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X-Witch

I was speaking with a friend the other day who told me that when she went religion shopping a few years ago she came extremely close to becoming Pagan. Paganism had almost everything she valued—the Goddess, respect and reverence for nature, the choice to worship with a group or be solitary, amazingly beautiful rituals, a deep, rich mythological history with such a strong connection to the ancient, primeval forces so as to be almost synonymous with the life force itself.


There was one problem and for her the problem was insurmountable.


Just as there was no room for Jesus at the inn in Bethlehem, it also appeared there was no room for him in Paganism. To my friend, this was a sad state of affairs because there was so much she did not like about Christianity and so much she adored about Paganism. In the end, Christianity won because, as she put it, "Jesus was just far too important to me to leave out."


This made me think: Is this statement true? With its pantheon of gods and goddesses from cultures the world over, is there in fact no room for Jesus? Or is that the point—that Jesus does not qualify as a god? And even if he does, does that mean that he must, as many of his followers believe, be the only god?


Or is it more that there is plenty of room for Jesus but no room for his followers— the Jerry Falwellites and Pat Robertson clones who have hijacked the open, accepting, embracing religion of Christ and morphed it into the judgemental, "kill them all, let God sort them out" variant we have today?


I have my opinions on this matter but what I’m really hoping for this month is to hear yours. Do you think there is no room for Jesus in Paganism? Do you feel that he already has his own religion so why in god/dess name should Pagans add him to theirs? Do you think that people like myself are little more than fence straddlers—folks who are Pagan wannabees who are unable to surrender our "Jesus Safety Blankets"?


I really want to hear your thoughts. I’m encouraging any one who reads this column to email me at [email protected] to let me know how you feel on the whole idea of Jesus in Paganism. If you consider yourself Pagan, do you ever include Jesus in your practice? Or does the whole idea just seem anathema to Paganism?

I’m looking forward to hearing from you!


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author bio:

R.A. Áine Laisrén, a novelist and psychic practitioner for over twenty years, is devoting her life (and the life of her pet chinchilla Fionnghuala) to restoring the Goddess and all Her gifts to Christianity. She will absolutely lose her mind if you refer to the Holy Spirit in the masculine gender, so please just don’t do it! More information about Áine’s writing and practice may be found at www.sang-realta.com