Introduction

The Earth Spirit Network is part of a Pagan tradition but also strongly part of the Unitarian Movement.

Pagan became a pejorative word once Christianity established itself.    Pagan actually means ‘country dweller’ and was the way of life practiced for centuries by the country people who lived in small rural communities and whose lives were governed by the seasons.   The explained and the unexplained in their daily lives was attributed to gods, goddesses and their attendants who tended to follow the seasons with them  but who could also influence both nature and a person’s life.   So the gods and goddesses were respected.   Sometimes they were pleaded with and sometimes they were appeased and other times their presence and generosity was celebrated with music and merrymaking.    The family group was also an important feature of rural life.  All ages in the family would be involved in husbandry,  whether it was in working the land and caring for livestock or in the domestic chores of making jam and preserving food for winter.     The continuity of the family was more observed and ancestors were remembered and at due times.