---
title: "1 Ancient Pagan Quotes By Lewis Spence"
description: "1 Ancient Pagan quotes by Lewis Spence. Plus more from Lewis Spence and more Ancient Pagan sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/lewis-spence-26565_catholicism_on-the-conversion-of-the-european-tribes_3018826.jpg"
---

> [“On the conversion of the European tribes to Christianity the ancient pagan worship was by no means incontinently abandoned. So wholesale had been the conversion of many peoples, whose chiefs or rulers had accepted the new faith on their behalf…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/on-the-conversion-of-the-european-tribes-to-christianity-the-ancient/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/564/lewis-spence-26565_catholicism_on-the-conversion-of-the-european-tribes_3018826.jpg)

## More by Lewis Spence

> [“If we turn now to such vestiges of cult as are associated otherwise than with time and season, we discover a definite recognition of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/if-we-turn-now-to-such-vestiges-of-cult-as-are-associated-otherwise/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“As Mr. R. U. Sayee has well said: 'It should be clear a priori that fairy lore must have developed as a result of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/as-mr-r-u-sayee-has-well-said-it-should-be-clear-a-priori-that-fairy/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“But I find it necessary to repeat in this particular place that the division into classes, which is so salient a part of modern…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/but-i-find-it-necessary-to-repeat-in-this-particular-place-that-the/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“But this is not to say that a highly specialized body of belief such as that associated with Faerie is not capable of subsidiary…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/but-this-is-not-to-say-that-a-highly-specialized-body-of-belief-such/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“As regards the prohibition on the utterance of the fairy name by mortals, either that of the species as a whole, or of individuals,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/as-regards-the-prohibition-on-the-utterance-of-the-fairy-name-by/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“Here it is necessary briefly to consider the question of the cult of ancestors before venturing farther. The spirits of the departed are believed…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/here-it-is-necessary-briefly-to-consider-the-question-of-the-cult-of/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“At Bealltainn, or May Day, every effort was made to scare away the fairies, who were particularly dreaded at this season. In the West…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/at-bealltainn-or-may-day-every-effort-was-made-to-scare-away-the/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“In my view the study of fairy origins assumes a greater degree of importance than popular opinion is wont to concede to it. Indeed,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/in-my-view-the-study-of-fairy-origins-assumes-a-greater-degree-of/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“It must be understood that in some cases the process by which a god or goddess degenerates into a fairy may occupy centuries, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/it-must-be-understood-that-in-some-cases-the-process-by-which-a-god/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“All three of the English types I have mentioned can, I think, be accounted for as the results of the presence of different cultures,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/all-three-of-the-english-types-i-have-mentioned-can-i-think-be/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“Robert Kirk believed the fairies to be the doubles or, as he called them, the 'co-walkers' of men, which accompanied them through life, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/robert-kirk-believed-the-fairies-to-be-the-doubles-or-as-he-called/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“I should add, however, that, particularly on the occasion of Samhain, bonfires were lit with the express intention of scaring away the demonic forces…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/i-should-add-however-that-particularly-on-the-occasion-of-samhain/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“It must not be thought, however, that in pagan Ireland Fairyland was altogether conceived as a Hades or place of the dead. We have…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/it-must-not-be-thought-however-that-in-pagan-ireland-fairyland-was/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“To sum up: all nature-spirits are not the same as fairies; nor are all fairies nature-spirits. The same applies to the relationship of nature-spirits…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/to-sum-up-all-nature-spirits-are-not-the-same-as-fairies-nor-are-all/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

> [“In all likelihood fairies of larger stature were ancient gods in a state of decay, while their diminutive congeners were the swarming spirits of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-spence/in-all-likelihood-fairies-of-larger-stature-were-ancient-gods-in-a/)

[Lewis Spence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-spence/)

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                        "text": "“On the conversion of the European tribes to Christianity the ancient pagan worship was by no means incontinently abandoned. So wholesale had been the conversion of many peoples, whose chiefs or rulers had accepted the new faith on their behalf in a summary manner, that it would be absurd to suppose that any, general acquiescence in the new gospel immediately took place. Indeed, the old beliefs lurked in many neighbourhoods, and even a renaissance of some of them occurred in more than one area. Little by little, however, the Church succeeded in rooting out the public worship of the old pagan deities, but it found it quite impossible to effect an entire reversion of pagan ways, and in the end compromised by exalting the ancient deities to the position of saints in its calendar, either officially, or by usage. In the popular mind, however, these remained as the fairies of woodland and stream, whose worship in a broken-down form still flourished at wayside wells and forest shrines. The Matres, or Mother gods, particularly those of Celtic France and Ireland, the former of which had come to be Romanized, became the bonnes dames of folklore, while the dusii and pilosi, or hairy house-sprites, were so commonly paid tribute that the Church introduced a special question concerning them into its catechism of persons suspected of pagan practice. Nevertheless, the Roman Church, at a somewhat later era, reversed its older and more catholic policy, and sternly set its face against the cultus of paganism in Europe, stigmatizing the several kinds of spirits and derelict gods who were the objects of its worship as demons and devils, whom mankind must eschew with the most pious care if it were to avoid damnation.”",
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