Modern paganism

Modern paganism, also known as contemporary paganism^[1] and neopaganism,^[2] is a type of religion or family of religions influenced by the various historical pre-Christian beliefs of pre-modern peoples in Europe and adjacent areas of North Africa and the Near East. Although they share similarities, contemporary pagan movements are diverse and as a result, they do not share a single set of beliefs, practices, or texts.^[3] Scholars of religion often characterise these traditions as new religious movements. Some academics who study the phenomenon treat it as a movement that is divided into different religions while others characterize it as a single religion of which different pagan faiths are denominations.

Adherents rely on pre-

Contemporary paganism has sometimes been associated with the New Age movement, with scholars highlighting their similarities as well as their differences.^[5] The academic field of pagan studies began to coalesce in the 1990s, emerging from disparate scholarship in the preceding two decades.

Terminology

Definition

There is "considerable disagreement as to the precise definition and the proper usage" of the term modern paganism.^[6] Even within the academic field of pagan studies, there is no consensus about how contemporary paganism can best be defined.^[7] Most scholars describe modern paganism as a broad array of different religions, not a single one.^[8] The category of modern paganism could be compared to the categories of Abrahamic religions and Indian religions in its structure.^[9] A second, less common definition found within pagan studies—promoted by the religious studies scholars Michael F. Strmiska and Graham Harvey—characterises modern paganism as a single religion, of which groups like Wicca, Druidry, and Heathenry are denominations.^[10] This perspective has been critiqued, given the lack of core commonalities in issues such as theology, cosmology, ethics, afterlife, holy days, or ritual practices within the pagan movement.^[10]

Contemporary paganism has been defined as "a collection of modern religious, spiritual, and magical traditions that are self-consciously inspired by the pre-Judaic, pre-Christian, and pre-Islamic belief systems of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East."^[1] Thus it has been said that although it is "a highly diverse phenomenon", "an identifiable common element" nevertheless runs through the pagan movement.^[1] Strmiska described paganism as a movement "dedicated to reviving the polytheistic, nature-worshipping pagan religions of pre-Christian Europe and adapting them for the use of people in modern societies."^[11] The religious studies scholar Wouter Hanegraaff characterised paganism as encompassing "all those modern movements which are, first, based on the conviction that what Christianity has traditionally denounced as idolatry and superstition actually represents/represented a profound and meaningful religious worldview and, secondly, that a religious practice based on this worldview can and should be revitalized in our modern world."^[12]

Discussing the relationship between the different pagan religions,

Some practitioners completely eschew the use of the term pagan, preferring to use more specific names for their religion, such as "Heathen" or "Wiccan".

Many scholars have favored the use of "neopaganism" to describe this phenomenon, with the prefix "neo-" serving to distinguish the modern religions from their ancient, pre-Christian forerunners.[27] Some pagan practitioners also prefer "neopaganism", believing that the prefix conveys the reformed nature of the religion, such as its rejection of practices such as animal sacrifice.^[27] Conversely, most pagans do not use the word neopagan,^[19] with some expressing disapproval of it, arguing that the term "neo" offensively disconnects them from what they perceive as their pre-Christian forebears.^[18] To avoid causing offense, many scholars in the English-speaking world have begun using the prefixes "modern" or "contemporary" rather than "neo".^[28] Several pagan studies scholars, such as Ronald Hutton and Sabina Magliocco, have emphasized the use of the upper-case "Paganism" to distinguish the modern movement from the lower-case "paganism", a term commonly used for pre-Christian belief systems.^[29] In 2015, Rountree opined that this lower case/upper case division was "now [the] convention" in pagan studies.^[19] Among the critics of the upper-case P are York and Andras Corban-Arthen, president of the ECER. Capitalizing the word, they argue, makes "Paganism" appear as the name of a cohesive religion rather than a generic religious category, and comes off as naive, dishonest or as an unwelcome attempt to disrupt the spontaneity and vernacular quality of the movement.^[30]

The term "neo-pagan" was coined in the 19th century in reference to

According to Strmiska, the reappropriation of the term "pagan" by modern pagans served as "a deliberate act of defiance" against "traditional, Christian-dominated society", allowing them to use it as a source of "pride and power".^[18] In this, he compared it to the gay liberation movement's reappropriation of the term "queer", which had formerly been used only as a term of homophobic abuse.^[18] He suggests that part of the term's appeal lay in the fact that a large proportion of pagan converts were raised in Christian families, and that by embracing the term "pagan", a word long used for what was "rejected and reviled by Christian authorities", a convert summarizes "in a single word his or her definitive break" from Christianity.^[33] He further suggests that the term gained appeal through its depiction in romanticist and 19th-century European nationalist literature, where it had been imbued with "a certain mystery and allure",^[34] and that by embracing the word "pagan" modern pagans defy past religious intolerance to honor the pre-Christian peoples of Europe and emphasize those societies' cultural and artistic achievements.^[35]

