Danni

What is Christopaganism?

Christopaganism is just as it seems! It's the merging of both Christian practices and a form of paganism.

There are many different ways to balance and practice both religions. Some may be interested in honoring the Greek gods alongside saints and angels or just the angels alongside Egyptian gods. There's no right or wrong way for how you balance out your christopagan practice.

How do I find sources?

So with Christopaganism there isn't really an one stop shop for sources where you can find everything you need to know in one book. Since there are so many Christian denominations and forms of paganism out there, you'll have to find sources based on your interests, historical texts, or based on folk practices for your culture.

Let's say you're interested in Hellenic Polytheism and Catholicism. You will have to look into sources for both practices separately. Hoard books on Hellenic Polytheism and worship, scroll through Theoi.com, and read the Greek myths. You should also look into the various aspects of Catholicism, the religious figures, and how Catholics practice.

If you want an inside look into how someone merges both practices, you can talk with christopagans who practice both. Join discord servers, browse Tumblr, join communities, etc. Ask questions! How do they practice? How do they balance both religions? This, in my opinion, will be one of the best things you can do for your practice.

Wait but you mentioned historical texts!

I did! This will actually depend a lot on the regions you look at. What you'll want to do is look into what certain regions did as Christians started converting their people.

What are some ways the Christians help incorporate pagan tradition into their religion to help with conversion? How did people worship comfortably while living under 2 separate religion?

Take notes on how some of the people of the region lived during that time period. This may help with crafting your own beliefs and practices!

Now what do I mean with folk practices?

Folk practices very often incorporate both pagan religion and Christianity in their traditions. Although because of stigma around paganism and witchcraft it won't always be presented as christopaganism.

Most folk practices seem to be fairly flexible and compatable with both pagan and Christian beliefs as often times they are intertwined with Folk Catholic beliefs on top of the beliefs of that region before Christianity. They're the beliefs and traditions of the people as they have learned and adapted to different generations of religion.

For example, within Italian folk practices you can find a lot of practitioners working with the saints, angels, the Abrahamic god, and Roman gods (or other pagan gods of their choosing).

So looking into folk practices is another good option for looking into christopaganism and how to practice. With this option though, I would like to make sure to let you know that you need to be mindful of closed practices. When doing research, look into whether or not a folk practice is meant to be closed to that culture or if it can be adapted into any practice. A lot of folk practices are based on family knowledge or tied to a specific location.

Well, how do I practice?

As mentioned before, there is no right or wrong way to practice. However you choose to practice is up to you and what works for you!

Here's what I would recommend when getting into Christopaganism.

First, identify which denomination of Christianity you prefer to work with. This could be the same denomination you grew up in or the one that's most prominent in your area. Maybe you just looked up "Christianity" and picked the one that seemed most interesting to you at the time. Doesn't matter how you found your preferred denomination!

Okay now you have your denomination picked, look into it. Find sources about the religion and belief system. What parts of the religion stick out to you the most? Take note of them and incorporate them into your practice.

Next, let's take a look into the paganism part. Which religions call out to you the most? Which deities or spirits interest you? This could be a mix of different practices or just one particular practice.

Now if you choose a couple different pagan practices to look into, research will take a little bit longer. With paganism, you'll have to look into how to worship the gods based on each practice. So for Hellenic polytheism, what is right or wrong in terms of offerings? What offerings do I give to the Norse gods?

What I want to emphasize here is respect. Approach each practice respectfully. Take the time to learn about each religion and how to approach the gods. While you can mold your practice to fits what works for you, you cannot disrespect the gods. What works for one practice may not work for the other. You need to put in the work for any practice you approach.

I'm a bit uncomfortable but I want to practice

And that is 100% okay! There is no need to jump into Christopaganism. You can take your time and learn what feels comfortable and what doesn't. You are learning what makes this practice feel fulfilling and wonderful to you.

As someone who grew up Catholic and only knowing about that religion, this is a large learning curve. Things feel awkward and you aren't sure if what you're experiencing is real or made up. It will take time, but if you genuinely enjoy what you're learning and doing, then that's perfect!

Take this one step at a time. You got this!

Isn't Christopagan an oxymoron? This is disrespectful!

So let's unpack this. This statement right here? Yeah, it can be an incredibly ignorant and offensive statement.

Why is that?

There is actually a lot of cultural influence in christopaganism. When you step back and take a look at how modern Christianity came to be, there is a lot of overlap with paganism. After 300 years of coexisting with paganism, Christians wanted to spread their religion with the intention of being the "true religion". To do this they needed to adapt to a world that was already comfortable with pagan practices and worshipping pagan gods alongside the Christian god.

The Celtic goddess Brigid became St. Brigid. The Roman goddess Fortuna is an angel of luck in some cases. There are plenty of examples of Christianity adapting pagan practices.

Even today there is a lot of "pagan" ways of practicing Christianity that stuck around. When you look at Mexican or Italian ways of practicing Christianity today, there are quite a few traditions and practices that many people would consider "pagan" or say isn't "Christian enough" or something similar.

Overtime many "pagan" practices became cultural. So to say that paganism is demonic or wrong. To say that Christopaganism or Folk Catholic practices are disrespectful is to say that specific cultures are disrespectful. Just because you do not agree with how someone else practices, does not make it disrespectful.

Closing statement

Christopaganism is a fairly widely debated topic. I won't lie, you may run into some people that try and bash you for being christopagan. Ignore them.