Was Jesus Pagan?

Thirteen reasons why Jesus, if he were here today, would be a Witch
by Carl McColman, author of Embracing Jesus and the Goddess

No single one of these reasons prove the Witchiness of Jesus; but
taken
as a whole, they make for a compelling case.

1. Jesus criticized the hypocrisy and legalism of the religious
status
quo, and chose to embrace an alternative spiritual path. Matthew
23:1-36. In Jesus' day, the religious establishment included the
Pharisees and Sadducees, dominant factions in first century Judaism.
Jesus' alternative path followed the radical teachings of his mentor,
John the Baptist. Nowadays, in Europe and the Americas the status quo
is
mainly Christianity; the path of the Goddess -- Wicca -- is one of
the
most compelling of available spiritual alternatives. Many people who
embrace Wicca have the exact same criticisms of Christianity that
Jesus
is said to have had about the religious establishment in his day.
Hypocrisy, legalism, blind obedience of the rules to the point of
ignoring spiritual values like love, trust, and freedom -- these are
the
problems Jesus attacked in the official religion in his day, and that
many Wiccans today see in the religious status quo of our time.
Perhaps
Jesus, were he here today, would join Wiccans in criticizing
mainstream
religion and trying to find an alternative way.

2. Jesus was a psychic healer. Luke 6:19; John 9:1-12. Luke comments
that "all in the crowd were trying to touch him, for power came out
from
him and healed all of them." And John recounts how Jesus made a magic
healing paste by mixing his saliva with soil from our Mother, the
Earth.
For Jesus, healing was a central part of his spiritual identity.
Witches, likewise, rely on herbal wisdom, natural foods, and psychic
practices like reiki to bring healing and comfort to themselves and
their loved ones. Sadly, the Christian religion rarely encourages its
followers to take responsibility for their own healing, but rather
colludes with a medical establishment that keeps people passive in
regard to their own wellness. Jesus the healer has much more in
common
with Wiccan healers than with church-going "patients."

3. Jesus acknowledged the divinity within each person. John 10:34-36.
All he was doing was quoting the Psalms, but Jesus emphasized
it: "You
are gods." Throughout the Bible, Jesus uses mystical language to
illustrate the essential unity between humanity and divinity. How sad
that the church founded in his name lost that sense of human
divinity,
and has instead stressed the "fallenness" and "separation" that keeps
humanity alienated from the divine. Incidentally, this is an indirect
affirmation of Goddess spirituality, as well -- for if we are gods,
as
Jesus quoting the scripture insists, then both men and women partake
of
the godly nature; implying therefore that God encompasses both the
masculine and feminine dimension of life. So the "God" whom Jesus
worships incorporates both the God and the Goddess as revered by
Wiccans.

4. Jesus lived close to nature. Matthew 8:20; Mark 1:12-13; 3:13;
Luke
4:42; John 18:1. Jesus took a vision quest in the wilderness; he
loved
to pray in the mountains, slept in gardens, and made a point of
telling
his followers that he had no house to live in. Frankly, it's hard to
imagine him driving an SUV or worshiping in an air conditioned
church.
If Jesus were here today, I suspect he'd live in an ecologically
sustainable intentional community, and he'd advocate a sacred duty to
the Earth with the same zeal which which he advocated care for the
poor
and the downtrodden.

5. Jesus believed in magic. Matthew 7:7-11. Only he called it prayer.
"How many of you, if your child asks for a fish, will give them a
stone?" "If you ask for it in my name, it will be done." Church-goers
often see magic as different from prayer, because prayer is timid and
uncertain: "Not my will, but thine." By contrast, magic assumes that
the
Divine Spirit loves us and wants to bless us in accordance with our
highest desires. When Jesus prayed, he prayed with confidence, not
timidity. And he taught his followers to do the same. Nowadays, magic
may have fancy window dressing (light this candle, recite this
incantation, etc.) but it still comes down to the same thing: making
a
request for spiritual blessing. Jesus' vision of prayer is like
Wicca's
vision of magic: it's based on trust and love, unlike the prayer of
church religion, which is based on fear, self-criticism and self-
doubt.

6. Jesus could command the weather. Matthew 8:23-27. Witches have a
long-standing reputation for being able to conjure up storms and
otherwise control the weather. Jesus, like any accomplished
weather-witch, possessed a similar set of skills. He did this both
actively (like when he calmed the storm out in the Sea of Galilee)
and
indirectly (as he was dying, he caused darkness to reign in the
middle
of the day).

7. Jesus had a profound relationship with the elements. Matthew
14:22-26; Luke 3:16; Luke 8:22-25; John 9:6. Jesus could walk on
water;
he could command the wind; he baptized with fire, and he used the
soil
of the Earth to make healing pastes. His spirituality was primal and
grounded in the power of the elements. Modern-day Christianity is
abstract, sterile, and anti-septic -- it is a religion of books,
words,
and mental concepts. But Jesus, like most modern-day Wiccans, found
vitality in the energies of the natural world.

