Interesting points Caroline, but here's food for thought:
For those people who identify themselves as pagan (or neo-pagan),
wouldn't some of them at least recognize that they, themselves are
inherently divine and part of divinity made manifest (as in creation
around them)? I've met many people who consider themselves pagan give
little more than a passing acknowledgment to a deity because of this.
They simply choose to view and connect to deity in a slightly different
way -- maybe as a possible way to empower 'self' within the context of
creation. Whether or not that is a conscious choice is a different
question...
Blessings through Wisdom,
Pat
Caroline Tully wrote:
> Actually, that reminds, me, when I was working on Witchcraft Mag a lot
> of readers - modern Australian Witches - got really cross when I
> insinuated that they were atheistic, which they were. They didn't see
> that Witchcraft (modern non-initiatory Witchcraft, although
> stylistically derived from Wicca, which *does* have deities, the "God
> and Goddess" at minimum and full blown religious interaction at max)
> had anything to do with gods, belief, recriprocity...The "gods" of
> Witchcraft, apparently, were a way for women to love their periods,
> and for men to explore being gentle... Although in spells the gods
> might or might not be mentioned/incorporated in the text, my
> impression was, for those readers, that they didn't particularly
> believe in or care about deities - although these same people *would*
> also identify as "Pagans". (But without deities... what is a Pagan???)
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