There are many definitions of Paganism, Witchcraft and Wicca, and there are just as many different paths and traditions to explore... here we to try and define what it is that makes a pagan or a witch.

Paganism and Witchcraft are very diverse and personal religions and you will find that many people adapt the religion to suit their own preferred system of belief… but within all this diversity, there are certain things that define our basic tenets of belief.

Paganism is a nature based spiritual system…in other words, we have a strong nature and ecological base. We do not worship nature, but rather we worship through nature. We see nature as a manifestation of Deity and we attune ourselves to this force. This alone does not define a pagan, as this nature based attitude could be applied to almost any other religion. But you will find it is a basic premise of all pagan belief systems. Nature represents the whole of divinity and gives us an intimate connection with that force.

Now within nature, you will find a polarity of all energies – there are two sides to almost everything in nature – you could label this the masculine and feminine aspects. Because we see nature as the divine, we also see our divine force as having two aspects – masculine and feminine – God and Goddess. Both are equally important to the existence of the universe and both are equally revered and worshipped within the craft. The fact that we worship both God and Goddess is very much a defining point of paganism and witchcraft.

Pagans and Witches have a personal and intimate relationship with their Gods. There are no dogmas governing our communication with deity, and there are no filters (by way of churches and priests etc) that interpret the messages of the Gods on our behalf.

Another defining trait of Pagans and Witches is that we attune to nature through the 'Wheel of the Year'. Our eight solar festivals (called Sabbats) are universally accepted as common ground between the many pagan traditions. The sun is seen as the 'God' energy and Solar festivals are usually 'God' orientated.

As we attune to the solar cycle and the seasons, we also closely follow the lunar cycle. We perform our worship and practice our craft under the light (or dark) of the moon. The moon is seen to represent the Goddess and depending on the phase of the moon, we associate it to the Maiden Goddess, The Mother or the Crone.

Most (but not all) Witches perform magick. The type of magick that is performed is far from the general Hollywood glamorous image and usually relates to personal growth and betterment. There are laws of karma that dictate boundaries of magickal practice.

Pagans and Witches believe in Karma and what is more commonly known as the 'Threefold Law'. This encourages thoughtful, ethical and responsible actions in all levels of our lives… mundane and spiritual.

Pagans do not believe that ours is the 'one true' path and do not proselytise…in other words we do not push our religion onto other people and try and convert them. We understand that each person has different spiritual needs and we do our best to respect other religious systems.

Pagans do NOT believe in the 'devil' (by any name). Most believe that the concept of a 'purely evil' deity has Christian origins...there is no mention of a devil until the New Testament in the bible. It is interesting to note that those of Jewish faith also do not believe in the concept… and that Christianity stems from Judaism. The 'old gods' have aspects of both 'good' and 'bad' and it was only the idea of an all-good, all loving deity, that necessitated an antagonist.

This has been a very brief look at what the Pagan path encourages as a belief system.
Paganism is both a religion and a philosophy… it is a spiritual system, an attitude and a way of life.

One can be a Pagan, yet never practice ritual, one can be a witch, yet never practice magick. It is your personal choice which elements to incorporate into your belief system.