Ruth Marx was awarded a 10th anniversary grant from Culham St Gabriel’s to research and create resources into core- Religion and Worldviews for Key Stage 5. This suite of resources is the result of this research and explores the worldviews of 13 individuals who live or work in Tower Hamlets interviewed about their worldviews. The worldviews discussed are from a range of religious and non-religious traditions and the interviewees are expressing their own opinions and not representing any organisation as a whole. Each video is accompanied by an editable power point with activities to embed and extend the learning and an overview document shows the worldview(s), themes discussed and cross curricular links which can be explored with this resource. Whilst created with core 16-19 Religion and Worldviews in mind these resources may be of use for younger age groups and for teacher CPD.

• Could you create a suite of resources like this for your area?
• Could you share one of these resources and compare it to a case study of a person in your area?
• Do let us know how you use these resources?

All the resources are available in The Lived Worldviews of Tower Hamlets Padlet

A taster video is available below:

Over the last few years we have collated responses to questions about Religion and Worldviews from different perspectives. This resource provides personal answers to questions from lived experience and were written directly by believers. The links below take you to the individual resources:

Bahá’i

Buddhist

Christian

Hindu

Humanist

Muslim

Jewish

Pagan

Sikhi

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Over the last few years we have collated responses to questions about Religion and Worldviews from different perspectives. This resource provides personal answers to questions from lived experience and were written directly by believers.

A number of students have contacted me recently, asking for a perspective on “The Problem of Evil”. It’s one of the classic theological questions, albeit one that is not as applicable to Paganism as it is to other religions, owing to our different perspectives on the divine. However, the subject did set my mind onto what I think is the crux of that classic question – not so much “evil” as “bad things”. So that’s what I’ll be talking about in this entry: Why do bad things happen?

It’s first important to consider what we mean by bad things. After all, “bad” is definitely a spectrum. Stubbing your toe can be seen as a bad thing, but it’s hardly on the level of a natural disaster, like a hurricane, earthquake or, indeed, a pandemic. Very different ends of the scale and we really can’t lump all the things that we might consider to be bad, into one box with one reason.

The reason for stubbing your toe is probably because you weren’t paying enough attention to where you were walking. Which is an indirect way of saying that sometimes, frankly, it really is our own fault that bad things happen and we’ve no one and nothing to blame but ourselves.

But then there are the things that are out of our control. The bad things to which we have no choice but to suffer, regardless of the choices we make.

A fair few Pagans ascribe to the concept of Karma – or at least, some Westernised version of it. Basically, some idea that the universe has some kind of self-righting mechanism for dealing with good and bad deeds/people. Personally, I don’t find that view to be overly convincing. However I have to mention it, as it is a prominent belief among many Pagans.

I would prefer to begin by distinguishing between natural and human calamity. Natural events that we may perceive as “bad” are generally only bad to us. But nature has no motivation, it simply is. It is not doing bad to us, nature just functions and we are a part of it, both for the things that benefit us and the misfortunes that befall us. A lion may kill a gazelle, which is undoubtedly bad for the gazelle, but it is good for the lion. The lion is not bad, evil, or some instrument of cosmic justice that has come to punish the gazelle. It is just nature. Similarly, if some aspect of nature is bad for us, it’s not personal.

“But surely,” some might say, “the Gods could step in and protect us from these tragedies?” I imagine that they could. In fact, I feel safe in saying that the Gods are willing to intercede in our lives, at their discretion. But this is where the Pagan view of the divine often differs from that of other faiths. For Pagans, the Gods are intrinsically interwoven with nature. The character, essence, being, identity, of the Gods is present within nature. The Gods are not separate from the natural world. Rather, they are a part of it.

Different Pagans may interpret this in different ways (just like most things in Paganism). On one end of the spectrum, some Pagans may have an animistic view of the divine, while at the other end of the spectrum are Pagans who see the divine in a hard polytheist way. But even the staunchest polytheist is unlikely to argue with the notion that the Gods and nature are intimately connected.

So, while we may suffer and ask why the Gods do not circumvent nature for our benefit, such a question is really no different than the gazelle asking why it is that the lion must eat it.

Really, wondering why such things happen to us, is an extension of the same age-old human hubris that tries to place us at the centre of the universe, with everything revolving around us. As if the universe were created especially for us. We tend to imagine ourselves as more important than other animals, the Earth as our own personal property, and her resources as there for us to use as we wish. But nature is blind to our delusions of grandeur.

