Download or read book Solitary Pagans written by Helen A. Berger and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2019-08-12 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exploration of the increasingly popular phenomenon of solitary practice within contemporary paganism Solitary Pagans is the first book to explore the growing phenomenon of contemporary Pagans who practice alone. Although the majority of Pagans in the United States have abandoned the tradition of practicing in groups, little is known about these individuals or their way of practice. Helen A. Berger fills that gap by building on a massive survey of contemporary practitioners. By examining the data, Berger describes solitary practitioners demographically and explores their spiritual practices, level of social engagement, and political activities. Contrasting the solitary Pagans with those who practice in groups and more generally with other non-Pagan Americans, she also compares contemporary U.S. Pagans with those in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. Berger brings to light the new face of contemporary paganism by analyzing those who learn about the religion from books or the Internet and conduct rituals alone in their gardens, the woods, or their homes. Some observers believe this social isolation and political withdrawal has resulted in an increase in narcissism and a decline in morality, while others argue to the contrary that it has produced a new form of social integration and political activity. Berger posits the implications of her findings to reveal a better understanding of other metaphysical religions and those who shun traditional religious organizations.
Download or read book The Practical Pagan written by Dana D. Eilers and published by Career Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Offers suggestions, hints, and down-to-earth help for seekers and believers of Paganism to understand and find their place in the community. Included are discussions about what it means to be Pagan, getting involved in the Pagan community, myths about Paganism, and coming out of the broom closet. The book also gives valuable information about choosing a specific path, joining an organization and deciding to be a solitary practitioner. The book also contains common sense guidelines of conduct, Paganism and the family, love and relationships and educating yourself about Paganism. This book encourages all seekers and followers to follow their own inclination and it will serve as a guide and a resource to those just starting out or those who are still seeking answers.
Download or read book Living Paganism written by Shanddaramon and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 2005-10-12 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, you will learn how to develop Pagan spiritual goals that are balanced and meaningful. Every day we experience the cycles of Earth, the moon, the sun, and the changes in life. By connecting your practice to these sacred cycles you will learn to create a meaningful and magical life.
Download or read book The Path of Paganism written by John Beckett and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2017-05-08 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paganism is a way of seeing the world and your place in it. It means challenging the assumptions of mainstream society and strengthening your relationships with the gods, the universe, your community, and your self. The Path of Paganism provides practical advice and support for honoring your values and living an authentic Pagan life in mainstream Western culture. Discover tips for establishing or deepening a regular practice. Explore how your spirituality can help you deal with life's inevitable hardships. Learn the basics of leadership roles and other steps to take as you gain experience and move into more advanced practices. With questions for contemplation as well as rituals to help you integrate new concepts, this book guides you through a profoundly meaningful way of life. Praise: "This is an absolute gem of a book! John's love of his Pagan path fills this book with incredible enthusiasm and confidence...I would recommend this book to beginners and experienced practitioners alike. Both will find many pearls of wisdom within these pages. Highly recommended."—Damh the Bard
Download or read book Paganism written by River Higginbotham and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2013-05-08 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive guide to a growing religious movement If you want to study Paganism in more detail, this book is the place to start. Based on a course in Paganism that the authors have taught for more than a decade, it is full of exercises, meditations, and discussion questions for group or individual study. This book presents the basic fundamentals of Paganism. It explores what Pagans are like; how the Pagan sacred year is arranged; what Pagans do in ritual; what magick is; and what Pagans believe about God, worship, human nature, and ethics. For those who are exploring their own spirituality, or who want a good book to give to non-Pagan family and friends A hands-on learning tool with magickal workings, meditations, discussion questions, and journal exercises Offers in-depth discussion of ethics and magick
Download or read book Constellated Ministry written by Holli S Emore and published by Equinox Publishing (UK). This book was released on 2021 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pagan traditions are the fastest-growing religious group in America, or so it has often been said since British witchcraft arrived in the late 1950s. Numbers are tricky to come by, but we know that contemporary Pagans report themselves as living in every American state, and in countries around the world. Historian Ronald Hutton is fond of pointing out that witchcraft is the one new religion that England has produced and shared globally.This volume reviews the shifting landscape of current Pagan spirituality, the unique culture and needs which must be understood in order to engage with contemporary Pagans, and the implications for future leadership, including organizational models, training and educational needs. The author has interviewed Pagan leaders about their own experiences and looks at data from the Pagan Engagement and Spiritual Support survey of 2016 to answer questions such as What does "ministry" mean for Pagans? Who do Pagans turn to for spiritual support? Who ought to be providing that support? Do Pagans want leaders who are trained for ministry? What kind of training do they need, and how do they get it?If you are a Pagan who wishes to support others in these ways, you will find here a framework for your own work, including stories and examples. If you are an interfaith minister, a chaplain, or a spiritual leader who finds that Pagans are intersecting with your work, you will become acquainted with the culture of this old-but-new spirituality. If you are an educator, may you find Constellated Ministry useful in teaching seminarians and students of religious studies.
