Modern Paganism

**Modern Paganism**, also known as
**Contemporary Paganism** and **Neopaganism**, is a group of new
religious movements influenced by or claiming to be derived from the
various historical pagan beliefs of pre-modern Europe. (Note other
polytheisms such as from the east are generally not referred to as
paganism). Although they do share similarities, contemporary Pagan
religious movements are diverse and no single set of beliefs,
practices, or texts are shared by them all. Most academics studying
the phenomenon have treated it as a movement of different religions,
whereas a minority instead characterize it as a single religion into
which different Pagan faiths fit as denominations. Not all members of
faiths or beliefs regarded as Neopagan self-identify as "Pagan".
One of the common symbols associated with many forms is the pentagram
or pentacle, usually inscribed in a circle. Though different forms
have their own symbols.

## General Info

Adherents rely on pre-Christian,
folkloric and ethnographic sources to a variety of degrees; many
follow a spirituality which they accept as being entirely modern,
while others attempt to reconstruct or revive indigenous, ethnic
religions as found in historical and folkloric sources as accurately
as possible. Academic research has placed the Pagan movement along a
spectrum, with Eclecticism on one end and Polytheistic
Reconstructionism on the other. Polytheism, animism, and pantheism
are common features in Pagan theology. Rituals take place in both
public and in private domestic settings. Some practitioners eschew
the term "Pagan" altogether, choosing not to define
themselves as such, but rather under the more specific name of their
religion, like Heathen. This is because the term "Pagan"
has its origins in Christian terminology, which the Pagans wish to
avoid. Some favor the term "ethnic religion" over
"Paganism."

Note of course that the commonality of
pantheism for a lot of modern versions is something that may fly in
the face of certain classical paganisms, which many of were strictly
polytheistic. One reason for this modern pantheistic slant is that
many of these modern groups do not take the gods as literal, or say
that while you may or may not do so, their literalness may not be the
point of the religion. (some other modern pagan groups are however
mostly literalist). And since many of them may not consider the gods
absolutely worthy beings that all spirituality is based on, the
pantheistic slant is used to provide context for the spirituality.
This obviously often has a heavy jungian element involved.
Nonetheless many neopagans consider the gods tangible entities.

In terms of megaten, this obviously is
an important concept to make sense of its religions. Note that this
also even to a lesser degree includes the Messian religion, since in
the end it does contain many polytheistic gods, and despite the
monotheistic slant its really still treated more like a transtheistic
blend of multiple gods + pantheism (though even god figures on it
tend to act more like saints or angels than gods, reflecting more
christianization and incorporation of pagan elements into
christianity than the other way around). And of course the fact that
many modern paganisms are neutral as to whether the gods tangibly
exist or not, saying that their archetypal presence as patterns in
reality and ideas provides context for spirituality regardless, and
through a pantheistic light obviously resembles heavily how the
religions are seen in game. Since of course the gods in-plot are
presented in this way where they obviously can be interpreted both
literally as well as representations of ideas. And since the games
are placed in a future of a world much like ours, we can likewise
assume that the prevalence of people praying to many gods who fell
off the radar in our own world is them going back to them when they
were previously lost religious orientations. So there are a lot of
parralels.

Though note that eastern religions are generally not
called paganism. And most of the in game religions tend to revolve
more around monotheism and eastern religions and their philosophy,
even if in a post christian or post buddhist / etc mindset. So the in
game religions do not that highly resemble neopaganism. Though
perhaps gaianism does moreso than others. Having an appearance that
looks (sometimes, though not always) western, and at times very
pagan, and often most explicitly calling to mind past pre christian
beliefs and complaining about christian demonization. Nonetheless,
there are some strong parallels, and aradia even shows up in
nocturne, as a named character. Being herself a neopagan exclusive
concept, this obviously is meant to include that into the overall
worldview in some sense.

Another important aspect that often
shows up in modern paganism is that of placing humans within the
spiritual hierarchy to some degree rather than outside of it looking
in. Although this was not present in all historical polytheisms, as
well as not present in all forms of modern paganism, this idea in a
sense revolves around a reaction to christian ideas which they
consider self depreciating, making all spirituality necessarily
oriented to god, as if humans' own inner natures were not
meaningfully included. Some modern paganisms include humans, and
their inner spirituality as relevant within the overall pantheistic
system just as the gods are. This obviously has relevance for megaten
as well, both for pantheistic reasons as well as the humanist or
transtheist slants of some aspects, but more explicitly due to the
fact that even the tangible sentient gods are obviously symbiotically
related to humans, making humans themselves central to the spiritual
nature of their reality.

Note that since modern paganisms can be
oriented to many pantheons, or even eclectic, we won't bother giving
a ton of detail about the aspects that align with specific pagan
religions here. We'll just give a simple overview of the elements
that are common to many neopaganisms.

One more note is that though the
ancient philosophy schools generally contained members who believed
in the polytheistic gods, people who practice modern variants of
ancient philosophies such as stoicism and epicureanism are not
labeled under the label of modern paganism. This being the case
generally even if they still believe in gods. Paganism being a label
for the main focus on the ancient religions themselves. Neopaganisms
generally do not reference the philosophy schools heavily, though
occasionally they borrow some concepts from them. These two trends
being considered for the most part distinct.

