Saunders 2013 Neopaganism Geographie Religion

Progress in Human Geography
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Pagan places : Towards a religiogeography of neopaganism

Robert A. Saunders
Prog Hum Geogr published online 18 January 2013
DOI: 10.1177/0309132512473868
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DOI: 10.1177/0309132512473868
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Robert A. Saunders
Farmingdale State College-SUNY, USA
Abstract
Focused on religiogeographic practices in contemporary western paganism (neopaganism), this paper aims to
fill a gap in the existing literature through a critical assessment of how neopagans imagine, delimitate, and
interact with space, place, and territory. Employing a novel categorization of religious space along four
overlapping geographies (numinous, poetic, social, and political), this essay addresses the need for
geographers to produce publicly relevant studies that analyze religiously rooted ideologies and define cultural
interpretations of places, terrains, and landscapes. Furthermore, I put forth a tentative research agenda for
subsequent studies of how neopagans conceive of and interact with real and imagined geographies.
Keywords
Europe, identity politics, neopaganism, postmodern religion, religiogeography, sacred space
I Introduction: religiogeography material, imaginative, and emotional experiences

and the question of neopaganism associated with the religious experience, aspects
of the human condition which were previously
While the situation of holy sites and the spatial consigned to sociology, anthropology, or other
distribution of the world’s major faiths have fields of intellectual inquiry. Building on the
long functioned as objects of study within breakthrough work of Park’s Sacred Worlds:
cultural geography, the prominence of religio- An Introduction to Geography and Religion
geography has markedly increased as a subfield (1994) and heeding Kong’s (2001) call for ‘new
of inquiry during the past two decades. This turn geographies’ of religion beyond officially sacred
can be contextualized as an attempt to provide a sites, subsequent studies (Brace et al., 2011;
more nuanced study of how the faithful define Dijkink, 2006; Fox, 2006; Hervieu-Léger, 2002;
themselves through spaces and places associ- Holloway and Valins, 2002; Yorgason and della
ated with particular belief systems. Geographers Dora, 2010) have sought to include analyses of
are now exploring the multivalent effects of various types of spaces, both sacred and profane
religion on humanity’s engagement with the (Eliade, 1961 [1957]), within religiogeographic
physical environment, and how these interac-
tions impact politics, society, culture, and
economics. Prompted by the changing dynamics
Corresponding author:
of space stemming from the widening and dee-
Department of History, Economics and Politics,
pening of globalization since the late 1970s, Farmingdale State College, 2350 Broadhollow Road,
geographers of religion have expanded their gaze Farmingdale, NY 11735, USA.
to include elements of the individual’s social, Email: robert.saunders@farmingdale.edu
2 Progress in Human Geography
research. Consequently, this ‘new’ cultural work on neopagans’ veneration of historic

geography of religion, while continuing to reflect sites. Other relevant treatments include
orthodox forms of investigation, interrogates Hume’s (1998) research on Wiccans’ outward
religious landscapes, imagined communities, expressions of inner worlds, Jensen and
evolving spatial patterns of believers, the impact Thompson’s (2008) demographic study of
of physical geography on religious dynamics, and American Wiccans, O’Leary’s (2004), Cow-
religiously informed geopolitics. an’s (2005) and Coco’s (2008) respective stud-
With these fluid dynamics in mind, this essay ies of online communities of practice among
identifies apparent lacunae associated with the neopagans, Kraft’s (2010) interrogation of the
various forms of European neopaganism. While sacred mountains in the Sami homeland
popular studies of world religions often include (Sápmi), Rountree’s (2010) study of local-
brief overviews of neopagan practices (cf. global contemporary paganism in Malta, and
Hitchcock and Esposito, 2006) and there is a a number of provocative studies on politicized
vibrant literature on nature-based religions (cf. neopaganism (Aitamurto, 2011; Gardell, 2003;
Albanese, 1991; Rountree, 2012; Shibley, Ivakhiv, 2005a; Laruelle, 2008; Poewe, 1999;
2011; Taylor, 2009), academic surveys of the Shnirelman, 2002). Within geography, the
geography of religion typically fail to address most notable contributions have come from
the dramatic increase in adherence to either Holloway (1998, 2000, 2003), who has
reconstructed pagan faiths (e.g. Ásatrú, explored New Age movements and their rela-
Romuva, and Hellenismos) or novel religions tionship with space; however, given the limited
based on pre-Christian European beliefs and commonalities between New Age religion and
practices (most notably, Wicca). Neither Park contemporary paganism, particularly its more
(1994) nor Stump (2008) go beyond an in ethnocentric and geographically rooted forms,
passim mention of these neo-faiths of European there is comparatively little published on neo-
origin, either in their purported homelands or pagan religiogeography.
the diasporic spaces of North America and Aus- While I do not mean to suggest that geogra-
tralia. This absence is especially troubling given phers have completely ignored the rising promi-
that neopaganism, estimated to have between nence of neopaganism, this study responds to
one and three million followers worldwide (Tip- the call for geographers to make a distinct
pett, 2008), is one of the fastest-growing forms contribution to the understanding of religions
of religious identification in the USA (Draper, in the current global age, especially through
2008; Jensen and Thompson, 2008; Strmiska, an exploration of how ‘communal identities in
2005a), and is growing rapidly in Europe as well specific places are built around a sense of reli-
(see McIntosh, 2004). Almost no European gious belonging’ (Brace et al., 2006: 28–29).
polity is exempt from this trend: even Armenia, This essay addresses the need for geographers
one of the oldest Christian nations, has to produce more relevant studies where ‘geogra-
witnessed renewed interest in its pre-Christian phical perspectives matter in the understanding
faith Tsegakron (see Ter-Saakian, 2005). In of religion, both in the public sphere and in the
terms of empirical research, a few authors (prin- academy’ (Kong, 2011: 53). Following Cooper
cipally cultural anthropologists) have begun to (1992), I am particularly interested in the extent
investigate certain aspects of the intersection to which specific religiously rooted ideologies
between neopaganism and geographic space, define cultural interpretations of territory and
most notably examinations of neopagan pil- landscapes; I also focus on the process whereby
grimages by Bender (1998) and Rountree specific sites, both profane and sacred, are
(2006), as well as Blain and Wallis’s (2004) ‘invested with meaning of a religious kind’
Saunders 3
(Kong, 1990: 367) and the interplay between the neopaganism. This section is supported by ana-
two kinds of spaces when it is vital to the ‘mak- lytical tools drawn not only from the field of
ing of place’ (Kong, 2001: 212). This essay also geography, but also international relations,
seeks to link neopagan geographies to recent sociology, archeology, and anthropology. This
scholarship on boundaries (Agnew, 2008; Bau- is done in an attempt to demonstrate the incipi-
der, 2011; Newman, 2006; Paasi, 2005, 2012) ent effects of the neopagan revival on the world
and territoriality (Cox, 2003; Elden, 2010; Her- system and the domestic politics of European
vieu-Léger, 2002; Ivakhiv, 2006; Shilhav, states, as well as the USA, Australia, and other
2007), with the purpose of highlighting certain states where Europeans have settled in large
aspects of spatial practice among believers of numbers, thus supporting Kong’s (2011) call for
(post-)modern faiths. By synthesizing analyses greater ‘relevance’ in geographic research. In
from a number of fields, this undertaking aims the concluding section, I reflect on the ‘spatial
to fill a gap in the existing literature through turn’ in the study of religion (Knott, 2010),
an interrogation of the ways in which neopagans laying out a number of prospective avenues of
imagine, delimitate, and interact with numi- further intellectual inquiry into what might be
nous, poetic, social, and political geographies. called an emergent geography of neopaganism.
Furthermore, this study puts forth a tentative
research agenda for detailed studies of how indi-
vidual neopagans conceive of and interact with II Conceptual considerations
space and place, an agenda that is influenced by Neopaganism refers to the congeries of spiritual
trends in critical (Power and Campbell, 2010) practice associated with one or more of the indi-
and feminist (Dowler and Sharp, 2001) geopoli- genous (i.e. pre-Judeo-Christian-Islamic) faiths
tics and firmly rooted in what some scholars of Europe. Neopaganism or, using York’s
have deemed ‘emergent’ geographies of reli- (2003) term, ‘contemporary western paganism’
gion and belief (Holloway, 2011). is a subset of the broader aggregation of ethnic/
A few words about the structure of this essay indigenous polytheistic, pantheistic, shamanis-
are in order. Section II delineates the geographic tic, and animistic belief systems found around
and ethnographic scope of my analysis and the world, but also bears resemblance to newer
defines neopaganism and other relevant forms of ‘nature religion’ (see Taylor, 2009).
concepts employed in the analysis. In section Reflecting its etymology from paganus (Latin
III, I provide a précis of the various ethnic faiths ‘country dweller’), neopaganism is a ‘nature-
associated with European space, including venerating religion which endeavors to set
revivalist and novel religions which take human life in harmony with the great cycles
inspiration from Europe and/or its peoples embodied in the rhythm of the seasons’ (Jones
(given limitations of space, this essay will pri- and Pennick, 1995: 2). ‘Pagan’ remains contro-
marily focus on commonalities across various versial in the academic setting given the
‘neopaganisms’, though important differences negative implications of the term, stemming
and distinctions will be addressed). Employing from the shared Christian-Islamic tradition of
a framework based on the differentiation of categorizing all polytheists as ‘idolaters’ and
space along the aforementioned categories of ‘non-believers’, as well as Early Modern and
numinous, poetic, social, and political, section contemporary associations of pagan practice
IV presents relevant examples of the interaction with Satan-worship. Despite such connotations,
of neopagans with places and spaces, with an modern-day practitioners of pan/polytheistic
eye towards developing an analytical program nature worship have enthusiastically adopted
for interrogating the evolving geographies of the exonym of ‘pagan’ in recent years, though
typically eschewing the neo- affix.1 From the and opportunities, particularly when viewed
perspective of geography, the strong emphasis through the lenses of boundaries and territorial-
on space and place, which is resonant in the very ity. When compared to the monotheistic faiths,
term ‘pagan’, serves to remind us of its socio- neopaganism is qualitatively different in its
historic origins and the struggle to establish/ religiogeography and bears only a passing
resist spatial legitimacy in Europe (see Russell, resemblance to the other ‘great faiths’ (Hindu-
2012). ism, Buddhism, etc.), thus requiring a new optic
Far from being a unified set of beliefs, neopa- to understand how place and space are contex-
ganism is as much defined by its diversity, het- tualized within various systems of belief. How-
erogeneity, and lack of structure as it is by its ever, the spatial centrism of neopaganism
commonalities, thus making it an interesting sub- provides a fecund environment for geographic
ject of study for geographers. Despite the fissi- study, and one which accentuates the field’s
parous nature of neopaganism, the various particular strengths of relating religious practice
branches share four principles: (1) recognition and belief to other ‘spheres of thought and
of a plurality of divine beings;2 (2) nature is a action’ (Stump, 2008: 6). By treating place as
visible manifestation of divinity; (3) respect for an ‘emotionally bounded area’ to which an indi-
the natural world and the rhythm of the seasons; vidual or a group has a strong relationship
and (4) recognition of a female divine principle (Tuan, 1977), geographers are arguably more
(partnered with a masculine principle) (Cunliffe, adept than other scholars in providing meaning
2010; Higginbotham and Higginbotham, 2004; in the evolving worldviews of contemporary
Jones and Pennick, 1995; Phillips, 1995). As a pagans.4
faith system that is typically practiced in small Adapting York’s (2003) analytical triptych of
groups, or even by solitary believers, neopagan- paganism as behavior, religion, and theology, I
ism differs from the world’s great religions, differentiate these three categories as follows:
which are defined by mass ceremony, transna- behavior entails the spiritual practices
tional organizational hierarchies, and visible (and associated with believers of a faith including
often powerful) institutions. Given the highly performance of rituals, participation in ceremo-
localized nature of pagan practice in pre- nies, and observance of rites; religion refers to
Christian Europe, few formal religious structures the system of spiritual power based on the
existed, a trait which is reflected in contemporary prescripts of and wielded by the designated
praxes (Phillips, 1995); though then, as now, preceptors of a faith; and theology describes the
each faith possesses recognized intermediaries canon of spiritual beliefs held by a religious
with the divine, from druids to priestesses to sha- community. To these three, I will add the analy-
mans. However, there are enough common ele- tical category of neopaganism as politics, i.e. an
ments to allow us to consider neopaganism as a ideologically informed program of public
heterogeneous – though relatively coherent – advocacy based on acquiring, maintaining, and
religious movement. These factors include the utilizing influence at the local, state, and interna-
following: the lack of a normative sacred text and tional levels. This addendum is in response to
hierarchical authority; high levels of individual repeated calls within the field to recognize the
choice and interpretation; multifarious concep- importance of politics, and specifically geopoli-
tualizations of the divine; re-evaluation of tics, in faith groups’ attachment to place
magic(k); and the sacralization of the Earth (see and interactions with space (Agnew, 2010;
Bittarello, 2008).3 Dijkink, 2006; Dittmer and Dodds, 2008; McAl-
For scholars in the field of human geography, ister, 2005; Yorgason and Chen, 2008). This
these characteristics present both challenges fourth element is particularly important since
Saunders 5
neopaganism, a belief system that is ineluctably geographic facilitation, it is possible to group

