A Brief Intro
pa*gan (noun)
1 : HEATHEN 1; especially : a follower of a polytheistic religion (as in ancient Rome)
2 : one who has little or no religion and who delights in sensual pleasures and material goods : an irreligious or hedonistic person
This is how Merriam's dictionary defines *Pagan* ... a bit narrow minded view of the word, if you ask anyone who views themselves as such. Here's the best def. for *Pagan* I've found so far ...
pa*gan (noun)
Generally, a follower of one of the religons with their roots based in pre-Christian religions.
Neo-Pagan, meaning *new Pagan,* is the title given to many of the religions experiencing new populatity in the modern world.
As you'll see, that's pretty general. There's no central church, book, or leader for Pagans. Just a bunch of people looking for spirituality the way they feel is right. And getting a whole bunch of @#$& for it.
I'm sorry, I digress. This was supposed to be pretty factual. ::sighs:: Back to the facts:
Merriam Webster does not contain a definition of Wicca, Wiccan, or Wicce. What they DO have is this:
war*lock (noun)
1 : a man practicing the black arts : SORCERER -- compare WITCH
2 : CONJURER
witch [1] (noun)
1 : one that is credited with usu. malignant supernatural powers; especially : a woman practicing usu. black witchcraft often with the aid of a devil or familiar : SORCERESS -- compare WARLOCK
2 : an ugly old woman : HAG
Well then. Seems that I'm an ugly old hag with malignant powers. Thanks for letting ME know. Many Pagans who practice magick proudly call themselves a Witch. And their definition is QUITE different from this one:
witch (noun)
Someone who practices magick [I'm taking the liberty of defining this a bit further], i.e., healing arts, the manifestation of thoughts through spells, and raising the energy within everything to be directed at a specific purpose.
A bit too much to digest? Or maybe not. It's a bit confusing ... let me try to define it further.
Many Witches/Pagans/Wiccans practise magick. Magick is different from the spiritual core of beliefs in the religion - magick is not a belief, it's an act based on that belief. Many Pagans believe there is energy in everything around us, and ourselves. And they believe that we can harness that energy, and use it for what we need. (I KNOW you're automatically thinking love spells. But there's rules about that!)
The Wiccan Rede:
*an ye harm none, do as thy will*
Basically, this means that you can't do things that will hurt people. If you do, you'll get back 3x what you sent out. Karma. It's a killer.
There are other sites that help define Paganism MUCH better than I ever could, there are links to them on the resources page.
Merry Part!
Aislyn
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