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On Freedom
In the United States, we lionize “freedom”. We make much of how “free” we are, boast of it. Our national narrative is filled with reinforcing stories about liberty and the struggle for freedom. But what is it? If freedom means anything, it must be the freedom not just to believe as one wishes, to think as one will, but also to act as one will. To be treated as an equal. And that freedom is in danger in this country at this time. We are, in reality, one of the most authoritarian states of the developed world. We have a higher rate of incarceration even than China or Saudi Arabia…
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Four Days Left! Register for Moon Meet at Discounted Price!
Moon Meet will be the first Pagan gathering for Atheopagans, non-theist Pagans, and those interested in or curious about our paths. It will take place Aug. 4-6, on private, redwood-forested land near Healdsburg, California, in the wine country of Sonoma County. Due to a generous contribution by an anonymous benefactor, we have been able to reduce the ticket price to $40…which includes five meals! But this rate persists only until the end of June; after that, the event price goes back up to $90. So get your registration in now! Directions to the site will be mailed to registrants; it’s about 20 minutes outside of Healdsburg. Follow the link above…
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A Ritual of Ease for Midsummer
My circle met at my home yesterday. I’ve been circling with the same group for 27 years as of this upcoming Hallows (Samhain). We started as a group of six, and over time have expanded to ten, but all the original members are still here. It’s pretty remarkable. Dark Sun circle is my family. I don’t have blood family any more, so they are it when it comes to celebration of holidays, sharing of confidences, shared grief and celebration. We’ve been through marriages and divorces, all sorts of life changes. Thankfully, no deaths, yet. So it was wonderful to see them. We’re kind of far-flung, so we only get together…
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REGISTER NOW for MOON MEET!
Moon Meet—the first Pagan gathering focused specifically on the paths of Atheopagans and other non-theist Pagans—will be held Aug. 4-6. It’s time to register! Moon Meet takes place in the redwood forests of Sonoma County, California, on private land near the city of Healdsburg. Directions will be sent to registrants in early July. The event is priced at only $90, which includes five meals! Two nights and two full days of workshops, ritual creation, celebration, fellowship and creativity, in a beautiful part of the world. For details, go here. To sign up for Moon Meet, click here to go to the Brown Paper Tickets site and register. It’s going to be…
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Potok and the Hundred-Thousand Year Fire—A Campfire Tale
There was a night—long, long ago—when we had captured fire. This was many years before we knew how to make it. We found it in a tree which had been struck by lightning, carried it in a gourd to where we made a camp. And that night, we gathered around where the fire was fed to grow fat and snapping. We saw one another’s faces in the flickering light, and felt the warmth even in the dead of night. It was a miracle. No predator would dare come near. And we were all together, in a circle, about the dancing, magical fire. One night, meat was plentiful. A man named…
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Visions of the Future
As I’ve written before, Atheopaganism is inherently political. It isn’t possible to revere the Earth as Sacred, to hope for a world where love and kindness and justice are far more widespread without having a political agenda to match. Many Pagans are political, in varying ways. While most lean to the left, some do not. And a significant number identify as anarchists, viewing the root cause of human suffering and strife as being institutions such as governments. I am not one of them. I simply do not see examples of anarchism having worked successfully in groups larger than a hundred or two. With the world’s population well over seven billion…
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Happiness, Ecstasy, and Threading the Needle
I stumbled out from the trees atop the mountain, Matagalls—the second-highest in Catalonia. I was teaching at a children’s language camp, and at the end of the camp we had taken a day to lead the students on an expedition to climb the peak. Cold weather had moved in and many of them had remained in a meadow at lower elevation with the rest of the adults. But I and a handful of kids pressed on. It was steep at the end, and my legs were burning as I climbed the forested trail to the summit. The scent of rain-dampened earth filled my nostrils, the cool air pumped smoothly in…
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A Dawn Prayer
Whose warm love flows across the land each day Stirring Life, the world’s magic, arms yearning up, Turning each green leaf to follow. Whose generous balm Upon the skin is love’s touch, ahhhhhh heated fingers soothing, Whose roar boils water from ocean to sky Drawing sweet from salt, becoming rain, snow, river, lake; Whose fervid beat upon us is deadly, and yet Contemplating cold stars how we miss it, the Golden One, quotidian center Of our days, steady companion, sower of treasures great and small: Light-bringer, Life-quickener, dazzling, unbearably bright, Hail, oh hail the magnificent Sun!
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Hail, the Magnificent Sun!
These are the kindest and best of days. The evenings grow long, the air is mild. Here where I live, anyway, life is good. For our ancestors, too, these were good days. Planting and early tending of crops were over. Early lambs and hunting of spring animals were abundant. After the long, anxious wait of winter, this was a time to enjoy life. The energy of Midsummer night is a long-understood atmosphere in Western culture. It means air warm enough for all-night goings-on outdoors. It means woods and meadows and moon-dappled hilltops. Nights for mystical and amorous adventures! Wherever you live, I suspect you know what I mean. The long, lovely…
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What About Those Who Insist Their Gods Are Real? A Policy Statement.
Though I generally try to avoid engaging with them, there are those in the broader Pagan community who are quite adamant that their gods are real and that anyone who doesn’t think so isn’t a Pagan. Some of them feel the need to rail at people like Atheopagans and call for our expulsion from Pagan community. So I thought I would spell out my exact orientation to such folk, so my position is clear. Primarily, my inclination is to ignore them. They’re wrong, but they’re entitled to their opinions. If their beliefs make them happy, great. Though given the sour and caustic tone of some of them, there is reason…
