ABOUT
A. The union of pagan people and dissemination of pagan culture in its various forms, which promote:
- Cultural and artistic events;
- Pagan events with social, regular, free and public features, the Social Pagan Meetings or ESP®;
- Various events promoting pagan visibility;
- Charitable events for the gathering of pagans;
- Meetings, lectures, workshops and related events;
- Promotion of partnerships for implementation and support to: events, projects, literary and artistic works in general, produced by any entities and / or individuals related to Paganism somehow.
B. Focused on combating intolerance and religious discrimination and to support ecological projects, such as:
- Promote inter-religious education for the recognition and respect of the differences;
- Support the diversity of gender and sexual orientation in all aspects of paganism;
Support courses that can be of interest to society in religious, ecological and artistic aspects;
Support victims of religious discrimination.
Mission and values
We promote events for the dissemination of pagan culture and art, aimed at all religious aspects of paganism, in order to unite people with common interests and promote fellowship among them, open to pagans and supporters, whose main objective is to win the respect of the community in general in relation to paganism and also encouraging sharing of knowledge.
We hold lectures, workshops and artistic events, such as dance, music and poetry, whenever they have any relationship or represent the pagan culture.
We are not a religious group, in our team (organizers and collaborators) there are druids, asatruars, wiccans, hellenists, candomble, traditional witches, etc.
We do not perform rituals, do not drink alcoholic beverages or use illegal drugs and the events occur in public places during the day.
There is no commercial purpose and we do not have any links with entities, groups or persons (whether natural or legal). All our activities are free and public.
The Organizers
It is mandatory for the organizers to be accredited by the Project Gaia Paganus®. The minimum age to be anorganizer is 18.
If there is not SPM - ESP® in your city and you are interested in organizing it, contact us via email gaiapaganuscontatos@gmail.com
Paganus
The word Pagan comes from the Latin term Paganus, which means "a person living in a rural area". The Neopaganism seek to revive lifestyle of the ancient people. Term Paganism is used because it takes up their beliefs and practices, and Neo because one has to adapt it to our modern way of life. To be a Neopagan means to be on Earth, and have it within ourselves. The objectives of Paganism are self-knowledge, to be in harmony with natural rhythms and cycles of the sun, the moon and the seasons, the understanding of powers of nature and the search for a new man in balance with our environment. Neither is based on a single defined theology nor has masters or prophets. It is based on the experience and sensitivity of each individual who wants and is able to practice this balance.
(Unknown Author)
How and when was it created?
In the year 2000, HellenahFriggdóttirLeão hosted in her house some friends to discuss and study Paganism. As time goes by, more and more people were interested in participating and the Encontro Social Pagão (Social Pagan Meeting) was created by Eduardo Torres. Because of the number of participants it was impossible to host them all at Helena´s house. The ESP®s then began to take place in Quinta da Boa Vista – Rio de Janeiro and in addition to the usual participants other Pagans and non-pagans showed up through publicity in discussion groups on the Internet. Later on, local coordinators in each state of Brazil started to follow Helena´s project model and the Project Gaia Paganus was established.
The creation of this informal meeting was held because Helenafelt the necessity of an event dissociated from institutions and with NO public rituals. This was because she knew solitaire practitioners from various paths in search of knowledge but totally against the idea of associating themselves to traditions or groups. In a totally social gathering it would be likely that people of similar ideas would meet and work well together. The events started happening at Quinta da Boa Vista – Rio de Janeiro - Brazil in 2003. In addition to groups that were formed by participants of the event, it served as ascenario for lifetime friendships being forged. What began in Rio de Janeiro added other cities scattered throughout Brazil.
The project
The PGP® develops its activities based on the principle of disclosure of pagan culture in general, education for the recognition and respect among religious differences and the dissemination of union and fraternization within the pagan community. We intend to integrate and spread our culture, promoting events and campaigns in support of Paganism as a living spirituality, for the preservation of the environment and sustainable development also combating all forms of intolerance. We have as goals demystify Paganism in society in general, for the recognition and visibility of it as a set of paths, promoting pride among pagans and defending the causes supported by our ideologies. The project aims to achieving two sets of objectives: