What it means to be a Pagan

When people ask if I'm religious, it's often hard to come up with a sufficient answer. I am religious to a certain extent, but my religion is one that is very little heard of, or even known about. I'm a Pagan, and I practice Paganism. Paganism is best described as a group of religions and spiritual traditions based on a reverence for nature, and we believe in the divine character of the natural world. Like most religions, such as Christianity, there are many branches of Paganism. It's an extremely old religion, despite the modern modifications that we've added to it in order to suit the era we're living in, and the concepts stretch back as far as AD. The term itself was cast about and used to describe a variety of different things as the years went on, originally used to describe any who worshipped the idea of polytheism (the belief that there is more than one God), classifying it as inferior to the belief in a single God. Being a "pagan" became a derogatory term from its early origins, and those that do know of the term, still often associate it with sinful practices and even devil worship. Pagans have no correspondence with Satanism in any aspect of their lives. Whilst we believe in the concept of evil, many of us don't even believe that The Devil, as an entity or an idea, exists. In this blog post, I would like to give you all a taste into what it means to be a Pagan, how I practice Paganism in my day to day life, and why my religion means a great deal to me.

I only started to call myself a Pagan a few years ago, but I suppose you could say that I've been connected with the religion since birth. From a personal perspective, unlike most other religions that gain adult followers, I believe that you are born a Pagan, and hence it requires no form of baptism, or any other methods of acceptance. "How do you know you're a Pagan, you may ask?" And my answer is simple. You just do. It's more spiritual than a conscious feeling. It's about having a clear resonation with the power of nature, in all it's aspects: the elements of life, the cycles of life, and the destructive and beautiful parts of the world. It's the feelings we get when we really feel the world beneath our feet, and feel the wind in our hair, rather than just letting it pass us by. Nature is undoubtedly powerful, and part of being a Pagan is to celebrate and worship this, allowing our human nature to work alongside it, but never to undermine it. Whenever I go outside, I remember this. But at the same time, I remember to keep a part of it with me whenever I'm inside too, as the knowledge that I am part of these cycles of life wherever I am in the world, is central to my belief system.

My Mum is a Pagan too, and even though Pagans often have varying beliefs, we have very similar ones, mainly due to the fact that I've grown into the religion from her experience. We often carry out our practices together. She likes gardening a lot, which in itself, brings her very close to nature. We have quite a big garden, which is good for growing an assortment of plants, and it definitely meets the cats' expectations! I've never really been as interested in gardening, often complaining at my Mum for taking the weeds out, because I believe weeds bring a garden it's individual character...I just think there's something special about different species of living organisms popping up here, there and everywhere; it's much more exciting. Our house is full of Pagan ornaments too, that have connotations of protection and luck. We have a Green Man ornament in the garden which represents the cycle of life, death and re-birth, again, a key concept to the religion. Our main celebrations, however, stem from 'The Wheel of the Year', which focuses on the transition of the seasons, and how the world renews itself for the year ahead. Most of these festivals are mirrored by Christian celebrations, but their origins date back far longer ago. Ostara (Easter) Samhain (Halloween) and the famous Yuletide (Christmas). The Wheel of the Year is one of the reasons I feel so close to my religion, since for me, it's all centred around a circle of renewal all year round, and I can link this to my own life, because it gives me the resilience and acceptance to open the door to the next chapter.

A few weeks ago, on August 1st, we celebrated Lughnasadh, which marks the beginning of the harvest season. As I've been off this summer, it was a perfect day for me to get outside with nature, and celebrate the abundance of life before we enter the winter months. As the festival focuses around offerings and feasts, I decided that I would cook a three-course meal for when my parents got home! It was a challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I had a look at some typical Lughnasadh recipes online, and formed my menu. For starter, we had boiled, and then grilled corn on the cob (as this is the time when it is brought in to be harvested) with a paprika and butter dressing, which was different, but more appetising than simple boiled corn. For main, I cooked a Mary Berry recipe, of chicken breast, stuffed with cream cheese, mozzarella and basil in a tomato sauce with new potatoes and veg. But our main Pagan dish was the dessert of Fruit Cobbler, which was a celebration of when the berries are at their finest point all season. We enjoyed all the food and it was a perfect way to celebrate. We ended the evening by lighting some candles, saying some blessings, and thanking the spirits for all that has been given to us this year.