Divisions

Ethnicity and region

For some pagan groups, ethnicity is central to their religion, and some restrict membership to a single ethnic group.^[36] Some critics have described this approach as a form of racism.^[36] Other pagan groups allow people of any ethnicity, on the view that the gods and goddesses of a particular region can call anyone to their form of worship.^[37] Some such groups feel a particular affinity for the pre-Christian belief systems of a particular region with which they have no ethnic link because they see themselves as reincarnations of people from that society.^[38] There is greater focus on ethnicity within the pagan movements in continental Europe than within the pagan movements in North America and the British Isles.^[39] Such ethnic paganisms have variously been seen as responses to concerns about foreign ideologies, globalization, cosmopolitanism, and anxieties about cultural erosion.^[40][41]

Although they acknowledged that it was "a highly simplified model", Aitamurto and Simpson wrote that there was "some truth" to the claim that leftist-oriented forms of paganism were prevalent in North America and the British Isles while rightist-oriented forms of paganism were prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe.^[15] They noted that in these latter regions, pagan groups placed an emphasis on "the centrality of the nation, the ethnic group, or the tribe".^[13] Rountree wrote that it was wrong to assume that "expressions of Paganism can be categorized straight-forwardly according to region", but acknowledged that some regional trends were visible, such as the impact of Catholicism on paganism in Southern Europe.^[42]

Eclecticism and reconstructionism

Another division within modern paganism rests on differing attitudes to the source material surrounding pre-Christian belief systems.

Strmiska nevertheless notes that this reconstructionist-eclectic division is "neither as absolute nor as straightforward as it might appear".

Some pagans distinguish their beliefs and practices as a form of religious naturalism or naturalist philosophy,^[53] including those who identify as humanistic or atheopagans. Many such pagans aim for an explicitly ecocentric practice, which may overlap with scientific pantheism.^[54]

Historicity

Although inspired by the pre-Christian belief systems of the past, modern paganism is not the same phenomenon as these lost traditions and in many respects differs from them considerably.^[55] Strmiska stresses that modern paganism is a "new", "modern" religious movement, even if some of its content derives from ancient sources.^[55] Contemporary paganism as practiced in the United States in the 1990s has been described as "a synthesis of historical inspiration and present-day creativity".^[b]

Beliefs and practices vary widely among different pagan groups; however, there are a series of core principles common to most, if not all, forms of modern paganism.^[59] The English academic Graham Harvey noted that pagans "rarely indulge in theology".^[60]

Polytheism

One principle of the pagan movement is polytheism, the belief in and veneration of multiple gods or goddesses.^[59][60] Within the pagan movement, there can be found many deities, both male and female, who have various associations and embody forces of nature, aspects of culture, and facets of human psychology.^[61] These deities are typically depicted in human form, and are viewed as having human faults.^[61] They are therefore not seen as perfect, but rather are venerated as being wise and powerful.^[62] Pagans feel that this understanding of the gods reflected the dynamics of life on Earth, allowing for the expression of humour.^[62]

One view in the pagan community is that these polytheistic deities are not viewed as literal entities, but as Jungian archetypes or other psychological constructs that exist in the human psyche.^[63] Others adopt the belief that the deities have both a psychological and external existence.^[64] Many pagans believe adoption of a polytheistic world-view would be beneficial for western society – replacing the dominant monotheism they see as innately repressive.^[65] In fact, many American modern pagans first came to their adopted faiths because it allowed a greater freedom, diversity, and tolerance of worship among the community.^[66] This pluralistic perspective has helped the varied factions of modern paganism exist in relative harmony.^[56] Most pagans adopt an ethos of "unity in diversity" regarding their religious beliefs.^[67]

It is its inclusion of female deity which distinguishes pagan religions from their Abrahamic counterparts.^[64] In Wicca, male and female deities are typically balanced out in a form of

A key part of most pagan worldviews is the holistic concept of a universe that is interconnected. This is connected with a belief in either pantheism or panentheism. In both beliefs, divinity and the material or spiritual universe are one.^[71] For pagans, pantheism means that "divinity is inseparable from nature and that deity is immanent in nature".^[56]

Dennis D. Carpenter noted that the belief in a pantheistic or panentheistic deity has led to the idea of interconnectedness playing a key part in pagans' worldviews.^[71] The prominent Reclaiming priestess Starhawk related that a core part of goddess-centred pagan witchcraft was "the understanding that all being is interrelated, that we are all linked with the cosmos as parts of one living organism. What affects one of us affects us all."^[72]

