Pagan Bloggers with Naturalistic Worldviews
Recently, I wrote an optimistic piece about the evolution of the Pagan movement. Some insightful commenters were not so sanguine as I, and I’d like to address their contentions here. Their arguments fell into several general buckets: The Internet is not a substitute for in-person contact and relationships. Rigid ideologies and fundamentalism are tearing us … Continue reading More on Community Transition
Read more
Once upon a time, there was a deeply oppressed minority whose very existence was illegal: the gay community. And though we* are far from winning the fight for full equality for LGBTQ folks, it is fair to say that much progress has been made, and the LGBTQ community has made transitions as a result. For … Continue reading The Pagan Community in Transition
Read more
Once upon a time in the mid-80s, few of the Pagans I knew ever even talked about what they believed. We just did rituals together and enjoyed one another’s company. Sure, there were shout-outs to various gods and goddesses in most of the rituals, but those were easily understood as metaphorical (as I did). When … Continue reading The Point of Friction
Read more
We’re a subgroup of a subculture. Of a couple of them, actually: atheism and Paganism. So it’s not a surprise that though there are many of us collectively, we are spread thinly and may live far away from anyone else who identifies as practicing the path of Atheopaganism. Thus, this post, about practicing as a … Continue reading Atheopaganism for Solitaries
Read more
I have written before about “divination” and particularly the use of complex symbol systems such as runes or Tarot cards in Atheopaganism. We can use these symbol sets to access our intuitive and subconscious understandings of our situations, despite the fact that the arrangement of the cards (runes, bones, tea leaves, etc.) is random. When … Continue reading An Atheopagan Tarot Spread
Read more
They are Honored Dead, at the very least. Giordano Bruno. Galileo Galilei. Copernicus. Isaac Newton. Aldo Leopold. John Muir. Marie Curie. Albert Einstein. Richard Feynman. Rachel Carson. Carl Sagan. Ursula K. LeGuin. Stephen Hawking. Mary Oliver. And there will be more, when they go: Jane Goodall. Richard Attenborough. Bill Nye. Wendell Berry. The work of … Continue reading Atheopagan “Saints”
Read more
So, six months from now—in the Northern Hemisphere, mind—there is a two-day traditional holiday comprised of Walpurisnacht on April 30, followed by May Day. The former is a sort of mini-Hallows: ghosts and scary Visitations. Then May Day itself is joy and lusty celebration. Why isn’t this end of the year like that? Why don’t … Continue reading LORE DAY: A New Sabbath for the Hallows Season
Read more
So here it is again: evacuation in the face of wind-driven wildfires. Second time in two years. Climate change is real, y’all. More severe winds, higher temperatures leading to lower humidity: boom. Fire. It disturbs me how little the subject comes up as the whole community freaks out over the fires. This is not a … Continue reading At the Mercy of the Elements
Read more
‘Tis the season for we Pagany/witchy types. There is an entire aesthetic we—or most of us, anyway—enjoy that has a brief moment in the waning sun each year, and this is it. Now, as Atheopagans, we don’t believe in ghosts or spirits or Dark God/desses. But that doesn’t matter: there is plenty of rich fodder … Continue reading With Both Hands in Grave Dirt
Read more
I’m in an odd space right now. On the one hand, excitement about The Book and the newness of all the Author Stuff like promoting it, doing interviews, etc. is really thrilling. But on the other, beloved things are coming to an end, and I’m sad about that. Pantheacon, which has been the largest gathering … Continue reading Things End
Read more