Wiccan

[Fyre]

Does anyone know of any Wiccan covens/groups in the Soo?

[Larimar]

Sorry I have no Idea,
I know there are quite a few Wiccans out there -Usually they have an event in the summer, so I thought.
Not sure.

[Karen-Annie]

If I remember right,isn't Professor Zed Wiccan?Go on the user's list,click on that name and send a PM.

[dancingqueen]

here is her site:
http://ssmpa.org/
It's the Sault Ste. Marie Pagan association
I think they are he same thing or they are closely related... Professor zed could tell you alot more

[Fyre]

Hey thanks everyone for the replies. I'll look into them.

[ProfessorZed]

Hey Fyre!

I'm not specifically Wiccan, but I am a practicing Pagan (with a fair bit of Wiccan influence over the years), and there's a smallish community locally. Try the link DQ gave (thanks DQ!), where there's a discussion forum and some information on upcoming events.

Are you new in town, or just newly discovering this path?

Contact me any time!

[GenX]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I am a practicing Pagan </div></div>

Isn't that like being "a colorful shade of white"?

[ProfessorZed]

Speedy, for a career academic, I'm feeling sort of clueless right now. What is it, exactly, that you're getting at?

[GenX]

Well, can you 'practice paganism'?

I mean, what is it exactly Pagans believe in?

I was probably thinking more in the line of Atheist, which isn't necessarily the same thing as a Pagan.

[Larimar]

lol, what is a practicing doctor? do I reaaallyyy want a doctor to practice on me? :p hehe

I think it just means that they are practicing/doing the traditions, customs, prayers, and other things related to being a pagan. They are usually beginers-Correct me if i'm wrong. They are not all knowledgeable on every topic and I think it takes a while to go down a path and figure out everything.

http://isle-of-avalon.com/pagan.htm

I may be wrong but here's an interesteing link on what Paganism is all about.
Athiesm has no belief in a divine power, whereas Pagans do. /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

[NewCasa]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paganism

Interesting write-up on the subject.

[ProfessorZed]

Hmm, where to begin? I think the best definition is provided by the Pagan Pride Project:

A Pagan or NeoPagan is someone who self-identifies as a Pagan, and whose spiritual or religious practice or belief fits into one or more of the following categories:
* Honoring, revering, or worshipping a Deity or Deities found in pre-Christian, classical, aboriginal, or tribal mythology; and/or
* Practicing religion or spirituality based upon shamanism, shamanic, or magickal practices; and/or
* Creating new religion based on past Pagan religions and/or futuristic views of society, community, and/or ecology;
* Focusing religious or spiritual attention primarily on the Divine Feminine; and/or
* Practicing religion that focuses on earth based spirituality.

The important thing to know is that "Pagan" is more of a religious category than a specific religion, though a lot of those whose beliefs and practices don't fit one specific Pagan tradition prefer to use the umbrella term.

To use myself as an example: I'm not a reconstructionist, focused on any ancient culture, nor am I Wiccan (chiefly because I'm not a polytheist, or more specifically to Wicca, a duotheist), nor am I particularly drawn to modern occultism. There's no category for a pantheist anchored in the ritual forms of Neo-Paganism, much less one whose focus is on evolving a distinctly modern practice which avoids cultural misappropriation and misplaced romanticism, so I usually just go with "Pagan".

The "practicing" part just means that I'm active in my religion. I make the distinction because I know what it's like to reach out and try to find a community, only to find people who share your ideas but don't want to do anything about them. In my case, I'm active in the local Pagan community through my work with SSMPA, of which I'm a founding member and which sponsors the local Pagan Pride Day event annually, and by offering handfastings (Pagan weddings) among the wedding services I provide. I'm a liturgist and ritual leader by way of expertise, which in practical terms means I'm up to my elbows in my community's celebrations at any given time. Some fellow Pagans call me a priestess, but I tend to think that's sort of pompous; I say I'm just a community-minded practicing Pagan.

My apologies for the rambling, but I like to be as specific as possible.

Edited to add:
In response to DreamSpirit, it's true that most of us are still learning at any given point in our spiritual lives. There's a significant focus on learning throughout the Neo-Pagan Movement, which also extends beyond religious topics: given that it's a relatively small movement, there's a disproportionate number of highly-educated Pagans.

One more general note: there's a brilliant, highly academic, book on the evolution of modern Paganism (mostly focused on Wicca, which is fairly typical of publications on Paganism) called The Triumph of the Moon. It's by Ronald Hutton, published through the Oxford University Press. Quite a good read if you're interested in the history of the movement, which most people aren't! /ubbthreads/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif

[GenX]

So Paganism is basically an earth-centered religion, or am I reading this wrong?

[ProfessorZed]

That's a pretty fair generalization, Speedy -- at the very least, a majority of Pagans incorporate an ecological element.