Pagan - in origin - is a word which meant Country Dweller and had nothing whatsoever to do with magick or the occult until Roman Christians came about.
Pagan with a big P now is the Label of a certain religion - and that's fine. That it used to mean something so adverse to its original meaning simply because of Religious Tyranny is appalling and I'm glad it's regaining its original cause/reputation.
"Neo"pagan is a term which is forever pushing my buttons. Paganism is not a NEW religion. In fact, it predates Christianity. I'm JUST SAYING.
Pan and Bel are not the same God (oh I'm sorry, "devil") regardless of what Satanists seem to believe... Just because they look similar doesn't mean they are the same. I'll get back to my issues with certain Satanists later.
The "traditional Christian Cross" is, in actuality, not TRADITIONALLY Christian! They predate Christianity in all its forms by over a thousand years. Originally it had 2 horizontal lines - and all three lines represented something.
The horizontal lines represented Birth and Death as the vertical line represented Life/Existence. It was only taken up by christians because Jesus died on one... Maybe we should take a look at how many OTHER folk had been strung up on those crosses and murdered brutally? I don't remember anyone using those crosses as representation for anything because of them. No one can even prove Jesus existed. It's all opportunistic ways to expand His name in any way they could back then... the continuance of this behavior is appalling.
Back to a certain man who brought about Satanism. He is quoted as explaining why a woman is the altar - "passive receptor". I can see how women are compared to "mother earth" because the metaphor makes sense. However, "passive receptor" is the last phrase I would ever describe any woman of *any* age. Ignorance has destroyed this country - this world - and this proves it.
There is a reference in The Satanic Bible where Wicca is referred to as a Pseudo-Christian religion. What a load of shit. I mean, talk about a mis-interpretation. I get it was meant as an insult, but it's because of a misinterpretation for which he gave the insult.
While I believe magick is neither black nor white - it's both... Nature is both... There is no way to seperate the two. However, the reason Wicca supports "white" magick isn't because of Guilt - as is believed.
It isn't Guilt which drives a caster not to curse or alter reality. In truth, it is simply a desire to be Fair. Self-Respect is what drives us to only do good with our power. To do a curse, or twist reality, would be to put everything on uneven ground. One should never do something to others without giving some sort of a fair warning in which they are given a chance to stop your attempt at magicks. Without this, one's life would become unstable. Power - of any sort - corrupts, hence this simple guideline to keep you in check. Sin and guilt wouldn't be the problem - not once you were so corrupted you had lost your sanity and were psychologically in need of help. "Give a man a shovel, and he'll dig his own grave."
Lastly, just a side note about Christian Science... Am I the only one who hears about this and jumps to Stargate:SG1 episodes instead of The Matrix???