Similarly, nature has no agenda for human suffering or reward.

Then there are those bad things that are entirely of human origin. Bad people doing bad things – especially to other people.

Sometimes people get what’s coming to them and pay the price for the terrible things they do. Sometimes. But too often, the guilty walk free and face no consequences to their actions. They may even benefit from their bad deeds. When this happens we say “where is the justice?” and ask “how can this be allowed to happen?”

As one might expect, when human institutions and systems fail to deliver the justice we crave, many turn their attentions to a higher power, either begging for some kind of intervention or instead asking why this injustice has been allowed to happen.

This is where the classic “Question of Evil” comes in. The question being:

If God is all-powerful and all-good, then why is there evil? If he can put a stop to evil, but chooses to allow evil, he cannot be all-good. If he cannot put a stop to evil, then he is not all-powerful.

Some religions turn to free will, as the reason why such injustice is allowed to exist. The suggestion being that to remove free will, whether for good or evil, would in itself be an evil act. Others turn to the afterlife as the final justice, where good and bad people are rewarded and punished.

Now, it’s not that Paganism doesn’t have such concepts as free will and the afterlife, but the actual “question of evil” is of less relevance to us. This is primarily because we do not have any texts or dogmas that require us to see our Gods as all-powerful or all-good. Of course, some might see the divine that way – and that’s fine – but they are not required to.

Generally speaking, I think that it is fair to say that the Gods are seen as being good. However, as previously mentioned, they are also seen as existing within nature, rather than apart from it. So, in this regard, we don’t tend to envisage the Gods as all-powerful beings that are beyond time and space, and capable of doing absolutely anything that can be imagined. Rather, it’s probably better to say that the Gods have their own characters. Whatever that means.

Seriously: whatever that means. Because to some Pagans that will mean that each God has a unique identity and is fully autonomous, but with their own domain of influence. (That would be the hard polytheists that I mentioned, before). Other Pagans might see each “God” as merely an expression of the greater and unknowable divine, which we have filtered into manageable characters that our human minds can relate to and comprehend. Other Pagans would likely land somewhere between these two beliefs.

(Then there are Pagans who are atheists) 

So where are these Pagan Gods when mankind faces travesties of justice? Where are they when wicked people do cruel things? Do the Gods not care?

In my experience, I’d say that they care. They care about people. But they have little concern for human ideas of justice. I can only speak for myself here, but it seems to me that when the Gods intervene in the life of a person (or people) they more often take the role of teachers and guides, who help humanity to be better. Not stepping in as a punishing force for the guilty, but as a guiding influence for those that can do better.

However, still speaking solely for myself, I also think that even this view is subject to human failing. I think that people understand the Gods only in small glimpses and those glimpses are made through the lens of human frailty, expectation, desire, and need. As such, we are prone to misunderstanding the Gods. So, they show us what we need to see, within the limits of what we can currently understand. As such, our understanding of the Gods changes and evolves, as humanity grows.

I feel like I’ve wandered off of the topic of bad things and why they happen. But that question only exists because the idea of the divine has been added to the mix. Without the concept of something like a God, Karma, etc. we would simply resolve ourselves to the fact that life and the universe are not fair, and that’s just the way it is.

And it’s true. That is the way it is. At least, from a human perspective.

But because we can conceive of something bigger than the human perspective – because we believe we’ve in some way experienced it – we ask bigger questions. We try to find the truth of our place in the universe and of the things that we go through, both good and bad.

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

A worksheet looking at symbols used with Paganism, to represent Pagan faith groups and concepts.  Students may have seen some of the symbols on clothing, jewellery, etc.

It includes independent research, which could be suitable as a piece of homework. It would fit well into a broader lesson (or series of lessons) looking at symbols and symbolism within religion.

The relationship between the LGBTQ+ community and large parts of organised religion is complex. Some members of the LGBTQ+ community have been hurt by their experiences of organised religion and this has led to distrust.

I would like to say that Paganism is different. That Paganism is fully accepting toward LGBTQ+ people. But I can’t say that.
I can, however, say that the majority of Pagans are accepting toward LGBTQ+ people.

