-
What Do We Mean by “Revering Nature”? A Reality Check
Life is one of the Sacred four pillars of Atheopaganism. And it is often said of Pagans generally that we revere or even “worship” Nature. So…what do we mean by that? To explore that, we have to go back about 250 years to a major wellspring of modern Paganism, which is Romanticism. Starting in the late 18th century, as more and more Europeans began to live in cities rather than in small villages or on farms, the Romantic movement arose, which, well, romanticized the idea of “noble Nature”. Romantic ideas of “untamed wilderness” and “the magnificent wild” persist in cultures derived from Europe to this day, including the idea that…
-
Community Update, Oct. 2022
Hi, everyone! We had our regular quarterly meeting of the Atheopagan Society Council last week, and we are going to be going through a strategic planning process to set priorities and objectives for our community for the next 2-3 years at our next meeting, in January. The results of the recent poll of community members will be used to help us set these priorities, which will tell us where to put our energy and efforts. Don’t worry! Beloved activities like the Zoom mixers and salons, the Atheopagan Voice, the affinity groups and the bi-annual Suntree Retreat aren’t going anywhere. But we’ll figure out how best to make these as useful…
-
October
In the arc of the Pagan wheel of the year, October is the time leading up to Samhain or Hallows (the midpoint between the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice). It is, of course, the time when we all go a little crazy with spooky décor and witchy aesthetic, leading up to Halloween night, although the actual midpoint is around Nov. 7. October is a time when we contemplate mortality and memory, remembering those who have died and our ancestors leading back into the mists of time. The skulls and bones and spider webs remind us that we are here only for a limited time, and will also one day…
-
Atheopagan Community Priorities Survey
Hi, folks of the Atheopagan community! The Atheopagan Society is gathering data to inform our prioritization of various proposed activities. Please take a moment and fill out this survey–thanks! https://forms.gle/cfmU56QjN17MdJQt6
-
GUEST POST: This is Not My Beautiful House
A guest post by JD Stillwater: ©JD Stillwater 2022 | jdstillwater.earth My spouse and I have a beautiful house here in central Pennsylvania. Our names are on the deed, but it is not our house. No, this is not a post in which I confess to forgery or identity theft. Our legal system asserts that my house is rightfully mine, but it is that system that I want to challenge, and what its spiritual depravity does to us as human beings. Especially human beings in this country, at this time in history, with so. Many. Possessions. If you were an adult in the 1980s, you may now have a Talking…
-
Autumn and Harvest 2022
Outside, blessedly, it is raining. It’s the first rain we have had since April, and it seems like enough to damp down the annual wildfire season we suffer through here in California. Ah, the scent of the wet Earth! The sound of the rain on the roof! The buffets of the wind in the wind chimes, set swinging wildly with each gust! Finally–only a week after we had temperatures up to 117–it feels the corner has been turned to Autumn, and the season of Harvest. I live in a richly agricultural region, and now is the time: gardens are pouring out vegetables, and the wine grape harvest, known locally as…
