Almost every modern imagining of Paganism, from ancient to neopagan, centres on the mythology of the lone Druid, the tree-hugging peasant, or, in more recent times, the velvet-clad, spiritual warrior “at one with nature and all her works.”  One should, according to conventional wisdom, despise the city and the trappings of modern life, renounce the comforts of central heating and indoor plumbing and instead, waft elegantly across a bleak but beautiful landscape or dwell alone, deep in a forest, with only a friendly badger for company.

I am not that type of Pagan.

Instead, I am that most misunderstood of creatures – an Urban Pagan. I not only tolerate the fact that I live in a community, in a city or a town or a village, but I also embrace and celebrate that reality. Where others see cold pavement and noisy streets, I see the city as a living creature, and the energy of people living together as sacred and magical. For me, and many like me, Urban Paganism offers everything that is good about both Nature and Humankind, with the added advantage of hot and cold running water.

Living together, working in a cooperative manner, building a society and a legacy, is both ancient and natural to mankind. Our ancestors did not thrive in isolation; our rich heritage, our traditions and our culture did not flourish because we were hermits, and to assume that ancient religions were only valid insofar as they elevated Nature is an unbalanced view. However, as a lot of neo-pagan resources emphasise Nature over community, and “Urban” is treated as a dirty word, it is no wonder that many pagans today feel second-best, feel that they are failing or at a disadvantage because they live in urban rather than rural settings.

And even that delineation is misleading, because a rural village is a community, working together and living side by side, just as we live in neighbourhoods within a larger urban setting. It is not “less than” to celebrate your path in a communal setting rather than out in a field (and it is often a lot warmer and more comfortable. Suffering is not synonymous with sacredness!)

So, what exactly is an Urban Pagan?

It is to follow a spiritual path that falls under the umbrella term of Paganism while living in a community – a village, town or city – and for that environment to be important to, and celebrated within, your paganism.

Any community in which we live takes on living energy. In Irish traditions, we use the word “Bua”, meaning the energy a place gains through human usage. This energy is as vibrant as that of wild places, in its own way. The community itself, the infrastructure of the dwellings, streets, and businesses, together create an entity. The older and bigger the community, the greater that entity becomes.

At the heart of older cities, you find a creature that is ancient indeed and whose entire spirit is served by humankind and, in turn, whose purpose is to shelter us. Urban Paganism seeks to connect to, understand and serve the needs of the community, and its living spirit.

So many neo-pagans live in cities, oblivious to this mysticism all around them. Instead, they feel vaguely inadequate because they are not in some idyllic pastoral setting; there is a sense that their spiritual life is “on hold” until they can somehow transplant themselves. Yet here, all around them, is beauty, the wild spirit, the sacred in everyday life. And not only that, but it contains within it a call to service. By becoming a Guardian of the community, a person who tends the boundaries and understands the rhythm of the place, its liminal days, and its spaces, a new path can open up.

As the city travels through the year, as each of us moves with it and within it, we celebrate festivals, sacred moments, communion between humans and the environment. As I write, the year is winding its way down into the darkest days and longest nights: the response of the city is to light up, a fairy-light and tinsel-led rebellion against the gloom. Each community has its own festivals, its high and holy days, as well as following the conventional markers of seasonal change.

Spring might come to the countryside when lambs gambol across a field, but in the city, municipal parks bloom with crocuses and daffodils and people who have sat in their cars in daily traffic jams for four months straight now wobble optimistically into traffic on their bicycles. We celebrate the festivals of Imbolg and Lughnasadh, Samhain and Bealtaine, but also the feast days known as End of Season Sales, First Day Back at School, and of course, The Opening of a New and Exciting Shop. Any event that disrupts the flow of the city, causes ripples, and there is no more liminal space, no place more likely to contain the Good Neighbours, than a dimly lit street in the long twilights of Summer, between two busy thoroughfares.

And not only the Sidhe, but the Gods stalk these streets. Through my own city, Dublin, Anna Livia (the Liffey) winds her way to the sea, a life-giving force that birthed the “Baile Atha Cliath,” the town at the ford of the hurdles. Manannán Mac Lir rules the coastline, while An Dagda rules over the seat of power at the Government buildings. Brigit and Lugh are to be found in the Art galleries, the museums, and the rich history of writers and musicians. Our gods are here, among the citizens, and their names are in the mouths of the people.

As an Urban Pagan, I walk the boundaries, I renew wards around my neighbourhood, I honour the living heart of the city, and I am of service to my place and my people. It is a fulfilling path that sits comfortably alongside my spiritual beliefs as an Irish Polytheist. The energy of the city has several strains, cultural and social, and it is my role to be aware of and to respect them all. Part of the beauty of any community is that it changes, evolves, and adapts; some are required to do so less frequently than others, but even the most remote or isolated eventually finds itself facing change. A guardian will not only observe but facilitate and mitigate these changes; Urban Paganism offers a chance to be of service in so many ways.

For some, the idea of Urban life is inextricably linked to excessive consumerism and pollution, but the reality of living for most ordinary people is less “lifestyles of the rich and famous” and more “making ends meet.” As an Urban Pagan, I recycle, I reuse, I buy secondhand, repurpose and support every local initiative to heal the environment and reduce our contribution to landfill. Many of my neighbours, of all persuasions, do exactly the same. The positive impact you can make in a community cannot be understated, and you can find purpose in active participation. Rummaging through donated clothes or helping to clean litter from a park doesn’t have the romanticism of dancing at dawn around standing stones, but it has a much bigger impact. And you can always dance around the back garden if you absolutely must.

In short, you can be as authentically Pagan in a city or town as anyone growing organic veggies and knitting their own yoghurt in a cabin in the woods. Don’t put your journey on hold and don’t feel at a disadvantage – get out into those mean streets and find your tribe, discover your purpose.

The magical and the sacred are all around us, if we only know where to look.

If you are interested in Urban Paganism and living an authentic path in community, join me here on the Pagan Collective Blog as we journey through the year, marking liminal moments and connecting with deity in community living.

I do have a foundation class on this, at the Irish Pagan School, https://irishpaganschool.com/p/urban-pagan

For more details: https://www.collectiveinkbooks.com/moon-books/authors/geraldine-moorkens-byrne

Geraldine Moorkens Byrne is a well-known poet and writer, as well as an educator in Irish Folk Magic Traditions and Ceremony writer; she was a founding editor of the Pagan Poetry Pages. She has facilitated workshops and creative writing groups. Her work has been published in a variety of media from print anthologies to Ezines, including Poems from a Lockdown, and her poem “Where Once Were Warriors “was the title-piece of Asia Geographic Tribes edition. Several poems have been performed as theatre in Ireland, the UK and USA. She was a prizewinner in the Inaugural John Creedon Listowel Writers Festival Competition. Her short story “A Stranger Among Friends,” was a winner in the Cunningham Short Story Competition. She is also the author of a popular series of mystery novels. Her collection of poetry “Dreams of Reality” is available now.
She was the fourth generation of Byrnes to run the famous Charles Byrne Music Shop, in Stephen Street Dublin Ireland. This was a landmark business in the city of Dublin and an integral part of Irish classical and traditional music for 150 years.