Atheology
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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 dying, she is heart wrenchingly beautiful. Her red and white body is furred and fluffy. Her six inch wingspan is painted with strata of orange, red, and white. She is the largest and most spectacular species of moth in North America. The small flame of her life puffs out, but the cycle continues ever on. A few feet away from where…
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Deep Paganism
Thinking a lot today about deep Paganism: what it means to live in the world a fundamentally different way, in connection and relationship with and celebration of Life and reality. In wisdom, and generosity and kindness, in joy and pleasure, and in responsibility and respect. At that level, Paganism isn’t even conducting rituals. It certainly isn’t collecting ritual tools or rocks or books or echo-chambering to “belong” in the Pagan community. And it doesn’t involve gods of any scale. This is so much larger than that. I think that, steeped in the Overculture as I am, I can only see this Way in moments. A-HA kinds of moments, chorus-of-angels moments…
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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 of burning our home, burned 20% of the city where I live, killed some unfortunates, and tanked our region’s economy. In 2018, it was the smoke of the Camp Fire that turned the sky black and the air unbreathable for days. More death. Paradise, California, erased from the Earth. In 2019, it was the Kincade Fire, which nearly eradicated the…
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Equanamity, Balance and the Equinox
As I write this, the Earth coasts in its slightly angled orbit towards the Ecliptic, the plane of rotation of the Sun. When we cross it, the days and nights will be of equal lengths (at the equator). It is the Vernal Equinox, the moment when the days begin to stretch longer than the nights in the Northern hemisphere. There are many themes associated with this holiday for Pagans, as we frame our Wheels of the Year based on our local climate and ecologies and, in some cases, on the agricultural cycle and/or the life cycle of a person. But one we don’t talk about quite so often is this…
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Doing the Work
As Atheopagans, we’re about being healthier, wiser, happier humans, and through action contributing to a better world. Some of that is about values. Ours are articulated in the 4 Sacred Pillars and the 13 Atheopagan Principles, and in this area particularly Principle 4: humility; Principle 5: perspective and humor; Principle 7:, inclusiveness; Principle 8: legacy; Principle 9: social responsibility, and especially Principle 13: kindness and compassion. Some of it is about healing: healing our wounds and shame, our self-esteem. Our fear. And some of it is about moving through and beyond our bullshit. Which, let us be clear, we all have. Personal work is core and essential in Atheopaganism. Willingness…
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Death, the Creator
Classic depictions of Death personified include skeletons carrying an hourglass or a scythe, mummified persons extending leathery hands, armies of skeletal warriors mowing down the living, or Pale Horsemen laying waste to kings, priests and children, as in the Coleman-Waite “Rider” Tarot deck. It makes complete sense that we view death with fear and revulsion. We are, after all, hardwired to wish to survive, hardwired to want to pass our genes on, however we may. Certainly, our deaths scare us. We die, and by and large, we don’t want to. But if we step back, we can see the value of death. The importance it plays in the perpetuation and…
