Practice
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Atheopagan Ritual: Arrival
This is one of a series of articles about creating Atheopagan rituals. They expand on the Atheopagan Ritual Primer, to which they will be added after the whole series has been published online. It should be pointed out that the Atheopagan ritual structure described in the Primer and in my essay “How I Became an Atheopagan” is only one of many possible ways to structure effective ritual. The structure is a reliable way to induce the Ritual State, to do the transformational or celebratory work, and to resolve into a state of gratitude, empowerment, peace and/or energy. This, in a nutshell, is what ritual is and does. So while experimentation with structure can be fruitful,…
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The Spring Fast
John Halstead over at Patheos has an idea that I think is so great I am adopting it for myself and want to it capture here so other Atheopagans can consider it: “Lent for Pagans”, or what I am calling the Spring Fast. February and March were historically the leanest time for Europeans: the stores were growing thin, the good stuff had been eaten already, nothing had yet grown which could be gathered, and the party of Yule was long past. No surprise that customs of giving things up for religious reasons developed—culture, after all, is often driven by practical economics. The Catholic Church got something right with its conception of Lent. It’s…
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Engaging the Work: My Next Frontier
Atheopaganism is about increasing our capacity for happiness and engaging our responsibilities to the Earth and to our fellow humans. As such, it requires us to look at ourselves and the world with both curiosity and compassion; to see where there is work to be done. For me personally, after years of resistance I am coming to confront that a large portion of my work now relates to inhabiting my body. I was raised only to celebrate the accomplishments of the mind. In my family, I saw no modeling of physical recreation or exercise, and as a result, I was always the kid who was reading a book during recess. I…
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Three Percent: a Riverain Blessing
Three percent is all they say The sweet water of a water planet Three percent The cool drink, the soft rain Rare as blood, rare as luck, rare To our wet hands, shining. From the far sky, adrift in curds and blankets Whips and knots, anvils towering thunder hammers Rain the hand of kindness down To our fields, our mouths, the dancing springs And cold rivers, snaking the glens of Earth to the sky again. Do we take you for granted, o three percent? Do we curse you for flooding, pop our grumbrellas On a wet walk to the office? Not I. Not when puddles leap for joy and silver…
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Why an Acorn?
NOTE: In 2018, the Atheopagan community collaborated to nominate and select a new symbol for our religion. That symbol, the Suntree, is in the header of the blog and is described HERE. I wear a silver pendant of an acorn, and have since my transition out of more traditional Paganism and into Atheopaganism. To me, it is the symbol of my religion. If you’ve been to the Zazzle store, you will see that there are several items for sale there that also feature the symbol of the acorn, and it is also the favicon of this site. Given our diversity and wide range of backgrounds, I’m sure that among Atheopagans, there is…
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Exploring the Atheopagan Principles: Principle 6 —Praxis
This is the 6th in a series exploring the 13 Atheopagan Principles I proposed in my essay, “How I Became an Atheopagan.” To read the series, click on “Atheopagan Principles” in the tag cloud to the right. Principle 6 states, “I enact regular ritual in observance of my religion.” While cosmology and values embraced are certainly important, the 6th Principle reminds us that religion is something one DOES. To be religious is to carry out religious activities: to contemplate lessons, to celebrate the beauty of the Cosmos, to ceremonially observe holy days and life passages, to create art and other works reflective of an Atheopagan worldview. Principle 6 reminds us that Atheopaganism isn’t just…
