Pagan Religions in Five Minutes - Suzanne Owen
5. What is the Relationship between Ancient and Contemporary Paganism?
Pagan Religions in Five Minutes - Suzanne Owen
Caroline Jane Tully [+]
University of Melbourne
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Caroline Tully is an archaeologist at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research interests include religion and ritual in the Aegean Bronze Age, reception of the ancient world, and contemporary Paganisms. She is the author of The Cultic Life of Trees in the Prehistoric Aegean, Levant, Egypt and Cyprus (Peeters 2018) and many academic and popular articles.
Description
This chapter explores the differences and similarities between ancient and contemporary Paganism. Ancient Paganism was characterised by practices such as animal sacrifice and mystery religions. Contemporary Paganism includes Pagan Reconstructionism and Neo-Paganism, which is influenced by Wicca and British ceremonial magic. Neo-Paganism is a modern reinterpretation of ancient practices, focused on duotheistic conceptions of divinity with nature-based rituals.