Q&A About ChristoPaganism

A while back, I wrote a post titled ‘8 Things ChristoPaganism Isn’t.’ Not long after that, I followed up with another post about what ChristoPaganism actually is. However, there is clearly a need to go deeper with more articles about this subject as ever more people are starting to walk between paths… The reason I have hesitated is that I don’t want to come across as a pretentious twat, i.e. someone claiming to be in possession of ‘the Truth.’ So here is a wee Q&A about ChristoPaganism page I put together to the best of my (current) understanding.

I’m not in possession of any kind of objective truth about this subject matter. All I can do is share my own experience of walking between two paths. I would like to reiterate one (subjective) truth from the original post though… A kind of affirmation of what this non-path is, which I in no way perceive as a new religion:

Q. 1.) If I am considering ChristoPaganism what do I need to know?

I am currently Christian, and have learned (through personal research) that much of our rituals and holy celebrations (Christmas, Lent, Easter) were adopted from Paganism. I’ve also learned that not just with Christianity, but with Judaism as well, Paganism and religious blending had occurred. At first I struggled with it, but now am finding this easy to accept. In accepting the already blending of Christianity and Paganism, I am finding I lost what guilt I had about becoming Christo–Pagan. After all, I’ve basically got one foot in the door. 

A. So you are already aware of the blending that has happened so far. The most important part of your question is your point about guilt. What you need to realise is that guilt was introduced more or less with Christianity becoming  the Roman state religion in the th century. Guilt was a means of controlling the population through fear. It wasn’t part of the original teachings of Christ but rather an add-on which happened simultaneously with removing the Divine Feminine from the equation.

It’s that this hadn’t been done in the past with other religions or philosophies but that it hadn’t been done on such a massive scale. The ability to scale the fear up, which patriarchy was very keen to do, happened with the invention of the concept of eternal damnation in hell.

Losing the guilt is a very good thing indeed, so I applaud you for that important step. The next important step on this path will be losing the need for outside validation as well as a need to justify your personal beliefs.

Consider carefully that all religions are man-made and an attempt to explain the divine mystery of existence. This is why they morph, change and evolve as mankind evolves. To be a ChristoPagan then, is to be someone who is up on their history (including church history), psychology, mysticism and occult/esoteric lore.

I include psychology because without the study of psychology, we easily fall prey to projections such as seeing ‘the Devil’ as an outside force. Any time we do this, we project shit that we need to own in order to transmute it.

Q. 2.) I’ve read the post on rituals, when lighting a candle to evoke a divination, how specifically does this work? 
I’m not quite understanding.

To ‘evoke’ is to invite a spirit or deity into your space. You do that by talking to them. It’s as simple or as complex as you wish to make it. Some might argue that you need specific paraphernalia to evoke certain deities, such as the kind of offerings they like etc. The truth is, you don’t even need to light a candle.

The reason for lighting a candle is that it can help us focus and centre our energy so that we are fully present to the subtle reality of interacting with ‘spirits’ here on the dense third-dimensional plane.

That said, I still recommend that you research any deities (or other forms of spirits) you wish to evoke since we can always learn from the experiences of others. But please don’t let this deter you from experimenting. If you are still afraid to invoke certain spirits due to residual Christian conditioning, then please work on that first. Fear has no room in sacred space and will not be a conducive feeling for a spiritually uplifting experience.

3.) What all should I know about this path? 

You make this path yourself. It’s not made for you, unlike denominational forms of Christianity. It is gruelling work and it will require a lot of spiritual discipline. There are books out there by people who have blended paths more or less successfully. However, to me, ChristoPaganism is not about blending two Paths but about having the courage to step out and create one’s own path.

You can stay in church or decide to leave. It really doesn’t matter. You can decide to follow the Wheel of the Year and celebrate all eight Sabbats or choose not to. Again, it doesn’t matter and it is not what makes you ChristoPagan.

What makes you ChristoPagan is a reverence for Christ and his teachings in balance with reverence for Mother Earth (the natural world) and the Divine Feminine.

Labels are not all that important and can actually act as obstructions on a pathless Path – especially if we start listening to all the voices out there who tell us what we can and cannot do. I’m not so surprised to hear those voices from Christians but I have been told much the same by Pagans… If I wanted those kinds of limitations imposed on me from the outside, I might as well just have stayed a traditional Christian!