tied to ethnic identity, is characterized by a high contemporary European paganism into four
level of politicization, and, given its mirrored broad categories: western (Celtic); central (Ger-
growth with modernity, is strongly influenced manic); Mediterranean (Greco-Roman); and
by the socio-cultural forces of nationalism, eastern (Balto-Slavic and Finno-Ugric), though
particularly the nation as an imagined community it should be noted that the blending of traditions
(see Anderson, 1991). I will subsequently ‘map’ across these groups is common, particularly out-
these four categories onto various forms of space side Europe.
in my analysis of neopagan geography in an effort Beginning with the repeal of laws against the
to stimulate debate and provide a preliminary practice of witchcraft in 1951, Celtic neopagan-
roadmap for future scholarship on geographies ism witnessed a dramatic upsurge across Britain
of contemporary pagan belief and practice. (McIntosh, 2004), though the first neodruidic
society was established in Anglesey, Wales, as
early as 1771 (Cunliffe, 2010). Within this path,
III A précis of contemporary the division between revivalist/reconstruction-
European paganism ist practice and neo-faiths based on a hybrid of
Neopaganism in its various forms is closely tied ‘old ways’ and certain New Age praxes is most
to ethnic identity. With few exceptions, neopa- noticeable (Waldron, 2005). The latter, which
gan belief systems tend to be linked to specific include Wicca and Goddess Worship, are
historical geographies and possess a ‘decidedly numerically dominant, commanding large
ethnocentric flavor’ (Gardell, 2003: 137), numbers of adherents across Europe (particu-
though these may be loosely defined. Of all the larly the UK), North America, and Australia.
contemporary forms of neopaganism, Wicca Despite the somewhat more universalist bent
and Goddess Worship are the least constrained among Wiccans (see Jencson, 1989), Eurocentr-
by ethnic affiliation; however, as Jensen and ism and emotional attachment to key European
Thompson (2008) have demonstrated in their spaces are palpable, as evidenced by online dis-
state-by-state study in the USA, the strongest cussions lamenting the difficulties of practicing
correlate with Wicca practice is the presence traditional rituals and casting spells from locales
of people with ancestral ties to the British Isles. outside Europe, particularly Australia, where
Likewise, Goddess Worship is intimately linked the ‘fire in the south’ (the Sun) is in the northern
to pre-Christian notions of female-male duality sky. In the ‘Celtic fringe’ of Europe, reconstruc-
embodied in pan-European nature worship, tionist Celtic neopagans, particularly neo-
derived from the Celts, who in turn are viewed Druids, have transformed their ‘ownership’ of
as the first ‘Europeans’;5 not coincidentally, or territoriality over sacred sites such as Stone-
Celts are increasingly used as totems of common henge, Avebury, and the Rollright Stones into a
Europeanness against the invasive forces of Isla- significant political issue in the British Isles
mism, Asian immigrants, and American consu- (Bender, 1998; Butler, 2005; Cresswell, 1996;
merism in contemporary Europe (see Dietler, Cunliffe, 2010; Cusack, 2012).6 As Blain and
1994). Consequently, the constructed geogra- Wallis (2004) have shown, modern druids have
phies and actual demographic presence of neopa- adopted the geopolitical mantle of ‘new indi-
gan communities across Europe and the so-called genes’ and the tactics of subaltern native
‘white dominions’ of North America and the peoples to ensure preservation of and access to
Antipodes relate closely to imagined affiliations these sites.
between ‘the land’ (territory) and ethnos (ethnic Bonds of blood and land run even deeper in
community). Given these parameters of ethno- the identity politics of Germanic neopaganism,
often called Heathenry. Gardell (2003) upwards of 1% of the population to the worship
categorizes Germanic neopaganism along the of the Olympian pantheon (Brunwasser, 2005).
lines of spiritual (disconnected from ancestry), Restoration of Roman religion is even more ane-
ethnic (linked to Nordic/Germanic ancestry), mic, being led as it is from the American state of
and racial (exclusive to those of Nordic/Germa- Maine rather than the Apennine Peninsula
nic origin), thus arguing that almost all practi- through the Nova Roma movement, an intellec-
tioners must, at a minimum, grapple with the tually inspired group of likeminded people ‘dedi-
issue of ethnicity when considering questions cated to the study and restoration’ of the ancient
of faith and community. The two most popular culture of Rome.7 Due to the inherent strength of
strains in Germanic neopaganism are revival the Roman Catholic Church in southern Europe,
movements which make claims to honoring his- Roman religious revivalism remains weak, with
torical practices of the ‘ancestors’: Ásatrú, a more Italians embracing Wicca and Odinism
Scandinavian-centric religion based on the than the ancient faith of their forebears. In fact,
Eddas and worshipping Norse gods, and Wotan- the ‘old religion’ (la vecchia religione) remains
ism, a ‘continental’ variant associated with the stronger among Italian immigrants in the USA,
same gods, but lacking the ‘Viking’ connection manifesting in folkloric practices such as Stre-
(see Blain, 2005; Strmiska, 2007). Variants of gheria (Magliocco, 2005). The situation in the
reconstructed Germanic paganism have found Iberian Peninsula mirrors that of Italy, including
fertile ground around the globe from the Czech the failure of neopaganism to take hold even in
Republic to South Africa, though in each locale the Basque country (Euskadi) where an alterna-
belief systems tend to manifest a particular geo- tive religion would ostensibly support the geopo-
ideological orientation, e.g. Theodism, a North litical aims of Basque separatists.
American-based brand of reconstructed Anglo- Turning to the east, the forms and foci of
Saxon worship (Blain and Wallis, 2009). As neopaganism change dramatically. Under the
Asperem (2008) points out, communities oper- umbrella of ‘folk religion’ or ‘dual faith’ (see
ating under the moniker of Odinism/Wotanism Rock, 2007), certain aspects of pre-Christian
(rather than Ásatrú) tend to be more politicized, paganism continued up to the period of moder-
sometimes espousing racist platforms borrowed nity (thus precluding the need for the neo-
from the Ariosophic tradition (see Goodrick- affix). In the eastern Baltic rim, which was only
Clarke, 1992). Since the Second World War, a Christianized in the 13th century, modern
number of neo-völkisch cults have also joined pagans can trace a line of belief and practice
the larger ecosystem of neo-Germanic pagan- back millennia, though fragmentation has
ism, advancing certain aspects of Nazi-era certainly occurred over the past few centuries.
revivalist paganism and conspiratorial geopoli- Here the Sami (Lapps) never surrendered their
tical narratives (Michael, 2009). Ásatrú, traditional ancestor worship, animism, and sha-
however, generally eschews such strains of manism (Kraft, 2010), while many modern-day
thought, though some of its adherents are known Finns and Estonians have sought to revive
for advancing patently racist positions vis-a-vis paganism in recent times. In post-Soviet Lithua-
non-Scandinavian/Germanic peoples. nia and Latvia, the resurgence of pre-Christian
Ironically, given the enormous sway that practice (Romuva and Dievturiba, respectively)
pagan themes played in Europe’s Renaissance, is supportive of other forms of national revival
the realm of Greco-Roman neopaganism has (Tupešu, 1987), and practitioners can plausibly
witnessed the weakest revival. Nonetheless, claim an unbroken line of pagan ‘cultural forms’
Hellenismos, a reconstructionist form of Greek associated with the pre-Christian period (see
polytheism, has taken root in Greece, attracting Strmiska, 2005b). East Slavic native faiths have
Saunders 7
seen a similar level of growth in the post- that characterize East Asian faiths (Daoism and
Communist period (Ivakhiv, 2005a, 2005b; Lar- Shinto, in particular) and the indigenous
uelle, 2008; Lesiv, 2009a, 2009b; Shnirelman, religions of the Americas, sub-Saharan Africa,
2002, 2007). Closely linked to ethnic identity, and Oceania. In order to understand neopagan
Russian neopaganism and Ukrainian Ridnovira spatial engagement more fully, I have problema-
are increasingly attractive to those seeking to tized religiogeographic space by moving beyond
embrace lost cultural traditions and build links the widely accepted, but rather facile binary of
of community in societies that have been rent sacred/profane (Eliade, 1961 [1957]). Informed
asunder by the iniquities of Soviet rule (Aita- by the jarring transition to modernity, Eliade’s
murto, 2011). In Russia, neopaganism takes decades-old categorization of space, originally
many of its popular rituals and beliefs from criticized for the ‘polarization’ it promoted in the
Vedism (pre-Hindu rites), which many neopa- analysis of data (Shiner, 1972), proves even more
gan Russians believe is the last uncorrupted limiting in the contemporary milieu of postmo-
form of the original Indo-European (Aryan) dern religion, and contributes to the current
religion. In neighboring Ukraine, neopaganism ‘weakness’ (Brace et al., 2006: 29) in geogra-
serves an entirely different role: rather than phy’s engagement in cross-disciplinary debates
glorifying the commonality of the East Slavic about religion vis-a-vis sociology, anthropology,
ethnos, Ridnovira has a decidedly anti- history, and psychology.
Russian, post-colonial bent (Ivakhiv, 2005a), Expanding on earlier categorizations of
and, like the Baltic neo-faiths, serves the inter- religious space (Brace et al., 2006; Brenneman
ests of reviving national identity and fixing and Brenneman, 1995; Eliade, 1961 [1957]; Fox,
boundaries between ‘small nations’ and the 2006; Kong, 1990, 2001; Stump, 2008; Yorgason
great, eastern ‘Other’ (i.e. the Russians). Neopa- and della Dora, 2010), this analysis delimits four
gan movements can be found in other parts of conceptual spaces: numinous, poetic, political,
eastern Europe as well; however, these tend be and social (see Figure 1). For the purposes of
primarily driven by folklorists and academics, clarification, I differentiate these concepts as fol-
typically lacking sizeable communities of lows: numinous space is any part of the globe
practitioners (Szilárdi, 2009; Wiench, 1997). which has been sanctified by its association with
the divine; poetic space is any mythical
geographic realm that is considered hallowed;
IV The religiogeographic spaces of political space is the spatial expression of gov-
neopaganism ernance on the local, national, and/or global level
While all religions are ineluctably linked to as it relates to a specific religion and its
territory, place, and space, Wiccans, Ásatrúers, followers; and social space is the territorial man-
and other neopagans possess a comparatively ifestation of the quotidian interactions between
deeper affinity with the real and imagined geo- the individual and their religious community, as
graphies of their faith, resulting from – among well as others who are not part of this communal
other considerations – the absence of sacred group. As I suggest in the conclusion, the utility
texts and other religious artifacts and institu- of this schema in future studies of religiogeogra-
tions which characterize the major world reli- phy is debatable; however, given the increasingly
gions. In their attachments to the ‘land’, the diverse ‘constellation of spiritual praxis’
ultimate symbol of faith for many neopagan (Wilson, 2008: 637) of contemporary religions
belief systems, adherents construct a bond with as their followers respond to state, economic,
geographic space that more closely resembles social, and environmental changes stimulated
the links between territoriality and spirituality by globalization, the end of the Cold War,
Body, hearth, home, festivals, Statistical representation,

