Atheology
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Midsummer: The Sabbath of Ease
We’re now in the long, golden days of the Northern Hemisphere summer, approaching the very longest day: Midsummer. Historically, for those of us whose forebears are European, this was the time of year when grain crops were in the fields and not yet ready to harvest, but fruits and early vegetables were plentiful along with milk and meat. Though our ancestors lived lives of hard toil, this time of year was easier than any other: long, warm days with not that much to do but gather the day’s food and tend to the animals. So what do humans do when they have time available? They play, and they create art and…
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What Atheopaganism Won’t Do for You
Recently, I have experienced some severe life challenges. A period of disability followed by a one of unemployment drained my savings away. I finally landed a good job with a great organization…only to be told, one paycheck in, by my landlord of 18 years that my beautiful home has been sold and I must move by Sept. 1. Without any money. And 18 years’ worth of accumulated possessions. I believe I will get through this, as people do. I have community and fundraising skills and ideas, and I am earning a salary now. Nemea and I will find another home, and survive. But it occurs to me that members of other…
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A Sticky, Sweaty, Complicated Mess (That Nearly Everyone Wants)
We were up long before the day-o To welcome in the summer, to welcome in the May-o For sumer is icumen in, and winter’s gone away-o! May Day has just passed, which many Pagans know as Beltane, the festival of young adulthood, love, and sexuality. Time for rising early to greet the dawn—if you haven’t been up all night—wearing floral wreaths, dancing ribbons about tall phallic Maypoles, sipping May wine … and making out, at least, if not making love. There is, of course, a great deal of variation within any large community, but part of what distinguishes the Pagan community generally from the mainstream culture is that it describes itself as “sex-positive”.…
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Atheopaganism and the Mystical Experience
It was night, nearly pitch black, and I had no idea how many steps extended before me, down into the darkness. Down to the Underworld. I was in a cave in Pinnacles National Park (then Monument) in California. And I was in Greece some 2,500 years ago. I was a Mystes, a Seeker of the Eleusinian Mysteries. I cried on the way down those stairs. I felt my life, my body falling away until I was only a point in darkness, seeing nothing, feeling for each step with my foot carefully and slowly so as not to fall. At first, I heard my fellow Mystai singing, but soon they were left…
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Reflections on Year One: Atheopaganism as Forward-Looking Religion
It is now about a year since I first made my essay, “How I Became an Atheopagan” widely available on the net, and since the Atheopaganism Facebook group became active. It has been exciting and gratifying to see the amount of interest and growth in Atheopaganism over the past year. I created this path for myself and thought some of my friends might be interested; I had no idea that the core precepts and ritual approach of Atheopaganism would resonate for people across the globe. In the past year, I’ve learned a lot about this religion I helped to midwife–among many lessons, that there are plenty of others who are also…
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An Atheopagan Life–High Spring and the Renewal of the World
Here at the end of February, it is finally obvious that the Sun is coming back. The sunset has pushed back a full hour, and there is still light in the sky at 6:30. The drought hasn’t left us here in California this year, despite some encouraging storms early on. The mild winter has meant that already daffodils and narcissus bloom, and fruit trees burst into color. Willows budded out along the creeks in January. Such beauty is tainted by what it portends—a planet warming, and fast—but it’s lovely to be able to sit outside again comfortably, to breathe the sexy perfume of the young spring flowers. We have come…
