Neopaganism Quotes

“My thesis is not that we anchor the witch in history, but that we understand that witchcraft is a set of relationships whose rhythm is that of the moon, stars, sun and earth. A witchcraft which adapts to the state of the world as it is, not backing into an imagined past.”
― Peter Grey, Apocalyptic Witchcraft

“Thus the writing of ethnography becomes a magical act, no less than the creation of a ritual, the making of a spell, or the manufacture of a sacred object: the ethnographer is by definition a magician.”
― Sabina Magliocco, Witching Culture: Folklore and Neo-Paganism in America

“Neopaganism is about accepting that no one is more responsible for my spiritual growth than the trinity of me, myself, and I. No one is more responsible for working to maintain stewardship of this planet and its occupants. No one is more responsible for ensuring that spirituality continues to be a forceful part of daily life. No one is more responsible for guaranteeing that humans have the right to investigate the truth for themselves, provided their beliefs and resulting actions cause no other person unnecessary harm or discomfort. Neopaganism is a spiritual practice that, having been born out of ancient times, has arisen to return the responsibility of life choices back to the individual so that we can no longer point a finger without noticing the three pointing back at ourselves.”
― Runa Pigden

“The war on Christianity was also made manifest in the efforts to introduce neopaganism into the lives of the people. Joseph Ratzinger recalled that a young teacher in the village erected a maypole as a symbol of the pagan concept of the “life force.” He organized festivals for the summer solstice in homage to the sacredness of nature and dismissed traditional notions of sin, virtue, and redemption as alien ideas imposed by the cultural imperialism of the Jewish and Roman religion of Christianity. The old religious ideas had to make way for the new order, and the new order demanded a new age. Sixty years later, in his memoirs, Cardinal Ratzinger compared the anti-Christian neopaganism of the Nazis with the anti-Christian neopaganism of our own day: “When nowadays I hear how in many parts of the world Christianity is criticized as a destruction of individual cultural identity and an imposition of European values, I am amazed at how similar the types of argumentation are and at how familiar many a turn of phrase sounds.”
― Joseph Pearce, Benedict XVI: Defender of the Faith