environmental engagement (flora, fauna, birth/marriage/death issues, site
etc.), interaction with society at large, preservation, legal recognition, national
and cyberspace identity, and transnational activism
SOCIAL SPACE POLITICAL SPACE

Profane
Adherent’s spatio- Religious community’s
symbolic relationship spatio-symbolic
with society relationship with the state
The Nation or Ethnos
Nature
The Earth (Gaia) and
the Cosmos
Conceptual geographies Heriophanic zones inscribed
rooted in myth or through association with
imagination the divine
Sacred
POETIC SPACE NUMINOUS SPACE
Mythical homelands, otherworlds, Groves, bodies of water, magic circles,

narrative landscapes, mundo seidis, mountains, ancestral burial sites,
imaginalis, and temporal-spatial ancient places of worship, and the
constructs cardinal directions
Figure 1. A schematic of the four religiogeographic spaces of neopaganism, with definitions and relevant
examples of each
climate change, and other ‘first-order forces’, a it to nature. This synthesis of the known natural
parsing of the long-accepted dyad of sacred/pro- environment with the unknown spiritual world
fane is a worthy undertaking. I would also permits neopagans to locate the sacred in vari-
contend that a more nuanced approach, rather ous forums, from personal space (the magic cir-
than simply adding complexity for its own sake, cle) to the all-encompassing (the cosmos): ‘For
better reflects the protean epistemological orien- the pagans, God is not up there in the sky, but
tation(s) of human geography, which increas- down here in trees, rivers, birds, animals, and
ingly transgresses the boundaries of other fields human beings’ (Nanda, 2004: 19). As a result,
of intellectual inquiry. numinous spaces in the neopagan world take
many forms; however, it is possible to identify
a few common types. For neopagans, natural
1 Numinous space space serves to focus spiritual energy and bring
For neopagans, the ‘sacredness’ of numinous the adherent into direct connection with the
space is constructed or recognized by linking divine. In certain cases, places and landscapes
Saunders 9
are seen as inherently sacred, while in other time-travelers when in physical and spiritual
instances sacredness is temporarily inscribed. contact with these places, connecting with
Natural outcroppings or arranged stones are long-dead ancestors.
considered sacred among both the Uralic neopa- For many neopagans, sinkholes, special
gans and the Celtic reconstructionists. Across trees, sacred groves, hillocks, and other organic
Fennoscandia, seidis, or exceptionally large expressions of nature provide the doorway to
stones, are marked as holy, as are certain moun- the divine, supported by the belief that mystical
tains and landscapes. Worship may include the powers, spirits, or the presence of deities actu-
symbolic sacrifice of fish or game to the seidi ally shape a place (genius loci). In Estonia, the
to ensure bountiful hunts in the future. To the famed Tuhala Witch’s Well, a spring that boils
Sami, these places are the natural equivalent with great ferocity at unpredictable intervals, is
of Christian churches, where the divine mani- venerated as a source of magic and power,
fests on Earth, and are formally consecrated as providing the faithful with a glimpse of the
such. As Kraft (2010: 57) points out: ‘sacred unseen world that shapes their lives (Barry,
places constitute a demarcation of particular land- 2008). In the Russian Republic of Mari-El,
scapes as being Sami. The Sami lack the geogra- sacred groves serve as outdoor churches for
phical boundaries of an independent state and do communal worship and ritual animal sacrifice
not claim sovereignty. In this context, sacred (Bourdeaux, 2000), thus providing coherence
places provide an alternative mapping . . . between Europe’s most oriental neopaganism
a demarcation and visualization of Sápmi.’ and its most occidental, neo-Druidism, where
Consequently, the claims on particular terrain are the nemeton (sacred grove) remains a key ele-
thus vested with religious as well as cultural ment of religious practice (Cunliffe, 2010).
significance. Many practitioners of Celtic neopaganism
Neo-druids likewise sacralize stones, revere hillocks and mounds, recognizing them
though typically ones which have been cere- as sites of intense spiritual energy and/or
monially arranged by the ‘ancestors’, namely entrances to the Otherworld. Historic temples
Stonehenge, Avebury, and the Rollright and sanctuaries such as Delphi and the Extern-
Stones, as well as Orkney’s Ring of Brodgar steine are also key sacred sites in contemporary
and the Standing Stones of Stenness. Pil- neopaganism. Importantly, Lithuanian revival-
grimages to these sites engage geographic ist paganism derives its name, Romuva, from
space, but are also flights of imagination, as the Old Prussian name for the mythical outdoor
neopagans journey to a ‘distant time, or into a ‘sanctuary’ that existed in modern-day Kalinin-
state of timelessness’ (Rountree, 2006: 101). grad (Ignatow, 2007), thus formalizing the
Rituals, seasonal holidays, and other religious connection between numinous space and faith.
events are closely linked to these sites among The sacralization of the points of the com-
many sects of the Celtic reconstructionist pass, creating a form of intangible numinous
movement and affiliated neopaganisms. Like space, occurs through prayers and offerings
other indigenous faiths and even certain off- made to the north (air), the south (fire), the east
shoots of Christianity and Islam, neopagans (earth), and the west (water) (Higginbotham and
also invest ancestral burial grounds with divine Higginbotham, 2004). By constantly linking the
resonance, often visiting graveyards or sites cardinal directions with these elements, a subtle
where their forebears’ ashes were scattered to but ineluctable linkage to European geography
commune with the dead, including the ritual is reified: the open sky (air) is in the north; the
sharing of food and drink. Both the Sami and sun (fire) is in the southern sky; the world-
the neo-Druids become something akin to continent (earth) lies to the east; and the
world-sea (water) lies to the west.8 Among and synthesis with certain elements of Arioso-
many North American and Antipodean neopa- phy (Shenfield, 2001).
gans (whose geographies do not fully jibe with
European pagan orientations), there is a
tendency to ‘substitute’ local numinous sites for
2 Poetic space
distant ones in their ethnic homelands, e.g. mak- Poetic space encompasses those imagined ter-
ing pilgrimages to Sedona, Arizona, or Uluru rains that are conceived and/or perpetuated
(Ayers Rock) in Australia (Ivakhiv quoted in through myth. Differentiated from earthly or
Tippett, 2008), thus engaging in what might physical numinous geographies, poetic spaces
be called an affective form of religiogeographic are primarily produced via imagination
bricolage. (Magliocco, 2004). These ‘religious symboliza-
For Wiccans and Goddess Worshipers, the tions of space’ (Hervieu-Léger, 2002: 100) and
need to locate specific geographies is less acute ‘landscape[s] of the mind’ (Woods and Gritz-
as they ‘make sacred space wherever they ner, 1990: 231) can be either entirely fictive or
wish’, principally through the invocation of the temporal-historical in nature, with the latter
divine, ritualized consecration of magic circles, being exercises in spatial nostalgia for
and trips within the mundo imaginalis (Hume, something that never existed in reality. These
1998: 317). Similarly, aural geographies of the narrative geographies (Keighren and Withers,
sacred are established through playing tradi- 2012) often manifest as ‘otherworlds’, with at
tional instruments or listening to ancient music least a handful for each branch of the faith, but
that ‘unlocks’ historical memories associated in myriad other forms as well. According to
with the pre-Christian past (Strmiska, 2005b). Wilkinson (1999: 59): ‘Neopagans clearly
The individualized nature of ‘western’ neopa- reject a desacralized cosmos. In its place they
ganism allows for a transformation of local have tried to celebrate a re-enchanted cosmos
environment, even the Earth itself as ‘Gaia’, where spirit, mystery, beauty, holiness, and
into a numinous place (Clifton, 2009) that can ceremony are central. In such a vision each
be experienced as a flow of consciousness thing has value; nothing is merely raw material.’
between the practitioner and place where there This is evidenced by the oft-repeated refrain
is ‘no distinction between the divine within and which has parallels in many traditions:
without’ (Rountree, 2006: 99); herein, there is a
As above, so below, As without, so within, As
sharp divergence with ‘eastern’ neopaganism’s in the universe, so in the soul.
location of sacred places, which tend towards
