Ex-Pagan 4 Christ

Pagans subscribe to a vast number of different beliefs, and Christians should not assume that all pagans believe the same things. Pagans even argue among themselves about what the definition of "pagan" is so it is hard to catalogue what they all believe.

There are three major types of paganism today. These are:

• Wicca - a formalised religion invented in the 1950s by Gerald Gardner (with input from Alister Crowley and others) following the repeal of the English anti-witchcraft laws. Gardner originally claimed that this was a pre-Christian religion handed down his family line. He assumed that the theories of Margaret Murray (who believed there was a formal religion being persecuted during the witch mania) and Sir James Frazer (who saw remnants of ancient religions in folklore) were correct, however both have since been debunked with Murray in particular no longer considered a serious scholar in this area. Wicca is a structured religion based ideally around a coven, and which worshipped the horned man Cernunnos (or Herne the Hunter) and the "witch goddess" Aradia. Their statement of ethics is the Wiccan Rede, whose most famous portion says "An thee harm none, do as ye will". A new form of Wicca has been developing in recent years to cater to modern tastes. This form is extremely eclectic, disregarding or changing the format of Wicca at will, bringing in new gods and generally rejecting the coven format. There is some dislike of that form of Wicca among traditional Wiccans - as exemplified by the Wiccan website Why Wiccans Suck.
• Eclectic Paganism - This may be the most popular form of paganism. This is an extremely diverse religion, with adherents picking and choosing from a range of ancient beliefs and mythologies to create their own religion. For that reason most eclectics are solitary (do not belong to a coven). They may or may not practise sorcery, though most do.
• Reconstructionism - This is a comparatively small section of paganism. Adherents claim to practise ancient religions exactly as they once were and stick strictly to one pantheon and one set of beliefs. In practise this does not happen - in the case of ancient Egyptian religion, with no mummification and no king, the religion does not work. They also ignore the cross-fertilisation of different religions which saw semitic gods entering Greek pantheons (Bacchus being the main example of that) and Egyptian gods entering the Greek/Roman ones (Serapis & Isis). Also, most ancient religions practised animal or humans sacrifice - but modern reconstructionists claim they do not do this.

Not all pagans are witches, and not all witches are pagans. Some people practise magic without the religious element while some pagans practise their religion without magic.

Most pagans will claim they only use magic for "good" purposes, but in practise this is an ambiguous concept at best.

There is disagreement among pagans as to how and if magic works. Some claim that it is merely their equivalent of prayer, whereas others say magic works in just the same way it claims to do. As I can testify, magic does work when Satan wants it to, but cannot be used against Christians.