I think it is fair to say, though, that even among the small minority of Pagans who do in some way discriminate against LGBTQ+ people, the number who claim to do it on religious grounds are even fewer. This is because there is very little in Paganism that can be taken as somehow religiously proclaiming that homosexuality, etc. is wrong. So, if you do encounter one of the few Pagans that have issues with such things, my view would be that their discrimination is entirely their own and not something that has been transmitted to them as a ‘Pagan teaching’.

In fact, there is a great deal in Paganism that not only signals an acceptance of homosexuality, transsexuality, etc. but actively recognises it as something that can be religiously recognised and celebrated.

A great amount of modern Paganism is constructed from features (both religious and social) of older cultures. It is no secret that the ancient Greeks and Romans, for example, had a rather progressive attitude toward homosexuality, at key points in their history. So it should come as little surprise that there are models within their religious and mythic traditions that can be taken as representative of LGBTQ+ qualities.
The God Dionysus, for example, was depicted as both an old man and as an effeminate youth. The God Pan is unapologetically pansexual. The deity Hermaphroditus (from where we get the word hermaphrodite) was the God of hermaphrodites and the effeminate and possessed both male and female physical features. Even the Goddess of Love herself, Aphrodite, was sometimes depicted with a beard and in Theselay she was celebrated with lesbian rites. And of course, Aphrodite is regularly invoked in the ancient poetry of Sapho, celebrating love between women.

But themes and concepts that can be significant to an LGBTQ+ expression of religion, are definitely not restricted to the Greeks and Romans. In Germanic mythology, we see a number of examples of gender-bending and switching of traditional gender roles and power structures.
In South America, the God Xochipili is the patron of male homosexuality.
Polynesia and the Pacific Islands contain a number of different deities and religious traditions involving gay relationships and bisexuality. Additionally, there are a number of examples of third-gender and gender-variant shamans. In fact, Shamanism generally has numerous examples of people, behaviours and practices worldwide, that fall under the umbrella of gender-variance.

There are actually more examples than I have space to list, but we can see that such themes are common across many ancient cultures, all over the world.

The degree to which LGBTQ+ themes are celebrated and discussed in the broader Pagan community will differ from place to place.
Paganism is a very personalised path and being as the majority of people are not a part of the LGBTQ+ community, it’s hardly surprising that those themes may not feature in the practices of a lot of people. Additionally, despite the broad acceptance of LGBTQ+ people, orientations, lifestyles, and love styles, there are large amounts of Paganism that are constructed in a very heteronormative way. They’re not exclusionary of LGBTQ+ themes and people, but at their most basic level they revolve around a certain core of celebrating the cycle of life as expressed through the female and male experience, and the union of the male and female to perpetuate life. Much of this has come out of the popularity of Wicca and other modern Witchcraft traditions.

So, while on the one hand Paganism is very inclusive, I could understand if the commonality of heteronormative themes might make an LGBTQ+ person feel excluded.

However, there are Pagan groups and paths that are exclusively LGBTQ+. For example, the Pagan tradition known as Radical Faerie, is exclusively made up of “lesbians, gay men, trans*, bisexuals, queer hetero people and anyone else in between” (quote from Radical Faeries of Albion: https://albionfaeries.org.uk ).

I think it is a strength of Paganism that it is not just LGBTQ+ inclusive, but that it possesses a wealth of myth, tradition, and iconography of an LGBTQ+ nature. That this creates even more opportunity for members of the LGBTQ+ community to not merely explore their spirituality among accepting people, but to explore a spiritual path that also reflects important aspects of who they are and can be celebrated with others who are also on a similar life journey.

Glossary
LGBTQ+ : Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans*, Queer, +others.

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

I think that we can all agree that while Christmas may be, essentially, a Christian holiday, the celebration of Christmas has expanded well beyond the boundaries of Christianity. These days it’s celebrated by people of many different faiths and those of none. Of course, the perception of the holiday may differ from one group to the next. A Muslim celebrating Christmas will have a different religious perception of the holiday, compared to a Christian, even though in many instances their days may appear very much alike. Likewise, secular Christmas, celebrated by the majority of Britons, is more or less the same from one household to the next, and still quite like the festivities of Christians, even though the secular, non-religious British citizen doesn’t share their faith.

