Pagan Culture

The Celtic people were often referred to as barbarians but that is far from the truth considering the vast and rich spirituality these pre-Christian people believed in and the value they had for nature.The last perhaps is something we modern people should learn because of the threat of many species becoming extinct or endangered and the constant expansion of land needed by humans, which is reducing the space for other living things that share the earth.The Druids were at the heart of many Celtic cultures. It was not a religion but a philosophy with beliefs in Gods and Goddess. The Druids trained generally from the age of three or five years of age for 20years.

They were taught in the fields of math, astronomy, philosophy, poetry and music, mostly orally as they rarely used written language with the exception of Ogham, a tree alphabet. Two classes of Druids have been identified. The Bards studied great volumes of words and music with training lasting 12 to 15 years. They would travel the land extolling the virtues of Kings, something like a town crier, but they would speak in music. The Ovates worked with the processes involving death, divination, prophesizing the future and were healers. Druids were the professional class in Celtic society and could be male or female and led all public rituals within groves of sacred trees. There is some evidence that the Druids performed human sacrifices because of remains of executions have been found. The question is whether they were killed due toritual sacrifice or sentencing of a court. The only written account of human sacrifice comes from Julius Caesar describing the burning of animals and humans in wicker enclosures, but again, whether this was a sacrifice of punishment of enemies or tribesmen is not known. The Celts never formed a single religious or political unity because they were organized into tribes and were very wide spread but beliefs in some common Gods and Goddess have been identified. Often Gods and Goddess of differing tribes had different name but their attributes were the same, much like the Roman and Greek Gods of Apollo and Zeus. In Irish myths, there is the story of the Tuatha De Danann (People of the Goddess Danu) who inhabited Ireland and was described as “Gods and not Gods”. They were adept in magical skills and arts and crafts, who in some legendsbecame Sidhe......

In the original edition (1979) of her standard book on contemporary Paganism in the United States, "Drawing Down the Moon", Margot Adler wrote:“In the last ten years, alongside the often noted resurgence of 'occult' and 'magical' groups, a diverse and decentralized religious movement has sprung up that remains comparatively unnoticed, and when recognized, is generally misunderstood.”Those were people describing themselves as Pagans or Neo-Pagans. “The modern Pagan resurgence includes the new feminist goddess-worshipping groups, certain newreligions based on the visions of science-fiction writers, attempts to revive ancient European religions - Norse, Greek, Roman - and the surviving tribal religions”, wrote Adler. In the meantime, Paganism has certainly not decreased and its expressions have become still much more varied than they used to be.

There are now many academic books and articles on contemporary Paganism, especially in North America. Moreover, Paganism has grown into a more international phenomenon. But people active in Pagan ways still feel they are misunderstood in many places. However, at least in the United States, Paganism has now its place among other religious paths in a number of local, regional, and national interreligious initiatives, for instance.In order to learn more about Paganism today, Religioscope has met with Selena Fox, who has been active for many years inthis field as the leader of Circle. Born in 1949 in Arlington, Virginia, Rev. Selena Fox is senior minister and high priestess of Circle Sanctuary, a Shamanic Wiccan church, Pagan resource center, and Nature preserve with a worldwide Ecospirituality ministry that includes networking, publishing, education, environmental preservation, counseling, events sponsoring, and other work. For more than thirty years, Rev. Fox has served as one of the elders, religious freedom activists, and public media spokespersons for the Wiccan religion and related forms of contemporary Paganism and Ecospirituality, nationwide and internationally.Being involved in networks across Pagan traditions, Selena Fox is certainly one of the most qualified Pagan leaders for helping us to gain a better understanding of this religious phenomenon. In this interview, she also tells us how she came herself to followth......