community-sanctioned sites, thus lessening the As such, the ‘Earth’ and ‘Nature’, as imagined
role of the individual in determining the entities as opposed to quotidian realities,
presence of the divine in given places. Conse- represent poetic spaces of the highest order, and
quently, the historical perseverance of dual faith ones which must be both revered and protected
in Orthodox Europe shapes the geography of its (Taylor, 2009). Mirroring the reverence of Aus-
various neopaganisms, though practices in tronesian, Native American, and other nature-
Ukraine, Russia, and the Baltics are not immune centric religious groups for idealized (often lost)
to effects of the globalization of neopaganism landscapes (Fox, 2006), neopagans engage in
via various forms of social and intellectual ‘intimate emplacement of experience’ through
interaction, including increasing animosity acts of speech and memory. This is particularly
between monotheism and polytheism (see acute among North American and Antipodean
Lesiv, 2009b; Shnirelman, 2002), adoption of neopagans who are separated from their numi-
the Germanic term ‘heathen’ (Tippett, 2008), nous geographies by thousands of miles, and
Saunders 11
instead establish ‘psychic anchors’ (Cooper- called Asgård by the Ásatrú, while Greek
Marcus, 1992) that are affixed within the ‘terrae Polytheistic Reconstructionists imagine their
incognitae of the imagination’ (Wright, 1947). Dodekatheon living atop Mount Olympus; in
Moreover, for neopagans – as with adherents both cases, these realms are separate from the
of other ethnic faiths – imagined geographies lands of mortals, but ultimately reachable by a
associated with creation myths rooted in paradi- chosen few (Beazley, 1901). Similarly, Celtic
siacal nostalgia (Woods and Gritzner, 1990) neopagans believe in a place just beyond the
play an important role in the poetic space of the edge of the world called Tı́r na nÓg, where Ire-
belief system, from celestial realms to under- land’s demigods (Tuatha De´ Danann) took up
worlds. Lastly, like contemporary Catholics’ residence after quitting the mortal world. Many
glorification of the lost unity of medieval pagan belief systems incorporate the notion of a
Christendom, Zionists’ emotional connections mythical axis mundi or a portal connecting the
to the ‘Land’ (Shilhav, 2007), or Salafists’ ethereal, material, and chthonic worlds. Of
veneration of caliphate and a genuine and undi- these, perhaps the Norse Yggdrasil is the best
vided ummah (Mandaville, 2004), neopagans known, though the Celtic, Baltic, and Slavic
use ‘emotive poetic space’ (Aronoff, 2003: reconstructionists ascribe to equivalent notions
271) as a canvas for collective memory as they of a ‘world-tree’. Exemplifying the virtues of
pine for a golden age of ideological and geo- the warrior, many neopagan otherworlds are
graphic communalism that could only exist in mystical abodes of fallen heroes, from the Celtic
the mind’s eye. Brenneman and Brenneman’s Mag Mell to the Norse Valhalla (Reid, 2004).
(1995) concept of ‘loric power’ is especially rel- There is a certain similarity of chthonic spaces
evant here, as neopagans – believing themselves as well, including the Slavic Nav, the
to be subjugated by two millennia of Christian Greco-Roman Hades, and the Norse Hel; all of
domination – purposefully imagine space as a these places are dark, baleful places where the
bulwark against the total extinction of their dead linger in misery. Here we find a sharp
faith. Hicks (2011: 40) has demonstrated how divergence between most neopaganisms and
the collections of Old and Middle Irish stories Celtic variants, as in the latter the underworld
called dindshenchas (‘histories of places’), writ- is a land of joy and revelry; populated by the aos
ten nearly a millennium ago, have been retooled sı´ (‘people of the mounds’), it is an unseen,
by contemporary pagans to function as a ‘sacred parallel universe where fairies and other super-
geography for the pre-Christian sites in Ireland natural beings reign (Cowan, 1993).
[as] all the places listed in these stories are Within the völkisch strain of neopaganism,
connected with the old gods’. By scripting mythopoetic homelands must also be considered
‘cozy’ geographies of paganness, worshipers in the context of imagined religiogeography. As
effectively imagine their way out of the Judeo- Gallagher (2009: 580) points out, getting history
Christian realm and back into a world of magick and occasionally geography wrong is ‘part of
and mystery, thus enabling a form of cultural constructing a pagan identity’. Despite the
poesis rooted in (un)real geographies. glaring lack of historical evidence, many radical
Each strain of neopaganism enjoys its own neopagans, influenced by Madame Blavatsky’s
unique set of otherworlds, populated by gods Theosophy or spurious works of pseudo-
and heroes, fairies and goblins, etc. Given the archeology and ‘invented’ texts like the Book
common roots of many of Europe’s paganisms of Veles, espouse creation myths built on the
in a proto-Indo-European religion, a certain notion of a mythical arctic continent, alterna-
level of commonality exists across these tively known as Thule, Arctida, or Hyperborea
‘worlds’. For instance, the home of the gods is (Goodrick-Clarke, 2002; Lesiv, 2009a). The
Thule Society, a politicized outgrowth of Arioso- Conceptual mapping of the world through the
phy, took its name from the apocryphal continent veneration of such ‘places’ as the ‘proto-Indo-
located at the north pole. In the minds of the European hearth’, the ‘Celtic realm’, and
society’s members, Thule served as the fountain- ‘pre-Christian Europe’ thus mythopoetically
head of the Aryan ‘root race’ and, though privileges certain geographies and the construc-
concealed, continued to serve as a gateway to a tion of ‘ideoscapes’ where being pagan is ‘nat-
world of supermen, the Hidden Masters ural’ (with all other orientations being
(Levenda, 2002). Such strains of thought, while aberrant). Some ethnocentric neopagans, partic-
generally rejected by most contemporary Odin ularly Heathens, go a step further, engaging in
worshipers, have been retooled by Russian and performative territoriality through the assertion
other Slavic neopagans since the 1930s; accord- of geographies such as the ‘pan-Aryan transat-
ing to Shnirelman (2007: 51), ‘While the lantic homeland’ (Gardell, 2003: 11), which
Creation and Jesus Christ’s birthday serve as reject the flows of time and history by attempt-
points of departure for the Christian chronology, ing to negate the influence of two millennia of
many Slavic Pagans start from a legendary date Christianization, immigration, and cultural
when the hypothetical Homeland, be it Atlantis hybridization. By projecting these conceptual
or Arctida, submerged beneath the ocean’. geographies onto contemporary political space,
Assuming that this polar continent disappeared pagans are inscribing their own value (and
sometime between the Pleistocene and Holocene values) onto the palimpsest of history.
periods, the ‘true Aryans’, i.e. the proto-Slavs,
were forced to resettle throughout Eurasia.
Consequently, Russians are sanctified as the ‘pri- 3 Political space
mordial Messianic people’ and the Russian state Responding to Ivakhiv’s (2006) call to map the
is entitled to unchecked expansion (Shnirelman, ways in which political-economic power and
2007: 56). While outlandish, the centrality of religious power are intertwined, I now turn to
geography to this creation myth meshes nicely territoriality as a manifestation of religious
with the neopagan historical imaginary, the last identity, or what can be called the ‘geopolitics
category of poetic space. of the religious’ (Hervieu-Léger, 2002: 99). As
Whether at the local or national level, all an outgrowth of the Romantic Era, neopaganism
contemporary pagans live as minorities sur- evolved in lockstep with the spread of national-
rounded by non-pagans of all sorts: atheists, ism, and yet neopaganism has paradoxically been
Christians, Muslims, etc. However, through the strengthened by the weakening of the nation state
power of the imaginary or ‘constructed land- in the face of globalization. Neopagans tend to
scape[s] of collective aspirations’, neopagans engage in forms of ‘socio-political activism’ that
enjoy the benefits of imagination as social prac- reflect the ‘fragmegration’ of the postmodern era
tice (Appadurai, 1996: 31). This unleashing of (Rosenau, 1997) and which focus on the ‘organic
imagination in the new global milieu has proved construction of self-created images, rather than
to be a powerful tool for subnational groupings, in the quantifiable struggles of traditional
be they religious or ethnic. Through a modified politics’ (Gardell, 2003: 38). Thus, neopagan
