Personal Reflection
-
On Pagan Institutions and Representation
N.B.: This is an “inside baseball” piece addressing the current controversy within the Pagan community over whether or not it is a good idea for Pagans to emulate other religions in creating organizations, institutions, and perhaps even credentialing for clergy or other leadership. As such, this may not be of interest to Atheopagans who do not consider themselves to be a part of the Pagan community. I have written before on Paganism modeling itself on mainstream Abrahamic religions; specifically, on Pagan conceptualization of a “top-down”/parental model of the Universe, and of the creation of modern Paganism with an assumption that in order to be a religion, a path must contain a…
-
The Pagan World is Different (Adult)
This post is really meant most for those who have come to check out Atheopaganism from the atheist/skeptic community. Thus far, the material on this blog has all been “family-friendly” from the standpoint of mainstream Western society. Even my post on the 10th Principle was more cautionary than encouraging, though at its core is encouragement that people take pleasure in the sensory experiences they encounter in life. This reflects a goal on my part: I want Atheopaganism to be an inviting path for those coming from the skeptic/atheist community as much as it can be for those coming from the Pagan community. While much of the Pagan community is cheerfully open…
-
Divinity vs. the Sacred
“Well, you’re a pantheist, then.” I get this now and then, after describing my cosmology and Atheopagan path to other Pagans. And there’s nothing wrong with it. Pantheism is a perfectly fine way of looking at the Cosmos: to see Divinity in everything. Many pantheists don’t believe in deities as individual, communicative entities with agency and personalities, and I don’t, either, so I can understand why some might mistake Atheopaganism with pantheism. But it IS a mistake; I’m really not a pantheist. In some ways, I am the utter antithesis of a pantheist, because I don’t see Divinity in anything. Divinity is described as a quality, something with which a thing or a process or…
-
Engaging the Work: My Next Frontier
Atheopaganism is about increasing our capacity for happiness and engaging our responsibilities to the Earth and to our fellow humans. As such, it requires us to look at ourselves and the world with both curiosity and compassion; to see where there is work to be done. For me personally, after years of resistance I am coming to confront that a large portion of my work now relates to inhabiting my body. I was raised only to celebrate the accomplishments of the mind. In my family, I saw no modeling of physical recreation or exercise, and as a result, I was always the kid who was reading a book during recess. I…
-
WE EXIST.
Recently, I’ve participated in online discussions both on Facebook and over on John Halstead’s blog on Patheos, “The Allergic Pagan”, relating to a rant by Rev. Cathryn Platine of the Maetreum of Cybele, the background on which can be found here (including the comment thread Platine deleted, apparently finding it too threatening). The upshot of Rev. Platine’s quite abrasive screed is that people with a naturalistic view of the world can’t be Pagans: in fact, that without “polytheistic devotionals”, no one can be. She suggests we all toddle off and become Unitarians. I have news for Rev. Platine: we exist. I exist. And among our number happen to be some rather well-known Pagan…