Another pivotal belief in the contemporary pagan movement is that of

Animism was also a concept common to many pre-Christian European religions, and in adopting it, contemporary pagans are attempting to "reenter the primeval worldview" and participate in a view of cosmology "that is not possible for most Westerners after childhood."[75]

Nature veneration

All pagan movements place great emphasis on the

While the pagan community has tremendous variety in political views spanning the whole of the political spectrum, environmentalism is often a common feature.^[77]

Pagan ritual can take place in both a public and private setting.[70] Contemporary pagan ritual is typically geared towards "facilitating altered states of awareness or shifting mind-sets".^[79] In order to induce such altered states of consciousness, pagans utilize such elements as drumming, visualization, chanting, singing, dancing, and meditation.^[79] American folklorist Sabina Magliocco came to the conclusion, based upon her ethnographic fieldwork in California that certain pagan beliefs "arise from what they experience during religious ecstasy".^[80]

Sociologist Margot Adler highlighted how several pagan groups, like the Reformed Druids of North America and the Erisian movement incorporate a great deal of play in their rituals rather than having them be completely serious and somber. She noted that there are those who would argue that "the Pagan community is one of the only spiritual communities that is exploring humor, joy, abandonment, even silliness and outrageousness as valid parts of spiritual experience".^[81]

Domestic worship typically takes place in the home and is carried out by either an individual or family group.^[82] It typically involves offerings – including bread, cake, flowers, fruit, milk, beer, or wine – being given to images of deities, often accompanied with prayers and songs and the lighting of candles and incense.^[82] Common pagan devotional practices have thus been compared to similar practices in Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Roman Catholicism, and Orthodox Christianity, but contrasted with that in Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam.^[83] Although animal sacrifice was a common part of pre-Christian ritual in Europe, it is rarely practiced in contemporary paganism.^[82]

Festival

Paganism's public rituals are generally calendrical,[70] although the pre-Christian festivals that pagans use as a basis varied across Europe.^[84] Nevertheless, common to almost all pagan religions is an emphasis on an agricultural cycle and respect for the dead.^[82] Common pagan festivals include those marking the summer solstice and winter solstice as well as the start of spring and the harvest.^[70] In Wicca and Druidry, a Wheel of the Year has been developed which typically involves eight seasonal festivals.^[82]

Magic

The belief in

Among those who practice magic are Wiccans, those who identify as neopagan witches, and practitioners of some forms of revivalist neo-Druidism, the rituals of which are at least partially based upon those of ceremonial magic and freemasonry.^[86]

History

Early modern period

Discussions about prevailing, returning or new forms of paganism have existed throughout the modern period. Before the 20th century, Christian institutions regularly used paganism as a term for everything outside of Christianity, Judaism and—from the 18th century—Islam. They frequently associated paganism with idolatry, magic and a general concept of "false religion", which for example has made Catholics and Protestants accuse each other of being pagans.

One of the origins of modern pagan movements lies in the romanticist and national liberation movements that developed in Europe during the 18th and 19th centuries.^[90] The publications of studies into European folk customs and culture by scholars like Johann Gottfried Herder and Jacob Grimm resulted in a wider interest in these subjects and a growth in cultural self-consciousness.^[90] At the time, it was commonly believed that almost all such folk customs were survivals from the pre-Christian period.^[91] These attitudes would also be exported to North America by European immigrants in these centuries.^[91]

The Romantic movement of the 18th century led to the re-discovery of

The rise of modern paganism was aided by the decline in Christianity throughout many parts of Europe and North America,^[91] as well as by the concomitant decline in enforced religious conformity and greater freedom of religion that developed, allowing people to explore a wider range of spiritual options and form religious organisations that could operate free from legal persecution.^[95]

Historian Ronald Hutton has argued that many of the motifs of 20th century neo-paganism may be traced back to the utopian, mystical counter-cultures of the late-Victorian and Edwardian periods (also extending in some instances into the 1920s), via the works of amateur folklorists, popular authors, poets, political radicals and alternative lifestylers.

