We are rising!

No-one outside Paganism seems to have noticed that the number of out and proud Pagans has doubled since the last census.

Census 2011
Animism 541
Occult 502
Druid 4,189
Heathen 1,958
Pagan 56,620
Pantheism 2,216
Reconstructionist 251
Shamanism 650
Thelemite 184
Wicca 11,766
Witchcraft 1,276
______________________
Total = 80,153

Not included in the above total: Traditional African Religion 588, Vodun 208, Taoism 4144, Shinto, 1075, New Age 698, Native American Church 127, Chinese Religion 182, Satanists 1,893.

Here's the Office of National Statistics page with the spreadsheets if you want to download a copy and play with the numbers yourself.

Census 2001
Pagan 30,569
Wiccan 7,227
Druid 1,657
Pantheist 1,603
Heathen 278
Asatru 92
Animism 401
Ancestor Worship 101
Celtic Pagan 508
______________________
Total 42,436

Queer occultism

Occultism exists at the interface between the Pagan revival and Christianity, and is occasionally relevant to the theme of queer spirituality, since the Pagan revival had its roots in occult traditions and radical counter-cultures of the nineteenth century (Hutton, 1999: 72), and some prominent gay men were involved in occultism (Owen, 2004: 215) and Paganism (Hutton, 1999: 50), and some moved between traditions. Edward Carpenter had been ordained as an Anglican priest in order to take up an Oxford fellowship before turning to Paganism and socialism (Taylor, 1998); Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson wrote books advocating a return to Paganism (Hutton, 1999: 29). Oscar Wilde and some of his family were involved in the Theosophical Movement -- though sadly the movement did not support him after his arrest, trial and conviction (Owen, 2004: 112). Wilde was received into the Catholic church on his deathbed (Holland, 1985 [1948]: 14), and spent a lot of time in Reading prison reading the New Testament in Greek (Wilde, 1996 [1905]: 63).