Techniques
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Hallows: A Compendium
I’ve written a lot about this time of year, this holiday, which I call Hallows. I’ve been celebrating it for decades. And every year at this time, I think about mortality, the cycle of death/decomposition/recomposition, ancestors, memory. The past, the inevitable future. The Big Picture. Dressing up creepy, or goofy, or sexy. Giving permission to people to let their wild side out. I think about all of it. I’m doing that this year, too. Updating my death packet, as I do every October. Rituals, and gatherings, and the wonderful creepy vibe. Candy for little monsters. Taking the whole ride. I’m even taking a week off, from Halloween through the actual…
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Ecstacy, Ritual, Transformation and Getting High
Fire circle rituals. Punk rock mosh pits. Raves. Ordeal rites. BDSM practices. And drugs, of course. State of consciousness is a function of brain operation, mostly through the varying levels of several key neurotransmitters (examples being the mood-regulating and executive-functioning neurotransmitters serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine). So to change our state of consciousness to an “alternative” one from our ordinary state of awareness, humans conduct activities like those listed above to alter the levels of these neurotransmitters, Why we do this is a mystery, but we clearly have a predilection for altered states of consciousness, from little children spinning around until they are dizzy to adults taking intoxicants, performing extreme feats…
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It’s here!
My new book, Round We Dance: Creating Meaning Through Seasonal Rituals is published and launched! I had a lovely book launch party yesterday in Oakland, California. It was great to see friends, read some passages and sell and sign some books. It has been about a year and a half since I submitted the manuscript for Round We Dance, and as I read pieces of it I found myself thinking hey, this is good stuff! Nice to feel that sense of pride in my craft. Here I am, signing. Isn’t Kimba’s coat amazing? She said it was like being inside a Muppet. I’m really proud of this book and I…
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First Look at My New Book!
I got some galley proof copies of ROUND WE DANCE: Creating Meaning Through Seasonal Rituals, and it looks and feels great! It is always a real thrill to hold a first copy of one of my books in my hands, and this is no exception. ROUND WE DANCE releases on April 8–the same day as the impending solar eclipse. You can read more about it and pre-order your copy by clicking here.
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Keeping Cool Stuff in Ornate Containers
Maybe this is where it all started. I remember, when I was very young, perhaps seven or eight, I read one of those stories about an Olde Curiosity Shoppe that appears, sells something Unusual to the protagonist, and then was gone when he went back to find it again. The shoppe was full of stuff. Cool stuff, in strange dusty bottles and jars and boxes (some of which had eerie sounds coming from within). I loved the sound of that place. I wanted to go to there and root through all the weird, magical things. It started with a brass oil lamp, like an Alladin-style lamp I bought in Spain.…
- Atheology, Descriptions, Holidays, Liturgy, Practice, Principles, Rites of Passage, Ritual, Techniques
The Atheopaganism Book is Now Available As an Audiobook!
In the two weeks before I started my new job, I realized that I wasn’t going to have an extended run of days in which I could record an audiobook of ATHEOPAGANISM: An Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science–a long-planned project–for a long time, and it was the moment! So here it is! You can buy it from all the various outlets except Audible, because Amazon. Click here to purchase from Libro.fm, which donates to local independent bookstores!
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An Exciting Announcement!
I am pleased to report that Llewellyn Worldwide has contracted to publish my next book, ROUND WE DANCE: Joyous Living Around the Year and Throughout Life. This is an Atheopagan book about incorporating rituals into your life, and will go into specific seasonal themes, rites of passage and personal rituals, with ritual outlines and techniques and associated craft projects and recipes. I’m excited! I am busily working on this volume while looking for my next full-time job. I “go to work” at my desk every morning, take a break for lunch and return to writing until 5:00 in the afternoon. I haven’t ever been this disciplined about writing before, but…
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Reintegration
Coming down from the mountainI have seen the lofty gloryI will go again some dayBut for now, I’m coming down. –Meat Puppets There is an ache in my heart right now, a longing for the people and experiences of Suntree Retreat. It isn’t that I’m not glad to be home. I like my life, by and large. But I have had a peak experience and there is a feeling of sorrow, of yearning now that it is over. At the Retreat, I came to feel a deep caring for every attendee and for what we were doing together: the rituals, the vulnerability, the courage, the socializing, the celebration. Such an…
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Towards a Daily Spiritual Practice
One of the things which characterizes our Atheopagan path–and which we share with many other Pagan denominations–is observation of the eight holidays of the Wheel of the Year: the solar solstices, equinoxes and the midpoints between them. So every 7 weeks or so, we have a seasonal festival to celebrate, if we so choose. How we define those holidays can vary widely, as we are aware of our local climates and ecological processes and seek to match our celebrations to them. And we don’t have to celebrate all of them if we choose not to. In addition, we may hold occasional rites of passage for our friends and loved ones,…
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On Spiritual Burnout and Bypassing
Sometimes, the ways and events of the world can weigh you down. Over the past 18 months or so, we have seen a LOT of that, what with the pandemic and the various awfulness happening in the news. I know things are starting to get to me when I am less drawn to my Focus (altar), less motivated to do my spiritual practices. It’s ironic, because spirituality is the cultivation of a feeling of meaning, awe, connectedness and joy, and you’d think we’d go running for that when times are hard. Some do. I’m just not one of them. Instead, my tendency is to lean into what’s the damned point,…
