Is there a main book of Paganism? (Buddhism, America, Islam)

[Trebek]

Do you all Pagan's out there have one main book of Paganism, like the Christians have a bible? Is there a difference between Paganism and Wicca?

Thanks, just trying to gain understanding.

[Virote]

those who aren't of the Christian faith get labeled pagans...so no there isn't one book.

[mountain_time_Blues]

Originally Posted by Virote

those who aren't of the Christian faith get labeled pagans...so no there isn't one book.

So jews are pagans? Muslims too? Your logic doesn't make sense?

[Mooseketeer]

A lot has been written about it but no there is no one book as the Pagan Faiths ( plural ) comes from the Dawn of time, pre-writing and come from different parts of the world. The modern Western "revival" is very recent ( 18th/19th Century) when romanticised accounts of Druidic rituals became all the rage. The Faith had never really gone away but "took off " as a popular, one could almost say fashionable religion at that time. A lot of "true" followers at the time were said to be baffled by it all.

Definition of a Pagan:A follower of a polytheistic or pantheistic nature-worshipping religion. Which means people from all corners of the globe, different cultures and societies. There is unifying concept as such apart from the worship of nature.

[wzippler]

Originally Posted by Trebek

Do you all Pagan's out there have one main book of Paganism, like the Christians have a bible? Is there a difference between Paganism and Wicca?

Thanks, just trying to gain understanding.

Paganism, is sort of a generic name that covers ALLOT of different faiths
Wicca is the most widespread of the pagan faiths.

From what I can tell paganism is next to imposible to put in a one size fits all box. They are non-exclusive, which means you can worship more than one God at a time without going against paganism.

While I have met some Pagans that were friendly toward Christians most treated me like bile, with no more provocation than me signing letters in Christian Love.

So if you want to befreind a pagan I suggest you tell them about you believing Buddhist and Native American faiths before you tell them about your belief in Christianity. If you put off telling them about Christianity till last you will fit right in. If you tell them about Christianity first the conversation may be over before it begins. (but that depends on the preticular pagan in question)

The majority of pagans do not believe in the devil.

Some participate in Witchcraft, or magick, which they descibe as a form of prayer, but not all of them.

Most pagan faiths are really neo-pagan. They have ancient roots, but have mixed thier faith with modern ideas, and culture, so the ancient pagans would have trouble recognizing many modern day pagans.

[Predos]

It shuld be noted that, at least for Druids, it is not a matter of a "faith". The root meaning of Druid is a gatherer of knowledge. Some have expanded or perverted the meaning to a faith but it really is not.

[june 7th]

Trebek: While it doesn't address "paganism" per se, based on what I think you are asking/wanting to look into, I would still recommend "Totem and Taboo" by Freud. (There is also another book by him...am still trying to recall the title...) However, Freud was very fascinated by this whole issue and wrote fairly extensively on primitive religious thought/primitive religions...

Just an idea...

-June

[Virote]

Originally Posted by mountain_time_Blues

So jews are pagans? Muslims too? Your logic doesn't make sense?

I'm not the one labeling everyone a pagan. Take it up with them, kay? It's not my logic

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Predos

The root meaning of Druid is a gatherer of knowledge.

Where'd you get that???

Based on all that I've read, scholars aren't really sure what "druid" means (it's a VERY ancient word), though the greatest consensus seems to be that it is connected to ancient Indo-European words for "oak." Might even be related to the word "dryad."

What's your source for druid meaning "gatherer of knowledge"?

[Mark S.]

Originally Posted by Trebek

Is there a difference between Paganism and Wicca?

Wicca is one form of neo-paganism. But not the only one. Wicca is an Anglo-Saxon word, and the religion is based on ancient Germanic beliefs. There has been a revival of druidism in recent decades, and there are practitioners of a form of neo-pagansim based on old Norse beliefs. I think it's called Asatru, though I'm not 100% certain of the spelling. There's probably more besides.

If memory serves me correctly (and it's been a long time since my last college class on this subect so I may well be wrong), the word "pagan" is related to the word "peasant," but it's generally understood as a sort of "catch-all" term for the animistic/polytheistic religions that predated Judaism and Islam in Africa and the Middle East, Christianity in Europe, and Hinduism in Asia.

The vast majority of those religions became extinct because of the rise of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Modern neo-paganism is an attempt to revise those ancient religions.