Pagan Bloggers with Naturalistic Worldviews
“To know who I REALLY am, you have to look into my eyes and dance when I drum.” I learned today that my friend Morwen Two Feathers has died, following five years of living with brain cancer. Morwen and her husband were among the early pioneers of what would come to be known as the Fire … Continue reading In Memorium: Morwen Two Feathers
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In an atheistic world, many ask: what’s the point? What is the purpose of living if there’s no judgment, no afterlife to be attained, no cosmic plan or purpose? I can’t tell you what is meaningful in your life. Perhaps it’s your art, or your family: being the best parent (or grandparent, or aunt or … Continue reading What is There to Live for?
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It’s a big subject, what it means to be human. We ask it in science, and in art, in literature. We get some answers. Neuroscience and anthropology have identified many facts about our species. But I’ve been thinking a lot about the mysteries of human nature lately. Like: what’s up with music? Why do we … Continue reading Mysterious Impulses
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My Focus is densely populated, because I like it that way. It is rich with meaning and history: places I have been, things I associate with important principles. In its candlelight, illustrations of cave drawings from 35,000 years ago flicker. A Homo Erectus stone tool rests for a tiny percentage of its existence. Images of the … Continue reading In a Dream of Incense and Candlelight
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Something light for a Wednesday… Wikipedia: “In European folklore and folk-belief of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiar spirits (sometimes referred to simply as “familiars” or “animal guides“) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folks in their practice of magic. According to the records of the time, they would appear in numerous guises, often as an animal…” If there is one … Continue reading “Familiar Spirits”
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It’s a soft, rainy spring day. I’m grateful for the rain—we need it—and for the lush green it has brought to the hills and meadows, the vineyards carpeted with bright mustard flowers. These are such challenging times. The circumstances of my personal life are stressful and frightening; the broader culture is caught in the nightmare … Continue reading Sifting for Gold
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I’m back from Pantheacon, and had a wonderful festival again. I was involved in three conference offerings—a ritual for activists (“Arming the Earth Warriors”), a mixer for non-theists, and the annual ritual by the Spark Collective, of which I sit on the Core group—and all were well-attended and received. Our non-theist ritual had nearly twice as … Continue reading Woodland Dreaming: Missing Ancient Ways
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Ursula K. LeGuin has died. I won’t recount her many works or the impact she had on speculative fiction in her long career as a writer. That information can be found in the obituary linked above, and elsewhere. No, this is a personal memorial. For of all writers, I believe Ursula K. Le Guin’s impact … Continue reading In Memorium: Ursula K. Le Guin, Cultural Radical and Deep Humanist
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I am here to shout against the rising dark. To say to you—yes, you, individually, yourself reading this—that I know how hard it has become. To believe in a future. To aspire. Do not let them do this to you. Do not allow the ways of the world, this bitter storm turn you away from … Continue reading Do Not Ever Let
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It isn’t really over, of course. Two dozen have lost their lives. Thousands are without homes, their possessions rendered to gray ashes. The most vulnerable among them–renters, the uninsured–will almost certainly flee our expensive region, despite admirable community efforts to raise funds to support them. The acrid smell of burned lives lingers in the air, … Continue reading After the Fire
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