Holidays
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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 up to Halloween night, although the actual midpoint is around Nov. 7. October is a time when we contemplate mortality and memory, remembering those who have died and our ancestors leading back into the mists of time. The skulls and bones and spider webs remind us that we are here only for a limited time, and will also one day…
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Autumn and Harvest 2022
Outside, blessedly, it is raining. It’s the first rain we have had since April, and it seems like enough to damp down the annual wildfire season we suffer through here in California. Ah, the scent of the wet Earth! The sound of the rain on the roof! The buffets of the wind in the wind chimes, set swinging wildly with each gust! Finally–only a week after we had temperatures up to 117–it feels the corner has been turned to Autumn, and the season of Harvest. I live in a richly agricultural region, and now is the time: gardens are pouring out vegetables, and the wine grape harvest, known locally as…
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The Dimming Sabbath, 2022
After much struggle to find a worthy name for this cross-quarter holiday, I have borrowed a suggestion from a member of the Atheopagan Facebook group and gone with Dimming, with its corresponding Brightening in February. “Dimming” says what this holiday is: yes, it’s summer, but the days aren’t so long now. Where I live, a long, wan late summer will persist well past Harvest (the autumnal equinox), though if we’re lucky we will get a rain storm in September or so. Dimming is filled with meanings, both traditional and in my personal Atheopagan observances. It is the time of the first harvest festival, typically associated with harvests of grain and…
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Happy High Spring 2022!
We’ve been through a lot over the past two years. We’re still going through a lot. And yet, the sprouts rise and the buds swell, the flowers bloom and the birds return. Spring is always a hopeful time, a time to gaze forward with anticipation and optimism. For me this year, I am so close to having a genuinely wonderful life. I just need a job, and I have a second interview for a truly great one in two days. So I am imagining what life with that job could look like. Imagining survival fear waning, and joy swelling with the growing year. Wherever we are, whatever our circumstance, if…
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Atheopaganism: A Path of Reverence, Celebration and Service
It’s been awhile since I wrote just generally about Atheopaganism: what is it, why does it exist, and what does it stand for? Atheopaganism is a godless, supernatural-free religious/spiritual path I envisioned between 2005 and 2009, which led to publication first of an essay and eventually of the book Atheopaganism: An Earth-Honoring Path Rooted in Science. In this path, the worldview and approach to learning of science are combined with progressive values and Neopagan ritual practices celebrating nature, the diversity of humanity, and our passage through the seasons of the year and of our lives. This not the first time that scientific/naturalistic cosmology has been combined with Pagan practice. If…
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My Top Ten from 2021
The year is drawing down, and it’s time to take a look back at what we’ve published and pick some favorites! Here, in no particular order, are my favorite ten blog posts of 2021. If you have a favorite that isn’t on the list, please comment below! You Have Permission to be Witchy When Life is Hard Riffs on a Meme: Enchanting the Mundane Playing with the Senses During Ritual (Guest Post) Deep Paganism The Deep Secret of Emergent Complexity Why Paganism hasn’t Failed…Yet Doing the Work The Sacred Rite of Composting Imagining Ancestors I invite you to revisit these, or, if you missed them the first time, to take…
