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Ritual Hygiene: Preparation and Recovery
I made a mistake this week. I assigned the creation and completion of a solitary ritual to the students in the Atheopaganism U. class, and neglected to cover how to take care of yourself before and after a ritual. One of the students had a very powerful experience in her ritual, and then spent hours unable to sleep thereafter. Whoops. In all my writing here at the Atheopaganism site, I have completely overlooked the basic physical/psychological preparation and post-ritual self care that are necessary for health and safety. These are practices I engage in myself–it just never occurred to me to write about them. So here goes. Depending on their…
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In Summer Heat
Today was very warm: 94 degrees F. That’s not hot for the tropics, or the North American Southwestern desert. Not hot for many places, I acknowledge. It gets a lot hotter here: over 110, now and then. But it was warm, and the house felt stuffy and hot when I got home. It’s deep summer. Berries are ripe and gardens are producing and grain has “growne a long, long beard, and so become a Manne”. Peaches and apricots and cherries are glorious, and days are still long, though they are shortening. Summer’s End approaches. Now, I’ve wrestled with this Sabbath. It seems as though there is so much going on…
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Raising Children as an Atheopagan
Raising kids as an Atheopagan has a few added challenges atop the many that parents undergo—but can have many joys to offset them and enrich the experience of parenting. A key principle to keep in mind as you develop your family’s Atheopagan practices is that Atheopaganism is an opt-in path. You can offer opportunities to participate to your kids, but they are their own beings. It’s important not to “make” them perform religious rituals if they don’t want to do so. When they are old enough, they will make their own decisions about whether this is the right path for them. That said, there are so many fun and meaningful…
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The Problem of Suffering
It’s a big conundrum for many theists, particularly monotheists like Christians, Jews and Muslims: if God is good, why is there suffering in the world? Such folk will go through incredible gyrations to try to resolve this dilemma. Thousands—perhaps tens of thousands—of pages have been written in attempts to address it. Everything from blaming a demigod “devil” to chalking it up to bad choices made through human free will has been put forward as an explanation for tragedy and hardship. Polytheists may not think their gods are necessarily “good”, which solves the suffering problem but raises another: then why worship them? As Atheopagans, we have a much easier and more sensible approach:…
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Patriotism and Ritual Cleansing
It’s the 4th of July: Independence Day in the U.S., a time of patriotic celebration. I am a patriot. By that, I mean that I 1) love the land, water, air, creatures and people of the United States, and want the best for them; 2) I am well familiar with and do not deny the historical and current moral failings of this country, and seek to improve our record and behavior going forward. I do not mean that I cheer lead the American Empire, nor that I jingoistically hail flags, weapons, militarism or the idea that the United States is somehow superior to all other nations, all metrics contradicting this…
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Doubt
It’s the Enemy Voice in our heads: you’re stupid. You’re crazy. You’re weak. You’re sinful. You’re damaged. You’re wrong. About everything. That voice is the Enemy. It is the soul-killer. We inherit it from parents and teachers and classmates, from religious leaders. We internalize it, make it our own, until it almost seems it is there to help us. To protect us from harm. And so we start to listen to it. Stop. Stop stop stop stop stop. That voice is a LIAR. That voice is malicious and it is not on your side. HERE IS THE TRUTH: You are luminous and beautiful and creative and full of stars. That…
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A Solar Reflection
It’s the day after Midsummer—at least, here in the Northern Hemisphere—and it’s hot and sunny, as one would expect. Meanwhile, the chaos weather of global climate change goes on: Banff had 25 cm of snow last night. I had a quiet Midsummer: set out my Sun Broom to soak up the sun and wove some additional lengths of wild rye into it; contemplated my Focus for awhile. The day became very hot and we mostly lay about under a fan with our clothes off. These are the longest days of the year, and those many hours of daylight bring a sense of possibility with them: so much time to do…
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On a Foggy Summer Morning
It’s a soft, foggy morning: the kind we often have in coastal Northern California summers, where inland heat has pulled cool, moist air from the ocean over us like a gray flannel blanket. The fog will burn off in late morning. leaving a perfectly temperate, sunny day. Great for gardens and humans, such weather fills me with a sense of blessing at where I live, the systems and flowings of the land, air and water. Soon I will drive to work past redwood forests and vineyards, a green balm for the eyes. Wherever we are, the magic of Planet Earth is going on around us. Getting to know the processes,…
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Imagine
Ours is a vision of a better world. So let’s imagine it. In the world we seek to build, kindness is paramount. None are “Other” or “lesser”, be they queer or disabled or poor or differently colored in skin tone. And those who are unfortunate are helped: our society leaves no one behind, guaranteeing a minimum, livable standard of living in all the ways that matter, including housing, food, clothing, health care and access to transportation and education. Because we care about one another. In our world, intellect is valued and thinking and reason are considered to be good things. Expertise is respected, and all learn to think critically as they…
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Midsummer
Historically, Midsummer—also known as the summer solstice, or the Longest Day, coming up this year on June 21—was a time of enjoyment. Crops had been planted, but they weren’t bearing yet, so there was little to do but celebrate the long days and have a good time. Garden vegetables were beginning to produce and lambs and new goats were mature enough to cull, so there were food and drink, and time to enjoy one another’s company, create culture, and live at ease. Today, sadly, most people aren’t even aware that the summer solstice is upon them. It passes as just another day, despite the fact that we make such a…
