Opinion
-
Imagining a Brand-New, Cringe-Free Paganism
Bear with me here, because I am probably going to piss some people off. Just keep an open mind, and listen. Atheopaganism is a modern path. Created beginning in 2005, the essay describing it was first published in 2009. The online community launched in 2012. The book was published in 2019. The podcast began in 2020, and the nonprofit Atheopagan Society was organized later that same year. We have grown to thousands, but realistically speaking, our community is 15 years old, give or take. There’s nothing wrong with that. Everything starts sometime. What matters is the content of the path’s values and the character of its members. Atheopaganism is a…
-
My Top Ten from 2021
The year is drawing down, and it’s time to take a look back at what we’ve published and pick some favorites! Here, in no particular order, are my favorite ten blog posts of 2021. If you have a favorite that isn’t on the list, please comment below! You Have Permission to be Witchy When Life is Hard Riffs on a Meme: Enchanting the Mundane Playing with the Senses During Ritual (Guest Post) Deep Paganism The Deep Secret of Emergent Complexity Why Paganism hasn’t Failed…Yet Doing the Work The Sacred Rite of Composting Imagining Ancestors I invite you to revisit these, or, if you missed them the first time, to take…
-
Murderous Holidays
Today, in the United States it is Veterans’ Day (titled Armistice Day in Europe), which was founded to mark the end of the obscene, utterly baseless bloodbath that was the first World War. According to the Overculture, today is a day to feel grateful to those who Gave The Greatest Sacrifice For Our Freedom. Never mind, of course, that the US hasn’t been in a war for purposes of actually defending itself since 1945. Nor that the vast majority of those Sacrificed were conscripts who were FORCED into the slaughter machine known as modern warfare in places far, far away from the Americas: places like the Korean Peninsula, Southeast Asia,…
-
On Pagan Misanthropy
These are times when those of us who love the Earth can easily fall into resenting or even hating humanity. It’s not much of a leap: not only are we watching climate change in action and the crashing decline of biodiversity, but social and political movements right now are showing humans at their very worst. This misanthropy can be a terrible burden. It is virtually impossible to be a happy person when weighted down with the enormity of thinking your own kind was a devastating mistake of evolution. I see this kind of thinking sometimes in the Pagan community. It saddens me and I think it undermines the mental health…
-
Joy Hunt
It’s been a long time. I mean, a really long time. For many of us, since long before even the pandemic. Since we strode, or ran, or wheeled, or paddled into the wild, lungs gulping precious air, consumed with The Moment of Aliveness. Or, being unable to do any of those things, simply witnessed one of the many miracles of life on this exquisite Earth—a sunset or rise, a rainbow, a bolt of lightning, a crashing wave, a moonrise, snow falling, an aurora—and had our breath taken away. It’s more than a year now since our socialization, our group activities were taken from us. And I’m writing now to suggest…
-
Why Paganism Hasn’t Failed…Yet.
John Halstead has written an article around a table lifted from the anthology Deep Green Resistance*. It’s a great piece: go ahead and read it. I’d say that’s about 2/3 of a perfect assessment of modern Paganism and the current Pagan community…at least in the US, where I am familiar with it. He’s not wrong, and his critiques are apt…painful and embarrassing as they may be for many American Pagans. John orients his piece around this table: Now, I think one of the most incisive and true critiques in this chart are that much of modern Paganism has “adolescent values of a youth movement”: black-and-white thinking, knee-jerk resistance to authorities…
-
The Unthinkable
Because it has never happened before, we think it cannot be. And this is ironic, because we believe that in our aspirations and efforts, we can make what has never been. We know that with heart and work, we can make a better, kinder world. Unfortunately, those with awful values and hatred in their hearts also aspire and try. And with enough effort–and enough indulgence and blindness on the part of those who surround them–they, too, can make manifest. As happened on Wednesday in the murderous, seditious attack on the United States Capitol. There is much to say about this and it has been said elsewhere. I don’t need to…
-
A Sad Reckoning
I had hoped that the American Presidential election would be a repudiation of Donald Trump and the divisive, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, fascistic nightmare of Trumpism. That hope was not realized. While Joe Biden–a decent man who I think will be a good though not transformative President–will eke out a victory, nearly 50% of the country voted for Trump even after watching four years of his antics and destructive policies. I could not be more disappointed…unless Trump had actually won. I don’t link to him very often, but John Beckett has a very fine piece on this. You can find it here. He has said the things I want to say.…
-
The Reality Settles In
I ‘m hearing it all over: the days are blending into one another. Every week is the same. My memory sucks. I feel anxious all the time. I’m depressed. I’m feeling it, too. Even though I still get to go to work every week (and yes, that feels like a privilege), I feel cooped up and like nothing ever happens except work. Work itself is incredibly stressful: the food bank has doubled throughput of food since March and everyone there is stretched just short of the point of breaking. The “adventure” phase of the pandemic has passed. No longer is this a project of pulling together and overcoming adversity. Now…
-
GUEST POST: By Helping Your Community, You’re Helping the World
By Meredith Jones The world is a truly unforgiving place, which is why we all need to band together, look out for each other, and help one another. Of course, there are those who need more help than others, and it’s for their benefit that we’ve created this list. The fact is that we all have the responsibility to hold up those who may be finding themselves at the bottom — a courtesy that we’d want extended our way if roles were reversed. It’s not even anything heroic, but rather, just basic human decency. So, without further ado, let’s take a look at who we can help and how. The…