Prior to the spread of the 20th-century modern pagan movements, a notable instance of self-identified paganism was in Sioux writer Zitkala-sa's essay "Why I Am A Pagan". Published in the Atlantic Monthly in 1902, the Native American activist and writer outlined her rejection of Christianity (referred to as "the new superstition") in favor of a harmony with nature embodied by the Great Spirit. She further recounted her mother's abandonment of Sioux religion and the unsuccessful attempts of a "native preacher" to get her to attend the village church.^[96]

In the 1920s

The 1980s and 1990s also saw an increasing interest in serious academic research and reconstructionist pagan traditions. The establishment and growth of the Internet in the 1990s brought rapid growth to these, and other pagan movements.^[100] By the time of the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, freedom of religion was legally established across Russia and a number of other newly independent states, allowing for the growth in both Christian and non-Christian religions.^[101]

Religious paths and movements

Reconstructionist

In contrast to the eclectic traditions,

Heathenism, also known as Germanic neopaganism, refers to a series of contemporary pagan traditions based on the historical religions, culture and literature of Germanic-speaking Europe. Heathenry is spread out across northwestern Europe, North America and Australasia, where the descendants of historic Germanic-speaking people now live.^[105]

Many Heathen groups adopt variants of Norse mythology as a basis for their beliefs, conceiving of the Earth as on the great world tree Yggdrasil. Heathens believe in multiple polytheistic deities adopted from historical Germanic mythologies. Most are polytheistic realists, believing that the deities are real entities, while others view them as Jungian archetypes.^[106]

Celtic

Slavic

Uralic

Baltic

Greek

Roman

Kemetic

Semitic

Beit Asherah (the house of the Goddess Asherah) was one of the first modern pagan synagogues, founded in the early 1990s by Stephanie Fox, Steven Posch, and Magenta Griffiths (Lady Magenta). Magenta Griffiths is High Priestess of the Beit Asherah coven, and a former board member of the Covenant of the Goddess.^[107]

Armenian

Chuvash

The

Wicca is the largest form of modern paganism,^[41] as well as the best-known^[111] and most extensively studied.^[58]

Religious studies scholar Graham Harvey noted that the poem "Charge of the Goddess" remains central to the liturgy of most Wiccan groups. Originally written by Wiccan High Priestess Doreen Valiente in the mid-1950s, the poem allows Wiccans to gain wisdom and experience deity in "the ordinary things in life."^[112]

Historian

Goddess spirituality, which is also known as the Goddess movement, is a pagan religion in which a singular, monotheistic Goddess is given predominance. Goddess Spirituality revolves around the sacredness of the female form, and of aspects of women's lives that adherents say have been traditionally neglected in Western society, such as menstruation, sexuality, and maternity.^[117]

The Goddess movement draws some of its inspiration from the work of archaeologists such as Marija Gimbutas,^{[118][119][120][121]} whose interpretation of artifacts excavated from "Old Europe" points to societies of Neolithic Europe that were matristic or goddess-centered worshipping a female deity of three primary aspects,^[122] which has inspired some modern pagan worshippers of the Triple Goddess.

Adherents of the Goddess Spirituality movement typically envision a history of the world that is different from traditional narratives about the past, emphasising the role of women rather than that of men. According to this view,

Druidry shows similar heterogeneity as Wicca. It draws inspirations from historical

Eco-paganism and Eco-magic, which are offshoots of

Some Unitarian Universalists are eclectic pagans. Unitarian Universalists look for spiritual inspiration in a wide variety of religious beliefs. The Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, or CUUPs, encourages its chapters to "use practices familiar to members who attend for worship services but not to follow only one tradition of paganism."^[126]

Occultism and ethnic mysticism

In 1925, the Czech esotericist Franz Sättler founded the pagan religion Adonism, devoted to the ancient Greek god Adonis, whom Sättler equated with the Christian Satan, and which purported that the end of the world would come in 2000. Adonism largely died out in the 1930s, but remained an influence on the German occult scene.^[127]

Demographics

Establishing precise figures on paganism is difficult. Due to the secrecy and fear of

A modern pagan movement drawing from various syncretic practices that had survived among the Christianised Mari people was initiated in 1990[137] that was estimated in 2004 to have won the adherence of 2% of the Mordvin people.^[138]

Western Europe

A study by

The 2001 UK Census figures did not allow an accurate breakdown of traditions within the pagan heading, as a campaign by the Pagan Federation before the census encouraged Wiccans, Heathens, Druids and others all to use the same write-in term 'pagan' in order to maximise the numbers reported. However, the

Census figures in Ireland do not provide a breakdown of religions outside of the major Christian denominations and other major world religions. A total of 22,497 people stated Other Religion in the 2006 census; and a rough estimate is that there were 2,000–3,000 practicing pagans in Ireland in 2009. Numerous pagan groups – primarily Wiccan and Druidic – exist in Ireland though none is officially recognised by the Government. Irish paganism is often strongly concerned with issues of place and language.[142]

North America

Canada does not provide extremely detailed records of religious adherence. Its

The United States government does not directly collect religious information. As a result such information is provided by religious institutions and other third-party statistical organisations.