form of identity politics, neopagans are revising engagement with political space must be
history and remapping space based on their own explored on a number of levels: biocentric, local,
inclinations (Szilárdi, 2009). This is done state, and transnational.
through the temporal-spatial constructs which At the level of biopolitical space, defined by
convey a wealth of historical and ideological Negri (2008) as ‘a mixture, of encounter, and
meaning, treating the past as a foreign country. above all of intellectual, political and ethical
Saunders 13
expression’, neopagans assert their rights development and for use in their own ceremo-
though lobbying for legal recognition qua nies. According to Stump (2008: 295), such
pagans. Since the 1950s, this has meant enjoy- expressions of ‘religious territoriality’ contrib-
ing the same or similar rights as other faiths. ute to the ‘cultural distinctiveness of particular
Recording in national censuses remains a places, comprising an important element of the
contentious issue, but one which has attracted depth of religious influence within secular
great attention in recent years (Berger et al., space’. For pagans, these sites are imbued with
2003). Given the lingering associations of deep meaning and valued in very different ways
paganism with Satanism in western Europe and when compared to those groups who wish to
North America, many neopagans dissimulate protect or use these places as ‘heritage’, ‘his-
when asked their faith, and secrecy remains an toric’, or ‘archeological sites’ (Rountree,
important part of many covens, kindreds, and 2006: 100). For pagans, interacting with the
other groupings of pagans (Berger et al., sites often involves drinking and dancing in and
2003). Moreover, issues of nomenclature, the often on places an archeologist would consider
eclectic nature of the religion, and its inherent off-limits. Local environmental activism often
heterogeneity present bureaucratic hurdles that combines with religious sensibilities, resulting
other faiths do not face in census recording. in the politicization of neopaganism in defense
Legal recognition of handfasting, the neopagan of certain human-made and natural sites
marriage ceremony, is also an arena where bio- (Powell, 2003). Perhaps the most famous of
political space is central. Scottish law permits these was the campaign to save the Hill of Tara,
handfasting performed by an approved Scottish one of pre-Christian Ireland’s most revered holy
Pagan Federation Celebrant to be treated as a sites, from damage due to the building of the M3
fully legal marriage under the country’s Mar- highway, which opened in 2010. In Estonia,
riage Act (1977) and recognized as legal plans to drain the aquifers that feed the afore-
throughout Great Britain and the rest of the mentioned Tuhala Witch’s Well prompted sim-
world. Legally binding ceremonies may also ilar reactions. In the case of Sami defense of the
be performed by recognized pagan clerics in sacred nature of certain mountain peaks in Nor-
Norway, Spain, and other countries. In the USA, way, notably Tromsdalstinden/Sálašoaivi, Kraft
questions of biopolitical space have emerged in (2010) has shown how pagan sensibilities and
relation to pagans’ service in the armed forces, spirituality can become contagious, transform-
beginning with legal recognition of their ing secular geographies into sacred ones, even
religious status, which became a hot button for those who do not necessarily affiliate
issue in the 1990s, and extending to controver- themselves with paganism.9
sies associated with tattooing, piercing, and in On the state level, neopagan politico-spatial
some cases involuntary/unintentional drug use activism tends towards sometimes quixotic
leading to separation from the Army, Navy, or efforts to force their countries of residence to
Air Force (Urquhart, 2005). More recently, grant state recognition of the faith, the ultimate
American military veterans were permitted to manifestation of geopolitical power. Not since
have a pentacle placed on their tombstone, the late Middle Ages has any European state
reversing the US Department of Veterans declared itself to be a pagan power. Lithuania –
Affairs’ longstanding exclusion of the Wiccan the last state to hold this distinction – has, how-
emblem (Miller, 2007). ever, recognized Romuva as a ‘non-traditional,
At the local level, neopagans’ defense of geo- state religion’ since 1992 (Ignatow, 2007). Other
graphic space is most closely associated with countries similarly validate historically affiliated
the protection of sacred sites, both from paganisms: Iceland recognizes Ásatrú as folk
faith associated with the country, and other forms militancy in geopolitical thinking characterizes
of Germanic neopaganism enjoy legal recogni- many radical neopagan movements in Russia,
tion in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. While though the focus is on indigenous rather than
not definitively linking their national territories immigrant ‘enemies’, i.e. Russia’s Turkic and
to a specific branch of neopaganism, the UK, Caucasian peoples, as well as its Jews. How-
Australia, Spain, and certain US states have ever, as Blain (2005) points out, many pagans
granted legal recognition to Odinist or Heathen reject the notion of blood-based ties to the prac-
paths.10 Recently, some North American tice of neopaganism, instead arguing that links
Heathens have injected themselves into debates to the ‘landscape’ are most important, thus
on indigenism, claiming similar protections infusing a sort of geographic determinism of
afforded indigenous nations under the Native religion into the debate.
American Graves Protection and Repatriation At the transnational level, neopagan geopoliti-
Act (1990) by asserting the ‘organic’ nature of cal activism often manifests through alliances
the faith in the Americas (Gardell, 2003). Simi- with other groups, particularly feminist and
larly, certain Ásatrúers argue for greater recogni- environmentalist organizations. As a peculiarly
tion of Leif Erikson as ‘the founder of Vinland’ postmodern faith and one which is confined to
and, thus, more relevant than Christopher minority status everywhere, it is not surprising
Columbus in the establishment of a European that pagans demonstrate a strong commitment
presence in the USA. to issues that transgress borders and seek
In parts of post-Communist Europe, particu- alliances with other subaltern groups, particu-
larly the Baltic States and Ukraine, neopagan- larly environmentalism (Taylor, 2009). Neopa-
ism has emerged as a tool for reclaiming gan festivals – replete with myriad pro-Earth,
political space. Delis (2006) argues that Baltic pro-animal, pro-LGBT, and pro-woman booths
neopagans are able to make claims to ethnic – evince the globally oriented politics of many
‘authenticity’ which eludes those of other value practitioners, at least those of the ‘western’ tradi-
systems and ideologies, namely Christians and tion; however, these proclivities are not shared
atheists. Likewise, Ukrainianness increasingly by certain ‘central’ and ‘eastern’ pagans who
relies on promoting a national identity that con- often hold anti-global, misogynistic, and homo-
trasts with that of the Russians, thus making phobic positions, though protection of the envi-
neopaganism a socio-political cat’s paw for ronment is a cause that unites all strands of
certain nationalist elites (Lesiv, 2009b). In west- neopaganism. Most interestingly, neopagans
ern Europe, the linkage of ethnos and ethnic have attracted the interest of radical Hindus;
religion is similarly politicized and claims to according to one author, ‘There are deep
geographic power are even more pointed, with affinities between ultranationalistic politics and
radical Odinist and Celticist groups railing the pagan conception of nature and God . . . local
against the ‘Semiticization’ of European space, gods are more blood-and-soil gods, sanctifying
often drawing a direct line between the arrival the natural geography for the people whose gods
of St Paul in Rome and the rise of ‘Eurabia’, they are’ (Nanda, 2004: 20). As a result, neopa-
while glorifying ‘blood’ as a carrier of racial gans have emerged as a potential fifth column for
memories (Gardell, 2003). Identity politics have Hindu Right, which seeks to position itself as the
thus taken on a dual function for many neopa- global champion of anti-Judeo-Christian-Islamic
gans, providing them with a platform to reject power. While the ability of neopagans to act on
domination by other faiths (Christianity, Islam, behalf of radical Hindus is somewhat dubious,
etc.) and combat geopolitical threats (foreign the nascent links suggest the possibility of simi-
powers, unwanted immigrants, etc.). A similar larly curious alliances in the future.
Saunders 15
4 Social space with Hindu religiogeography which privileges

