Literary device and devisiveness

*Literary device and devisiveness*

Paganism means a great deal of things to a great many people. But
calling yourself a Pagan simply is not enough. Paganism is not a
catch-all phrase for 'anything goes'.

In October I was challenged by a small group of solitary Pagans on an
online chat group for stating that members of two of the largest South
African Pagan organisations do not regard Vampirism as a Pagan religion.
Vampirism properly belongs in the realm of fiction and urban legend, not
Pagan religion. Unfortunately too many young and impressionable Pagans
jump on the Pagan band-wagon precisely because they believe being a
Pagan entitles them to believe anything they want, live without rules,
ethics, credible theology and common sense.

But for Pagans who have reclaimed the term (from its very broad
Christian usage), Paganism is 'the restoration and reconstruction of
indigenous European religions'.

"In central Europe Pagans identify an ethnic group with a nation and
thus, for some of them, Paganism means nationalism or more precisely,
ethnic nationalism." [1]

A religion, according to Wikipedia, "is a set of tenets and practices,
often centered upon specific supernatural and moral claims about
reality, the cosmos and human nature, and often codified as prayer,
ritual, or religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral or
cultural traditions, writings, history and mythology, as well as
personal faith and religious experience. The term religion refers to
both the personal practices related to communal faith and to group
rituals and communication stemming from shared conviction." [2]

NOTE: Religion - not to be confused with anarchy (meaning "without ruler
or measure").

Of course there are many who would argue the measure of Paganism must of
necessity encompass authentic reconstructed European pagan religions
such as Asatru, Druidry, Hellenic Polytheism, Romana. [3] But many
international polytheistic reconstructionists would love to exclude
Wicca and other neo-Pagan religions [4] on the grounds that
Reconstructionism's attempt to rebuild historically verified European
polytheistic pagan religions stands in contrast with modern syncretic
movements such as Wicca. [5]

In South Africa a majority of Pagans self-define as either 'Witch' or
'Wiccan'. If I accept the exclusion of Wicca and Witchcraft from the
polytheistic reconstructionists list of credible Pagan religions, I
would be forced to exclude every self-defined South African Pagan who
defines as Wiccan / Witch, including myself. I'm not about to do that
just to satisfy someone else's desire to suppress modern expressions of
Pagan syncretism.

The exclusion of syncretic movements is, in my opinion, a mistake.
Syncretism is no stranger to ancient pagan religions. Many authentic
European pagan religions (including Hellenism and Romana) embraced
syncretisms - borrowing and merging different practices, ideas, beliefs
and philosophies - by combining local indigenous religious beliefs and
customs with imported Eastern cult practices and beliefs.

Commercialised Wicca often bears little resemblance to authentic Celtic
influences, especially when it's inter-woven with new-age philosophies
and beliefs that find no origin in either ancient Pagan religions or
consensus reality. Wicca is indeed a new religion, but many credible
evolutions have taken place within Wicca since Gardner's syncretic
creation. These forms of Wicca cannot be dismissed from Paganism on the
basis of excluding syncretism.

Academic research of ancient European religions and belief systems must
certainly play an important role for any serious scholar of Paganism and
some Pagan reconstructions are certainly more "authentic" academically
than others. But it would be foolish to discount modern syncretic
reconstructions as inferior or un-Pagan until you've actually thoroughly
examined what has been constructed.

Paganism is the restoration and reconstruction of indigenous European
religions and in South Africa, it does include Witchcraft and Wicca,
whether you like it or not.

"No group of pagans ever called themselves "the faithful". There was
also no pagan concept of heresy - to pagans the term meant a school of
thought rather than a false and pernicious doctrine. Among pagans, the
opposite of heterodoxy was not orthodoxy but homodoxy, meaning agreement."
Robin Lane Fox - 'Pagans and Christians'

References:

[1] "Christians, go home!"
http://www.wlu.ca/documents/6483/Christians_Go_home.pdf

[2] Definition of Religion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion

[3] Definition of Paganism
http://www.religioustolerance.org/alt_mean1.htm

[4] The following is a short-list of recognised Pagan religions
sometimes refered to as Neo-Pagan (modern Pagan):

Balkan Traditional Witchcraft
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Agora/8933/vestice.html

The Faery Faith (Feri)
http://www.feritradition.org/FAQ.htm

Pecti- or Pictish Witchcraft (Scottish)
http://www.tylwythteg.com/pict1.html

Dianic Witchcraft
http://www.articlesbase.com/religion-articles/dianic-witchcraft-the-hist...
http://www.thesilvercrescent.org/

Seax-Wicca (Saxon)
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=ustn&c=trads&id=3276

Correllian Nativist Tradition
http://www.correllian.com/

The Minoan Tradition
http://www.witchvox.com/va/dt_va.html?a=usny&c=trads&id=3600