We padded through the cool verdant forest of Broceliande under a lush canopy of leaves, quickly arriving at our destination.The rock, about one-and-a-half metres wide, was adorned with bits of folded paper, flowers, candles, money and even a tiny toy car or two.A young man kneeled quietly before it, apparently deep in contemplation. Sneaking a peek at the notes, I saw that they were written in French, English, Spanish and more. "Merci, Merlin," "Please help my mother get better, dear wizard," and "Gracias por tu ayuda, querido Merlin" were typical comments. We were at the tomb of Merlin -- yes, that Merlin, of the King Arthur tales. To the surpriseof many, the tomb is not in England, but in Brittany, Western France.

Merlin's Tomb is visited by tens of thousands every year, as are a host of other legendary sites in Brittany.Bagpipes and bogs, megaliths and mead -- Europe's Celtic heritage calls to many. You probably think of Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England -- but perhaps never realized that Brittany, just three hours by train or car from Paris, is a Celtic stronghold, rich in history, culture and legends.In the fifth century, waves of emigrants from Great Britain crossed the sea to France and the Breton culture began to develop. Until 1537, Brittany was an independent nation.Today, while it is a part of France, Brittany's unique heritage lives on. Hundreds of thousands still speak Breton, a Celtic language more similar to Cornish and Gaelic than to French. Traditional costumes are wornat festivals and the region's timeless custom of telling legends and stories is as strong as ever. Celtic influence is seen everywhere -- in the music, the archeology, the religion (with its pagan elements), festivals and food.Brittany is known for the crepe, which originated here, hard cider, dramatically beautiful coastline and more than 4,000 chateaux and manor houses. It is the third most visited region in France by Europeans, but still relatively undiscovered by North Americans. Bretons are still famed for their warmth and conviviality -- and their story-telling, much like their Celtic cousins, the Irish.The dense forests of Brittany gave birth to scores of mythical and supernatural legends, including the most illustrious of all, that of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. People visit from all over the world to see where Arthur sent hiskni......

The Rose Cross Ritual (RCR) is one of several ceremonial techniques including the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram (LBRP) and the Lesser Banishing Ritual of the Hexagram (LBRH) commonly used to ward a space or create a psychically cleansed area for spiritual or magical work. The RCR has certain differences from the others which make it useful. These points will be covered after instructions on how to perform the ritual.


Casting the Circle
The RCR creates a circle or sphere of protected space which can be thought of as a curtain or bubble of energy surrounding the working area. Generally one will want to ward the entire room one is working in, so the perimeter of the bubble should roughly approximate the room. It is OK if the bubble of energy projects slightly outside the walls if the room is irregular in shape. Particularly the bottom and top of the bubble may project through the floor or ceiling, especially if a sphere is visualized. It is fine if mundane furniture in the room falls without the circle. It helps the visualization to let the walls of the room assist in containing the energy, for physical walls reinforce the mental sense of protection, and it is the mind that does the work. In general, it is a harder to visualize protection of only a small area around yourself when you are in a room which is much larger. We have found that when working out of doors, without any walls, it is harder to cast any kind of circle. In such a case, using natural boundaries to define the space warded helps, such as trees or rocks. This is probably why clearings surrounded by a wall of trees, sacred groves, or circles of standing stones have been favourite sites for ceremonies. We have found that erecting banners helps define an outdoor space. Rarely, when working with a small group in a very large room, we have again used banners to cir*****scribe an area to be warded instead of using the entire room.

The Basic Image
The basic image of the Rose Cross Ritual in operation is of a rectangular bubble of white light surrounding the operator with Rose Crosses glowing at four points around the circle, at the apex above the centre, at the nadir below the centre, and at the centre of the room. This totals seven Rose Crosses in all, six at the periphery and one in the centre. Each Rose Cross except the one in the centre of the room is connected to the others by a line of light. This creates an image similar to lines of a force field. The Bubble is often slightly squashed into a rectangular shape along the sides since most rooms are usually rectangular in shape. The Rose Crosses at the periphery are not in the true quarters of the room ? East, South, West, and North ? but in the cross quarters ? Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, and Northeast. It really doesn?t matter what sequence you follow in tracing the lines and drawing the Rose Crosses, as long as they are all there when you finish. Different techniques are given by different authorities, and we will give the one given in our tradition...