Paganism

Nature As Holy Book: The Web Of Inter-Relationships

Submitted by Pashta MaryMoon on behalf of Pagan Federation/Fédération païenne Canada (PFPC) and Pagan Pastoral Outreach (PPO) - both national bodies, although functioning primarily in Ontario and B.C.

Most Pagans consider Nature their 'holy book'. The Pagan sense of 'community' is much more related to Gaia as a whole and all of Her life forms - the whole web of life and how we 'cultivate' our various relationships within it. As such, Pagans are generally concerned about the widespread and entangled 'roots' of crime and injustice (in all of its forms), as well as the individual inmate as one form of 'leaves'. Individual responsibility is a major tenet of Paganism - our obligations lie between the individual and the Divine and are not governed by a religious hierarchy. On the other hand, our faith encourages us to understand and respond to any hurt or harm we do, not as merely a problematic situation between two (or more) individuals, but in terms of the web of inter-relationships that extend from both themselves and the one(s) harmed, out into the 'living community' (whether that be local, national/cultural, or global).