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Embracing Joy in Dark Days
Where I live, we are right at the fractal edge of spring: winter is stuttering, and between rains come bright, fresh days in the 70s, rich with the scent of flowering trees and lush grass. There is no doubt: the Wheel has turned. Winter has run its course. It’s days like these when the urge to be outside is almost irresistible: to breathe that scent, stretch out my limbs and welcome the warmth of the long-gone sun. To walk in shirtsleeves and feel that sensuous, liquid air flowing around me. It’s heady stuff, and it conjures forth optimism and energy. Things are looking up! Then I see a headline. And…
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Care and Feeding of the Atheopagan Activist
If you’ve flown, you’ve heard the direction: first, fit your own mask. Then assist those next to you with theirs. It’s good advice in these times, when we are called to service and protest and activism. Compelling as it is to pour service into the oppressed, the threatened, the victimized, we simply must keep ourselves going or we will be unable to serve as completely and for as long as we might wish. This is at least a four-year marathon, folks. We must sustain ourselves, because all kinds of hell are coming down the pipe, and we’re going to be up to our waists in it soon enough. Here are some…
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The Wheel Turns
The days are a bit longer now. The area where I live has been beset by storm after blessed storm, so-called “atmospheric rivers” pouring onshore to deluge the parched land of California. We smile beneath our rain hoods and grumble cheerfully about knotted traffic. And despite the dark, pendulous clouds, it is palpable: the days grow longer. It isn’t December any more. Meanwhile, of course, the greater Darkness we knew was coming after November 8 is now manifesting itself. The petulant toddler we have elected is swinging a wrecking ball in every direction, cheerfully making a mess of all that is decent. This will continue. The wheels are turning: astronomical forces…
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Yule: The Light in the Darkness
It’s a very dark one this year. And, as for our ancestors, it promises to become darker and colder still in January, after the celebrating is long over. Our Sabbaths are rich with meaning. And sometimes that meaning persists beyond a season. We are about to go through a very, very dark time. Some of our beloveds will not survive it. And though we must fight to defend every square inch of sacred ground that progress has attained, much we love will be lost. It’s going to be Yule for a long time. We must be the light in the darkness now. We much gather with those we love and…
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It’s On Us Now
As an Atheopagan, I have Principles. They are a set of values about what is Sacred and how we should conduct ourselves in the world. Those values are about to be severely challenged as the far-right government of Donald Trump threatens the world with environmental, economic and military cataclysm and gives tacit permission to racists, sexists and homophobes to assault, threaten and intimidate people of color, LGBTQ people, religious minorities and women. The last is happening already with disturbing frequency. Those of us with a naturalistic worldview already understood that our world is under deep threat. We knew that creating a better future wasn’t going to be easy. It just didn’t seem…
