[Dans]

  from another 'pagan'

There's a couple of different definitions of pagan. Some of them say anything other than Christianity, some say anything other than the book religions or mainstream religions. It is certainly an umbrella term and you are right YorkshireLass that all wiccans will be pagan but not all pagans will be wiccan.

I've given up with putting a name on things (hence the inverted commas above). I identify with many pagans, I follow the wheel of the year, but I am solitary and make my own mind up about things. Think tree hugging hippy might cover me better 

Dans

PS and nope no rain dances done here, though I've had a few choice words with the sky about stopping the rain it never seems to listen to me...

PPS very nicely put Jaykay!

[deepinthewoods]

every religion thinks it is the light, when its probably more like a refracted shard, if anyone asks me my religion, i say prismatic. the basis of most religion is the same, from shamanism to christianity, the 'kingdom of heaven' is within each one.
like jaykay said.

[ellied]

I'm more pagan than anything else but as already said, it isn't the same as saying I belong to any one of the specific or individual "religious" beliefs that the umbrella term of paganism covers, including what is known as wicca which in itself has various different traditions as I understand it..  I have training and experience in shamanism, druidry and various spiritual practices drawn from cultures across the globe, including my Christian upbringing, studies of comparative religions at university, practice of some forms of buddhism in my younger days and some revisiting of those more recently. 

I put that I'm a pagan on the most recent census form because I'm none of the major religious faiths by definition, and paganism is the closest to what I try and live my physical and spiritual life by - closeness to and respect for natural cycles and honouring all the non-human lives as best I can aswell as doing my best to comprehend and have compassion for the human ones (much harder for me!).

As for the weather, while some "pagan" cultures tried to influence weather to meet their needs, particularly in times of flood or drought, my understanding is that for the most part harmony was achieved by accepting that weather, like much of nature, is not subject to our control and our role is to harmonise and accept it, not the other way around   Interestingly when you practise that, it is strange how often the weather meets you half way - I've been at many firewalks in the rain and even in ankle deep snow, but probably almost as many where the heavy rain has stopped for a couple of hours just as we went out to the fire, then started again when we came back indoors   I think of it as a relationship rather than one ruling the other, and like many relationships, I gather, the willingness to compromise and co-operate, give as well as take, is what makes it work better..  I'm still no good at that with people but I have come to good terms with nature by now  

And after yesterday's torrential rain, where I was concerned the house might float aswell as the coop which was standing in a large puddle most of the day today we have blue skies, sunshine and I'm more than happy to watch the flooding subside into the ground as it means the offrun of the field will send water to the end paddock and I won't have to lay the 5 hoses out across the back field to supply the animals there for a few days at least

[plumseverywhere]

Lots of us here too     In fact we live in a tiny village with its own Maypole and the celebrations for Beltane are second to none in Offenham 

[Odin]

Good answer by Ellied, I live with with a Pagan White Witch who liked you answer and often informs me of the errors of my ways, me been a big hammered tractor driving black hand slug slayeing say what I like northener   .
Unlike my previous females and concubines who are in denial of the fact that they were, and still are, Witches.

In fact, our lass is so into her pagan ways, at Easter she set up a shop (part time) called Casting Shadows in the village of Holmfirth, famous from Last of the Summer Wine. Among her wares are books and Wicca artefacts that are on sale. A pal is putting a web site together at the moment.
She told me three year ago that 2012 was going to be a crazy year for the weather and that Earth, "she", is shaking off the negative and moving into the light. That the big boyz and banks will collapse. I will leave it at that but this is what I live with
If I moan about the weather, I get told to work with it.
Paganism is definately about working with nature, predictions is something else ........  woooooooo....... 

