Dream
Well-Known Member
Was Theosophy the first Neo-Paganism? It seems to predate the Neo Paganism movement, and I've already met two Theosophists who were part of the early Neo Pagan movement. One was a member of this board for a while.
My first encounters with Neo Paganism were some girls in high school and community college who had become interested in something called 'Wicca'. They liked to wear black, felt sorry for Christians, and they generally were beyond my comprehension at the time. I also picked up a copy of Riders of the Silver Broom which was popular at the time (90's) and available in the library. I didn't read it, because I'm more of a skimmer than a reader. It was nothing like Theosophy but was a very romantic unicorn-y type of book targeting females, mostly.
I also did a little bit of web surfing in the early days of the internet, looking up the various trendy movements that were out there. Many movements were experimenting with different 'Reeds' which are like creeds or slogans such as 'Just don't hurt anyone'. A neo-pagan group with a web page might have about 60 reeds to define themselves as a group, and there was a range of types of neo pagans including ones that defined forms of 'Satanism'. (There were several satanisms, probably one of which was the Luciferianism that Etu Malku is in.) Nowadays wiccans have one 'Reed', though some other sayings. The most common theme was preserving the earth from pollution. On their blogs they would discuss things like "What is the difference between a warlock and a..." just jargon to me, but clearly they were young excited and happy to be part of a movement.
Now things seem to have solidified a bit more. (I don't really keep up but just look in from time to time to see whats up. It seemed to me all these movements were looking for a formula, like a programmer might write a program and evolve it over time. This also seemed Theosophist in character, because the Theosophists liked (like?) to combine elements of religions very various purposes.
My first encounters with Neo Paganism were some girls in high school and community college who had become interested in something called 'Wicca'. They liked to wear black, felt sorry for Christians, and they generally were beyond my comprehension at the time. I also picked up a copy of Riders of the Silver Broom which was popular at the time (90's) and available in the library. I didn't read it, because I'm more of a skimmer than a reader. It was nothing like Theosophy but was a very romantic unicorn-y type of book targeting females, mostly.
I also did a little bit of web surfing in the early days of the internet, looking up the various trendy movements that were out there. Many movements were experimenting with different 'Reeds' which are like creeds or slogans such as 'Just don't hurt anyone'. A neo-pagan group with a web page might have about 60 reeds to define themselves as a group, and there was a range of types of neo pagans including ones that defined forms of 'Satanism'. (There were several satanisms, probably one of which was the Luciferianism that Etu Malku is in.) Nowadays wiccans have one 'Reed', though some other sayings. The most common theme was preserving the earth from pollution. On their blogs they would discuss things like "What is the difference between a warlock and a..." just jargon to me, but clearly they were young excited and happy to be part of a movement.
Now things seem to have solidified a bit more. (I don't really keep up but just look in from time to time to see whats up. It seemed to me all these movements were looking for a formula, like a programmer might write a program and evolve it over time. This also seemed Theosophist in character, because the Theosophists liked (like?) to combine elements of religions very various purposes.