Download or read book Pagans Christians written by Gus DiZerega and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2001 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although Christianity is still a major religious force, there are growing numbers of people in other faiths, including the various Pagan traditions. Some Christians have responded to this trend with fear and derision, while some Pagans have reacted to that fear with anger and mistrust. Much of the problem is due to misunderstandings and lack of communication. This can change with Gus diZerega's Pagans & Christians. Here you will find a penetrating and illuminating comparison, showing that neither path has the single correct approach to the Divine. Rather, either or both can be authentic and legitimate expressions of the appreciation of the Ultimate Source of All. Pagans & Christians is an ideal way to help bridge what at time seems a wide chasm between Christian and Pagan beliefs. By sharing core ideas of both paths, this book provides a way to give deeper mutual understanding and unity among the religions of the world. Although Pagans & Christians accepts both paths as valid, the book provides a more in-depth explanation of Paganism ó the minority religion because in some ways, Paganism demands a greater defense and explanation of its beliefs and ideas to dispel misunderstandings. The author is a Third Degree Gardenerian Elder and in Pagans & Christians has presented nothing less than a brilliant defense of Paganism, clearly showing how it should stand beside all of the major religions of the world as an equal. As part of this defense, diZerega gives a listing of biblical contradictions and Christian philosophical difficulties which can help any Pagan responding to a negative attack, and will help any Christian to view his or her religion as a way, not the way. Winner of the 2001 Coalition of Visionary Resources (COVR) Award for Best Non-fiction Book
Download or read book Paganism 101 written by Trevor Greenfield and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2014-02-28 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Paganism 101 is an introduction to Paganism written by 101 Pagans. Grouped into three main sections, Who we are, What we believe and What we do, twenty topics fundamental to the understanding of the main Pagan traditions are each introduced by essay and then elaborated upon by other followers and practitioners, giving the reader a greater flavor of the variety and diversity that Paganism offers. With introductory essays from leading writers such as Emma Restall Orr, Mark Townsend, Brendan Myers, Jane Meredith, Alaric Albertsson and Rachel Patterson and with supporting vignettes from those at the heart of the Pagan community, Paganism 101 offers a truly unique insight. ,
Download or read book Pagans and Practitioners written by Alf H. Walle and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2010 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biblical scholarship, like many other disciplines, has become increasingly isolated. As a result, the field has not borrowed as much from other areas of scholarship as it could have and has exerted a smaller impact upon the larger intellectual community. A significant portion of Pagans and Practitioners deals with how the New Testament can be read as a rebuttal of Pagan rivals. In doing so, greater linkages with other disciplines are reestablished. Discussion of how the tools developed by Biblical criticism can serve other, secular disciplines are provided. Collectively, this book explores how Biblical criticism can exert a greater impact upon the intellectual world.
Download or read book Voices from the Pagan Census written by Helen A. Berger and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2021-11-24 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling portrait of an emerging religious group Voices from the Pagan Census provides unprecedented insight into the expanding but largely unstudied religious movement of Neo-Paganism in the United States. Helen A. Berger, Evan A. Leach, and Leigh S. Shaffer present the findings of "The Pagan Census," which was created and distributed by Berger and Andras Corban Arthen of the Earthspirit Community. Analyzing the most comprehensive and largest-scale survey of Neo-Pagans to date, the authors offer a portrait of this emerging religious community, including an examination of Neo-Pagan political activism, educational achievements, family life, worship methods, experiences with the paranormal, and beliefs about such issues as life after death. A collection of religious groups whose practices evolved from Great Britain's Wicca movement of the 1940s, Neo-Paganism spread to the United States in the 1960s. While the number of people who identify themselves with the religion has continued to rise, quantitative study of Neo-Paganism has been difficult given the movement's lack of centralized leadership and doctrine and its development as scattered, independent groups and individuals. Endorsed by all major Neo-Pagan leaders, "The Pagan Census" generated a demographically diverse response. In contrast to most previous surveys, which were limited to Neo-Pagan festivals, this survey incorporates input from the large population of practitioners who do not participate in such events. Keenly anticipated by the academic and Neo-Pagan communities, the results of the census provide the most in-depth information about the group yet assembled. Comparing Neo-Pagans with American society at large, Berger, Leach, and Shaffer show that although the two groups share certain statistical characteristics, there are differences as well. The scholars also identify variations within the Neo-Pagan population, including those related to geography and to the movement's multiple spiritual paths.
Download or read book A Community of Witches written by Helen A. Berger and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Community of Witches explores the beliefs and practices of Neo-Paganism and Witchcraft - generally known to scholars and practitioners as Wicca. While the words "magic," "witchcraft," and "paganism" evoke images of the distant past and remote cultures, this book shows that Wicca has emerged as part of a new religious movement that reflects the era in which it developed. Imported to the United States in the late 1960s from the United Kingdom, the religion absorbed into its basic fabric the social concerns of the time: feminism, environmentalism, self-development, alternative spirituality, and mistrust of authority.
