By Liz Williams, theguardian.com,

– Paganism, part 1: what is modern paganism?

The majority of pagans these days do not dwell in the country, but a yearning towards nature is marked


Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty Images

.– Paganism, part 2: how does one become a druid? You ask nicely
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– Paganism, part 3: the wheel of the year

The idea there is a ‘wheel’ of dates on which pagans hold rituals may be artificial, but it provides a vital link to the natural world

– Paganism, part 4: the literary and artistic underpinnings
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Authors as diverse as Rudyard Kipling, E Nesbit, and JRR Tolkien have shaped modern paganism as greatly as any theological underpinning

– Paganism, part 5: politics, ethics and cults – and their absence

The innate stroppiness of pagans keeps cults at bay while its decentralised structure makes it increasingly progressive