❤ ĸαrмα wrote: Thank you so very much everybody for the warm welcomes.
I have a small two cents;
I've never heard of the Bible Belt, so that's interesting. I personally live in a place where Mormonism and Cathlocism are the only acceptable religions so ... I'm kinda in trouble here.
I also have a question; can anybody tell me a bit about neo-paganism, I think is the name? Correct me if I'm wrong, please. c:
How does neo-pagan relate to the religion of Witchcraft? Witchcraft, by definition is a neo-pagan classified religion. Today's practitioners do not practice in the strictest form of ancient paganism which would include animal sacrifice, a matriarchal hierarchy and other archaic practices. Nor would we want to. Neopaganism, although centuries old, is based on accumulated and progressive knowledge and understandings of the world and universe. We know today that the Earth is not the center of the Universe, the Earth is round, the Universe was formed through a Big Bang and subsequent evolution.
All this knowledge has evolved our perspectives and allowed practitioners to incorporate knowledge from other centuries and origins into our understanding of metaphysics and belief. It is a melding of many beliefs into a nature based spiritual perspective that works toward bringing balance in all aspects of life; and for that matter, death.
Let's take this a little further. According to Reference.com:
"The roots of Neopaganism begin with the Renaissance, and the reintroduction of Classicism and the resurgence of interest in Graeco-Roman polytheism in the wake of works like the Theologia mythologica of 1532."
The Romantic movement of the 18th century led to the re-discovery of Old Gaelic and Old Norse literature and poetry. Neo-druidism can be taken to have its origins as early as 1717 with the foundation of The Druid Order. The 19th century saw a surge of interest in Germanic paganism with the Viking revival in the British Isles and Scandinavia. In Germany the Völkisch movement was in full swing. These Neopagan currents coincided with Romanticist interest in folklore and occultism, the widespread emergence of pagan themes in popular literature, and the rise of nationalism.
Occultic Revival: During this resurgence in the United Kingdom, Neo-druidism and various Western occult groups emerged, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn and the Ordo Templi Orientis, who attempted to syncretize "exotic" elements like Egyptian cosmology and Kabbalah into their belief systems, although not necessarily for purely religious purposes. Influenced by the anthropologist Sir James George Frazer's The Golden Bough, several prominent writers and artists were involved in these organizations, including William Butler Yeats, Maud Gonne, Arthur Edward Waite, and Aleister Crowley. Along with these early occult organizations, there were other social phenomena such as the interest in mediumship, magic, and other supernatural beliefs which was at an all time high in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Another important influence during this period was the Romantic aesthetic movement, which venerated the natural world and frequently made reference to the deities of antiquity. The Romantic poets, essayists, artists and authors who employed these themes in their work were later associated with socially progressive attitudes towards sexuality, feminism, pacifism and similar issues.
During the Witchcraft Revival in the 1920s Margaret Murray theorized that a Witchcraft religion existed underground and in secret, and had survived through the Witchcraft prosecutions that had been enacted by the ecclesiastical and secular courts of the Inquisitions. Historians now reject Murray's theory, as she based it partially upon the similarities of the accounts given by those accused of Witchcraft; such similarity is now thought to actually derive from there having been a standard set of questions laid out in the witch-hunting manuals used by interrogators. Murray's ideas nevertheless exerted great influence on certain Neopagan currents."
In the 1940s, Englishman Gerald Gardner claimed to have been initiated into a New Forest coven and began his training with other practitioners such as Aliester Crowley and the OTO. In the mid to late 1950s Gardner created his brand of Witchcraft in a tradition he labeled Gardnerian Wicca. Gardner's Wicca is a modern version of Neopaganism that adheres closely to Gardner's teachings, differentiating it from similar traditions, such as Alexandrian Wicca or more recent Wiccan offshoots.
In addition to these historical events, modern Witchcraft also incorporates Shamanistic concepts. Relation to the animal kingdom, animal sign, psychic abilities and connecting to not just the Divine, but to each other through energy are all refined through the basic practices of Shamanism.
by INK. » Thu Oct 25, 2012 1:32 pm 
One step at a time.
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