[deepinthewoods]

 

[colliewoman]

Hail and well met

[Beewyched]

Hail and well met

Love it 

[RUSTYME]

Ok , so i live pretty close to the land , work with nature , weather , seasons etc , try to put at least as much back into the land as i take out ,  try to do as little harm to land and life as possible , and live as free as possible from modern consumer goods . How would that fit into paganism ?  Or am i trying to pigeon hole something that can't be ?
Me being me (good or bad) is the only real classification i need , but it would be nice to know where i sit in the scheme of things , from the viewpoint of a real pagan , or at least someone that understands more about it than i do .
I hope that doesn't sound p*ss takey , it isn't meant that way .

[Dans]

  Doesn't sound p!sstakey at all.

That would fit fairly well in my opinion. If not pagan then certainly 'pagan minded'. And at a pagan gathering you'd likely find many similar folk. You may however also find some people chanting away about the goddess whilst throwing their fag ends in the sheep field. (No disrespect to chanters - I love chanting. Just pointing out that not all respect the land as much as they profess).

It's a bit like me and my partner. He is agnostic, I view nature as sacred and deities as ways of focusing on certain aspects of nature. In all other senses we have the same outlook on life and nature. I class myself as pagan, he doesn't. Most of our pagan friends would however call him pagan, probably right up until the point of deity comes into it.

It is more of a lifestyle for me and a few I know though. I use the term to find others that are likely to be like minded and describe myself to others as someone who may be like minded.

But I agree with you, being you is the only real classification you need, and I think belief is so personal that it's hard to find others that believe exactly as you do.

Hope there's some sense in there I'm in need of my bed.

[tizaala]

Why do people have to " believe " in anything? Gods were invented by man , not the other way round. The big bang is what happened,  Evolution is what happened , Organised religion only got empowered by people's ignorance ,hopes and fears, then went on to userp it's power. Do get a grip folk. 

[colliewoman]

Why do people have to " believe " in anything? Gods were invented by man , not the other way round. The big bang is what happened,  Evolution is what happened , Organised religion only got empowered by people's ignorance ,hopes and fears, then went on to userp it's power. Do get a grip folk. 

Because some of us feel there is more than a chemical reaction going on
 However the belief in something more magical than the mundane IMO has NOTHING to do with organised religion, that I believe is now all based around money.
Rather than get a grip I fell like I have been gripped by something wonderful, and I'm sticking with this feeling thanks

[jaykay]

The big bang is what happened,  Evolution is what happened

absolutely

Why do people have to " believe " in anything? Gods were invented by man , not the other way round

I think the fact that all people everywhere have invented them tells you that they meet some some of need. Given that most people are Es (extroverts, Myers-Briggs) and experience the world through other people, they explain their sense of 'other' or 'something additional’ as beings, aka gods. It's a way to make more explicit something which is hard to otherwise describe and talk about. And Es need to talk about stuff too to understand it better.

I don't like organised religion at all and am not having anyone else telling me what I should believe.

That said, I think minds operate in emotional, intellectual and spiritual ways and I think many Western folk only operate in the first two ways. Our society encourages it, and IMHO that's as 'ignorant' and limiting as believing rigidly in someone else's definition of religion or God.

I don't believe in any sort of deity, certainly not a personal one, but I do think there is an interconnectedness between living things and with the natural world that we can miss out on if we insist on just being busy and 'rational'. You have to be still, quiet and open to the possibility to connect with it. As the Christian tradition has it 'the still, small voice of calm'. Which is why prayer/mediation is such a consistent feature of many religions.

[RUSTYME]

The general feeling i got from everyone was that they have got a grip , on nature , and don't do the organized thing , that is about money and control.
But speaking for myself , i don't ' need ' anything apart from air , food and water , plus a few bits and bobs that i want !
As for belief , don't you have belief ? Belief in something you can't prove ie the big bang !
Horses for courses really mate .

[SallyintNorth]

I love that jaykay 

But...

I reckon all religions are trying to get to the same place. But what happens is that the side stuff, the rituals or whatever that people put in place to make it more likely that other folk would reach the same understanding, take over and become the religion, missing the point entirely.

One of the things I find hardest to take about some religions is the "chosen people" bit.  Those ones are trying to be in a place I don't wanna be.  (Or maybe I only think that cos I'm not chosen?   )