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January 27, 2006

Indigenous Traditions And Modern Paganism

by mystiq
January 22, 2006
SOURCE: WitchVox

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Modern Paganism, in many ways, seeks to emulate the wisdom and traditions that are found in all indigenous cultures, both extinct and surviving/intact ones. It recognises that they had/have a connection to Nature and to the Land that is rare today, and it therefore seeks to partake of that connection by adopting some of their beliefs, traditions, and practices. Thus Neo-Pagans can be found studying the beliefs, traditions, and practices of the Celts (1), the Native Americans, the Norse, African traditions, and many others. They study these cultures and traditions and try to emulate them by adapting some of their beliefs and practices for their own modern, Western mind and lifestyle.

However, this approach is intrinsically flawed, and the issues involved with these flaws have been largely ignored and are silently expanding. These issues affect two main groups: the indigenous cultures being plundered, and the Neo-Pagans who do the plundering.

There has been much discussion, especially recently, regarding certain approaches to Neo-Paganism that are often deemed “fluffy” and inappropriate. The major of these approaches is eclecticism, which is essentially taking, adapting, and amalgamating various beliefs, traditions, practices, deities, mythologies, concepts, etc. from various cultures. As with all things, the extent and structure of this process varies, but the underlying principle is the same: that no spiritual tradition is exclusively “owned” by anybody, and therefore all are there to be utilised by anyone who so desires.

Also, many Neo-Pagans, especially “Neo-Wiccans” (or Eclectic Wiccans), have a view of Divinity that sees all different Deities as merely different interpretations or facets of a greater whole or source, and therefore all Deities and hence spiritual traditions are essentially the same (or at least come from the same source). This is often represented with metaphors such as “many facets of the crystal” or “many faces (personalities/archetypes) of the God/dess”.

While I am not saying that there is no value to this approach in general, in the context of a Nature religion it does lose its validity and value. Nature religions - a group of religions of which many indigenous traditions are a part - are religions based on Nature and the Sacred Land. Almost all these indigenous traditions that we supposedly seek to emulate were/are Nature religions - they saw the Divine embodied in Nature, Nature was/is Sacred, and therefore all their traditions, beliefs, and mythologies were intrinsically linked to the Land upon which they dwelt, and therefore could be separated neither from the Land nor each other.

For the full article, click HERE.

Posted by andrewanissi at January 27, 2006 10:28 PM