Strmiska stressed that modern Paganism was a
"new", "modern" religious movement, even if some
of its "content" derived from ancient sources. Contemporary
Paganism as practiced in the United States in the 1990s has been
described as "a synthesis of historical inspiration and
present-day creativity". Eclectic Paganism takes an undogmatic
religious stance, and therefore potentially see no one as having
authority to deem a source apocryphal. Contemporary paganism has
therefore been prone to fakelore (inauthentic, manufactured folklore
presented as if it were genuinely traditional.), especially in recent
years as information and misinformation alike have been spread on the
Internet and in print media. A number of Wiccan, pagan and even some
Traditionalist or Tribalist groups have a history of Grandmother
Stories – typically involving initiation by a Grandmother,
Grandfather, or other elderly relative who is said to have instructed
them in the secret, millennia-old traditions of their ancestors. As
this secret wisdom can almost always be traced to recent sources,
tellers of these stories have often later admitted they made them up.

Many of course fall in the middle, due
to the fact that even if one tries to reconstruct the religion itself
in a literal form, certain aspects such as the moral frameworks of
people of earlier times will be seen as outdated, and so they will
need to adapt to modern collections. Obviously megaten's religions
lean more towards eclecticism, since different aspects of many
religions show up on the sides, due to globalization. Though there
are certain exceptions, such as in strange journey's chaos end, it
seems like to some degree they are trying to turn back the clock to
try to recreate almost entirely an earlier time. Though even then
there may still be some eclecticism due to the gods having all spread
out.

On the reconstructionist side can be
placed those movements which often favour the designation "Native
Faith", including **Romuva, Heathenry,** and **Hellenism**. On the
eclectic side has been placed **Wicca, Thelema, Adonism, Druidry**, the
**Goddess Movement, Discordianism,** and **Christopaganism**. Strmiska also
suggested that this division could be seen as being often based on
"discourses of identity", with reconstructionists
emphasizing a deep-rooted sense of place and people whereas eclectics
embrace a universality and openness toward humanity and the Earth.

Note that thelema is often associated
with neo paganism, despite also being considered a form of satanism.
This being because certain satanisms do consider themselves a form of
paganism in the sense of depicting their demons as originally
positive figures who became demonized by christianity. Though certain
attributes and specific tones are required for something to also be
considered a form of satanism, and most neopagans reject any satanic
association.

One view in the Pagan community is that
these polytheistic deities are not viewed as literal entities, but as
Jungian archetypes or other psychological constructs that exist in
the human psyche. Others obviously see them as entirely literal. And
a third group balances this, and has the belief that the deities have
both a psychological and external existence. This can be made sense
of in the sense of seeing them as archetypes, but seeing real beings
as capable of corresponding to the archetypal forms to varying
degrees, some embodying them fully. Which obviously this ambiguity
and overlapping heavily represents how they appear in megaten.
Obviously some neopagan groups simply have no official stance,
allowing people to be any of the three options.

Many Pagans believe adoption of a
polytheistic world-view would be beneficial for western society –
replacing the dominant monotheism they see as innately repressive,
due to implying only a single ideal, and by extension little room for
discussion. In fact, many American neopagans first came to their
adopted faiths because it allowed a greater freedom, diversity, and
tolerance of worship among the community. This pluralistic
perspective has helped the varied factions of modern Paganism exist
in relative harmony. Most Pagans adopt an ethos of "unity in
diversity" regarding their religious beliefs. There are of
course still strife between them of course, such as for example in
cases where some use neopaganism to represent racist ideals, and
others heavily disagree with this usage.

There are exceptions to polytheism in
Paganism, as seen for instance in the form of Ukrainian Paganism
promoted by Lev Sylenko, which is devoted to a monotheistic
veneration of the god Dazhbog. Note that in megaten, some gods who
were considered closer to monotheism end up considered heavily
related to the law side, such as amaterasu.

Note, duotheism is a concept that
sometimes shows up also in some forms of neopaganism, saying that all
gods derive from a primal god and goddess. Though many historical
paganisms had goddesses, many still associated weakness with
femininity. But a common trend in neopaganism is to try to reverse
this attitude. Note obviously that in game in a vague sense that yhvh
and mem aleph are kind of treated as a primal god and goddess.
Despite obviously not being on the same side.

Various archetypes show up in modern paganism, some of which are uniquely modern, or given emphasis that is different than that in the ancient world. One such idea is the idea of the triple goddess. While goddesses as a triple group existed in the past, the emphasis on it as a specific archetype comes from robert graves, who codified a lot of the archetypical ways that modern paganism often views things. The triple godess as he described its application to ancient greece collectively used the name demeter for the three godesses composing it. This provides a potential esoteric basis for "young demeter" as seen in redux.

### Animism and Pantheism

**Animism** and **Pantheism** A key
part of most Pagan worldviews is the holistic concept of a universe
that is interconnected. This is connected with a belief in either
pantheism or panentheism. In both beliefs divinity and the material
and/or spiritual universe are interrelated, or that the universe is
itself part of the larger divinity or identical with it. For many
pagans, pantheism means that "divinity is inseparable from
nature and that deity is immanent in nature". Interestingly, the
inclusion of this comes in part form influence from monotheistic
philosophy trying to make sense of divinity as unified. So whereas
classical paganisms often just held gods as totally distinct
entities, many modern pagans use the pantheism to relate them to a
place in part of the larger whole, even if the whole is not embodied
by any one god. Pagan religions commonly exhibit a metaphysical
concept of an underlying order that pervades the universe, such as
the concept of harmonia embraced by Hellenists and that of Wyrd found
in Heathenry.

