PAGANS OF WAKEFIELD

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The Wakefield Unitarian Chapel Westgate, Wakefield, WF1 1XR

Contact: Krystal, Wakefield local co-ordinator

Tel: 07719 364318

Email: freaky_tree@hotmail.com

Paganism is an ‘umbrella’ for many paths and traditions that follow similar principles.

Basic Principles

1. Forms of the Divine

If you were to look up the word “Pagan” in any dictionary it would probably say that “they” are polytheistic. In some cases this is true, some Pagans believe in many Gods and Goddesses, from one particular pantheon or from several, some like to “mix and match”; however, polytheistic pagans are not always the norm!

Some Pagans are monotheistic, believing in the supremacy of the Goddess or that of an inconceivable, indescribable creator force that is asexual (this monotheistic conceptualisation of the Divine in Paganism often comes as a shock to many, as paganism is often seen in opposition to other monotheistic religions e.g. Christianity).

Sitting between these two views are those who would classify themselves as duotheistic, looking for and valuing balance; where there is a Goddess, there must be a God. Some mix Animism (where everything has a “soul”), Pantheism (where “Nature” is the Divine) and Panentheism (where “Nature” is the manifest aspect of the Divine). Others avoid Deity concepts altogether, preferring to work with the natural, classical elements instead. Some “mix and match” their concepts as they see the differing needs of a situation.

Wherever we would place ourselves on this spectrum of concepts one thing that is strikingly different between our paths and those of “mainstream” religious movements is the fact that our concept of Divinity is not wholly transcendent; we are not down here and they, whoever or whatever they may be, are not somewhere else, in some “better” place. The Divine is also within us and everything else; it is omnipresent, immanent. It is the soul within us, our higher self. Through our travel on this path we strive to “nourish” this divine spark, to improve ourselves so that we can advance towards the divine, whatever our concept of it may be.

Paganism accommodates this flexibility in belief structures primarily because it is not limited by dogma, and the fact that many Pagans are “open-minded” and “flexible” in their approach to deity.
So how do we “nourish” our divine spark, how do we celebrate and “worship” the divine. Most Pagan religious observances are built around the flow of the seasons, directly linking into the natural world and its tides, known by some as the Wheel of the Year.

2. Wheel of the Year

There are eight festivals, or Sabbats, that make up the Wheel of the Year

The Quarter Points - the Equinoxes and the Solstices: Yule (21st December), Ostara (21st March), Litha (21st June), and Mabon (21st September). These are the solar festivals because they relate to the strength and position of the sun throughout the seasons.

Yule: This is the longest night of the year, when we ask for the return of the sun, light and life to the world. We light a Yule log to encourage the light to return.

Ostara: When the length of day and night are in balance, a time to welcome spring. Most of the traditions relate to fertility and the renewal of life force, e.g. “Easter” eggs.

Litha: This is the longest day of the year, when we celebrate growth, fruitfulness, abundance, and strength. We often light bonfires to celebrate the sun. It is worth noting that this is an auspicious time for magick, as many of the natural ingredients that may be used are at the height of their potency.

Mabon: Day and night are in balance again but the light is waning. This is one of two “harvest festivals” that are celebrated in the wheel, the other being the cross-quarter festival of Lammas.

The Cross-quarter Points - the Fire festivals: Imbolc (2nd February), Beltaine (1st May), Lammas (1st August) and Samhain (31st October). These are agricultural festivals, that tend to mark key moments in the planting, growing and harvesting of crops.

Imbolc: The amount of daylight is growing and winter shall soon be gone. We often light candles during this festival as a symbol of the growing light.

Beltaine: This festival celebrates sexuality and fertility. It celebrates male and female energies coming together to produce children, crops and livestock. Dancing around the maypole, a distinctly phallic symbol, is a traditional pagan practice during this festival.

Lammas: This is the first harvest festival, and celebrates the first grains of corn harvested for the baking of bread (“loaf mass”), and so plenty of bread is baked and eaten at this festival.

Samhain: This festival marks the beginning of the dark half of the year, and the traditional New Year of the Pagan calendar. It celebrates the end of the harvest, and it is when we honour our ancestors and the dead.

These are not the only festivals that some pagans may honour; some will observe the Esbats, which are the thirteen full moons of the year. Others will honour the days that are sacred to their patron god or goddess.

3. Magick

Not all pagans practice magick, to others it is an integral part of their pagan path. Magick is like ‘active prayer’. I could sit idly by and just ask for something and expect to get it... I doubt the forces that be would look kindly at me sitting there doing nothing but expecting them to provide for me.

However, if I do something practical, even if it is something as symbolic as lighting a candle I have at least done something towards what I have asked them for and put some thought into my goal and how best to symbolise it upon my altar, what colour candle to use, what symbols to carve on it, what oils to anoint it with, etc, etc, etc; it may or may not work, but by thinking about and doing something towards it, the Gods are more likely to look favourably on it.

It also helps if you help yourself, you can burn all the candles you like, but you will never get the new job you want if you do not fill in the application forms... once the forms are in then the magick should be applied, not before!

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