Leaving the Dark Side of the Year
Happy Vernal Equinox! Today we in the northern hemisphere depart the darker half of the year’s solar cycle for the brighter days of spring and summer.
Perhaps it’s just biology knocking on my brain, but I feel oddly optimistic these days despite the deeply disturbing things happening in the news.
One thing I am definitely looking forward to is Suntree Retreat 2026! The third of these in-person gatherings of Atheopagans from throughout the Americas (and others are of course welcome–we just haven’t had any attend yet!), Suntree Retreat is a long weekend of workshops, rituals, socializing and fun in Colorado Springs, Colorado, at the gorgeous La Foret Retreat Center.
I have had amazing times at these gatherings. When you get to hang out with them in person, Atheopagans are so creative, intelligent, thoughtful and kind! So I hope you will join me. More information will be posted here and to the Atheopaganism online communities as it develops.
The Sun is rising now, and the dawn chorus of birds has begun, joining the mockingbird who has been shouting all night: My territory! Mine! If you can hear this, get lost!
Meanwhile, throughout California, the spring blooms are happening. The shown image is the Anza Borrego desert, alive with the brief color riot before heat will force everything to harden against the Sun. Perhaps that is how we might see ourselves at this time of year, too: able to enjoy the longer days, the warmer temperatures before summer’s inevitable heat.
It’s a liminal moment, spring–not a full season, at least where I live, but more a brief transition into brighter, longer days and more outward activity. Time to get going, says the world.So gardens are going in and summer plans are being made.
I hope I get to meet you in person at Suntree Retreat in Colorado this summer–news soon on making reservations and calls for presentation proposals!
Mark Green
Author of ATHEOPAGANISM: An Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science, Mark Green is the initiator of the Atheopagan path and editor at the Atheopaganism blog. With co-host Yucca, he records the weekly podcast The Wonder: Science-Based Paganism, makes YouTube videos, and creates materials and resources for practicing Atheopagans. He volunteers as a staffer to the Atheopagan Council to support the growth of Atheopaganism throughout the world. In his home of Sonoma County, California, in the occupied ancestral lands of the Southern Pomo and Coast Miwok peoples, he is best known as an activist and founder of Sonoma County Conservation Action, the largest environmental activism group by membership on the North Coast of California.