Another pivotal belief in the
contemporary Pagan movement is that of animism. This has been
interpreted in two distinct ways among the Pagan community. First, it
can refer to a belief that everything in the universe is imbued with
a life force or spiritual energy. In contrast, some contemporary
Pagans believe that there are specific spirits that inhabit various
features in the natural world, and that these can be actively
communicated with. Some Pagans have reported experiencing
communication with spirits dwelling in rocks, plants, trees and
animals, as well as power animals or animal spirits who can act as
spiritual helpers or guides. Animism was also a concept common to
many pre-Christian European religions, and in adopting it,
contemporary Pagans are attempting to "reenter the primeval
worldview" and participate in a view of cosmology "that is
not possible for most Westerners after childhood".

Such views have also led many pagans to
revere the planet Earth as Mother Earth, who is often referred to as
Gaia after the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth. And they often
have an environmentalist slant because of this. Obviously note that
the explicit use of the term gaia resembles the gaians.

### Practices

**Ritual**. Pagan ritual can take place
in both a public and private setting. Contemporary Pagan ritual is
typically geared towards "facilitating altered states of
awareness or shifting mind-sets". In order to induce such
altered states of consciousness, pagans utilize such elements as
drumming, visualization, chanting, singing, dancing, and meditation.
American folklorist Sabina Magliocco came to the conclusion, based
upon her ethnographic fieldwork in California that certain Pagan
beliefs often "arise from what they experience during religious
ecstasy". Note that in megaten, while there are public churches,
people are occasionally also seen doing private rituals in smaller
areas, either by themselves or in small groups.

Sociologist Margot Adler highlighted
how several Pagan groups, like the Reformed Druids of North America
and the Erisian movement incorporate a great deal of play in their
rituals rather than having them be completely serious and somber. She
noted that there are those who would argue that "the Pagan
community is one of the only spiritual communities that is exploring
humor, joy, abandonment, even silliness and outrageousness as valid
parts of spiritual experience".

Domestic worship typically takes place
in the home and is carried out by either an individual or family
group. It typically involves offerings – including bread, cake,
flowers, fruit, milk, beer, or wine – being given to images of
deities, often accompanied with prayers and songs and the lighting of
candles and incense. Common Pagan devotional practices have thus been
compared to similar practices in Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Roman
Catholicism, and Orthodox Christianity, but contrasted with that in
Protestantism, Judaism, and Islam. Although animal sacrifice was a
common part of pre-Christian ritual in Europe, it is rarely practiced
in contemporary Paganism. (Note that in megaten, blood sacrifices do
actually show up in plots, and sacrifices of life either willingly or
unwillingly are seen as something that gives actual power).

**Festival**. Paganism's public rituals
are generally calendrical, although the pre-Christian festivals that
Pagans use as a basis varied across Europe. Nevertheless, common to
almost all Pagan religions is an emphasis on an agricultural cycle
and respect for the dead. Common Pagan festivals include those
marking the summer solstice and winter solstice as well as the start
of spring and the harvest. In Wicca, a Wheel of the Year has been
developed which typically involves eight seasonal festivals.

**Magic** and **Witchcraft**. The
belief in magical rituals and spells is held by a "significant
number" of contemporary Pagans. Among those who believe in
magic, there are a variety of different views as to what magic is.
Many Neopagans adhere to the definition provided by Aleister Crowley,
founder of Thelema, who defined magick[sic] as "the Science and
Art of causing change to occur in conformity with Will". Also
accepted by many is the related definition purported by ceremonial
magician Dion Fortune, who declared "magic is the art and
science of changing consciousness according to the Will".

Among those who practice magic are
Wiccans, those who identify as Neopagan Witches, and practitioners of
some forms of revivalist Neo-druidism, the rituals of whom are at
least partially based upon those of ceremonial magic and freemasonry.
Some obviously believe in magic merely as an archetypal practice, but
others see it as generating tangible effects.

Not all Neopagans consider witchcraft
an acceptable part of spiritual or even magical practice. Some ethnic
traditions that can be considered Neopagan embrace the use of charms,
healing and other metaphysical practices that benefit their
communities, but reject the term witchcraft as they adhere to the
traditional view in their cultures that witchcraft describes only
harmful magic performed for selfish ends. These variations in
nomenclature are one of many ways that traditional and
reconstructionist traditions differ from the more Wicca-based
Neopagan communities.

**Racism**? For some modern pagan
groups, ethnicity is central to their religion, and they often
restrict membership to those who are of the same ethnic group as
themselves. This obviously being based on the fact that for religions
which did not profess to be universal and spread themselves, the gods
as they saw them were obviously only shared by specific people. And
while they might accept that other people followed the same gods,
under different forms they might consider their specific religious
orientation to be about an inner community relation. Critics of this
position have described this exclusionary approach as a form of
racism. And this approach has led modern paganism to be heavily
affiliated with certain neo nazi groups in certain areas, who
consider their gods embodiments of their own culture, and so their
cultural religion an embodiment of internal strength and unity. Note
of course that by no means is racism a heavy element of all
neopaganisms. Many actively fighting against it heavily.

## Different modern pagan religions

Due to the large amount of groups, we
will only focus on a few of the more common ones.

**Heathenism**, also known as **Germanic Neopaganism**, refers to a series of contemporary Pagan
traditions that are based upon the historical religions, culture and
literature of Germanic-speaking Europe. Heathenry is spread out
across north-western Europe, and also North America and Australasia,
where the descendants of historic Germanic-speaking people now live.
Many Heathen groups adopt variants of Norse mythology as a basis to
their beliefs, conceiving of the Earth as being situated on a great
world tree called Yggdrasil. Heathens believe in multiple
polytheistic deities, all adopted from historical Germanic
mythologies. The majority of Heathens are polytheistic realists,
believing that the deities are real entities, while others view them
as Jungian archetypes. While a number of groups venerating
Scandinavian deities use the term \*\*Ásatrú\*\* or \*\*Forn Sed\*\*, those
adopting folkish perspectives tend to favor the terms \*\*Odinism\*\* or
\*\*Wotanism\*\*. In Anglophone countries, Heathen groups are typically
called kindreds or hearths, or alternately sometimes as fellowships,
tribes, or garths. [Heathan
altars](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Nordiska\_gudabilder\_vid\_julgille.jpg)
are often small personal places.