According to Helen A. Berger's 1995 survey "The Pagan Census", most American pagans are middle-class, educated, and live in urban/suburban areas on the East and West coasts.^[143]

Oceania

In the

In 2006, there were at least 6804 (0.164%) pagans among New Zealand's population of approximately 4 million.[152] Respondents were given the option to select one or more religious affiliations.^[151]

Paganism in society

Propagation

Based upon her study of the pagan community in the United States, the sociologist

Folklorist

Many pagans in North America encounter the movement through their involvement in other hobbies; particularly popular with US pagans are "golden age-type" pastimes such as the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA), Star Trek fandom, Doctor Who fandom and comic book fandom. Other ways in which many North American pagans have gotten involved with the movement are through political or ecological activism, such as vegetarian groups, health food stores, or feminist university courses.^[158]

Adler went on to note that from those she interviewed and surveyed in the US she could identify a number of common factors that led to people getting involved in paganism: the beauty, vision and imagination that was found within their beliefs and rituals, a sense of intellectual satisfaction and personal growth that they imparted, their support for environmentalism or feminism, and a sense of freedom.^[159]

Class, gender and ethnicity

Based upon her work in the United States, Adler found that the pagan movement was "very diverse" in its class and ethnic backgrounds.^[160] She went on to remark that she had encountered pagans in jobs that ranged from "fireman to PhD chemist" but that the one thing she thought made them into an "elite" was being avid readers, something that she found to be very common within the pagan community despite the fact that avid readers constituted less than 20% of the general population of the United States at the time.^[161] Magliocco came to a somewhat different conclusion based upon her ethnographic research of pagans in California, remarking that the majority were "white, middle-class, well-educated urbanites" but that they were united in finding "artistic inspiration" within "folk and indigenous spiritual traditions,"^[162]

The sociologist Regina Oboler examined the role of gender in the US pagan community, arguing that although the movement had been constant in its support for the equality of men and women ever since its foundation, there was still an essentialist view of gender ingrained within it, with female deities being accorded traditional western feminine traits and male deities being similarly accorded what western society saw as masculine traits.^[163]

Racism and nationalism

Generally, modern pagan currents in Western countries do not advocate nationalist or far-right ideologies. Instead, they advocate individual self-improvement and liberal values of personal freedom, gender equality, and environmental protection. The nationalist sentiments expressed by modern pagans in Western countries are marginal, so the ideas of cosmopolitanism are prevalent. Faith and dogmas give way to active practices, including psychotechnics, which was extensively influenced by neo-Hinduism. In contrast, many areas of post-Soviet modern paganism, including Russian, are occupied not so much with individual self-improvement as they are occupied with social problems, and they also create nationalist ideologies based on the "invented past".^[164]

Modern paganism is one of the directions in the development of romantic nationalism with its components such as the idealization of a particular people's historical or mythological past, dissatisfaction with modernity, and the ease of transition to a radical stage with the postulation of national superiority.^[165][166]

The "

At the beginning of the 20th century, the spiritual crisis in Russia led to a fascination with paganism, at first ancient and then Slavic "native gods," which was especially true for the symbolists. The publicist Daniil Pasmanik (1923) wrote that consistent antisemitism should reject Judaism and Christianity. He noted that this trend had already led Germany to worship Odin and, in the future, in his opinion, would inevitably lead Russia to worship Perun.^[165]

German occultism and modern paganism arose in the early 20th century, and they became influential through teachings such as

In Germany in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Völkisch movement, characterized by a

Liberalism and rationalism, which demystified the time-honored order that accepted authorities and prejudices, also caused an adverse reaction from supporters of the völkisch movement. A negative attitude towards modernity characterizes the writings of German nationalist "prophets" such as Paul Delagardie, Julius Lang, and Arthur Moeller van den Bruck.^[171] The movement combined a sentimental patriotic interest in German folklore and local history with anti-urban, back-to-the-earth populism.^[175] To overcome what they considered the ailment of scientific and rationalistic modernity, the authors of völkisch found a spiritual solution in the essence of the "people," perceived as genuine, intuitive, even "primitive," in the sense of the location of the "people" on the level with the original (primordial) cosmic order.^[176]

Völkisch thinkers tended to idealize the myth of the "original nation", which they believed could still be found in rural Germany, a form of "primitive democracy freely subject to its natural elite".^[177] The idea of the "people" (German: Volk) was subsequently transformed into the idea of "racial essence", and Völkisch thinkers understood this term as a life-giving and quasi-eternal essence and not as a sociological category, in the same way as they considered "Nature".^[178]

