Personal Reflection
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Coming Home to Atheopaganism
Honestly, it’s the most heartwarming thing. Because I know the feeling so well: the feeling that I’m the only one, that there must be something wrong with it. That I must have missed something. When I first discovered Paganism in the mid-1980s, an opening in my heart signalled that I was discovering a part of myself that had always been missing. The reverence for the Earth, the seasonal ritual celebrations, the core values, the warm community spoke to me of all that I had longed for without even knowing it. I was swept with love, and it was only after many years of slowly accumulating experiences of dysfunction and willfully…
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In the Time of Gathering Shadows
These days are hard. Not just the Orlando massacre. Not just the awful depths to which our political dialogue have descended. Not just the prospect of a preening narcissist with complete inability to control his impulses as a potential President of the most powerful nation on Earth. There is the dying of the oceans. The warming of the atmosphere. The not-so-slow roll of the Anthropocene as it snuffs out precious species by the handful, day after day. Beauty is leaving. Harmony is leaving. We can see the future, and it is hard. As atheists, we steel ourselves to look at the world as it is, and not as we would have it.…
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Considering the Moon
What does the Moon mean to an Atheopagan? Well, to this one, at least, the Moon is the bringer of “magic light”. Low light conditions tend to damp down the activity of the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, enhancing the role of the limbic system in consciousness. In moonlight, we are more likely to feel attentive, emotional and alive in the Present moment rather than trailing off into our thoughts. The same is true of candlelight or firelight–though the flickering of flame is a different quality than the serene calmness of moonlight. There’s a reason why gathering under the full Moon is associated with witches and Pagans. A landscape bathed…
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Thank you
Just wanted to chime in here to say that y’all are great. Really: that’s all I want to say. The community of people who have participated here and on the Facebook Atheopaganism page is a joy to me. We have interesting and civil conversations, we share compelling information and thought-provoking articles, and we share the many ways in which we are pursuing non-theistic Pagan pathways. I suspect that as the various flavors and labels of non-theistic Paganism—Atheopaganism, humanistic Paganism, naturalistic Paganism, mythopoetic Pantheism, e.g.—become recognized as a natural part of the Pagan community, groups made up explicitly of our kind will begin to coalesce to practice together, and that’s a great thing.…
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Making Peace with “Energy”
Something I had a hard time getting used to when I first entered the Pagan community was constant bandying of the word “energy”. “The energy was strong,” a person might say after a ritual. Or, “she has really bright energy”. Or, “we’re going to ‘send healing energy’ to Bob”. Or, “there was a lot of sexual energy in the room”. Or, worst of all, that a ritual tool was “filled with energy”. Many Pagans use the term as if it were physical: as if “energy” were a force or substance which can be generated and directed, with which “magical” objects may be imbued, and which inhabits persons, creatures, and inanimate objects. It is spoken of…
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Pleasure as a Sacred Experience
As I practice and have described it, the tenth Principle of Atheopaganism is responsible sensuality: the cultivation of pleasure for its own sake, so long as in doing so we are not harming others or the Earth. It’s May Day weekend, that sexy festival of fertility and passion, so now is a good time to write a bit more about this. I’m somewhat wistful about lost experiences of Pagan joy back in the bad old 80s. Yes, we were clueless and somewhat irresponsible—and some had miserably bad personal boundaries—but there was real freedom and joy in dancing naked about a Maypole, in sharing touch and pleasure with friends and comrades…
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Shame, Trust, Safety and the Freedom to Make Magic
Shame. It impedes so much. It’s easy to succumb to the impulse to think that it’s something to be overcome, and that’s the end of it. Freedom, eh? And yet… Someone completely without shame is a sociopath. Shame is a guide. It can help us to understand how best to fit to the fractal puzzle which is human relations. And once having learned its lessons, it’s time to let it go. But we don’t. Unfortunately, we tend to seize it too closely, to internalize its voices, to make into Big Truth About Me what should really only be a gentle nudge, a wise voice about how to be a Better Me.…
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What’s the Point?
People ask me, “if your religion isn’t about gods, what, really, is the point? Why do you do it?” It’s a valid question, because there are several things that Atheopaganism isn’t for. It isn’t for worshiping. It isn’t for entreating supernatural assistance, nor for attempting to influence the physical Universe through wielding of Unseen Forces. It isn’t for attaining an afterlife. No, Atheopaganism can’t offer those things. It operates within an understanding of finites: that the Universe is finite (there are things we imagine that are not so); that our lives are finite (we die); that our powers are finite (we cannot affect the course of physical events merely by wishing…
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The Dusty Altar
Since I was a small child, I have suffered bouts of depression. Most of the time I muddle through but a few times it has been crippling: the kind where you spend months in bed, looking down at yourself and thinking, “JUST GET UP. JUST DO IT.” But you don’t. Because you can’t. I’ve been in remission for a couple of years since my last big black hole, and I have a new medication combo that is working very well. I’m working, I’m up and about. By and large, I’m good, even though this past year has thrown more garbage my way than I care to discuss. Recently, though, I can feel…
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What Will Be the Paganism of the Future?
Many religions contain a rosy story about the past, and look forward to a “foretold” future. Certainly the Abrahamic monotheisms do that; and many Pagan paths are highly focused on learning about and replicating traditions from long ago. Even many atheists who pursue spiritual paths these days feel that there must be a story about the future to which they can subscribe: the idea of humans as the vehicle for Life to spread to other words (SolSeed), and even transhumanism, wherein we can use technology so that our consciousnesses are preserved indefinitely, transcending death. To which I say: enh. I’m more focused on the relationship between humans and the biosphere. In healing that rift.…
