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The Wonder
The Perseids are strong tonight. I mean, it’s early: 9 pm. The Sun is only just down, but it’s a clear night with a quarter Moon and after midnight, there should be a vivid meteor shower, perhaps as many as one every minute or even less. The night air is warm and still. There are crickets, but they are dwindling as the season progresses. By October, there will be only a faint, lonely, slow chirp. I gathered with friends yesterday: the Northern California Atheopagan affinity group, AKA the Live Oak Circle. We had a Dimming celebration, drank cider and ate apple pie, poured a libation at the roots of a…
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Happy Dimming!
It’s time again for the beginning of August Sabbath: the midpoint between Midsummer and Harvest. It’s always been a challenge for me to name this holiday. I tried things like “Summer’s End”–but it’s often the hottest time of the year where I live. Summer’s Waning, perhaps? But again, it doesn’t feel like that…yet. Still, the wheel of the year has definitely turned: the days are shorter, the quality of the light a bit paler, the sky a deeper, harder blue. As the first harvests come in and we begin to realize the fruits of the year’s labors, we are definitely headed into the dark and cold, however preliminary these steps…
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Listen to My Interview on “Embrace the Void” podcast!
Host Aaron Rabinowitz had me on to discuss the new book, and we had a deep conversation about Atheopaganism and non-supernatural Pagan practice. Great, probing questions! Have a listen. https://www.voidpod.com/podcasts/2024/7/15/round-we-dance-with-mark-green
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Discovering Atheopaganism
I never knew there was anyone who felt as I did, who believed as I did. I really feel that I have found my people–that I have come home. Atheopagan community member It has been hugely beneficial for me to discover the Atheopagan community. I’ve always struggled to name my spiritual path. I love the nature reverence of modern Paganism but couldn’t subscribe to belief in supernatural entities or magical forces. Atheopaganism gives rational thinkers ways to celebrate our exquisitely beautiful planet and to live ethically. Atheopagan community member People don’t generally “convert” to Paganism. They find it, and find it fits. Which makes sense, because Pagans don’t proselytize. We…
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Feeling the Heat
It’s 104 degrees F. (40 C.) outside my house right now. It’ll go higher tomorrow; a gigantic heat dome has formed over the American West and temperatures are spiking to insane levels. With this year already poised to break last year’s all-time heat record worldwide, climate change is here, bringing fire, destruction and death. Meanwhile, in human affairs, this week the right-wing plants “Justices” of the US Supreme Court declared the President largely above the law, creating an imperial Presidency that is dangerous not only to its citizens, but to the world. They also radically curtailed the power of our federal government to enforce environmental regulations. Elsewhere, the racist right…
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The Living is Easy
It’s summer, with Midsummer just a few days away. Long days full of Sun, sometimes hot but where I am, often buffered by the cooling ocean air to create perfect days with warm evenings. I just moved inside from sitting naked on my patio, which is a seasonal pleasure. I also cut back the wisteria covering our back fence, which occasionally threatens to tear our house apart with its clinging, constricting vines, and watered all the plants in pots and half-barrels that make the place a lush oasis. Being-Outside-Naked Season is something I look forward to every year. I love the Sun and air on my skin, and the feeling…
