Recently, I asked the Atheopagan group on Facebook for suggestions of some topics they would like to see addressed here at the Atheopaganism blog. Given that non-theistic Paganism is a minority element of a minority religion, it’s no surprise that several people suggested writing on how to have a solo practice, or how…
Ritual Technologies: Sing!
If there is one human sense more than any other that really drills down beneath the thinking mind and evokes feelings, memories, longings, it would be the sense of smell. Olfactory cues go to the most primitive parts of our brains, and are remarkably powerful in snapping us back to powerful feelings…
Considering the Moon
What does the Moon mean to an Atheopagan? Well, to this one, at least, the Moon is the bringer of “magic light”. Low light conditions tend to damp down the activity of the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, enhancing the role of the limbic system in consciousness. In moonlight, we…
Intuitive Understanding and “Divination”
I read Tarot cards. Not as much as I used to, but I still do it. I don’t think of it as “fortune telling”. I think of the Tarot as a magnificently complex set of symbols from which I randomly choose, creating therefrom a narrative which draws up my intuitive…
Pleasure as a Sacred Experience
As I practice and have described it, the tenth Principle of Atheopaganism is responsible sensuality: the cultivation of pleasure for its own sake, so long as in doing so we are not harming others or the Earth. It’s May Day weekend, that sexy festival of fertility and…
Shame, Trust, Safety and the Freedom to Make Magic
Shame. It impedes so much. It’s easy to succumb to the impulse to think that it’s something to be overcome, and that’s the end of it. Freedom, eh? And yet… Someone completely without shame is a sociopath. Shame is a guide. It can help us to understand how best to fit…