Sharkfin-

are you confusing a "Pagan", a person who follows the pre-christian religion of the Indo-European peoples. With a "Vegan", a person who does not eat animal products?

hunterkid94

you said some pretty interesting things.

First you said "I do not need somebody talking about a different God when I do not beleive they exist."

Why don't I have the same right every time someone talks the Judeo-Christian God on this site?

Then you quoted the King James Bible "I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of slavery"

This passage is originally from the Jewish Torah and refers to how Yahweh led the Israelites from slavery through Moses. From what I can see in your profile picture, you appear to be Caucasian, of European descent.

The Israelites are a Middle Eastern people, what makes you so sure that passage applies to you? let alone me?

Rabbit police -

I will assume that your rock comment was good faith question about our beliefs.

Most neopagans believe in the concept of animism, this is a concept we share with the native americans and most of the worlds religions other than the big monotheistic three.

Animism could loosely be described as believing that everything (Deer, trout, trees, even rocks) has a spirit (the word "spirit" dosent really do the concept justice, its not like we think that rocks go to heaven when they die, but its the best word I can come up with without writing an essay)

Now, something having a spirit doesn't that we worship it (far from it), but it does mean that we should respect it and it reminds us that everything we do has consequences, physical and spiritual.

ken.mcloud and silsbyj

The ancient Pagans certainly did practice both animal and human sacrifices. (You can also find numerous references to Israelites doing both in the old testament)

However, amongst modern Pagans (aka Neopagans) animal sacrifices are essentially non-existent and human sacrifices are completely non-existent. I have never actually heard of anyone doing a ritual animal sacrifice, however I wouldn't be surprised to hear that they were performed somewhere.

I guess to a certain extent, those of us Neopagans who hunt and fish are performing animal sacrifices. It is a spiritual endeavor for most us, the Gods are certainly involved, and they are thanked at the end. Though, now that I think about it, a sacrifice is when you kill an animal for a god, that's not really what I'm doing when I'm taking game, I'm taking it for me and my family.

jlfreeborn-

again, "spirit" is an awfully clumsy word to describe what I'm talking about. I don't mean it in the way that you and I have a spirit, but I don't have a better word for the concept I am talking about.

As for your question about prayer, I suspect that We Pagans have much more in common with Christians than you think we do.

Christians believe in a wide array of supernatural beings with more power than humans. Most of these are called Angels, their creator, an even more powerful being is called God (Yahweh to the original Israelites). These beings have evil counterparts called demons, the most powerful of whom is named Lucifer.

When Christians want something, they pray to God, occasionally invoking lesser supernatural beings, the Angels.

Celtic Pagans, such as myself also believe in a wide array of supernatural beings with more power than humans. Most of these are called otherkin, though the most powerful of them are called gods (Notice the lack of capitalization,a VERY different concept from you God) their creator, an even more powerful being is called Dagdha. (Though by no means the same as the Christian God, Dagdha is similar)

When Celtic Pagans want something, they "pray" (similar concept, different implementation) to Daghda, often invoking lesser supernatural beings such as the otherkin and the gods (lower case g).

Notice how we pray, just like you do, to supernatural beings more powerful than ourselves. Not to "rocks and trees and stuff" as close minded people might have you believe.

Though I am by no means saying that Paganism and Christianity are the same, I am saying that if you approach the situation with an open mind, most of the world's religions have much more in common than they have different.

Disclaimer: Just like there are many sects of Christians, there are many sects of Pagans, and they do not all believe the exact same things. I will however, attempt to sum up the majority view.

The spirit certianly does survive after the physical body has died. On Rare occasions all, or part of that spirit will be trapped in this realm at death (this is usually called a ghost).

Though, usually that spirit goes to the otherworld. The otherworld is a very different place from the Christian concepts of Heaven or Hell. It is neither a place of eternal pleasure, nor one of eternal suffering. Think of it more like another plane of existence, where there are different physical laws, many mystical beings, and where the gods often visit. Time and distance have very little meaning there.

Occasionally our realm and the otherworld interact. This is how we end up with psychics talking to the dead, prophesies about the future, esp, and mythical creatures like faeries, elves, daemons, and angles.

Also the veil between our realm and the otherworld is a very dynamic thing. It is thinner in some geographic places than in others and it goes through annual cycles. It is thinnest on the Pagan holiday Samhain (around october 31st).

It should also be noted that many Neo-Pagans, though not myself, believe that when a child is born, its spirit comes from the underworld. Then, the new child inherits many of the traits of the last person who had that spirit. a.k.a. reincarnation