Pagan Bloggers with Naturalistic Worldviews
Here’s my first hope for you at (what I consider) the New Year: the Winter Solstice, or Yule. That after the holiday frenzy of Silly Season, after the parties and dinners and rituals, there comes a moment when you can just stop. And be still. And feel within you the glow of all your life’s wealth: … Continue reading Yule Offering #1: Stillness
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For every gem of genuine ecological wisdom I have found in the Pagan community, there is a deluge of crystals and correspondences, divinities and divination apps, wizards and wishful thinking. Maybe it’s time to face up to the fact that, while I am spiritually and religiously “pagan” with a small-p, culturally I am not a capital-P “Pagan”.
What is needed is not belief, not fantasies and wishful thinking, but but practices which get us out of our heads and away from fantasies and wishful thinking. What is needed is not belief in an otherworld populated by fairies and dragons, but practices reveal to us where we actually are and the holiness of this place we call earth.
If we continue with our harmful habits and routines that maintain the current path toward global warming, then we will become another fossilized tree stump. But if we can learn from the history of what this can do, and stop our mistakes from continuing, then we will someday look back at this and be grateful to have the chance to camp in old-growth forests again.
For those of us who care about our Earth, this season presents a conundrum: How do we navigate this most commercial and consumeristic of seasons and remain true to our values? Well, here are some thoughts. I hope they help. First of all, the tree. Buy a real one. Artificial trees create three times the … Continue reading What Shall We Give for Yule?
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This year, the longest night of the year—Winter Solstice, or Yule—takes place on Thursday, December 21st. On the night of the Winter Solstice, an old tradition that we have adapted for Atheopagan purposes is the burning of the Yule log. Yule marks the moment in the year when the sun’s steady decline, with days growing shorter … Continue reading The Yule Log—A Winter Solstice Ritual
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So how will you be celebrating? There are less than three weeks left before Yule (the Winter Solstice)! This is going out a week early because for many of us, this is a Sabbat that takes a little more preparation…
No, I’m sorry, but being “forced” to listen to a prayer in a Unitarian church is not oppression, especially in light of the serious, systemic, and pervasive oppression of people of color in our society.
We can’t authentically engage with others, unless we’re self-aware, and we can’t truly care for others, if we’re not also caring for ourselves. I occasionally relearn this lesson at work, when I attempt to care for patients for the duration of a twelve-hour shift without drinking enough water, taking a lunch break, or pausing to… Continue reading Why I’m Pagan →
I am atheist. But I think, if we are truly to fight racism–both within and without–we just might need God after all.