Glossary - exWitch Australia (formerly 'Born Again Pagan')

CLOVEN FOOT (aka Cloven Hoof)

It is a very old belief, although buttressed by numerous tales of apparitions, that Satan always appears with a cloven foot as a distinguishing mark. A suggested reason for such appearances is that Satan, having fallen to a level lower than any man is not be permitted to take the perfect human form, but must have some deformity such as the cloven foot.

Others think there is a more likely explanation, the Medieval Christians superimposed on the concept of Satan the image of the Pagan goat-footed god Pan.

It is worth noting that there is NO physical description of Satan given in the Bible AT ALL.

PLEASE NOTE:
One of the major problems with 'defining' Paganism and/or its beliefs and practices is that it is an 'organic' movement, in that it is undergoing constant change and re-evaluation from within, and as such any 'one-size-fits-all' approach to understanding Paganism will be found wanting.

Due to the very 'organic' nature of Paganism, and the many differing Paths and Traditions within it, in many cases no one definition may be universally accepted by all Pagans. Therefore, where such cases of possible conflicting and/or contradictory meanings of certain terms occur I have endevoured to give not only the generally accepted meaning, but also any major 'variations' in belief and/or practice.

Christians who believe this difference in meaning of certain key terms, beliefs and practices to be unique to Paganism need to remember that such conflicts also arise within the Body of Christ - the Church. Take for instance the differing practices amongst Christians concerning Baptism and the different attitudes towards women in the clergy.

- Jean-Luc