norseman
05-30-2011, 06:05 PM
The British Pagan Tradition.
Paganism believes that ALL religious paths ultimately lead back to the same source, the Divine Spirit. The ways in which the Divine Spirit is seen are the result of cultural differences only. This is a true Taoist statement ! Many paths on the Way to Enlightenment. The quest for your Path is for you, individually, to find your own Way. This Quest is influenced by your environment which, obviously, includes your cultural influences.
Central to the British Pagan Tradition is a relationship with the Land in a real, not symbolic, sense. The Wheel of the Seasons are observed and celebrated and you become part of their ebb and flow. The spirits of the land – the Gods and Goddesses, the Wildfolk, the animals and plants – all sought and honoured for their teaching.
Influences on British Paganism are extremely diverse and have all been absorbed deep within us and our Land.
The megalithic temples, standing stones, Henges, and burial chambers were all built in the Neolithic period by the original inhabitants of Britain, recognising man as being a reflection of the death and regeneration of the passing seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon, and the weakening and strengthening of the sun in its cycles. All essentially concerned with the Cult of the Dead.
In the Bronze Age [22c – 10c B.C.], the knowledge of smelting metals brought changes in society with more emphasis on personal wealth and a move away from megaliths to Water cults.
Around 900B.C. the first wave of Celts arrived – Gaelic-speaking Irish, Scots, Manx. Followed in 500 – 250 B.C. by the British-speaking Celts – Welsh, Cornish, Breton.
The Celts absorbed many of the native beliefs and the Druids made use of the astronomical henges, such as Stonehenge. The influence of the Celtic Druids left an indelible mark shown in folklore and practices right up to present day.
The Roman occupation of England and Wales completed around 100A.D. and lasting to about 500A.D. brought not as many changes as people may believe. The Romans were “cunning” in that they did not impose their own beliefs but fostered a fusion between their native Roman gods and local deities. For example, most Roman soldiers made worship to Mithras, a Persian god. So Celtic deities were worshipped alongside Roman and, to varying degrees, Celts were Romanised but also Romans were Celtisised [ I just made that word up. Do you like it ? ]
Around 450A.D., with the withdrawal of the legions, came the Heathen Saxons. Later, the Danes in around 800A.D. The christianisation of Britain began around 600A.D. with Irish missionaries founding the Christian centre of Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumbria. The Germanic rulers of Northumbria converted and Northumbria became the first Christian kingdom in Britain. Bede completed the Lindisfarne Gospel – the first bible written in [sort-of] English. Within a century, most of the population were nominally Christian. However, in the countrysides, the population was largely Celtic and the Old Religion remained strong. Old festivals were given a fresh lick of paint and renamed to pacify the church ; old places of worship were overbuilt with churches and cathedrals but their foundations were still pagan ; old sacred wells and their spirits were called holy wells and their spirits rebranded as Christian saints. Most of the population were Christian on the surface but still pagan at heart. Example, they had little trust in ChristGod to ensure bountiful harvest so still invoked the Old Gods via their resident “Cunning Man”.
Around the 9th century came the Norseman [ not me personally you understand ! ] and this lead to various unpleasantnesses, and lead to a revival of open Paganism which proved that the population was not as Christian as the church supposed.
All of these influences survive in the British Pagan Tradition, tempered by the spirit of the land itself. Pagans seek to understand what the earth has to teach us, to live with the earth and not to impose our will on it.
I look around the various spiritual/wiccan/pagan sites and everywhere you find the same disagreements/ arguments/worries over Wicca.
They seem to centre around origins and real wicca and not-wicca, coven or solitary, initiated or self-declared.
A major criticism appears to revolve around Gardner. Did he create a movement using scraps from Masonic Order, Rosicrucians, Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order, and various other 19th century esoterics or was there a real foundation somewhere ?
It also does not help that his "group" immediately splintered and founded their own version of the movement.
It seems to me that there was an attempt almost to recreate a mythology and ceremonial which was almost Roman Catholic/High Church with more than a slight touch of closed orders like the Jesuits and Templars. Is Wicca dependent on ceremonies like an established religion with a long history or is it [as I believe ] an informal, personal, individual way of life based on respect for Nature ?
This may sound a bit heretical but I think, maybe, we should dump everything that happened after 1900A.D. and go looking for roots in earlier times. Where did it all come from ? Even the Triple Goddess seems [to me] a female version of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, another thing, it supplies ammunition to critics when Wiccans take on every known cosmology under the sun.
Obviously Wicca is pagan, so should we just leave it at that ?
