I remember very clearly a beautiful day in May, when I was 12 years old. I was walking to school and the sun was shining bright and warm and all the trees and bushes were bursting with greenery. I thought about how much pleasure I got from this. I agreed to myself that appreciation for nature was very important to me, and I considered this to be the foundation of my spirituality. I had been reading about this thing called paganism, which my mum told me about. She said that a pagan was someone who worshipped the Earth and the Sun and the Moon. This sounded like a good thing to me. A few of my friends were Christian and one of them had persuaded me to go to church with her. They were singing and clapping their hands and it all seemed very strange to me. I thought I better give it a try, just in case I went to Hell otherwise. After the singing and clapping, some kids were talking about how they were going to do a play about Noah's ark. This sounded like fun at first, but then I r...

It was in May 1997 that I decided to myself that I was "pagan". As far as I understood, this meant having an Earth-based spirituality, a connection with Nature, reverence for the Earth. I figured these sounded like lovely things, and it was at that time of year when Nature really comes to life and everything is wonderfully green. I knew that I felt a strong connection with all this Earthly stuff, and that this was what fed my spirit. The word "pagan" derives from Latin "paganus" which means “rural”, “of the countryside” or “outside the city”. It inherently has connotations of the uncivilised, the peasantry, the wild. In reference to religion, we are talking about the diverse temples and holy sites of country folk. When the Roman Empire adopted Christianity as its official religion, it was out in the wilderness that the ancient folk religions continued. Paganism referred to those practices outside the control of government officials. Before the...

Last year I posted an advert on witchvox calling for local people who would be interested in starting a new coven. Interest has been slowly and steadily growing. I currently have a potential coven of 10 ladies. I'm excited in a nervous kind of way. I am not the most socially confident person. The thought of meeting strangers is quite terrifying. I don't know how many of the potential witches are really up for trying this. I always assume that out of all who express an interest, only half will follow through. Since last year I had a good feeling about May, that this would be the time for new projects. I've proposed a coven meeting in May and so far three individuals have said they would like to meet up. What I worry about is being able to meet everyone's needs, because I want the coven to work for everyone. I want clear communication, this is the most important thing, that we are able to share our ideas. I don't like the idea of a coven where a select leadership...

Stewart and Janet Farrar There are a lot of people who choose not to use the word Wicca, because they see it as too restrictive and dogmatic. A dogma is an official system of belief held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. But who has the authority to decide what the official beliefs of Wicca are? I would suggest that Wicca as a whole is not dogmatic, but that some Wiccan groups may be. In Wicca it is generally agreed that every coven is autonamous, independent and self-governing, not subject to anyone else's laws. No Wiccan has the right to tell another coven what they can or cannot do. We can give each other advice, sure, that's what the Rede is after all, a piece of advice. This is what makes Wicca so difficult to define, and I think the difficulty makes some people very uncomfortable. Other religions seem more than willing to offer up official creeds, rules and regulations by which they may be recognised. Other religions have sacred texts, but Wicca ...

Some people have very narrow definitions of what it means to be pagan. Over the years, my understanding of what it means to be pagan has broadened to become virtually all-inclusive. A lot can be gained from looking at the etymology of the word. Pagan : late 14c., from L.L. paganus "pagan," in classical Latin "villager, rustic, civilian," from pagus "rural district," originally "district limited by markers," thus related to pangere "to fix, fasten," from PIE root *pag- "to fix". Applied to modern pantheists and nature-worshippers from 1908. ( source ) To me, a pagan is anyone who feels a pull toward the wild, a desire to connect to the land, to grow your own food, and to live a simple life. To be pagan is to be peaceful, as the word was at some point used to mean civilians, those people who are not of the military. A pagan delights in flowers and trees, knowing the best things in life are free. A pagan knows that mater...

The rain held off long enough for me to make this video at the beach: I consider myself very fortunate to live so close to this beautiful coast. The golden sands stretch out from the horizon in the East to the West. I have lived here for about 16 or 17 years. I remember my mum setting up her altar in the new house and explaining that she was "pagan" which meant that she worshipped "the earth and the moon and the sun". She bought me a big book called "mind, body, spirit" which was designed to introduce children to spirituality. I was fascinated and set about devouring any books I could get my hands on. Our new house had a "study" room with huge book shelves covering an entire wall and a massive desk for our home computer. Do you remember how the internet was back in the 90s? I would sit there patiently waiting for the dial-up. There was always a drawing pad to scribble on as you waited for websites to load. It was a beautiful green day in Ma...