Pagan and Neopagan magic and ritual

Pagan and Neopagan traditions include the religions of the ancient world, such as Greek, Roman, Norse and Celtic, which survive in fragments, and the modern revival: Wicca, Druidry, Heathenry, Hellenism and Rodnovery. Pagan was a Christian word for the non-Christian. Today many people use it for themselves. This page covers the modern and ancient strands and why they are often confused. Neopaganism is now one of the fastest-growing religious minorities in several Western countries.

Ancient and modern

Ancient pagan religions were state and household religions with temples, sacrifices, oracles and magic. They were replaced or suppressed with the spread of Christianity from the fourth century. Modern Paganism began in the twentieth century: Gerald Gardner's Wicca in the 1950s, Druid orders from the eighteenth century, and Heathen groups in Iceland, Scandinavia and North America. They are new religions drawing on old sources. Ancient religions in Greece, Rome and Egypt had priesthoods and temples, and oracles such as Delphi and Siwa drew visitors from far away.

A contested past

Margaret Murray's 1921 claim that witch trials hit a surviving pagan religion shaped the early movement, and was later rejected by historians such as Norman Cohn and Ronald Hutton. Modern Pagans now often accept their traditions as created and revived, and speak of inspiration. Some Heathen groups have been linked to racist movements, which most Heathens condemn. Wicca is a religion with initiation, a god and goddess and a yearly cycle of eight festivals, while Druidry, Heathenry and others have their own forms.

Gender, law and community

Wicca and Goddess movements gave women priestly roles, and many covens are led by women. Pagans have faced discrimination and moral panics, including the Satanic panic of the 1980s. In Britain, the last Witchcraft Act was replaced in 1951. In Iceland the Asatru Fellowship has been recognised since 1973. Pagan chaplains now serve in prisons and the armed forces in some countries. Many Pagans see themselves as part of an environmental and feminist movement, and others focus on ancestral heritage.

Commerce and ethics

Pagan books, tarot, crystals and festivals are a large market. Wicca borrows from many cultures, which raises questions of appropriation, and some Pagans work to credit sources. Scholars call the field a case study in how religion is invented. Pagans themselves often say that what matters is practice and community. Scholars regard Paganism as part of the religious landscape and no longer as a curiosity, and Pagan studies has become an academic field.

Photo credits on this page

The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.

Werewolf: Mont Sudbury, Public domain, source

Ceridwen: Chris Denny, CC BY-SA 2.0, source

Cassandra: George Romney, Public domain, source

Orpheus: Franz Caucig, Public domain, source

Medea: Frederick Sandys, Public domain, source

Fairy: Henry Fuseli, Public domain, source

Sebile: tony_57, CC BY 3.0, source

Freyja: John Bauer, Public domain, source

Tiresias: Pietro della Vecchia, Public domain, source

Chimera: Lampas Group, Public domain, source

Wolves in folklore, religion and mythology: Unknown author, CC0, source

Scrofa semilanuta: M.casanova, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Witege: Max Koch, (1859–1930), Public domain, source

Midas: The Midas Painter, CC BY-SA 4.0, source

Horkos: Furienmeister, Public domain, source

Giant: Attributed to Francisco Goya, Public domain, source

Pagan and Neopagan: magic in this belief world