pagans
Polytheists of old
Pagans are people who follow polytheistic or nature-based religions outside the major world faiths—or, historically, anyone not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim.
The term originally meant rural villagers, who were slower to adopt Christianity than city dwellers.
Modern pagans often practice revived or reconstructed pre-Christian traditions: The pagans gathered for the solstice ritual.
In casual use, pagan can mean irreligious or hedonistic: a pagan disregard for propriety.
Reality itself is holy
- animismSpirits inhabit all things
- shamanismMediation between worlds
- totemismBelief linking clans to symbols
- earth-centeredPlacing our planet centrally
sacred groves · solstice · equinox · fertility · harvest · elemental · nature deities · wheel of the year
Sacred ritual table
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
- incantationSpoken magical formula
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
- ritesFormal ceremonial acts
divination · festival · amulet · talisman · offering · libation · invocation · bonfire
All gods of a religion
- deitiesWorshipped supernatural beings
- godsSupernatural beings worshipped
- goddessesDivine feminine beings
- divinitiesGods and goddesses
idolatry · worship · Olympians · Zeus · Odin · Thor · Aphrodite · Apollo
Poet of epics
- legendUnverified traditional tale
- fableMoral tale with animals
- mythTraditional explanatory tale
- loreTraditional knowledge transmitted orally
oral tradition · saga · epic · ballad · folk tale · tradition · chronicle · ancestral
Nonbeliever in another's creed
- unbelieverOne lacking faith
- idolaterWorshiper of false gods
- hereticChallenger of official doctrine
- gentileOf non-Hebrew peoples
nonbeliever · godless · blasphemer · apostate · irreligious · heathendom · kafir · goy
pantheism
Reality itself is holy
- animismSpirits inhabit all things
- shamanismMediation between worlds
- totemismBelief linking clans to symbols
earth-centered · sacred groves · solstice · equinox · fertility · harvest · elemental · nature deities · wheel of the year · maypole
altar
Sacred ritual table
- ceremonyFormal event marking occasions
- incantationSpoken magical formula
- sacrificeGiving up something precious
rites · divination · festival · amulet · talisman · offering · libation · invocation · bonfire · handfasting
pantheon
All gods of a religion
- deitiesWorshipped supernatural beings
- godsSupernatural beings worshipped
- goddessesDivine feminine beings
divinities · idolatry · worship · Olympians · Zeus · Odin · Thor · Aphrodite · Apollo · Freya
bard
Poet of epics
lore · oral tradition · saga · epic · ballad · folk tale · tradition · chronicle · ancestral · cunning folk
infidel
Nonbeliever in another's creed
- unbelieverOne lacking faith
- idolaterWorshiper of false gods
- hereticChallenger of official doctrine
gentile · nonbeliever · godless · blasphemer · apostate · irreligious · heathendom · kafir · goy · unconverted
- pagansheathens, druids, polytheists, Hellenists, reconstructionists
- idolaters
- occultistswitches, wizards, sorcerers, sorceresses, warlocks
- ancient paganspolytheists, druids, animists, sun worshippers, Celts
- early churchapostles, early church, Church Fathers, apostolic fathers, Acts of the Apostles
- nonbelieversatheist, atheists, agnostic, agnostics, nonbeliever
pagansChristians
Jesus's followers collectively
monotheists · Muslims · Jews · Abrahamic faiths · believers
pagansbelievers
Those having faith
true believers · the elect · saints · disciples · congregants
- pagan traditionsNon-Abrahamic ancestral practices
- pagan ritualNon-Abrahamic religious ceremony
- pagan beliefsNon-Abrahamic spiritual traditions
- pagan ritesNon-Abrahamic ceremonial traditions
- pagan rootsPre-Christian cultural ancestry
- pagan festivalsNon-Abrahamic religious celebrations
pagan, paganism, paganize, paganized, neo-paganism, neo-pagan