Witches, Druids and Other Pagans Make Merry Again

[brooklynite]

In a ritual that represents the connection between the earth and the sky, more than 300 pagans danced around the maypole on Thursday in the woods at a campsite in southwestern Massachusetts.

By Friday evening they numbered nearly 500 - many of them self-described Druids, faeries, Dianics, Wiccans, Asatru and ceremonial magicians, as well as practitioners of Norse, Celtic, Germanic, Greco-Roman and other pre-Christian European traditions. They came for the annual Rites of Spring festival.

...snip...

Paganism is the umbrella term for nature-based belief systems; although the exact number of practitioners is unknown, experts say the movement is growing in the United States. Rites of Spring is among a growing number of pagan festivals - one popular Web site (www.witchvox.com) lists 50 in the United States this year.

...snip...

Ms. Berger, the editor of "Witchcraft and Magic: Contemporary North America," which is to be published next month by the University of Pennsylvania Press, estimates there are at least 200,000 practicing pagans in this country. Other academics put the number as high as 700,000.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/28/national/28religion.html?
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Interesting column in the NYT "Beliefs" section, no doubt inspired by the Indianapolis case.

[brainshrub]

1. faeries?

Aren't faeries only a few inches tall? How can they be "self-described" faeries if they don't have wings?

Is "faerie" a type of religion I don't know about?

[Payback Time]

2. In Celtic and probably Gaelic mythology

there are different types of faeries, some of which are similiar to the human race but with powers or the ability to inhabit anothe dimension. This was also portrayed in Lord of the Rings (remember the long haired blonde guy with the bow & arrow that went on the quest). I think that people describing themselves as faeries are taking poetic license and using it to celebrate the elemental world by dressing as elemental beings. I'm officially Jewish but embrace many spiritualities. I think as long as it harms no one, it's Great.

[undergroundpanther]

3. Happy,Merry.....

Happy springtime to all you witches out there...

May Sekhmet protect us from the control freak,bully theocracy from undoing secular laws of our land....Self righteous pharisees who without the threat of jail time or lawsuits would not suffer us to live..

[WhiteTara]

4. Bright blessings from the Goddess

to you and welcome to DU
:hi:

[Chovexani]

6. Welcome to DU friend

I'm Pagan but it's nice to know we are on the same page! :hi:

[Dystopian Rhetoric]

7. Personally...

I don't have a direct problem with these paganistic and wiccan religions per se, but I refuse to believe that any of the beliefs that they hold that are contradictory to my own are true or valid.

[Chovexani]

5. There is a Wiccan trad called Faery Wicca

It's very shamanistic and draws largely from Celtic beliefs, though like anything Pagan it tends to draw from a little of everything. I don't practice it, but a few of the people from my old teaching grove do.

There are also the Radical Faeries, who are Gay/Bi Pagan men of varying traditions and practices.