Neo-Pagan Movement

Origins and Characteristics

For the purpose of this entry, the focus will be on the neo-pagan groups that appeared in Europe after World War II, some of them (Wicca particularly) [Page 879]crossing the Atlantic almost 20 years later, in the beginning of the 1960s. In the United States, neo-paganism flourished rapidly, finding new sources of inspiration in the New American Social Movements, and it started expanding and spreading back to Europe and the other continents. Although in some places, especially in Europe, neo-paganism is still often linked to local movements aiming at the revival of traditional cultures, most neo-pagans are characterized by a syncretic and ecclectic spirit, and the cultural roots of neo-pagan cults are often planted very far from their members’ native lands: “Neo-Druids” can be found everywhere, for instance, and not only in the countries of ancient Celtic traditions, as also “witches” worshipping the god and goddess of the re-imagined old European religion (Wicca), neo-pagans attracted by the spirituality of Australian Aborigines or of Native American Indians and various brands of native shamanisms, and people worshipping the gods of ancient Egypt or ancient Greece. As a consequence, most neo-pagans remain a nonconformist minority and an oddity wherever they are and often cultivate the esoteric character some of them (e.g., Wiccans) have partly inherited from Theosophy or other Western esoteric traditions. They must therefore not be confused with those pagans of indigenous religions whose native cults and traditions have actually survived through the ages, despite the combined normalizing pressures of Christianity and modernity, and have been recently officially acknowledged as the national cultural heritage in some countries such as Finland.

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