Demystifying Paganism (Part 1)

Merrie Meet

This post is taken from a broadcast by Rev.D.Edwards and as soon as I saw it I knew that it was something that I wanted to share and so I have taken the time to do this Musing on the matter and will be broadcasting it very soon on

CauldronFM - where Magic, New Age and Pop Cultures connect.

There is a huge misconception lurking around regarding Paganism and this really needs to be addressed. Paganism is a controversial subject but it is normally only controversial to people who don't know much about it.

To begin with, Paganism is very much misunderstood and therefore it becomes controversial. There is a lot of mystery about it and I would like to take this time to go some way to removing that mystery.

So what is Paganism - is it devil worship? Is it people going around casting spells on their enemies? Is it people in black robes who harm animals and mutilate cattle?

If people believe any of that stuff then immediately 3 things become patently obvious

1 They have never made it their business to study Paganism
2 The don't know any Pagans personally
3 The watch far too much television

Here I am going to try and clear up any misconceptions that are commonly found outside of Paganism.

In order to explain what Paganism is, it is necessary to explain a few things that Paganism is not. Hopefully this will dispel the rumours that are currently in existence.

Firstly Paganism is not Devil worship, true Pagans will not believe in the devil nor that it exists. The Devil is a Judaeo / Christian concept and since Pagans do not accept the theology of the Judaeo / Christian beliefs they will not worship a Judaeo / Christian Devil. They simply do not accept the concept. In other words to worship something you do not believe in is totally pointless.

Secondly, Pagans do not make blood sacrifices, they do not harm animals. To harm an animal would be a huge betrayal of their belief, rather like a Christian burning a bible it just would not happen! It is probably that people who spread this misconception have forgotten that Jehovah required blood sacrifices.

Thirdly Pagans do not go out looking for people to harm or hurt. Most Pagans have the same rule as Christian people – treat others the way you would like to be treated. Most Pagans have the same creed – if it harms no-one do what you will. The wording may be different but the same concept is held by Pagan traditions. Most of the rumours about Pagans rely on these 3 misconceptions.

Paganism is an extremely broad term encompassing many different religions and spiritual traditions that actually outnumber every denomination in every mainstream religion globally.

When they hear the term Pagan a lot of people automatically think Wiccan. This is covered under the term Paganism however to say that Pagan means Wicca is like saying that Christianity means you are a Baptist, and that is an insult to each belief and is totally untrue.

Pagans are mainly polytheistic (although not all) – they believe in, or worship, more than one God or Goddess. However, this does not apply to all Pagans for there are those who only believe in and worship one God.

Mormonism could be considered to be a Pagan religion because it is a polytheistic religion, they believe in multiple deities but they only worship one God, and yet there are Mormons who bad mouth Pagans because they have not taken the time to make the comparison. If they did compare they would be surprised at just how much the two beliefs have in common. They are more like Pagans than any other denomination of Christianity.

A cautionary note here – Pagans might want to take note of this as well.

Generally the one-god Pagans believe that all the gods from every time, every religion and every culture are the same God or the same Goddess – a Universal Divine.

Some people consider that Pagans come from one type of background again this is totally untrue. Pagans come from everywhere, from every background imaginable, every financial class or educational level of society, they are everywhere you look. Most people never recognise Pagans because they are looking for a stereotype that they have been taught to believe by the movie and tv industries.

People have been taught to believe that Pagans wear all black clothing or hooded robes and go around chanting incantations – doesn’t this sound similar to a catholic priest or a Buddhist monk?

Some Pagans do wear all black but then so do a lot of other people, but most of the time people do not notice the Pagans around them because they are dressed like Policemen, Firemen, Soldiers, Doctors, Lawyers or Dentists. They cook our food, give us our medicines, dress our wounds, babysit our children, they protect while we are asleep.

Some people have known Pagans for years and yet never knew it.

Pagans do not force their beliefs on other people. One of the most basic traits of Paganism is that Pagans do not attempt to convert others to their belief system.