Pagans, are really no different. Well, mostly.
We, generally speaking, are very happy to get in on the holiday spirit. Many Pagans have a secular Christmas. But a lot of us have other winter holidays that we either celebrate along with Christmas or instead of it. Though, even in those cases where Christmas is not celebrated, our own holidays have many similarities to a typical Christmas.

We shouldn’t be surprised by that, though. One thing that Pagans like about this time of year, is just how Pagan it is! Dozens of different traditions, many of them with Pagan roots, all weaving together into the modern Christmas.

There are a lot of theories about what aspects of Christmas have Pagan elements or origins. Part of Santa Claus’ character may have been adopted from old depictions of Odin. Bringing an evergreen tree into the house, to be decorated, a German tradition of uncertain origins, but it certainly seems very Pagan. Mistletoe, that sacred plant of the Druids, is also held in esteem in Heathen mythology. Even the ancient Romans exchanged gifts as a part of their Saturnalia festival, at this time of year. And having a big winter feast with lots of merriment and drinking, has been a part of mid-winter traditions all over Europe.
So, even those Pagans who engage with Christmas as a public, secular holiday, are still able to enjoy it through Pagan eyes.

Some of us, however, don’t ‘do’ Christmas. We have our own winter festivals, which typically fall around the same time.
In many instances, the placement of these festivals is determined by the winter solstice, which typically falls on December 21st (sometimes the 20th or 22nd). These are, in most instances, Yule celebrations, and are shared by several different Pagan faiths. Yule originally comes from the Germanic peoples of Europe (like the Norse and Anglo-Saxons) and was the whole month. Those who follow a Germanic Pagan faith, like Heathenry and Asatru, tend to celebrate Yule at around the same time as Christmas.

Wiccans also have Yule as a part of their ritual calendar and so it is common practice for them to have a Yule ritual, which marks and celebrates the winter solstice. Druids, likewise, also mark the winter solstice. Those who follow a Pagan path that draws from ancient Roman religion, may have a Saturnalia celebration. Traditionally, Saturnalia could last up to a couple of weeks, though for the modern Pagan who has a job to go to, needs to pay bills, etc. such celebrations may have to be skimmed down to a single party or gathering.

Despite having our own holidays, being a minority religion often means that taking part in holiday revelry has to be a small affair or, as can be the case at this time of year, it can mean that we have to fold our festivities into those of other people. So, Pagans from many different paths may all share a public Yule gathering. More notably though, Pagans may often have to blend their Paganism into the broader gatherings of friends and family. So, we might go to our family Christmas dinner, share in it as our “winter feast”, enjoying it from a Pagan perspective, even while our families enjoy it from their own (religious or non-religious) perspective.

That’s not always the case, though. Modern Paganism is now old enough that we can talk about generations of Pagans. Pagan parents raising their children with Pagan traditions. I know of a number of Pagan families who don’t celebrate Christmas, at all, but they do all celebrate Yule. The kids seem to be quite happy about this arrangement, as Yule tends to take place on December 21st, meaning that they get their presents before all their friends get theirs! Perhaps, as Paganism continues to grow and create more Pagan families, this will become more commonplace – or at least as common as the festivals of any other non-Christian religion in the UK.

For now, though…
Happy Yule – Merry Christmas – Io Saturnalia – Happy Hanukkah – Blessed Sol Invictus – Or whatever your tradition may be, have a good one!

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

Well, it’s that time of year again.  Summer is coming to an end and the kids are back at school.  But the end of summer also means that the wheel of the year is turning again and the first signs of autumn are beginning to manifest.

It also means that my favourite time of year is nearly here:  Halloween!

Halloween, or as we Pagans call it Samhain, is probably our most popular and well-known festival.  It’s the one that is most in the public consciousness, though usually for spooky decorations, fun costumes, parties, and the sudden appearance of a Halloween isle in the supermarket.

Although most people might not think of this time of year in terms of it being a Pagan holiday, it very much is and so many of the things associated with Halloween find their origins in our festival of Samhain.

This is a subject I’ve written and spoken about before, in multiple places.  So, I’m going to cheat a little bit and save myself some time, by simply sharing an article on Samhain that I wrote in the past.

But for those of you looking for the cliffnotes summary:

Samhain is about recognising that death is a part of life.

It is a time for remembering the dead.

Wearing costumes, Jack O’lanterns, Bobbing for Apples, all have Pagan precedents.

Samhain was a fire festival, so bonfires have always been part of the festivities at this time of year.

