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Precis: While there are many Neo-Pagan traditions, one path has been
infrequently explored, although many of its concepts have been used in
other traditions. This is the path of Tantra, which is not just about sex as
many Westerners think. This article explores the nature of Traditional
Tantra and explains why the misconceptions occurred.
A Potential New Direction for Neo-Paganism
By Donald Michael Kraig
A DESIRE FOR MORE
One of the things which I have noticed over the past decade is that many people who
follow a Pagan path are not completely satisfied with what they have found. While it is
true that many, if not most Pagans are completely happy with their spiritual direction, I
have found that many are seeking something...more. This „more‰ falls into one of two
main categories:
1) Something that is genuinely old.Few people today believe that most modern Pagan
traditions are an exact duplication or direct descendant of ancient traditions. Rather, they
are attempted reconstructions. These reconstructions may include everything from actual
historic practices to concepts that are foreign to the original tradition. The introduction
and acceptance of the foreign elements comes about through eclecticism or a hope that
they have some sort of connection with the tradition; or if they didn&Mac226;t have a
connection, they should have had one.
There is nothing wrong with these amalgamations, and for many they are perfectly
satisfactory as well as life-affirming and capable of giving full spiritual meaning to their
lives.
I am not criticizing these paths at all, I am merely reporting on what I have seen. This
includes the fact that some people are looking for a path which can genuinely be directly
traced to ancient times.
2) More spiritual or magical practices.
Some followers of Pagan paths are looking for more ceremonial magic structures without
going into the Golden Dawn/O.T.O. patterns &Mac247; if they can find something
which is not newly invented. Others don&Mac226;t find enough spiritual techniques in
their systems.
Let me make clear again that I am not criticizing any path or the people following that
path. What I am saying is that some people are looking for more than what has been
available. This search has led to reconstructions of Pagan traditions from smaller and
smaller areas in Europe. More recently, this has begun to accept Latino forms of
Paganism (Brujeria, Macumba, etc.) and those of an Afro-Caribbean path (Voudoun,
Santeria, etc.). This all has been valuable in opening up research into a wide variety of
Pagan ways.
But there is another way which has not yet become intertwined in Western
Neo-Paganism, even though many of its ideas, although foreign to traditional Western
Paganism, have been accepted by Witches, Wiccans, ceremonial magicians and others.
When discussing the notion of foreign additions to ancient Paganism that appear in
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