As Pagans, we live in a vivid world full of wonders. For we naturalistic Pagans, those wonders have names like photosynthesis and aurora borealis and cumulonimbus and flamingo. We pay attention to the world around us, and learn about its extraordinary …
Read moreWhat Do We Mean by “Revering Nature”? A Reality Check
Life is one of the Sacred four pillars of Atheopaganism. And it is often said of Pagans generally that we revere or even “worship” Nature. So…what do we mean by that? To explore that, we have to go back about 250 years to a major well…
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What Do We Mean by “Revering Nature”? A Reality Check
Life is one of the Sacred four pillars of Atheopaganism. And it is often said of Pagans generally that we revere or even “worship” Nature. So…what do we mean by that? To explore that, we have to go back about 250 years to a major wellspring of modern Paganism, which is Romanticism. Starting in the …
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Atheopaganism, Cultural Appropriation and Creating New Culture
Atheopaganism as I initially described it in my essay and book was intended to create new culture: a modern Earth-revering Paganism. Rather than drawing on existing cultures or ancient ones, the oldest element directly incorporated into Atheopaganism is the “Wheel of the Year”, which has global and ancient roots for some of the holidays (like …
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Atheopaganism: A Path of Reverence, Celebration and Service
It’s been awhile since I wrote just generally about Atheopaganism: what is it, why does it exist, and what does it stand for? Atheopaganism is a religious/spiritual path I envisioned between 2005 and 2009, which led to publication first of an essay and eventually of the book Atheopaganism: An Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science. In …
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Reciprocity vs. the Overculture
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Overculture lately: how the dominant values and paradigms of our societies inform how we think, how we speak, and what we do. For a discussion of all that, I invite you to listen to this week’s episode of THE WONDER podcast. That will give you a good sense …
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You Have Permission to be Witchy
All of us in the nontheist/SASS*/Atheopagan sphere start out having to contend with that pesky internal Critic Voice that says, as we begin to move out of our ordinary mental states and towards creating or participating in ritual, “THIS IS STUPID. YOU’RE MAKING A FOOL OF YOURSELF.” For we are practical, rational folk, yes? We …
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The Sacred Rite of Composting
Before we slide into the joyous, let-us-eat-now-for-tomorrow-we-freeze holidays of December, let us take one final, sincere look at the time of Hallows and the meaning of this season. This post relates to a previous piece, Death, the Creator. Go ahead, read that first. In my Wheel of the Year, the period between Hallows, the Sabbath …
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On Pagan Misanthropy
These are times when those of us who love the Earth can easily fall into resenting or even hating humanity. It’s not much of a leap: not only are we watching climate change in action and the crashing decline of biodiversity, but social and political movements right now are showing humans at their very worst. …
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Equanamity, Balance and the Equinox
As I write this, the Earth coasts in its slightly angled orbit towards the Ecliptic, the plane of rotation of the Sun. When we cross it, the days and nights will be of equal lengths (at the equator). It is the Vernal Equinox, the moment when the days begin to stretch longer than the nights … Continue reading Equanamity, Balance and the Equinox
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