Heathens commonly adopt a cosmology
based in Norse mythology in which our world – known as Midgard –
is one of nine realms, all of which are part of a cosmological world
tree called Yggdrasil. Different types of being are believed to
inhabit these different realms; for instance, humans live on Midgard,
while dwarves live on another realm, elves on another, giants on
another, and the divinities live on two further realms. Most
practitioners believe that this is a poetic or symbolic description
of the cosmos, with the different realms representing higher realms
beyond the material plane of existence. The World Tree is also
interpreted by some in the community as an icon for ecological and
social engagement. Some Heathens, such as the psychologist Brian
Bates, have adopted an approach to this cosmology rooted in
analytical psychology, thereby interpreting the nine worlds and their
inhabitants as maps of the human mind.

In Heathenry, moral and ethical views
are based on the perceived ethics of Iron Age and Early Medieval
North-West Europe,in particular the actions of heroic figures who
appear in Old Norse sagas. Evoking a life-affirming ethos, Heathen
ethics focus on the ideals of honor, courage, integrity, hospitality,
hard work, and strongly emphasize loyalty to family. It is common for
practitioners to be expected to keep their word, particularly sworn
oaths. There is thus a strong individualist ethos focused around
personal responsibility, and a common motto within the Heathen
community is that "We are our deeds".

In North America and elsewhere, some
Heathen communities have formalized such values into an ethical code,
the Nine Noble Virtues (NNV), which is based largely on the Hávamál
from the Poetic Edda. There are different forms of the NNV, with the
number nine having symbolic associations in Norse mythology.There is
a divided opinion on the NNV; some practitioners deem them too
dogmatic, while others eschew them for not having authentic roots in
historical Germanic culture, negatively viewing them as an attempt to
imitate the Judeo-Christian Ten Commandments. The NNV are not
universal among Heathens, and it has for instance been noted that
they are rare among Swedish practitioners.

Due to its focus on family ties and
honest living – values perceived as socially conservative in
Western nations – it has been noted that American Heathenry's
ethical system is far closer to traditionalist Christian morals than
the ethical systems espoused in many other Western Pagan religions
such as Wicca. Within the Heathen community of the United States,
gender roles are based upon perceived ideals and norms found in Early
Medieval Northwestern Europe, in particular as they are presented in
Old Norse sources. Among male American Heathens there is a trend
toward hypermasculanized behavior, while a gendered division of labor
– in which men are viewed as providers and women seen as being
responsible for home and children – is also widespread among
Heathens in the U.S.

Sociologist Jennifer Snook noted that
as with all religions, Heathenry was "intimately connected"
to politics, with practitioners' political and religious beliefs
influencing one another. As a result of the religion's emphasis on
honoring the land and its wights, many Heathens take an interest in
ecological issues, with many considering their faith to be a nature
religion.

The most important religious rite for
Heathens is called blót, which constitutes a ritual in which
offerings are provided to the gods. Blót typically takes place
outdoors, and usually consists of an offering of mead, which is
contained within a bowl. The gods are invoked and requests expressed
for their aid, as the priest uses a sprig or branch of an evergreen
tree to sprinkle mead onto both statues of the deities and the
assembled participants. This procedure might be scripted or largely
improvised. Finally, the bowl of mead is poured onto a fire, or onto
the earth, as a final libation to the gods. Sometimes, a communal
meal is held afterward; in some groups this is incorporated as part
of the ritual itself. In other instances, the blót is simpler and
less ritualized; in this case, it can involve a practitioner setting
some food aside, sometimes without words, for either gods or wights.
Some Heathens perform such rituals on a daily basis, although for
others it is a more occasional performance.Aside from honoring
deities, communal blóts also serve as a form of group bonding.

**Neo-Druidism** forms the second
largest pagan religion after Wicca, and like Wicca in turn shows
significant heterogeneity.It draws several beliefs and inspirations
from the Druids, the priest caste of the ancient pagan Celts. With
the first Druid Order founded as early as 1717, the history of
Neo-Druidism reaches back to the earliest origins of modern paganism.
The Ancient Order of Druids founded in 1781 had many aspects of
freemasonry, and have practiced rituals at Stonehenge since 1905. The
Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids was established in 1964 by Ross
Nichols. In the United States, the Ancient Order of Druids in America
(AODA) was founded in 1912, the Reformed Druids of North America
(RDNA) was established in 1963 and Ár nDraíocht Féin (ADF) in 1983
by Isaac Bonewits.

**Hellenism**, the Hellenic ethnic
religion, also commonly known as Hellenismos, Hellenic
Polytheism, Dodekatheism, or Olympianism, refers to various religious
movements that revive or reconstruct ancient Greek religious
practices, publicly, emerging since the 1990s. The Hellenic religion
is a traditional religion and way of life, revolving around the Greek
Gods, primarily focused on the Twelve Olympians, and embracing
ancient Hellenic values and virtues.

