-
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…
-
GUEST POST: Practical Atheopagan Practices
Featured image: macro photograph of False Indigo Bush A guest post by Jess Rollar. When I stumbled onto Atheopaganism back in 2019, it felt like I had finally found my place. I’ve been an Atheist all my life and I’ve also leaned heavily towards Paganism, but my practice was on a more scientific and naturalistic perspective. As an Atheopagan, my practice is centered around gardening, the cosmos and my local bioregion here in the Arizona White Mountains. I’m always looking for ways to connect to my Atheopagan practice in a more practical and everyday sense. Ritual and big celebrations have never suited me, I much prefer a more simplistic approach.…
-
Wisdom
It’s a word that makes some of us cringe a little: wisdom. Because pretty much anyone who claims to have it is automatically suspicious, right? It’s those who don’t claim to have it who very often do. My contention is this: if you are living in a manner open to growth and change, the trade-off for the physical infirmities that come with age is the accumulation of wisdom: of internal tools so that you are able to contend calmly with adversity, of a big-picture perspective that helps you not to sweat the small stuff. And the recognition that nearly all of it is, in the end, small stuff. Wisdom comes…
