Many thanks, Owlswing, for this offer! As a neophyte in such things, could I ask is there something that you see as specifically
cultural about your beliefs?
One of my problems here (the forum) is understanding the meanings of some terms used (usually those that end in -ism or -ology so beloved of Vlad), I will answer within my understanding of the word "cultural" - as in where do they fit within the culture if the UK. I hope this will be ok. You can always tell me if it isn't.
AS must be obvious to even the most jaundiced eye Paganism is deeply embedded in the history of (what is now) the UK.
The standing stones all over the place, England, Ireland (North and South), Wales, and Scotland, testify to a Pagan history.
However even this statement is open to argument. Why? Simple, the Pagans of British history did not write a Bible to record their faith/beliefs
* for later generations to fight over.
Do my beliefs hold that the Rollright Stones (Oxfordshire), Castle Rigg (Cumbria) and, of course, Avebury and Stonehenge show that paganism was part of the history and culture of ancient Britain?
100% yes! NO shadow of a doubt.
The Welsh, Irish, and Scots have their own circles ad they also had their own deities that they honoured, quite possibly, at the sites marked by the stones.
This leads to the major basis for the rejection by other established, Abrahamic religions of the relevance and/or validity of modern Paganism as modern Pagans cannot show written proof of the rituals used, the words said, the praise given, the deities, male and/or female, to whom such praise was given.
This lack of written history has given rise to two, at times widely divergent, motorways of paganism from which the many and varied personal paths of Pagan faith have formed.
The first, and that which its followers deem to be the "real" one, is the Reconstructionist way. Using only those parts of Pagan history that are documented until something is found to add to or amend what already exists. Even this path has its detractors from the outside who claim that all claims to authenticity are suspect due to the length of time since they were written/carved, the difficulty of knowing exactly what the carved/written words actually mean (where have I heard that complaint before).
The other is to read everything available that can be trusted and make a judgement based upon that reading. There are many books out there on Paganism, one of the best authorities on the subject is Professor Ronald Hutton of Bristol University, but there are others and using "what feels right to you", the individual! Hence the description by many of Modern Paganism as a pick and mix religion.
That it may be BUT BUT BUT mot pagans on these many and varied path feel that this is better than having to sallow and entire religion whole, in one lump so you do not get to taste the ingredients.
Can I claim that my beliefs are accurate to the history of Paganism as it was practiced in historic UK?
NO, I cannot and I do not try - my path is one that I have found for myself, by walking it, night after night, day after day, Esbat by Esbat, Sabbat by Sabbat, Solstice and Equinox by etc., picking up morsels here and there. I listen to other pagans as they describe their paths, rituals, insights. Sometimes I find something that I didn't have and incorporate it, sometimes I find a different way to do something and adjust or discard whet I have been doing.
The Pagan culture of this land was scattered and disconnected because the people, were scattered and disconnected - they did not have some priest from hundreds of miles way telling them how to deal with their deities, they tried it as they went along and if it worked (i e gave tem good harvest) they did it the same way next time - if it didn’t, they tried another way hoping that that might work.
Pagan deities were/are capricious and can be malevolent BUT they have never pretended to be anything else.
* Going forward I will use beliefs rather than try to differentiate which of the terms more accurately fits any context.
