Community
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The New Ones
Much has been made in both the popular and Pagan press recently about the “witchcraft fad”. There is lots of witchy imagery in media and popular culture right now, including fashion, television, film and literature. Witchcraft, so they say, is having a moment. And not just in the media, but in reality: self-described witchcraft (which has at least some nexus with what we generally call Paganism) is enjoying a surge of interest. People—particularly Millennial and Generation Z women —are enthusiastically embracing not only a witchy/gothic aesthetic, but practices such as Tarot reading, creation of their own ritual “spells”, and in many cases, Earth-devotional or Goddess-oriented spirituality. The response of established…
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Forging Paths of Integrity (with Minor Update)
There has been a lot of talk online lately about the Pagan (or neopagan, if you prefer) community* and integrity, or lack thereof. Stuff about “fakelore” traditions and lineages: pretense of ancient roots that aren’t, and people using this pretense to dangle “ancient secrets” before naive seekers to leverage sexual favors . Stuff about lousy sexual boundaries, harassment and assault**; particularly, the usage of status and power (such as the power to approve or disapprove elevation to higher “degrees of initiation”) to extort sex, money or power. I’ve written about some of these issues before. They are real. They go to the origins of modern witchcraft’s practices and culture with some decidedly kinky…
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CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS for the Atheopagan Blog
Atheopaganism is a collaborative enterprise: a constellation of individual practices that share certain things in common, like a naturalistic cosmology, a set of values and principles, and ritual practices that enact, invoke and embody our celebration of the world and of living. We all do it a little differently, and that’s a part of its beauty: it is intended not as a template that all participating must follow, but as a landscape of possibilities, through which each of us can choose our way in the manner which best serves us. Your Atheopaganism is not my Atheopaganism, exactly, and that is precisely as it should be. I am the publisher of the Atheopaganism…
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SF Bay Atheopagans: Join Us on Dec. 9!
Atheopagans and friends are welcomed to join us for a potluck early winter gathering and nontheist Yule ritual on Sunday, Dec. 9, at the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Connie Barbour room (1606 Bonita Ave, at the corner of Cedar St. in Berkeley—map link here). The gathering will convene at 2 pm, with the ritual at 3:30. Please bring a dish and something to drink to share. We would appreciate it if you bring non-disposable eating ware, as well, so we have very little waste from the event. Please no red wine, thanks—the venue is concerned about stains. This event is our second effort to engage more local Atheopagans and…
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Reflections on the FFRF Conference 2018
So…the Freedom From Religion Foundation conference was…interesting. It’s a great organization. Lobbying and legal work to prevent religious incursion into governmental and public spaces. Very important stuff. I got the sense that most of the attendees felt a deep relief at being in a place where they could admit their atheism. And that seemed to be the end-all-and be-all of the conference’s message: we’re atheists, and that’s good. Presenters were stellar (Salman Rushdie!) And their points about the deep wrong of theocracy and enforced religiosity–even to the tragic murders and forcible exilings of nonreligious people in the Islamic world–were powerful. That said, it seemed so passive: people sitting in chairs,…
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I’m Off to See the Atheists!
This weekend, I will attend the Freedom From Religion Foundation‘s annual conference, held this year in San Francisco. FFRF is the largest freethinker/atheist organization in the U.S. It advocates for strict separation of church and state, and for atheists’ rights where they have been violated. This year’s conference will include speeches and presentations by such luminaries as my Congressman and friend, Jared Huffman, who founded the Freethought Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the eminent novelist Salman Rushdie. Regrettably, Adam Savage of “Mythbusters” withdrew due to a family emergency. I’m able to attend the conference because of the generous support of two members of our community, and I’m deeply…