Modern pagan ideas were present in

The doctrine had followers in Austria and Germany. Occultism in the doctrines of the Ariosophists was of great importance as a sacral justification for an extreme political position and a fundamental rejection of reality, including socio-economic progress. The Ariosophists sought to predict and justify the "coming era" of the German world order. To counter the modern world, "corrupted" by racial mixing, the Ariosophists created many small circles and secret religious societies to revive the "lost" esoteric knowledge and racial virtues of the ancient Germans to create a new pan-German empire.[171]

To recreate the religion of the

In Nazi Germany, Germanic pagan folklore, as a source of primordial moral standards, was revered higher than Christianity associated with Judaism. Many Nazis saw anti-Christianity as a deeper form of antisemitism.[183] Heinrich Himmler spoke of the need to create a "neo-Germanic religion" capable of replacing Christianity.^[184] The Old Testament was especially repugnant to the Nazis. Adolf Hitler called it "Satan's Bible". Rosenberg demanded that it be banned as a "vehicle of Jewish influence" and replaced by the Nordic sagas.^[185] The Nazi ideology combined the veneration of the "pagan heritage of the ancestors" with puritanical, Christian sexual morality, which the "Nordic" Apollo was supposed to personify.^[186]

The issue of race is a major source of contention among modern pagans, especially in the United States.[188]^[189][190] In the modern pagan community, one view is that race is entirely a matter of biological heredity, while the opposite position is that race is a social construct rooted in cultural heritage. In US modern pagan discourse, these views are described as völkische and universalist positions, respectively.^{[191][192][193][194]} The two factions, which Jeffrey Kaplan has called the "racist" and "non-racist" camps, often clash, with Kaplan claiming that there is a "virtual civil war" between them within the American modern pagan community.^[195] The division into universalists and völkisch also spread to other countries,^[193] but had less impact on the more ethnically homogeneous Iceland.^[196] A 2015 survey showed that more modern pagans adhere to universalist ideas than völkisch.^[197]

Going beyond this binary classification, religious scholar Mattias Gardell divides modern paganism in the United States into three factions according to their racial stance:

• the "anti-racist" faction, which denounces any connection between religion and racial identity
• the "radical-racist" faction, which believes that members of other racial groups should not follow their religion because racial identity is the natural religion of the "Aryan race"
• an "ethnic" faction seeking to forge a middle path by recognizing their religion's roots in Northern Europe and its connection to people of Northern European origin^[189]

Religious scholar

In Heathenry, the terms "völkisch", "neo-völkisch", or the Anglicised "folkish" are used both as endonyms and exonyms for groups who believe that the religion is closely related to the claimed biological race.[181]^[206][207] Völkisch practitioners consider paganism to be an indigenous religion of a biologically distinct race^[208] that is conceptualized as "White", "Nordic", "Aryan", "Northern European", or "English". Völkisch modern pagans generally regard these classifications as self-evident, despite the academic consensus that race is a cultural construct.

Völkisch groups often use ethnonationalist language and claim that only members of these racial groups are entitled to practice a given religion, taking the pseudoscientific view that "gods and goddesses are encoded in the DNA" of the members of a race.

Ethnocentric modern pagans are highly critical of their universalist counterparts, often claiming that the latter have been misled by New Age literature and political correctness.^[219] Members of the universalist and ethnocentric factions criticize those who adopt an "ethnic" stance. The former view "ethnic" modern paganism as a cover for racism, while the latter view its adherents as race traitors for their refusal to fully accept the superiority of the "white race".^[220]

Some modern pagans of the völkisch movement are white supremacists and outright racists^[221][222] representing a "radical racist" faction that uses the names Odinism, Wotanism, and Wodenism.^[219][223] According to Kaplan, these adepts occupy the "most remote corners" of modern paganism.^[224] The lines between this form of modern paganism and Nazism are "extremely thin"^[225] because its adherents praise Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany,^[225] claim that the "white race" is threatened with extinction by the efforts of a Jewish world conspiracy,^[226] and dismiss Christianity as a work of the Jews.^[227]

Many in the inner circle of the terrorist organization The Order, a white supremacist militia operating in the US in the 1980s, called themselves Odinists.^[228] Various racist modern pagans supported the Fourteen Words slogan, which was developed by The Order member David Lane.^[229] Some racist organizations, such as the Order of Nine Angles and the Black Order, combine elements of modern paganism with Satanism,^[230] while other racist modern pagans, such as Wotanist Ron McVan, reject the syncretism of the two religions.^[231]

American neo-Nazi William Luther Pierce, the founder of the neo-Nazi organization National Alliance, whose ideas stimulated neo-Nazi terrorism, also created the Cosmotheistic Community Church in 1978. He considered the teaching he created within the framework of this church to be pantheism and leaned towards the "Panaryan" Nordic cults. These cults emphasized the idea of a unique closeness of "white people" with nature and the natural "spiritual essence", which was influenced by the ideas of Savitri Devi. According to the doctrine, each race has its predestined role: "whites" are predisposed to strive for God, blacks strive for laziness, and Jews strive for corruption.