Hellenic polytheists worship the
ancient Greek Gods, including the Olympians, nature divinities,
underworld deities (chthonic gods) and heroes. Both physical and
spiritual ancestors are honored. It is primarily a devotional or
votive religion, based on the exchange of gifts (offerings) for the
gods' blessings. The ethical convictions of modern Hellenic
polytheists are often inspired by ancient Greek virtues such as
reciprocity, hospitality, self-control and moderation. The Delphic
maxims, Tenets of Solon, the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, or even
Aristotle's Ethics each function as complete moral codes that a
Hellenic Polytheist may observe. Key to most ethical systems is the
idea of kharis (or "charis", grace), to establish
reciprocity between humanity and the gods, between individuals, and
among community members. Another key value in Hellenic Polytheism is
eusebeia, often translated as piety. This implies a commitment to the
worship of the Hellenic gods and action to back this up.

There is no central "ecclesia"
(church/assembly) or hierarchical clergy, though some groups (i.e.,
Hellenion) do offer training in that capacity. Individual worshipers
are generally expected to perform their own rituals and learn about
the religion and the gods by reference to primary and secondary
sources on ancient Greek religion and through personal experience of
the gods. Information gained from such personal experiences is often
referred to in Hellenic groups as "UPG" (Unverified
Personal Gnosis), a term borrowed from Ásatrú, though now commonly
used among many pagan religions.

**Wicca**, also termed **Pagan**
Witchcraft**, is a contemporary Pagan new religious movement. It was**
developed in England during the first half of the 20th century and
was introduced to the public in 1954 by Gerald Gardner, a retired
British civil servant. Wicca draws upon a diverse set of ancient
pagan and 20th century hermetic motifs for its theological structure
and ritual practice.

Wicca has no central authority. Its
traditional core beliefs, principles and practices were originally
outlined in the 1940s and 1950s by Gardner and Doreen Valiente, both
in published books as well as in secret written and oral teachings
passed along to their initiates. There are many variations on the
core structure, and the religion grows and evolves over time. It is
divided into a number of diverse lineages, sects and denominations,
referred to as traditions, each with its own organizational structure
and level of centralisation. Due to its decentralized nature, there
is some disagreement over what actually constitutes Wicca. Some
traditions, collectively referred to as British Traditional Wicca,
strictly follow the initiatory lineage of Gardner and consider the
term Wicca to apply only to similar traditions, but not to newer,
eclectic traditions.

Wicca is typically duotheistic,
worshipping a Goddess and a God. These are traditionally viewed as
the Moon Goddess and the Horned God, respectively. Sometimes the horned god is explicitly identified as cerrnunos, who is a name given to the horned god of ancient celtic polytheism, and who they believe Christians mistook as the devil. These deities may
be regarded in a henotheistic way, as having many different divine
aspects which can in turn be identified with many diverse pagan
deities from different historical pantheons. For this reason, they
are sometimes referred to as the "Great Goddess" and the
"Great Horned God", with the adjective "great"
connoting a deity that contains many other deities within their own
nature. These two deities are sometimes viewed as facets of a greater
pantheistic divinity, which is regarded as an impersonal force or
process rather than a personal deity. While duotheism or bitheism is
traditional in Wicca, broader Wiccan beliefs range from polytheism to
pantheism or monism, even to Goddess monotheism.

Wiccan celebrations encompass both the
cycles of the Moon, known as Esbats and commonly associated with the
Goddess, and the cycles of the Sun, seasonally based festivals known
as Sabbats and commonly associated with the Horned God. An
unattributed statement known as the Wiccan Rede is a popular
expression of Wiccan morality, although it is not accepted by all
Wiccans. Wicca often involves the ritual practice of magic, though it
is not always necessary. The Wiccan Rede is a statement that provides
the key moral system in the Neopagan religion of Wicca and certain
other related Witchcraft-based faiths. A common form of the Rede is
“An it harm none, do what ye will.” Meaning that all morality has
to be derived from what can harm others. This statement is of course
highly ambiguous, and as such as been placed under much scrutiny in
terms of meaning. Note that it resembles the main principle of
thelema which places only doing what one wills as the law. Being
based on it, but shifting it to include moral statements against
harming. This inspiration is deliberate, due to the interaction of
the founder with crowley in general.

Another common element of Wiccan
morality is the **Law of Threefold Return** which holds that whatever
benevolent or malevolent actions a person performs will return to
that person with triple force, or with equal force on each of the
three levels of body, mind and spirit, similar to the idea of karma.

Many Wiccans also seek to cultivate a
set of eight virtues mentioned in Doreen Valiente's Charge of the
Goddess, these being mirth, reverence, honour, humility, strength,
beauty, power, and compassion. In Valiente's poem, they are ordered
in pairs of complementary opposites, reflecting a dualism that is
common throughout Wiccan philosophy. Some lineaged Wiccans also
observe a set of Wiccan Laws, commonly called the Craft Laws or
Ardanes, 30 of which exist in the Gardnerian tradition and 161 of
which are in the Alexandrian tradition. Valiente, one of Gardner's
original High Priestesses, argued that the first thirty of these
rules were most likely invented by Gerald Gardner himself in
mock-archaic language as the by-product of inner conflict within his
Bricket Wood coven others were later additions made by Alex Sanders
during the 1960s. Although Gerald Gardner initially demonstrated an
aversion to homosexuality, claiming that it brought down "the
curse of the goddess",it is now generally accepted in all
traditions of Wicca, with certain groups like the Minoan Brotherhood
openly crafting their philosophy around it.

