ovde - vera znanje mir

In Germany Schlegel and Schelling in particular were attracted to the nature religion which they
saw behind traditional folk customs, and at the beginning of the 20th century Guido von Liszt
pioneered the study of the runes.
In north-east Europe, particularly Lithuania, nationalist movements spread and indigenous
languages were reclaimed, traditional tales recorded and the old festivals celebrated. Folk music
was part of this reassertion of local identity, preserving traditions which otherwise would have
been forgotten.
The Witchcraft movement
An interest in witchcraft developed in the 19th century. By 1828 one historian proposed that the
supposed witches of the 16th-17th centuries were in fact underground practitioners of Pagan
religion. And in 1899 an American journalist, Charles Godfrey Leland, claimed he had discovered
modern day witches in Italy.
It was not until 1951 that the first practitioners of modern day witchcraft became known. It was at
this time that the United Kingdom followed the rest of Europe in repealing the last of its antiwitchcraft
laws. No laws were thought necessary in this rationalistic age. But amazingly, a retired
tea planter and amateur archaeologist, Gerald Brousseau Gardner, appeared in print claiming he
spoke for one of several covens of English witches who practised a Pagan religion dating from the
Stone Age. Gardner claimed that his witches were practitioners of a fertility religion called Wicca.
The hippy trail and beyond
The 1960s and 1970s were times of radical social change. Hinduism and Taoism helped shape
contemporary Paganism as the hippy trail led people to become interested in Eastern religions and
philosophies. Other traditions were also revived and incorporated into Pagan practices.
North Americans rediscovered Native American traditions and the Afro-American traditions of
Santeria, Candomble and Vodoun.
European traditions reconstructed local holy sites and resurrected traditional ceremonies.
Paganism found an ally in the ecological and feminist movements of the 1960s. Pagan
philosophies appealed to many eco-activists, who also saw Nature as sacred and recognised the
Great Goddess as Mother Nature. The image of the witch was taken up by feminists as a rolemodel
of the independent powerful woman, and the single Great Goddess as the archetype of
women’s inner strength and dignity.
Witchcraft continued to develop and from the 1960s onwards, witches from outside Gardner’s
tradition appeared. Some were practitioners of traditional practical healing and magic, with no
particular Pagan religious structure. Others followed a different version of Pagan magical religion.
In the 1990s many British traditional witches began to use the name hedge witches. (A hedge
witch is a solitary practitioner who isn’t aligned to a coven and who practices herbal healing and
spells.) These were experts in traditional practical craft.
Paganism today
Nowadays there are many Pagan organisations worldwide, most catering for specific traditions
such as Druidry or Asatru, but a few, such as the Pagan Federation (f. 1971, UK) or the Pan-
Pacific Pagan Alliance (f. 1991, Australia), representing the entire tradition.
Pagan hospital visitors and prison ministers are a recognised part of modern life, and public Pagan
ceremonies such as Druid rituals and Pagan marriages (handfastings) or funerals take place as a
matter of routine.
Jesus through Buddhist eyes
Wednesday, February 27th, 2008
Jesus through Buddhist eyes
Ajahn Candasiri is a senior nun at the Amaravati Buddhist Monastery in Hertfordshire.