For the full info, read on…

Samhain

In the modern world only Pagans and those who may be well informed are likely to use the word “Samhain”.  For most people this age-old feast has been transformed into Halloween.  But even Halloween retains traits of the ancient ways, still seen in our predisposition with the supernatural at this time of year.

Halloween is traditionally a time of ghosts and ghoulies, not to mention filling your belly with lots and lots of yummy foods.  But these things aren’t really that far removed from the practices of our ancestors and here we will examine the beliefs and traditions that they held and the dedicated Pagans who still follow them today.

Origins

Samhain (pronounced “s’ow-in”) finds its most recognisable roots in the beliefs and practices of the ancient Celts.

To the Gaulic Celts it was once known as Trinouxtion Samonii.  This translates as “three nights of the end of Summer”, which is when Samhain celebrations took place, around what we now call October/November.  This was not just the end of Summer, but some believe it was also the end of the Celtic year.  The land was slipping into a state of death, trees losing their leaves, the days are darker and shorter, and the crops are brought in for the final time that year.  It is a time of endings.

Additionally, Samhain is also a time of blood.  At this time of year, all farming is coming to a pause.  Crops are done with and the animals, seeking food, come down from the higher pastures and return to the farm to be kept through the winter.  Being as the farmers could not afford to maintain the entire herd throughout the winter, due to the shortness of resources, they would slaughter the most expendable members of the herd.  The blood of these animals was seen as an offering to appease the spirits of the land, thanking them for their help in bringing forth the crops during the year and in the hope that they will provide the same help in the following year.  It was a way to ensure that malign spirits didn’t turn on the property and its owners.

This belief in the power of blood even lasted through to the nineteenth century, where some places would still sprinkle the blood of a cockrel at the four corners of their houses in order to ward off negative spirits.

When the Dead Walk

Blood, death and darkness.  Perhaps a traditional backdrop for our modern Halloween.  But to the Celts, this may have been a time of darkness, but it was in no way a negative time of year.

Samhain was a between-time, resting between the living bright half of the year and the dead, dark half of the year.  It is a time the land (and Gods) were entering into a state of death.  The doors to the world of the dead were blown open at this time and the spirits of those that had died were free to wander the land.

It was traditional at this time to make these spirits welcome in the homes of their families.  Doors and windows would be left open to allow them entrance and food would be set aside for them, so that they could partake of its “spiritual essence” and thusly enjoy the benefits of its nourishment.

This event was often envisioned as a great host of the dead wandering through the countryside, descending upon villages and towns, moving from house to house where at each stop, those who belong would remain behind to visit their relatives.

A common term for this was The Feast of the Dead, which is a term that is still used today by some Pagans.

This was a time for celebration, when the entire tribe – living and dead – would come together to celebrate the festivities.  At the centre of these festivities was the ritual bonfire.

Fire in the darkness

One traditional practice in many Celtic communities was to extinguish all the lights in the village and light a single bonfire, central to everyone as a communal gathering point.  Later, all the lights would be relit from the flames of this bonfire.

This practice was most widely and sacredly performed in Ireland, where Samhain was synonymous with the Feast of Tara.  The Tara was the envisioned heart of the land, where every king of Ireland would come at the time of the feast.  Nearby, at a sacred area called Tlachtga, a large bonfire would be constructed, ready for Samhain.  Then the night before Samhain, all the lights in the land would be extinguished and the fire at Tlachtga would be lit.  Once the fire was raging attendees would cast charms into the flames, symbolising their wishes for the coming year.  Then torches would be lit from the bonfire and sent out across the land to relight it, beginning with its spiritual heart: the Tara.

The bonfire has retained its place in modern British culture; however, it has now been co-opted by Guy Fawkes Night and its original heritage has been forgotten in favour of the more recent gunpowder plot.

In some communities, the bonfires served a double purpose, by also acting as a protective charm against supernatural menaces.

It was a time of year when the barrier between life and death was at its thinnest, dark had triumphed over light and the spirits of the dead were free to roam.  But other things from the lands beyond life were also free to venture forth and cause whatever trouble they wanted.  In this time of darkness, the bonfire served to bring light to the community and dispel the darkness from places where nasty other-world creatures may try to lurk.

So, in this way, the bonfires were like beacons that would guide in ancestral spirits as they wandered, while at the same time driving off more malevolent beings.