Amongst Pagans it is a generally held belief that every person’s path will come to them and that nobody has the right to tell someone who they are or what they should believe.

Pagans often practice what they don’t preach.

When asked a Pagan will be honest and usually thrilled that someone has asked about their beliefs because that question shows that the person asking has not been filled with the propaganda, stigma or stereotypes that they have been fed by almost every church.

When you say that you have had enough most Pagans will stop talking about their beliefs because they will respect your wishes.

Most Pagans carry out what was said about keeping one’s own counsel better than the Christians. If somebody does not want to hear they will walk away, they don’t force the issue. It is a fact that in the Bible it is said

“And whosoever should not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city shake the dust of your feet” (Matthew 10,14)

This concludes the first part of this 2 part post, I hope that you have found it interesting and that you will look forward to the next part where I will further develop the topic.

Love and Light to All

Blessed Be

Merlin

Musing of Merlin 301110

Musing of Merlin 301110

Cauldron FM becomes a reality

Merrie Meet on this cool November morn.

I am aware that some of our friends are living in conditions that can simply be described as "arctic" and that snow is continually falling making leaving the house a trial in its own right.

Here on the atlantic coast of North Devon we are getting very cold temperatures and biting winds but seeing very little of the snow at the moment. However that said the freezing temperatures did prevent me from visiting Exeter at the weekend on the grounds of common sense.

So bringing the subject of the weather to a close it simply remains for me to say if you do have to go out make sure that you are prepared for possibilty of getting stuck, take warm clothing, boots, blankets etc. and if possible something to eat and drink (preferably warm - one of those little camping stoves can come in extremely useful)

Now to the main point - which is a point of information

Cauldron FM has now become a reality we began our podcast broadcasts last week with a couple of programmes, one a Musing by yours truly and the second a brief poem called I Am A Witch that some of you may have read in an earlier Musing.

To listen to Cauldron FM simply click here to go to the podcast site

Cauldron FM

We are starting this small but plan to build it into a full time internet radio station and it is not beyond the realms of possibility that before too much longer we could be seeing a dedicated Cauldron TV channel, although it is just an embryonic idea at present.

Back to the podcast service now - tonight I will be recording the new Musing programme on the subject of Yule, there will also be some new music taken from Andrew Prince's latest album "Band of Rain". Andrew (a schoolfriend of mine) and I lost contact since we left school but we regained that contact in recent weeks and it seems that we have followed very similar paths through life.

We are both musicians, Andrew played with Sham 69 for a time and I have worked with up and coming bands both as a member and as a session player. We are both friends with Visionary Artist Peter Pracownik although neither of us knew that the other was, and we are both therapist - Andrew a music therapist and myself a Personal Development consultant.

The new presenter Wayne is working furiously to prepare his new shows and the debut broadcast date will be announced as soon as I know it.

I am talking to Avalon Whisperer about joining our team on a regular basis and there are lots of other exciting things on the horizon.

However, we need more presenters (especially for the Children's show that I want to do) and advertisers - we can offer extremely good rates for small to medium sized businesses who take a regular advertising slot or who simply would like to sponsor a show with us.

Finally any dates for our "What's Going On" spot will be much appreciated

remember we are going out on the internet so location need not be seen as a barrier.

Until the next time

May the Goddess protect and keep you safe

Love and light to all and

Blessed Be

Merlin

Musing of Merlin

Musing of Merlin

I Am A Witch

I Am A Witch

Birth of a new radio station is imminent

Merrie Meet one and all

The purpose of this post is to announce the impending birth of

Cauldron FM - where Magic, New Age and Pop cultures connect.

We are currently looking for presenters, advertisers, roving reporters and will glady take input of news or events stories that will be of interest to our listeners.

The service will begin as a series of podcasts (short shows) to test the water and then on or about 7th March 2011 the internet radio station will go "live".

Hope you will enjoy the service and look forward to chatting to you soon.

Until them

Love and light and Blessed Be

Merlin

November New Talent Show (part 1)

November New Talent Show (part 1)