Pagans make great use of stories and myths, particularly from sources such as the Welsh Mabinogion, or classical Rome and Greece, but also from the heritage of the whole world. A myth in this context is a significant story, often ancient, which deals with ultimate issues in life such as how the universe arose and why things are as they are. Such stories explore deep feelings and express important truths. Whether the story ‘really happened’ is not important and indeed asking such a question is missing the point. Some Pagan stories or motifs turn out not to be ancient myths but taken from nineteenth or twentieth century literature, such as Leland’s Aradia or Robert Graves The White Goddess or even novels. This is not seen as a problem, and some younger Pagans are happy to draw upon images and storylines from film, television, and digital media.

One popular story for Druids is the tale of Ceridwen’s cauldron from the Mabinogion. This explains how the Bard Taliesen gained poetic inspiration and magical powers by ingesting three drops from a potion brewed by Ceridwen meant for her own son. Symbolically the cauldron stands for the source of all poetic and artistic inspiration (awen) which often seems to come from somewhere outside of ourselves and/or deep inside us. The cauldron is also a symbol of the womb and thus of birth and new life. Druids and other Pagans seek to be open to this fount of creativity.

Ancient Druids left no written texts but Hellenics and followers of Religio-Romano might draw upon classical Greek or Roman authors and Kemetics can draw on archaeological research material for their myths.

With both ritual and myth being so important in Paganism, symbolic artefacts, actions and persons also feature largely. A symbol in a religious context is something that stands for or points to something else, but often a ‘something else’ which cannot easily be expressed in non-symbolic language, being profound and ineffable. Symbol, myth and ritual help to ‘express the inexpressible’. Often symbols are not arbitrarily chosen, but seem to have some innate or perhaps psychologically powerful connection with the truth symbolised.

Many symbols used by Pagans, especially Wiccans, are taken from the history of magical practice. The importance of the circle has already been mentioned. Casting a circle was done in traditional magic to protect the practitioner from negative forces while engaging in ritual, but the circle also symbolises eternity and the cycle of the seasons or birth and death. A modern interpretation adds that when people stand in a circle they are all equal. The four directions – north, south, east, west – and the four elements earth, fire, air and water – have importance in ritual and are given a variety of meanings, but link human ritual clearly to the physical world. Candles and incense are used in rituals, again different flavours of incense may be used for different purposes.

Wiccans use a ritual knife or athame, not to sacrifice anything, indeed, it is not meant to cut anything in the physical world, but to direct energy, such as when casting the circle, and cutting a portal in the circle to allow admission or exit during ritual, thereby retaining the sacred nature of the space. It also symbolises the masculine in relation to the chalice or cup which symbolises the feminine.

The five-pointed star or pentagram is an ancient symbol identifying the human (four limbs and the head) with the universe (the five elements, adding ‘ether’ to the four). It was also a symbol of the star Venus. If within a circle, the star is usually called a pentacle. The pentacle is often worn as a pendant or earrings or on a bracelet by Pagans to announce their identity. Sun, moon and stars, flowers, trees, animals and birds are also important in expressing the connections between the human and the rest of nature.

Symbols for other Pagan and Heathen traditions might include: Mjolnir (Thor’s hammer), the Awen symbol in Druidry, and the double-headed axe symbolising the Goddess. The Egyptian Ankh is a very popular symbol, among Pagans and non-Pagans, although it rarely means that the wearer practises Kemeticism.

Creativity is very important to Pagans, as a general approach to life as well as ritual and story. Many Pagans are poets, artists and musicians and use these skills in Pagan ceremonies. Pagan ritual is a form of dramatic performance, often using scripts, costumes and ‘props’. Drumming is a very important part of Pagan practice when influenced by Shamanic practice (a ‘shaman’ is a general term used by scholars of religion to indicate a person, originally from an ‘indigenous’ society, who is able to reach altered states of consciousness, and for example discover the cause of an illness or communicate with spirits). Dancing is often a part of Pagan ceremony. Artefacts from ancient pagan societies such as copies of goddess figurines discovered by archaeologists may be collected. Art from ‘indigenous’ culture such as native Americans or Australian aboriginal people and Celtic and Germanic art forms may be admired. All the arts are used to stimulate emotion and inspiration, and ultimately bring about change and transformation in the individual, the community and the wider world.