In 1985, Pierce purchased a large piece of land at Mill Point in West Virginia, fenced it in with barbed wire, and began selling books on Western culture and Western "pagan traditions" there. He aimed to save the "white race" away from the federal government. In part, he also drew on British Israelism and the racist religion of Identity Christianity. The "National Alliance" met regularly to discuss the ideas of "cosmotheism". Pierce dismissed Christianity as "one of the chief mental illnesses of our people" through which "Jewish influence" spreads. Pierce saw the proposed government after the "racial revolution" as religious, which would be "more like a holy order." He considered the future religion of the "white race" the "Aryan religion" - the "cosmotheism" that he created.^[232]

Sociologist Marlène Laruelle notes the activation of "Aryan" modern paganism in the West and Russia. For example, social movements are thus developing that appeal to the Celtic past and call for a return to the "druidic religions" of pre-Christian Europe. For the most part, the French and German Nouvelle Droite share the common idea of a pan-European unity based on an "Aryan" identity and the desire to part with Christianity, the period of domination of which is seen as two thousand years of "wandering in darkness."^[233]

Unlike previous regimes, the current Russian political regime and the ideology of the middle class combine support for Orthodoxy with philosemitism and a positive attitude towards Muslims. These features of the regime contributed to the formation of specific views of neo-Nazi neopagans, which are represented to a large extent among the socially unprotected and marginalized Russian youth. In their opinion, power in Russia was usurped by a cabal of conspirators, including hierarchs of the Orthodox Church, Jews, and Muslims. Contrary to external differences, these forces are believed to have united in their desire to maintain power over the Russian "Aryans".^[236]

Some associations of neopaganism, in particular Slavic, are evaluated by researchers as

The historian and ethnologist Victor Schnirelmann considers Russian neopaganism as a direction of Russian nationalism that denies Russian Orthodoxy as an enduring national value and distinguishes two cardinal tasks that Russian neopaganism sets for itself: the salvation of Russian national culture from the leveling influence of modernization and the protection of the natural environment from the impact of modern civilization.^[241] According to Schnirelmann, "Russian neopaganism is a radical variety of conservative ideology, which is distinguished by frank anti-intellectualism and populism."^[165]

Religious scholar Alexei Gaidukov considers it wrong to reduce the diversity of native faith groups to nationalism only - he views the ecological direction of Rodnovery as no less significant.^[242] Historian and religious scholar Roman Shizhensky believes Rodnovery poses little danger and law enforcement agencies should deal with radical groups.^[243]

The Austrian occultist Guido von List, who created the doctrine of Ariosophy, argued that an ancient developed "Ario-Germanic" culture reached its dawn several millennia before Roman colonization and Christianity. According to him, before Charlemagne's forced introduction of Christianity, Wotanism was practiced in what is now the Danubian territory of Germany. List considered Charlemagne the killer of the Saxons in memory of the bloody baptism of the pagans of Northern Germany by him. List considered the entire Christian period as an era of cultural decline, oblivion of the true faith, and unnatural racial mixing, when the "Aryan" ruling caste of priest-kings was forced to hide, secretly saving their sacred knowledge, which now became available to List as a full-fledged aristocratic descendant of this caste.^[171]

In Slavic neopaganism, there is the idea of an ancient multi-thousand-year-old and developed civilization of the "Slavs-Aryans", while the entire Christian period seems to be an era of regression and decline,^[244] the enslavement of the "Aryans" by foreign missionaries who imposed on them a "slave" (Christian) ideology. Rodnovers often regard these missionaries as Jews, "Judeo-Masons", or their accomplices. At the same time, the Slavic "Aryan" volkhvs or priests had to hide in secret places, preserving the knowledge that was now passed onto their direct descendants, Rodnovers.^[165]

The idea of the Jewish-Khazar origin of Prince

The author of this myth is Valery Yemelyanov, one of the founders of Russian neopaganism, who expounded it in his book Dezionization (1970s). Shizhensky notes that the neopagan myth about Vladimir contradicts scientific work on the issue and the totality of historical sources.^[245]

