Contemporary Paganism is a family of religions and spiritual paths that honor the sacredness of the natural world and, in most cases, more than one deity. Many draw on the pre-Christian religions of Europe, North Africa, and the Near East. All of them are practiced by people living ordinary modern lives.
The Word "Pagan"
The word comes from the Latin paganus, which meant a country dweller or a civilian. In late antiquity it came to be used for people who kept to the older religions of the Roman world. For many centuries afterward it was a label applied by others, usually as an insult.
In the twentieth century people who were reviving, reconstructing, or creating religions inspired by those older traditions adopted the word for themselves. Today "Pagan" is a respectful self-description used by members of many different religions. You will also see "contemporary Paganism," "modern Paganism," and "Neopaganism." Some people prefer the name of their own tradition, such as Wiccan, Druid, or Heathen, and some prefer broader phrases such as "Earth-centered" or "nature spirituality."
Paganism is best understood as an umbrella term, in the way that "Abrahamic religions" or "Dharmic religions" are umbrella terms. It names a family, not a single faith.
Ideas Many Pagans Share
There is no creed that all Pagans accept. There are, however, several ideas that most Pagans would recognize as their own.
- Nature is sacred. The Earth is not a backdrop to religious life or a resource to be used up. It is holy in itself, and human beings are part of it.
- The divine is many and near. Most Pagans honor more than one deity, and most experience the sacred as present within the world, not only beyond it.
- The cycles of nature shape religious life. The turning seasons, the phases of the moon, and the stages of human life are occasions for celebration and reflection.
- Experience matters more than doctrine. What a person does and experiences in ritual and in daily life counts for more than agreement with a list of beliefs.
- Each person is responsible for their own path. There is no single scripture, prophet, or central authority. Individuals are expected to think, to study, and to answer for their own choices.
- Other religions are valid for those who follow them. Pagans generally do not believe that theirs is the only true way, and they do not try to convert others.
How Pagans Understand Deity
Pagans hold a range of views, sometimes more than one at once.
- Polytheism: there are many gods and goddesses, each a distinct being. This is the view of most reconstructionist traditions and of many other Pagans.
- Duotheism: the divine is honored as a Goddess and a God, whose relationship is reflected in the cycle of the seasons. This view is common in Wicca.
- Pantheism and panentheism: the divine is identical with, or present throughout, the whole of nature.
- Animism: rivers, trees, animals, stones, and places have spirit and can be related to as persons.
- Non-theistic and humanistic views: the gods are understood as powerful symbols or as aspects of nature and the human mind, and ritual is valued for what it does in human lives.
Many Pagans also honor their ancestors and the spirits of the land where they live.
What Pagans Do
Seasonal Festivals
Many Pagans celebrate eight festivals spaced through the year at the solstices, the equinoxes, and the midpoints between them. Together they are called the Wheel of the Year. Other traditions keep the festival calendars of the cultures they draw on.
Ritual
Pagan ritual may be held outdoors or indoors, by one person or by hundreds. It commonly includes marking out a sacred space, inviting deities or spirits to be present, making offerings, prayer, meditation, song, shared food and drink, and giving thanks. Rituals are often held at the full or new moon as well as at the seasonal festivals.
Rites of Passage
Pagans mark the turning points of life with ceremonies: the blessing and naming of a child, coming of age, marriage (often called handfasting), becoming an elder, and death. Pagan clergy in many places are legally authorized to solemnize marriages.
Daily Practice
Many Pagans keep a small altar or shrine at home, with images of deities, candles, and natural objects. Daily practice may include prayer, offerings, meditation, time spent outdoors, and study.
Magic
Some Pagans, though not all, practice what they call magic: the use of ritual, symbol, and focused intention to bring about change, most often in oneself. It is comparable in purpose to prayer in other religions. It has nothing to do with stage illusions or with the supernatural powers shown in films.
Ethics
Pagan ethics emphasize personal responsibility, honesty, hospitality, courage, care for one's community, and care for the living world. Different traditions express these values in different ways. Many Wiccans follow a short statement called the Wiccan Rede, usually given as "If it harms none, do what you will." Many Heathens look to virtues such as truth, honor, and hospitality drawn from old Germanic and Norse sources. Druids often speak of truth, justice, and right relationship with the land.
Because there is no concept of a single enemy of the good in most Pagan traditions, wrongdoing is generally understood as a failure of responsibility and relationship, to be repaired, and not as the work of an outside evil power.
How Pagans Are Organized
Paganism has no central authority and no headquarters. Its forms of organization include:
- Small groups such as covens, groves, kindreds, and circles, usually of three to twenty people, often meeting in homes or outdoors.
- Solitary practitioners, who practice alone. In most surveys they are the majority of Pagans.
- Larger organizations and legally recognized churches, some of which train and credential clergy, own land, or sponsor public festivals.
- Informal community networks that gather for seasonal celebrations, public festivals, and study.
Clergy may be called priestess, priest, elder, Druid, gothi or gythia, or minister. Their training ranges from long apprenticeship within a tradition to graduate theological study. Most serve without pay and hold other employment.
How Many Pagans Are There?
No one knows exactly. Many Pagans practice privately, and surveys differ in how they ask the question. Reasonable estimates for the United States range from several hundred thousand to well over a million adults. Whatever the precise figure, Pagans are present in every state, in every branch of military service, and in every kind of workplace and school.
What Paganism Is Not
- It is not Satanism. Satan is a figure in the teachings of other religions and has no place in Pagan religion. Pagans do not worship or believe in the Devil.
- It is not a cult. Pagan groups are typically small, self-governing, and easy to leave. There is no central leader.
- It is not anti-Christian or against any other religion. Pagans simply follow a different path, and many have friendly relationships with people of other faiths.
- It is not a single religion. A Wiccan, a Druid, and a Heathen may share a table at an interfaith meeting and still practice three quite different religions.
- It is not the same as Indigenous religion. Indigenous peoples have their own religions and speak for themselves. Contemporary Paganism is a distinct movement.
For more on these and other misunderstandings, see Myths and Facts. To continue reading, see What Is Wicca? and Earth-Centered Traditions.
This page was last reviewed by the Education Review Committee in September 2026.