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Nature Religion Today: Paganism in the Modern World

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At the time this book was published in England in 1998, Joanne Pearson was a research student at Lancaster University; Richard Roberts held the chair in Religious Studies at Lancaster; and Geoffery Samuel was Professor of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Newcastle, and held a chair in Religious Studies at Lancaster.

They wrote in the Introduction, "This volume of essays originated in the conference 'Nature Religion Today: Western Paganism, Shamanism and Esotericism in the 1990s'... (which) sought to explore the innovations in practice and belief which constitute contemporary Paganism, and which appear to be part of a widespread cultural response to the decay of main-line religions and to a widely felt awareness of ecological crisis... Thus from the standpoint of the newly emergent paradigms of globalisation theory and of differentiated feminisms, resurgent nature religion poses significant questions not simply for women but for humanity as a whole. In this collection, these issues are explored from a wide range of standpoints in ways which forge closer links between social and cultural theory and present-day religious change and development."

Here are some additional quotations from the book:

"Academic study is sometimes inclined to assume that Wicca is part of the New Age, although many Wiccans disagree... it became apparent that the majority of Wiccans ... did not regard Wicca as part of the 'New Age movement. Reactions ranged from horror at the prospect..." (Pg. 45)

"Broadly there are two forms of feminist witchcraft: liberal---mixed groups of women and men; and Dianic---those who tend to follow Z. Budapest's particular radical form of witchcraft, which is women-only and frequently lesbian." (Pg. 106)

"Attitudes to homosexuality vary between different groups. In high magic groups where sex polarity is considered important, homosexuality is discouraged." (Pg. 116)

"Pagan Druidry as practised now is a relatively new and rapidly evolving phenomenon that emerged in the 1970s..." (Pg. 157)

"Interestingly, Wicca has had little appeal in Catholic countries and few books have been translated into French, Italian, Spanish or Portugese." (Pg. 171)