Anyone a Wiccan or Pagan?

I guess I'm a little slow on this subject. But are they the same thing?
If someone says they are a "nature loving Pagan", what does that mean?
They really like the outdoors? Or a more religious meaning?

A lady friend I have been getting to know sprung that on me recently. We knew each other well a long time ago. Attended the same Methodist church with our families. And have recently gotten back together.
It's really kind of intriguing. Sort of like dating a Jewish lady(or a Muslim or a LDS) and wanting to know more about what they believe....
Any help out there in the tilted forum?

 

A Wiccan is a type of pagan.

Wicca, Witchcraft or Paganism? Also .. BBC - Religion: Paganism

 

Aren't Wiccans just the Liberal version of Christians?

 

I have studied and practice Wiccan magic for many years. Oh & BTW - Never make assumptions.

There is No connection to Christianity at all.

Leave the Christians to their own devices. They believe that you can only go to heaven if you accept Christ as your Savior. You can do that on your deathbed (apparently) minutes before you die - even if you've been a rotten human. It's the Grace card.

 

Where do I sign up...?

 

Uh-huh. Huge problem. Throbbing problem.

 

I was just going to say what rogue said. The woes pagan is very misused today. It does not mean nature worship or anything like that. It means not christian or at least not of a religion of the book

Hindu''s, sihk''s and Buddhists are all pagans as much as worshippers of Zeus by the propper use and I should think all in there are more than a billion of them

 

Had to double check you didn't mean bestiality.

 

They may be according to the "proper" usage of the term, but I've never heard them refer to themselves as such. In common usage as I've seen it it's usually catch-all for a lot of the esoteric and/or polythiestic faiths, like Wicca, Thelema, Asatru, Neo-Druidism, etc. It generally acts as a catch-all similarly to the way Christianity works for Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists,etc., except with a broader scope. To answer the OP, I've been an eclectic Wiccan for years.

 

Of course. Not many Christian's call themselves kafir's and not many Muslims call themselves gentiles either.

Its a negative term, meant to be condescending.

I think if people want to worship nature I have no issue with it and it makes as much sense as some other belief systems to me, but they ought to have their own name rather than allow themselves to be classed in terms of "not Christian's"

_

On the other points

(1) no living person has ANY idea what druid's believed in. The most trustworthy source on them was a general who basically wiped them out of existence in Britain

(2) Wicca means simply witchcraft, which really refers more to the use of magic than respect for nature

(3) Catholic means only "one church"... it in itself doesn't describe any theology, it just means you believe in one church. (although this comes to mean the Roman church of course)

(4) I think broadly Luther was a catholic (in that he believed in one church also) he just believed it should be run in a much different and less autocratic way, and hated Jews a bit more, etc

I could go on, but when it comes down to it every Christian (however much they think other "sects" as heretical believes in the same God, the same prophets of that God, and that He in some way was personified or represented by Jesus.

Emperor Augustus was a pagan, and so are you... you do not share even 5% much in terms of your beliefs in common as Martin Luther and the Pope I suspect.

 

That's funny, I always thought you were Greek... kicky big damn mistake.

Anyway, I've been involved with Pagans and Paganism more or less for fifteen years now. I wasn't always practicing but once you've learned something it doesn't go unlearned... at least not to me anyway. The hippie tree-hugger image is usually one of first stereotypes that comes up and is easily waylaid. I have a respect for nature, but that doesn't mean I'm going to lay down in front of a bulldozer.

 

Holy shit I didn't know you were still hanging around here.

I like to think (I may be wrong) that most modern-day practitioners of Neo-Druidism understand that at best they're trying to emulate what they can of a lost religion. Some really do try to find all the research they can about the actual Druids, some have their own entirely new thing that they stick the Neo-Druidism label on.

As for Wicca, it's such a broad term that it's hard to nail down, since there are so many people who don't follow a specific tradition. But while most Wiccans would identify with Wicca as witchcraft, many practitioners of magic would not. For example, many Ceremonial Magicians or Hermetic Qabalists practice magic, but wouldn't identify themselves at all with Wicca. The same goes for Asatru, Vodoun, Chaos magicians, etc.

Also, I don't think you'll find many people who have been Wiccan for a while (I say this to eliminate the people who find spellbooks in new age sections and call themselves witches) would say that magic devoid of divinity comprised what it meant to them to be Wiccan.