Pagan Bloggers with Naturalistic Worldviews
To conclude, worldview matters. It’s not all that matters. But it is part of the dynamic which drives human action, which also includes our material conditions and our social relations. If we want to effect radical change, then we must work to change all three of these, including those “interior states” like worldview or paradigm, spirituality and religious belief.
I’m no stranger to conflict in Pagan circles. Over the years, I have noticed similar themes arise when I come into conflict with other Pagans. These themes can be summarized as five lies that Pagans tell themselves.
We assume that asking a question presupposes a sentient listener on the other end. But is the true? Is it really necessary to believe the earth or the universe are sentient in order to address a question to them? Or to receive an “answer”?
Forget Samhain. Halloween is ready-made for Pagan appropriation.
The real danger to Paganism is not so much that our religion will be outlawed, but that there will be no reason to outlaw it. The danger is not that guardians of the overculture will go to war with Pagans in a second “Burning Times”, but that they will have no reason to go to war with Paganism, because any difference between the two will have become merely superficial. The danger is not that we will forced to consume some counterfeit experience for the genuine re-enchantment, but that we will no longer be able to tell the difference.
God is Change. There is no holding on the the present. I can only embrace the ceaseless flow of Change and do what I can to Shape God now.
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Aside from the fact that no one seems certain how to pronounce it, the name “Mabon” is a poor choice for the holy day. As with “Lughnasadh”, the “Mabon” is only tenuously related to the season or the Neo-Pagan mythos relating to the season. Of all eight holidays, Mabon has the worst name of all of them.
“There is nothing more radically activist than a truly spiritual life, and there is nothing more truly spiritual than a radically activist life.”
It takes an artist’s eyes—or a lover’s—to really see. It takes a willingness to get our hands dirty, to get up close and personal with messy nature, and to use all of our senses. But most of all, it requires a willingness to be open to receiving, as well as perceiving—an openness to being “touched back” when we touch nature.
A great review of Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans by Katey Flowers. Check it out!