In many religions, the physical and the spiritual are seen as different and separate things, and many other approaches to the spiritual are about transcending the physical in order to reach more elevated planes of existence.

This comes from the idea that things can be divided up. Mind and body are seen as separate. Male and female are two clearly defined states of being. Night and day. Reason and emotion. Spirit and matter. Good and evil. Sacred and profane, etc. However, by doing this the idea of separate, incompatible states is created, and the spiritual and material are seen as existing in opposition to each other.

Some religions tend to hold that suffering is good for the soul. Sacrifice, for example, is supposed to improve you, and it is something one should seek out at times. Having a way of relating to the world that includes a sense of spiritual reason for hard times may be helpful, but in practice most people do not want to suffer, no matter how spiritually good it is supposed to be - also any such a doctrine tends to make it easier to maintain the status quo, keeps the poor from complaining, allows the rich to feel justified in doing nothing, etc.

My understanding of spirit is based on experiencing what it does, not as some abstract concept but as an immediate, energetic form which affects me and others around me. If the spiritual is present in the physical, then life not only seems very different, but life is different and once we realise this we can experience it very differently.

Paganism includes the concept of the "immanence" of the Divine - the understanding that the Divine is here with us, and in us, and perhaps those religions that see the Divine as distant and removed - that is, as separate from the whole - are the ones which cannot be considered Pagan.

So, let go of the distinctions (mundane and sacred, magical and not magical, etc) for everything is meaningful, everything is spiritual, and if life is experience as such we are able to see the sacred in everything.

But, it doesn’t really matter if everything is actually sacred, for surely better a life based on respect and sustainability than a philosophy of greed that could cost all of us very dearly. So even if you are unable to believe that either the Divine is everywhere, or that everything is equally valuable, consider the idea that there is much merit acting as though it were so anyway. Then consider how this affects your sense of self.

So what happens if you embrace the idea that all things are full of spirit and inherently sacred? To have such an awareness of the world creates a need to step lightly, use minimally, give back and treat all others with respect.

If all things are infused with spirit and to be treated as sacred, then all of us are also infused with spirit and inherently sacred. It is an understanding that makes self-respect essential and which enables us to accept ourselves and respect others as part of the Divine.

At the end of the day, we should realise that religion and spirituality are not primarily about the gods, but about the human need for the sacred, and that sacred is around us, all we need to do is reach out...

"I know what I am fleeing from, but not what I am in search of." - Michel Eyquem De Montaigne

Determining the role of contemporary Paganism is a personal experience, moulded by the values, perceptions and experiences of each individual. Certainly, some aspects are universal, but the personal conclusion of what a Pagan is and does is ultimately the most important. This is especially true for those who feel the call of this path, for without a clear purpose in mind and spirit, a sincere following of any path is difficult at best.

There is a missing link in what the western way of life has become. Many people know intuitively that this missing link must be spiritual, yet they often fail to recognise it, and when they do many ignore it.

The answers that have been provided by science and many established religions have failed to provide the sense of homecoming for which most people long. And it is here that Paganism, in all its forms, can play a role.

Following the Pagan path allows us to find ourselves and the Divine. In Paganism the doors that lead to the paths are open and everyone can safely believe what they believe, without fear of excommunication or eternal punishment. Pagans can seek the Truth that they feel is calling to them and can listen to the whisper of their own spirit without a feeling of guilt. Pagans can follow the path where it takes them individually, instead of relying upon dogma or another person to tell them what is true.

Pagans can also, with openness and guidance, be of service by accepting (instead of merely tolerating) and even encourage the beliefs of all others, for although there are many paths, the journey is the same for all.

Science has unravelled many mysteries, and in the process has diminished our sense of wonder, but the needs of our individual spirit have not changed, the seeking has not lessened and our experiences with the Divine can be just as encompassing as it ever was.

The human spirit is ever expanding and it longs to connect with other spirits. Many people have forgotten to listen to the guidance of their own spirit and look instead to temporal things to ease the longing they are only subconsciously aware of.

The human spirit is constantly in a state of oneness with the Divine. This too, too many have forgotten. We should remember that our spirit embraces us and we are one with it, and with the Divine it forms a sacred bond, and it is this bond that already holds the answers we seek.

"People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within." - Ramona L. Anderson

I may be a non-practising Pagan.

I have never attended a rite with anyone else but my immediate family, and I do not follow any set procedures, routines or times when it comes to “communing” with Divinity.

A non-practicing Pagan is defined as a person that self-identifies as Pagan but who does not attend or perform regular rituals and who follows no regular routine of rites.

But is this a fair assessment?

Is a Pagan made by the rites and rituals he/she attends and performs?

The average practising Pagan, according to Witchvox, observes ritual a mere 8 times a year. A smaller group of practitioners, often Wiccans, also turn out for Esbats, and a seemingly trivial number of “diehards” attend/perform ritual on the 13 New Moons as well. This means that a considerable number of Pagans are celebrating the Divine 8 or 21 - or at best 34 times a year. At the most, this is less than 3 times a month - less than the standard weekly worship tradition of Christians, and much less than the weekly worship tradition of Muslims (merely a quantitative and not a qualitative observation).

Doesn’t that, in a very broad sense, qualify many Pagans as “non-practising”? Shouldn't the goal be to commune with the Divine on a regular basis? But then again, does it really need to be done in a fully ritualised fashion each and every time?

My spirituality is defined by intent, and not by mandated procedures for I accept the sacredness in and of all creation.

So isn’t a spontaneous “hello” to the Divine - creating an instant of timelessness which allows us to slip between the mundane and the spiritual - enough?

No routine, no special time, just our spirit telling us that the now is indeed the right time and the right place to commune with Divinity for surely the time and the place is always right.