8. Like a shaman, Jesus could channel spirits. Mark 9:2-8. One of the
most profound stories in the Bible is that of the transfiguration,
when
Jesus conjured the spirits of Moses and Elijah. To his followers,
this
demonstrated Jesus' authority as a spiritual leader. Later on, Jesus
tells his followers that they will do greater works than his (John
14:12); ironically, though, Christianity does not permit its
followers
to invoke or conjure spirits. But invocation of benevolent spirits
has
been a part of shamanic spirituality since the dawn of humankind, and
modern-day Witches follow in this shamanistic tradition when they
Draw
Down the Moon and the Sun, calling the spirit of Goddess and God into
their Circles.

9. Jesus was comfortable with sensuality and eroticism. Luke 7:36-50.
One night, while dining at a respectable home, Jesus received a
sensuous
foot washing from a woman, who used oil and her hair to wipe the
teacher's feet. The host and the other guests were scandalized, but
Jesus saw it as a perfectly lovely statement of affection and
hospitality. In fact, when comments were made to Jesus, he responded
by
saying basically, "What's your problem?" Alas, the religion that
bears
his name has evolved into an erotically-represse<WBR>d spirituality, more
like Jesus' uptight host than Jesus himself. Paganism and Wicca,
meanwhile, are spiritual systems that celebrate sensuality,
sexuality,
and the basic goodness of pleasure. Jesus, who got criticized for
being
a pleasure lover himself (Matthew 11:19), would no doubt be at home
in
Wicca's celebration of the goodness of nature and the body.

10. In his own way, Jesus practiced the Wiccan Rede. Matthew 5:21-22;
Matthew 22:33; John 8:32. The core ethical principle in Wicca is the
Rede: "If you harm none, do what you will." There's two components to
this teaching: non-harm, and freedom. It's a basic principle; you
have
spiritual freedom, but not to the point of harming your self or
others.
Compare this to several of Jesus' teachings. Matthew tells us that
Jesus
was so committed to the principle of non-harm that he regarded the
intent to do violence as bad as violence itself. Meanwhile, John
quotes
Jesus as saying "Truth sets you free." But what is the truth that
sets
us free? The truth of love, trust, healing, and divine grace; in
other
words, the universal truths that can be found in any spiritual path.
The
opposite of harm is love. "Harm none" is another way of saying "Love
your neighbor as yourself."

11. In his own way, Jesus advocated Perfect Love and Perfect Trust.
Matthew 5:48; Luke 6:32-36; Luke 12:22-34. John quotes Jesus as
saying
"Do not let your hearts be troubled" and "love one another as I have
loved you." Throughout the Gospels, Jesus says "Do not be afraid." He
suggests his disciples "become like little children" -- in other
words,
be trusting and open-hearted. It's such a simple message, and today
Wicca embodies the spirit of perfect love and trust; indeed,
traditional
covens require the phrase "Perfect Love and Perfect Trust" as a
password
to gain entry into circle. Christianity, meanwhile, preaches a
message
based on perfect anger and perfect fear: God is wrathful, and unless
a
person is fearfully obedient, he or she will be tortured for
eternity.
That's the opposite of what Jesus stood for. Love and trust leads to
healing and liberation, whereas fear of judgment leads to depression
and
spiritual passivity.

12. His enemies accused Jesus of being under the influence of demons.
John 8:48; John 10:20. It's an old tactic. When the people who have
religious power want to dismiss their critics, they accuse the
critics
of being demonically possessed. That's what the Pharisees said about
Jesus, and nowadays that's what the religious right says about Wicca.
Jesus was someone who loved the average person on the street, but had
little patience for religious bigotry and self-righteousness. No
doubt
Jesus would feel he has more in common with Wiccans than with the
fundamentalists who attack them.

13. Jesus was killed, unfairly, for his "blasphemy." Mark 14:63-64.
Thankfully, Wiccans nowadays don't get burned at the stake. But tens
of
thousands of people -- mostly women -- did get killed in Europe for
the
"crime" of Witchcraft. Even if these people weren't Witches, the fact
remains: they were brutally murdered for religious reasons. Well --
so
was Jesus. Modern day Wicca looks to the victims of the Witch
burnings
as heroes of the Goddess faith, just like Christians see in Jesus
their
own spiritual hero. Jesus, meanwhile, was the kind of man who would
rather side against the killers and the executioners. Given the fact
that, throughout history, far more Christians have killed Witches
than
vice versa, it's easy to see Jesus embracing the Goddess, working to
heal her children, and calling those who bear his name to repent of
their violence.
About the author: Carl McColman is an independent spiritual writer.
His
books include Embracing Jesus and the Goddess, The Aspiring Mystic,
The
Well-Read Witch, and Spirituality. He lives in Stone Mountain, GA.
If Jesus Were Here Today, He Would Love the Goddess

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