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Here Come the Atheopagans!
When I first wrote an essay outlining the rationale, Principles and practices of Atheopaganism, I did it for myself, to sort out my thinking and decidedly mixed experience of the Pagan community. That was in 2008-2009. After it was done and I was settling into my new practice and approach, a handful of people I talked with about it expressed curiosity about it, so I threw the essay up on Scribd. It wasn’t long after that people started coming to me at gatherings and conferences and expressing like-mindedness, and Atheopaganism as a movement was born. As the founder, I was naturally the central figure in creating materials, resources, analysis and…
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Homily
Sisters and brothersAnd genderqueer others, beloveds:Let us not bow our heads. No, let us not bow our heads. Instead,Let us fling them back, arms stretchedWide to the world, mouths gaping in awe For there–THERE–is the sky. The simple,Miraculous sky, blue or gray by dayDark by night, pale scrim of air That is breath that is rainThat keeps the radiation out.The sky’s wide vault, the Temple of Being Upon this good wide Earth.Gaze upward, knowingThis is what I am, where I live, This is the miracle that is me.Do not despair. Be of stout heart, for surelyThose who live entire lives in a Temple Must be blessed. Know your good fortune.Say…
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So, um…Wanna Get Ordained?
Today, I learned something amazing: In the U.S., if your religious organization’s income is ordinarily expected to be $5,000 per year or less, YOU DON’T HAVE TO FILE FOR TAX EXEMPT STATUS! What this means is that The Atheopagan Society is ALREADY a tax-exempt nonprofit. We have some steps we have to take, like formally convening the Society Council and filing some documents with the state, but we don’t have to mess with convincing IRS that we are a “real” religion until we have much higher income than is projected to be needed for the first year or two, at least. And so–like any religious nonprofit, anywhere–we can ordain people.…
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Paganism and Transgression: Some Questions
From Gardner’s nudism and enthusiasm for sadomasochism, which he folded into the foundation of Wicca… …to taking and embracing the label “witch” (and, to a lesser degree, “pagan”)… …to taking unusual names and adopting radical environmental and social politics… …to everything about Aleister Crowley… …the roots and modern realities of modern Paganism are heavily sown with trangression: with deliberate contravention of societal norm. It’s not a surprise. In the US, the modern Pagan movement arose simultaneously with and within the context of the countercultural movement of the 1960s, which was, well…counter-cultural. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing. But it could be an inherent impediment to Paganism ever becoming a…
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Introducing the Atheopaganism App
It’s amazing what you can do—absolutely free!—on the Internet now. It turns out, you can create a lively and dynamic app that lives on the web, so a shortcut to it serves as a phone app for any platform. And you can do that without knowing how to code. I was pointed towards Glide apps by a member of the Atheopaganism Facebook group. It took a bit of learning, but now there is an Atheopaganism app that you can use to download key documents, visit the Society and blog websites, revisit essays about each of the Atheopagan Principles, follow links to various Atheopagan social media channels, and, if you wish,…
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Time + Tenacity = Hope
Story time! Time to visit my Really Not Finest Hour. There’s going to be a lunar eclipse on Saturday, July 4. As many of us know, the Moon’s phases run in roughly 19 year cycles. What that means is that 19 years ago, a full Moon with a lunar eclipse fell on the 4th of July. And 19 years before that, there was another: July 4, 1982. That 4th of July is a date I remember vividly. I saw the bloody Moon that night from the walled outdoor enclosure of a mental hospital called Oakcrest. I was twenty. Less than a month earlier, I had graduated as valedictorian of my…
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Settling for the Awesome Universe
Goddesses and gods. Fairies and ghosts. Magic spells and hexes. Dragons and griffons and mermaids. Epic. Mythic. Heroic. Awesome. Well of course they are. We are story-telling creatures, and who doesn’t love a good story? If these were pedestrian tales, and boring, why would we listen to them? Why would we long for them to be real? It’s all very human. I can’t blame someone for wanting to live in a world where such things are real. A childlike* world of magical beings and epic wonders. But… But. Reality is. We can imagine many things that are wondrous and beautiful and yet which do not exist. And fairies and hobbits…
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GUEST POST: An Atheopagan Example (starring: Hekate!)
by Kaigi-Ron Why did I choose Hekate? Because she controls liminal space – including the thin line between Life and Death. I was so deeply depressed, I felt doomed to die – so I wanted to cut a deal with her: If I die, please do what you can to prevent me from suffering too much on the way out. The one Atheopagan Principle I’ve generally been weak on is #6 (“PRAXIS: I enact regular ritual as a part of my practice”). But this ritual actually helped save my life. So, for those on the fence as to whether or not it’s worth it to do ritual, I say: At…
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That Shameful Secret
For some, it’s the atheism. For others, the Paganism. And for others still, of course, both. There is a lot of prejudice and delusion out there, and people jealously guard their beliefs. When confronted with someone who believes differently, many of them…well, not to put too fine a point on it, freak out. I wish I could advise you all just to tough it out, to let your rational, Earth-loving flag fly. Because it is definitely something to be proud of. You embody Principles and Values that are honorable and meaningful, and stand for a better world. But unfortunately, some of those prejudiced and closed-minded people are prone to violence.…
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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…
