Western Animism: Zen & the Art of Positive Paganism

Within contemporary paganism there is a widening schism between the different factions who may benefit from the wisdom that, in Zen, it is the question – not the answer, that is vital. This book explores Western spirituality and paganism from an Eastern perspective.

Looking back I can see how my Shinto upbringing (my father was a martial arts instructor and a countryman) made it so easy to pick up on the underlying animistic threads of Old Craft and its associated esoteric practices. From a small child I was in touch with that indefinable sensation of witch-power, god-power, ki, qi, or earth energy – call it what you will – the natural energy that is believed to be an active principle forming part of any living thing.

Unfortunately, within contemporary paganism, there appears to be a widening schism between the different factions who may benefit from the wisdom that in Zen it is the question that is most important – not the answer – and that some kinds of teaching cannot be set down in words but can only be learned through experience. As an antidote, I suggest that in the spirit of Zen it is possibly necessary to step away from this type of negative thinking and try seeing the pagan world through a different spectrum of supernatural agencies and spirits, and the practice of divination, ancestor worship, and shamanic healing where we can we find plenty of parallels between East and Western paganism.