It is thought that the ancient Celts would have burnt animal bones in these fires as a special measure to ward off evil spirits, which is where we get our modern word “bonfire”, from these ancient “bone-fires”.  These bone-fires were no doubt built using the bones of the cattle that were slaughtered for Samhain.

Death, Renewal and the promise of Life

We are now very familiar with the natural connection to death and the spirit world that are expressed at Samhain.  But as has already been mentioned, this is not a time for grieving.  In fact, this is as much a time for looking forward as well as looking back.

We are inclined at this time to remember those who have passed over to the land of the dead and all the times we have had with them.  As the end of the harvest we are also inclined to look back over the spring and summer that have just passed.

Remember, this is not just another passing holiday; this is the mark of the end of the year.  Think about the things that may run through your mind at the end of December.  You are probably given to spare a thought for the year that has just gone and take stock of the things that have happened.  Was it a good year?  A happy year?  In the mix of the festivities you quite probably remember a lot of the good times, as anyone would at a party.  Well Samhain is a party too, it is a celebration, albeit a solemn one in many regards.  So those involved would spare the same kind of thoughts to the past year, but in addition they would also look forwards at the year to come.

You may make New Year’s resolutions as the New Year rings in and December becomes January.  For the ancient Celts it wasn’t too different.  They would give thought to what they would do with their futures and so this also became a common time for doing simple forms of divination, often as a part of the merriment.

This also makes a lot of sense at this time of year, as Samhain is seen as the doorway between worlds.  It is the bridge between one year and the next, when reality is at its thinnest.  It is neither one year, nor the other.  A time between times and thusly “time” was just as flexible as the walls between the worlds, making it a perfect event for divining the future.

If you lived back then, you may have witnessed a local getting their future romantic interests predicted by watching walnuts crack upon a roaring hearth fire.

Samhain is also about new beginnings – or at least, envisioning new beginnings.

At this time of year, nature has retreated and died, and this brings with it the image of the Goddess descending into the underworld as she also enters the state of death.  In today’s neo-pagan religions (especially Wicca) this is commonly just “the Goddess” as represented through all of nature as the bringer of life and womb of creation.  However, in the Celtic world this concept of the Goddess would have been overlaid with that of their local Goddess who either fit the bill of the seasonal change or who stood as the most sovereign among the Goddesses, as at this time of year the Goddess (whoever she may be) was viewed as the Sovereign Goddess.  She, who in majesty, withdraws for the other worlds.

While the Goddess draws away from us and descends into the underworld, her consort sweeps across the land, taking part in the Wild Hunt.  The theme of the Wild Hunt is perhaps best represented through the horned God Cernunnos, moving across the sky at the darkening of the year.  This Wild Hunt of his signifies two things, firstly the culling of the herds that is being performed by the slaughter of livestock and secondly, the gathering of the souls of the deceased.  We visualise him stalking animals as a hunter, bringing down those that are weakest so that the herd will be strengthened and the community better benefits, thusly the animal slaughters are depicted, but he is also king of the underworld and ready to join the Goddess in her sovereignty.  So, the Wild Hunt marks his return to the underworld, gathering the souls of the dead as they finish their time on Earth.

As he descends in the underworld, he takes his place with the Goddess.  There are many myths at Samhain that describe how the God takes his position with the Goddess, sometimes showing him dying in order to be with her, some showing him as a resident guardian to her in her time in the underworld, while others depict him in the guise of two Gods with one slaying another so that the first may go to the Goddess to reclaim her for the world.  This act is a sacred sacrifice.  The God has travelled the land gathering the spoils of the Wild Hunt and now for the good of the world, he himself dies so that he can return to the Underworld.

As the Lord of the other worlds, the God shall stand as protector to the Goddess during her time in the underworld.  For this in itself is a significant time, as it shows us that death and the spirit world is not merely the cessation of life, but instead a womb from which the Goddess will be born anew with the coming of Spring.

In modern Paganism the significance of this message is very important.  Through it we understand how death is a step in life and how the dark months of winter show us the beginning of the New Year, for in these dark times life dwells in the womb of the Earth and spiritually in the other worlds.  So, the beginning of the New Year coincides with the beginning of the life of the land, here in the cosmic womb of the natural world.

