by Kara Hart

Created on: July 10, 2008

Paganism is an earth based religion, where everything has a spirit or soul, even things other than plants and animals that are inanimate objects, such as rocks. Every aspect of Nature, such as the sun, fertiltiy, harvest, peace, and rain has a different God that represents it, therefore it is a polytheistic religion. A Pagan pays respect to these Gods and Goddesses everyday through prayer and especially on the holidays (festivals) of Sabbats and Esbats, when they perform rituals. When I was young, I was introduced to the Christian religion, but I guess you could say that I never really trusted it, because I never believed that one God by himself could create the entire world and its cycles, and there were so many things left unexplained that you were told just to believe and to trust in. I have always been thankful for everything that Nature and Earth provides us with so that we can have good health and comfort, because everything involves the earth in someway, either by things it made or oil in the feul for its transportation. I guess you could say that I have always been a "tree hugger", because I loved Nature and acted as if it were alive. When I was a preteen, my eldest brother and some of his friends were looking into Paganism and we had talks about what they were finding and learning, because I was very interested. Not until just recently, when I have become interested in my own religion, after buying and reading many books and reading numerous articles on the internet, did I actually announce myself as a Pagan. In my research, I was learning histories of the Gods and Goddesses and to me, it was making more sense and explaining more than Christianity. I realized that I shared many of the beliefs that Paganism held. Such as that there is no heaven or hell, and when you die, you are reborn with another body through reincarnation, which brings in the subject of past lives. I have always believed in past lives, because of the fact that I ran into a few people in my life time that I felt that I had already known, but after looking at year books, I realized I didn't know them, but still felt a connection with them. I am a Pagan because I share many beliefs that most Pagans have, but I believe that the most important reason why I am Pagan is because it is one of the only religions that treat the natural resources as gifts instead of taking them for granted, and also because Paganism gives you some freedoms to develop many of your own beliefs instead of teaching you what you should believe in.

Learn more about this author, Kara Hart.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.