I have been feeling lately like people still look down on pagans, and that they still believe we worship Satan. How can we worship something we don't even believe in? Satan is a Christian belief, and they can keep him.
25,000 years ago, wo/man believed in many Gods, and Goddesses. They saw that in nature, both the male and female presents had to be for life to be. Religion evolved in a natural way, wo/man lived with the land, animals and plants, not away from these things. The focus of life was the hunt, for in the hunt, wo/man aquired food, clothing for warmth, and "supplies" to fashion weapons, tools, and make shelter.
The God and Goddess were a part of this circle, and wo/man gave praise, worshiped and talked to thier God/ess asking for plentiful crops, birth of animals, and fertility in themselves, to perpetuate mankind. They understood life as a circle, not a straight line.
Good and evil were not assigned to seperate dietis, early man saw the potential for both in all wo/man, and all things. There was no all good God, and all evil adversary.
With the coming of Christianity came the idea that there was one "good God". Also came the attempt to convert all people to Christianity, though it was not a quick mass conversion in the beginning as many believe, this is where the idea that all who worshiped any but the Christian God were Devil worshipers.
I can't write everything down in one blog, there are many, many books on the subject of Paganism, Wicca, Christianity, and a multitude of other religions (which really, I find agreement and disagreement with almost all that I have read) So if you want to know more, I would be glad to suggest reading, I just want it to be clear that I do not worship the Devil.