Paganism believes that ALL religious paths ultimately lead back to the same source, the Divine Spirit. The ways in which the Divine Spirit is seen are the result of cultural differences only. This is a true Taoist statement ! Many paths on the Way to Enlightenment. The quest for your Path is for you, individually, to find your own Way. This Quest is influenced by your environment which, obviously, includes your cultural influences.
Central to the British Pagan Tradition is a relationship with the Land in a real, not symbolic, sense. The Wheel of the Seasons are observed and celebrated and you become part of their ebb and flow. The spirits of the land – the Gods and Goddesses, the Wildfolk, the animals and plants – all sought and honoured for their teaching.
Influences on British Paganism are extremely diverse and have all been absorbed deep within us and our Land.
The megalithic temples, standing stones, Henges, and burial chambers were all built in the Neolithic period by the original inhabitants of Britain, recognising man as being a reflection of the death and regeneration of the passing seasons, the waxing and waning of the moon, and the weakening and strengthening of the sun in its cycles. All essentially concerned with the Cult of the Dead.
In the Bronze Age [22c – 10c B.C.], the knowledge of smelting metals brought changes in society with more emphasis on personal wealth and a move away from megaliths to Water cults.
Around 900B.C. the first wave of Celts arrived – Gaelic-speaking Irish, Scots, Manx. Followed in 500 – 250 B.C. by the British-speaking Celts – Welsh, Cornish, Breton.
The Celts absorbed many of the native beliefs and the Druids made use of the astronomical henges, such as Stonehenge. The influence of the Celtic Druids left an indelible mark shown in folklore and practices right up to present day.
The Roman occupation of England and Wales completed around 100A.D. and lasting to about 500A.D. brought not as many changes as people may believe. The Romans were “cunning” in that they did not impose their own beliefs but fostered a fusion between their native Roman gods and local deities. For example, most Roman soldiers made worship to Mithras, a Persian god. So Celtic deities were worshipped alongside Roman and, to varying degrees, Celts were Romanised but also Romans were Celtisised [ I just made that word up. Do you like it ? ]
Around 450A.D., with the withdrawal of the legions, came the Heathen Saxons. Later, the Danes in around 800A.D. The christianisation of Britain began around 600A.D. with Irish missionaries founding the Christian centre of Lindisfarne off the coast of Northumbria. The Germanic rulers of Northumbria converted and Northumbria became the first Christian kingdom in Britain. Bede completed the Lindisfarne Gospel – the first bible written in [sort-of] English. Within a century, most of the population were nominally Christian. However, in the countrysides, the population was largely Celtic and the Old Religion remained strong. Old festivals were given a fresh lick of paint and renamed to pacify the church ; old places of worship were overbuilt with churches and cathedrals but their foundations were still pagan ; old sacred wells and their spirits were called holy wells and their spirits rebranded as Christian saints. Most of the population were Christian on the surface but still pagan at heart. Example, they had little trust in ChristGod to ensure bountiful harvest so still invoked the Old Gods via their resident “Cunning Man”.
Around the 9th century came the Norseman [ not me personally you understand ! ] and this lead to various unpleasantnesses, and lead to a revival of open Paganism which proved that the population was not as Christian as the church supposed.
All of these influences survive in the British Pagan Tradition, tempered by the spirit of the land itself. Pagans seek to understand what the earth has to teach us, to live with the earth and not to impose our will on it.
I look around the various spiritual/wiccan/pagan sites and everywhere you find the same disagreements/ arguments/worries over Wicca.
They seem to centre around origins and real wicca and not-wicca, coven or solitary, initiated or self-declared.
A major criticism appears to revolve around Gardner. Did he create a movement using scraps from Masonic Order, Rosicrucians, Golden Dawn, Hermetic Order, and various other 19th century esoterics or was there a real foundation somewhere ?
It also does not help that his "group" immediately splintered and founded their own version of the movement.
It seems to me that there was an attempt almost to recreate a mythology and ceremonial which was almost Roman Catholic/High Church with more than a slight touch of closed orders like the Jesuits and Templars. Is Wicca dependent on ceremonies like an established religion with a long history or is it [as I believe ] an informal, personal, individual way of life based on respect for Nature ?
This may sound a bit heretical but I think, maybe, we should dump everything that happened after 1900A.D. and go looking for roots in earlier times. Where did it all come from ? Even the Triple Goddess seems [to me] a female version of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, another thing, it supplies ammunition to critics when Wiccans take on every known cosmology under the sun.
Obviously Wicca is pagan, so should we just leave it at that ?