Theological views within Wicca are
diverse, and the religion encompasses theists, atheists, and
agnostics, with some viewing the religion's deities as entities with
a literal existence and others viewing them as Jungian archetypes or
symbols. Even among theistic Wiccans, there are divergent beliefs,
and Wicca includes pantheists, monotheists, duotheists, and
polytheists. Common to these divergent perspectives, however, is that
Wicca's deities are viewed as forms of ancient, pre-Christian
divinities by its practitioners. Despite the metaphorical application
of this, wicca is a modern religion and its ties to the past are
considered tenuous. Most early Wiccan groups adhered to a duotheistic
system focused around a Horned God of fertility and a Mother Goddess,
with practitioners typically believing that these had been the
ancient deities worshipped by the hunter-gatherers of the Old Stone
Age, whose veneration had been passed down in secret right to the
present. Modern wiccans have however mostly accepted that this is a
pseudo history rather than a real one.

This theology derived from Margaret
Murray's claims about the witch-cult; she claimed that whereas the
cult as recorded in the Early Modern witch trials had venerated a
Horned God, centuries before it had also worshipped a Mother Goddess.
Since the horned god she refers to is actually projections of
Christians into insistence that there was satan worshipers in their
midst, this has led many to associate wicca with satanism. Even
though it swears off these associations, claiming that the persecuted
witches were a pagan religion falsely accused of stanism. (note no
evidence of hidden pagan religions being common as the ones who were
persecuted as witches actually exists). Likewise, wicca also claims
association with witches, and claims the terms for itself for this
reason, assuming that it was a pagan religion. Gardner claimed that
the names of these deities were to be kept secret within the
tradition, although in 1964 they were publicly revealed to be
Cernunnos and Aradia; the secret Gardnerian deity names were
subsequently changed. Note that aradia is the goddess in nocturne
that comes to live within yuko. Obviously the explicit inclusion of a
neopagan exclusive concept is meant to include neopaganism in the
overall dynamics of the megaten world.

Although different Wiccans attribute
different traits to the Horned God, he is most often associated with
animals and the natural world, but also with the afterlife, and he is
furthermore often viewed as an ideal role model for men. The Mother
Goddess has been associated with life, fertility, and the springtime,
and has been described as an ideal role model for women. Wicca's
duotheism has been compared to the Taoist system of yin and yang. As
such they are often interpreted as being "embodiments of a
life-force manifest in nature". Despite this association, more
modern wiccans have warned against seeing this in a gender
essentialist light.

Gardner stated that beyond Wicca's two
deities was the "Supreme Deity" or "Prime Mover",
an entity that was too complex for humans to understand. This belief
has been endorsed by other prominent practitioners, who have referred
to it as "the Cosmic Logos", "Supreme Cosmic Power",
or "Godhead". Gardner envisioned this Supreme Deity as a
deist entity who had created the "Under-Gods", among them
the God and Goddess, but who was not otherwise involved in the world;
alternately, other Wiccans have interpreted such an entity as a
pantheistic being, of whom the God and Goddess are facets. Obviously
note the similarity between this supertranscendent unknown being and
the great will. Despite this, gardner criticized monotheism, and in
practice this higher force was not the focus of worship.

Belief in the afterlife varies among
Wiccans, and does not occupy a central place within the religion.As
the historian Ronald Hutton remarked, "the instinctual position
of most [Wiccans]... seems to be that if one makes the most of the
present life, in all respects, then the next life is more or less
certainly going to benefit from the process, and so one may as well
concentrate on the present". Although there are practitioners
who do not believe in any form of afterlife, it is nevertheless a
common belief among Wiccans that human beings have a spirit or soul
that survives bodily death. Understandings of what this soul
constitutes vary among different traditions, with Feri Wicca for
instance having adopted a belief from Hawaiian religion that the
human being has three souls.

Although not accepted by all Wiccans, a
belief in reincarnation is the dominant afterlife belief within
Wicca, having been originally espoused by Gardner. Understandings of
how the cycle of reincarnation operates differ among practitioners;
the prominent Wiccan Raymond Buckland for instance insisted that the
souls of humans would only ever incarnate into human bodies, whereas
other Wiccans believe that the soul of a human can incarnate into any
other life form. There is also a common Wiccan belief that any
Witches will come to be reincarnated as future Witches, an idea
originally expressed by Gardner. Gardner also articulated the view
that the human soul rested for a period between bodily death and its
incarnation, with this resting place commonly being referred to as
The Summerland among the Wiccan community. This allows many Wiccans
to believe that mediums are able to contact the spirits of the
deceased, a belief that it adopted from Spiritualism.

Many Wiccans believe in magic, a
manipulative force exercised through the practice of witchcraft or
sorcery. Many Wiccans agree with the definition of magic offered by
ceremonial magicians, such as Aleister Crowley, who declared that
magic was "the science and art of causing change to occur in
conformity with will", while another prominent ceremonial
magician, MacGregor Mathers stated that it was "the science of
the control of the secret forces of nature". Many Wiccans
believe magic to be a law of nature, as yet misunderstood or
disregarded by contemporary science, and as such they do not view it
as being supernatural, but a part of what Leo Martello calls the
"super powers that reside in the natural". Some Wiccans
believe that magic is simply making full use of the five senses in
order to achieve surprising results, whilst other Wiccans do not
claim to know how magic works, merely believing that it does because
they have observed it to be so. Some spell it "magick", a
variation coined by the influential occultist Aleister Crowley,
though this spelling is more commonly associated with Crowley's
religion of Thelema than with Wicca.

