Pagan Europe Now And Then

On Pagan Europe - Now And Then. 

A Discourse on the Spiritual Landscape of Pre-Christian and Post-Christian Europe

INTRODUCTION: THE ECHO OF THE OLD GODS

Long before cathedrals pierced the European skyline, and centuries before Christendom mapped the moral conscience of the West, the continent pulsed with a different kind of sacredness; polytheistic, tribal, cyclical, and immediate. From the forests of Germania to the highlands of Scotland, from the Baltic shores to the Mediterranean archipelagos, Europe was a deeply pagan landscape, rooted in the rhythms of nature, the mysteries of the seasons, and the numinous presence of local deities.

This essay explores Pagan Europe, both in its ancient manifestation and in its modern revival. We examine the worldview of the historical pagan peoples, the transformative encounter with Christianity, and the re-emergence of neo-pagan and spiritual pluralism in the post-Christian West. In doing so, we assess whether this resurgence offers a viable spiritual alternative or merely a symptomatic reaction to the spiritual void left by secular modernity.

PART I: THE PAGAN MINDSET. NATURE, CYCLE, AND SACRED PLACE

Pre-Christian Europe was not a unified spiritual system, but a mosaic of local cults, traditions, and cosmologies. Yet these diverse systems shared common themes:

1. Immanence: The divine was in the world, not above or beyond it. Trees, rivers, stones, and animals were animated with spirit.

2. Multiplicity: Gods and spirits were many, often attached to places, professions, and tribes.

3. Cycle Over Linearity: Time was circular, tied to the harvest, solstices, and equinoxes. Life and death were part of an eternal recurrence.

4. Tribal Morality: Ethics were not universal but rooted in kinship, honour, and the survival of the group.

5. Ritual Over Doctrine: There was no catechism. Truth was enacted in rites, festivals, and seasonal observances.

This worldview bred a deep ecological sensitivity and localised spirituality, but it also lacked a unifying moral vision or metaphysical absolute. The sacred was everywhere, but not necessarily personal or moral in the sense that later monotheisms would define.

PART II: THE COMING OF THE CROSS.  FULFILMENT OR REPLACEMENT?

Christianity did not erase paganism overnight. For centuries, the two worldviews overlapped, conflicted, and intertwined. Missionaries, particularly in the Celtic and Germanic regions, did not begin by demonising pagan symbols. They repurposed them. Wells became baptistries; groves became chapels; festivals were synchronised.

The Christian message was revolutionary in at least three ways:

1. Universal Monotheism: One God for all people, not one god per tribe.

2. Historical Salvation: Time was no longer circular but teleological. Beginning in Eden, fulfilled in Christ, moving toward resurrection.

3. Moral Transcendence: Ethics were lifted beyond tribe and kin to include the stranger, the poor, the enemy.

Yet it would be naïve to portray this as purely organic. The Christianisation of Europe often involved political force (Charlemagne’s Saxon Wars), legal imposition (conversion as requirement for landholding), and cultural rupture. Paganism retreated not just under theological argument, but under empire, feudalism, and Christian monarchy.

PART III: REMNANTS AND RESIDUES. THE PAGAN SHADOW IN CHRISTIAN EUROPE

Despite official doctrine, folk Christianity across Europe preserved pagan elements:

• The veneration of saints often mimicked local deity worship.

• Seasonal festivals like Yule, Beltane, and Samhain were syncretised into Christmas, Easter, and All Saints.

• Nature lore, charms, and magical practices persisted among the peasantry and midwives, particularly in Eastern Europe.

In art, architecture, and rural life, the pagan substrate remained a shadow realm, officially disavowed, but psychologically persistent. The Western European imagination never fully let go of the sacred grove or the trickster god. Christianity provided order and salvation; paganism remained the buried voice of instinct, chaos, and earth.

PART IV: PAGAN EUROPE NOW. REVIVAL OR SIMULACRUM?

Today, paganism has re-emerged not from the soil, but from bookstores, festivals, and social media feeds. This neo-pagan revival includes:

• Wicca and Witchcraft: Reconstructive or eclectic spiritual paths emphasising goddess worship, lunar cycles, and ritual magic.

• Heathenry/Ásatrú: Germanic neopaganism focused on Norse gods, ancestral veneration, and warrior ethics.

• Druidry: Modern spiritual reimaginings of Celtic traditions, often with environmental focus.

• New Age Paganism: Syncretic, highly individualised paths combining Eastern mysticism, astrology, energy work, and animism.

This modern paganism is often less about historical continuity and more about symbolic reclamation. It reflects the postmodern hunger for rootedness, identity, and enchantment in a disenchanted world. Yet it often lacks initiatory depth, moral clarity, and communal structure. It may offer spiritual aesthetic, but rarely spiritual discipline.

Moreover, the “pick and mix” approach to ancient traditions raises a profound question: Can one revive the sacred without reviving the worldview that made it sacred?

PART V: PAGANISM AS REACTION TO SECULARISM AND CHRISTIANITY’S ROLE

The rise of neo-paganism should be understood, in part, as a reaction to the collapse of meaning in secular modernity. In a world of digital simulacra, mass alienation, and ecological crisis, paganism offers:

• A return to the body and the land.

• A sense of community and tribe.

• A spirituality without rigid dogma.

Yet this resurgence is not always constructive. In some corners, it becomes ethnonationalist, romanticising an imagined racial past. In others, it becomes solipsistic, reducing the divine to personal feelings and aesthetic preference.

Here, Christianity re-enters the conversation, not to eradicate, but to fulfil. The early Church Fathers (e.g., Justin Martyr, Clement of Alexandria) spoke of “seeds of the Word” found in pagan philosophy and ritual. In this view, the pagan instinct for the sacred is not wrong, but incomplete; a hunger answered in the Incarnation.

Christianity preserves transcendence, while affirming immanence. It recognises the sacramentality of nature, yet prevents the divine from becoming mere projection. It affirms ritual, but grounds it in historical revelation. It offers community without tribalism, spirituality without relativism, and meaning that is not bound by blood, race, or soil.

CONCLUSION: PAGANISM AND CHRISTIANITY IN A POST-CHRISTIAN AGE

Europe is returning to pagan instincts but in the shadow of modernity, this return is filtered through consumerism, individualism, and nostalgia. It is not a true revival of old ways, but a mirror held up to modern spiritual hunger.

Christianity, meanwhile, undergoes its own transformation, moving from institution to intimacy, from empire to encounter. Where modern paganism re-sacralises the world, Christianity offers the divine Person who sanctifies all things.

In the unfolding drama of post-Christian Europe, the two systems may not be enemies, but dialogue partners. Paganism reminds Christianity of embodiment, place, and presence; Christianity offers paganism hope, transcendence, and love unbounded by tribe.

To understand Pagan Europe now and then is to understand the European soul. It’s earthiness and its transcendence, its need for rootedness and redemption. Paganism is a root; Christianity is the tree. And the future may yet belong to those who can tend both.

INDEX OF SOURCES & INFLUENCES

• The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles — Ronald Hutton

• The Myth of the Eternal Return — Mircea Eliade

• The Everlasting Man — G.K. Chesterton

• Christianity and Classical Culture — Charles Norris Cochrane

• Pagan Christianity? — Frank Viola & George Barna

• The Golden Bough — James Frazer

• Gods and Myths of Northern Europe — H.R. Ellis Davidson

• The Sacred and the Profane — Mircea Eliade

• Church History in Plain Language — Bruce Shelley

• Neo-Paganism: An Introduction to Modern Religious Witchcraft — Isaac Bonewits