Paganism, still rebuilding (Photos)

Pagans from all paths strive to attune their everyday lives with the cycles of nature. Paganism has extremely deep roots in the minds of all people from all parts of the world and all religions, and that is just one of many things that makes Paganism one of the most ancient and natural religions in the world today. Even once Christianity began taking over the world, the Pagan religions remained the majority religion in more secluded areas. Eventually, Christianity/Catholicism or other bible focused religion replaced the old religion. The church of Rome all but wiped it out. Some, mainly the wisemen/women also known as witches, quietly remained true to the old religion.

The church eventually started to purge the world of all people who did not follow their newly written bible. This created the slaughter of thousands of people, and those murders went on for hundreds of years. Even those just suspected of being a witch or of following an old religion were killed. However, this genocide did not kill off the old religions completely but they were driven underground and in many cases covens were formed by the surviving wisemen/women to preserve the old ways and the old knowledge. Generally they were kept to about 13 members, one for each full moon of the year. This kept the groups meeting locations a secret as they rarely met one place more than once in a year.

It wasn't until 1951 that the laws against Witchcraft in Britain were repealed and even here in the US there was a lot of struggle as well as most know about the well documented burning times that focused in Salem. It has taken hundreds of years for the Pagan religions to begin to recover, although prejudice is still abound in this so called modern world.

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, Tacoma Paganism Examiner

Heather (aka Shadows) is a Wiccan who follows a hereditary eclectic path that is heavily influenced by both Celtic and Native American paths. She has been practicing since the mid 90’s and in 2001 she became the High Priestess of the Coven of the Moon. Today, she lives in Tacoma Washington with...

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