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The following excerpt is from The Return of Ancestral Gods: Modern Ukrainian Paganism as an Alternative Vision for a Nation, by Mariya Lesiv.
Modern Western Paganism is an umbrella term for such religions as Wicca, Druidry, Heathenism, Asatru, and the Goddess movement. It is also closely linked to New Age beliefs. Paganism offers alternative worldviews and forms of spirituality. Some outsiders view it with fascination while others treat it with scepticism. Despite the perception of outsiders, this new phenomenon is actively growing in Western Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and North America.
The exact number of Pagans is unknown and is usually described in rough figures. Paganism is reported to be one of the most rapidly growing religions in the present-day United States and Canada. It is estimated that the number of Pagans doubles every 1.5 years and that these numbers now approach between 750,000 and 1 million in the United States. According to the 2001 Canadian census, 21,080 people, or .1 per cent of the total Canadian population, claimed different forms of Paganism as their religion. While one may debate whether or not Paganism is the fastest-growing form of spirituality in North America, researchers constantly report large gatherings of people who are attracted by Pagan ideas, while Pagan publications reach readerships of tens of thousands.
Origins
While each form of Paganism has its unique origin and history, they all share some common roots. Pagans are enchanted with the distant past. Many forms of this religion are rooted in nineteenth-century ideas of European Romanticism and ethnic nationalism that, in turn, were nourished by a great interest in pre-Christian times and by ethnographic research focusing on folk beliefs and customs. Viewed as survivals from the ancient past, these folk expressions continue to inspire many present-day Pagans.
Pagans’ fascination with the past is often accompanied by their disenchantment with the modern world and its power structures. Wars, colonialist oppression, the development of nuclear weapons, pollution of the natural environment, and the massive spread of aids, among other factors, undermine the popular perception that government and science have the resources and the intent to protect the world and to ensure its overall safety and well-being. Modern technology is now perceived as a detriment to human progress as it takes away the ability of human beings to care for themselves. As a result, Paganism turns to alternative forms of power and spirituality, often becoming “a retreat into magic in the age of science”.
Modern Paganism is also viewed as “one of the happy stepchildren of modern multiculturalism and social pluralism”. Until relatively recently, in most European and North American states, to be born in a particular place meant to be born into a particular denomination of Christianity, and any resistance to the mainstream would be met with persecution. The ideas of religious liberty and tolerance that were recently adopted by these societies introduced a wide range of alternative choices.
The rise of Paganism is also largely associated with both the European and North American countercultures and the environmental movement of the 1960s. Feminism, which began to develop at around the same time, provided the foundation for feminist Pagans to ask “why God was a man and [why] women’s religious experiences went unnoticed”.
To learn more about The Return of Ancestral Gods, or to order online, click here.
For media inquiries, contact MQUP publicist Jacqui Davis.
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