Purpose Rooted in Service.
The ethical and spiritual compass that guides how we approach the preservation, living vitality, and responsible study of earth-centered traditions, wherever they are practiced.
The Pillars That Guide Our Work
Our Mission
The International Pagan Society (IPS) is a global nonprofit organization founded to provide a home and public-benefit foundation for the diverse array of Pagan, occult, esoteric, and mystic traditions worldwide. Through active collaboration with spiritual scholars, artists, creators, purveyors, and leaders, IPS serves as an institutional steward—supporting, preserving, and advancing these traditions so they may thrive for generations to come.
Through our five pillars—Education & Scholarship, Historical & Cultural Preservation, Community Stewardship & Outreach, Global Unity & Spiritual Freedom, and Sustainable Livelihood Through Sacred Practice—we strive to build spiritual understanding, sustain cultural heritage, and empower practitioners worldwide.
Our Vision
"A world where Pagan people and traditions can thrive openly, safely, sustainably, and with dignity across generations."
Charitable Purpose & Guiding Commitments
Public Benefit Focus
We aim to operate as a public-benefit cultural and educational initiative, advancing scholarship, intangible heritage protection, and civic education.
Freedom of Conscience
We aspire to advocate for the rights of individuals and communities to practice, gather, and pass on their spiritual traditions free from harassment or coercion.
Open Access Commitment
We aim to build open, ethically stewarded archives and educational resources that respect both esoteric and botanical knowledge for future generations.
The Society's charitable and legal status is still developing. We will publish verified registration and governance details here once they are confirmed.
From Guiding Principle to Practice
How our spiritual and ethical commitments translate into the way we intend to work with communities, scholarship, and stewardship.
Sovereign Community Agency
We aim to avoid paternalistic intervention. Our approach centers the guidance and consent of the traditional keepers, elders, and communities whose knowledge and practices we engage with.
Careful, Respectful Scholarship
We are committed to using careful, respectful documentation methods and to encouraging rigorous, evidence-based scholarship as our research capacity grows.
Regenerative Reciprocity
We believe cultural engagement without reciprocal benefit is unethical, and we aim to ensure our work creates real, material value for the communities and traditions involved.
What Guides Us: The Six Foundational Values
The ethical pillars we hold ourselves to, bridging historical virtue with contemporary practice.
Dignity
Every earth-honoring tradition and practitioner holds inherent worth. We defend the right to observe ancestral customs free from mockery or persecution.
Pluralism
Pagan paths are inherently diverse. We recognize no single orthodoxy, and celebrate the legitimate variation across regional and reconstructed paths.
Reciprocity
When we receive knowledge or trust, we aim to return material support, legal protection, and care to the communities we work with.
Scholarship
A commitment to primary sources, linguistic precision, and intellectual honesty, avoiding speculative or falsified lineages.
Stewardship
Active guardianship of sacred forests, watercourses, and ancient sites. Environmental protection and cultural preservation are inseparable.
Community Leadership
Programs originate from and remain answerable to practicing elders and grassroots organizers, so institutional authority serves rather than dictates.
Our Commitment to Pluralism and Theological Autonomy
The International Pagan Society is not a church, a priesthood, or an arbiter of theological dogma. Earth-honoring spirituality is intrinsically diverse, localized, and, for many paths, historically non-creedal.
We do not claim authority to canonize scripture, dictate liturgical forms, or standardize esoteric observance. Our intended role is curatorial, protective, and educational: to help reconstructive practitioners, hereditary traditions, and innovative animists gain the legal liberty, academic resources, and material support they need to thrive.
Cultural Respect & Provenance
We are committed to developing safeguards against the commodification and exploitation of sacred cultural knowledge, informed by international human rights principles concerning indigenous and traditional communities.
Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC)
We are committed to seeking free, prior, and informed consent from authorized knowledge-holders before any material, story, or practice is documented or shared.
Anti-Trafficking Stance
We will not accept donations or acquisitions of unprovenanced antiquities, funerary goods, or illicitly obtained ritual items.
Good-Faith Repatriation
Where communities wish for the return of sacred items, we aim to work in good faith toward that outcome as our capacity to do so develops.
Help Living Traditions Endure
Support the ethical preservation, education, and community sovereignty of earth-centered traditions worldwide.