Witchcraft is the most benign of all the silly religions

Please don't lump witches in with Jedi

Tanya Gold
The Guardian, Tuesday 16 February 2010

Last weekend, a photograph of a witch appeared next to a newspaper story about the 2011 census. This census is reportedly in jeopardy because of "prank responses to questions": 400,000 people listed their religion as "Jedi" in 2001, "in addition to 7,000 people who said they were witches". I paused. Why are witches bunged together with Jedi in the mock-me-I'm-a-twit corner? Why are they being fingered for the disappearance of the census, an institution so boring that, if it were a sport, no one would watch it?

I know it's easy to laugh at witches. You could say they invite it, although all people who malign minorities would say the minorities invite it. I once met a witch wand-maker who took wood only with the tree's permission and offered gifts – usually tobacco – in return, even though trees are not known to smoke cigarettes. "Trees breathe twice a day," he said. Kevin Carlyon, who calls himself the High Priest of British White Witches, believes the human race originated on Mars and that he personally protects the Loch Ness monster.

Another witch has told me that when the Nazis were planning to invade Britain in 1940, the witches sent a "don't invade" spell across the Channel to destroy the Nazis' evil plans. Yet another suggested that, should I develop a wart, I was to bury a Plasticine wart at a crossroads and then the genuine wart would melt away. In all this, I suppose, witches can be lumped together with the Jedi and their insane veneration of the late Alec Guinness as a deity.

But there is more to witchcraft than zapping warts and hexing tyrants. The Pagan Federation, the umbrella organisation for British pagans, does have a PR department, and it sends off emails when they feel particularly aggrieved, such as when someone called Jade Goody a witch on GMTV in 2006. But mostly they are prepared to take the flak from their old enemies, the Sunday papers and Christianity, because it's better now than it used to be. Today, there are pagan oaths in court and pagan chaplains in hospitals and prisons. No witch has been imprisoned for sorcery in Britain since 1944; no witch has been executed since 1727.

But still I feel an urge to defend the witches. Of all the silly religions – and I think that all religions are silly – I believe that witchcraft is the least dangerous and the most benign. It is also the least understood.

This is partly because witches have to be secretive to avoid being mocked, fired or burned. Coming out as a witch today is called "coming out of the broom-closet". It is also because no one is sure whether witchcraft is a modern construct that appeared after the repeal of the Witchcraft Act in 1951, or merely the continuation of Britain's pre-Christian paganism. Furthermore, witches disagree on many issues, and different sects – "traditions" – like to fight among themselves. This is called "bitchcraft". One witch told me, on the record, that he thought Carlyon was "an idiot".

But the things that witches do agree on are benevolent. Witchcraft is the ultimate eco-religion. Witches love our planet. They are pagans who worship the stones and the trees through the prism of their god and goddess, by practising "the art magical". I don't know what this is exactly, because no witch would tell me. It sounds odd, and very time-consuming, but not dangerous. There are no witch Jihadis, and few witch proselytisers.

But I have seen Kate West, author of The Real Witches Handbook, harangue an audience at the Witchfest convention in Croydon to bully politicians into action on global warming, long before it was fashionable. "Go away and turn into a group of nagging witches," she shouted, dressed, incredibly self-referentially, as Grotbags from Emu's World. "We sing to the Mother Goddess and follow her through the cycles of the seasons. But do we stick up for her when she is in trouble?" She then laid into the curse of spray-can incense and battery-powered "flickering" candles – witches, on the whole, do not care about money.

Witchcraft is also a religion that venerates the female. During the witch trials, odd, different or freethinking women – outsiders – were tortured and murdered; it's all in the Vincent Price classic Witchfinder General (1968). Many female witches told me they were drawn in for this reason: there are no shaven heads in witchcraft, no shrouding of the female, no submission to the male. I suspect even Jedis think men are superior to women – the worship of the lightsaber is a telling clue.

But don't witches believe in the devil? I spent an evening with a witch in Hastings once. We watched Inspector Morse while he told me that "witches do not believe in Satan and they do not believe in the devil" every five minutes, like a malfunctioning witch-themed robot. But don't they practise dark magic? Well, they claim they can but most don't, because they believe any evil spell will rebound three times on them. "I could turn someone into a frog," I was told, "but what would be the point?"

It is true that witches often like to practise naked – they call it being "sky-clad". Isn't this a bit dodgy; more fuel for the salivating Sunday papers? When I asked another witch about this, he freaked out. "People always say this," he spluttered. "They think that because there is nudity, there has to be sex. It is absolutely untrue. You exude power from the body. And when you are sky-clad, there is no rank." It is only a form of saggy democracy and, he added, 50% of witches like to keep a robe on anyway.

"No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." - Alice Walker

Why do you suppose so much energy and time is spent on convincing others that one’s particular beliefs are valid?

Why do we care what others think of our beliefs? Can and should any one person define the beliefs of others? Can any one person hold up a spiritual experience and claim that this should be the accepted norm for all?

Have you ever heard a Bushman/American native/Australian aborigine/etc trying to convince the world that their belief is the only way? Of course not, they simply incorporate their spiritual beliefs into their everyday lives in such a way that there is an unbroken flow of spiritual rhythm, and do not give a hoot whether or not outsiders find their spirituality genuine.

This same matter of fact acceptance can be found in many lesser-known beliefs around the world. They are considered lesser-known only because they have neither need nor desire to seek out the approval of others. And the reson is simple: they know that beliefs are very much a personal quest and not need not the empowerment of peers or the rest of the world.

They fully comprehend that each of us is responsible for our own spiritual awakening and growth, and that mistakes will be made – it is, however, what we learn from our mistakes and how we proceed from that lesson to the next that marks personal development.

"To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly." - Henri Bergson