Yesterday I was privileged enough to go to a Heathen Wedding.  I have never been lucky enough to go to a handfasting of any type beforehand and this was a very special and magical experience.  It was a deeply moving ceremony well attended by Pagans and non-pagans alike. I enjoyed every moment of it but it led to the inevitable question from my non-pagan friends:

"So, what is a Pagan then?"

A question which seems to become increasingly hard to answer.  Once upon a time it was enough to refer vaguely to some sort of polytheistic nature-based faith path, but not even that broad description seems accurate these days. The alternative is to describe Paganism in terms of what is *not*, www.dictionary.com, not Christianity, Islam or Judaism; but defining something as important as a religion in terms of what it is *not* seems negative and unhelpful.  Apples are not Bananas, Oranges or Pears but that doesn't help you you understand what Apples are.

As this question rattled around over the weekend I found myself trying to formulate a better answer and came up with this:

"Paganism is a common language for people who share similar magickal, spiritual paths to communicate with each other and form communities ."

A work in progress admittedly, but I do think we need something more up to date these days.

My view on "labels" and their place in modern Paganism is better left for a blog post all on it's own... but as a teaser - I don't think they are as terrible as everyone else seems to?