Pagans don't have rules. You could say that we make our own. There are certain aspects of my life that I apply to my religion, but they're more connected to how I treat myself, others and my environment. I live by seven key teachings, not all of which I follow on a day to day basis, because I'm not so strongly influenced by my religion. I realise that I'm human, and part of being a Pagan is about easily adapting and accepting all parts of life. My seven teachings that I like to follow include: making peace with my past, celebrating who I am without influence from others, seeing time as a healer, not comparing my life to others or to judge others, to stop thinking as much for answers that will come in time, no one is in charge of my happiness except me, and to smile even when it's hard to do so. You will notice that none of these are direct references to Paganism, but that's what makes it so open. Every Pagan has a different goal in life; we are not confined into what we can and cannot do, we rather encourage ourselves to do what we believe is right, hence why the religion is very spiritual and personal, and is often accompanied by solitary practice. Along with the teachings that I follow, perhaps the most important concept for me is the Pentagram, the five-pointed star surrounded by a circle; again a misunderstood symbol. The Pentagram is like the cross for Christians; it is our symbol. It represents the five elements of life: fire, water, earth, air and spirit, and shows that one cannot survive without the other. I wear a necklace with a pentagram on all the time, as a remembrance of my connection to this. Many of our blessings include one particular element, or in some cases, more than one, as they are classified as the main building blocks for life, by Pagans. Spirit is at the top of the pentacle, to symbolise it's infinite importance.

Straying away from Paganism a bit, for the rest of this blog, I'm going to discuss some of my personal beliefs about life after death, and fate, which you will find, still link back to Paganism, because a lot of my theories seem to come back to nature. Salem, our Pagan cat if you like, died earlier this year in March. He was a cat with so much spirit, and I knew following his death, I would experience some paranormal activity. Along with the transference of his spirit into an owl, as we believed at the time, we sometimes feel his presence within the house, and this links to my belief about life after death. I don't believe in heaven or hell, or anywhere in between for that matter. But I don't believe that after life, there is nothing; I don't believe this for security or peace because I'm not scared by the inevitability of death. I simply believe that life, death, and rebirth are all interconnected. The human spirit, or a spirit of any animal, cannot just disappear; it has to go somewhere. Therefore, I believe that every spirit transfers itself into another living being following death. This could be into another person, another animal, but it could even go into a tree, since as a Pagan, we believe that nature has one huge spirit that connects all parts of life. The only flaw in my reasoning of spirits being recycled, is where did spirit come from in the first place? I have no idea. And I don't really mind that I'm not sure. I just know that it's there. Maybe it was harnessed from the resounding beauty at the start of the universe, or maybe it's more of a feeling than an embodiment. Who knows. This brings me to my next point regarding fate and free will. I am a heavy believer in fate, not free will. I follow the idea that "everything happens for a reason" and that we are all part of a bigger plan that has already been created for us. Believing in fate, whilst it may seem restricting, can be extremely reassuring. I say this because life is not easy. There are so many things that are thrown at people all the time, but if you believe in fate, then you see these challenges a lot differently. You start to understand that all these things are bringing you to the next stage in your life; where you can say that you've learnt something, or that you trust that your destiny is taking you somewhere better. I have a strong belief in fate, again, from experience. The way Salem made his way to us; the way Salem brought us to our new cats, Kojo and Rowan, and most importantly, how I've learnt a great deal from all the situations in my life. The main idea that confuses people about fate is the idea that we undoubtedly make our own decisions in life. I decide what I want to eat; what film I'm going to watch; or what to say to someone in an argument! My explanation for this, is simply the things going on around you in your environment, that then encourage you to make the decisions you do, almost subconsciously.

For me, it all comes back to how powerful nature is. It sort of weaves its way around our lives without us really realising it. After all, if we didn't exist, along with all our modern technological devices, nature would still exist. Rivers would still flow, and grass would still grow. It's one of the reasons that I refuse to kill any other living thing, even if it's a tiny beetle crawling on the floor. I carefully take it back outside to where it belongs, following perhaps the only Pagan rule that I will tell you today: An harm ye none, do what ye will. The true God of Paganism is nature, and is with us in so many different forms. My relationship with my religion is spiritual. Whilst I don't go to church, and I don't follow a set of rules, I feel blessed to be part of a bigger understanding within my life, in which my spirit will live on after death. And with that, I say BLESSED BE!

Five point Pentagram

Homemade Blackberry and Summer Berry Cobbler