Pagan Definitions
By: Chief & N.C.
ere are some things whose meaning may very well surprise you. Or, to put it another way — here are definitions to words you thought you knew the meaning of:
Demon - In religion, folklore, and mythology a demon (or daemon, dæmon, or even daimon) is a supernatural being that has generally been described as a malevolent spirit. A demon is frequently depicted as a force that may be conjured and insecurely controlled. The "good" demon in recent use is largely a literary device (e.g., Maxwell's demon), though references to good demons can be found in Hesiod and Shakespeare. In common language, to "demonize" a person means to characterize or portay them as evil, or as the source of evil. The contemporary Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England (Anglican) teaches that angels and demons are real personal beings, not mere symbolic devices (see also Evil).
Devil - Is a title given to a supernatural entity, who, in most interpretations of the Abrahamic faiths, is the central embodiment of evil. This entity is commonly referred to by a variety of names, including Satan, Asmodai, Beelzebub, Lucifer and/or Mephistopheles. In classic demonology, however, each of these alternate names refers to a specific supernatural entity. Christianity views Satan as an angel cast from heaven by God, for being prideful, deceitful, and the tempter (see also Evil and Satan).
Evil - Refers to the "bad" aspects of the behaviour and reasoning of human beings those which are deliberately void of conscience, and show a wanton penchant for destruction. Evil is sometimes defined as the absence of a good which could and should be present; the absence of which is a void in what should be. In most cultures, the word is used to describe acts, thoughts, and ideas which are thought to (either directly or causally) bring about affliction and death the opposite of goodness, which itself refers to aspects which are life-affirming, peaceful, and constructive.
Perhaps evil is best represented in the human situation in the form of unprovoked hatred against and coupled with an aggressive impulse to cause harm to another person or group. Such hatred can be aroused from within the individual or group through jealousy, wrong teachings or due to unexplained extra-personal forces (see also Devil and Satan).Goddess - Is a deity of prime importance, along with her consort the Horned God. The Goddess is considered a universal deity. She is the "Queen of Heaven," similar to Isis; she also encompasses and conceives all life, much like Gaia. Much like Isis and certain conceptions of Selene, she is held to be the summation of all other goddesses, who represent her different names and aspects across the different cultures. Many depictions of her also draw strongly on Celtic goddesses (see also Isis, Horned God, the Sacred Feminine and Venus).
Heathen - Old English hæðen is a translation of paganus. The term is used for Germanic paganism, or Germanic Neopaganism, in particular. The Germanic tribes were distributed over Eastern and Central Europe by the 5th century, and their dialects ceased to be mutually intelligible from around that time. Christianization of the Germanic peoples took place from the 4th (Goths) to the 6th (Anglo-Saxons, Alamanni) or 8th (Saxons) centuries on the continent, and from the 9th to 12th centuries in Iceland and Scandinavia. (see also Pagan).
Heresy - According to the Oxford English Dictionary, is a "theological or religious opinion or doctrine maintained in opposition, or held to be contrary, to the Roman Catholic or Orthodox doctrine of the Christian Church, or, by extension, to that of any church, creed, or religious system, considered as orthodox. By extension, heresy is an opinion or doctrine in philosophy, politics, science, art, etc., at variance with those generally accepted as authoritative."
Horned God - Is always portrayed with horns or antlers, which are his distinguishing feature. The God's horns are considered symbols of male potency, strength and protection. Sometimes they are seen in a sense as phallic symbols. The horn has been a religious symbol for thousands of years. An altar made entirely of stag horns was built in the temple of Apollo at Delos, and temples to the Goddess Diana usually contained horns as well. The horn is also seen as a symbol of fruitfulness and bounty, as in the Horn of Plenty (see also Goddess, Isis, the Sacred Feminine and Venus).
He is often portrayed with an erect phallus. The phallus is itself a symbol of the power to create life. Another symbol of his sexual prowess and virility is the occasional presence of cloven hoofs or the hindquarters of a goat. The goat itself is considered a symbol of sexuality.Horn of Plenty - In Greek mythology, Amalthea raised Zeus on the milk of a goat. In return Zeus gave Amalthea the goat's horn. It had the power to give to the person in possession of it whatever he or she wished for. This gave rise to the legend of the cornucopia. The original depictions were of the goat's horn filled with fruits and flowers: deities, especially Fortuna, would be depicted with the horn of plenty.
In modern depiction, the cornucopia is a hollow, horn-shaped wicker basket typically filled with various kinds of festive fruit and vegetables. The cornucopia has come to be associated with Thanksgiving (see also the Horned God).Isis - Is a goddess in Egyptian mythology. She was most prominent mythologically as the wife and sister of Osiris and mother of Horus, and was worshipped as the archetypical wife and mother. Many scholars believe that Isis worship in late Roman times was the primary influence behind Catholic adoption of the cult of the Virgin Mary. Evidence suggests that this allowed the Catholic Church to absorb a huge number of converts who had formerly believed in Isis, and would not have converted unless Catholicism offered them an "Isis-like" female focus for their faith. Iconographically, the similarities between the seated Isis holding or suckling the child Horus (Harpocrates) and the seated Mary and the baby Jesus, is apparent (see also Goddess, Venus, Horned God and the Sacred Feminine).
