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We Are All Pagans Now
The Spectator ^ | December 18, 2004 | Mary Wakefield

Posted on 12/16/2004 11:04:00 AM PST by quidnunc

Paganism is one of our fastest-growing religions. A druid explains why witchcraft appeals to 21st-century Britain

The sky was already murky at 4 p.m. when I locked my bike outside Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street. Inside, it was even murkier: wood-panelled corridors stretched off into the gloom, men in grey suits were wedged together, smoking Bensons and drinking bitter. No one looked even slightly like an Arch Priest of the Council of British Druid Orders. At 4:10 I found a separate little bar near the back of the pub. As I walked in, a big man with round shoulders and grey hair stared at me and I saw the corner of a magazine poking out from inside his coat. As I watched, the whole cover slowly emerged: a yellowy-purple watercolour of a fairy, and the title: The Witchtower. ‘Steve?’ I said. He nodded.

We bought bitter, found somewhere to sit, and began what turned out to be a three-hour crash course in modern paganism, one of the fastest-growing religions in Britain.

-snip-

So, can a modern pagan just pick any god to worship? I asked. Egyptian? Roman? African? Are there any rules? Steve put his hands self-consciously under the table, ‘No rules,’ he said. ‘Being a pagan is about being free from institutional rules. And the gods? Once you start seeking they choose you, really. Everyone has their own path, but we all celebrate the same festivals: the summer and winter solstices, spring and autumn equinoxes and four other festivals: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasad.’

Pagans, I discovered during our second pint, are also united by their sense of the injustices done them by Christians. The last 2,000 years of history is a heart-wrenching tale of innocent occult revivals squashed by ignorant Christians …

-snip-

(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Extended News
KEYWORDS: notmebuddy; pagan; pagans; speakforyourself; umnowayinhell; wrongforum
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To: Dead Corpse
The Christians don't celebrate sacrifice? So what's with that whole Easter thing then?

And let's not get into the whole cannibalism idea of Communion.

121 posted on 12/16/2004 1:43:21 PM PST by Modernman (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin)
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To: iconoclast
Hmm ... my parental control considers it "evil" too!


Well at least you tried to look at it. Some parental controls also exclude firearm sites also. But there some people on here who will not go there at all. Seems as though they are afraid of what they may find out and change their views and they don't want that. Their mind is set like a hard left liberal. Which is their prerogative. But the way I look at it is that the more you know and study the better for your own piece of mind.:)
122 posted on 12/16/2004 1:44:21 PM PST by rem22-250
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To: Modernman

Yeah, it's almost as bad as real-life pagan cannibalism. Not.


123 posted on 12/16/2004 1:44:30 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe ("W" stands for "War President")
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To: sumocide; Salvation; sinkspur

Here we go again.
Didn't take long.

Heck, maybe I should just hit "abuse."
Who needs this at CHRIST-MASS time?


124 posted on 12/16/2004 1:45:04 PM PST by onyx (A BLESSED & MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL.)
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To: Buggman

> Please tell us what pagan cultures you consider to be examples of the good fruits of your belief system so that we can consider it and judge for ourselves.

Well, from the old day, I'm personally quite fond of the pre-Christian Norse republic set up in Iceland. The peopel were freer than anywhere else in the world at the time; and, despite the fac tthey were basically dirt-poor, a man could make his own way without bureaucratic hinderance. And then... Iceland Christianized. Within fifty or so years, the republic collapsed under the weight of the Church, it's taxes and tithes. Property rights withered.

More recently, I'm quite fond of the United States. What with a Constitution based on some seriously pagan principles ("What? Allowing people to worship whatever god they want? That's against the First Commandment!", and "What? A man as master of his own fate?"), and with no appeals to the Christian God in the Constitution, we've done quite well.


125 posted on 12/16/2004 1:45:38 PM PST by orionblamblam
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To: Tailgunner Joe

I'm sorry. How many cannibalistic pagans do you know?


126 posted on 12/16/2004 1:46:11 PM PST by bigLusr (Quiquid latine dictum sit altum viditur)
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To: quidnunc
Paganism always appeals to those who don't want to be nailed down by the laws of God.

127 posted on 12/16/2004 1:46:26 PM PST by William Terrell (Individuals can exist without government but government can't exist without individuals.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Yeah, it's almost as bad as real-life pagan cannibalism. Not.

Technically, for Catholics at least, it IS real-life cannibalism.

128 posted on 12/16/2004 1:47:43 PM PST by Modernman (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin)
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To: iconoclast
Actually, I like Christians. I just get rubbed raw by some of JHVH's cheerleaders that try and tie my religion to Nazi's.

Like a Priest in a whorehouse, it just doesn't belong and it shouldn't be there.

129 posted on 12/16/2004 1:47:51 PM PST by Dead Corpse (Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.)
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To: bigLusr

They believe they can consume their life force that way, like vampires. It wouldn't be tolerant or diverse to judge them. The world is shades of grey and all, you know?


130 posted on 12/16/2004 1:48:39 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe ("W" stands for "War President")
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To: Modernman

Yeah, but pagans do it for real.


131 posted on 12/16/2004 1:49:21 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe ("W" stands for "War President")
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To: Tailgunner Joe

> They believe they can consume their life force that way, like vampires.

Yeah, that whole Communion thing IS rather creepy...


132 posted on 12/16/2004 1:50:03 PM PST by orionblamblam
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Do they? I've never known any to do so. I've known of far more cannibals who believed in the Christian god than who were pagans.


133 posted on 12/16/2004 1:51:13 PM PST by orionblamblam
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To: orionblamblam

Pagans actually eat human flesh. That's really creepy.


134 posted on 12/16/2004 1:51:27 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe ("W" stands for "War President")
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To: sumocide
Actual Catholics engaged in similar practices much more recently.

Documentation please.

135 posted on 12/16/2004 1:52:28 PM PST by Petronski (Shrum's losing streak obscures the fact that he is also a swine.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Er... yeah. And we really do fly around on Brooms as well. Careful, or I'll turn you in to a newt.


136 posted on 12/16/2004 1:52:35 PM PST by Dead Corpse (Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Yeah, but pagans do it for real.

I don't know of any modern pagans who engage in cannibalism. When we think of the Classical Pagans, such as the Greeks and Romans, cannibalism and human sacrifice were not part of their rituals (and were outlawed, which is one of the reasons why the Romans were repressed the Druids so fiercely).

One of the things that turned the Romans off when it came to Christians was the idea that the Christians engaged in ritual cannibalism of their god.

137 posted on 12/16/2004 1:52:53 PM PST by Modernman (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Modernman
Technically, for Catholics at least, it IS real-life cannibalism.

A goodly portion of the first century Jews didn't get it either.

Thank God, some did.

138 posted on 12/16/2004 1:53:34 PM PST by iconoclast (Conservative, not partisan.)
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To: orionblamblam

Yeah but the difference between Christian cannibals and pagan cannibals is that pagans like to eat human flesh. When you become a Christian, you don't stop sinning, you just stop liking it.


139 posted on 12/16/2004 1:53:45 PM PST by Tailgunner Joe ("W" stands for "War President")
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To: sumocide
Of course, I didn't want to put down catholics specifically.

!

140 posted on 12/16/2004 1:53:58 PM PST by Petronski (Shrum's losing streak obscures the fact that he is also a swine.)
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