans and Their Beliefs

Pagans and Their Beliefs
By Sarah Saxon
The term paganism has many different definitions, one of which is the existence of one without any religious affiliations, such as Christianity, Islam, or Judaism.

In another sense however, it refers to the authentic religions of ancient Greece and Rome with their surrounding areas. Pagan derived from the Latin word paganus that means a country dweller. A pagan has many gods but chooses one as the chief god.

When Christianity came to become a prominent religion, anyone not practicing it was a pagan. Besides Christianity, paganism also referred to people who had beliefs outside Islam, Judaism, or Buddhism, that worshipped many gods and goddesses. It is an ancient belief in that the past people thought that everything had a spiritual aspect and was polytheistic in nature. Thus, people had gods and goddesses of the sea, forests, and many other aspects of nature.

Gods' played important roles and influenced every aspect of society including laws and traditions. The people believed in reincarnations and psychic readings but not in the existence of hell and heaven. With changes in civilization however, they abandoned or transformed the old gods and goddesses relevant to their village life or occupations.

Examples of pagan systems and beliefs include the American Celtics and Greco-Roman, Native American, ancient Egyptian and Norse. The new day paganism (neo paganism) involves the celebration of the earth, living creatures, nature and many others. Most of the pagans are polytheistic while others practice atheism.

Kabalah is one of the pagan systems of religion that developed in the Middle Ages. Shamanism on the other hand is a pagan tradition practiced by the Native American cultures. It involved the drumming as a technique and the shaman had to travel to the spirit realm in order to gain information regarding the community's needs such as healing or spiritual growth.

The Egyptian paganism techniques are very popular in the present day and age. They involve complex spiritual and magical systems that center on death and re-birth. It originated and developed in ancient Egypt during the time when priests and priestesses had a level f of skill and knowledge in magical arts.

Another form of paganism is Druidism. It was mainly practiced by the priestesses and part of the ancient Celts judicial class. Discordianism on the other hand first developed as a Buddhist practice whose main idea was 'existence is orderly chaos'. It involved meditative procedures, confusion and enlightenment, chaos and order, pain and pleasure that were aspects viewed as inseparable parts of a total vision of reality.

Sarah Saxon is a Reiki Master and writes for the psychic & metaphysical industry, promoting the discovery of the personal spiritual path, and recommends the following sites:

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