Old Gods and New Pagans
"Old Gods & New Pagans" is a welcoming space for new and curious pagans, heathens, and animists to explore the basics of paganism. Rooted in an Animist perspective, this podcast takes an inclusive approach, covering topics relevant to a variety of pagan paths. Each episode breaks down complex ideas into simple, easy-to-understand language, with guest discussions, stories, and insights. Whether you're just starting your pagan journey or looking to learn more, join us as we dive into the wisdom of the old gods and the practices of modern pagans.
Old Gods and New Pagans
Ep:1 Exploring the Vibrant World of Paganism: From Ancient Gods to Modern Beliefs
Embark on a journey into the rich tapestry of paganism with me, Matt, as your guide on Old Gods and New Pagans. Discover the word 'pagan' in a new light, tracing its origins from ancient Latin to the myriad of modern interpretations that have often been misunderstood. We'll navigate the fascinating landscape of belief systems, ranging from the oldest, Hinduism, to Norse, Celtic, and even lesser-known paths like Druidry and Hellenism. Unearth the links that unite pagan gods across different cultures, and witness the revival of indigenous practices that continue to thrive globally.
Venture deeper into the spiritual essence of paganism as we explore animism, a belief central to many pagan traditions. Learn about the profound respect for all aspects of nature, where mountains and rivers are as enlivened as any creature, and even inanimate objects command reverence for their spirit. This episode isn't just about gods and rituals; it's an invitation to perceive the world through a lens where divine energy connects us all, shaping a foundation for the veneration of the natural world that pagans hold dear. Join us for this thought-provoking discussion, where ancient wisdom meets contemporary curiosity.
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Hello everyone, my name is Matt and you're listening to Old Gods and New Pagans, A show that takes a jump into topics for New Pagans, animists or anyone that just wants to build a stronger connection to nature and the Old Gods. This is Episode 1, and this week we're talking about paganism, what it is, what's a heathen, who are the pagans, where they come from and different pagan belief systems. Let's go ahead and dive right in. What does pagan mean? Well, the definition of pagan has changed over the years. As of now, the kind of often offensive, old-fashioned term for pagan is a person who is not religious or is whose religion is not Judaism, islam or even Christianity, so basically the Abrahamic belief systems. Pagan is also defined as someone who has a follower of a polytheistic religion.
Speaker 1:But if you want to dive a little deeper, the word pagan is derived from the Latin paganus Paganus I'm not sure of the pronunciation which was used at the end of the Roman Empire to name those who practice a religion other than Christianity, judaism or Islam. Early Christians often use the term to refer to non-Christians who worship multiple deities or polytheists. In Latin, paganus originally meant country-dweller or like civilian. It could have been used as far as civilian in the non-militaristic sense, not part of the Roman Empire, or it could have just been, like you know, just country-dweller and a lot of the same manner that modern-day Americans use the term hillbilly, redneck, something like that. So it was kind of a derogatory term for those that lived in the country who weren't part of, like, the city life that practiced Christianity or other Abrahamic beliefs. Also the people who lived far from those cities, because in the cities Christianity was more quickly adopted than it was farther away and so those people were referred to as pagans or those country folk who have their other strange beliefs. And kind of going back to the civilian topic, because early Christians, especially like during the whole crusade age, a lot of early Christians consider themselves soldiers for Christ, making the non-believers or the pagans more civilians. This definition kind of goes into heathen as well, because the etymology of that kind of overlaps that as well, meaning to an unconverted member of a people or nation that does not acknowledge the God of the Bible. But it's also believed to come from the term for a country inhabitant, in this case, you know, heathedweller, somebody from the heath, heathen. Both words have developed broader and more pejorative meanings over time, with pagan typically used to mean just a non-religious or hedonistic person or uncivilized strange there's a lot of words that can be thrown in there. The original meanings are still in use. Again, you know kind of think redneck or hillbilly that those terms were used to denigrate a certain population.
Speaker 1:All right, let's kind of look into the different types of paganism, all the different like branches, so to speak. I'm just going to kind of run through these, this list, really quickly and give just a basic bump into what they mean. The oldest religion that's still considered pagan-ish would be Hinduism. Just because it is kind of like a polytheistic face, all of one, one of many kind of thing. They refer to it as many faces of one, so all the different gods or different aspects of the same, but it is considered the oldest surviving pagan faith.
Speaker 1:Then you have one of the most popular one. You got the Norse pagans and even that is kind of branched off into slightly different branches. So you have Odinist, asatru, hethens, you have Rakatru and a few others in there. I'm just not going to dive into too much in this episode. But then when you start branching from the Norse area, you have the Germanic pagans, which are very similar in a lot of the beliefs, so the Norse kind of came from them, as well as the Celtic pagans. Then you have terms like Druidry, shamanism. That kind of goes around now, shamanism being more from the Mongolian part of the world, is where the term Shaman came from, but it's been widely adapted to basically mean a spiritual person in a village, in a way.
Speaker 1:You have Hellenism, which is like the ancient Greek gods. You have Slavic and Baltic regions of Europe and Asia that have their own little set of belief systems. Now, a really neat thing between all these different pagan faiths is a lot of the gods and the aspects of the gods do have quite a bit of overlap Odin, woden, going from the Germanic to the Norse. They have different gods that, like the Slavic, have a god that's basically Thor, but just has a different name and slightly different personality, but it essentially represents the same forces. A lot of these pagan faiths, even if they may be separated by miles or if they're separated by a culture, they have some similarities in there.