Many traditions hold a belief in the
five classical elements, although they are seen as symbolic as
representations of the phases of matter. These five elements are
invoked during many magical rituals, notably when consecrating a
magic circle. The five elements are air, fire, water, earth, and
aether (or spirit). Aether unites the other four. Various analogies
have been devised to explain the concept of the five elements; for
instance, the Wiccan Ann-Marie Gallagher used that of a tree, which
is composed of earth (with the soil and plant matter), water (sap and
moisture), fire (through photosynthesis) and air (the creation of
oxygen from carbon dioxide), all of which are believed to be united
through spirit.

Lineaged Wicca is organised into covens
of initiated priests and priestesses. Covens are autonomous, and are
generally headed by a High Priest and a High Priestess working in
partnership, being a couple who have each been through their first,
second and third degrees of initiation. Occasionally the leaders of a
coven are only second-degree initiates, in which case they come under
the rule of the parent coven. Initiation and training of new
priesthood is most often performed within a coven environment, but
this is not a necessity, and a few initiated Wiccans are unaffiliated
with any coven.

**Thelema** shows up on its own section
in the satanism page. It is associated more with satanism than
neopaganism, though some overlap the ideas.

**The Goddess movement** includes
spiritual beliefs or practices (chiefly neo-pagan) which has emerged
predominantly in North America, Western Europe, Australia and New
Zealand in the 1970s. The movement grew as a reaction to perceptions
of predominant organized religion as male-dominated, and makes use of
goddess worship and a focus on gender and femininity. This is of
course a concept compatible with many forms of paganism, and exists
as a movement to shift them in a sense.

**Adonism** is a Neopagan religion
founded in 1925 by the German esotericist Franz Sättler
(1884-c.1942), who often went by the pseudonym of Dr. Musalam.
Although Sättler claimed that it was the continuation of an ancient
pagan religion, it has been recognised by academics as being "instead
the single-handed creation of a highly gifted and educated man",
this figure being Sättler himself. Adonism is a polytheistic
religion, revolving around a belief that there are five principal
gods: Belus, Biltis, Adonis, Dido and Molchos. Adonis is the most
prominent of these in the group's theology, being a benevolent figure
that Sättler equated with the Christian figure of Satan. In contrast
to Adonis, Molchos is believed by Adonists to be malevolent, and to
be responsible for the enslavement of humanity through monotheistic
religions such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam: the religion
therefore has "a pronounced anti-Christian bias". Obviously
note the trend that often shows up in megaten of gods saying that
yahweh is merely an arrogant god trying to enslave all others.

**Discordianism** is a religion and
subsequent philosophy based on the veneration or worship of Eris,
a.k.a. Discordia, the Goddess of chaos, or archetypes or ideals
associated with her. It was founded after the 1963 publication of its
holy book, the Principia Discordia, written by Greg Hill with Kerry
Wendell Thornley, the two working under the pseudonyms Malaclypse the
Younger and Omar Khayyam Ravenhurst.

The religion has been likened to Zen
based on similarities with absurdist interpretations of the Rinzai
school, as well as Taoist philosophy. Discordianism is centered on
the idea that both order and disorder are illusions imposed on the
universe by the human nervous system, and that neither of these
illusions of apparent order and disorder is any more accurate or
objectively true than the other.

There is some division as to whether it
should be regarded as a parody religion, and if so, to what degree.
This being because it has a heavily parody based tone, but on the
same front presents this as a reflection of an actual deeper truth.
Namely that reality being incomprehensible, its ordered beliefs
likewise are without meaning. Different people treat it more or less
serious.

**Relationship with new age.** An issue
of academic debate has been regarding the connection between the New
Age movement and contemporary Paganism, or Neo-Paganism. Religious
studies scholar Sarah Pike asserted that that there was a
"significant overlap" between the two religious
movements,while Aidan A. Kelly stated that Paganism "parallels
the New Age movement in some ways, differs sharply from it in others,
and overlaps it in some minor ways". Ethan Doyle White stated
that while the Pagan and New Age movements "do share
commonalities and overlap", they were nevertheless "largely
distinct phenomena."Hanegraaff suggested that whereas various
forms of contemporary Paganism were not part of the New Age movement
– particularly those who pre-dated the movement – other Pagan
religions and practices could be identified as New Age.Various
differences between the two movements have been highlighted; the New
Age movement focuses on an improved future, whereas the focus of
Paganism is on the pre-Christian past. Similarly, the New Age
movement typically propounds a universalist message which sees all
religions as fundamentally the same, whereas Paganism stresses the
difference between monotheistic religions and those embracing a
polytheistic or animistic theology. Further, the New Age movement
shows little interest in magic and witchcraft, which are conversely
core interests of many Pagan religions, such as Wicca.

Many Pagans have sought to distance
themselves from the New Age movement, even using "New Age"
as an insult within their community, while conversely many involved
in the New Age have expressed criticism of Paganism for emphasizing
the material world over the spiritual. Many Pagans have expressed
criticism of the high fees charged by New Age teachers, something not
typically present in the Pagan movement.

**Gaianism** (also referred to as Gaian
Religion, with an offshoot termed "New Age Gaian") is an
earth-centered philosophical, holistic, and spiritual viewpoint that
shares expressions with various religions such as Earth religions and
Paganism while not identifying exclusively with any specific one. The
term describes a philosophy and ethical worldview which, though not
necessarily religious, implies a transpersonal devotion to earth as a
superorganism. Practitioners of Gaianism are called Gaians. Marcel
Wissenburg has described Gaianism as a "modern variant of
philosophical determinism". This general trend shows up in many
neopaganisms. Practitioners of Gaianism are termed "Gaians",
or sometimes Gaianists. Obviously note that the term gaianism from
megaten is taken from here directly.

