Samantha Leaver - Pagan Portals

My name is Samantha Leaver, known to my friends as Sam, I live in the UK with my husband and Fischers Lovebird, Astro. I am as Anglo-Saxon as they come with blonde hair and blue eyes, however, I honestly believe a part of my soul was born in the Mediterranean.

Imagine a child, around about six years old sitting with her grandfather listening to tales of Heroes, Creatures, Gods and Goddesses. There, in the coastal town of Southampton on the south coast of England, I began my love affair with the Greeks. Fast forward a few years and I had very much rejected the path of mainstream religion. I found Paganism and eventually Kitchen Witchcraft, and I was still devouring anything I could find on Ancient Greece. Its worth noting now that I am not a historian or an academic; I have a long-held fascination with Ancient Greece and a deepening connection to the Gods of the Greek pantheon.

Following breadcrumbs, connecting dots, reading, trial and error, instinct, devotion and belief is where I thrive. I have a strong sense that Ive just described a lot of other witches and pagans. Ive settled in nicely with the Greeks, but I suspect this mindset could be applied to many other Polytheistic paths be they Germanic, Egyptian, Roman, Icelandic, or Slavic to name but a few.

PAGANISM & SHAMANISM

What is Paganism? A religion, a spirituality, an alternative belief system, nature worship? You can find support for all these definitions (and many more) in dictionaries, encyclopaedias, and text books of religion, but subscribe to any one and the truth will evade you. Above all Paganism is a creative pursuit, an encounter with reality, an exploration of meaning and an expression of the soul. Druids, Heathens, Wiccans and others, all contribute their insights and literary riches to the Pagan tradition. Moon Books invites you to begin or to deepen your own encounter, right here, right now.

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Hellenic Paganism has seen both a growth in interest and an increase in people identifying with the tradition for several years. It is steadily becoming a strong presence under the umbrella of Paganism. As with most paths there are many differing practices in the Hellenic world, all underpinned by the values and ethics of what we understand to be the Hellenic way of life. This includes practitioners who simply believe and work with the Theoi (Gods) to those that attempt the daunting task of reconstructing this beautifully rich and consuming religion to the best of their ability, whilst, at the same time, being mindful of our modern way of life.

This book aims to explore the revitalisation and modernisation of ancient Greek life and looks at topics such as; myths and legends of deity, creatures and heroes, explorations of how the world works, calendars of individual Polis, Attic festivities and practices within and without the home, and, finally, the influence of magic and mysticism, mystery cults, and, Oracles.

This book hopes to show how research, dedication, observation of the world around us and, most importantly, intuition and practice can be applied to any path. The religious life of the Greeks was not considered separate to their everyday existence, the Theoi and their influence continue to survive in our modern world both in Greece and across the globe. The reach of this influence is not only astonishing, it is pure magic.

The Graeci as the Romans called them, or Hellenes as they called themselves, were a group native to Greece or Hellas. The Hellenes were also native to Cyprus, Italy, Turkey, Egypt and Southern Albanian and, to a lesser degree, other countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. There were even Greeks as far west as France in ancient times. Today there are people who identify ethnically as Hellene all over the globe, Greek communities have sprung up on every continent on the planet.

Greece has had an influence on many of our cultures. They traded with many different people. They took to the seas with their ideas to find new lands. They started a way of life that has stood the test of time and can still be seen in our lives today. About 2,500 years ago Greece was a magnet for peoples of the ancient world, attracting and cultivating great thinkers, writers, artists, philosophers and politicians: youve probably come across at least one if youve read a little bit of history. They also had actors, architects, athletes and Greek society witnessed the emergence of medicine and the medical profession.