Given the wide variety of social practice among the home as site of worship and the manifesta-
the various neopagan paths, everyday manifes- tion of the power of deities (Mazumdar and
tations of space must necessarily be given short Mazumdar, 1993).
shrift; however, an analysis of certain common- Moving beyond the private geographies of
alities provides valuable insight into the ‘terri- body, hearth, and home, neopagans must also
torial modalities of communalization of space’ engage with the profane world, namely the
(Hervieu-Léger, 2002: 99). This is particularly village, town, city, or metropolis, which is
true in terms of the symbolic practice of spatial inevitably peopled with mostly non-pagans.
relations at the communal level (intra-faith) and This leads to the creation of fluid geographies
exogenous level (inter-faith). Social geographic of difference and sameness. Pagans tend to con-
space among pagans is best viewed as a series of struct special bonds with other followers of their
interdependent, concentric circles, which influ- path, whom they might call kindred (and, to a
ence and govern decision-making behavior as it lesser extent, ties with most/all other neopagans
relates to others. and practitioners of nature-based/ethnic/indi-
Beginning at the level of the body (the nucleus genous religions). These highly ‘networked’
of all social relations) and the scale of corporeal linkages (Jensen and Thompson, 2008: 756) are
geography (Holloway, 1998; Mountz, 2004), characterized by a ‘radical pluralism that
contemporary pagans engage in a rewriting of the embraces horizontal, ephemeral, and egalitarian
rules of ‘religious’ behavior and asserting power patters of organization – networks – rather than
through bodily difference, from engaging top-down hierarchies’ (Clifton, 2009: 110). Fes-
in ritual nudity to the use of mind-altering tivals, moots, sabbat bonfires, and other sorts of
substances to the employment of magick for pagan gatherings, either specific to the sect or
practical, personal outcomes. Adornment func- more ecumenical in nature, represent the most
tions as an important factor in the navigation of obvious manifestation of manufactured
social spaces and reinforces what has been called religio-social space. In Europe these events are
the ‘institutionalized liminality’ (Coco, 2008: often held at stone circles, groves, or other
528) of neopagans: tattooing, clothing, and numinous places, whereas in North America
jewelry are important examples of neopagans’ and elsewhere fairgrounds, farms, or other civic
making of social space, providing semiotic mar- or private sites serve as gathering places. Such
kers that are ‘read’ by other neopagans, though convocations can often invoke the sacred, yet
often ignored or ‘misread’ by non-pagans. in their essence these interactions are about
At the next stage is the hearth, which symbo- crafting ‘safe’ geographies where communal-
lizes the connection between faith and family, ism (in its most positive sense) reigns. Nordic
and which is typically coded as a ‘private, fem- neopaganism places a strong emphasis on such
inine space’ (Dowler and Sharp, 2001). events, particularly the blót (‘sacrifice’) and
Depending on one’s tradition, pagans may con- sumbl (‘banquet’), which are specifically
struct an actual hearth, which serves as focal designed to build bonds among the community,
point for activities such as prayer, feasting, or and has worked well in North America where
other celebrations that invoke some aspect of vibrant communities of Germanic neopagans
their religion, from the banal to spiritual. Here of many stripes gather together for boasting
offerings to gods, dead ancestors, or house spir- sessions, mead-brewing, and other ‘Viking-lite’
its may be provided, as well as talismans blessed pursuits (Strmiska, 2007).
or oaths taken, thus presenting strong parallels In society at large, neopagans are socially
regulated by a set of generalized instructions
that govern, in part, their relationships with perhaps the most obvious manifestation of this
others, be they of pagan or non-pagan orienta- set of praxes, wherein divination produces prac-
tion. Among the Wiccan and Nordic paths, these tical results, often related to social relations with
are formalized into a rede or set of instructions family, friends, co-workers, etc. Other forms of
akin to commandments, e.g. ‘In all that you magick, from protection charms to love spells,
do, always consider its benefit or harm upon likewise engage the human networks of pagans,
yourself, your children and your folk’11 or and can be seen as part of the larger system of
‘Honor the Old Ones in deed and name, let love social interaction (Kermani, 2009; O’Leary,
and light be our guides again’.12 The rather ‘un- 2004; Waldron, 2005). Interaction with gods, as
pagan’ tendency to prescribe and proscribe cer- well as forest and house spirits, can even be
tain behaviors runs stronger in reconstructionist included in this analysis as well, as many pagans
paths, where the role of the community is weak, believe that they can and do directly interact with
reflecting an understanding of the shift from the otherworldly beings on a social, as well as
tight communal relations of the pre-Christian spiritual, level (Rouhier-Willoughby, 2012).
period to the highly atomized existence of Lastly, one must consider the importance of
modernity. In ‘eastern’ neopagan traditions, the cyberspace in neopagan circles. While other
influence of Gemeinshaft (Tonnies, 2002 world religions are ambivalent – even hostile
[1887]) remains somewhat stronger given the – towards new media’s encroachment on the
realities of ‘dual faith’, thus attenuating the need sacred, ‘Neopagans have re-conceptualized
for any written code of conduct. Given the religion, the body, and technology in a way that
nature of neopaganism, the faith system is substantially coherent with early Neopagan
presents a stark contrast with other religions in elaborations, but re-shape those early elabora-
terms of community policing, lacking the sort tions, for instance by re-conceiving in a
of social monitoring, correcting, and punishing mythopoeic way scientific theories and new
elements exhibited by Christians, Muslims, and technologies’ (Bittarello, 2008: 228). Reflect-
others. As a result, it can be remarked that the ing Kitchin’s (1998: 11) argument that cyber-
social geography of neopaganism is, in certain space ‘offers us the opportunity to reclaim
aspects, quite weak in comparison to that of the public space and recreate the essence and nature
‘great’ faiths. of community on-line’, neopagans see them-
For neopagans, interaction with the world’s selves as connected to the worldwide network
flora and fauna can also be interpreted as social of sentient and non-sentient beings, with cyber-
geographic practice. Many, if not all, pagans space simultaneously representing a profane
consider animals, insects, plants, and even and sacred space where magick is worked,
stones and bodies of water to be part of an deities charmed, communities sustained, and
‘ever-changing body of divinities’ (Rountree, political ends achieved (thus situating it across
2006: 102) and social entities with which they multiple religiogeographic spaces). As a ‘con-
can commune. The Wiccan Rede13 reminds ceptual universe created by and sustained
pagans: ‘Heed the flower, bush, and tree. By the through electronic interactions of humans’ over
Lady, blessed you’ll be.’ Speaking to trees, the internet and shaped by ‘ever-changing geo-
negotiations with animals, and propitiation of graphies of digitized information’ (Saunders,
streams all serve to constitute parts of the social 2010: 11), cyberspace provides a particularly
geographic tapestry of the modern pagan. The useful terrain for uniting the comparatively
casting of spells and other forms of magick are small number of neopagans around the world,
also part of this web of social and spatial a sort of digital utopia. Coco (2008: 513), who
interaction. Geomancy (‘earth magic’) represents has studied cyber-paganism, argues that through
Saunders 17
hypertextual communities of practice neopa- as well as in certain occupational fields (acade-

