All queries welcome here!

[AliBaby]

Great thread. I like learning about things that I dont know much about.

I hope some of these wuestions dont come across as naive (sp?) but I suppoe its better to ask than just assume.

Do you celebrate other religious occasions through the year like Easter and Christmas?

If there was one thing that you wanted people to know about paganism what would it be?

[Nettie]

One thing I'd want people to know : we're not vindictive. We don't do hexes and hate everyone! Quite the opposite actually.

Christmas/Easter : Most of us believe that these holidays have been converted by the Christians into what they are today. They were derived from Pagan holidays initially - Easter being a fertility festival (hence the eggs and bunnies - did you ever wonder what they had to do with the Christian Easter??) celebrating the Goddess Eostre. That's why Easter is on different dates & times of year - because it follows a MOON pattern (an awfully Pagan thing to do) so that the early Christians could convince the Pagans to join in on Church activities. Christmas was converted from Yule - the coming of the God (birth of Jesus) with the yule log and many other 'Chrismas' traditions.

To make it extra confusing to us Southern Hemisphere people, the seasons are in reverse for us (as it follows the natural seasons - spring, summer, autumn, winter) - so Easter for us is in the second half of the year - with 'Yule' being in June! So a lot of Pagans will 'celebrate' Christmas and Easter following the current season - but it's very hard to make sense of unless you can follow the 'Wheel of the Year' - the seasons and the Pregnancy of the Goddess, birth of the God, coming of age of the God and the death (or transformation) of the God. That's awfully simplified, but hopefully it makes sense to someone who hasn't read much on Paganism.

I hope I haven't overwhelmed you - feel free to ask clarifying questions so I can clear it up for you. I remember how confusing it was for me when I was first learning it - and I had no-one to ask!!

Love & Light! (one of our sayings...)

[Sopdet]

A majority of pagans believe in the duality, the balance in things.
The God and the Goddess.
Good and Evil.
Male and Female.
Light and Dark.

[Lolli]

Oh how cool. Nettie I was almost going to Pm you other day and ask some questions but I wasn't sure if you'd mind My auntie was a Wiccan and she always ended our phone calls with 'Blessed Be'. i find it fascinating.

I must do my housework but I'll be back on tonight to have a thorough read and ask some questions. thanks girls!

[Nettie]

Oh how cool. Nettie I was almost going to Pm you other day and ask some questions but I wasn't sure if you'd mind

Ask away! I really REALLY don't mind.

And if you'd rather PM me - you can do that. However, your questions probably aren't unique, so posting them in the thread might help someone else too shy to ask!

We all have our own perspective on things, so while I'll post mine - Lime, Sopdet, AngelPunks or Got1 might have something different to say. None of them will be wrong - just different. So jump on in everyone!...