Samhain into Halloween – what we do today

Any and all of these ancient practices can and do get recreated among modern Pagans, but alongside them time has also gifted us with some newer traditions that fit marvellously into the spirit of the season.  For the modern Pagan there is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t utilise both sides of the season, old and new.  It’s your Samhain, so do what you need to enjoy it. It is, after all, supposed to be a festival.

Costumes

Dressing as ghosts and ghoulies has a very obvious connection to the holiday.  With the belief that all sorts of creatures are around and about, dressing the part to celebrate can be a good bit of fun.

But this tradition may also have some roots that are older and deeper than we may realise.  Indeed, in some Celtic communities dressing up was a regular practice.  There would be people who would often dress in masks and outfits and play pranks upon their neighbours – usually with a light-hearted attitude.

This was to symbolise the breaking of barriers that was occurring in the world.  As the common rules of time and space came to waver, so to did the rules of community behaviour and people could feel free (to a point) to do some things that they would not normally be allowed to do, by breaking the flow of ordinary behaviour.  In this fashion, people would dress up in order to look outrageous and add to the merriment.

Some researchers also suggest that it would have been common practice at this time for any Celts out on the Samhain nights, to wear costumes as disguises, so that they would not be recognised as human if they happen to cross paths with any unfriendly spirits.

Jack-O’lanterns

The history of the Jack-O’lanterns is a rather divided one and seems to be the end result of two different things.

According to some traditions, the Jack-O’lantern finds its origins in Ireland, where it was a practice to carve out root vegetables (primarily turnips) and place either a piece of coal or a candle within them, in the style of the modern Jack-O’lantern.  This was done with a double meaning:  firstly, the light from the candle acted as a guide for friendly spirits, so that they might be able to find their way and be guided in, while the scary face was a deterrent to malevolent spirits and drives them away.

If is thought that this practice didn’t specifically pertain to Samhain and that it may have occurred at other times of year as well but keeping in mind the dual purpose of the traditional Samhain bonfire, it isn’t hard to see how this tradition might have got started.

Additionally, there is the folklore tale about an unlucky Irishman by the name of Jack, who is said to have caused some kind of great mischief in his life and eventually had a run-in with the Devil.  Well, as it turns out, Jack was actually a rather shrewd thinker and managed to trick the Devil and trap him until he promised not to take Jack’s soul to Hell.  The Devil agreed in exchange for his own freedom.

Of course, when Jack came to die, he was left in a bit of a pickle.  Being far from an upstanding citizen he was refused entrance to Heaven and the Devil kept his word, barring him from Hell.

Jack wondered what he would do and where he would go, so the Devil mockingly made him a lantern with which he would endlessly wander the world seeking a place to rest.

From this folk tale he became known as Jack of the Lantern or Jack O’Lantern.

When the Irish immigrated to North America they brought the tradition of the Jack-O’lantern with them, but somewhere along the way they found it was easier to carve pumpkins than it was to carve turnips, bringing us to the modern Jack-O’Lantern that we have today.

Bobbing for Apples

This tradition actually goes back further than the Celts, finding its origins in the ancient Roman Empire.  The Romans once celebrated their own festival of the last harvest around the time of late October, called the Feralia.  During this time, they celebrated by honouring the Goddess Pomona, the Goddess of fruit trees.  The apple was a sacred symbol of Pomona and was used in celebrations of this festival.

When the Romans invaded the Celtic lands, the practices of the Romans blended a little with that of the Celts and so the symbolic reference to apples was passed across.  Today we still celebrate this via the tradition of apple bobbing.

Even today this time of year remains a time for fun and frolics, when we all have a good excuse to dress up and enjoy ourselves.

For many Pagans this is a time to welcome the dead and give honour to the Gods, but whether you call it Samhain or Halloween, everyone is free to join in the fun, throw parties or if they wish just stay in and watch horror movies.  So, make it a good one!

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, Pagan representative for Email a Believer. Luthaneal explains what constitutes an active, sacred site for modern Pagans. It includes a classroom activity to design a personal altar space.

I’m currently enjoying a visit to Rome and am taking the time to see some of the sights.  I’ve always had an interest in both Roman history and the ancient Roman religion, so being here also tingles my Pagan senses.

While visiting the Colosseum, my guide was speaking about how at one time the great arches on the outside housed statues of the Gods and important figures.  It made me a little sad to think about what must have happened to all those statues, either torn down for materials or destroyed as a part of a newer religion exerting its authority.

