Judeo-Paganism, or Jewish Paganism, is a religious movement, related to Judaism and Neopaganism, which explores the origins of the Jewish religion and its ancient neighbors, the religions of the Canaanites, Phoenicians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Ugarit folk, and Egyptians.

Groups are generally small and often electronically-linked; common topics of discussion among Jewish Pagans include the historical links between El/Yahweh, Asherah, and Baal, as well as their respective cults; the character of Lilith in the Torah (in the book of Genesis); and the emergence of monotheism in Judaism, as well as general Jewish topics and Pagan topics.

History

Jewish Paganism is a new movement, and much of its history has yet to come out. Jewish Pagan groups have been set up on the Internet in the late 1990s. The JAP-1 mailing group, listed among the links below, is an example of this.

Melissa Mears (née Oringer), founder of http://www.jewitchery.com, describes her personal view: "I am a Jew and I am a Wiccan. I am an elder in the Wiccan tradition, NROOGD, and hived from my mother coven in 1999... "Jewitchery" is a created term, one used for and by folks who want to self-identify as such. There is no Jewitchery tradition, no Jewitchery religion, and no Jewitchery philosophy - people who self-identify as Jewitches are all over the map, from all walks of life, and have many and varied beliefs and practices (or lack thereof)."

Some Jewish Pagan groups, such as the Order of the Temple of Astarte, have been around since the 1970s, and those may be offshoots of either Judaism or Neopaganism.

(need to insert more history if it can be found and edit it otherwise)

External links

• http://www.hollyfeld.org/heaven/.Web/elists/jap-l.phtml - This is a mailing list on Jewish Paganism.
• http://www.lilitu.com/jap/ - This is a resource page for Jewish Pagans, which may be helpful.
• http://paganwiccan.about.com/cs/jewishpaganism/ - This is a subpage of About.com, which can be useful for its links.
• http://www.jewitchery.com - Jewish Paganism resources and discussion.