Speaker 1:Then you have the Semitic Neopaganism. It's a reconstruction of ancient Jewish religion, focusing the gods and goddesses of the ancient Israelites, kind of Wurbal, yahweh El Asherah and all the other gods of the Canaanite and Israelite area. So you have a reconstruction, people going back to that. This is the paganism that Christianity, judaism, islam all came from. That they took these pagan gods and essentially combined a few, stripped a few out and created what is now Judaism, christianity, etc. There's also a Godeanism. That's a rebirth of a traditional African paganism that began in then, I believe, nigeria. So that's a really cool thing.
Speaker 1:There we talk about a lot of indigenous cultures and different belief systems from around the world. It's nice to you know, we tend to focus a lot more on Europe and Asian belief systems, but then you also have, you know, indigenous people from the Americas, asia, pacific, islands, all over the world, africa, and they have their own branches of paganism that was kind of wiped out with early Christian missionaries going in and wiping off their religions and converting them in mass. So this is nice to see some of these ancient religions and ancient beliefs and stuff coming back out. That's not an all-encompassing list of paganism. We also have the neo-pagan kind of wicker movement. It's got its own rules and following that go along with that.
Speaker 1:But let's kind of branch back out into what does it mean to be a pagan? Now I'm going to take this from a perspective of for lack of a better term atheism was what you know. Paganism means without gods in general, and then we'll kind of add on the gods and expand as we go along with these episodes. So what does it mean to be a pagan? Most, all pagans believe that nature is sacred. It is worthy of honor and needs to be protected and adored. Also, some of the other things that nature is a cycle of birth, growth, death. It's observed in the world all around us, no merit or what continent you're from. There's always the changing of the times, the year, the seasons, whether it's summer to winter or dry to rainy season, depending on if you're more in the tropics, and most pagans kind of take these different times of the year, these cycles of nature birth and death and they attach spiritual meanings to these.
Speaker 1:In most pagans, human beings are seen as a part of nature, not something to conquer nature or something above it. That we're seen as a part of it, along with other animals, trees, even stones, plants, everything that is of this earth. Pagans in general work toward a peaceful harmony with the environment, and that tends to include other people as well. Other things about what it means to be a pagan would be not so much worship we don't, you know, it's not worshiping the earth, worshiping nature it's more along the lines of regard, respect, honoring it, not blind worship. So kind of going into some of the things that pagans believe. Not so much what it means, but you know what we believe. One big thing is it depends on the type of pagan.
Speaker 1:There's so many different branches of paganism, pagan being a very generalized term of just essentially someone who doesn't follow a major world religion. So there are other branches and other types, as I mentioned earlier underneath it. But the general practice is that nature is sacred, that there are various deities, gods, beings in the world around us, whether they be, you know, all powerful, or all seeing, all knowing gods, or whether they be sprites, elves, spirits, other supernatural entities out there. And you know, as I mentioned, there are different, many different pagan belief systems, but really it all comes down just to primal respect for life in general. Some other things about what pagans believe most pagans are polytheistic.
Speaker 1:Different pagan belief systems have anywhere from one to even thousands of gods and other metaphysical beings. There it ranges from a faith or belief in actual physical, living gods that either live among us or living in like a metaphysical realm, like Asgard, mount Olympus, your heaven and hell, so to speak. Pagans also believe that the gods could simply just be personifications of both nature and human experience. Both belief systems are okay. Whether you believe in actual physical, living gods, you know immortal gods living in a metaphysical realm or roaming the earth, living among us, or you just believe that they're personifications of natural and human processes, you know it's okay. Those are both considered accepted pagan beliefs and not something that really should be argued, because it all comes down to your personal spirituality and your personal faith.
Speaker 1:One other core belief system within paganism in general is the belief in animism. At the core of most, if not all, pagan belief system is that idea of animism. This, which is the belief that all natural phenomenon, including human beings, animals, plants, but also rocks, lakes, mountain, weather and so on, share one vital quality, a spirit or just a type of divine energy. There are many nuances to animism that vary from region to region, but it in short, there are many different pagan paths and different nuances to animism that vary from region to region, but and I'm going to touch on this in a future episode but the basics of animism would be that you know each individual life, so like human beings, being at the top of that, well below the gods or other metaphysical beings that we have.
Speaker 1:You know thought, we have a soul, we have a body, we have a spirit, we have that energy in us. And you kind of go down that ladder into animals. You know they have most of those things, but maybe not quite all they don't have. You know the intelligence that we do at the same level. And then you have, you know, plants, that they are alive, they have a body, but they don't have thought, but they do have a vital spirit and energy. And then going down to say an anemone object like a mountain, that mountain itself has a energy, a spirit of its own, but it may not have thought.
Speaker 1:But that's kind of the core belief of animism, that no, we don't believe that everything is alive, but we do believe that everything has a spirit and energy to it and it should be respected. So just kind of touching through on what I've talked about, paganism is a belief system that holds the natural world to be sacred. It is often polytheistic. It could either believe in actual gods and goddesses or simply personifications of the natural world most pagan belief systems hold animism as a core foundational belief within itself. I'll take a deeper dive into animism in the next episode. So that concludes episode one.
