A group of pagan students are collecting signatures to get Central Societies Committee (CSC) backing for a Dublin University Pagan Society.
The small group of students have nearly reached the 200 signatures necessary to become a “proposed society”, the first step towards gaining provisional and full society status under the rules of the CSC.
Speaking to The University Times, Morgane Lahidji Husseini, one of the group’s members, said the society would “create a space” for pagans in Trinity. Calling herself an “eclectic pagan”, she said she “take from loads of different practices” to create a “vision of the world, something that makes sense for me”.
Lahidji Husseini said that paganism is “an umbrella word for many many different kinds of practices” and can be linked to everything from Irish and Norse mythology, to more occult practices.
A group of six students have been gathering signatures to present to the CSC. “We all have very different beliefs and practices”, she said.
Lahidji Husseini acknowledged that there was a lot of “taboo” around paganism. But, she said, when she realised the group could form a society, she knew she wanted to have a role.
“What I’ve noticed is that everytime I talk to people, we all go for the convention of the materialistic view of the world. But there are many people who aren’t sure about this”, she said.
Pagans around the world are currently preparing to celebrate Yule. “We’re closer to the darkness of the world and the darkness of ourselves”, Lahidji Husseini said.
Trinity has a number of societies that celebrate religious culture, from Trinity Jewish Society to DU Laurentian Society.
