Pagan Bloggers with Naturalistic Worldviews
When we create rituals, we define a separate condition, a special state of being within which our intentions, our aspirations and our ritual activities are expressed. The common term for this condition is “sacred space”. There are many ways to create sacred space. Among the most common is the concept of “creating a container”, which … Continue reading A Still and Sacred Moment
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CONTENT WARNING: This post contains frank discussion of sexuality, and is meant for adults. If you’re not one, please stop reading and go elsewhere. … … … … … … … … Loving the World: An Atheopagan Sex Magic Primer for May Day (NSFW) Spring is often thought of as the season of sex. Trees … Continue reading Loving the World: An Atheopagan Sex Magic Primer for May Day (NSFW)
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Merry May! I thought I’d write a post about Maypoles because many people want to do Maypole rituals for May Day but don’t know the details. So here goes… First, you’re going to need a pole at least 12′ long and 5″ in diameter. These dimensions are important: you need to embed at least 18″ … Continue reading How’s that Maypole Thing Work?
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I’m drinking a beer as I write this. That’s not a big deal. I’m not drunk and I don’t intend to have another. But I’m sitting at my local with a laptop, and I’m surrounded by a typical Friday afternoon crowd, which will swell considerably after 5:00. People in my society drink. They drink alcohol, … Continue reading Substance Use, Background Noise, and Reenchanting the World
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Sacred Mysteries were initiatory rituals or ritual cycles in the ancient world which revealed secret wisdom to participants. Some examples include the Eleusinian Mysteries of ancient Greece and the Mysteries of Dionysos in Rome, and the initiatory mystery religion of Mithraism, also from the Roman period. These rituals and ritual cycles were characterized by solemn oaths of silence, so many … Continue reading Toward Atheopagan Mysteries
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In Atheopaganism, we understand ritual “magic” as the manipulation of consciousness according to desired outcomes: as “programming the mind”. It’s not supernatural, and it doesn’t affect things at a distance, but it does have a powerful ability to change our selves: to increase our courage, our focus, our attention to things we find important. Over … Continue reading Sigils: Barcodes for your Brain
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For the fourth year in a row, Atheopagan events will take place at Pantheacon, the largest indoor gathering of Pagans in the United States. Pantheacon 2018 will be held February 16-19, at the Doubletree convention hotel in San Jose, California. Pantheacon is an adventure: there is wide-ranging content on all sorts of Pagan paths, and … Continue reading Come Join Us at Pantheacon!
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So, last year I wrote about a new tradition for Riverain, the Water Sabbath, which is how I celebrate the holiday that falls between the Winter Solstice (Yule) and the Spring Equinox (High Spring). Riverain comes at the height of the wet season in California’s Mediterranean climate, when the hills are green and the creeks and … Continue reading The Ritual Cycle of the Rain Baby: An Example
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I’m a white guy. I mean, a seriously white guy. My 23andme.com DNA profile shows me as having 100% Northern European ancestry, pretty much all of which is English/Irish except for 1.2% Scandinavian, which has GOT to be a Viking raider. Not one of my ancestors ever had the courage to mate out of group, to … Continue reading Approaching the Animal Self
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If you are gathered with friends or family for New Year’s Eve, here is a light ritual you can do that isn’t interruptive of festivities but can add some meaningful heft to the launch of the new calendar year. Place a dollar coin, for luck and prosperity, into the bottom of an iron cauldron or Dutch … Continue reading The Cauldron of Hope: A New Year’s Eve Ritual
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