The concept of pilgrimage as such is not really developed in Paganism, though Pagans may well visit places associated with Pagan practice such as Stonehenge, Avebury, or Glastonbury, especially at festival times.

The British Druid Order (BDO) promotes pilgrimage in their courses. Philip Carr-Gomm’s book, ‘The Druid Way’, also promotes the concept of pilgrimage. Some Pagans who visit Stonehenge for the solstice will engage in a pilgrims’ walk from Avebury to Stonehenge. With the placing of blue plaques on the homes of Doreen Valiente in Brighton and Gerald Gardner in Dorset, there is the possibility of pilgrimages to visit those sites.

Paganism celebrates individuality, and personal experience is the main authority. It is possible to be a Pagan by oneself, celebrating rituals in private, and not necessarily letting anyone know. However, most people find strength in belonging to a group of like-minded people, even if it is a virtual rather than physical community. Wiccans typically belong to a ‘coven’ and Druids to a ‘grove’ and enjoy meeting together for rituals and festivals. Increasingly Pagans are forming ‘a community’ in the sense used in contemporary ‘identity politics’, that can interact with other ‘communities’. Organisations such as the Pagan Federation can represent Pagans in the wider world, and campaign if necessary for Pagan rights.

In a sense, the Pagan belongs to a wider than human community, in that an important aspect of Pagan identity is to feel at home in the world, as a part of the living universe, not separate from animals, plants and other life forms, but as part of an interdependent community of all life.

Reconstructionists can be solitary or be members of formal temples structures such as Fellowship of Isis, or Kemetic Orthodox. Eclectic Pagans tend to be largely solitary practitioners.

As Paganism is largely rooted in the idea of the sacredness of nature, environmental issues are a crucial part of much Pagan ethics. Pagans may be involved in forms of direct action or other political activities, campaigning for the future of the planet against the many ways in which this is threatened. Others will focus on deepening respect for and relationship with the earth through ritual and meditation rather than politics. Some Pagans blame Christianity and Abrahamic faiths more generally for having an attitude that sees humans and the divine as separate from nature, and that nature can be conquered and exploited as humans wish. This is sometimes justified by reference to the scriptural concept of human being having been given ‘dominion over’ nature. Other Pagans recognise alternative messages of care for, and stewardship of, or partnership with, nature within the history and present practice of Christians, Muslims and Jews.

Celebrating planet earth and ethical action avoiding harming the environment can be areas where Pagans can fruitfully work with those from all religions and none.

Pagan ethics tend to the libertarian. There are no commandments revealed by a deity or list of precepts recommended by an enlightened teacher. Decisions are very much up to the individual and there is a faith in human ability to behave well when free to do so. Pagans tend to dislike notions of sin and guilt as having negative effects on human flourishing. Life is to be enjoyed, in ways that respect the rights of other beings to enjoy their lives too. Michael York (2003) characterises Pagan ethics as based on ‘honor, trust and friendship’. The Pagan perspective that all life is a connected part of the sacred, including all human life and all of nature, has implications for ethical thought about how Pagans interact with the world.

Some Pagans will quote what is known as the ‘Wiccan Rede’: ‘an it harm none, do what thou wilt’ (possibly coined by Doreen Valiente in 1964, and perhaps a response to Crowley’s ‘do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law’). However, harming none (which has echoes of the ahimsa of Jain, Hindu and Buddhist traditions) can put considerable limits on the notion of doing what you like. Some Pagans are vegetarian or vegan to avoid harming animals or exploiting them in any way, whereas others think eating meat is natural, but that we should be fully aware of and thankful for the life that has been sacrificed to give us nourishment. An ethic not based on codified rules is actually quite difficult as it involves making constant judgments about what is the most loving and least harmful course of action in any given case.

Some Pagans believe that there is a natural justice in the way the universe is organised, and that ‘what goes around comes around’. They may even use the Indian term karma for this idea. Some Wiccans talk about the ‘threefold return’ that applies to magick – everything wished for others will come back to the practitioner three times as much, which is a deterrent to using magick for negative ends. Others dismiss these ideas and hold that we should behave well towards other beings without any thought of reward or punishment.

