-
Atheopaganism, Cultural Appropriation and Creating New Culture
Atheopaganism as I initially described it in my essay and book was intended to create new culture: a modern Earth-revering Paganism. Rather than drawing on existing cultures or ancient ones, the oldest element directly incorporated into Atheopaganism is the “Wheel of the Year”, which has global and ancient roots for some of the holidays (like the winter solstice), but was set forth as a package in the mid-20th century by an Englishman. No cultural appropriation there. This was deliberate. I wanted to avoid the wholesale cultural appropriation of indigenous cultures from Africa, Southern Asia and the Americas that I have seen in Pagan and New Age spaces and practices. Rather,…
-
A Reminder
These are hard times. We have a global climate crisis, a global health crisis, rising authoritarianism and cruelty. Simply reading the daily news can be a real challenge to our mental health and well being. All of this is true. You struggle with it. I struggle with it. And yet: look out the window. Above, the short-wavelength light scatters through the atmosphere to create a blue vault dancing with white, ever-changing clouds, bringing the rain that is life. Below, the green things, breathing our waste carbon and turning the light of the Sacred Sun into the sugar that will feed, eventually, nearly everything on Earth. Flitting birds: adventurers across thousands…
-
GUEST POST: Finding Meaning in the Journey
A guest post by Jaala Hemingway After finishing the Atheopagan cleric’s course, we were given an assignment to go to a beautiful and sacred place, preferably in nature. About a week after the course, on the day I took off for May Day/Beltane, I decided to go to Maxwell Falls – a moderate but fairly short hike close to my house. My intention was to keep the hike short to give myself time to figure out my ritual. If you read no further – the hike became my ritual. Shortly into the hike, I took a wrong turn. This path felt the most straightforward and I didn’t stop to check…
-
The Post I Never Wanted to Write
The US Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old precedent Roe v. Wade this morning, erasing the Constitutional right to an abortion. And they’re not done. “Justice” Thomas, in his concurrence, encouraged the Court to overturn the precedents establishing the right to access to birth control, to private consenting behavior among adults (in other words, preventing government from regulating your sex life), and to same-sex marriage. Just to be clear about where we stand as a community, here are planks 8-11 of our 13-point Statement of Political Values, approved by the Council of The Atheopagan Society: VIII. Body sovereignty is paramount, particularly with respect to reproductive choices. Only the individual can make…
-
The Overculture vs. Reciprocity, Redux
In western societies (like all societies), people have fundamental and largely unspoken assumptions about how the world is supposed to work and how we are to behave. Subscribers to these assumptions believe that they are inherently entitled to certain rights, for example, and that governance should protect these rights and enable redress if they are violated: something called justice. They assume that sexually exclusive life commitment by two partners is the default and only “real” relationship format, which is known as monogamy. They view men as superior to women in a wide variety of ways, and that women exist primarily to advance the wishes of men, a system called patriarchy.…
-
Doing It Right
I have done things in my life that I am ashamed of. They are things that when I think of them–even though I no longer think in these terms–I think, “it takes a bad person to do that”. Not often, but I have done them. And I have been on the receiving end of behavior that was cruel, corrupt, underhanded and/or disregarded human value and dignity. Sadly, not nearly as rarely. While my family carries the lion’s share of responsibility on that front, some of that behavior came from within the Pagan community…particularly, from self-appointed leaders in that community. And I’ve seen behavior towards others by such leaders that is…
