Pagan Bloggers with Naturalistic Worldviews
For those who are starting out on an Atheopagan path—or any Pagan path—it can be bewildering to know how to start a practice. Fortunately, Atheopaganism is in many ways easier to “learn” than other Pagan paths, because there aren’t any procedural rules about how to do things, and you don’t have to have anyone else … Continue reading Starting a Practice, Creating Rituals
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One of the more characteristic “witches’ tools” used in rituals is the candle. There are many ways we can work with them to create psychologically powerful and effective rituals. Candles provide a “magical” atmosphere for many reasons. Low light conditions tend to provoke a spooky desire on the part of people to be quieter, possibly as … Continue reading Candle Rituals
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In central Europe, tonight is Krampusnacht, the night when the goat-demon Krampus, a terrifying figure, wanders abroad dragging his chains to whip misbehaving children with a bundle of birch twigs, stuff them in a sack and take them away (to hell, presumably, in the Christianized version of this probably pre-Christian tradition). You can’t escape Krampus if it … Continue reading Winter Monsters
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Today we offer a guest post by Daughter of Neptune, who is creating her own nontheist Pagan practice focused on the archetypes of Greek and Roman deities. All roads lead to Rome and it was on my intellectual journey to Ancient Rome that I became an atheist pagan. I love learning the history, culture, and language … Continue reading GUEST POST: When in Rome: My Road to Roman Atheopaganism
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As I’ve written before, my conceptualization of Atheopaganism as a path and a tradition does not incorporate concepts of degrees of advancement or “clergy”. I just find these to be fraught with too many pitfalls, ranging from “higher-level” persons gatekeeping access to knowledge and training from lower-level ones, to those with “status” potentially being able to leverage … Continue reading Effective Atheopagan Leadership: a Curriculum
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We have our real ancestors–blood relations, going all the way back to single-celled organisms if we go back far enough. But there are also those now dead whom we admire for their exemplary qualities: their courage, their intelligence, their wisdom. While they won’t have followed an Atheopagan path (as we’re just getting started), they still … Continue reading Noble Ancestors
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Over the years, I’ve posted quite a bit about my Atheopagan Yule traditions. I thought I’d pull links to them together here for easy reference. Yule, overlapping so heavily with the Christian/secular holiday of Christmas, is a time when many of our Pagan traditions are widespread, and with many layers of lore and practice layers … Continue reading Yuletide: A Compendium
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Some time ago, I wrote about non-Sabbath holidays: special days we celebrate other than the 8 observances of the Wheel of the Year. These can be anything we find meaningful, whimsical, or important to remember. This year, a 7-year-old boy invented Wolfenoot, a holiday about wolves and dogs. The concept is simple: on Wolfenoot… It is when the … Continue reading Happy Wolfenoot!
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In the United States, this is the week of the annual secular holiday Thanksgiving, coming up on Thursday the 22nd. Originating with the Michaelmas harvest celebrations of England, the American Thanksgiving is rooted in the mythologizing of a harvest feast shared by colonizing “Pilgrims” in the New England region and Native people following a successful … Continue reading Let Us Give Thanks
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There has been a lot of talk online lately about the Pagan (or neopagan, if you prefer) community* and integrity, or lack thereof. Stuff about “fakelore” traditions and lineages: pretense of ancient roots that aren’t, and people using this pretense to dangle “ancient secrets” before naive seekers to leverage sexual favors . Stuff about lousy sexual … Continue reading Forging Paths of Integrity
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