There have been a number of books published recently, that examine ethics from a Pagan perspective. Two good examples are:

Myers, B., 2008. The Other Side of Virtue. Alresford: O Books.

and

Restall Orr, E., 2012. Living with Honour – a Pagan Ethics. Alresford: O Books

Most Pagans also strongly believe in taking personal responsibility for one’s actions, and that taking personal responsibility should be highly visible as an indication of an ethical approach to life.

Pagan views of science are quite complicated, in that scientists (or rather ‘sciencists’, those who see scientific empirical evidence as the only truth) are criticised by many Pagans for having a limited materialist, mechanistic picture of life, denying the reality of the spiritual and the magical. The sociologist Max Weber famously claimed that science and modernity ‘disenchanted’ the world as experienced in medieval times, whereas Paganism seeks to bring ‘re-enchantment’ and to put the magic and wonder back.

Science is sometimes blamed for setting up a dichotomy between humans and the rest of the natural world, and thus seeing nature as something to be used and exploited by humans rather than recognising our kinship with all living things, and indeed all matter. On the other hand, there are Pagans who are scientists. Scientific thinking shares with Paganism an emphasis on the physical world available to the senses, and valuing human experience as a source of authority. There can be a shared wonder at the amazing diversity of life on our planet, and the patterns revealed by physics and chemistry. Where scientists are not too positivist, and where Pagans interpret such things as deities and magic more metaphorically or psychologically, there can be much agreement. It is often claimed that more recent science such as quantum physics is starting to sound more like a Pagan worldview than earlier Newtonian physics, but one would probably have to have considerable in-depth knowledge of both to come to a verdict on this.

Some practitioners of magic may integrate metaphors from modern science, such as particle physics and quantum mechanics as a means to explain how magic works, and also to bridge the gap between mysticism and hard science.

‘Ultimate questions’ tend to be asked from within a Christian versus ‘Western’ atheist framework – is there a God, is there an afterlife, where did the universe come from, why is there evil and suffering? In both ‘Eastern’ traditions and Paganism, these may not be the most important issues. So on God, Pagans may have a variety of answers, including polytheism, duotheism, the Goddess, pantheism, nature as divine, or a metaphorical non-realist understanding of deity.

On the possibility of an afterlife, Pagans may believe in reincarnation, or in the otherworld of the spirits, or an Elysian fields or Summerlands kind of paradise, or a Valhalla, depending on their Pagan tradition, or union with the divine life-energy. Other Pagans believe there is no life after death and that we should concentrate on living this life on earth.

The origin of the universe is often something to be pondered, with no definitive answer. But such ponderings are not generally central to Pagan traditions. Some traditions, such as Hellenism and Heathenry might also include creation stories.

Many Pagans accept that life includes suffering as well as joy and we have to learn positive ways of dealing with this for all living things. Pagans may say that they accept the existence of a dark side of life, but this should not be confused with any idea of encouraging ‘evil’.

Pagans to date have not much engaged in systematic theology or philosophy, but a few people are trying to develop both, such as Michael York (2003) and Paul Reid-Bowen (2007). Although this enterprise is just beginning, some ‘answers to ultimate questions’ can be discerned. The sacred, holy or divine is not something separate from the physical world, but is immanent within nature, or more straightforwardly, is nature. The divine is either female as well as male (or genderless), or in Reid-Bowen’s analysis of Goddess-based thought, sacred nature is primordially female. If everything is divine, then everything is holy and the world is a place of enchantment, with sacred energy available to all.

Life on this earth is affirmed, and the body and sexuality are celebrated. The interconnection and co-dependence of all things, human, animal, plant, divine is a fundamental truth, giving a priority to relationality and relationships.

The diversity of life, and even the messy or painful aspects are to be accepted and made the most of. Experience is the main source of knowledge, and in Goddess spirituality, particularly the experience of women.

Pagans prioritise the experiential dimension of religion, and individual experience as a source of authority. Belief in the sacredness of nature often springs from numinous or mystical experiences which have happened to Pagans when in special places or as part of a ritual or of meditation. Such experiences are not just passing feelings but can be deeply personally transformative, if hard to talk about. Graham Harvey talks about the fundamental characteristic of Paganism being ‘enchantment’, the recognition of a world full of myriads of amazing life-forms, with whom we can develop relationships that recognise our mutual dependence. Paganism puts the wonder back into life.