Lucifer - Lucifer is a Latin word meaning "light-bearer" (from lux, lucis, "light," and ferre, "to bear, bring"), a Roman astrological term for the "Morning Star", the planet Venus. The word Lucifer was the direct translation of the Greek eosphorus ("dawn-bearer;" cf. Greek phosphorus, "light-bearer").
In modern and late Medieval Christian thought, Lucifer is usually a fallen angel commonly associated with Satan, the embodiment of evil and enemy of God. Lucifer is generally considered, based on the influence of Christian literature and legend, to have been a prominent archangel in heaven (although some contexts say he was a cherub or a seraph), prior to having been motivated by pride to rebel against God. When the angel failed, Lucifer was cast out of heaven, along with a third of the heavenly host, and came to reside on the world (see also Devil, Evil, Satan and Venus)Original Sin - This Biblical fable is the sign and seed of future evil choices and effects for the whole human race. Christians usually refer to this first sin as "the Fall." Original sin is distinguished from actual sin as cause and effect (Matt. 7:17b: "the bad tree bears bad fruit"). It is also called hereditary sin as it is passed on from generation to generation because of sex. God then pronounces two curses upon Eve. First, she is to suffer the difficulties of pregnancy. Second, her husband will henceforth rule over her. God then tells Adam that he will now struggle for his sustenance.
Pagan - Is from the Latin word paganus, an adjective originally meaning "rural," "rustic" or "of the country." As a noun, paganus was used to mean "country dweller, villager." In colloquial use, it could mean much the same as calling someone a 'bumpkin' or a 'hillbilly'. Some believe Paganus was almost exclusively a derogatory term. It is from this derivation of "villager" which we have the word "villain," which the expanding Christians called the Pagans of Northern Europe/Scandinavia.
The post-Christian usage of "pagan" came to mean rural folk holding to pre-Christian polytheistic beliefs in the face of the new, and predominantly urban, Christianized Roman society (see also Heathen).
Both "pagan" and "heathen" have historically been used as a pejorative by adherents of monotheistic religions (such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam) to indicate a disbeliever in their religion. "Paganism" is also sometimes used to mean the lack of (an accepted monotheistic) religion, and therefore sometimes means essentially the same as atheism. However, until the rise of Romanticism and the general acceptance of freedom of religion in Western civilization, "paganism" was almost always used disparagingly of heterodox beliefs falling outside the established political framework of the Christian Church.Pentacle - Despite the sound of the word, had no connotation of "five" in the old magical texts. They were, rather, magical talismans inscribed with any symbol or character. When they incorporated star-shaped figures, these were more often hexagrams than pentagrams. Pentacles showing a great variety of shapes and images appear in the old magical grimoires, such as the Key of Solomon; as Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa summarises it, their use was to "fore-know all future things, & command whole nature, have power over devils, and Angels, and do miracles." Agrippa attributes Moses' feats of magic in part to his knowledge of various pentacles (see also pentagram).
Pentagram - Sometimes known as pentalpha or pentangle is the shape of a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes. The word pentagram comes from the Greek word pentagrammon, a noun form of pentagrammos or pentegrammos, a word meaning roughly "five-lined" or "five lines."
Pentagrams were used symbolically in ancient Greece and Babylonia. The Pentagram has magical associations, and many people who practice pagan or neopagan faiths wear jewelry incorporating the symbol. Christians once more commonly used the pentagram to represent the five wounds of Jesus, and it also has associations within Freemasonry.
The pentagram has long been associated with the planet Venus, and the worship of the goddess Venus, or her equivalent. It is also associated with the Roman Lucifer, who was Venus as the Morning Star, the bringer of light and knowledge. It is most likely to have originated from the observations of prehistoric astronomers. When viewed from Earth, successive inferior conjunctions of Venus plot a nearly perfect pentagram shape around the zodiac every eight years (see also Venus).
The word "pentacle" is sometimes used synonymously with "pentagram," although their technical usages are different, and their etymologies may be unrelated (see also Pentacle).Sacred Feminine - Refers to the representation of the mystical power of the earth or mother goddess often symbolized through images or events connected with fertility. It has also been suggested that the image of the Virgin Mary was derived from the image of Isis and her child Horus (see also Goddess, Isis, Horned God and Venus).
Satan - From the Hebrew word for "accuser" is a term with its origins in the Abrahamic faiths which is traditionally applied to an angel. Ha-Shatan is the accuser, a member of the divine council, who challenged the religious faith of humans, especially in the books of Job and Zechariah. Religious belief systems other than Judaism relate this term to a demon, a rebellious fallen angel, devil, minor god and idolatry, or as an allegory for evil (see also Devil, Evil and Lucifer).
Venus - A major Roman goddess principally associated with love and beauty, the rough equivalent of the Greek goddess Aphrodite. She was considered the ancestor of the Roman people by way of its legendary founder, Aeneas, and played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths (see also Goddess, Isis, Horned God and the Sacred Feminine).