Practice
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Midsummer 2020
In the Northern Hemisphere, the long days are upon us*! These are the days of Midsummer. Click here for all the previous posts about this Sabbath. To me, Midsummer is the celebration of the prime of life–of robust, confident adulthood (rather than the urgent young adulthood of May Day), and, in the agricultural cycle, of relaxation and ease between the earlier plowing, sowing and planting and the later harvest Sabbaths. Many Midsummers I have celebrated have been times to deliberately, conscientiously goof off: to relax, eat and socialize with friends. Perhaps to go to the beach, which is a fine Midsummer tradition. But this is the (first?) year of COVID-19.…
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Ritual and Self Care for Protesters
Had enough? World just about all you can take? Well, first of all, if you aren’t one, welcome to the world of black and brown people. Maybe reflect on that for awhile. But beyond that, let’s talk about tools to help us manage. To help us feel better despite the Plague, despite the horror, despite the injustice and the violence and the betrayal by those who were supposed to help. It’s Wednesday evening as I speak. It has been two weeks and two days since the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis policeman and his accomplices. Protests continue to thunder around the United States and elsewhere in the world,…
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A Walpurgisnacht/May Day Vigil Ritual Menu
As we collectively shelter in place to slow the advance of the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the world and the Wheel continue to turn. Spring is rolling around into summer (at least, in many places in the Northern Hemisphere), and we have come to that major pillar of the annual celebrations of many Pagans, May Day or Beltane, and the night before, which is known by many as Walpurgisnacht. While we may not be able to conduct the usual festivities, we can still observe this Sabbath in all its richness while sheltering in place. This ritual is a vigil: staying up all night either alone or with a partner or family. If…
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GUEST POST: A Naturalist’s Shrine
By Dustin Autry What is a shrine? Whether a box, an alcove, or a demarcated spot, it is a sacred site dedicated to a person, deity, idea, or something else worth veneration or remembrance. It could be a saint, or a town’s war dead; in a less formal sense, it may be a shrine to a beloved actor’s career or a sweetheart. Those crosses on roadsides marking sites of tragedy qualify as shrines. Shrines may be simple and plain, or cluttered with memorabilia or objects of significance. What they all have in common is that they are sacred space, in the sense that they are set apart from the mundane…
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Is This The Time to Work on Your Spirituality?
The world has the novel coronavirus. The pandemic is serious, spreading, and causing major disruption. Many of us have been sent home from work, hopefully to work remotely but, for the less fortunate, simply to tough it out. And in our non-work time, we have hours and hours of empty space we might otherwise fill with gatherings, events, outings and activities. It’s damned inconvenient, at best; at worst, it’s going to be deadly for some of us. I had to cancel a trip to the Midwest to a Pagan convention, which was fortunately subsequently deferred until September, so I hope to be able to go then. But as the Chinese know,…
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Atheopaganism on the Placebo Magic Podcast!
Had a great conversation with Gary at the Placebo Magic Podcast. Listen at https://www.farmcodegary.com/post/s02e06-atheopaganism-with-mark-green/
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The February Sabbath
The February Sabbath always seems a bit elusive to me. I don’t believe in the goddess Brighid, who is often celebrated at this time, and I don’t live somewhere where first, small indications of spring are appearing. No, I’m in coastal Northern California, and here in this Mediterranean climate it is wet and the mountains are a beautiful emerald green at the height of its intensity. That green will transform to gold in May as the grasses go to seed, so this is a lovely and fragile moment. So while snowdrops are indeed blooming here, soon too will be crocus and daffodils and milk maids. And they aren’t coming up through…
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Old Ways, New Days
It is midnight on the 29th of December. I have just returned from the Sebastopol Wassail, which is conducted annually by the Apple Tree Morris dancing team in my local area. Wassailing is an old English tradition. Poor people going from house to house begging became conflated with people going from tree to tree in the apple orchards, making offerings in the deep winter in the hopes of bountiful harvests in the coming year. There are many songs, many dances, many traditions. And we hope you prove kind with your cakes and strong ale Or we’ll come no more nigh you until the next year Tonight, I sang the songs,…
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Happy Solstice!
A very joyous Longest Night (or Longest Day, in the Southern Hemisphere) to you! Here is a compendium of Yuletide traditions, projects and rituals you can use to inspire your own celebrations. Wolcum Yule!
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Atheopaganism for Solitaries
We’re a subgroup of a subculture. Of a couple of them, actually: atheism and Paganism. So it’s not a surprise that though there are many of us collectively, we are spread thinly and may live far away from anyone else who identifies as practicing the path of Atheopaganism. Thus, this post, about practicing as a solitary. That said, I do encourage folks to meet up as best they can. I have heard many heartwarming stories of folks from the Atheopaganism Facebook group meeting in person and establishing friendships. I think that’s wonderful! I myself mostly practice as a solitary. Though I have a ritual circle that meets 8 times per…
