Got your house decorated yet? Samhain (the Fall Equitherm) is less than a month away! For many of us (including me), this is one of the most sacred times of the year – a time when I feel my Ancestors…
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Autumn 2020: Responsibility and Wonder; by Starstuff, Contemplating
Wonder and responsibility speak to me as we enter fall. As Naturalistic Pagans, our focus is on this real world – giving us both the awe of the world we live in and the commitment to build a better world…
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Happy Fall Equinox!
Happy Fall Equinox, or Mabon! Of course, our spherical planet also gives us the beautiful symmetry of the Spring Equinox (& Ostara) being celebrated now by our Southern Hemisphere friends. The equinoctial moment, this year, is on September 22nd, at 5:31 pm…
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Animism for the Religious Naturalist
Animists see a world that is full of other-than-human persons, including salmon persons, tree persons, and even rock persons. It is difficult for many Westerners to understand the concept of other-than-human persons, especially when talking about (seemingly) “inanimate objects” like rocks. But for the animist, there is no such thing as inanimate matter, because it is all a part of the complex self-regulating living system called Gaia. Animism is not about the projection of consciousness or agency onto non-human things, but about respect and reciprocity within a more-than-human community that transcends the subject-object dichotomy.
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The Fall Equinox Approaches!
In the Northern Hemisphere, the Fall Equinox is celebrated in three weeks (it is September 22nd this year) as Mabon, also called Harvest Home. (Those in the Southern Hemisphere celebrate the Spring Equinox, Ostara, at this time.) While every year…
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The Next 70 Days are Critical – What can you do to help? by Starstuff, Contemplating
We stand at an historic time, and the upcoming election will determine a lot about the world we will leave to future generations. As Naturalistic Pagans, our focus is on this real world, and we can put our spirituality into…
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Get Ready for a Great Perseid Meteor Shower this Year! August 11-14, by Starstuff, Contemplating
If you have clear skies Friday, Saturday, or Sunday night, consider celebrating as my family does – by seeing these wonders, just as our Ancestors have seen them for many thousands of years. Do you have a chance to share this sacred moment with a child?
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Happy Summer Thermstice/Lammas!
Celebrations Heat! Productivity! Success! Growing Darkness! These and many other themes join with the baking of bread and early harvest celebrations of Lunasa. What could better exemplify heat and productivity than the casting of molten metal into Atheopagan medallions? Check…
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Comet Neowise! You can go and see it! [Starstuff, Contemplating]
The energy beam is about to hit, just when our shields are not ready and we are most vulnerable! Sci-fi? No, this is reality, for you, on Earth, right now. And it means we have a great chance for auroras on Sept.
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Time + Tenacity = Hope, by Mark Green
I will look up at that red Moon this Saturday, and I expect I will cry: cry at its beauty, cry at the passage of the years, cry in relief that I have had these 38 years since my night under the blood Moon of July 4, 1982.
Friends, I don’t know whether it is possible to communicate this except by living it, but if it is, please know: it can get better.
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