That’s very much the case for so many Pagan sacred sites of the ancient world.  The old temples were either destroyed, built over or converted into churches.  Those that were not are, in the majority, ruins and all of them are now either tourist attractions or archaeological sites (barring maybe a few scattered exceptions).

Modern Paganism is very much a religion of reclamation.  Bringing new life back to old religious ways.  But as much as we may like the idea of being able to use these old sacred sites as part of that spirit of reclamation, trying to do so is either impractical (due to masses of tourists or the decimation of the site) or outright disallowed by the authorities.

So, what constitutes an active, sacred site for modern Pagans?

Well, Paganism today is very much a personal religion and the majority of its practices are done in private.  It’s a religion based in the home.  Though the home itself isn’t a sacred site, it is very common for Pagans to set up altars and shrines in their homes, as focal points for their religious observations.

Outside of the home, it’s not unusual for Pagans to practice their religion out in nature.  Perhaps a clearing in a woodland, somewhere, or a nice field where there is space to enact a ritual without being disturbed.  Of course, that not being disturbed part doesn’t always go according to plan.  Many a time have I been involved in such a ritual with people and been stumbled upon by a rogue dog-walker or become a temporary spectacle for passing ramblers.

But the point is that being as nature is generally seen as sacred to many Pagans, a sacred site can be ‘set-up’ out in nature.

But the desire for a connection to the Pagan past is still strong and so it is quite common for some Pagans to visit old Pagan sites, not merely as a matter of interest, but also with a recognition that the site is still sacred and has meaning.  It still has the energy and ambiance of the way it was used by our ancestors and so going to a site like that also stems from a desire to connect with that sense of the past and any energies that may linger there.

In the UK, a lot of Pagans visit the many stone circles and earthworks that are scattered across our countryside.  While there, we may just seek to connect with the place, or we may perform rituals.  We know that the religion of the people who built the stone circles was not the same as ours and that we may never really know what their beliefs and practices were, but the site is still sacred to us because we recognise that these people probably had beliefs that were at least similar to ours, honouring spirits of the land and nature, so there is still a kind of kinship there.  By being in these places and performing our own rituals, we’re a part of the spiritual tradition of the site, and though we may do things a little differently and use different words, we are still giving the same reverence to the site and the spirits that reside there.

For larger, more public events, we have no buildings of worship and gathering ‘en masse’ in the great outdoors, isn’t feasible most of the time – especially not for city dwellers.  But there are Pagan organisations and groups who rent spaces, like halls or meeting rooms, where public gatherings can take place.  These rented spaces are not sacred sites, but in most instances when we are using the space to perform rituals, as a part of those rituals an act is performed (like casting a ritual circle, cleansing the space, or in some way spiritually anointing the area we are using) that temporarily sets the space aside as sacred.  So, in this way, we create sacred space even if we are lacking a sacred site.

At a few places, most notably dotted around Europe and North America, there are some groups who have started to build new temples and permanent Pagan places of worship.  These are currently few and far between, but perhaps, maybe, in the future there may be more.

Classroom Activity

Design A Personal Altar Space

Pagans often set up small altars or shrines in their houses, where they keep religious objects and representations of things that are sacred to them.  This could be a small table, a dresser or even a window ledge.

Ask the students to think about what an altar would look like if it had on it all the things that were important to them.  This doesn’t have to be religious items, just an attractive arrangement of things that they feel are important in their life.

Have the students write down what would be on their personal altar and explain why they included each of those things.  Then ask them to draw a picture of their altar.

Example: A student could have a small table with a photograph of their family on it, a trinket from their best friend, a piece of jewellery from a relative who has passed away, a vase with their favourite flowers in it, their diary, and a football.

Learning Objectives

• To get students thinking about what is important to them in their lives.
• To consider how objects and images are used to represent important things.
• To understand how sacred space is used to create a focal point for the objects and beliefs that we consider special, important or sacred

This resource was written by Luthaneal Adams, one of RE:ONLINE’s Email a Believer team.

1st February 2025

Pagan

Imbolc, also called Oimelc and Candlemas, celebrates the awakening of the land and the growing power of the Sun. Snowdrops, which appear at this time of the year, are seen as the heralds of spring.