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Neopaganism
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Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is any of a heterogeneous group of new religious movements, particularly those influenced by ancient, primarily pre-Christian and sometimes pre-Judaic religions. Often these are Indo-European in origin, but with a growing component inspired by other religions indigenous to Europe, as well as other parts of the world. As the name implies, these religions are Pagan in nature, though their exact relationship to older forms of Paganism is the source of much contention. Neopagan beliefs and practices are extremely diverse, and the term itself is rather amorphous. Some Neopagans practice a syncretic melding of various religious practices, folk customs, shamanism and ritual techniques deriving from an extremely wide array of disparate sources, while Reconstructionists attempt to remain historically authentic to varying degrees. Other Neopagans practice a spirituality that is entirely modern in origin.
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The mythological sources of Neopaganism are many, including Celtic, Norse, Greek, Roman, Sumerian and others, in approximate order of prevalence. There is probably no significant mythology or religious tradition that has not been used as a source by some group at some time. Some sects focus on one tradition; others draw from several or many. All mythologies are believed to contain truth, seen from different perspectives, and most Neopagans feel free to borrow or adapt from any tradition where they find it useful. For example, the Charge of the Goddess, an inspirational text by Doreen Valiente commonly used to invoke the Goddess, begins with the words: "Listen to the words of the Great Mother, Who of old was called Artemis, Astarte, Dione, Melusine, Aphrodite, Cerridwen, Diana, Arionrhod, Brigid, and by many other names."
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The term “Neopaganism” has nothing to do with the Catholic Church’s recent use of “neo-paganism” to refer to Hitler’s Germanic Mesopaganism, which incorporated nineteen centuries of Christian anti-semitism and dualism. Hitler, after all, considered himself a good Christian and was perceived as such by many, if not most, German Christians at the time. The Catholic Church is simply trying to distract attention away from its responsibility for creating the Western cultural environment that dehumanized Jews, and from its pathetic record in opposing the Holocaust while it was going on (not to mention the value to the Church in trashing competing new religions by associating us with the Nazis).
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Neopaganism strives towards a real unity with nature or the earth. In New Age, by contrast, the objective is to achieve a kind of harmony, to become attuned to the earth. In this respect, Findhorn is representative: as important as nature may be, esoteric philosophy is far more essential. It is not without good reason that Findhorn is seen as one of the origins of New Age and not of modern Neopaganism. Aside from this, the creatures living in nature are different. Findhorn’s devas are unknown in Neopaganism, which believes in the existence of creatures found in fairy-tales.
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The first question, of course, is just what Neopaganism is. Many of its adherents say it's an attempt to return to the polytheistic faith that prevailed in Europe before Christianity. And while the word "witchcraft" used to be applied to any form of attempted sorcery or enchantment, modern Witches see the matter differently. Many of them regard themselves as the heirs of a specific form of this ancient faith. They call it "the Old Religion."
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Neopaganism... known as Witchcraft, is rooted in the collective writings of Gerald Gardner, Margaret Murray, and Robert Graves. Each contributed to the concept of a secretive nature religion, demonized by medieval christians, and remembered as covens of witches. Murray brought forth the anthropological theory of a vestigial Diana cult, Graves described a universal Goddess Muse, and Gardner claimed to have been initiated by a Goddess-worshipping witch cult.
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Neopaganism