The first thing that needs to be emphasised about Paganism is that you are likely to find yourself being contradicted if you try to generalise about it. The very meaning of the word is open to debate. In the past it has been used to denote any religion (or non-religion) that was not Christianity or one of the other Abrahamic faiths. It is commonly associated with polytheism or pantheism, but monotheistic Paganism can be found too.

The emergence of Paganism in the UK and USA [has been] accompanied by a similar upsurge in other parts of Europe: Scandinavia, the Baltic region, the Caucuses and parts of Russia are regions where Pagan rituals are practised and Pagan deities are worshipped. These are frequently associated with local myths and sites, but this is not always the case. North American Pagans may draw not only on Native American, but also Celtic, Norse, Anglo-Saxon traditions – not to mention a wonderful array of ‘invented traditions’. Contemporary Paganism in its Wiccan form is often associated with people like Gerald Gardner (1884-1960) who claimed to have been initiated into a coven in 1939 and that Wicca was a direct continuation of pre-Christian religious practice. Westerners who claim to trace their spiritual roots back to pre-Christian times consider Christianity to be the usurping ‘new religious movement’. Today Paganism is itself frequently classified as a new religious movement.