Pagans believe in one BIG rule: 'Do as you will, so long as you harm none'. It's a fairly basic doctrine but one which has been with us since this spirituality developed in this country. I have personally always followed that path and, although I'm no angel, by any means, I never harm. I consider my actions and words with great care, knowing how harmful carelessness - as well as intentionally aggressive actions - can be on others.

Pagans follow a similar code of ethics to Buddhists and, in essence, to Christians (I'm pretty sure all of the other faiths also encompass this kind of teaching too): that there is a 'return' to everything we do. Buddhists call it karma, Christians say 'Do unto others…' Well, it's all the same when you boil it down (as are all of us). It's like there's this mirror around you and what you send out will, eventually come back.

Another part of Paganism people don't quite understand is that it's very logical - far from being the mystical super-naturalists we are seen as. Pagans depend almost entirely on observing the natural way of things in order to gain spiritual understanding and awareness.

Sun and Moon: "Our year revolves around where these two sources of light are in relation to the Earth"

Our belief system does not revolve around sacrifices and drinking blood, and if you ever hear of such things be assured, the people practising them are not Pagan, they are, in my opinion, deluded, sick or just sensationalists using Paganism as an excuse. I have no time for such behaviour and do all I can to distance my beliefs from it.

No, Pagans look to the Universe, to the Earth around them, for their answers. In our Rites there is a God and a Goddess, or male and female, positive and negative polarities which switch each year at the Summer and Winter Solstices. These two aspects of the divine we see as the Sun and the Moon. Our year revolves around where these two sources of light and energy are in relation to the Earth.

We have eight festivals in that cycle which follow the progress of the Sun and Moon. In each, the different deities take on different roles, depending on the effect they have on the planet. At the moment we are in between Imbolc and the Spring Equinox or Ostara.

So what's Imbolc? Let me tell you more!

Imbolc is the festival between February 1st to 3rd and comes after Midwinter Solstice or 'Yule' when the Earth is as far away from the Sun as it ever gets. This is a time of stasis for the land and the life under its surface.

As Pagans, we bring trees into our houses and decorate them with dried fruit and garlands and go wassailing (blessing the winter trees with mead and singing them songs to 'wake them up'). It's a time to think about how the trees might seem to die but also that, when the Sun's warmth comes back to the land, they will spring back to life.

Our belief system does not revolve around sacrifices and drinking blood, and if you ever hear of such things be assured, the people practicing them are not Pagan

John The Wiz

This repeated cycle of death and re-birth underpins our beliefs and is similar to the Buddhist philosophy of reincarnation and the Christian theme of resurrection. Trees are very important to us and, yes, we do occasionally hug them! They produce the atmosphere we breathe so we see them as a particularly vital part of the whole planet.

As I'm writing this piece, it's the end of Imbolc, the festival of light in the Pagan calendar. Again, it follows the progress of the year and is a time for lighting candles and fires to encourage the Sun back. In the Pagan story of the year, this is also a time for the female aspect to mature, the Goddess is soon to become the Mother, but right now she is watching over the winter landscapes and the young boy God patently.

In our Rites and rituals we act out or symbolise these changes in the seasons and the different roles of the Sun and Moon. Far from the blood splattered carnality Hammer Horror films would have you believe, these Rites are usually quite thoughtful and often poetic. Later in the year there is more drama, more theatre, true, but even then, no more that you would expect from the local egg plays or rushbearing festivals (like the one in Sowerby Bridge every year) seen in Yorkshire. Pagans dress up as the different kinds of God or Goddess and enact the parts they play, even changing genders and playing younger or older characters.

John The Wiz's Imbolc Altar

With props to demonstrate how the land is changing, we also sometimes dress up in elaborate costumes and masks. Sometimes the God can have stag horns: in May and Yule this is the case, and the Goddess can be either the young maiden, the mother of the fields or the wise woman. Right now the God is still young and, like the Sun in early spring, his strength is limited.

For Pagans this is a time for looking at the seeds which were planted in winter and looking at our lives to see how our own little seeds are doing. In many ways the tradition of a new year's resolution is an echo of these Pagan rites. When we bless the sleeping tree at Yule we are imbuing it with our hopes and ambitions for the coming year. At Imbolc those seeds are beginning to show signs of life and need nurturing. Pagans find this time of year one of quiet introspection and an opportunity to look at our intentions and possibly also problems we might have, like weeds in the universal flower bed.

As a man, I must also identify with the God and see myself as young, embarking on a new journey, but I also recognise the Goddess within myself (both male and female aspects of the divine are equally important to the Pagan faith) and nurture those wishes and projects through the last weeks of winter.

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