“Pagan, pagan, what are you seeking,
Through all of the days of your long earthly tread?
Your sunrise and moonrise what chances are bringing?
Where will your travelling footsteps be led?”
(From “The Road” by Doreen Valiente)

The Church of the Ancient Paths is a non-sectarian, non-creedal interfaith Pagan church.  The Church functions from the premise that the Divine has created us in so many forms: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual, surely there must be many ways to worship.  With respect for the Divine within us all, we support and encourage our members in their explorations of their spirituality.

We, the Assembly of the Church of the Ancient Paths, define a church as a group of individuals who gather for the purpose of engaging in communal religious activity, whether public or private.  We define Pagan as one who has reverence for the natural world, recognizes that humans are a thread in the web of the universe, accepts personal responsibility for their actions with awareness that each action affects their surroundings, and holds that no intermediary or intercessory is necessary to have a relationship with the Divine.

We do not sponsor, condone, or embrace any aspect of a path which is advocates or involves hate, bias, oppression or exclusion of any person or group of people on the basis of race, creed, color, religion, ethnic or national origin, social or economic status, employment, education, disability, health, happenstance of birth (ie: natural, clone, bio-engineered, etc.) gender or sexual orientation.

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I posted the above in what was to become the first post on this site on June 12^th, 2004. It comes directly from the prologue to our Bylaws, and helped to tie us back to the initial roots of this church.

Many Pagan groups are proud to claim a documented lineage dating back to the bronze age.  (Please visit the “lineage” page for more about this.) Some of our members can claim this, some can not, and some simply could not give a hoot. We are, after all, individuals, and each of us brings our own experiences, lore, and history.  However, one thing is true: the Church, as an organization, has roots that date back to photocopiers and staples.

We were a little behind-the-times in switching to electronic format, but in April of 2006 that the first issue of our newsletter,  PATHWAYS was issued in both Word and  PDF formats. Though print copies were still available upon request, nobody requested the print copies. Email addresses had become more common than phone numbers. (In fact, many of us had several!)

Now, as global communication continues to grow and expand, many of us feel that transitioning from a single “Editorship” and an (albeit virtual) magazine to a dynamic Church website where contributors are encouraged to add content will help the church to grow will be a positive thing.

Welcome to the Church of the Ancient Paths. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at tracie@churchofancientpaths.org.

I wish for you all that I would wish for myself,

-Rt. Rev. Tracie Voss

Rochester, NY

Autumnal Equinox, 2009.