Modern paganism in the UK: cycles and seasons
My journey with modern Paganism
Today, I wanted to share some reflections about modern paganism, including a recent lecture about contemporary paganism by Ronald Hutton, historian, given for Gresham College.
If you’re new here I’m Laura, a counsellor, nature therapist, somatic therapist, meditation teacher and I hold spaces that are rooted in my Pagan understanding of the world.. My work is centred around supporting people to explore their relationship with themselves, their bodies, and with the wider natural world. A big focus of my work is exploring how we connect with spiritual practice through our embodied experience of it, rather than being led by cognitive understanding.
I’ve been walking a spiritual path for many years now and it’s taken me through a few different explorations of my beliefs and what it means to have a spiritual practice. In my twenties, I started to connect with Buddhist philosophy, yoga and yogic philosophy, and Reiki. Each of these paths opened something new for me. There were a few years in my late 20s and early 30s where my practice fell by the wayside, but then, in a period of significant challenge in my life, I found my way back to it.
As part of my exploration of my beliefs, I felt called to step into a space where I was able to support others on their journey. I trained as a mindfulness teacher, I started thinking about training as a therapist and, for a while, I felt called to study plant medicines that are rooted in South American traditions, having had several transformative experiences that were rooted in those traditions.
And then Paganism came into my life and, along with it, the realisation that there is a rich history of spiritual tradition on these lands. In connecting with this, I found inspiration in myth and stories, I found connection through community, I found an anchor in the observation of ritual, seasons and cycles, and I found myself in deep relationship with the more-than-human world. It felt less like discovering something new and more like remembering something familiar.
I was, and continue to be, profoundly grateful to find a path that allows me to root my spirituality in the lands I live on and to embody and honour the cyclical rhythms of the seasons. I still hold deep reverence for the teachers and traditions from other lands that have shaped my journey. I still practice yoga, and meditation practices that are rooted in Buddhism, but there is also a special kind of rootedness that comes from connecting with the land, cycles, ancestors and stories of the place that you live
Paganism is rooted in the cycles of the earth
For me, Paganism isn’t a fixed belief system, it’s a way of moving through the world. You can be a pagan and a Buddhist or a Pagan and a Christian, or a Pagan and an atheist. I personally do connect with the divinity based aspects of Paganism but I know Pagans who honour cycles, seasons and rituals from a purely secular perspective.
My practice honours living in rhythm with the cycles of nature, the seasons, the self, along with cultivating an awareness that the sacred is woven through all things. I also broadly align with these guiding values, which are shared by The Pagan Federation:
Recognising nature as sacred: the Earth is not a backdrop to our lives, we are part of it and it is part of us
Upholding personal autonomy and self-realisation: believing that each of us holds our own truth
Practising non-harm: striving to live in a way that nurtures both human and more-than-human worlds
Many practitioners also engage in devotional practices, magic and collaborative relationships with deities, whether those deities are understood as archetypal, ancestral, or as living spiritual beings. In my practice, this means connecting with ritual and ceremony as a devotional practice, as well as offering gratitude to my ancestors, including ancestors of bloodline, tradition and land. I talk more about what that looks like in this post.
Paganism is typically eclectic, drawing inspiration from a range of sources, including Buddhism, Hinduism, feminist spirituality and earth-based tradition. For the most part, it is a tolerant and inclusive path that coexists peacefully with other belief systems, though, as with anything, that harmony can be more complex in practice, and perhaps that’s a conversation for another time.
A living, evolving tradition
When I first started to explore Paganism, I enthusiastically adopted the language and frameworks that are widely shared within modern practice; words like Sabbats and festival names like Mabon. Over time, as I found out more about history of these terms and their origins, I realised that a lot of what we call “the old ways” are actually modern reconstructions. This doesn’t diminish their meaning or significance; a tradition that has been taking place for 10 years is still a tradition! I share some deeper reflections about this in my post exploring the Wheel of the Year.
Many of the spiritual traditions native to the British Isles were lost or suppressed over centuries: through Christianisation, colonisation and the loss of oral cultures that once connected people through stories that were rooted in place. Contemporary Paganism isn’t a simple continuation of those old ways, it’s a revival and a remembering, weaving together fragments from folklore, archaeology, mysticism, romanticism, and contemporary ecology.
It’s really, really important to reflect on the ways that practices might have been shaped by history, colonialism, cultural shifts and reinterpretation. What is the lineage of these practices, how much is a modern reconstruction and how do I connect with practices in a way that reflects my internal experience as well as the world around me? And how do we intentionally acknowledge where practices come from, so we can approach them with integrity, humility and awareness. Especially if we’re offering these practices in community or guiding others through them.
Understanding our lineages with integrity
As someone who works at the intersection of embodied spirituality and therapeutic practice, I believe that engaging with our traditions means holding both heart and mind open. It’s important to ask:
Where did these rituals come from?
Who preserved them and who was silenced?
What histories and cultural exchanges shaped the practices we connect with?
Asking these questions, as well as considering how we actually connect to the natural world in an embodied and reciprocal way allows us to explore all aspects of the story. The felt experience of the seasons turning, the inner knowing, the rituals that nourish you, and the historical and cultural context that shaped how those rituals came to be Approaching these questions doesn’t dim our spiritual connection, it strengthens it. It brings integrity into our work and practises. Especially for those of us who hold space for others; understanding the lineage and context of what we offer allows us to carry it with care.
Learning from the historians of our path
Recently, I listened to this video from the Ronald Hutton Lectures. Ronald Hutton is a historian of British folklore, seasonal ritual and modern Paganism. I’ve shared it below. His work offers a thoughtful lens on how spiritual traditions in the British Isles have developed, showing that much of what we now celebrate as Pagan ritual is both ancient in spirit and modern in form.
What is modern paganism? A lecture by Ronald Hutton.
The beauty and responsibility of revival
Some might find it disheartening to realise that much of what we practise as Paganism is reconstructed. I see it differently. To me, it speaks to the human need to find meaning and connection. honour the earth and to celebrate life’s cycles. When we revive and reinterpret, we also have a responsibility: to explore with awareness, humility, and reverence for the cultures and histories we draw from. This includes recognising the distinct roots of Celtic, Germanic, and other Indigenous European traditions and resisting the urge to flatten them into a single, generalised “Pagan” story.
If you’re drawn to earth-based spirituality or the rhythm of the seasons, I invite you to explore both sides of the journey.
The felt experience of ritual, intuition, and connection. The embodied knowing that arises when you sit with the turning of the seasons, or with the liminality of thresholds and transitions.
The contextual understanding. The history, the influences and the cultural tapestry that brought these paganism practices into being.
Both matter and both deepen our relationship with the sacred.
A final reflection
Whether you are new to Paganism or have been walking this path for years, do check out Professor Hutton’s lecture above. His insights offer a really interesting framework for understanding how our contemporary practices came to be and how we can hold them with both reverence and discernment.
And if you’re looking to explore these themes experientially, through the body, you could explore my Somatic Journeys series: audio-guided embodiment practices, exploring ritual, archetypes and nature
If you’re looking for further reading check out:
Working With Archetypes: A Somatic, Embodied Approach
The Wheel of the Year.
You can also sign up for my mailing list, where I share reflections and offerings aligned with the turning of the Wheel of the Year, invitations to root deeper, remember more fully and to move through the seasons with intention.
