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: Never In Our Names

If They're Going To Denounce Us As "Pagan"

By Julia Rain

...we might as well know as thing or two about Pagans. To this end I, your resident Witch (Pagan) shall offer a few tidbits of explanation.

The vast majority of Pagans do not worship the devil. Witches, the practitioners of Wicca, do not believe in the devil at all, let alone worship him. We accept that there is both light and darkness in the world and we do not deny this darkness within ourselves - rather, we seek to understand it to try to make ourselves whole. However, neither do we inflict harm on others. The single commandment of Wicca is "harm none".

Our symbol is the pentacle, the five-point star. Yes, this is the same symbol often associated with devil-worship. We use the symbol point-up. To invert another's religious symbol is a maj0or transgression and therefore, when the Catholic church wanted to get rid of Paganism they inverted our sign and said it was the symbol of the devil. Most people today still believe it represents Satan and indeed, Satanists do use it as well, but it was never originally a symbol of Satan.

The five points on the pentacle represent the four elements of earth, air, fire and water, as well as the fifth element of spirit (divinity). Each element also corresponds to a direction. North is earth, which represents the physical body. East is air, which represents the mind. South is fire, which represents the soul. West is water, which represents emotions. Combine all of these and you have spirit, the essence of all life. (There is quite a bit more to this, but I have a lot more to get to.)  

We believe in both the male and female aspects of divinity. To me, this just makes sense. The moon represents the Goddess and the sun represents the God (in Asian cultures it is the opposite).

We believe in karma, that what we do (whether good or bad) will come back to us times three. We also believe in reincarnation, that the soul is continuously reborn upon the earth, not always necessarily in human form, so that we may learn lessons and serve mankind and the earth itself. We do have a version of Heaven, called Summerland, where we retreat between incarnations to reunite with loved ones and and reflect on our lives.

So this is what Pagans believe. I will now attempt to explain what Pagans do, by presenting our calendar of holy days, known as the wheel of the year.

The wheel of the year charts the changing seasons through the three forms the Goddess takes: that of maiden, mother and crone.

The Pagan New Year begins with Samhain, which is Halloween. At this time the God dies and returns to the womb of the Goddess to be reborn at Yule (Winter Solstice).  It is at this time also that the Goddess assumes the form of the Crone, or Wise Woman. Bobbing for apples in an old Pagan ritual, as we highly value apple magic. I could go on and on about apple magic and interesting spells that can be done on Samhain, but I won't (unless someone asks, of course ;) - maybe I'll transcribe them on Samhain.

Then comes Yule (which, it being the seasonal, I shall discuss in more detail than the others.)

We have the German pagans to thank for adding Yule and Summer Solstice to the calendar of Pagan holidays. At first there were only two pagan holidays, Samhain (Halloween) and Beltaine (Mayday) but more were added over time.

Yule celebrates the rebirth of the God (who died on Samhain, the festival of the dead - aka Halloween)

The Santa Claus story was most likely borne of the God the Holly King, who represented the waning year. Being a year that was almost at its end, he was an old man; he wore red, had holly in his hat, and drove a sleigh of eight reindeer. Eight represented the eight festivals of the Pagan wheel of the year; the horns of the deer were also a symbol of the horned god, who would be the consort of the Goddess in the spring.)

Pagans envision the Yule tree as the "wish tree, where all your wishes for the new year hang in the arms of the universe. (Ironically, when I was younger, before I knew all this, I always felt compelled every year to make a wish on the Christmas tree, though I never shared this with anyone as I thought they would find it weird.)  The pine tree represents the Goddess, as survives throughout the winter (unlike the God, who retreats into the womb of the Goddess for the winter).

The tree doesn't always have to be cut down. Oftentimes the Pagans would simply venture out into the forest and decorate a tree (or trees) there.

The wreath symbolizes the wheel of the year.

Imbolc next; it is the first of February and is celebrated by some Christians as Candlemas. The Goddess is reborn as the maiden at this time. The God is still an infant, so this is festival is the time when the Goddess is honored most. The Goddess most honored on this day is Brigid, who is a Celtic triple-goddess (meaning she can represent all three female aspects: maiden, mother, and crone, whereas most goddesses only represent one aspect). Yes, this is "Saint Brigid" who was so beloved by the Irish Pagans that they absolutely refused to convert to the new faith unless they could bring Brigid with them. Quite a few saints were created this way. She is the goddess of creativity and healing, which is why she is one of my favorites.

Next comes Ostara, which is held on (you guessed it!) Easter. The revisionist Christians didn't really even bother to change the name. As this is the vernal equinox, we are mainly just celebrating spring at this time, represented by the maiden Goddess. There  is an actual Anglo-Saxon Goddess named Ostara who is often worshiped on this day. She is the Goddess of spring and her symbol is the hare. Eggs are also associated with her, as she is a fertility Goddess as well. Does the whole coloring eggs thing make more sense now? It has absolutely nothing to do with Jesus's crucifixion and subsequent resurrection but eggs certainly are a symbol of spring and fertility.

May 1st is Beltaine. Just as Samhain is the festival of death, Beltaine celebrates rebirth. It is from this festival that we get our modern May Day. It is celebrated as the day of the sacred marriage of the Goddess and the God (who is now old enough for such things). The maypole is a phallic symbol, with the ribbons representing the labia. This was a fact I absolutely loved to whip out in May while I was in school. But it is odd to think of all those children whose parents' let them dance around the maypole with absolutely no idea what it represents! Bonfires are lit on this night.

Lithia (beautiful name, is it not?) is the summer solstice, and the festival during which the God is most honored, because the God is represented by the sun. At this time the God's power is at its peak, but it is also the day that his power begins to wane, until it will finally run out completely on Samhain and mean his death. At this time the Goddess changes form to become the Mother.

Lughnasadh, also known as Lammas (August 1st) is the day of the Pagan Thanksgiving and is the origin of the American Thanksgiving holiday. The Puritans enacted this ancient Pagan rite but twice upon reaching the New World. This festival is also centered mostly on honoring the God and is a harvest festival.

Mabon (September 21st) is also a harvest festival. The Goddess changes form to become the crone at this time. Some theories say that it was this festival which became the American Thanksgiving; it is hard to tell, as both festivals celebrate the harvest.

In this explanation I concentrated mainly on the seasonal changes undertaken by the Goddess. Those undertaken by the God are much more complicated and not suited for an overview.

I hope you enjoyed your schooling in the evil arts of Paganism. Feel free to ask me anything you wish. Merry Yule to you all!

Full post as published by Never In Our Names on December 30, 2008 (boomark / email).