X: the Unknown

That's what all religion, all faith, all spirituality is about isn't it? That which we do not, cannot, know.

For myself, being pretty pragmatic and down to earth, I think (as I may have indicated in my "Universe" post) that our depictions of deity or the divine are imperfect and human-centric because that's where we are. We cannot understand completely, we do not know what lies 'beyond', so we imagine and we invent and we seek. I know that some believe they know what God is or is not, that they have been spoken to specifically and given messages, but ultimately I think that, just as we are flawed, our understanding and communication of these messages is flawed and becomes coloured by our experiences.

But isn't it great that still we seek, still we search and still we yearn for the truth that we are sure is 'out there', somewhere?

U: Universe

The Universe seems to have become a contemporary, New Age version of or replacement for God. Have you noticed this? People talk of 'asking the Universe' for help, inspiration or even material goods, in the same way they would once have prayed for them.

I wonder if this is related to a modern tendency to see religious faith as outdated? (Note: I'm only able to speak of the UK's attitude to religion here; I'm aware that this is not the same around the world). It's interesting that if you think of the word "credulous", the word "fool" fairly naturally follows it - maybe this newly negative association for a word that once simply described a person who believed something implies a new impatience with faith.

So perhaps in an age when people seem to equate religion with backwardness, reference to the Universe as an all-powerful force feels more modern. Personally, I feel it's all just labels, and we all use whatever makes sense to us. One God, many Gods, something that isn't anthropomorphic like 'The Universe' or 'The Divine': I think it's all essentially the same and we just perceive it in our own individual (and imperfect, being human) way.

E: Environment

Environmentalism is, I believe, important to those on a pagan path. If we venerate the earth and celebrate the turn of the seasons, surely doing all we can to protect the earth's resources becomes a sacred duty?

That said, I know I don't live in the greenest way possible. After all, here I am in my heated home, typing on a laptop under an electric light. Maybe if I were truly committed, I'd be generating my own electricity, or living in a hut in the woods. And yet, I am part of society, trying to minimise my family's impact on the environment while not entirely denying ourselves the benefits of these modern times.

I support Friends of the Earth and my local Wildlife Trust and get involved in campaigns (like the #beecause) where I can contribute, perhaps by writing to my MP, demonstrating my concern. We recycle (does anyone really not, these days?), we try to avoid the culture of disposable consumerism, we don't waste food or buy lots of prepackaged and highly processed foods, our home is insulated and we use low energy light bulbs et cetera et cetera. And we regularly make good use of the countryside around us - our two dogs might have some complaints if we didn't!

Ultimately, it's a tricky one. Being 'green' takes effort (like anything worthwhile, you might say), but how much is enough?

A: The Ages of Woman

A is for the Ages of Women (and also for Archetype).

Maid, Mother, Crone. The Triple Goddess. Phases of the Moon, Ages of Woman: a key aspect of paganism is the tripartite female deity.

One of the things I love about paganism is the freedom to make connections. Different mythologies, different pantheons often reflect and relate to one another.

• Maiden goddesses, associated with the Spring, often with virginity and sometimes with hunting, can be found the world over. We may seek out Brigit, Diana or Blodeuwedd.
• The Mother archetype, related to the Summer, fertility and creation are equally widespread, from Isis to Demeter to Juno.
• Crone deities, linked with Winter, death and often war can also be found worldwide. Hecate, Persephone and Kali are examples.

These links between different systems speak to me of the amazing similarities between different peoples. Separated in terms of language, culture and geography, people have still represented the feminine divine in the same way. In some ways, a feminist approach to this representation might be to bristle at the seeming biological reductionism: women are their reproductive cycles. And yet, that isn't what we see at all, if we look closely at the range of femininity represented by goddesses the world over. Yes, we see doting mothers like Isis and grieving mothers like Demeter, but at the same time women opting for singlehood - huntress deities like Artemis and Diana can be seen to be choosing a life that isn't constrained by their ability to bear children.

Finally, A is also for Arlee Bird, creator of the A-Z challenge. It's thanks to him that I'll be blogging for A-Z this month. If you want to see more A-Z blogs, pop along to the A-Z focus blog.

Tarot and Me

My first real exposure to paganism came through the tarot. A friend of mine had a deck and, as these things go, having had a few readings, I became interested in reading for myself. I prided myself on my pragmatism and good sense even then, and didn't really get some of the superstitions around things like buying a deck ('they' are said to say you shouldn't buy your own) and how you store it (again, the ubiquitous 'they' will only consider black silk). So, naturally, I purchased a deck for myself.

Since this was back in the early 1990s and I didn't have a computer (I *know*!), I visited a few New Age type shops and chose from what was physically there. The Tarot of the Old Path was what I found waiting for me. I fell for its beautiful representation of the High Priestess: mysterious, strongly associated with the animals and - get this - silver accented.

I would go on to love its gorgeous imagery of the Empress, with her full round belly and suckling infant, and its phenomenal presentation of Death, renamed 'The Close' and featuring another happy infant as well as the traditional reaper figure and natural symbols of death and rebirth such as the snake, butterfly and owl.

Several of the things I particularly appreciated about the Old Path deck (including its gentle sense of death as part of nature) I was to find out came from its specifically wiccan belief base. Those cards lead me into discovering much more about this take on the world, although I was never meant to be wiccan as such.

I have many decks now, and also the odd oracle pack - although I always feel more confident reading with a tarot pack. I will always love the tarot for what it has taught me about our journey through life in the broadest sense, as well as the specific wisdom I've gleaned from it.

What do you mean, a pragmatic pagan?

Welcome to my new blog, on this equinox, one of the traditional markers of the coming of Spring.

I thought it might be a good idea to start this blog off with a bit of background info: a kind of mission statement, if you will.

I've called this place "A Pragmatic Pagan" because I think that sums up my practical and eclectic approach to my pagan practice. At the same time, I hope it doesn't smack of too much 'what's-in-it-for-me-ism'. I'm not a proponent of all take and no give, but I also feel that paganism compares favourably with, say Christianity (I was raised in a very Protestant home) in terms of not insisting that greater misery = greater faith.

My pagan journey is, I believe, something I've been on all my life. I just didn't always know it. I define myself as pagan rather than a more specific path, because I am eclectic in my practice. There have been times that I've felt the label of 'witch' applies, and at other times, I've felt drawn to Druidry or to paths which try to follow ancient Anglo-Saxon belief.

Divination is central to my practice, mostly because it was the first thing I regularly did that was concretely part of this path. I've been working with the Tarot since the first half of the 1990s, and the cards remain my staple divinatory technique. I'll be using this space to experiment with different spreads and reviewing different decks and approaches to divination.

I also feel that my commitment to complementary health and folk medicine, along with a cynical approach to modern medicine, is an essential part of my pagan identity and belief. Natural substances, such as essential oils, herbs and crystals are available to us and are often at least as effective as more 'scientific' approaches. I'll also be sharing some home remedy tips from time to time.

Finally, spellwork, ritual and meditation are of course part of my practice, although for me these are more private aspects of my paganism. I have sometimes shared rituals with the family (I am married with two daughters currently aged 14 and 9), and I do have an altar in the living room, but most of this work is quiet and internal. Again, I may share some ideas and practices here from time to time.

So, this is me - or at least, my practice. I'm planning to post here weekly, on Saturdays, but to really get this blog established, I'll be doing the A-Z Challenge, with a pagan theme. My A-Z will feature aspects of my pragmatic practice, embedding my beliefs into my busy daily life, as this will be my blog's general theme.