Download or read book Pagan and Earth Centered Voices in Unitarian Universalism written by Jerrie Kishpaugh Hildebrand and published by Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations. This book was released on 2017 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These 23 essays by some of the most prominent leaders in Unitarian Universalist Paganism bring Pagan and Earth-centered theo/alogy to life for a new generation. Featuring the writings of both clergy and laypeople, this vibrant collection demonstrates the many expressions of nature-based spirituality and the ways they feed the souls of so many. The essayists describe a broad array of practices, including Wiccan traditions, Neo-Pagan rituals and celebrations, worship of the divine feminine, and nature-based beliefs and practices that bring us into harmony and balance with our natural environment. Contributors also describe the development of nature-based theo/alogy within Unitarian Universalism—including the organization of the Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans, the addition of the sixth Source to the UUA bylaws recognizing Earth-centered spirituality, and the integration of Pagan practices into congregational life.
Download or read book Pagans and Philosophers written by John Marenbon and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-02-28 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ambitious history of how medieval writers came to terms with paganism From the turn of the fifth century to the beginning of the eighteenth, Christian writers were fascinated and troubled by the "Problem of Paganism," which this book identifies and examines for the first time. How could the wisdom and virtue of the great thinkers of antiquity be reconciled with the fact that they were pagans and, many thought, damned? Related questions were raised by encounters with contemporary pagans in northern Europe, Mongolia, and, later, America and China. Pagans and Philosophers explores how writers—philosophers and theologians, but also poets such as Dante, Chaucer, and Langland, and travelers such as Las Casas and Ricci—tackled the Problem of Paganism. Augustine and Boethius set its terms, while Peter Abelard and John of Salisbury were important early advocates of pagan wisdom and virtue. University theologians such as Aquinas, Scotus, Ockham, and Bradwardine, and later thinkers such as Ficino, Valla, More, Bayle, and Leibniz, explored the difficulty in depth. Meanwhile, Albert the Great inspired Boethius of Dacia and others to create a relativist conception of scientific knowledge that allowed Christian teachers to remain faithful Aristotelians. At the same time, early anthropologists such as John of Piano Carpini, John Mandeville, and Montaigne developed other sorts of relativism in response to the issue. A sweeping and original account of an important but neglected chapter in Western intellectual history, Pagans and Philosophers provides a new perspective on nothing less than the entire period between the classical and the modern world.
Download or read book Seeking the Mystery written by Christine Hoff Kraemer and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 136 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary Paganism focuses on practice, often neglecting theology. Yet belief and practice are intertwined. As the religious movement continues to grow, so does the need for intellectual frameworks for practice and ways of approaching the controversial question of belief. In this book, Christine Hoff Kraemer asks central questions about the varieties of Pagan belief: Why is multiplicity so important to contemporary Pagan understanding of deities? How do Pagans experience divinity in nature? In what way can the human body be a sacred site? And what are "virtue ethics" for Pagans? With an estimated 1.2 million Pagans in the United States and significant numbers elsewhere, Seeking the Mystery is important for Pagan self-understanding and also for non-Pagans who want to understand what their Pagan neighbors believe. This short introduction to Pagan theology--or better, theologies--is a valuable primer for students and practitioners alike.
Download or read book Introduction to Pagan Studies written by Barbara Jane Davy and published by Rowman Altamira. This book was released on 2007 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A text on the academic study of contemporary wicca and paganism throughout the world.
Download or read book The Shaken Path written by Paul Cudby and published by John Hunt Publishing. This book was released on 2017-06-30 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Despite modern Paganism being one of the fastest growing new religious movements in Britain and the USA, there is no up-to-date straightforward and informed introduction to modern Paganism from a Christian perspective. The Shaken Path addresses that gap.
Download or read book A Chronicle of the Last Pagans written by Pierre Chuvin and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Chronicle of the Last Pagans is a history of the triumph of Christianity in the Roman Empire as told from the perspective of the defeated: the adherents of the mysteries, cults, and philosophies that dominated Greco-Roman culture. With a sovereign command of the diverse evidence, Pierre Chuvin portrays the complex spiritual, intellectual, and political lives of professing pagans after Christianity became the state religion. While recreating the unfolding drama of their fate--their gradual loss of power, exclusion from political, military, and civic positions, their assimilation, and finally their persecution--he records a remarkable persistence of pagan religiosity and illustrates the fruitful interaction between Christianity and paganism. The author points to the implications of this late paganism for subsequent developments in the Byzantine Empire and the West. Chuvin's compelling account of an often forgotten world of pagan culture rescues an important aspect of our spiritual heritage and provides new understanding of Late Antiquity.
