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Happy Atheopagan Anniversary!
Today, August 5, is the 11-year anniversary of the launching of the Atheopagan community. The Facebook group was created on this day. Although the essay (which became the book) dates back to 2005, this is the anniversary I celebrate. Because this is the day when one guy’s ideas started creating a movement that would be about so much more than just him. 11 years is a long time in Neopagan terms. A lot can change. Consider, for example: the first legally-recognized Pagan church, the Church of All Worlds, was incorporated in 1968. 11 years later, Drawing Down the Moon and The Spiral Dance were published, two books that drove exponential…
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The Sabbath of Technology
Sabbaths have layers: layers of history, of symbolism, of metaphor. Each of the eight Sabbaths of the Atheopagan Wheel of the Year carries a rich complex of meanings and practices, new or old, and layers of history and memory. As a community, our Atheopagan ethic is that every individual practitioner can and should develop for themselves what each Sabbath means and how it is celebrated. But there are some associations with the turning of the seasons that are commonly celebrated by us and by many other modern Pagans. Examples include: At this time of year, at the midpoint between the summer solstice and autumnal equinox, I celebrate the Sabbath of…
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Major Update to the Atheopagan Hymnal
It’s been a long time since updating the Atheopagan Hymnal, which is a collection of songs, poetry, invocations and benedictions for use in Atheopagan rituals and gatherings. This is a major update–I’ve added sheet music to a lot of the songs, and increased the content to nearly 60 pages! Thanks to all the creators of this material, and please be aware that this is distributable for personal and religious purposes only–all rights remain with the creators. Download the Atheopagan Hymnal v.5 here.
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Naturalistic Animism
“Animism” has meant a lot of things over time. It was a racist slur against indigenous people; it has been claimed by panpsychists (who believe everything has consciousness). Robin Wall Kimmerer describes in her brilliant book Braiding Sweetgrass that the core of the indigenous relationship to the natural world* is not about thinking rocks have souls or consciousness. It is about reciprocity: about approaching the creatures and features of the world as worthy of respect and deference rather than as inanimate materials which can be consumed at will. There have been discussions about this on the Atheopaganism Facebook group and I thought I would offer some thoughts of my own.…
- 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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Midsummer 2023—The Height of the Light
These are the long days, in the Northern Hemisphere. The days of long, languid evenings, full of song and sex and celebration. Cookouts and trips to the beach; days of sunblock and wide-brimmed hats. It’s Midsummer: the Sabbath of Leisure. I imagine this was the way in Olde Europe: crops were planted and growing but not yet ready for harvest, and there wasn’t much else to do but lounge around, drink beer and fool around. Perhaps mine is an idealized imagining; it doesn’t matter, because my Atheopaganism isn’t about Olde Tymes anyway. It’s about now. The gorgeous generosity of now. As I write, the Sun is finally down and light…
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Atheopagan Web Weaving 2023
It was virtual, but it felt great. 84 registered attendees. 15 presenters. 8 moderators and other volunteers. One keynote speaker. And a whole weekend of interactions, learning, socializing, fun and friendship. It’s been a couple of weeks now, but I wanted to say something about the Atheopagan Web Weaving 2023 conference before it got too distant in memory. Some thoughts: First, the commonly-available technology is just amazing. It is incredible that for less than $100, we could host that many people, hold workshops in simultaneous breakout groups, share slide decks, host a common keynote speech…even host a burlesque lesson for this month’s Adult Salon! Say what you like about Zoom–it’s…
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Defying the Death Cult
It’s time for a frank conversation. The US Supreme Court handed down a ruling this week that will be devastating to the environment. It casts into question the government’s authority to regulate environmental destruction in general. Pollution, death and rapine of habitat lands will result. So let us speak very plainly. I have posted before about the Overculture: the subtext of beliefs, values and norms that inform culture in the English-speaking world, and to some degree the entire Western world. The Overculture has a lot of very serious moral and ethical (and practical) problems. It doesn’t contribute to human happiness or fulfillment. It doesn’t work well for any save the…
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Self-Initiation Rituals
Sometimes you know you have crossed–or are about to cross–a threshold. You are moving from one chapter in your life to another, or changing your status in some way. Perhaps it’s attainment of a professional license, or moving to another location. Perhaps it’s taking on a new role that you take very seriously as a part of your identity. Such a moment may be a time for a very special rite of passage: an initiation. And particularly, you may need to do that initiation alone, so this post is focused specifically on how to create such a ritual for yourself*. I did such an initiation for myself many years ago.…
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With the Fog, Summer has Returned
In many modern Pagan reckonings of the seasons, as well as in some places in the world like Ireland, the solstices and equinoxes do not mark the beginnings, but rather the peaks of each season. The “cross-quarters” in February, May, August and November are the seasonal beginnings. So May Day would be the beginning of summer, as it was reckoned in earlier times in Europe. This has always made sense to me; it is the only way to logically parse that the summer solstice is also traditionally called “Midsummer“, and the winter one “Midwinter”. But different people have different approaches, and that’s fine by me: adapting the Wheel of the…