**Christopaganism**. Christianity and
Neopaganism overlap when the beliefs or practices of one religious
path influence, or are adopted by, the other. Historically,
Christianity sometimes took advantage of traditional pagan beliefs
when it spread to new areas – a process known as inculturation.
Thus newly established churches took on sites, practices or images
belonging to indigenous belief systems as a way of making the new
faith more acceptable. More recently, in a parallel process, some
followers of modern pagan paths have developed practices such as
Christopaganism by blending Christian elements into Neopagan
practice. As a symbol they sometimes used a cross inscribed in an
upwards facing pentagram. Which note in megaten is used as a
summoning symbol. (Though not a religious symbol of any particular
group). The term Christopaganism generally refers to adding
christianity to paganism rather than the other way around, however.

In the modern era, examples of
syncretism may include Christians seeking to incorporate concepts of
the Divine Feminine from Neopaganism into Christianity or Neopagans
seeking to incorporate figures such as Jesus or Mary into neopagan
worship, as polytheistic gods. Joyce and River Higginbotham define
Christopaganism as: "A spirituality that combines beliefs and
practices of Christianity with beliefs and practices of Paganism, or
that observes them in parallel.” They give examples of people
identifying as Pagan but observing both Pagan and Christian
liturgical years, using the Rosary or observing a form of Communion.

It is sometimes called A philosophy
that transcends both Monotheism and Polytheism and represents the
glue that holds the two in balance. The source in which Neoplatonism,
for example, found fertile ground and which represents the
Transcendent One. Often holding that there are many gods, but that
Christ reflected a deeper universal unity behind reality, though not
particularly monotheism per say.

Christian Wicca is a term coined in
reference to Trinitarian Wicca, established in 1999. Since then,
Christian Wicca has become the umbrella term for a variety of
magickal Christian sects that began evolving in the Christopagan
movement.

Trinitarian Wicca is based on the
merging of Alexandrian and Dianic traditions, forming their pantheon
from the Kabballah, Gnosticism, and Ancient Christianity. They have a
devout reclaiming approach to a Goddess-inclusive Trinity, best
described as Tritheist or Social Trinitarians.

The term Christian merely reflects the
pantheon best associated with the Trinitarian tradition, comparable
to the term Celtic among Celtic Wiccan traditions. Despite the
initial confusion, Trinitarian Wiccans consider themselves Wiccans
not Christians, as their views of Christology was deemed heresy by
the Catholic Church in the 3rd century CE. Trinitarian Wicca is not a
blended path; they are a MesoPagan polytheistic reconstructionist
tradition.

Obviously combinations of Christianity
and polytheistic religions in a sense shows in up in game with

the
messian religion. Though one should take care not to draw too strong
a parallel. Most christopagans are mainly incorporating a few
christian elements into a more pagan style religion, whereas the
structure of the messians is presented as more similar to
christianity, albeit now existing in a post christian form. And the
gods that show up on their side are sometimes referred to as angels.
And the syncretism is often more with other eastern religions that
are not usually referred to as paganism than they are with random
polytheisms, even if they do encorporate their gods.

The most noteworthy explicitly
christopagan element is danu in IV and IVA. In IV she becomes black
maria, and in iva uses christian symbols, like the shamrock and cross
to imply still incorporating some of that into her paradigm. Making
this a mostly neutral type idea. Another thing one can relate to
christopaganism might be mastema showing up working for the neutral
side in IV (though note that the neutral side is more eastern, and
paganism tends to refer mainly to old western religions). Despite
still using some monotheistic terminology. And perhaps some of the
ways that people would treat their religious orientation in a neutral
world in general. Though that being said, the religions in game tend
to still resemble more developed existing ones, even though having
gone beyond them. Whereas paganism tends to refer primarily to more
smaller scale western polytheisms that had previously died out.

## Philosophical polytheistic arguments.

While monotheism has had many
philosophical arguments made for it at times, polytheism tends to not
have had as many. Mainly since back when it was big it was taken as a
given and so such was not considered very necessary to support philosophically. Another reason
is because its gods are merely another type of entity, rather than a
being one can necessarily logically prove in many cases. So direct
philosophical arguments for it are rather rare. And work for such concepts is more often subsumed under different kinds of theology.

However, philosopher edward butler did make a case
for literal polytheism rather recently. The case itself is rather
long, and not easy to describe. It tends to blend neoplatonic
arguments with ideas of platonism in general, the types of argument
used for monotheism, and an argument that the abstract henads one
might argue for are fundamentally distinct platonic underpinnings of
reality that function similar to how monotheists see god, but it implies that distinct properties would be divided, and as such with
there being many different aspects that in a sense are different timeless gods. Perhaps infinitely many. And so individual
polytheisms are each true in a sense, since while the stories are not
literal, they touch on true real underpinnings of the world that
exist, and tell timeless truths about the relation of these forces.

In some sense this relates to megaten a
bit in that the gods are considered manifestations of specific
patterns among infinite possibilities. Ones that in a sense truly
exist, but specific ones are picked out by people even though those
are not the only possible ones. The parralel is not infinitely close
though. Since richard carrier implies that these things already
existed, in eternal unchanging form, whereas in megaten an important
aspect is that what they are and do changes among the field of
possibility due to human thoughts. So while the general idea seen in
a platonic light might make sense to make sense of these patterns
existing, there is a bit of a disconnect. Megaten also leans towards
the process philosophical idea of entities needing to exist in time
and process. And so rejects the idea of eternal essences being the
entities themselves rather than just an underpinning reality they
derive from.