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I was gonna say...The pagans/wiccans I know have absolutely nothing to do with Satanism. It's mostly about honoring nature and celebrating solstices and Samhain and such.
You can be pagan without being Wiccan.
I think pagan is just an umbrella term for non-monothiests and especially applied to animists. I see no reason the Original Poster could not be pagan. Satan is a spirit, an angel, and could fit within the pagan paradigm. Especially as pagans often believe in dark forces in contrast to benevolent forces.
I would not associate much if at all with a person that worships Satan. I don't care if that makes me "uncool."
I think pagan is just an umbrella term for non-monothiests and especially applied to animists. I see no reason the Original Poster could not be pagan. Satan is a spirit, an angel, and could fit within the pagan paradigm. Especially as pagans often believe in dark forces in contrast to benevolent forces.
I would not associate much if at all with a person that worships Satan. I don't care if that makes me "uncool."
Propaganda.
Pagans are very distinct from Satanists. Also, a great many pagans are (getting my broad brush out here) benign, tolerant "lovey-dovey," granola sorts. They're more likely to rescue a kitten than sacrifice it to "dark forces."
I think pagan is just an umbrella term for non-monothiests and especially applied to animists. I see no reason the Original Poster could not be pagan. Satan is a spirit, an angel, and could fit within the pagan paradigm. Especially as pagans often believe in dark forces in contrast to benevolent forces.
I would not associate much if at all with a person that worships Satan. I don't care if that makes me "uncool."
Of course Pagans believe in light/dark or good/evil concepts, but Satan, specifically, is a Judeo-Christian construct, and since Pagans don't worship in the J-C pantheon it isn't going to be part of their belief system.
I find pagans to be very self righteous, so no I would not date one. I feel the same about self-described Christians. (that said, atheists can be just as annoying and self righteous.)
Pagans are very distinct from Satanists. Also, a great many pagans are (getting my broad brush out here) benign, tolerant "lovey-dovey," granola sorts. They're more likely to rescue a kitten than sacrifice it to "dark forces."
You're from the Western World I can see. Not all pagans across the earth are the New Age renditions you've been introduced to in the West. Those New Age pagans are like contemporary Anglicans. Meaning... neither a reflection of the historical roots (and broad streams) of the respective traditions.
When I said "dark forces" I wasn't necessarily talking about sacrificing people (although, plenty of that went on among people like the Aztecs), rather, I was trying to say that many pagans believe in the existence of spiritual forces that intentionally act destructive or harmful towards say... humans.
I had a professor (a good man) that came from Haiti and is a Voodoo priest. He stated in class that indigenous African religions (pagan) usually have views of God that are, in my own words to paraphrase, "dark" and "light."
Catholic mysticism has the similar concept with the description of God as pitch blackness, night, the path of negation to God etc. St. John of the Cross famous "Dark Night of the Soul" conception.
However, pagans can attribute certain characteristics to God that Catholics and Christians would attribute more to Satan.
Also... let me introduce you to some modern day pagans that were in fact sacrificing small children and drinking their blood. (Also, in some parts of black Africa pagan medicine men have young girls enslaved--and in chattel type slavery.)
Joshua Milton Blahyi (born September 30, 1971), better known by his nom de guerreGeneral Butt Naked, is a former leader for the LiberianwarlordRoosevelt Johnson[1] in the First Liberian Civil War known for his fierce, violent, and eccentric measures in the first years of the 1990s. He was originally a tribal priest, and since the war he has converted to Christianity and become a preacher.
Quote:
Blahyi is a member of the Sarpo tribe in Liberia.[2] At age 11, he claims he was initiated as a tribal priest and participated in his first human sacrifice. During the course of the three-day ritual that followed, Blahyi says that he had a vision in which he was told by the Devil that he would become a great warrior and that he should continue to practice human sacrifice and cannibalism to increase his power.[3] The Krahn elders later appointed him as high priest, a position that would lead him to become the spiritual advisor to Liberian President Samuel Doe.[4] Blahyi adhered to a complex traditional belief system as a Krahn priest, and like many in Africa he has mixed those beliefs fluidly with Christianity. Blahyi himself explains, "I was a high priest for the biggest god under the Krahn tribe, and the late Samuel K. Doe, being a fellow tribesman, was automatically placed under my jurisdiction . . . I also placed Nyanbe-a-weh amongst the first three high-ranking deities in West Africa’s black-witch coastal line division."[5]
Quote:
Blahyi claimed to a South African Star reporter that he "met Satan regularly and talked to him" and that from age of 11 to 25 he took part in monthly human sacrifices.[11] In his account of a typical battle Blahyi claimed, "So, before leading my troops into battle, we would get drunk and drugged up, sacrifice a local teenager, drink the blood, then strip down to our shoes and go into battle wearing colorful wigs and carrying imaginary purses we'd looted from civilians. We'd slaughter anyone we saw, chop their heads off and use them as soccer balls. We were nude, fearless, drunk yet strategic. We killed hundreds of people--so many I lost count."[12]
Of course Pagans believe in light/dark or good/evil concepts, but Satan, specifically, is a Judeo-Christian construct, and since Pagans don't worship in the J-C pantheon it isn't going to be part of their belief system.
I'm not a practicing Catholic. But I'm not a contemporary Catholic woman either. So, one will not talk me into abandoning fidelity to Madonna and child for whatever bags of silver they toss at me. Whether those bags of silver come in the form of United Statesian social acceptance. Being accepted into the "cool" crowd. Or being given the mantles of "open-minded" and "enlightened."
Paganism is an umbrella term like "Hinduism" to describe a broad range of religions that share some similarities. Being cognizant of that, I see no reason pagans can not incorporate the character of Satan into their pantheons of gods and spirits.
My post above about the real life figure of General Butt Naked, a former pagan priest, suggests some have already. Furthermore, some pagan deities fit the description of fallen angels, demonic spirits, that Christians believe Jesus cast into a pig. That Christians believe oppress and in rarer cases posses people. So, pagans can call some of these being by different names. To the Christian ear and trained senses they are demonic. Some of them at least. Like one of the Aztec gods that required annual sacrifices of the blood and screams of children as adults ripped the selected children's fingernails out of their fingers.
General Butt Naked came from this milieu of beliefs.
Many Krahn believe that objects have spirits or souls (animism). An example of this is seen in several Kru artifacts found in 1979 near Maryland County, Liberia.[17] Although scholars are not certain of their origins and intended use, some sources believe that the Kru saw these objects as living entities typically found in small bodies of water such as rivers and creeks. Called ‘tien’,‘nitien’ or ‘Dwin,’ these artifacts would have been viewed as water spirits or ‘Gods of water.’[18] Additionally, it is believed that powers associated with these beings included healing, fertility, and the ability to end conflict and create new villages. The Kru also thought that a town or village could gain protection from one of these water guardians if they were caught in the water and carried into town.[18]
P-eople A-gainst G-oodness A-nd -Normalcy. I cant imagine why that'd bother a woman.
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