whats the difference between wiccan and pagan?

i know alot of ppl in RT are one of these two religions, so please help me understand what seperates them.

 

I have no idea, but I'm sure you could get answers from The Sacred Spiral....or at least when the regulars wake up.

Link to Sam's forum:

http://hipforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=407

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Or this link:

http://hipforums.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=98

 

pagan was a word made up when christianity came about

 

but alot of people proudly take the religion of paganism.

 

Wicca is a branch of paganism, like being catholic is a branch of christianity and like christianity you could just call yourself pagan and leave it at that or explore further and find a branch of it, that speaks to you more.
S

 

Paganism is a very broad term. it can refer to a lot of belief systems. most polytheists were and are considered pagan. Wicca or Witchcraft as it was once known as is a little more specific. Also they don't necessarily deal with deities. It is still kind of a mystery to me, as i'm sort of new to the whole thing. there are differences though between the 2. I think of wicca as like a spiritual judo, in that by using the forces of nature and your own strengths you can throw the good and bad forces to where you want or need them to be in order for you to thrive. They're both about working with the energies around us. Unlike the major organized religions tough they work more directly than merely praying and hoping. somebody please correct me if i'm off

 

they are both, in use, somewhat generic terms. wiccan is a specific range of polytheistic perspectives. and thus perhaps could be considered a subdivision withing the more generic (use of the term) pagan. as it has come to mean in common usage, all, or nearly all, polytheism.

both did, however originate with vary narrow and specific meanings. the pegani were an italian hill tribe. and wicca has as its root the gallic/celtic word wic, which means life.

it was of course the monotheistic hierarchists, with their 'manifest destiny' to dominate all human thought, which set out to demonize everything that didn't suit their self centralizing and controlling purpose, and thus led to the genericising of any and all of the infinite diversity of polytheistic perspectives.

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