Considering the differences between those who are held up as examples to follow among Christians and pagans can be illuminating. Christians hold up as examples Jesus and his saintly disciples. The most common Christian image held up of Jesus is as the suffering and crucified one dying or hanging dead on a cross. Whether the image is a crucifix or ( Read more... )

Please note that I use the word “pagan” and not “Pagan”, “Paganism” or “Neo-Paganism.” I think of Paganism or Neo-Paganism as a religion. I personally am not interested in leaving one religion, like Christianity, for another religion called Paganism or Neo-Paganism. In my opinion, part of what it means to be pagan is living an integrated life ( Read more... )

“The challenge of the Renaissance was not the recovery of the past, but finding the spark that had given it life… the flame had to be rekindled.” -Malcolm Bull, The Mirror of the Gods: How Renaissance Artists Rediscovered the Pagan Gods.

The quote from Malcolm Bull’s book led me to ask what was the spark that rekindled the flame of pagan life during ( Read more... )

I have no interest in returning to the past, reviving the past or reconstructing the past. I am interested in the present and the rebirth of all earthly life in all of its fullness. I am interested in life free from authoritarian oppression, exploitation and destruction.

What inspires me about the Renaissance is that it was a rebirth of the human ( Read more... )

"Renaissance historians rejected the medieval tripartite division of history that began with the creation, followed by the incarnation and the anticipated last judgment. The Renaissance vision of history was also tripartite: It began with antiquity, followed by the Middle Ages and then the golden age of rebirth that had just begun. Whereas medieval ( Read more... )

Reconstructionism?

Pagan* Reconstructionists are honest about the fact that their religion was destroyed by Christians and lies in ruins. Out of the rubble of the ruins they try to reconstruct their religion. Their devotion to their rubble is passionate. They despise the adulteration of their tradition by borrowing pieces from other traditions to ( Read more... )