Concerning the trend of convergence of neopagan associations from different countries, Andrey Beskov notes that neopagan nationalism is not an obstacle to "neopagan internationalism", and anti-globalism, one of the manifestations of which was the popularity of ethnic religions, itself acquires a global character.^[246]

LGBT

The western

Trans exclusion can also be found in Alexandrian Wicca, whose founder views trans individuals as melancholy people who should seek other beliefs due to the Alexandrian focus on heterosexual reproduction and duality.^[254]

Relationship with the New Age movement

Since the 1960s and 1970s, contemporary paganism, or neo-paganism, and the then emergent

Many pagans have sought to distance themselves from the New Age movement, even using "New Age" as an insult within their community, while conversely many involved in the New Age have expressed criticism of paganism for emphasizing the material world over the spiritual.[259] Many pagans have expressed criticism of the high fees charged by New Age teachers, something not typically present in the pagan movement.^[262]

Relationship with Hinduism

Because of their common links to the Proto-Indo-European culture, many adherents of modern paganism have come to regard Hinduism as a spiritual relative. Some modern pagan literature prominently features comparative religion involving European and Indian traditions. The ECER has made efforts to establish mutual support with Hindu groups, as has the Lithuanian Romuva movement.^[263]

In India, a prominent figure who made similar efforts was the

Some Christian authors have published books criticizing modern paganism, [35] while other Christian critics have equated paganism with Satanism, which is often portrayed as such in mainstream entertainment industry.^[269]

In areas such as the US

The earliest academic studies of contemporary paganism were published in the late 1970s and 1980s by scholars like Margot Adler, Marcello Truzzi and Tanya Luhrmann, although it would not be until the 1990s that the actual multidisciplinary academic field of pagan studies properly developed, pioneered by academics such as Graham Harvey and Chas S. Clifton. Increasing academic interest in paganism has been attributed to the new religious movement's increasing public visibility, as it began interacting with the interfaith movement and holding large public celebrations at sites like Stonehenge.^[271]

The first international academic conference on the subject of pagan studies was held at the

The relationship between pagan studies scholars and some practising pagans has at times been strained. The Australian academic and practising pagan Caroline Jane Tully argues that many pagans can react negatively to new scholarship regarding historical pre-Christian societies, believing that it is a threat to the structure of their beliefs and to their "sense of identity". She furthermore argues that some of those dissatisfied pagans lashed out against academics as a result, particularly on the Internet.[275]

Criticism

Neopaganism has been criticized on a variety of fronts, ranging from pseudohistory to racial issues to institutional issues. As neopaganism is not a unified religion, it means that the criticisms of certain groups often do not apply to other groups. Criticisms of specific neopagan groups range from criticisms of their belief in gender essentialism^[276] to criticisms of their belief in nationalism^[277] to criticisms of the worldly focuses of pagan organizations.^[259]

See also

• Habzism
• List of neopagan movements
• Mari El
• Modern paganism in the United States
• Modern paganism in the United Kingdom
• Virginia Woolf and the neo-pagans

References

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Notes

Citations

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9. ^ Doyle White 2012, p. 17.
10. ^ ^{a b} Doyle White 2012, p. 16.
11. ^ Strmiska 2005, p. 1.
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13. ^ ^{a b} Aitamurto & Simpson 2013, p. 3.
14. ^ ^{a b c} Doyle White 2016, p. 7.
15. ^ ^{a b} Aitamurto & Simpson 2013, p. 2.
16. ^ Rountree 2015, p. 1.
17. ^ Strmiska 2005, pp. 15–16; Harvey 2005, pp. 84–85.
18. ^ ^{a b c d} Strmiska 2005, p. 9.
19. ^ ^{a b c d} Rountree 2015, p. 8.
20. ^ Strmiska 2005, p. 14; Simpson & Filip 2013, pp. 34–35.
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22. ^ Simpson & Filip 2013, p. 38.
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25. ^ Doyle White 2012, p. 14.
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Further reading

• Blain, Jenny; Ezzy, Douglas;
  ISBN 978-0-7591-0522-5
  .
• Davidsen, Markus Altena (2012). "What is Wrong with Pagan Studies?". Method and Theory in the Study of Religion. 24 (2): 183–199.
  S2CID 170576609
  .
• Doyle White, Ethan (2010). "The Meaning of 'Wicca': A Study in Etymology, History and Pagan Politics". The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 12 (2).
• Lewis, James R. (2004). The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. London and New York: Oxford University Press.
  ISBN 978-0-19-514986-9
  .
• York, Michael (2010). "Idolatry, Ecology, and the Sacred as Tangible". The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies. 12 (1).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Neopaganism.

• The Pagan Federation (paganfed.org)