gans conceptually define and construct ‘places mia, information technology, environmental
of association’. She contends that spatial mean- protection, etc.), which justifies this call to
ing is derived from interactions with others action. The prominence of neopagans in geopo-
online or offline. Unlike Christians, Jews, and litical debates and their non-trivial role in
Muslims, whose web use can be viewed as attenuating and even disrupting the global geo-
profane (though not necessarily secular), some political paradigm of the ‘clash of civilizations’
pagans practice their magick in cyberspace, thus (Huntington, 1993) through ideological
adding a patina of the numinous to its geogra- alliances with non-Abrahamic faith groups
phy. As a result, the internet is thus a highly further buttresses the need to understand the
entangled plane, a ‘landscape of sites, nodes, emerging geographies of neopaganism. As an
systems, and channels between systems’ important – even trailblazing – force in shaping
(O’Leary, 2004: 51), where the sacred and the the contours of postmodern religion (Dawson
profane exist side by side, a zone where rituals, and Hennebry, 2004; Heelas, 1998; Pike,
imaginaries, politics, and communal interaction 2001), neopagans merit greater attention from
overlap and merge. the field.
Employing McAlister’s (2005) framework
for interrogating important aspects of globaliza-
V Understanding neopagan place tion and the religious production of space, and
and space in the global era informed by Holloway and Valins’ (2002: 6)
Unlike other areas of neopagan geography, the prescription that geographers should ‘incorpo-
cyberspatial realm of the technopagan14 has rate recent theoretical developments within (and
been thoroughly researched (Aupers, 2002; beyond) the discipline’, Yorgason and della
Bittarello, 2008; Coco, 2008; Coco and Wood- Dora’s (2010) identification of the need for
ward, 2007; Cowan, 2005; Davis, 1998; Drury, geography to ‘conquer’ the terra incognita of
2003; Garner, 2004; Phillips, 1995; Robertson, religion, and Brace et al.’s (2011: 1) appeal for
2009), as have the importance of pilgrimage and geographers to investigate how ‘religious
historical sites of veneration (Blain, 2005; Blain beliefs inform and construct social identities,
and Wallis, 2004; Bowman, 2004, 2007; Bren- public knowledge, and modes of governance’,
neman and Brenneman, 1995; Cusack, 2012; the following avenues of inquiry present just a
Powell, 2003; Rountree, 2006); however, the few of the fecund areas for empirical research
wealth of scholarship in these two fields only and theoretically grounded analysis:
brings into clearer focus the limited study of
other forms of neopagan religiogeography. Places of meaning. Beyond pilgrimage
Given that the various ‘aspects of religion – of sites, what realms, zones, and imagined
faith, sacredness and spirituality – intersect with spaces elicit strong emotional attachment
geography at every turn’ (Brace et al., 2006: among neopagans? How do different paths
29), it is incumbent upon geographers, particu- construct and venerate these places? How
larly those in the subfields of cultural geography do these various ‘meanings’ translate into
and the geography of religion, to address the political and social action on the local,
lacunae associated with the sacred space and national, and global levels?
place attachments of contemporary pagans in Borders, boundaries, and territoriality.
Europe, the Americas, and elsewhere. While a How do contemporary pagans delimitate
numerically small group, neopagans enjoy their worlds? What ‘political technologies’
disproportionate representation in cyberspace, (Elden, 2010) do pagans employ for
controlling terrain, either physically or site of performance in neopaganism, how

