1. What is a Pagan? Christian Magic/Witchcraft Religion Islamic Judaism
Dying and reborn God
Magic/Witchcraft
Pagan cultural influences
Religion
Islamic
Judaism
Allah
“no other Gods”
Historical (paleo) Pagans
European
Indigenous/Slavic
Middle Eastern
Indian
Eastern
Polytheistic
Shamanism
Polytheistic/tribal
Hindu
Taoism
Mystical/Rationalist
Zoroastrian
Buddhism
Buddhism
Monotheistic
Shinto
State-based/cultic
Christianity
Early Christian
Gnostic Christianity
Mystical Judaism (Cabbala)
Greek, Roman, Egyptian Magical Traditions
Folk Traditions
Middle Ages
European Occult Traditions
Renaissance/Reformation
Formal/High/Ritual/Demonic
Cunning/Folk/Witch
1700s
Secret Societies
Masons
Surviving Folk Traditions
Traditionalist practices (non-Gardnarian)
Spiritualism
Romanticism
CAW/Green Egg/Otter Zell
1800s
Golden Dawn
Rosicrucian
Theosophy
Naturalist movement
Z Budapest/Starhawk/Adler
1900s
Aleister Crowley
Gerald Gardner
Doreen Valiente
Druid reconstructionist
©2007 ED McGrady

2. Ways to define “Pagan”
Nature worship (worship of the immanent divine) and humanism
Paganism includes:
A number of both male and female Gods
Magical practice
Ritual efficacy (i.e. stuff works)
Corprospirituality (divine spark)
The Gods and humans as co-dependent and related
The immanent divine, as opposed to a transcendent divine
Veneration of nature, or even veneration as a behavior itself

3. Etymologies
Pagan: “villager, rustic: civilian non-militant” vs. “soldier, one in the army” - Tertullian coined the term in 202 in De Corona Militis (Militis = “enrolled soldiers” of Christ)
A “rural rustic” with left over old religious habits has largely been discredited as Pagan religion was still the law when the word was coined
Witch: (wicca, wytch) derived from (OE) wiccan -> weg? (awake)
Proposals that it derives from “wita” (OE wise) are not terribly strong
Witch: (wic, wice, wyc) - Teutonic wik (IE wei) - to bend
Not very clear how it was actually applied, often referred to as “wise”
Heathen: Perhaps the correct term, meaning “not one of the book religions” but has a pejorative connotation

4. Exercise - Spiritual Journey
Take a piece of blank paper
Draw a line on it
Put a mark at the beginning of the line
Put a mark at the end
With the end representing death, and the beginning representing birth, put a mark where you think you are now
Now put marks at the following points:
Where you first thought of yourself as religious
Where you first thought of yourself as a spiritual being
Where you first began to question or doubt what you had been told about religion
Where you first found out about magic and the “occult”
Where you thought about earth-centered religions
Now think about some new milestones, and mark those down
What would you want to experience? When?
What do you want to change? When?
What do you want to do? When?
Now answer the following questions:
What are the key questions, events, or beliefs that led me to where I am?
What am I interested in exploring now?
What am I doing here in this class? How does it advance my goals?
What do I expect to become in the end?