Illuminated Human

Many years ago mass society began to develop, cities rose up into centers of human specialization and those who lived throughout the countryside flocked to these cities abandoning their way of life. I do not really understand why people flocked to the city but one thing is for sure, this was the beginning of the end of the Pagan lifestyle.

I want to be clear about the definition of the word Pagan. I am sure that this will get me into trouble with many of my Neo-Pagan friends, but here we go. According to Wikipedia ~

“The term pagan is from the Latin paganus, an adjective originally meaning “rural”, “rustic” or “of the country.” As a noun, paganus was used to mean “country dweller, villager.”

“From its earliest beginnings, Christianity spread much more quickly in major urban areas (like Antioch, Alexandria, Corinth, Rome) than in the countryside (in fact, the early church was almost entirely urban), and soon the word for “country dweller” became synonymous with someone who was “not a Christian,” giving rise to the modern meaning of “Pagan.” This may, in part, have had to do with the closeness to nature of rural people, who may have been more resistant to the new ideas of Christianity than those who lived in major urban centers and were cut off from the cycles of nature and the forms of spirituality associated with them.”

Pagan, country dweller, one who lives close to nature. As opposed to city dweller where one is cut off from the cycles of nature. It is that being cut off from nature that I believe our current social problems stem from. Cities by their very nature need to consume the surrounding natural environment in order to survive. Throughout our civilized history cities have sometimes by force and other times by forfeit consumed the country dwellers themselves.

No one can deny that we are now living in a world of mass civilization. By far more people dwell within the city walls then live rurally or out in the countryside. Most city dwellers have no idea of any other way to live. They have been raised in the city environment for generations. The growing of their own food is too far a reach from going to the grocery store.

However, it is my belief that tucked within the city walls is our world’s salvation.

This is where I get to vindicate myself with all my friends. There is a population of people who have been studying the “old ways”. The understandings of the cycles of nature are not lost to us. I am referring here to those we now call Neo-Pagans. I define Neo-Pagans as city dwellers who understand nature and have made a point in their lives to remain in contact with or re-connect themselves with the natural cycles of the Earth. Those who are not separated from Earth and yet live within the city walls.

I too lived in the city for quite some time and as I studied the cycles of nature my heart desired to break free of those city walls more and more. The way of life I was learning to live was in conflict with where and how I was living. The courage to leave the city and become a country dweller did not come easily. Thankfully I had been studying a Neo-Pagan tradition called Wicca. What Wicca did for me was to re-connect my soul with the cycles of nature. All the years of learning and practicing this Neo-Pagan tradition safely within the city taught me what I needed to know to be a country dweller, a true Pagan.

This brings us to the crux of my point. Our current social situation is in peril. Our ability to maintain civilized city environments is coming to a quick end. The city experiment is failing at a rampant rate. Understand that my rant here is not about doom and gloom because I do not believe in doom and gloom. I do see clearly that what we need is a balance between the old ways, and the new ways found within the new old ways.

Who, one might ask, is going to teach us these new old ways? It is you my friends, the Neo-Pagan population of city dwellers. As thousands of years ago, when the Pagan population left their country dwellings for the comforts of the city, the time has come for us to return to the country that we abandoned so long ago. They say that nobody knows how to live in or with nature anymore, they are wrong. The Neo-Pagans do! You do!

It is time for a great movement, a movement from Neo-Pagan to simply Pagan. It is actually a very short step all in all. Most Neo-Pagans celebrate different Holy Days than Christians. These Holy Days we celebrate are a reminder to us of the cycles of nature. Notice that I used the word celebrate here for the shift from Neo-Pagan to Pagan is simply from celebrating these Holy Days to practically applying them. A Pagan does not spend time observing the cycles of nature, but lives in direct relationship with them.

Beltane is a time when seeds are planted or when some rest from planting the seeds, real actual seeds in the real ground. Samhain is the time when we need to have completed the harvest or the freeze will come and kill the crops. What greater observances could we possibly do to honor nature than to live our lives according to the established cycles going on all around us?

I am afraid that if we do not get out the city and participate with nature, that soon nature will abandon us like we have abandoned her. The ancient egregors are still available to us, but for how much longer?

How much longer do we all have to wait until society has the courage to decide to live in a state of balance with nature? The time is ripe for you beautiful city dwelling Neo-Pagans to put your spirituality into actual practice. The world we live in needs examples of how to live at one with nature now more then ever. And, you are it, we are it. We Pagans are all the world has left to guide its population back into harmony with the source of our existence, the Earth Herself.

Tags: nature, neo-pagan, pagan, wicca