symbolically? How does global change and are believers influenced by and how do they
increased mobility shape views of belong- contest restrictions on certain practices
ing? Are there substantive differences within their host societies? How do outward
between völkisch pagans and non- expressions of paganism shape interactions
nationalist pagans when it comes to issues with others? What ‘hidden and mundane
of territoriality? What roles do geography, acts’ (Dowler and Sharp, 2001: 168)
territory, and place attachment play in influence power relations, particularly in
conflict and protest? terms of gender and sexual orientation?
Moral geographies. How do contemporary What rites of passage (birth, marriage,
pagans police their own communities and death, etc.) are politicized among contem-
regulate attitudes towards nature, good/evil, porary pagan communities and why?
vengeance/forgiveness, etc.? To what extent Nationalism and identity politics. What role
are traumatic events in the history of pagan- do pagans play in defining and even ‘essen-
Christian conflict (e.g. forced conversions, tializing’ (Gallagher, 2009) ethnicity, the
the Northern Crusades, and the so-called nation, and ‘race’? How are (neo)pagans
‘Burning Times’) played out in real and represented in popular culture (film, novels,
imagined spaces? comic books, etc.) and how do such repre-
Spatio-environmental concerns. How are sentations impact quotidian understandings
secular views of space synthesized with of geopolitical space? How are they
‘religious’ ones, particularly in the realm co-opted by other forces in society and what
of environmentalism? Does neopagan role do they seek for themselves in deter-
engagement with ‘animal geographies’ mining national identity in the global era?
(Emel et al., 2002) and ‘human-plant How do transnational influences shape
geographies’ (Head and Atchison, 2009) attitudes towards self/other, us/them, etc.,
differ from that of non-pagans? Do pagan among neopagans, and how do these ‘lines
belief systems reflect a more respectful rela- and compartments’ (Newman, 2006: 143)
tionship to the ‘essence of place’ and the play out in geographical/geopolitical repre-
‘natural world’ (Rouhier-Willoughby, sentations of the nation?
2012: 53–54)? Are neopagan manifestations (Anti-)Globalism. How do contemporary
of ‘dark green religion’ (Taylor, 2009) sym- pagans navigate the vagaries of localism-
bolic of other trends in human geography? globalism in an interconnected world? Do
Differentiation of space. How do neopagans pagans engage in a form of ‘Gaian’ (Earth-
distinguish cosmological, theocentric, hier- centric) geopolitics and, if so, how does this
ophanic, ritual, authoritative, historical and manifest? What positions do neopagans of
other sacred spaces (Stump, 2008) in com- different ethnic and geographic back-
parison with other faith groups (and grounds take on issues like immigration,
between pagan paths)? How are imagined multiculturalism, consumerism, neoliberal-
spaces established, protected, revered, etc., ism, etc.?
and how does this translate into the ‘real New theoretical directions. Building on
world’? What do differences between Agnew’s (2008) notion of borders as ‘arti-
various pagan groups tell us about their facts on the ground’, do the imagined
views on place, space, and territory? boundaries of neopaganism present us with
Biopolitical and feminist aspects of faith. ‘artifacts in the mind’, and, if so, can they
Recognizing the centrality of the body as a help us construct and evaluate knowledge
Saunders 19
within the field of human geography? scholars might develop a working methodology
Reflecting Paasi’s (2012) analysis of the for examining the emergent geography of
emotional/social nature of ‘bordering prac- neopaganism, while at the same time underscor-
tices’ and the nexus between bodies, flows, ing the need for novel, or at least modulated,
and power (particularly in Europe), can geo- ontological and epistemological approaches as
graphies of neopaganism stimulate new ways we move forward in this undertaking.
of investigating geopolitics in the contempo-
rary world? What challenges do the emergent Funding
geographies of neopaganism present to tradi- This research received no specific grant from any
tional ontologies of human geography, and funding agency in the public, commercial, or
how do geographers move beyond existing not-for-profit sectors.
‘ontic knowledge’ (Kitchin and Dodge, Acknowledgements
2007) to address these questions? Does neo-
The author wishes to thank Anssi Paasi, Joel Vessels,
pagan use of cyberspace to collapse temporal
Michelle Fino, and the anonymous referees of this
and spatial distances represent the ‘bleeding essay for their valuable comments and helpful
edge’ of a trend in human geography or it suggestions.
is an outlier? Is a four-part categorization of
religiogeographic space appropriate for Notes
studying other (or all) faiths in the current 1. A word on use of the term neopaganism is in order.
era, or does Eliade’s (1961 [1957]) simpler Ascribing the prefix neo- to paganism is controversial
model serve us better? in some academic circles, principally due to respon-
dents’ discomfort with being labeled as a novel sect
Current trends in the geography of religion, as when their traditions are closely linked to millennia-
well as the ‘spatial turn’ in the social sciences old practices (see Strmiska, 2007). Other appellations
(Pugh, 2009) – and the study of religion in such as modern or contemporary paganism would
therefore suffer from the same deficiencies, despite
particular (Knott, 2010) – portend an environ-
the claims of some authors. In order to avoid confusion
ment where these and similar forms of investi-
with pre-Christian paganism, the author employs neo-
gation will be welcome. Likewise, ongoing paganism in this academic setting; however, in all
developments within the field of critical and interactions with practitioners, the term pagan is used.
feminist geopolitics encourage examination of 2. Certain neopagans reject the notion of actual gods,
the ‘little things’ associated with large-scale instead treating these ‘deities’ as embodiments of
transformation of geopower (Power and Camp- universal Jungian archetypes.
bell, 2010). Given the rising importance of neo- 3. Though it should be noted that these traits are descrip-
paganism across the Global North, combined tive of many contemporary ‘Christians’ in North
with the increasing politicization of indigenous America and elsewhere who eschew denominational
faith groups in Latin America, Africa, and other affiliation, describe themselves as ‘spiritual’ rather
parts of the developing world, such avenues of than ‘religious’, and ascribe to a panoply of beliefs and
practices from other religions from Hinduism and
inquiry will inevitably contribute to a fuller
Buddhism to New Age and Native American belief
understanding of contemporary issues in global
systems.
politics, religious identification, and national 4. In its geographic scope, this study is circumscribed to
identity, and how the constitution of place and faith systems that meet the previously discussed
space inform these developments. Through its criteria and are linked to pre-Christian Europe. There-
synthesis of analyses from multiple fields of fore, the practice of paganisms originating outside of
study, this essay has attempted to demonstrate Europe, whether or not they are followed by Eur-
just one of the ways in which subsequent opeans, is beyond our purview, thus precluding any
analysis of Kemeticism, Tengrism, or other oriental with fascism and anti-Semitism in the minds of many.
(neo)paganisms. As the various forms of neopaganism In his efforts to establish an occultist form of neo-
are vested in ethnic lineage – whether real or imagined Germanic paganism as a ‘religion’ among the Nazi
– and ties to ancestral homeland (Pike, 2004), it is elites, Reichsfu¨hrer of the SS Heinrich Himmler rather
incumbent that the gaze of the scholar must also theatrically positioned the Renaissance castle at
extend to other areas of the world where ‘ethnic Eur- Wewelsburg as a Teutonic axis mundi. The stylized
opeans’ reside, namely the Americas, South Africa, mosaic sun-wheel (Sonnenrad) – symbolizing death
and the Antipodes. Yet this inclusion is limited to the and resurrection – inlaid in the first floor of the north
practice of pre-Christian, European-based faith sys- tower, a zone for communing with the ‘heroic’ fallen,
tems, thus excluding Inuit, Native American, Hawai- sites for pagan ‘marriage-consecrations’, unrealized
ian, Maori, and Aboriginal religions from this study, plans for a ‘Nordic academy’, and upper floors for
even when practiced by those of European origin. meetings of the SS brought together all aspects of
5. Celtic religious practices were undoubtedly banal and otherworldly concerns for völkisch neopa-
influenced by contact with the indigenous peoples gans, thus neatly combining numinous, poetic, social,
they encountered upon their arrival in southern Europe and political space.
and other parts of the continent. Gimbutas’ (1991) 11. See Holy Nation of Odin, ‘The Rede of Honor for
work on pre-Indo-European ‘gynocentric’ religion, Odinism’, http://www.holynationofodin.org/educa-
while meant as academic study, has come to shape tion/redeofhonor.html.
certain aspects of religious practice among Goddess 12. See Mystic Moon Coven, ‘Wiccan Rede’, http://www.
Worshipers, as well as their ideological orientations. mysticmooncoven.org/rede.htm.
6. In his analysis of Stonehenge, Cresswell (1996) has 13. See http://www.mysticmooncoven.org/rede.htm.
demonstrated how the attachment of neopagans to par- 14. It should be noted that not all ‘technopagans’ fit
ticular sites sacralizes space among non-pagans. He comfortably within the category of contemporary
argues that the dichotomy created by competition over European paganism.
the site between Druids and ‘hippies’ created a social
environment where religiosity and the mundane iden-
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Progress in Human Geography

Pagan places : Towards a religiogeography of neopaganism

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I Introduction: religiogeography material, imaginative, and emotional experiences

research. Consequently, this ‘new’ cultural work on neopagans’ veneration of historic

neopaganism, a belief system that is ineluctably geographic facilitation, it is possible to group

Body, hearth, home, festivals, Statistical representation,

SOCIAL SPACE POLITICAL SPACE

Mythical homelands, otherworlds, Groves, bodies of water, magic circles,

4 Social space with Hindu religiogeography which privileges

hypertextual communities of practice neopa- as well as in certain occupational fields (acade-

controlling terrain, either physically or site of performance in neopaganism, how

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