Before launching into the depths of the course, we obviously have to confront the question: what does “contemporary paganism” even
mean?

Is it a religion? A label? A category created by outsiders?

This week, we unpack the word "pagan" itself—who uses it, who rejects it, and why definitions are actually way more important than you might think.

Every movement has an origin story, but who gets to tell it?

This week, we meet the scholars, poets, and public figures who helped shape contemporary Paganism, and trace how their ideas caught on. Along the way, we’ll start to see how history, imagination, and identity all get woven together.

What do 1960s counterculture and science fiction have to do with Paganism?

More than you might think. This week, we track how contemporary Paganism took root in the United States through cultural upheaval, imaginative literature, and the rapid spread of Wicca. The result is a movement that is deeply shaped by the modern world even as it looks to the ancient past.

How did feminism change Paganism?

This week, we explore the rise of the Goddess movement, the people who shaped it, and how ideas like “herstory” rewrote the past in ways that still shape Pagan traditions today.

Are witchcraft and Paganism actually the same thing?

They’re often treated that way, but this week, we take a closer look at where they overlap, where they diverge, and why the distinction matters. We’ll explore how the rise of Wicca shaped modern witchcraft, and how practitioners today are redefining what it means to be a “witch," both inside and outside the Pagan label.

This week, we’ll explore Paganism outside of the typical narratives of “new religious movements” and “Neo-Paganism.” We’ll consider the survival of “traditional” religion as well as the significance of “folk practices” in the reconstruction of Pagan traditions today.  

What happens when spirituality collides with politics?

This week, we explore the controversies shaping contemporary Paganism, from nationalism and cultural appropriation to questions of gender and power. As we’ll see, debates about identity and belonging don’t just happen online, they shape how people practice magic and ritual in the real world.

Where is Paganism headed next?

In this final week, we return to the big questions—belonging, continuity, and whether “Paganism” even works as a single category.

We’ll also discuss the future of contemporary Paganism, as we consider the impact of social media, the rise of Pagan apocalypticism, and the shifting ways in which individual people come to these traditions and then define their beliefs and practices on their own terms.

The final week is also when our seminar communities get to decide how they want to learn together in the future!