After a life of convention-challenging thought and leadership, Michael Dowd has left us, quietly in his sleep last Saturday. There is a lot to say about Rev. Dowd. He was certainly a big thinker and he, with his wife Connie Barlow, was a pioneer…
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,…
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…
The Sacred Rite of Composting
Before we slide into the joyous, let-us-eat-now-for-tomorrow-we-freeze holidays of December, let us take one final, sincere look at the time of Hallows and the meaning of this season. This post relates to a previous piece, Death, the Creator. Go ahead, read that first. In my…
GUEST POST: Relating to Silk Moths and Dying Stars
by Emily Ryan In the corner of my living room, in a white mesh enclosure the last of my hyalophora cecropia nears death. Tattered, her once swollen abdomen is emptied of her precious eggs and the stores of fats and lipids that nourished her is depleted. Even tattered and…
Bring Me That Horizon
In 2015, it was our home of 18 years being sold out from under us, and having to move, but having no money. In 2016, it was unemployment, deep depression and financial desperation. In 2017, it was the Tubbs wildfire, which evacuated us for 9 days, came within a half-block…